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Quiet winds swept the dusty dunes, Gabriel, the Moonlit Stranger quietly stepped between alleys and walkways, keeping a low profile. His mission? Locate the Feisty Five (save for Mooch, who was on a date with his lover, Lyrext.) , before they find him.
He had taken off his cloak, the jeans and leather jacket he wore under were better suited for The Wild East’s theme. Though, it left his head rather… exposed. He knew the perfect way to top himself.
In a brief flash of light, a hat materialized in his hands. A typical western hat, with a single band around it. Dotted across the band were buttons that showed the moon phase cycle, starting with a new moon in the front, and a full moon in the back, with intermediate phases spaced evenly between. Finally, there were two ear-holes he could poke his feline ears through.
He crowned himself with his fresh top, and moved along. It wasn’t until he moved into a particularly spacious straightaway that things got interesting.
He was done moving in the shadows, The Feisty Four wouldn’t go out of their way to find him like that. He walked across the middle of the road, garnering some attention for once.
He knew things could get hairy if not played right, so he had brought his revolver along with his leather holster. The revolver had an ivory handle with a silvery frame. On its barrel was a flourished rose design. Which matched the same with its holster.
And then, He knew. His ears perked up, whiskers stiffened, they were coming.
He stood his ground, letting them approach. The first to appear to him was a brightly colored monster, One that had a facial structure that reminded him of a starfruit. They too had a hat, though it concealed nearly their entire face. His sheriff outfit told him he was definitely the leader.
To his right, a pink, towering monster wearing a gangster-like tuxedo thumped their way just behind. They seemed more ogre-like in species, and one could assume them having a big accent.
And to his left, A lanky fish monster wearing a musketeer getup and a beret waltzed along with another. He assumed the opposite tone of voice from the big monster.
An ambiguous monster who was nearly entirely concealed by cloth and shade. They had their own suit and a fancy top hat with an ace card in its band. Strangely, he felt an unexplained kinship with that one, though just a suspicion.
And then, The star-like Sheriff spoke up first. “Well gang! Looks like we got another lone stranger wanderin’ these parts.”
Gabriel spoke up thereafter, though defensively. “There’s no doubt about it! You four are definitely the rest of the Feisty Five!”
In which The Sheriff responded with a hearty laugh and affirmation. “Right you are, stranger! And this here’s my posse. THE FEISTY FIVE! …Well, most of it at least. Our name stands for:”
The Pink one strikes a pose, and announces the first letter of FEISTY. Which stood for “Fearlessness!”
Next was the Fish monster posing on E, which stood for “Excellence!”
And then, the ambiguous monster struck a pose giving I. “Intuition!”
And then, silence? Which caused the Sheriff to speak up with a hint of nervousness. “We uh, don’t really have our “S” on deck right now. Her letter is S, which stands for Sneakiness.”
Finally, the pink monster posed again, and gave T. “Toughness!”
Followed by the Fish, which gave Y. “Youthfulness!”
And then The Sheriff interjected again, with another letter. “Justice!” he paused for a moment in awkward silence. “…The J is silent.”
Gabriel, Was nothing more than a stunned rock, they had a whole intro and everything. It impressed him, and he couldn’t help but break up a little with a few silent giggles of amusement.
“You guys definitely seem the Feisty type.” He nearly stopped himself from snorting again. They were just too good!
“Th’name’s North Star. This here’s Ed.” He gestures to the pink one. “This’s Moray.” pointing to the Fish. “And this’s Ace.” He finally gestures to the ambiguous monster.
And then He pointed to Gabriel, demanding his introduction. “And what might be yours stranger?”
“My name? People ‘round here call me Gabriel.” He snickered a little, playing along by mimicking the western accent for just a moment.
“That’s a real nice one!” North Star gave a smile before offering a handshake, due to both of their clothing and the fact they were both armed with revolvers. He simply assumed equal ground.
“You guys really impressed me, felt like I was in a movie.” Gabriel complimented, He already felt pretty good from just the introductions.
