Laughter erupted through the snowy streets of Crimehallow as the Scovillain brothers lunged at their prey, madly swinging their scythe. Magni tensed his leg muscles and expertly weaved around their wild slashing, each minute boosting his Speed Boost to give him the edge. Even with his hulking size, he moved with grace and precision to keep the distance between him and the brothers.

Evelot curled up within the Scolipede's cloak, screaming against the wind whipping across her face like cold knives. "Magni!" she cried.

Magni skipped backwards through the snow with poisonous energy crackling between his horns. "Stinging Shower!" Poisonous spikes erupted from his horns, crackling through the air as they targeted the brothers.

They cackled, lunging into the shower of spikes and breaking them to pieces with their spinning scythe. A few bypassed their defenses and shredded across their body, but the Blood Pepper Harvest remained in effect, healing up their injuries as soon as they formed.

"Extra Spicy Crunch!" They both bit down on the scythe and grinded their teeth against it, firing off a serrated blade of flame.

Magni pressed his body low to the ground and let the attack fly over him. As he got up, he grimaced as more pepper vines grew out from his wounds. He flexed his body's muscles, pushing through the pain, and broke into a mad charge.

The brothers leapt across the street and torqued their body, flying over Magni and delivering a series of slashes across his back. "Mini Pepper Scattershot!" Upon landing, they fired flaming Bullet Seeds at the Scolipede's back, striking into his open wounds.

Magni roared out in pain, collapsing over his legs and faceplanting into the snow. Evelot gasped. "Magni, no!" She struggled within her thorny binds, wincing as the laced thorns stung her skin.

Wigbrand cackled in delight. "Fun, fun, fun!"

Alibrand smirked. "You've got moxie, you overgrown monster, but you're out of your depth. Any hope of protecting that girl will result in your eventual death. Quit struggling so much and just hand her over. We may even consider sparing you if you cooperate."

Wigbrand whined. "But Brother, he might make delicious peppers! Nnnooo!"

Magni stomped his feet down and rose out of the snow, panting heavily. He winced as the vine growing out from his eyelid curled around his head, but he persisted through the pain. Turning around, he snarled and replied, "Protect…Evelot. No matter what."

Alibrand grunted. "Well, that was your one and only chance to see a fresh sunrise. Or at least see one without becoming a part of our new garden." He and Wigbrand shared a nod before inhaling and spitting up a fiery red glob in the shape of massive, snapping teeth.

"Extra Hot Reaper Bites!"

Magni turned himself around to shield Evelot away from the attack and screamed out in pain as the liquid fangs chomped down on his hide. The burning flames of the liquid combined with their burning chemical makeup caused his open wounds to flare with unimaginable pain. The wounds reddened and swelled. They sizzled from the open flames, causing his skin to boil.

The brothers bit down on their scythe and fired another attack. "Extra Spicy Crunch!"

Sensing the attack, Magni forced himself to gallop to the side, barely avoiding the attack as it slashed through the building behind him. He reared up and summoned a giant rock loaded with toxic spikes. "Stinging Smash!" He threw the rock at the brothers.

They skipped back on their heels and shielded themselves as the rock exploded, slicing their skin with poison-tipped rock. Their enhanced regeneration factor healed off the wounds and purged whatever poison soaked into their skin. "Extra Spicy Crunch!" They bit their scythe and fired another fiery blade.

"Stinging Spear!" Magni charged headlong into the attack, smashing it apart with his enlarged horns and impaling the brothers before they touched the ground. With Speed Boost, Magni galloped faster and faster before ramming the brothers into a building, taking it down on top of them.

"GAH!" they gasped as the wind was knocked out of them.

Magni threw them to the ground, raised his front legs, and smashed down on them with all his weight. The ground split under his heavy stomps. He raised his legs again and continuously stomped the brothers into the earth, ignoring the pain of pepper vines growing out of his flesh.

Evelot kept trying to wiggle herself free from her bindings while digging inside her costume for the antidote she created. I need to feed this to Magni before it's too late! He's gone into a mindless frenzy! I can't get him to stop and listen!

The ground quaked with each thunderous stomp from Magni. Most would've been killed from the first or second of his stomping rampage, but Magni never fought anyone quite as tenacious as the Scovillain brothers.

"Extra Hot Reaper Bites!"

From the small crater, liquid fangs coated in fang erupted out and snapped down on Magni's neck. They punctured his skin and splattered him in the spicy chemicals, sending him into an even wilder panic. The Scovillain brothers leapt out from the ground, healing off their injuries, and retrieved their discarded scythe.

"Extra Spicy Crunch: Chef's Special!" With rapid succession, they grinded the scythe along their teeth and fired off multiple fiery slashes. Though weaker in strength and size, they created shallow cuts along Magni's body, allowing more of the flaming Spicy Extract to drip onto his wounds.

Magni screamed and stampeded in place, kicking wildly behind himself and flailing his head into whatever was nearby. Evelot, who was barely secure inside Magni's cloak, hung on for dear life as she screamed. "Magni! Calm down!"

"RAAAAAHHHHH!" Magni let loose a powerful Screech, sweeping it across the street and taking down any buildings that were barely standing.

