A day of partying was certain to knock even the most energetic of partygoers out. With midnight closing in, any and all remnants of a party taking place in Crimehallow had all but faded. All that remained were the barrels of ale spilt recklessly over the snow and the burnt-out torches hanging off the buildings.
All in Crimehallow, the abandoned town, was silent.
Silent…for now.
Within the one working tavern of the once abandoned town, the Broken Glass Alchemical Company slept soundly amidst the blizzard raging outside. Magni, unable to enter the building, took shelter between the tavern and an old building under a pile of blankets he found. Despite the blizzard, he didn't seem to mind. He wasn't bothered by it in the slightest.
The rest of the company slept in old, ragged beds with hole-covered blankets to keep them warm. All but Amos slept through the alcohol still lingering in their systems, almost nothing capable of waking them up from their deep slumber.
Almost nothing, at least.
Stirring awake, Evelot weakly opened her eyes, fighting through the wave of vertigo rushing over her mind. She groaned softly, rolling to the edge of the bed and plopping to the floor. "Ow…"
She picked herself up, stumbling through the room, and gazed softly at the snow-covered window. She almost forgot where she was, but remembered through the few puzzle pieces of the night she could recollect.
"Ah. Right. Party. Woooo…" She groaned and turned away from the window, missing the shadow dashing over it. "Bathroom…" She wearily shuffled to the door, ramming into the wall a couple times before finally finding the door handle.
She missed the odd creaks of the floorboards outside the room as she let herself into the hall. She kept one hand to the wall and slowly made her way toward the stairs, not noticing the eyes glimmering from the ceiling.
"Never drinking…that much again," she mumbled.
Note: she only had half a mug of alcohol.
She soon found her way to the stairs and gingerly hobbled down to the first floor. "So tired…"
With the alchemist no longer on the third floor…
The real party could begin.
Amos wasn't much of a heavy sleeper. He often drifted through the nights alone with his thoughts before eventually succumbing to slumber. It was a necessary skill in his line of work, being able to stay alert at your most vulnerable. As such, between that and the cold air seeping through the uninsulated walls, he bundled tightly under his ratty blankets and ignored everything around him.
Though, perhaps the reason he was struggling to sleep was the unfamiliar territory. Even when he was picked up by the company, sleep was a luxury he rarely acquired. Now he was in an unfamiliar town sleeping in some old tavern. It wasn't the most ideal location to sleep. He would feel safer camping out in the middle of nowhere had it not been for the snow.
Thankfully, the snow outside softened any old groans and creaks coming from outside. The noise would have driven him mad with suspicion. He hated the cold, but at least he was granted a peaceful slumber.
…
…
…Creeeeeak…
The sleepy Gligar's eyes snapped open. He didn't make any sudden movements. He gently turned onto his side, facing in the direction of the sound. His eyes drifted cautiously, finding he was alone in the room as far as he could see, though he swore he heard the creak coming from nearby.
…Creeeeeeeak…
Amos sat up in bed, glaring softly into the darkness. It could be someone going to take a piss. Regardless, he threw his blanket off and stepped out of bed. He refused to go back to sleep until he eased the questions in his mind.
First, he opened his door and peeked out into the hallway, scanning the floor and ceiling for signs of life. With his superior night vision, he saw nothing looming in the darkness. He closed the door, locking it back up, and setting the key aside on a table.
He checked the room closet, again finding nothing inside. He dropped to the floor and checked under the bed, finding nothing but the empty space occupied with a layer of dust. There weren't a whole lot of hiding spaces to work with, so he seemed to be alone in the room.
Though, still plagued with doubt, he checked the window next. After fiddling with the latch with only one pincer, he lifted the pane and winced at the rush of cold air blasting through. Because the window was utterly caked in snow, it hid the snow-covered state of the town. What was once a street active with entertainment was blanketed in a veil of white. He could hardly see anything beyond the town's perimeter.
