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

1. Death - Where are you?

Hello, befor you read the story, please, read the discription in chapter 1.

Like you read in the summary, this story is a Rango fanfiction, but this time in another version. For the ones who are reading this story for the first time, I have to inform you that this story will be completely different as the movie is. It's more a new told Rango story where all became different. I mean – the good ones will be the bad ones (more or less) and vice versa. That's the kind of style what the story will go through. And I hope to bring back also the feeling what you felt in the movie. I hope I will not destroy the magic of the movie with this other version. Soo, I think that's all. Read the story and explore the characters from another side. Learn about their new preferences, features, feelings and be surprised.

By the way, the mirrored name "Rango - OӘͶAЯ" has nothing to do with a foreign-language word or something similar. It's simply mirrored to show the movie will be re-written in a mirror-inverted way. But I have to add, English isn't my first language, for this reason grammar errors are possible.

Well, after that... enjoy the story... enjoy the way which the old-new characters will go... so here we go...

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The sun burned mercilessly. The hot wind gave no cooling.
Is that the oven on earth or the entry of hell?
The rattlesnake lifted his head when the wind blew sand into his eyes. On his head he wore a black hat, a gun belt with bullets wrapped a part of his body and a special Gatling gun had been placed instead of a rattle.
He coughed.
His mouth was dry and his lips chapped. No sign of water was to be felt in the air, no smell of something, which could help him hope for relief.
He lowered his glance. Pain went through his body of his broken rips. He pressed his teeth together. Not far away from him, the highway.
"Damn cars!" he cursed when a car drove above the hot asphalt.
At least the drivers didn't see the injured rattlesnake, which lay convoluted under an old overturned road sign. The shadow of the metal plate, labeled with dirty letters like „Las Vegas" or „Los Angeles", gave him very less relief from the heat.
Admittedly, he had managed to save himself, but it had cost his last energy.
He looked to south.
He had managed to escape. But here, he had lost.
The snake closed its eyes. Maybe he could... He moved his body, but he gave up very soon.
No, it was useless. At least he would not die in south.
He came from south and will die in north. The main point was, he was away from south. Far away. Within a few days he had reached the highway road, south of the Mojave Desert. He managed to cross the road, one of his biggest enemies. But he was hit by a car. A driver drove above him, without mercy, without stopping.
Humans hated him.
Everyone hated him now.
He had to run away. Far away. They should never catch him and to take off his skin. Better this way to die than that.
"Hello, Amigo," someone interrupted his thoughts.
The rattlesnake lifted his head and looked into little eyes.
"Hi!" the voice greeted again.
Three little owls in colorful costumes stood in front of him and one of them, who greeted him, waved his wing.
"Anything wrong?" the owl asked again. "Do you need any help?"
The rattlesnake looked at them silently. A cold smile played his mouth. "Nothing can help me anymore."
The owl raised an eyebrow. "Really? So we thought you need help very fast or wasn't you struck by a car?"
"None of your business," the snake replied. "Just leave. Let me alone. My way ends here today."
The second owl scratched his head. "Oh, what irony of fate. We think, our way begins now."
"Yeah," the third one said. "We are waiting for our companion and we will make a little journey."
"Where to?" the rattlesnake asked soundlessly. The death will come very soon anyway. Until then, he could waste his time for whatever.
"Don't know," the owl said. "The fate will show us. We are musicians."
"Yeah! We are the Mariachis!"
One of them blew his trumpet in triumph.
"I'm Raoul. This is Chico and..."
"I'm Lupe!"
They played their instruments, Chico his trumpet, Raoul the guitar and Lupe the violin.
The rattlesnake looked at them with empty eyes. Was this the last thing what he will see in his life?
"So, what's your name?" Raoul asked.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Not sure, maybe it's usually that after a greeting someone says his name."
The snake sighed. "Jake."
There was silence. Lupe shrugged his shoulders. "Simple and short. Nice to meet you..."
"And that's all! Get off and let me alone!"
"Sorry Mr. Jake, we can't. We have to wait for our friend."
"Why here?"
"Uh... don't know... Why here, Raoul?"
Raoul had no idea. "Dunno. Somewhere you have to meet somehow. And I think this place is somehow somewhere."
Jake rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright. You can wait. But be quiet. I have a right to die in peace at least."
The owls nodded. "Alright, Amigo."