The brothers ducked under his wild attack and raced toward his legs. With swift movements, they sliced across his stomach and legs before kicking out one of his hindlegs. Magni collapsed, wincing as the snow pressed into his new wounds.

The brothers dragged their hand through the snow, spun themselves to a stop, and immediately lunged at the downed Scolipede. They bit down on their scythe, this time scraping their teeth along it and ignited the blade in red hot flame. "Extra Spicy Scorpion Fang!"

They slashed across Magni's neck, causing it to erupt in flame. Magni roared out in agony and collapsed face first into the snow. The brothers landed and stomped on his head, pressing the flaming scythe down on him.

"A big brute like you doesn't have what it takes to protect these chumps," Alibrand taunted. "Your friends are probably dying right now, and the alchemist will be long gone by tomorrow." They pressed the blade harder against the Scolipede, cutting his skin open. "Welcome to the surface, Subterran. You should've stayed below ground where you belonged."

"…" Magni lifted his face gingerly from the snow and snarled weakly at the brothers. "You. Talk. Too much."

Wigbrand cackled. "And you talk too little! You're not fun! No fun at all! But you'll taste super delicious! Sprout, sprout! Peppers, sprout!"

"L-Leave him alone!" The brothers turned their eyes to the Scolipede's bound passenger. Tears dripped down her costume, both from the pain of hot thorns and the horrible state of her friend. "P-Please, spare my friends! I'll go with you! I'll give you everything I have for my parents' research! Just please let my friends live!"

Alibrand smirked. "A bit too late for Amos and Phoebe, I'm afraid. They're currently stewing in our mist, and I bet they're still bickering in the pits blaming each other for their deaths."

Evelot's eyes shimmered with tears as she glared at them. "N-No! My friends are still alive, and they're…they're going to kick your ass!"

Wigbrand cackled. "What bold words from the runt of an alchemist! You've got gusto, kiddo! Too bad hope isn't a delicious meal. As in it doesn't exist! BAHAHAHAHAHA—"

BANG!

Alibrand and Evelot gasped as a bullet whizzed between them and sniped off Wigbrand's jaw. The green-headed pepper stared in astonishment as his severed job went flying before his eyes and splattered into the snow.

"Good fucking grief, I'm getting tired of listening to this idiot laugh!"

Evelot, Magni, and the brothers turned their eyes to a still-standing building. Perched atop its roof was Amos and Phoebe, the latter lowering her smoking rifle. She popped a bullet out of the chamber and loaded a new one. Amos finished loading his gunarm and locked the chamber back into place, giving it a quick spin.

Alibrand sneered. "You're alive?!"

Amos scowled. "We heard you were throwing one last party, and we just couldn't resist coming by to crash it. What do you say, Caretakers of Gluttony? Think you can handle two more party animals? You might just die from the excitement!"

Alibrand smirked. "You really think you can take me on? Now that's funny!"

Wigbrand finished regenerating his jaw and scowled. "Brother! Let me eat them!"

"Oh, with certainty, my brother!" They leapt off of Magni and rushed toward the building the duo was perched on.

Evelot found her voice and shouted, "Amos! Phoebe! Be careful! This mist—"

"We know!" Phoebe shouted, firing a shot at the sprinting Scovillain.

Amos bent his legs. "Give me support! I'm taking these shitheads on myself!"

She peered down her ironsides. "Fine by me!"

The Scovillain brothers laughed as they leapt from the street, clambering up the sides of the building, and threw themselves at Amos. The Gligar, with sand swirling around him, launched off the roof and tackled into the brothers. He produced a large volume of Toxic and Venoshock in his mouth and bit down on their shoulder.

"Maximum Venom!"

"GAAAAH!" the brothers screamed. They reared their leg around and kicked Amos off, tearing out a chunk of their flesh with him. They sailed over the street before landing on a building. The venom purged itself from their flesh as it regenerated.

Amos circled through the air on a current of sand and aimed his gunarm. Let's see what these bullets Burkhard lent me can really do! "Drill Bullet!" He hammered on the revolver and fired a bullet wrapped in spiraling Ground-Type energy.

The brothers, with their scythe still ablaze, swung into the spiraling bullet. However, the sand swirling around it caused it to curve around the scythe and blast through their chest. The energy ripped their chest to shreds, tearing a gnarly hole out through their back that splattered their blood through the air.

"What the—" Alibrand gasped.

A second shot rang out from behind. Another Drill Bullet from Phoebe ripped into their left leg and tore most of their lower half to shreds. The brothers fell out of the air and crashed into the snowy street.

Amos catapulted off the roof and hovered over their position. "Blaze Bullet!" He fired again, this time shooting a bullet that erupted into a streak of intense flame.

The brothers quickly turned onto their side and narrowly avoided the bullet as it erupted on impact. The snow melted instantly into a thick cloud of mist that washed over the street. Their leg and chest quickly regenerated, though their clothes were in tatters. They ripped off their shirt and picked up their scythe.

"Extra Spicy Crunch: Chef's Special!" They both bit down on the blade and released a flurry of fiery slashes at Amos.

He weaved on the sand currents, barely avoiding the red-hot slashes before crashing down onto the next roof over. He spun the chamber of his gunarm and fired another Blaze Bullet.