He peeked his head out and scanned the ground level and the roof directly above him. Nothing but snow and a few icicles hanging over his head. He sighed and forcibly slammed the window shut. He bundled tightly under his poncho and shuffled back to his bed.
"F-F-Fucking old buildings and their old ass creaking…" he grumbled. I'm losing my damn mind out here. Shaking off the shivers, he lifted his covers and prepared to slip back into bed.
Paranoia was a difficult feeling to live with, yet it proved to be a necessary skill to survive in a dangerous line of work.
As Amos prepared to get into bed, a dark sludge seeped out from the cracks in the floor. Wrapped in a light blue glow, the sludge increased in size, rising silently out of the floor and towering over the Gligar under the cover of shadow. From the sludge's emerging hand, a dagger inched out from its body. The creature gripped the weapon tightly and raised it above Amos, ready to end it all in one strike.
However, paranoia used in healthy doses can extend one's life a little longer. When Amos closed the window to his room, he consciously scattered some sand across the room as a final precaution. Tiny little particles invisible to the naked eye in the darkness, but each minute grain fully within the Gligar's detection.
And some of those particles passed over the sentient sludge.
Amos' eyes widened, and he leapt out of the way right as the towering sludge pile drove the dagger down, stabbing into the ratty bed. On instinct, he hammered on his gunarm and blasted a hole through the sludge's head. "I fucking knew it!"
The sludge reformed itself as a Muk, and he ripped his dagger free from the bed. "Your bounty is mine, Blind Luck Amos!" He went for the kill again, but Amos bounced off his stingerless tail and launched into the ceiling on a whirlwind of sand.
"How the hell did you get into the town?!" Amos yelled, firing some shots into the Muk. "We're completely snowed in!"
The Muk laughed and launched his arm out as a surge of sludge, grabbing Amos out of the air and slamming him into the floor. "Oh, I didn't come to this town. We've been here the entire time."
Amos' eyes widened. "We? What are you—"
The floorboards smashed open, and four black tentacles coiled around his body. He gasped out in pain as the tentacles constricted tightly over his body, crushing his arms up against his sides. Emerging out of the floor was a Grapploct with a killer hold over the struggling Gligar.
"Hope you've had fun partying, Blind Luck, because tonight's your last day in this world!" the Grapploct exclaimed.
Muk raised his dagger. "Now hold still!"
Amos growled through clenched teeth. "Get the fuck off of ME!" Building up a vicious whirlwind of sand around himself, he raised his leg and kicked into his gunarm, setting off the hammer. A bullet fired, curving upward and drilling through the Grapploct's shoulder.
"GAAAH!" He released his grip.
Amos glared at the injured octopus, his eyes glowing in a rainbow light. Octolock, huh? The energy he generated channeled through his body and into his gun, loading itself into an alchemy bullet stored in the chamber.
"Hey!" Muk lunged at Amos and took a swipe at him.
Amos catapulted over his attacker and aimed his gunarm upside-down. "Try this!" He fired a bullet streaking in crimson light, piercing through Muk's body.
Muk turned around and laughed. "HA! What was that supposed to—" His eyes widened as rings of crimson energy erupted out from his body before immediately constricting back around him. Despite his amorphous body type, the rings crushed his limbs and squeezed down on him. "H-HEY! I-I-I can't move!"
Amos landed by his bed and grabbed something off the nightstand. One of the items he acquired from the trading post recently was a pouch to store any alchemy bullets Evelot made for him. He reached inside and tapped a bundle, transferring the remainder of the copied energy into them.
"Save those for later," he grumbled. He glared at his attackers as they struggled on the ground. What the hell's going on? How did a group of bounty hunters find out we were here?
He focused on the duo and noticed something off about them. Looking closely, he realized their eyes were both extremely bloodshot. They looked like their eyes were completely filled with blood, barely any signs of their normal sclera. It didn't look like it was caused by insomnia or anything of the sort.
There was something…primal about the way they were looking at him.
