RANGO // OӘͶAЯ - Another Outlaw Story [Engl.]

49. High Noon Aqua

The city became quieter with every passing minute. Now the hands of the watch separated only five minutes to noon. Coral stood on a hill and looked down at the town with concern. A whole crowd of animals had gathered outside the houses. The scales of the white rattlesnake curled up. She just hoped everything went well.
"Coral!"
The rattlesnake turned in surprise. Her eyes widened when she saw the Aye-Aye girl running towards her.
"Priscilla!" Overjoyed, the rattlesnake wrapped her body around the child. "How do you get here? And... you are very dirty."
She wiped all the dust off the girl's clothes.
"I met Jake in town," the Aye-Aye girl reported. "Those Jenkins rowdies weren't allowed to spot me, so Jake smuggled me out."
Coral raised her eyebrows. "The way you look, I can already imagine how."
Her worried gaze wandered back to the town.

At the same time, the duelers were in the street. Jake, Kinski and Bill on one side - Rango, Joey and Danny on the other side.
"You do everything as we discussed," Jake whispered to the rabbit and the lizard. Then he turned back to the three opponents. "Are you ready?"
Joey grinned and his sardonic look landed on Bill. "Can't wait to step over his corpse."
Bill swallowed hard.
But Danny didn't mince his words either. "I'll flay you alive."
Kinski put his hands on his revolver belt for help. Whenever he trusted a snake, he hoped it wasn't in vain.
Jake ignored the mean comments and gave the order for the duel.
"Joey and Bill, you guys go to the east side of town. And Danny and Kinski, you on the west side. Each of you keeps a distance from there to there."
Jake waved the tail of his gun at certain houses to give them their exact location. "As soon as it tolls 12, you approach each other. In slow steps. Only in the middle can you decide who will shoot first."
For once, everyone agreed to this, except for Bill and Kinski, who were reluctant to run to their doom. In the end, only Jake and Rango were left on the main street.
The chameleon narrowed his eyes. "All right, Sheriff. Make your move."
With that, they moved away from each other and each of them walked in the opposite direction of the street.

Joey and Bill were now outside on one side of the town. Bill wasn't at all comfortable in his lizard skin. Unlike Joey, who cracked his fingers triumphantly.
"You're kind of like dog food."
Bill swallowed hard and felt for his revolvers. He had never faced anyone in a duel. Perhaps he would have felt better if Reis had watched him.

"You're such a scaredy rabbit," Danny snapped over to Kinski after they had reached the other side of town, too, although he was a little uncomfortable himself.
Kinski glanced up at the sky and vowed to take longer vacations in the future.

Meanwhile, Jake and Rango had taken their positions as well. Both were now several meters apart so that each of them could only see the other as a small shadow. Yet each could feel the other's gaze.
"It's a matter between you and me," Jake called over to him. "Nevertheless, I have to emphasize to you that I had nothing to do with the attack."
Rango narrowed his eyes. "Let's get this over with."
Jake looked down briefly. "That's up to you."
Rango took out his revolver. "I'll just take a bullet, as always." He opened the magazine of his revolver briefly, where there really was only one bullet in it. "I won't need more."
He closed the magazine and put his revolver back into the holster.
Jake narrowed his eyes darkly.
Suddenly, the wind seemed to hold its breath. There was no wind. There was no sound to be heard.
Jake's eyes wandered to the tower clock. The hands of the watch moved up a final millimeter. The first gong sounded.
12 o'clock.
They committed to approach each other, more likely to crawl in Jake's case. In a winding motion, he approached.

The other parties, Joey and Bill, as well as Kinski and Danny, approached each other. The townspeople, who heard the gong from a distance and saw the two other opponents approaching each other on the right and left side of the town, shivered. The two sisters, still in the clans' claws, fared no differently. And Coral, who crouched with Priscilla outside of town, worried about the outcome of the duel.

Nobody could say what was going through the mind of one or the other of the duelists. Bill and Kinski thought more about who would be present at their funeral. Joey and Danny, on the other hand, imagined the most diverse scenarios how they should best deal with the dead bodies of their opponents.
The mood between the rattlesnake and the chameleon was different. With every step, or scale, that they moved closer to each other, the tension increased. While crawling, Jake kept coming back to the struggles and screams on the farm. Yes, now he remembered the old chameleon that he had tried to save from the flames. Why didn't the authorities believe what he said? Just because he was a snake?
He stopped. Now they were only a few steps away from each other.
Jake raised his head, which was caught by Rango's grim gaze. He was ready to move at any time.