Anticipating the attack, the brothers swung their scythe and struck back with another of their fiery slashes. The opposing flames cancelled each other out, sending the smoldering bullet flying into the snowbank. They cackled, swinging the scythe over their heads and unleashing another flurry of fire slashes.

Amos took to the sky again as the attack ripped through his perch and set the building ablaze. He winced from the harsh light of the fire and shielded his eyes. Seeing him distracted, the brothers aimed to cut him down with their base technique, but collapsed as a bullet ripped through their shoulder.

Phoebe reloaded her rifle and took off running in the snow. "Don't forget, you're dealing with me, too!" She peered down her ironsides and fired a second shot, ripping their other arm clean off.

"GAH!" They staggered back with blood dripping from their shoulders. Right as they regenerated their arms, Amos dove out of the sky and slammed his gunarm directly atop Alibrand's head.

"Brother!" Wigbrand cried.

Amos spun on his pincer and kicked Wigbrand upside the jaw before blasting him with a regular bullet. It tore through the green pepper's skull, but it only seemed to anger him. The left arm regenerated faster and seized Amos by the neck.

"Fire Fang!" Wigbrand brought his fiery fangs down on Amos' shoulder, erupting into an inferno of heat.

"GAAAAAAAH!"

Alibrand pulled his head out of the ground and flexed his newly regenerated arm. "Now I'm beginning to see why Dr. Underhill wants you dead. You're quite the nuisance to get rid of!" He picked up the scythe and reared it back. "I bet you'll taste as toxic as your personality!"

Amos growled. "Eat…shit!" He bucked his legs, kicking the brothers in the chest, and pulled himself free of their grip. He rolled over his back and immediately fired a bullet to stagger them. "Burkhard!" he shouted before ducking into the snow.

Phoebe aimed and squeezed the trigger. "Have a taste of my Metal Destruction Bullet!" Upon firing, a beam of metallic light erupted out of the rifle, completely disintegrating the barrel.

The brothers instinctively leapt to their left right before the beam connected. They screamed out in agony as it ripped the entire right side of their body to shreds. Alibrand's face grinded against the surface of the energy, shaving his cheek. Their scythe went flying out of their grip and impaled into the snow away from them.

Phoebe staggered back on her heels and laughed. "How do you like that?! There's plenty more where that…came…fr…fr—ACK!"

She dropped her rifle and clutched her neck, coughing and hacking as if something seemed to be stuck inside her throat. She pounded at her chest and forced her hand inside her mouth to make herself vomit, but the pain wouldn't subside.

Amos grimaced. "What the hell happ—GAK!" He collapsed to his knees and snapped at his neck. He felt something hot burning at the flesh in his throat. "W-What the…?"

Evelot's eyes widened in realization. "Oh no! You've been inhaling too much of the mist!"

Laughter echoed out over the street. Alibrand and Wigbrand pulled themselves back onto their feet as their right side regenerated itself. Alibrand smirked. "You should've stayed in the pit. The longer you breathe in this mist, the more susceptible you are to the effects of our territory. No one, not even other Grass-Types, can breathe in this mist except us."

Wigbrand cackled, dancing on the tips of his feet and clapping. "Happy days! Happy days! A bountiful harvest for us!"

Amos coughed and sputtered into the snow. As he wiped his mouth, he saw flecks of plant matter sitting in his saliva. "Shit…"

Evelot shouted, "Running around and fighting him will only speed up the growth rate! He's been juiced up by a growth formula made by my parents!"

Phoebe growled. "Of course something like this had to be boosted with alchemy."

"I have an antidote!" she cried. "You need to drink it, and it'll make you immune to the territory's effects!"

Alibrand and Wigbrand's eyes widened. "She made what?!"

Amos struggled to his feet. "Shit, why didn't you say that earlier?!" Finding his footing, he quickly limped toward the restrained Mimikyu.

Alibrand's eyes lit up with heat. "Oh, no you don't!" He slammed his hands down, sending a pulse of energy across the infested town. "Supreme Pepper Garden!"

A cluster of vines sprouted out of the ground and weaved into a dense wall of thorns. Amos barely stopped in time as the vines reached out and tried to snag him. "Back off!" He fired a Blaze Bullet into the plant wall, but it regenerated as soon as it was damaged. "Oh, come on!"

The brothers picked up their scythe. "None of you will leave this town!" They started pulling on their arm, ripping and stretching it as it self-repaired. They wrapped and tied their arm around the scythe, pulling it taut.

Phoebe, wiping the vomit off her chin, looked at them in disgust. "Okay, that is just wrong."

The brothers cackled. "Oh, you haven't seen anything yet!" they exclaimed. They grinded the blade across their teeth, setting it ablaze, and threw it into the air. They started to spin their elongated arm over their heads. Faster and faster, they swung, building up speed and weight through the scythe as a ring of fire hovered over the street. As the scythe pulled on their arm, the constant microtears forming caused the arm to stretch longer and longer with their healing factor keeping it from snapping.

"Extra Spicy Scorpion Whip!"

Stomping one foot forward, they whipped their elongated arm down the street, the flaming scythe carving through the buildings caught in its path. It hurled toward Amos, who quickly raised his gunarm and braced himself before being struck. The crescent blade grinded against the revolver with flames shooting into Amos' face. He lost his footing as the scythe knocked him into the debris of a destroyed building with fire scattering over the wood.