What's up with these two—
"Knock, knock~!"
His eyes widened as the wall leading to outside shattered open, letting in the fierce cold winds raging in the town. By pure instinct, he ducked and avoided a dicey welcome from a scarred Glaceon's Icicle Spear. He jumped to the side, avoiding a deadly Ice Fang that froze the floor just from being within proximity.
Amos caught a glimpse of the Glaceon's eyes and noticed the same blood eyed expression in them. What the?!
The ice fox smirked. "Got you now, Blind Luck! Freeze Dry!" He whipped his head forward and fired a ball of misty cold at Amos.
"Sandstorm!" Amos unleashed a frontal whirlwind of sand and disrupted the Freeze Dry before blasting the Glaceon into the wall. "How many bounty hunters are in this town?!"
"Heheh…" He glared at the Grapploct, who picked himself off the ground. "See for yourself…"
Amos looked out into the town, and his heart sank. "Oh…fuck."
It wasn't just five, six, or a small gang of bounty hunters he was dealing with. From the dozens of shadows standing atop the rooftops and peering menacingly into the tavern, it became alarmingly clear what was transpiring.
He was in the center of a townwide ambush!
Phoebe roused from her deep slumber, growing irritated by the noise coming from the next room over. She gripped both sides of her pillow and tried to block out the noise to preserve her groaning mind.
Unable to block out the noise, she dropped the pillow and snapped her eyes open. "Oi, Lamecaster! SHUT THE FUCK UP OVER—"
Clarity instantly returned to her mind as a familiar Luxio stood over her with a knife clenched between her teeth and eyes gleaming blood red. She smirked and whispered, "Goodnight~."
Right as she plunged the knife toward the Aipom, Phoebe quickly kicked her feet up and struck the lynx in the stomach. It caused her to double over and vomit over the bed, which Phoebe avoided after rolling onto the floor.
"That's the last time I get frisky with Outlanders…" Phoebe grumbled.
The Luxio smirked. "Nothing personal. It's just business." She lunged across the room, enveloping her Thunder Fang over the knife.
Phoebe quickly pulled out her heated dagger and blocked the electrified weapon. "Then I guess I won't feel bad over this!"
She sucker-punched the Luxio in the side, stunning her, then drove her dagger through her neck. The Luxio could only stand in shock as Phoebe ripped around her neck and sliced it open in a single stroke. The wound burned, filling the air with the smell of scorched flesh.
Phoebe sheathed her dagger and scoffed as the lynx fell dead. "Geez, what the hell was that about—" She looked across the room, and her eyes widened as the empty bed. "Evelot? Evelot! Where's Evelot—"
"She's not your concern at the moment." She turned her head up just as an electrified web came down and pinned her down against the Luxio's corpse. She screamed out as the electric webbing zapped her while a Galvantula rappelled from the ceiling. "We won't be harming the alchemist. You and your friends, however, are expendable."
Phoebe lifted her head and noticed shadows moving around her room. A Hitmonlee, Sunflora, Zweilous, and Pupitar leered down at her with sinister red eyes. They crowded around her, charging an assortment of moves to snuff the life out of her.
She growled. "If you lay one finger on Evelot, I'll kill every last one of you. Actually…" She curled her tail and started wagging one of its fingers. "I think I'll kill you bastards anyway!"
Galvantula's eyes widened as her tail's digit started glowing. "She's using Metronome!"
Phoebe smirked evilly. "Take…THIS!" She raised her tail through the electric webbing and pointed, causing the bounty hunters to recoil in fear.
…A dark aura briefly flashed over Phoebe.
…That was all.
"…Eh?" the bounty hunters gasped.
Phoebe blinked twice, then groaned. "That…was Curse."
Galvantula shook his head and growled. "Somebody kill her already!"
The bounty hunters lunged at the trapped monkey. She shrieked and quickly wagged her tail again. She hurriedly fired whatever move conjured from the attack, and fortunately got something a bit more useful. With a firm wag of her tail digit, a ring of Muddy Water spawned around the electric webbing and surged out across the room, throwing the bounty hunters back.