Bill's legs froze when he faced Joey. The rodent grinned at him.
"Well? Who of us should drop dead first?"
The Gila lizard wanted to run away now, but Jake had told them to stay. But for what should they wait for?

Danny was half the size of Kinski, but the smaller rabbit looked rebelliously up at the humped rabbit.
"And?" Danny began. "Who will polish the weapons with lead first?"
Kinski knew he might win, but he shied away from using his weapon. What should he do now?

The situation between the two reptiles on the main street came to a head. Suddenly, the chameleon heard a clicking sound behind him. In a flash, he pulled out his second revolver, which was still fully loaded, and shot at a roof. The old lizard Joel was standing there and wanted to shoot the chameleon. But Rango was much faster. The bullets hit Joel right on the shoulder. With a cry of pain, the old lizard fell from the roof. With a mean grin, the gunslinger turned back to the rattlesnake. Jake showed no reaction. There was nothing more he could do anyway.
Jake's gaze wandered again to the tower clock. The hands of the watch moved.
12.01 o'clock.

Out of town, near the Las Vegas water valve, the armadillo had been waiting for the next move of the sun.
"Now, amigos!" He shouted, and immediately the Walking Cactuses started moving. With all their might, they pulled on ropes that had been tightened around the locked valve. A flock of prairie dogs had gathered underground and released the pipe to guide it into underground passages. And no sooner was the valve open, the water shot out of the pipe.

Jake's face relaxed a little and looked down at the chameleon.
"Before we start... Are you thirsty?"
At first, the chameleon looked at him blankly. But then suddenly there was an ominous rumble. In the next moment, the earth began to shake slightly.

This did not go unnoticed by the other duelists. They looked around in amazement. Until suddenly the ground ripped open beneath them.

Rango didn't have time to react. In the next moment, a fountain of water shot out of the ground underneath him and tore him into the air. Jake was also caught by the next force of water and was thrown upwards. Just like Joey, Bill, Danny and Kinski, all of whom were seized by the masses of water shooting out of the ground.
The townspeople watched with open mouths.
"It's a miracle!" Someone shouted.
The water shot out of all openings in the floor. And with them also some prairie dogs who had shoveled the whole earth under the city and dug x-holes.
Finally, the flight to heaven was over. The chameleon clapped in a puddle. The rattlesnake landed right next to him. Rango furiously yanked his revolver from his holster.
"Just you wait! I'm gonna blow so many holes in you, your guts'll be leaking lead!"
In the next moment, Joey and Danny also showed up. They were totally angry, too, while Bill and Kinski had preferred to quietly withdraw as soon as possible.
"I'll go with that right away," Joey growled. "Now we're playing by our rules! From now on the velvet gloves will be omitted!"
Jake raised an eyebrow. "Well, then it's a good thing I brought some backup."
Suddenly, the shadow of a hawk darted in the sunlit water fountain. The three opponents shrank together. In the next moment, a hawk's scream pierced the air.

Balthazar felt a hundred years younger and cheered the hawk over the rooftops of the town.
"Pappy!" Ezekiel yelled, who was holding onto Pappy's coat with Jedidiah. "Do you know where you are flying?"
Balthazar lifted his nose. "Of course I know. I just follow my ears."
In the next moment, the hawk brushed against the top of the clock tower.
"And I'm hearing that we hit something," Balthazar said impassively and steered the big bird with the bridle over the houses again.

The townspeople, who were still outside of the town, were more startled than surprised by the sudden appearance of the hawk.
"Hey, I thought he was dead!" Someone shouted and scattered away with the other people. The clans were also completely frightened and ran in all directions, dragging the two daughters aimlessly with them.
"Hey, look at this!" Someone else shouted, pointing to the sky. Bats fluttered through the air. The prairie dogs, that sat on them, hooted and brandished their lassos. In swoops, they threw themselves down and caught several clan members with their lassos. Two of the bat rodeos captured the daughters. The girls were blown into the air and sailed between sky and earth. Rice flew straight into a group of townspeople. The prairie dog let go of the rope. Rice fell forward and flew straight into Bill's arms. The Gila lizard was thrown backwards by the force. When both finally came to a standstill, they looked at each other in amazement.
"Where do you come from?" They asked at the same time.
The captured clan members, however, were gradually thrown into a pit that the prairie dogs had dug outside the town. But as soon as the bandits wanted to get up again, they were surrounded by all the unlocked clicking noises. A few moments later, they found themselves surrounded by all the Indians who were pointing their weapons at them. Immediately, the bandits lifted their hands.

