On the Run

‘…’ Thought

Chapter 12: Fisticuffs

The stillness of the warehouse was shattered as the pulse rifle ripped
off its burst. Nikolas tried to see the results of his ambush but by the time
the after image of the muzzle flash cleared from his eyes both of the
ouetouettes had disappeared but he could hear someone with a deep bass voice
cursing from where they had last been.

“Damn it he shot me!”

Realizing his ambush was blown Nikolas quickly ducked down behind the
crate he had been using for cover and started to move parallel to the door
behind a row of crates and containers. After moving a few meters down the row
he stuck his head over to check the entrance to the warehouse again. When he saw
no one he crouched back over and was about to start back down the row when he
heard the large man mutter something else to low to hear. Nikolas made a quick
decision and headed for the door keeping his right shoulder against the nearest
wall of crates. When he reached the end of the row he stopped and kept his
entire body pressed back against the stack of blue plastic containers that were
at the end of it. Cautiously peering around the corner he was able to see then
entirety of the warehouse’s loading dock and almost exactly in the middle of it
was larger of the two bounty hunters.

The tattoos on the mans left arm and face looked almost black in the dim
light except where a bit of light shined across one just below his eye, that
one appeared almost silver. The high velocity slugs from the pulse rifle had
punched a neat hole through the meat of the man’s right shoulder and had torn a
gash through the pants leg on the same side. While Nikolas watched the man
tried to stand but neither his arm nor leg seemed to cooperate and he flopped
back down onto his back breathing hard. A meter from his outstretched left hand
laid the tranquilizer pistol he hadd atd at the river.

Before he even realized what he was doing Nikolas had dropped his rifle
to his side and had pulled out the pistol on his right side from its holster.
Gripping the weapon in both hands he quickly closed the distance between
himself and the bounty hunter bringing the pistol up and into line with the
man’s head as he did so.

 

>

The movement attracted the bald man’s attention and he watched wide eyed
as the young man came out of hiding and leveled the barrel of a rather large
pistol at his head. For a moment his eyes darted down towards his tranquilizer
gun but he already knew that it was too far away to reach. The man, more like a
boy in the bounty hunter’s estimation, stopped three meters away and took up a
shooting stance too far away to reach. For an instant their eyes met over the
barrel of the gun and the boy didn’t blink, he just started to pull back on the
trigger.

As he settled into the shooting stance his grandfather had taught him
Nikolas unconsciously ensured that he was too far away for the man to reach
him. It was only as his elbows locked into place that Nikolas realized that he
had every intention of killing this man. A large part of him balked at the idea
of taking this man’s life but even as the doubts started to rear their heads he
remembered exactly what would happen if he was captured. ‘If these guys get me
moms and Izzy and Dorrie all go back to the ranch right along with Nina, Ceres,
Mihoshi…all of them go back if I’m caught.’ When his eyes met the bounty
hunter’s over the gun he thought, ‘Nobody’s taking them away from me,’ as he
pulled the trigger.

The pistol cracked and the shots ricocheted off the pavement a
centimeter from the man’s hand as the green haired bounty hunter’s foot
connected with Nikolas’ hand. The pistol flew out of Nikolas’ hand and
skittered across the floor as he stumbled back and grabbed his rifle. The man
quickly adjusted and spun kicking at the rifle Nikolas was bringing into line
with him. Nikolas tried to get a shot in before his weapon was knocked away but
his shots missed as the rifle was knocked to the side and they pierced the
bright blue containers Nikolas had previously been hiding behind and the rifle
was knocked from his grasp and onto a stack of wooden shipping crates well out
of reach.

Nikolas tried to regain his footing and lashed out at the bounty hunter
with a right hook but his blow struck nothing and his off balanced foot slipped
on the puddle of thick green liquid that was rapidly pouring form the punctured
containers. Nikolas was spun around as he crashed into a stack of wooden crates
and saw the green haired man standing confidently in the middle of the puddle
lightly bouncing on the balls of his feet. As he snarled at the confidant
bounty hunter Nikolas dropped his right hand to the hilt of his hunting knife.
When the hunter slid forward and lashed out with his right fist Nikolas lunged
towards him and tore his knife from its scabbard. Even as the bounty hunter’s
fist connected with his cheek Nikolas was rewarded with the sight of the thin
scarlineline his backhanded swipe had sliced across the man’s face. He didn’t
get a chance at a second swipe as his legs were swept out from under him and
the man’s left fist hurled him towards the ground.