The water tore through the net and freed her. She sprung across the room and snatched her rifle off the damp floor.
Hitmonlee recovered first and lunged across the room. "I got her! Take this—"
Phoebe quickly spun around and fired a bullet through the Hitmonlee's head. To the horror of the other bounty hunters, the bullet spun with such speed and ferocity that it blended the kicking Pokémon's head into smithereens. The bullet passed through the wall, drilling hole after hole before flying out into the snowy town.
Blood splattered over Phoebe's face as the Hitmonlee's corpse splattered onto the soaked floor. With scorched fur and mud stains over her body, she rose up and smeared the blood along her cheeks, grinning at the cowering group with vicious intent.
"Now, what was that about me being expendable, you worthless extras?"
It didn't take long before Magni was awoken by the commotion coming from inside the tavern. He jolted out from his makeshift cot and ran out into the street, looking up at the gaping hole in the upper levels of the building. Gunshots went off inside, and he could see Amos fending off against his attackers.
"Friends!" Magni gasped. He snorted and proceeded to charge headfirst at the tavern, ready to take the whole building down.
However, before he could, the ground suddenly burst open under his feet. A giant Steelix erupted out of the earth and threw Magni away from the building. He careened down the snow-covered streets and barreled through a layer of trash buried underneath.
As he picked himself up, larger Pokémon walked out into the open with their eyes set on the massive Scolipede. Among them was a red-eyed Cetitan, who let out a thunderous roar and charged him down with Ice Spinner, plowing through the snowy streets like a tornado.
Magni's eyes sharpened, and he retaliated with his own monstrous roar as he charged into the attack. Activating his Megahorn, he plowed into the Cetitan and hardened his stance, bringing the ice whale to a halt as his horns grinded against his spinning body. Once the Cetitan came to a stop, Magni spun his head around and delivered a brutal headbutt to send the whale flying over the street.
A hyperactive Slaking leapt across the rooftops and dove on top of Magni's back, grabbing onto his head and smashing it into the street. Once pinned, a Mamoswine charged forward. Slaking leapt off Magni's back, allowing the Mamoswin to scoop the Scolipede up in his tusks and barrel him through the nearby buildings. The foundations came toppling down over the mammoth, yet he kept plowing through building after building.
The Cetitan picked himself up and laughed. "Nice! Once we take out the big guy, the rest should be easy pickings! I don't know what was so important that we had to kill these chumps, but that reward money is ours!"
Steelix laughed. "And once I beat this loser, I'll be one step closer to getting stronger and getting my revenge on that asshole bounty hunter who clobbered me last time!"
Slaking glared. "Yeeeeeah, that's never going to happen."
"It could!" he whined. "I even got an invitation to join a criminal organization after a free slot opened up!"
"That was a pity invitation, you dumbass—"
Amidst their bickering, they heard a bloodcurdling scream from down the road. They watched as something came hurtling across the sky and crashed down in front of them. To their horror, it was their Mamoswine compatriot. Both his tucks were ripped off with blood gushing out of his face, and one of his eyes was…
It looked like it was torn out by a set of teeth!
"What the?!"
An earthshattering roar echoed through the town, and they turned down the street as Magni came rushing back at the titanic Pokémon with great speed and fresh blood splattered over his face.
"…Kill him!" Cetitan yelled before he and more Pokémon in hiding jumped out into the open to apprehend the rampaging megapede.
After relieving herself, Evelot opened the bathroom door and yawned, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Back to bed—"
Her eyes widened as several crashes erupted from upstairs. She squeaked as the ceiling shook trapped dust and debris loose. She heard gunshots going off all above, followed by more bodies crashing through walls by the sound of it.
"W-W-W-What the?!" she gasped.
"Hurry! Capture the alchemist and kill the rest!" Evelot peeked down the hall and noticed several shadows moving toward the tavern entrance.