Joey and Danny were frozen for a moment. Suddenly, two of the bats pounced on them too. The bandits tried to escape, but the lassos caught them and dragged them with them. Another had the chameleon in his sights, but Rango cleverly dodged him and jumped onto a canopy.
He looked around grimly until his gaze fell on the hawk.
"You won't escape me that easily," he growled and climbed higher on the roof. As soon as he saw the hawk rushing up a curve, he took a mighty leap and jumped.

Balthazar sniffed. "Well, smells like we have a stowaway on board."
All three turned around. Only Ezekiel and Jedidiah saw who had jumped on their hawk without permission.
"Impossible," Jedidiah said. "How did he do that?"
The chameleon put his hands on his hips. "You underestimate me! And now hands up."
Obediently, the three mammals raised their arms. Then the chameleon went to the head of the hawk. "It's time to turn the wheel around."
With the revolver in his other hand, he shot down at the snake. Jake tried to dodge the gunshots, but with that he was doing exactly what the chameleon wanted. In the next moment, Rango steered the hawk into a curve and let it fly with full force against the newly erected water tower. Since Jake was right underneath and saw what was going on too late because of all the water, the water silo fell right on him.
Rango jumped off the hawk and landed back on earth with one skillful leap.
In the meantime, Balthazar couldn't stop the hawk and sped into a house at full speed. With a loud crash, the house collapsed under the force of the impact. The drizzle of the water fountains quickly cleared the dust of the devastation. The accident victims struggled to get out of the rubble.
At first, Pappy was completely groggy, but then he threw his arms in the air in jubilation.
"Wuhu! YEAH! That was awesome! One round more!"
Ezekiel and Jedidiah clapped their hands over their heads. "Oh no!" Groaning, the brothers collapsed. Even the hawk had nothing more to add and joined the two of them fainting.

Coral, still outside of the town, had seen the overturning of the water tower. And no sooner had the hawk and his crew crashed, she hurried quickly to the town.
"Coral, wait!" Priscilla called and ran after her.

With the water raining down on Jake, the snake could hardly see anything. He shook his head hastily and tried to sit up. But something heavy lay on a part of his long body. With difficulty, he straightened his upper body. But he couldn't move the rest. Jake craned his neck to get an overview. The kettle of the water tower was right on the top of his weapon and a third of his lower body. Jake pushed his head against the cauldron with all his might to free his trapped body.
Suddenly, he heard a clicking sound behind him.
Startled, he turned and stared straight into the barrel of a revolver. And behind it, the chameleon's eyes, which fixed him.
"As I said, it only takes one bullet," Rango said threateningly.
Jake tried again to lift his gun tail, but it didn't work. It was wedged under the heavy cauldron.
The chameleon raised his revolver higher, right in front of Jake's face.
Jake lowered his head slightly, panting. "I didn't kill him."
The chameleon's eyes formed into slits. "Snakes are liars."
Jake's courage sank. The chameleon was about to pull the trigger when a voice interfered.
"If he's a liar to you, you have to shoot me right away!"
In the next moment, Coral appeared and stood protectively in front of Jake.
At first, Rango was a little confused, but then he grinned. "What are you going to stop me with? With your poisonous teeth?"
"If you shoot them, then you have to shoot me, too," the mayor's voice said.
The chameleon's eyes widened when John joined the protective shield. But then he let out a menacing growl. "Get out of my way!"
"Then you have to shoot us, too."
Rango turned around in surprise. More and more townspeople came and stood in front of the rattlesnake. Also Bill and his girlfriend. And at the end, even Beans.
Indignantly, the chameleon tightened his grip on his weapon. "You are not serious, are you?!"
"You can't kill an entire town," John pointed out.
Rango took a deep breath. "Do you want to trust him? A murderer?"
When he saw Jake's head poking out over the heads of the others, he took aim.
Suddenly, a shot was fired, which shot the gun out of Rango's hand.
The city dwellers looked in all directions. Who had shot?