Ace: Hour Glass

Chapter 4: Arizona Rangers

 Ace, Loghi, and John sat around a campfire. They had set up camp for the night on their journey to the canyon. "I just realized I never got ya'll's names." John said, roasting a sausage over the fire, "I'm Loghi." Loghi replied, "What about you?" John said, turning to Ace, "They just call me Ace." "That a nickname?" "It's all I go by." John handed Ace and Loghi some food he'd been cooking, "So, what's all the fuss over this sack of powder?" John asked, "It's very valuable. The natives believe it to be magic." Loghi said, trying to conceal the truth.

John made his way back into his tent for the night, but Ace and Loghi stayed up. "So, what's the powder actually for?" Ace asked, "The powder is sand for the hourglass." Loghi explained, "There are three pieces to The Infinite Hourglass, the sands of Vitokin, the frame of time, and the glass of infinity."

"So, DN-110 is trying to find these three pieces?"

"Yes, after he finds those pieces, he can rewrite time itself."

Ace and Loghi finally went into their tents to sleep. As Ace tried to fall asleep, he couldn't help but feel embarrassed that he was working alongside a demon. He felt that working with Loghi was disrespecting his fallen family. After all, they were killed by demons. Even if Lucitanya supposedly tried to invade because he was racist against humans, other demons helped him. Wouldn't that mean that all demons are evil? Ace pondered these thoughts as he fell asleep.

Everyone woke up the following day, except for Loghi, who was still deeply asleep. Ace and John were outside, cooking breakfast before they set out. "Your partner's been sleepin' awhile in there; I'll go and wake him up." John said, "He's more of an acquaintance." Ace said, still thinking about the previous night. John walked into Loghi's tent as Ace continued frying eggs over the fire. Suddenly, Ace heard "What in god's green earth?" be yelled from Loghi's tent. Ace entered the tent to find John looking at Loghi's tail with a confused look. Slowly, Loghi woke up and realized what had happened. "I, uh, can explain, Sheriff Mason!" Loghi said, jumping up and hiding his tail, "Are you like some kinda varmit-man like the one we've been trackin'?" John asked, stepping back, "Yes," Loghi said, trying to formulate a way to keep his cover, "but I'm a good one." "He's a lawman for his people." Ace began, playing along with Loghi, "The guy we're tracking is an outlaw for him and the powder he's after is actually an ancient heirloom." "Well, I'll be damned," John said, rubbing his forehead, "To be fair, I can't say that's the strangest thing I've ever discovered in my life." "What's the strangest?" Loghi asked out of curiosity, "There was this one outlaw who rolled into town once and got everyone to go insane, but when I got rid of him, everythang went back to normal." John said, "Okay, yeah, I'd say that's weirder." Ace agreed.

The three men made their way to the canyon where DN-110 supposedly was. The trio soon found an abandoned mineshaft surrounded by DN-110's outlaws. "Looks like we found your man." John said as they surveyed the mineshaft. "We need a plan of attack," Loghi said, picking up a stick and beginning to draw in the dirt, "So, we have about 15 bad guys down there; two of them are armed." "We definitely have to take the armed outlaws out first." Ace said, "How are we gonna do that?" John asked, "I have an idea," Loghi said as he began to draw in the dirt again. "First, I will go up to them and cause a distraction. Next, you two sneak around behind the armed guys and take them out. After that, we defeat the rest of the guys." "It could work." John said, rubbing his chin, "How are you gonna distract them, though?" Ace asked, "Oh, you'll see."