Upon hearing their intentions, she quietly shuffled back into the bathroom, locked the door, and plopped down in the corner. She hugged herself and trembled as the bounty hunters raced by the bathroom.
"Find my happy place, find my happy place…"
"RAH!" Amos clobbered the Glaceon across the head before jabbing his gun down his throat and blowing the back of his neck open. He kicked the corpse into the struggling Muk and dodged Grapploct's Liquidation.
"Hold still, you little cretin!" Grapploct roared, rapidly thrashing at the room with his tentacles.
Amos bounced along the walls with his sand and spat Venoshock in his eyes. As the octopus seized back in pain, Amos landed on his destroyed bed and fired an alchemy bullet that carried a strong gust of wind behind it. It nailed through the octopus, plowing him into the Muk and smashing through the wall leading to Phoebe's room.
"Burkhard!" Amos glided over to the room and shouted, "Get up! We're under attack—" He paused and landed gently in the room. "Oh. Never mind."
He had missed what appeared to be a minor massacre. A Sunflora was pinned to the wall with his own daggers, a Zweilous collapsed over the floor with one of the heads cut off, and a Pupitar had a sharpened bedpost jammed through the eye socket.
Phoebe sat on top of a screaming Galvantula, dragging her heated dagger slowly down his midsection. She loomed over the screaming spider with a crazed smile. "I'm no surgeon, but I know all the right ways to keep you alive during this."
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH! STOOOOOOP!" he screamed.
"Oh, shut up!" She stood and kicked him across the room. She huffed in annoyance before glaring over her shoulder at Amos. "Oi. You look like shit."
He glared back. "Hate to see you alive, too." He turned his back to her. "Now, would you kindly make yourself decent? You should have a pair of new clothes around here."
Phoebe looked down at herself and found the remains of her dress torn to ribbons during the brawl. She scoffed, tore the last of it off her body, and walked over to the wrinkled set of clothes on her bed. "Well, that old thing was getting too worn out, anyway."
The Galvantula struggled to lift his head. "I…I'll kill you—" She stomped his head into the floorboards.
"Oi, I'm naked here! Keep your eyes to yourself!" She repeatedly stomped his head into the floor, even beyond the point of necessity. Once he stopped twitching, she huffed and picked up her new clothes. "That's better."
Amos rolled his eyes. "I'm beginning to see why Thatcher wasn't particularly fond of you."
"Took you this long to figure that out? Wow, you really are a dumbass." She threw the old gray tunic on first before picking up the trousers. She groaned. "Hey, these don't have a tailhole!"
"Just be glad I bothered finding clothes for you, bitch!" he snapped. He sighed before glancing around the room. He noticed the empty bed by the wall he crashed through. "…Where's Rags?"
After cutting a hole into the back of her new trousers, Phoebe casted a worried glare over her shoulder. "…I don't know. When I woke up, I noticed she was missing. I think these creeps were looking for her."
"That might be a problem."
"Why?"
"I think this entire town is full of bounty hunters looking for us."
Phoebe slipped on her trousers, hopping on one foot to keep her balance. "The entire town? How is that possible? Don't tell me what we did at the slave auction caused this much of a stir."
"No, I don't think that's the reason. They're after something else."
"…" She glared. "They said something about sparing Evelot and killing the rest of us. Maybe they want her."
Amos growled. "If they're after Evelot, that's an entirely different problem."
After throwing on her new brown coat, Phoebe picked up her rifle and strapped it over her back. "She could still be in the tavern. We need to find her and get out of here."
"There's nowhere to go, though. We wouldn't get far out of town in this weather. We may have to wait out the storm." Amos grimaced. "That, however, is going to be an issue. They have the entire building surrounded. I think they're biding their time before they rush us down."
Phoebe glared. "Well, I'm not waiting around for anyone's permission. I'm looking for Evelot."