The brothers reared their arm back in and spun it over their heads. "We've been hunting Outlanders for decades, you chumps!" Alibrand taunted. "We've seen it all, and none have come close to felling us in a fight!"

"Burn, baby! Burn!" Wigbrand cheered as they whipped their arm through the air, sending it on a downward path for the Gligar.

Amos quickly rolled onto his shoulders and flipped off the ground before the scythe crashed down like a burning guillotine. However, as it was technically connected to a working arm, the scythe dislodged from the debris and whipped at the fleeing Gligar. He barely raised his gunarm to shield the attack, wincing from the searing metal grazing his skin.

Phoebe pushed herself to her feet, shaking as her throat started to burn. "Sh-Shit…" She reached into her pack and pulled out a spare rifle barrel. She attached it, then ran over to Evelot. "Hold still." She pulled out her dagger and quickly cut the vines off.

Evelot wiggled herself free and plopped into the snow. "Ow…"

Phoebe picked the Mimikyu up. "Does the antidote work?"

"I-I'm not sure. I've only tested it on the peppers."

"Then how come you're not covered in vines like Magni?"

"…" She narrowed her eyes. "I'm…not sure." She shook her head and pulled out the flask. "E-Even so, I know my parents' handiwork. Once it works its way through your system, it'll purge their spores out of your body."

Phoebe took it and popped the cork off. "Hope this works." She tilted her head back and guzzled down some of the concoction. She pulled it from her lips and sputtered in disgust. "Ugh, it's bitter!"

"S-Sorry." Evelot took the flask back and hopped up to Magni's head. "Open up, big guy." He opened his mouth and allowed her to pour the antidote into it. Once she finished, she checked the remaining potion and saw there was only a third of it left. "This should be enough for Ammo."

Phoebe wiped her lips before picking her rifle back up. "Assuming he survives long enough."

Back with the Gligar, he hopped between buildings on whirlwinds of sand, dodging the Scovillain brothers' flaming scythe whip. He fired down on them, trying to sever their arm, but it moved too erratically to land a shot. Even as he tried curving the bullets, his mind was preoccupied avoiding the red-hot farming tool chasing him down.

Alibrand smirked, shouting, "Too many bad apples like you are allowed to roam free without consequence! That's why the Deadly Seven was created! Our job is to keep you free spirits in line while the top tier gangs keep control of this land! That's why they come to us! We're the best of the best! I'm in charge of purging the Outlands' population!"

Amos summoned a burst of sand and rocketed over the town to get out of the scythe's reach. "Did I fucking ask?!" He aimed his gunarm, sending waves of sand crashing down over the street. "I don't give a shit what you do for a living! You made the mistake of pissing me off! Meteor Bullet!" He fired a bullet bathing in draconic light, which split apart into an array of orange sparking meteorites.

"Mini Pepper Scattershot!" The brothers fired upon the sky, striking down the raining metal fragments and peppering the air in explosions. They spun their arm through the smoke, stretching it out even further, and whipped it toward the airborne Gligar.

Amos raised his gunarm to block it, but seized up as something wiggled under his skin. "W-Wha—" Taken by surprise, the scythe struck and knocked him out of flight. He splayed his wings open, barely catching the air before he crashed down into the snow.

He rolled through the snow until he came to a stop on his heels. Resting on his knees, he coughed and sputtered as the burning pain inside him grew worse. He felt the cut on his cheek bulging, then felt something pushing out onto his skin. A vine ripped through his flesh, curling along his face and up to his ear. He hiccupped and coughed again until vines sprouted out from his mouth.

Can…barely breathe.

"Surprise~!" He felt the searing heat of the scythe descending from above and quickly rolled out of the way. The brothers jumped onto a roof and snickered down at the grounded Gligar. "You're holding up longer than most, but your death is inevitable. The longer you struggle to fight us, the faster our spores will grow inside you and feast on your nutrients. All you're doing is making us stronger."

Amos grabbed the vines in his mouth and ripped them loose. He screamed out in pain as he also plucked out some of the flesh from the back of his throat. He spat up blood onto the snow with some dripping over his chin. Regardless, he cleared his throat and snarled at the twin farmer. "I'm not dying here tonight."

Alibrand smirked. "Good, because you're much more useful to us alive. I'd really hate to see you die so soon!"

"Lunchtime!" Wigbrand cheered. They raised their elongated arm, twirling it through the air, and brought it down onto the street.

"Sandstorm!" Amos whipped up a vast volume of sand that engulfed the street around him. It knocked the brothers' arm off course and shielded the Gilgar within its dense atmosphere. He stretched his wings and sailed through the storm.

The brothers retracted and grabbed their arm, spinning it in place as they eyed up the storm. "Big trouble! Big, big trouble!" Wigbrand cried.

Alibrand smirked. "Nah, we're still in control here."