Loghi walked to the entrance of the mineshaft, clutching his side. "What in tarnation is a fella like you doin' out here?" One of the outlaws said as Loghi approached them, "Help me. I'm hurt." Loghi pulled his coat aside, revealing his bloodstained shirt. "Some kinda, hell hound attacked me." Loghi said as he collapsed to his knees, "It's got my scent, though. It could be coming any minute!" Suddenly, a large howl echoed through the cavern, "It's here." the outlaws trembled in fear. Suddenly, Ace and John took out the armed outlaws, and the others began to panic. Loghi sprang up, and hit a metal disk over an outlaw's head, knocking him out, then he threw the disk like a frisbee into the head of another outlaw. The trio made quick work of the outlaws. "I've never seen actin' that good before!" John said in amazement, "Thanks, I was a bit of a theater kid in school." Loghi replied, "But that howl of yours was amazing, Sherif Mason!". Ace noticed one outlaw was still standing. The outlaw began to ring a bell when Ace knocked him out. "Damn it, that's not good." John said. "What's the matter?" Ace asked. "These outlaws use bells to call for reinforcements." "In that case, not good is an understatement." Loghi remarked. Soon, the trio was surrounded by more outlaws. "Go get that powder stuff; I can hold 'em off." John said, ushering Ace and Loghi into the mineshaft.

Suddenly, the mineshaft's entrance caved in, leaving Ace and Loghi trapped and in the dark. "I can't see a thing." Ace said. "Now that we're alone, I can do this." Loghi said. Ace heard something that sounded like gears moving, and suddenly a small ball of fire appeared in Loghi's hand, illuminating the cave. Ace looked at Loghi's hand and saw a small white mechanical contraption on his arm. "What is that?" Ace asked in awe, "This is a conduit. It's a machine that allows demons to use magic." Loghi explained, "Magic?"

"Yes, it's sort of a form of science."

"How does it work?"

"We haven't been able to figure out why it works; we don't have it fully figured out yet. The running theory is that magic somehow allows us to manipulate molecules. We haven't been able to figure things out since King Lucitanya is focusing magical research on destroying humanity."

"How long have you guys known about magic?"

"Since the pre-ice age era. After we fled to Hell, we had a massive dark age, and much of our knowledge about magic was lost. We only rediscovered it in the early '80s."

As the pair spoke and walked, they came upon a large circular cavern with a rock podium in the center. On the podium laid a small cloth bag that contained the sand of Vitokin. "Something doesn't feel right." Ace said as they entered the room, "Where's DN-110?" "Right here." A raspy voice called out from the shadows. Suddenly, something tackled Loghi. Ace looked at the attacker and saw a red, scaly man-dinosaur wearing a black western sheriff's outfit. "You must be DN-110." Ace said as he pulled DN-110 off of Loghi. "I'm Ace," he said as he kicked DN-110 in the stomach, "I'm here to help Agent Tarot to stop you." DN-110 threw Ace across the room, "Your mission is pointless! Your people will pay for what you did to my ancestors!" DN-110 exclaimed. Loghi stood up, pulled out his gun, and fired at DN-110. The bullets deflected off his skin as he ran toward the podium. Ace picked up a rock and threw it at DN-110, causing the creature to stumble backward. Ace ran and grabbed the bag before DN-110 could. "No!" DN-110 exclaimed; the creature punched Ace in the gut, causing him to be knocked back and drop the bag. DN-110 picked the bag up, "I will avenge my people no matter what!" the creature then pulled out a Traveller's Watch and was absorbed in yellow light, transporting him to another time.

"We lost him." Loghi said as he picked Ace up. "How do we find him again?" Ace asked, focusing on the task at hand. Loghi pulled out a small rectangular device, "This is a TT 870," Loghi explained, "it will allow us to track the radioactive residue left behind by a Traveller's Watch and pinpoint where and when the user traveled to." "Wait, the Traveller's Watches are radioactive?" Ace asked, concerned for his health, "Don't worry, the radiation isn't enough to do anything; it's only about as radioactive as sunlight." Loghi reassured. Loghi scanned the area in which DN-110 used its Traveller's Watch. "Looks like he went to 1927 New York in timeline 183765488146." Loghi said, looking at the scanner's results, "Why does the timeline matter?" Ace asked, "In that timeline, Lucky Luciano is already dead. Specifically, it's the one where he was killed in a gang shootout shortly after he implemented his changes to the mafia." Loghi explained. "Given that DN-110 had outlaws working for him in this timeline, I wouldn't be surprised if he became the godfather after Luciano." Ace said, "Let's go find out."