Nikolas landed on his back and rapidly he rapidly spun himself around in
the slick liquid that covered the ground but as he rolled over his attacker knocked
him over backwards with a kick to the jaw.

“Give it up kid, you’re only getting yourself beat at this point,” the
bounty hunter declared calmly as Nikolas rolled over and got his arms and legs
under him. Out of the corner of his eye Nikolas saw his pistol lying a meter
away from him.

It was then that Faye’s voice exclaimed from the rafters, “Spike!?”

When the man turned towards her voice Nikolas dove for his pistol. His
motion didn’t go unnoticed and immediately he began to turn back towards his
quarry, but it was too late as Nikolas’ hand closed around the butt of his
pistol and he brought it around towards Spike. With three meters between them
the hunter reached for his tranquilizer pistol but Nikolas’ pistol was already
free and lining up his target even as Spike began to draw his own. When the
pistol was aimed properly Nikolas grinned at the stunned expression on Spike’s
face and pulled the trigger.

Arial'>Even amidst the gasps and hissed breaths in the room the click of the
pistols hammer was easily heard as it came down and nothing happened.

“Fuck,” Nikolas complained flatly as he watched Spike finish drawing his
pistol and when he felt a barrel pressed nst nst his temple a quick glance to
the side showed that the other bounty hunter had managed to struggle to his
feet.

“Drop it,” the large man ordered. Nikolas did as he was told.

“Spike, Jet, no!” Faye yelled as she lithely dropped to the ground.

Both of them seemed shocked by her appearance but neither took their
eyes or weapons off of Nikolas as they both asked, “Faye?”

While neither of them had taken their eyes off of Nikolas before they
did when they heard the pistol that Faye was now pointing at them get cocked.
“Let him go,” she ordered them nervously.

“Faye, why are you here?” the wounded man Nikolas assumed was Jet asked.

“And why are you pointing that at us?” Spike added.

 an>

“Just let him go, please,” Faye pleaded.

“You know these assholes?” Nikolas asked her.

Spike’s voice was tinged with annoyance. “I’m her owner.”

“You sold me, remember?” Faye asked.

To Nikolas’ left he heard Jet agree, “You did.”

“He wasn’t supposed to leave, just hold onto you until I could catch
that bounty. I needed the money for that stun net remember?”

“Well he did!” Faye snapped back.

“Uh, hello?” Nikolas reminded Faye as he tried to point to Jet’s gun
without raising his hands.

Faye’s ears flattened back against her head as she repeated more
forcefully, “Let him go.” Spike slowly raised his pistol but Jet kept the
barrel of his tranquilizer gun firmly pressed to Nikolas’ temple. “Jet,” Faye
started menacingly as she shifted her aim away from Spike and towards the
reticent bounty hunter.

When Nikolas felt the pressure on his temple relent he glanced back over
his shoulder to see Jet taking a step back away from him. Nikolas quickly
scrambled up and retrieved his pistol, slipping slightly in the thick green
liquid covering the floor even after he stepped out of the puddle. He picked up
the pistol and racked the slide sending a single unspent cartridge tumbling out
onto the floor. “Damn misfire,” he muttered as he turned back towards his pursuers.

“Nikolas, leave them alone,” Faye told her tamer shakily.

Nikolas looked up at Faye confused, “What the…?”

“Hell did you do?” Washu finished as she came running into the warehouse
and dropped to her knees beside Jet.

“Oh, gods damn it, do everever listen to what I tell you?”

“No,” Washu said as she started to apply a dressing to Jet’s shoulder
who was looking very confused.

Shaking his head at Washu’s behavior Nikolas turned towards Spike.

“Nikolas, please, just leave them alone,” Faye quietly begged.