Amos sighed. "I didn't say I wasn't going to, either. Let's get Magni and—"
Their eyes widened as a Steelix came barreling through the walls, tearing out the floor and most of the second floor below them. Glancing out of the gaping hole, they saw Magni rampaging through the street, tossing and skewering anyone who dared to fight him. Bloodstains followed him through the snow as he trampled over his pinned victims and tore out their entrails with his savage fangs.
"…I say let him handle the fodder outside," Phoebe proposed.
"Ditto."
Meanwhile, about a mile away from Crimehallow…
"Looks like we might not get a shot at the glory this time, Ulrich. The brothers pulled out all the stops on this little stunt."
Camped out and braving the intense blizzard, the duo of Ulrich and Vilgot observed the town of Crimehallow from atop a plateau. Vilgot, who was bundled tightly in a blanket to wait out the snow, peered over the town with his telescope. Ulrich pried open a can of beans and slurped it down.
Vilgot groaned. "This sucks. This was our real big chance to prove to the rest of those ingrates that we're more than a couple of punks looking for thrills! Taking on this mission for Dr. Underhill would earn us praise and gratitude like you wouldn't believe! Why did those chumps have to get to the prize first?"
Ulrich finished off his can and tossed it aside. He smirked. "If you let yourself get caught up in the what ifs and what nots, you'll never be half as great as me, Vil. It's all about seizing opportunity. We're just waiting out the storm. If the brothers win, then they win. But if they lose, they accomplished in weakening our prey."
The Flapple's eyes widened, then he smirked. "That's devious. Nice thinking, Ulrich."
"Yeah, I know." He lay back in the snow, arms tucked behind his head. "Anyway, what's the situation down there?"
Vilgot peeked through his telescope again. "Most of the fighting is taking place in the tavern. I can't really see much else besides that Scolipede—oh god, he just ate that man's head off!"
"Sick," Ulrich commented.
The Flapple groaned. "Still, he went to a lot of effort to gather everyone here. I'm surprised everyone's not bothered by the cold."
"It's those muffins he keeps handing out," Ulrich explained. "The more of them you eat, the more hyper aggressive you get. They're made from the peppers they grow, and they're laced with that Spicy Extract move they know. They give you one hell of a high from what I've heard."
"Hmm, I'd be tempted if the idea of eating those things didn't disgust me."
Ulrich closed his eyes. "They're playing the waiting game on this one. They're tiring out those four first before they go for the kill themselves. Alibrand and Wigbrand are two of the sickest monsters I've had the displeasure of meeting."
Vilgot glared. "You know more about them than I do. They seem plenty friendly to me."
"Oh, they are. They always love to throw a good party." He glared. "But tonight's one of those nights for them. I suggest you keep watching. You're about to see exactly why those sick fucks are a part of our group. Those fools are going to realize too late what Ali and Wig were celebrating tonight."
It didn't take long for the fighting to extend further inside the tavern. A wall blew out from the upper parts of the wall, sending a gang of bounty hunters flying out into the empty space and crashing down over the tables. Amos leapt out from the wreckage, firing shots behind himself to ward off two pursuing Yanmega. He landed on a broken table and cast his Sandstorm through the bar to ward off further attack.
Phoebe came crashing down through the connecting hallway's ceiling, stabbing a Pyroar through the neck. She flipped off the deceased lion as a Snorlax came crashing down on top of the corpse and attempted to crush her with a Body Slam. She threw her dagger into his eye, staggering his lunge enough for her to jump out of the way and kick off the wall. As soon as the Snorlax crashed down on the floor, she slammed the barrel of her rifle into his head and blew his brains out.
Right as she jumped down and pulled her dagger from the giant's eye, a Garchomp dove out from the ceiling and attempted to skewer her only to have a curving bullet snipe through his eye and take him out. Phoebe sheathed her dagger and glared into the sandstorm raging in the bar. "I could've killed him!"
"Just shut up and look for Rags!" Amos yelled, dodging a Tauros ramming through the tables.