Chico spent his time to count the cars, which drove over the road. Raoul and Lupe tuned their instruments from time to time.
One hour passed. Two hours passed... two hours and 10 minutes.... two hours and 20 minutes... two hours and 32 minutes...
"Hello, Amigos!"
A car drove over the street. A little owl flew from the car roof into the sky and glided to the ground. In his claws, he held an accordion.
"Señor Flan!" the three others owls cried and embraced the fourth owl. "Now we are complete!"
Chico blew his trumpet.
Señor Flan loosened the greeting hands and stood himself in position. "Alright, Amigos. Our journey can begin now."
He stopped himself, when he saw the rattlesnake.
"And who is that?" he asked and pointed at the injured rattlesnake under the road sign.
"His name is Jake," Lupe said.
"Jake?" Señor Flan repeated. "Like Jake from the novel 'Rattlesnake Jake' by Jerry Barker?"
Jake gave him an angry look and rolled his eyes.
"I read many books about the west," Señor Flan continued.
Jake hissed annoyed. "Nice for you."
Señor Flan raised his eyebrows and circled around the rattlesnake with curious eyes.
After a while, it was too much for Jake.
"What is it?!" he asked with a loud growl.
"Uh, sorry, Sir," Señor Flan apologized. "But I was looking for some inspiration."
"Uhm..." Jake narrowed his eyes with disgust.
"Oh, sorry, Mister." Señor Flan raised his wings. "Let me explain. We want to discover the unknown west to collect impressions for our music."
"Impressions?" Jake asked in disbelief. "Where do you see impressions? There is nothing here."
Señor Flan chuckled. "Appearances are often deceptive. Sometimes you find things which you have never seen. And you... mmmh, rattlesnakes are a typical part of the west. What is a west without a rattlesnake?"
"I think he is in big troubles," Chico said.
Jake pressed his eyes together and growled. "Just leave me! Don't you see, I'm injured? So, do me a favor and let me find my peace."
"Amigos!" Señor Flan said. "I think this could be our first musical part of our journey. Highway – sun – death – a n d... sadness."
Jake looked to the sky.
Death. Where are you when somebody needs you?
The owls exchanged some words and then, they played a sad orchestra, which could bring someone to cry.
Jake looked at them with open mouth, then he shouted: "How long do you want to play that damn sound?!"
The owls interrupted.
"I thought to make death easier for you," Señor Flan explained quietly.
"Hell! I don't need a background music for the way to my destiny."
Lupe cleaned his throat. "Mister, I think it is not good for you to speak the special word "h-e-l-l" before somebody dies."
The rattlesnake hissed loudly. The owls lowered their instruments and kept some more distance. But instead of an attack, the rattlesnake looked away.
"I search another place to find my death."
With these words, the snake lifted his upper body with big effort. He hissed sharply when he started to move his long with pain filled body. The injury cut his nerves like knives. But he managed to ignore the pain for a while and slithered with trembling movements into the desert to north.
The owls looked after him with thoughtfully worried eyes.
"Flan?" Raoul began. "I think we have to change our music style."
"Or our melody type," Señor Flan supposed. "I think the death will reschedule his appointment to another place."
"And what are we going to do now?" Raoul asked.
Señor Flan thought a second. "Well, I think, after him."
They left the human made place and followed the rattlesnake into the lonely hostile of life wildness.

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So, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter.

INFO: The road which Jake had crossed here, wasn't the same road which Rango had crossed in the movie! Well, there are two roads around the Mojave Desert! In south, there is Road 40 and in north, Road 15. Very possible that Rango crossed Road 15 where he walked from the Mojave Desert to Death Valley, because there is also Las Vegas.