Nikolas locked eyes with Spike and told Faye, “If we don’t do something
they’ll just keep after us and I’m not letting any of us get caught.”

Faye lowered her pistol and asked Spike, “Just let us go, just stopmingming after us,” she pleaded as her voice cracked, “Please?”

Spike considered Nikolas’ face for a moment before looking at Faye. For
several long seconds the three of them considered each other intently until
Spike unceremoniously holstered his tranquilizer pistol and pulled out a
cigarette. After lighting the thin white stick he nd sod solemnly and turned to
watch Washu finish patching up Jet.

Jet was obviously stunned, “What? You’re just letting them go?!” he
roared incredulously. “And what has gotten into you? Oww!!” he asked Faye until
Washu pulled the gauze straps holding the pressure bandage on Jet’s har harder
then she needed too. With a wan smile Faye crouched down beside Washu, being
careful to keep her tail off the floor, and helped tend Jet’s wounds.

Nikolas walked over and picked up his knife. He sighed when he saw that
it was covered in the same green goo as hs. As. A quick examination of his
clothing revealed a small patch of olive drab pants that didn’t seem to be
soaked and he started to wipe the knife off.

“So?” Spike asked as he walked up next to Nikolas and puffed on his
cigarette.

“So what?”

“Did you do it?”

Nikolas slid the hunting knife back into it’s scabbard and fastened the
retaining strap over its hilt. “Do what? Are you going to start making sense
any time soon?” Nikolas asked hostilely.

“One count murder in the second degree, twelve counts grand theft
pokegirl, assault, possession of an illegal weapon…did I miss anything?”

“Breaking and entering and another count of plain old grand theft.”

“Ah,” Spike took another drag of his cigarette. “So?”

“Yeah.” Nikolas turned back into the warehouse and fetched his rifle
from on top of the crates where it had landed. “Faye, Washu, let’s go,” he told
them. Turning back to Spike he asked, “So you’re just letting me go?”

Spike nodded and it was Nikolas’ turn to stare Spike in the eyes. When
Faye and Washu walked up he turned to them and said, “Come on, let’s get out of
here, I’ve gotta get out of these clothes.”

As the group disappeared towards the back of the warehouse Spike and Jet
heard Washu say, “I can’t believe you shot him.”

Jet limped up beside his partner, “So you’re just letting her go with
that maniac?”

Spike pulled the remains of his cigarette out of his mouth and dropped
it on the floor, “Yeah.”

Jet sighed and continued, “I guess you really pissed her off.”

“Looks that way.”

“That kid ain’t right.”

Spike turned and started to walk away with his hands in his pockets, “I
sort of liked him.”

Nikolas kicked a rock out of his path in frustration. “I liked this
jacket,” he snarled.

“What is that stuff anyway?” Faye asked.

For the tenth time Nikolas tried to wipe some of the thick gel off of
his jacket. “Oh fuck it,” he growled as he handed Faye his rifle, “hold this
for a minute.” Nikolas snatched his jacket off and tossed it off into the woods
that lined the small dirt path.

“It soaked through,” Washu observed with a smile.

Nikolas quickly removed his cap and pulled his t-shirt off, sending it
after the jacket. “This day just keeps sucking harder,” he grumbled as he put
his cap back on and retrieved his rifle from Faye. After calming down for a few
minutes he asked Faye, “So, who were those guys?”

“My former owner and his partner.”

“Former?”

Nikolas waited for an explanation but none was forth coming. “He said
something about selling you for a stun net or something?”

Faye nodded, “A couple of months ago we were up near Sluton chasing a
bounty. The bounty was strictly alive and he was being a pain in the ass to
catch so we decided to trap him, pokegirls and all in a stun net. The problem
was that we were flat broke so Spike and Jet got thea tea to sell me
temporarily to a ranch. They figured they’d sell me, buy the net and then buy
me back with the cash they made off the bounty.”

“I’m guessing it didn’t work out that way,” Washu offered.

Faye sighed and shook her head, “No, the rancher figured they were deadbeats,
which they are, and sold me to the first person who was intereste/spa/span>

“Ahh.”