Phoebe cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Evelot! Evelot, where are you?!"
Amos braced himself as the Tauros charged and scooped him up in his horns, ramming him through the bar counter and smashing him against the shelf of alcohol. "Get. OFF!" He bit into the bull's head and blasted him with Toxic. The bull shrieked in pain and threw Amos over his head.
Upon catching himself on the air, Amos loaded a bullet into his gunarm and fired a streak of flame that ignited the alcohol soaking Tauros. He screamed out in agony, charging madly and barreling through any unfortunate bounty hunter caught in his mad gallop.
Phoebe kicked on a locked bathroom door before taking her dagger and cutting open the lock. She threw the door open and quickly scanned the inside, yet found no trace of the missing Mimikyu. "Dammit! Evelot!"
"Megahorn!" A Heracross charged out from the sand and attempted to skewer Phoebe.
In frustration, she swung the door into his line of sight. He crashed through it effortlessly, but lost track of her in the mess of splintered wood in his vision. The moment he barreled through the door, Phoebe flipped over his head and drove her dagger into the back of his neck. The heated blade dug through effortlessly and took him to the ground.
"I'm busy, asshole!" she shouted, furiously stomping on the beetle's head. "Unless you know where Evelot is, you can shut up and die!"
"Someone grab that crazy bitch!"
"Eh—" Right as Phoebe looked up, a Bastiodon rammed into her full speed. She tried to stab him, but his hardened head proved too durable for her dagger. The angry Bastiodon roared and tossed Phoebe into the sandstorm before unleashing a barrage of ancient-looking rock emerging from the floorboards.
"Shit!" She bounced onto her tail and threw herself out of the way. She shielded her eyes against the heavy storm and stumbled back on her heels. "I can't see, Lamecaster!"
"Not my problem!" he shouted, dodging a few Hydro Pumps and firing retaliatory shots.
"You shitty, worthless—AAAGH!" Phoebe pulled out her rifle and a bullet glowing in psionic pink. "Forget you! I'm destroying these clowns!" She loaded the bullet, then began wagging her tail digit, transferring Metronome's energy through the gun. "Mystery Bullet!"
She fired blindly into the sandstorm, releasing a fast-moving pair of energy teeth wrapped in psionic energy. A group of bounty hunters were caught in its path as the teeth same snapping down on top of them and area in front of the attack. Everything that was inflicted by the energy teeth suddenly disappeared in a violent flash.
Amos shot another bounty hunter dead and yelled, "What the hell was that?!"
"Displace Bullet, made from a Teleport I snatched off a Gardevoir several months ago," she calmly explained. "Since it was fused with Bite, I imagine there are some bloody chunks and debris a couple miles or so from our location."
"How many of those do you have?! Give me some!"
"Like Hell I'm sharing my ammunition with a jackass like you!"
"I'm putting in the most work here!"
"Oho, you think I need your help?! I'm doing your job better, and I'm currently blinded by sand!"
"Ancient Power!"
They stopped arguing as the Bastiodon launched another barrage of ancient rock at them. They dodged out of the way, bracing themselves against the explosion of debris. As Amos' Sandstorm subsided, more bounty hunters came crawling out of the darkness. A gunslinging Toxicroak pulled out two revolvers and fired from the ceiling.
Amos kicked up a table to deflect most of the shots. One nearly got him in the head had he not lifted his gunarm to shield it, though the impact rattled his arm. He cast another Sandstorm to throw off his shots while Phoebe ducked under another table.
"Can't you see where Evelot is or something?!" Phoebe shouted, firing around her cover. "I thought you were supposed to have improved senses or something in this shitty weather!"
Amos fired a couple times around cover before shouting, "Just because I can detect people in the sand doesn't mean I can tell who's who! Do you know how fucking hard it is to keep track of one person in a crowded area?!"
"Fucking fuck, you're useless!"
"I'm not the one who lost track of Rags!"
"I was drunk!"
"That sounds like a you problem, then!"