North Star lit up. That was the kind of compliment he could only dream of getting, and from a total newcomer no less. However, it only boosted his composure rather than break it, fully leaning into the sheriff persona due to its validation.
“Why thank ya Gabriel! We here pride ourselves in our presentation.” North star beamed, his smile genuine, and the rest of the gang getting their own little boost.
“Now then, I’m here for a reason.” Gabriel lowered his tone just a bit, enough to sound a little ominous. He’d heard just enough from mooch that their deal wasn’t so much as protecting the town, as it was safe enough, but rather, putting on a big spectacle, and he knew just the way to bring that out.
“The reason you lack your “S”, is that I’ve taken her hostage!” I say with a small wink. The Feisty Four knew that Mooch had gone and left with Lyrext. As they saw the two walk off somewhere.
“Agh! You fiend!” North Star was the first to pick up on the setup, as he ripped away from his handshake, and reached to draw his revolver. The rest of the gang followed suit.
“We could do this the easy way…” Gabriel reached his left hand out, presumably to accept a “ransom.” “Or the hard way.” He finished, reaching his other hand for his own gun.
“As if! We’d never go for such an underhanded resolution!” Moray snickered, and Ed continued. “We’re not tough for nothin’ chump!”
“You’ve got guts to so brazenly challenge us. It’d be a shame to make a fool out of you…” Ace readied their cards, ready to attack.
“Well, stranger… it was nice meetin’ ya, but we’re taking you down!” North star exclaims, initiating a battle between them and Gabriel.
“You’ll never catch me alive!” Gabriel exclaimed, instead of a fight, he’d rather use his agility to cause a chase! In which he swiftly leapt over The Four and began to make haste.
Though, Ace already nicked Gabriel with a card or two from the jump, their preparedness rewarding them an easy hit. But it wouldn’t nearly be enough to make Gabriel falter, as he lands on his feet and books it through town, the Four giving chase.
Gabriel jumped up all the way to the rooftops, raining down (Non-lethal) bullets down at the four, unfortunately having to reload once or twice, since he was using a revolver.
“Eddie! Give me a boost dear!” Moray shouted to Ed as they jumped into his strong arm. Ed stopped for just a moment, charged up a throw, and shot Moray past Gabriel to block his path.
Moray got into a stance with their sword, prompting Gabriel to do something about it or turn away. And so, Gabriel formed a dagger by Shadow magic, trading blows with Moray.
Soon, Gabriel got the upper hand, knocking Moray down, “Fatally” wounding him. (His dagger was intentionally blunt, along with the harmless bullets.) Moray was down for the count, giving a discreet signal that he was “Dead.”
The rest of the three looked in mock shock and horror as Gabriel slammed his foot down on the rooftop, brandishing Moray’s sword.
“Now then! Who else will come to challenge me! Ahahahahahaa!!” Gabriel cackled, he was starting to enjoy this performance in ways he couldn’t describe. He felt a sense of purpose, that he never felt anywhere else, why was he feeling such strong emotions in a place like this?
“Yer’ gonna pay for that!” North Star blared, his act was much better than Gabriel’s, now that he knew Gabriel had his footing in, it was time for him to start upping the ante.
“And yer’ gonna pay for Mooch!” He drew his revolver, putting some pressure on Gabriel.
Gabriel jumped down and lifted the stolen sword at the group. “Well it’ll take a lot more than that to stop me!”
And so, the group attempted at even better coordination. Everyone attacking at once, with Ed chasing after Gabriel, while North Star and Ace apply pressure through their respective projectiles.
This definitely gave Gabriel a much harder time, Having to weave through bullets and fists so quickly caused him to make a few slip ups here and there, whether it be taking a huge punch to the face or a bullet to the hip.
He shot a couple times towards the two distance shooters. Hoping to relieve the pressure to deal with Ed. Which worked a little. Sure it only caused a dispersion, but that’s all he needed to work at getting Ed to back off.
And with a few quick swipes, a shot in the chest, and taking one last punch to the face. Ed was kicked down in the middle of the road.
Though, Gabriel’s exhaustion was starting to get a bit worse. As he nearly buckled from taking so many hits.
