Chapter 1: A New Beginning

"I'm hungry, can we stop and eat?" The Neko said with her stomach growling.

"We can stop when we finally get to town, it's not much further, I promise". Said the Magical Unicorn.

"You said that an hour ago and we are still walking. I'm starting to think your lost and don't want to admit it". The Neko spoke with a slight chuckle in her voice.

"Shut up" The magical Unicorn snapped back. "I know exactly where we're going and when we get there, you can eat as much as you can afford but remember, we need this bounty".

Friday the Neko and Luna the Magical Unicorn had been trailing a bounty for almost a week. Though being not the best in their respected field of work, took a job to find very skilled and dangerous people. Two humans. One being a highly skilled archer and the other, a hired gun hand. Both humans had bounties on their heads.

Bounties being at an all-time low, it was hard work for a bounty hunter to make a living and some in this profession don't exactly know any other way of life and as far as the bounty hunters were concerned, it was either collect the bounty or starve.

"I've been meaning to ask, why would The Order, a mystical bounty agency accept a bounty on two humans? Seems like overkill if you ask me." Friday asked Luna inquisitively.

Mystical beings being sent out to hunt down humans? It's never been done before. Typically, humans would take care of their own and magical beings would deal with other magical beings.

"I don't know to be honest. maybe it was a mess up from the higher ups, but I'm not complaining. The credits we get from this job, we won't have to worry about food for a long time." Luna commented back on the question.

As the two bounty hunters walked down the road, Friday reached into her bag to retrieve the information about their bounty. looking over the page as to study the looks of their targets and to learn more about each individual. Friday had a keen eye for detail and noticed something weird on the paper. The bounties were too good to be true. The bounty on the archer was almost tripled than that of the gun hand but the gun hand was ten times more valuable if brought in dead. Usually, bounty prices are null and void if the bounty dies by way of the Order. This caught her eye immediately but as Luna had said, best not to complain as it's a job they desperately needed. Friday putting the piece of parchment back into her bag, she noticed a sign on the road. The two walked down to sign to see what it said.

"Welcome to Paradise Hill. Your oasis away from home. Luna read the sign out loud.

"We made it" Friday exclaimed with joy.

"Now we can finally get something to eat and a place to rest for the night" Friday continued to say.

Finding a renewed sense of self. the two were all smiles and laughter when walking to the town. arriving to town, the bounty hunters took a second to take it all in. A week of travel and sleeping outside, the town really was an oasis just as the sign described.

"OH, I'm going to get me the biggest piece of meat I can find and eat it while taking a long hot bath." Friday said causing Luna to laugh.

"We need to find a place to sleep and set up for our hunt first." Luna said to Friday.

Luna and Friday found an Inn that was nice and cozy, the perfect place after a long week worth of travel. The two were greeted at the front desk by a nice elderly human with a warm smile.

"You two look weary from your travels." The elderly man said.

"What brings you two to the Daybreak Inn?" The elderly man continued.

"We would like a room with two beds please." Luna told the elderly man.

"Yea, we've been walking for days and really need a nice rest." Friday added.

"Of course," said the clerk.

"My name is Jeb and I own this establishment, we have meals prepared in the cafe dining area day and night, swimming pools and hot tubs and even drinks if you so desire. You ladies let me know if you need anything else." The owner told them.

Hearing the sweet old man's words put a small smile on Luna as she was appreciative of the warm jester of his kindness.

As the two gathered their things and made their way to the room. Luna heard some of the s of the place whispering.

"Is that a Unicorn?" one human said.

"I thought they were all extinct?" said a spider waitress across the room.

The whispers were deafening to Luna as if they were shouting. The words burning in Lunas ears as she got closer to her room. The smile she had from the elderly clerk was quickly gone as she walked, hearing the whispers and the painful reminder of her loneliness in this world. Friday seeing this knew exactly what troubled Luna.

"Luna, don't let them get to you. They didn't mean it I'm sure" Friday said as she tried to comfort her friend.

"I know." Luna said to Friday trying to put on the best smile she could.

Finally making it to their room, the two had unpacked their belongings and settled in for the night.

As dawn broke the horizon, Luna was already up studying the bounties of the two she and Friday were sent after, combing over every detail about them.

Friday still sounds asleep in her bed snoring lightly. Luna smiled thinking about how tired Friday must have really been. It is exhausting work when you have to track down a target that is always on the move and if you laze about just for a moment, the target can disappear for good and with much of a reward on both targets, she knew other bounty hunters would also be after them. But there was one question on Lunas mind that was troubling her.

"Why does this archer look so familiar?" Luna asked softly to herself as if to get an answer.

This one question was constantly on her mind now. She could swear that she has seen him before. spoke to him even but couldn't place where or how long. Staring at the photo of him, almost in a trance. The photo only had a question mark where the name should be, but his face was clear as day, but she could not place where she has seen him before. Maybe it was her imagination getting the better of her. The only bit of information on the page was a description of the crime. Assassination of a public official. Putting his picture down finally and picking up the photo of the gun hand. This one was different. Name, alias, height, weight, face, this bounty had all the information but unlike the archery who was a mystery, this bounty had other pages to it. The pages described potential weaknesses and strengths he had and even a list of all the crimes he had committed. Armed robbery, murder, theft. The lists go on and on. Luna couldn't believe a human could be this ruthless to other humans.

"Thomas Ulysses Fredrickson" Friday said causing Luna to turn to her.

"Also known as Twin Gun Tuf." Friday continued

"Apparently, he is very good with his guns and has used them in all sorts of deeds." Friday said with a glaring look on her face staring at the photo.

"You sound like you know him." Luna spoke to Friday.

"Only the stories of him." Friday said back.

"Stories? Like what?" Luna inquired.

"Well for starters. He supposedly gunned down 6 men. 3 with his right hand and 3 with his left outside of Dakota City. I couldn't tell you over what though" Friday stated to Luna.

Friday continued "robbed a bank and blew it up with explosives. they say he was laughing as the explosion happened."

"You're kidding me?" Luna questioned.

Friday just shook her head. Luna having a horrified look on her face as Friday said all this.

"No wonder they sent our kind to go after him. He's a psychopath." Luna blurted out loud.

"That's the thing." Friday stated to Luna.

"In the explosion, nobody got hurt and I've read on his profile that he only draws his pistols on those whom he deems deserving of death." Friday said while staring at the photo."

"You know anything on the archer?" Luna asked picking up the photo of the archer again and holding to two photos close together.

"From what I can gather. he is silent but deadly." Friday said.

"You just described him like a fart." Luna said with a straight face causing Friday to facepalm at the statement.

"What I mean is, for someone to make the Orders list. he must have taken out a high ranking official and to do so would require a lot of skill. I'm willing to bet the official died without even hearing a sound." Friday said with caution in her voice.

"You really think he is that good?" Luna said with a bit of skepticism in her voice.

"I do" Friday responded.

Luna looking back at the archers' photo thinking that she would go up against not one but two very skilled and very dangerous targets. A task that any bounty hunter human or mystical creature would think twice about but Luna was confident Friday and herself were more than up to the job. In both of their careers, they have gone against far worse beings that were magical in their own rights. what were too no power having humans going to do? An easy payday she thought as she set both photos back down.