"Oh, look at me! I'm Lamecaster, and I'm so much better than everyone because I'm a buzzkill!"
"Oh yes, because getting drunk in a fucking wasteland with psychos is the genius ploy of the century!"
Phoebe growled. "What is your problem?!"
"What's your problem?!"
"If I have to spend another fucking second listening to your shit, I'll kill you myself!"
"You wouldn't get the chance before I do!"
"You want a bet, asshole?!"
"Gladly—" Their bickering immediately ended when they heard something hissing from behind their cover. "Uh, what's that sound?"
They slowly peeked out around their cove and saw…something quite horrifying: an Electrode gathering up vast amounts of energy.
The bickering duo shared a look with each other, then dove back around their cover. "FUCK—"
The entire front of the tavern went up in flames, and everyone caught in front of the Electrode's Explosion was blown out into the snow. Amos and Phoebe barely hung on by the tables they were using, which were blown apart in the blast, and crash landed next to each other in the street.
"Ugh…" Amos groaned.
Phoebe lifted her head and shook the snow off her body. "Ugh, wow. You were right. You can't see shit…"
"Shut. Up."
They picked themselves up, immediately reeling under the intense cold of the blizzard. Glancing back at the tavern, those who weren't knocked out by the explosion crawled out from the tavern and stumbled toward the duo in a daze. Amos and Phoebe cautiously stepped back, holding their guns at the ready.
"W-W-W-Where's Magni?" Phoebe asked through her shivering.
Amos clenched his teeth. "H-H-H-He must've got separated in the fighting."
"Shit…" She fumbled with her bag, trying to pluck out a bullet. "Well, y-y-you're the expert mercenary. A-Any bright ideas to get through this?"
Before Amos could offer half-baked suggestions, a stream of Bullet Seeds fired in front of the winded bounty hunters. Each seed exploded in a brief burst of fire that stunned the group from advancing.
"Huh?!" Amos and Phoebe gasped.
"Hey, you two!" They turned around and spotted the Scovillain brothers waving them down from a nearby building. "Hurry, get inside!"
Without much thought and minds still racing, they took off running toward the bartender twins as they kept on firing streams of exploding Bullet Seeds to keep the bounty hunters from following after them. Once the duo made it inside the building, the brothers grabbed the heavy iron door and slammed it shut.
Freed from the cold, Amos and Phoebe collapsed onto their knees and took the moment to catch their breaths while the brothers locked the door. With no lights or windows in the building, the room was submerged in pitch black darkness that Amos could barely peer through. Though, he was too exhausted to take in his surroundings.
"Th-Thanks…" Amos groaned.
"Don't mention it," Alibrand said. "Don't worry about them following after us. This building is one of the only structures that hasn't been destroyed since the town was abandoned. It's pretty sturdy."
Wigbrand cackled. "Crazy night, huh?!"
Phoebe huffed and carefully picked herself back up. "I'll say. Alcohol and psychopaths don't mix, apparently." She dusted herself off and gleamed the room with a curious glare. "Are you absolutely sure they can't break into here?"
Alibrand waved it off. "You have nothing to worry about."
Amos stood up and brushed the snow off his shoulders. "Well, thanks again. Once we've recuperated, we can go back to finding Rags—" He paused as soon as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He squinted at an odd shape on the floor. "Wait, what kind of building is this?"
"Oh, right. Well, you see—"
All of a sudden, Amos and Phoebe were shoved in the backs and toppled forward. They found themselves falling through the floor and crashing down a fair distance below, landing on a pile of something that crunched under their weight. A light finally emerged topside, and the duo found themselves lay in a pile of bones and decayed flesh.
Laughter echoed from the top of the pit, and they gazed up to see the bartending brothers kicked a metal grate over the hole and locked it shut.
Wigbrand cackled. "WELL, you see! Get it? Well! Pit! See?! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Alibrand smirked. "Welcome to Crimehallow's old jailhouse."