So, he dove under some obstacle, took a small canteen and drank from it, rejuvenating himself for just enough time before the two opposing members caught up.
North Star pulled his gun, ready to fire at will, but just as he did, Gabriel jumped out of the way and into open space again, standing off against Ace and North Star.
“I’ll give credit where it’s due, you’re trying pal!” Gabriel said as he raised his revolver.
“The easy way out is still on the table y’know.” He offered once more, really only testing North Star’s resolve. “And if not, Your friend Ace here’s gonna get it like the rest of ‘em.” He finally threatened.
All this made North Star growl with rage. Though on the inside, this was the most fun he’s had in weeks! He was so ready to duel it out and put this bandit in the slammer!
“I’d rather perish than give a slime like you any unearned coin. Let’s end this, Star.” Ace replied, ready to “Die” and finish this fight.
North Star grinned, drawing his revolver and firing off rounds in Gabriel’s direction. Ace did something similar, throwing what seemed like decks and decks of cards.
Gabriel dove for cover, the two advancing. But then… just as they passed his cover, Gabriel jumped in from behind and shot Ace a couple times, causing him to keel over. North Star jumped for cover as soon as this happened, such as to not also get shot.
“You… Snivelling Rat…” North Star boomed from behind the shade. Slowly pacing out into the middle of the road.
“Please Sheriff, I’m so much worse than a rat. That’s going as far to even compliment me!” Gabriel teased, still playing into his villainous role.
“Let’s end this, your choice was made from the beginning.” Gabriel’s tone shifted to something more serious, as he approached North Star, surely knowing he’d be walking to his own “Doom.”
“Couldn’t have said it any better myself…” North Star Holstered his gun, the same gesture applying to Gabriel. The two stood back-to-back, and North Star spoke up again.
“Ten paces.”
They both took ten steps in unison, how they managed to do this so seamlessly was a mystery. They turn around, and face each other, firing hands on the ready.
A foreboding melody plays over the PA, probably done by Ace or even North Star himself. And as it ends, the two…
“DRAW!”
BANG BANG!!
Two gunshots were heard. North Star won the duel by a hair or two, being missed just slightly, whereas Gabriel was knelt over himself, bracing his stomach, nearing something “fatal.”
“The Moonlit thief… Loses again…” Gabriel muttered, not loud enough for anyone to hear. Then, He collapsed. Letting North Star have his way with him.
Which is exactly what he got to doing, locking Gabriel up in jail for a looong time, or at least until he escapes anyways.
Then, one by one, North star took the rest of the feisty four to the Hospital to rest up, peace finally beginning to be restored in town.
And just like that, One of the longer acts he pulled off was done, All that’s left was to pick up Mooch and end the day. Hopefully she wasn’t in too much of a rough shape, that guy she’s been hanging out with does keep her in check a little, but not by a lot.
As for Gabriel, He woke up in the left cell after an hour or two. Gun confiscated. (it was literally on a stool on the other side of the building.)
As he came to, he recounted the events that he just went through. He found it all…
Rather exciting! He hasn’t had fun like that… really ever! He met the rest of the Feisty five, fought them in a very fun staged battle, even as little as donning a leather hat and a cowboyish persona was really exciting to him.
“That… was… AWESOME!!” He couldn’t help but just yell it out, even if there were other people in the adjacent cell. He couldn’t wait to tell Lyrext and Mooch about it. Oh! He should also thank Mooch for setting that up for him, he wouldn’t have been here if not for her.
But, before all that, he should rest up a little longer, he had a long day, and presumably a longer time in jail too. So, he decided to coop up in the corner, tip his hat over his face, and sleep for a good while. He could have just telepoofed into his home under the Feisty Hideout, but there wasn’t any fun in that wasn’t there? He’d stay here for a day or two, and then maybe start something new after that. He couldn’t stay here for the whole period! He had a boyfriend to answer back to!
But then, all the thoughts melt away, into restful, leisurely dreams, Gabriel had fallen asleep. And likely, a lot of other people here too.