Arianbspnbsp;

“The tamer who bought me couldn’t…handle me,” Faye said with a grin and
a flick of her tail. “He unloaded me the first chance he got, at style='font-family:Arial'>Azusa’s.”

“Then Nikolas showed up,” Washu said.

Faye smiled, “Yeah, then he showed up.”

As they continued to walk the trees grew shorter and the ground danker
and soggier. Before long the sound of rushing water could be heard. “We’re just
about to the river, we’ll follow it up to the falls.”

“What then?” Washu asked.

“Well you fix up Delta and then we catch a quick nap befor hea head for
Tigit, it’s not too far away and we can probably make it there by mid day if we
don’t sleep too long.”

Washu nodded as they came to the river and the path turned to follow it.
“So, why did you do it?”

“Do what?” Nikolas asked.

“Try to kill those men.”

Nikolas said nothing and continued on down the path, his pace never
varying. “Nikolas?” Washu asked quietly after several long moments.

“I had too.”

Faye was confused, “Why?”

“If I didn’t they would just keep coming,” he said forcefully,
emphasizing his last three words.

“You don’t know that,” Washu said.

“I’d already shot at both of them at the river, I’m pretty sure I winged
one or two of them. If that didn’t make them give up I don’t know what would.!”
he snapped.

Washu was about to retort but Faye’s soft voice cut her off, “He’s
right. Spike and Jet wouldn’t just give up on a bounty because it was a little
dangerous.”

“Then what makes you think they’re going too now? Because you asked them
nicely?!” Washu yelled.

“I should have just shot them,” Nikolas muttered.

“They won’t,” Faye desperately tried tsuresure her companions, “Spike
wouldn’t.”

“Because you asked nicely,” Nikolas sneered.

“Yes, you saw what happened, we won’t see them again!”

Nikolas snorted, “I see them again and I kill them.”

“Why didn’t you just do it this time?” Washu asked skeptically.

Nikolas almost snapped out an answer but paused to think about it for a
second. “Faye asked me not too,” he said doubtfully.

“So? No offense to purple there but aren’t you her tamer?” Washu said
sarcastically.

While Faye stared daggers at Washu Nikolas tried to come up with an
answer but when he spoke his voice was full of exasperation, “Yes I am,
alright?! Maybe I was just in a good mood and didn’t feel like executing them
ok?”

Again everyone was quiet as they walked. “Do you have a bettexplaxplanation yet?” Washu asked some time later.

Nikolas nodded, “It’s one thing when the people you’re planning on
killing are armed and after you. It’s another when they’re down and unarmed.”

“From what I saw you were about to kill Jet while he was lying there on
the ground,” Faye observed. When Nikolas gave her a questioning look she
explained, “I was trying to sneak up on them to help you.”

“His partner was still loose and his weapon was just out of reach, I
didn’t have time to deal with him any other way,” Nikolas explained, “It was….”

“Expedient?” Washu offered.

Nikolas scowled at her, “That isn’t the word I would have used.”

“But the meaning’s correct,” she stated.

“Yeah, it is,” Nikolas admitted softly before drifting off into silence
again.

Around four in the morning the group stumbled into the area Nikolas had
indicated to the other girls. The ground had firmed up and the trees were
taller, deciduous trees gave way to pines. After only a few minutes of looking they
were startled when Harley fell out of a tree directly over them and bounded
over to Nikolas to give him a firm kiss on the lips. While Nikolas was enjoying
the none to gentle kiss and the fang nips that accompanied it Washu got
immediately to business, “Where is everyone?”

Nikolas tried to pull back but Harley just pressed into him harder and
gestured back over her shoulder deeper into trees and back towards the river.
While their tamer did his best to extract himself from the grip of his amorous
Ocelolita, Faye and Washu went off in the direction she had indicated. They
found the rest of their group camped out on the shore of the river right below
the falls. The tents were pitched and the fire was low but Ceres was still up
and cradling a pokeball and Nina and Lana were keeping her company.

“Did you find what you needed?” Nina asked hopefully.