One of the key parts we play is lulling you into letting your guard down. You already revealed your ability was Immunity, meaning you can't hide in your own sand with Sand Veil. I know you specialize in gunplay, meaning taking out that revolver of yours will limit your attack options. You can't poison us because we can just purge the poison out of our body. Even if you do land a hit on us, we'll heal it off faster than you can kill us. Any number of special bullets you have stashed away can be defended against. Your only option is to smash our heads, but you don't know that killing one head won't kill us. As long as one of us stays alive, we'll eventually come back to life with our memories intact. I've been doing this for years, Amos of the Blind Luck. So, what's your next move?

"Uh, Ali?" Wigbrand chirped in, breaking his brother's focus.

"Wha—" Alibrand peeked over his shoulder for a second and barely spotted the heated dagger swinging toward his face.

They let go of their elongated arm and grabbed the attacking Aipom by the wrist, a mere inch from being stabbed by her dagger. Her eyes were wide with a crazed, murderous glint. "That jackass isn't your only problem, remember?"

Alibrand scoffed. "I thought you were lending him support."

"This is how I support." She whipped her tail around and grabbed Wigbrand by the throat.

"GAK!" Wigbrand's head was stretched back, putting strain on his neck.

"Wig!" Alibrand gasped, losing strength in his grip.

Phoebe pulled herself loose and went on the offensive, stabbing the brothers around ten times in quick succession in the back. She hopped back as they swiped at her, then delivered another five stabs through their chest. She then raised her dagger and stabbed down into where Wigbrand's neck connected to the body.

"GAAAAAAH!" he screamed as Phoebe tried to dig his flesh loose.

Alibrand bent his head back and tried to snap at her with Fire Fang, but a bullet rained down from the air and tore through his jaw. He barely looked up in time to see Amos crashing down. The Gligar bashed the red pepper across the eye with his gunarm, then unloaded the rest of his bullets into their legs.

Sh-Shit! Alibrand gasped as he felt his connection to Wigbrand slipping. These idiots were bickering barely a half hour ago! When did they suddenly start working together? Doesn't matter. You're still messing with an unkillable monster!

"Wigbrand!" Alibrand stiffened their body and bent their arm around, catching Phoebe's wrist. "NOW!"

"Extra Hot Reaper Bites!" The green pepper hiccupped spat up red globs into the air, which morphed and rained down in the shape of fiery teeth. They splashed over Amos and Phoebe and chomped down on their skin, setting it ablaze.

"GAAAAAAAH!" They pulled back from the brothers and quickly patted them off. Amos staggered as vines burst out from his new wounds, burning even hotter than before.

The brothers straightened themselves out as their body healed off the damage. They pulled their scythe back in and used it to cut their elongated arm off, regrowing it to normal size. Wigbrand bobbed his head dizzily. "I don't feel so good…"

"Shake it off." Alibrand bit down on the scythe and fired a flurry of fire blades at the duo. "Extra Spicy Crunch: Chef's Special!"

Phoebe stood guard in front of Amos and cut down the fiery blades with her dagger. "Detect!" Her eyes flashed briefly, allowing her to evade and parry the attacks perfectly. "Stealth Dash!"

"Extra Spicy—" As the brothers went for another attack, Phoebe burst forth at untraceable speeds. As swift as the wind, she darted past the brothers and snatched their scythe from their hands without them realizing. Once she reached the other side of the roof, they realized they were disarmed. "EH?!"

Phoebe raised her dagger and repeatedly stabbed into the scythe until its blade warped and shattered to pieces. "Oops." She tossed the now-scorched stick over her shoulder. "Were you using that?"

The brothers growled and fired on her with their Mini Pepper Scattershot. She mockingly saluted them and jumped backwards off the building. Before they could chase her, they heard the click of Amos' revolver and were helplessly swept up by a bullet carrying a powerful gale. It pierced their body and sent them hurtling over the town, where they ended up crashing through their tavern.

Amos jumped down from the snow, coughing as more vines grew out of his wounds. "Ugh, I feel like shit."

Phoebe pointed over her shoulder. "Evelot has the antidote. Magni is recovering from his injuries. Go to them and get yourself patched up. I can handle this clown."

"Are you crazy?!"

She smirked. "Relax. They're no more dangerous than your average drunk now that they don't have their—" A red light suddenly hurled toward her, one that would've surely engulfed her had Amos not tackled her into the snow.

They picked themselves up as the brothers stepped back out into the snow, this time armed with a pair of farming sickles stained with blood. They spun the weapons, clashing sparks off each other, and advanced slowly toward them with not even a scratch on their bodies.

Phoebe frowned. "Of…course."

Alibrand laughed. "Well, I guess we'll have to do this the hard way." He and Wigbrand each bit on a sickle and grinded it against their teeth, igniting them both in flame. "Extra Spicy Emperor Scorpion Fangs."

The brothers dashed through the snow at top speed and flung themselves into a spinning attack. Amos and Phoebe dodged when they landed between them and tried to attack, but the brothers' remarkable agility allowed them to weave around their hastily made punches and sliced across their chests.

"GAH!" Phoebe stumbled back and tried to grab her dagger, but the brothers kicked it out of her hand and stabbed into her hip before ripping it loose. "AAAAAAHHHH!" She staggered, setting her up for a swift kick to the stomach.