Washu nodded and extended her hand for Delta’s pokeball; when she
received it she quickly released Delta. The Youma was lying on her stomach
motionless as the beam released her. While her wounds already looked visibly
better her already pasty color had paled even further leaving her nearly white
and her wings had developed a web of blackened lines.

“She looks bad,” Nikolas said as he came up behind Washu.

Washu nodded and started to draw a dose of a medicine from one of the
vials from her pack. “She’s a lot worse, even though she was in her ball.”

“She’ll get better though, right Master?” Ceres asked hopefully.

“Probably,” Washu answered for him.

“Mastah? Is that what puddin’ wants to be called?”

Nikolas sighed as he felt a set of fur covered arms encircled his waist
and Harley pressed herself up against him. Washu paused in her search through
her bag to hold up a hypo-spray that Nikolas remembered from the pokecenter.
“No,” he chuckled, “you can call me puddin’.” Harley squealed in delight but
when she grabbed Nikolas face in order to spin him around the way he hissed at
her touch caused her to let him go and he quickly sad down next to what was
left of the fire.

“What happened to you,” Lana asked concernedly as she saw her adopted
son’s face.

“And what happened to your clothes?” Nina added.

Nikolas looked down at his pants and told his second mother, “I ran into
something,” in the firelight he was able to see that his pants were already
starting to bleach and become still, “and I spilled something on myself.”

Faye laughed cynically, “He ran into a bounty hunter’s fist,
repeatedly.”

“Ha ha, which tent is mine?” Lana pointed one out and Nikolas
disappeared inside.

“So what really happened?” Nina asked Faye.

“We ran into the bounty hunters again, Nikolas sent Washu and me on ahead
and he stayed back and fought them off,” Faye explained.

“He fought both of them?” Nina asked skeptically.

“Washu?” Lana asked.

“More or less,” she answered as she fixed a dressing on Delta’s wing.

Nikolas emerged a few mes les later in a new pair of pants and tossed
his old ones off into the brush. “How’s she gonna be?” he asked as he sared
red
over to the group.

“I have no idea,” Washu said as she cle off off her hands with a rag.
“It’s just too early to tell. I’ve pumped her full of more antibiotics then is
probably a good idea along with enough nutrients to keep her fed for a month.
Whatever it is that was in that thing’s mouth was incredibly virulent, it’s
managed to spread through out her system incredibly quickly. The antibiotics in
her are extremely powerful, we just have to hope that their tougher then the
crud that was in that thing’s teeth.” Washu tossed the rag in the direction of
Nikolas’ ruined pair of pants. “We’ll ‘ball her and when we get to Tigit we can
plug in my new toy and run her through it.” Washu let out an exasperated breath
as she recalled Delta to her ball. “That’s all we can do. Here you go,” she
said as she handed the pokeball back to a sullen Ceres who headed for her own
tent. Lana followed suit and headed to bed.

Nikolas patted the little Supe-Bra Genius on her shoulder, “Thanks
Washu.”

Washu threw her arms over her head and stretched as she yawned. “I need
to sleep.”

“I have no idea where Mihoshi is….,” Nikolas started until he saw Washu
heading for his tent followed closely by Harley. “Washu?”

“Don’t get your hopes up,” she said as she disappeared inside.

Harley paused before heading inside, “Just get something up,” she
giggled.

Nikolas followed after them and a few moments later Nikolas’ voice could
be heard through the tent, “I’m too tired to fuck, just go to sleep.”

A few seconds later Washu yelled, “Get off me you randy little nutcase!”

A moment after that, “Damn it Harley, go to SLEEP!”

“Awwww puddin’!”

Nikolas’ Girls

Nina – Catgirl

Washu – Supe-Bra Genius

Ceres – Vampire

Isabella - Titmouse

Edora - Titmouse

Mihoshi – Bunnygirl

Gally – Battlestyle='font-family:Arial'> Angel?

Faye – Cheshire

Arial'>Mink – Dracona

Sango – Kunochi

Delta – Youma

Ivy – Boobisaur

Harley – Ocelolita

Kaya – Wildcat

Naga

Billie