Amos tried to blast them from behind, but they ducked under his first two shots and sliced into his arms and wings. "AGH!" They then brought the sickles down onto his shoulders, jumped up, and kicked him in the chest. The sickles ripped through his shoulders as he flew back. "AAAAGH!"

The brothers cackled as the duo lay in the snow, squirming from their scorched wounds. "What did you expect to happen? We're not even the strongest of the Deadly Seven. If you were fighting Abasolm, this entire town and everything within a ten-mile radius of it would be flattened into dust. We know our place in the food chain, and our jobs are to keep small fry like you in check."

Wigbrand cackled wildly. "Food chain! Get it? Because we're going to eat you!"

Amos struggled back onto his feet, panting heavily. "B…Burkhard?"

She pulled herself up, though faltered from the stab to her hip. "Y-Yeah, I'm awake. How do we beat these guys?"

Alibrand smirked. "Weren't you paying attention? As long as we're in our territory, you can't kill us! Everyone infested by our spores is just feeding us unlimited energy! We're completely immortal in this town!"

"…" Amos felt a smirk curling over his lips. "You keep your victims alive to grow peppers out of them, right? But does that also mean you need them alive for this technique to work?"

Alibrand's eyes widened. "Huh?"

"You need fertile, hearty soil for your crops, right? So, what would happen if your soil was barren? Or should I say lifeless?" His smirk grew into a maniacal grin. "Shnee-heeheehee! The more infected victims, the stronger your regeneration! Right?!"

"What are you getting at—" The brothers swung for the Gligar's neck, but he had already blasted the area with his Sandstorm. "GAH!"

"Burkhard!" Amos shouted over the storm. "They need the bounty hunters for their regeneration! Which means—"

The Aipom was already grinning like a psychopath. "It means I've got some weeding to do~." She pressed her dagger to her hip, wincing as she sealed it closed, then took off running in the snow. "Hold him off!"

"Hey!" The brothers tried to give chase, but Amos whipped his gunarm in their faces and knocked them back.

"If you want to get to her, you'll have to kill me first," he snarled. "Poison Tail!" He turned his body and struck their side with his poison-coated tail.

The brothers braced themselves before swiping at the Gligar's face. Amos backed out of their sickles' reach and blasted off into the air on a cloud of sand. He quickly loaded his gunarm and fired curve shots through the storm, striking the brothers through the legs and arms.

"RAH! Extra Spicy Crunch!" Biting on both sickles, they launched twin fire blades at the Gligar.

Amos dove out of the air, narrowly avoiding the projectiles, and fired his last two bullets into their chest. They charged through the shots and lunged through the storm, wildly swiping at Amos. He floated along the wind, staying just out of reach and fighting back with his Poison Tail.

"Argh!" Alibrand shouted. "What do you hope to accomplish after today?! Why are you fighting so hard? You think you have what it takes to survive in the Outlands?!"

Amos landed on the side of the broken-down tavern and shouted, "Doesn't matter what I can or can't do! I'm taking this land by storm and cutting Cain's throat open if it's the last thing I do!"

Alibrand grinned evilly. "You idiot. No one comes to the Outlands expecting easy fortune. Mark my words, if you keep resisting, you'll find great tragedy in the future."

"Cute story! I'll take my chances!" He spat into his gun and fired bullets loaded with Venoshock.

The brothers shielded their heads as the bullets pierced through them. As they lowered their guard, they saw their wounds were closing at a slower rate than before. Wigbrand gasped. "Brother?!"

Alibrand snarled. "Shit!"

"W-Wait, what are you—"

Phoebe barely paid mind to the downed bounty hunters. As she dashed past them, she delivered a single strike to their throats or hearts and left them bleeding out over the snow. She targeted those who she could easily kill, leaving alone anyone with reinforced skin. Many begged for their lives, and others tried to kill her when they realized what she was up to. None stood a chance as she delivered the fatal blows, cutting out their life in an instant.

"You lousy bitch!" a Garchomp roared, his body covered in a garden of peppers. He tried to strike her down with Dragon Claw, but she flipped off from his arm and plunged her dagger through his head, carving it down to his neck and spine. He gawked breathlessly before falling dead to the ground.

"Phoebe!" She glanced over her shoulder and saw Evelot and Magni running up to her. "What are you doing?!" the Mimikyu cried.

"These guys are the reason we can't kill those asshole brothers. Kill the source of nutrition, kill the regeneration!"

Magni snorted. "Help. I help!"

"If you want to help, give that bastard farmer a thrashing while I weed out his precious garden!"

Evelot whimpered. "Why do you have to always resort to viole—AAAAHHHH!" She clung onto Magni as he went racing off to the tavern.

Phoebe spun her dagger and glared at the snow-covered bounty hunters littered across the snow. "Alright! Whoever doesn't want to die tonight, you better be well hidden!"

Flames burst across the buildings that remained standing in the town. Amos hopped along the roofs on bursts of sand as the brothers chased him down from the streets, firing off blade after blades of fire. The entire street went up in an inferno with fierce sandstorms blowing along the way.

Amos leapt into the air, catching the currents, and rained down bullets onto the farming twins. They tanked the shots, but felt their movements growing sluggish as their regeneration progressively slowed down.

"Mini Pepper Scattershot!" They swept the sky with a barrage of flaming seeds and sniped Amos out of the air.

The careening Gligar loaded a bullet into his gunarm and took aim seconds away from hitting the snow. "Meteor Bullet!" He fired another Draco Meteor-infused bullet, sending a barrage of orange streaks at the brothers.

The moment before it was fired, the brothers chomped down on their sickles as hard as they could and unleashed their largest Extra Spicy Crunch, engulfing the path before them in flame. It struck back against the meteorite bullets and cancelled each other out, casting a deep smog over the street.

Amos crashed and tumbled through the snow. Struggling to his knees, he coughed up more vines while more grew out of his wounds, splitting the skin open. "Agh!"

The brothers charged out from the smog and lunged at the downed Gligar. "Time to die!" They reared their sickles back, aiming to lob his head off.

"Stinging Spear!" Blasting down the street from out of nowhere, Magni rammed the brothers with the full might of his spiked horns, ripping through their torso and sending them flying back into their tavern. He reared himself up and let loose a devasting, "Stinging Shriek!" The poison-tipped scream blasted and shredded through the tavern, bringing it down on top of the brothers.

Evelot hopped down and helped Amos sit up. "Are you okay?"

He grunted. "Do I…look okay?"

"Eep!" She quickly uncorked the last of her potion and tipped it into his mouth. "Quick, drink this."

As she fed the potion to Amos, flames burst out of the destroyed tavern, and the brothers came flying back out into the street. Wooden beams impaled through their body, and glass shards imbedded across their skin and faces. Open wounds with blood dripping down their arms weren't sealing as immediately as before.

Alibrand gritted his teeth. "None of you are leaving here alive!" He clanged the sickles together and bolted down the street with flames jettisoning from his and Wigbrand's mouths. "This is our town!"

Magni growled. "Stinging Shower!" He whipped his head forward and fired a barrage of poisonous, ballistic needles from his horns.

The brothers maneuvered around them as they exploded across the street. They struck into one of the needles, shattering it, and catapulted themselves at the massive Scolipede. Unfazed, Magni summoned a spike-covered boulder and intercepted their attack with it.

"Stinging Smash!"

The boulder shattered on impact and stopped the brothers in their tracks. Magni whipped his head through the rubble and delivered a heavy headbutt to their side, smashing them into a nearby wall. He roared and immediately charged into them before they could break loose, smashing them through the building with his horns locked under their arms.

Alibrand roared back. "Not. YET!" He twirled the sickles before repeatedly bringing them down on the back of Magni's head, cutting violently into his skin.

Magni roared and threw the brothers off. They spun through the air and landed on his back, aiming to deliver another round of slashes. Before they could, two arms popped out of a shadow void and caught their wrists.

"Huh?!" They looked back and saw Evelot through the portals, desperately holding them back with tears in her eyes.

"D-Don't hurt my friend!" she cried.

Wigbrand cackled and turned toward the portals. "Wrong move, crybaby—"

Another arm extended out of the portal and jammed a gun into the green pepper's mouth. His and Alibrand's eyes widened as Amos, no longer covered in vines, glared at the brothers. "Cry harder."

He slammed on the gun and blasted the back of Wigbrand's head open. The green pepper gagged and spat up green blood, hanging limply beside his brother. "Wig!" Alibrand gasped.

Amos pulled himself out of the portal and kicked both his feet into Alibrand's face. Magni then whipped his head around and smacked the brothers off his back, throwing them through another wall and out into the snow.

Alibrand dragged the sickles through the ground to catch himself and scraped up a barrage of fire slashes into the building. Magni charged out and plowed through the flames like nothing. Alibrand went for another attack, but Amos curved a shot from Magni's back and sniped both sickles out of their hands.

"What the—" Alibrand gasped before being tackled by Amos.

The Gligar furiously socked the Scovillain multiple times before stomping down on his neck. "You think I can't handle the Outlands?" He spun his revolver chamber and took aim. "Bring on the rest of your so-called Deadly Seven. I'll kill every last one of them!"

Alibrand growled. "You—" He felt around in the snow and picked up one of the sickles. "I'll see you in Hell, Blind Luck—"

"Drill Bullet."

Amos fired and blasted the spiraling bullet through Alibrand's head, ripping it to shred. He moved his foot back as the spiraling energy expanded out and eviscerated everything down to the shoulder. Pieces of the red pepper splattered over his face and even into his mouth.

The shock of the attack startled Wigbrand awake as he finished regenerating. "Wha—" He leapt to his feet, realizing he had full control of the shared body. His eyes widened in horror at the shredded mass of flesh loss from his right side. "ALLLLLLIIIIIIIIII!"

Amos wiped his tongue and spat onto the ground. "Agh, my tongue's burning…"

Wigbrand picked up the discarded sickles and laughed manically with tears streaming down his face. "Forget the muffins! I'M GOING TO TURN YOUR INTESTINES INTO A SWEATER!" Somehow moving faster, Wigbrand dashed at Amos while wildly swinging his sickles.

"Whoa!" Amos stumbled back on his heels, barely dodging the insane pepper's frenzied slashes.

Wigbrand laughed harder and harder, inching closer to the Gligar as he kept dodging. "I'll kill you! Then I'll kill your pet steed! Then I'll kill that monkey bitch! And then I'll maim that alchemist within an inch of her life! AHAHAHAHAHA!"

With each strike getting closer, Amos was forced to shield behind his gunarm again, each frenzied slash sparking and scraping off the revolver. "Shit!"

"Ammo!" Evelot and Magni ran out from the burning building. "Hang on!"

"Don't get any closer!" he snapped.

Magni stopped and glared in confusion. "Huh?"

Wigbrand swept under Amos' legs and knocked him to the ground. "Afraid your friends will get in the way?!" he cackled, raising the sickles up to deal the finishing blow.

Amos raised his arms over his face, smirking wearily. "How many times do I have to tell you? That psychotic bitch is not my friend, and she's my backup!"

Wigbrand paused, immediately sensing something was wrong. He peered down the far ends of the street, blocked by piles of snow. However, he saw something barely visible within the snow, something ever so slightly hidden from sight.

Phoebe, laying in the snow, positioned her rifle and glared through the ironsides until she had her shot lined up. Her tail's digit wagged, transferring the energy of the randomly generated attack into the loaded bullet within her gun. Too far away to stop her, and too far away to escape her sights. She had the Scovillain dead to rights.

She squeezed the trigger and whispered, "Party's over, asshole. Mystery Bullet!"

She fired. A bullet wrapped in cold winds surged down the street, steadily morphing into a giant icicle. Wigbrand already made the motions to dodge, but something glinted within the half second of the bullet's travel time. As if some force was projecting over him, a menacing set of glowing eyes blared through the aura of the bullet, paralyzing him on the spot.

"But my muffins—"

Amos, Evelot, and Magni flinched as Wigbrand almost instantly disappeared in front of them followed by the gunshot. A ringing explosion went out in the rubble of the tavern, scattering debris through the air.

They picked themselves up and looked over at the wreckage where the Scovillain's body should be. The body lay atop the rubble, impaled on sharpened wood with Wigbrand's head crushed and skewered under a giant icicle. Blood was splattered over the debris and ice, and there wasn't a sign of movement coming from the twin farmers.

They held their breaths in waiting until they saw the Blood Pepper Harvest receding. The green mist faded across the town, returning it to its familiar dull grays and white. They collectively breathed in the cold air, no longer feeling the tainted spores in the atmosphere.

Amos let out a sigh of relief and collapsed back into the snow. "Thank. Goodness."

"Woo! One hell of a shot, that was!" He tilted his head back and saw Phoebe walking up to the group, blowing smoke off her rifle. "Lucky roll with that Glare, right?"

He rolled his eyes. "If you say so."

Evelot shuddered. "That was scary…"

"Painful…" Magni grumbled.

Phoebe glared over her shoulder. "There's still quite a few bounty hunters laying around. Should I kill the rest of them—"

"NO!" Evelot squealed. "Arceus, no! Please, no more killing for tonight! I'm frazzled enough as is!"

Phoebe smirked. "It was just a suggestion." She reached down and pulled Amos to his feet. "Got to say, Lamecaster, you're not as completely useless as I thought."

He huffed. "And you're surprisingly cooperative for a maniacal serial killer in the making."

"Aww, you flatter me."

Evelot's eyes sparkled. "Does this mean you two are finally becoming friends—"

"Oh hell no!" they snapped, immediately glaring at each other.

"You could've killed me with that last shot, you know!" Amos yelled. "My face felt like it was being sliced by hundreds of knives just from the breeze alone!"

She laughed bitterly. "Oh, I'm sorry, did you want me to shoot him after you got your face torn in half? At least I didn't blast a face full of sand into your face!"

"You were fine!"

"My eyes are still burning, asshole!"

Evelot deflated. "Oh, come on…"

"…" Amos let out a deep sigh and settled down. "Regardless, we're still alive. That's what matters."

Phoebe groaned before holstering her rifle across her back. "Well, that's the least of our problems for now. If what those two dimwits said was true, we're not getting out of this town scot-free."

"They mentioned something about a group called the Deadly Seven. Ring any bells?"

She glared. "The Deadly Seven? Tch. That's going to be a problem."

"Care to elaborate?"

"…" She looked up at the sky. "Maybe we should talk about this in the morning. It's cold, and the sun will be rising who-knows-when. Magni needs to be rested up if we want any shot of reaching Caractacus soon."

Amos sighed. "Yeah, you're right." He wiped his mouth and spat out some of Alibrand's face onto the snow. "Ugh. I might be out for half a day."

Phoebe rolled her eyes and pushed him along. "Come on, Lamecaster. I don't need you slowing us down tomorrow."

"Tch. You'll slow me down."

"Heh, yeah, right."

Evelot stared at the duo unsurely as they hobbled back to the destroyed ruins of the tavern. She glanced up at Magni. "I'm not sure if I should be worried or not about those two."

Magni shook his head. "Frenemies."

"Yeah, that sounds about right." She looked around for a moment, staring sadly at all the corpses, wounded bounty hunters, and one lone Slowking hanging out by a ruined building. "It's…almost sad things had to end like this."

"…Yes." Magni walked after Amos and Phoebe, shaking off his injured neck. "Things…get better. Promise."

She sighed and snuggled inside his cloak. "I hope so…"