The Devil, The Witch, and The Hunt for Skin, Claw and Teeth (Part 1)

Somewhere in the lost galaxy of Earis, somewhere in the star system of Neula-V. Somewhere in the exiled world of Delirith, lies a Scorpex wandering the desert of Kaandur in search of prey or carcasses to scavenge for food.

The four-feet long, scorpion-like creature crawled around the sandy lands rather aimlessly, with no rush for the in its search for a meal. The Scorpex continued to wander under its own gentle pace when it finally arrived at an empty road. The road spanned endlessly onwards and back, and the other side bore no difference then the side it currently stood on; sand, sand, and more sand.

The Scorpex looked left, the Scorpex looked right. Without an incoming vehicle in sight, it gladly crossed the road-

-SHANK!-

“And that makes the fourth kill of the day!”

[ MAKO THE LITTLE WITCH ]
small boy. Big Dream. Big Mouth.

Mako lifted the iron rod held by his right hand proudly, having impaled four unsuspecting Scorpexes as he sped through the desert of Kaandur on his rocket-powered hoverbike; the Silverbolt. As the latest Scorpex wriggled above its dead brothers, a sudden gust of flame brushed through the arachnid putting it out of misery.

“Woah- Dangit Fyra! You’d burn both of us if you keep doing that!” Mako shouted to the girl behind him.

“Not my fault you missed a vital point- again.”

[ FYRA THE ONE-HORNED DEVIL ]
Less Horny, More Flamey!

“Either we both burn or that thing covers us in its acidic venom. Your choice,” the copperclad, helmet wearing girl claimed, adjusting her powered bracer that spewed the flame just now.

The 10 year-old blonde witch-boy rolled his eyes not wanting to drag the argument further. Regardless, they managed to finish today’s objective and all that’s left was to safely cash in their hard work. A simple objective, which proved to be harder than the hunt itself as you’re about to see next-

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

“Navi’s beeping-” Mako looked down at the screen on his steering, showing three red dots approaching them from behind- “we’ve got three folks coming after us.”

Fyra turned around and saw one hoverbike rider appearing from the horizon, followed by two more by the first’s sides, followed by another two for each of the previous two, and another two, and another two-

“I think there’s way more than three-”

“The hell? You mean Navi lied to us?” Mako smacked the screen lightly causing it to glitch for a split second. It suddenly started displaying hundreds of red dots several meters behind their position.

“Yo! what the fu-”

“HAH! THOSE SCORPEX AIN’T YOURS KIDDOS!”

[ SANDKING ANUBRAX ]
He's Coarse, Rough, Irritating, And Gets Everywhere

“AIN’T NO DIRT DWELLER GONNA STEAL OUR PREY! GET ‘EM SAND-BOIIIISSSSS!!!”

The iron-clad iron-crowned Sand Gang leader, Anubrax, commanded on top of his track-wheeled monster truck as the hoverbike riders accelerated onwards. The rest of the convoy consisting of heavily modified buggies and pickup trucks stayed with their leader’s gargantuan ride, remaining in pursuit of the two kids and their staked Scorpexes.

Around 12 or so bikers closed in to Mako and Fyra until the distance between them reached firing range. The riders pulled out their shotguns and SMGs and immediately opened fire at the two kids. Fortunately for Mako and Fyra, handling recoil with one hand and steering a bike with the other isn’t really good for one’s accuracy.

“Give us good meat! Plump kids make good meat!”

“Lead is raining! Lead is raining! HAHAHAAAA!!!”

The riders' maniacal laughter filled the arid air, but was cut short when a stream of fire unleashed by Fyra’s bracer brushed through one of them. A chain-reaction ensued, its reactants that of burning riders and crashing hoverbikes.

“Six down! Six to go!” Fyra announced, pulling out a plasma SMG from Mako’s backpack in front of her.

The one-horned devil opened fire at the rider on their right but missed all of her shots, and the same could be said for the other. However, some of the rider’s stray shots hit one of the impaled Scorpexes’ tail, now leaking its acidic venom.

Mako swung the iron rod to his right, flinging the Scorpexes’ leaked acid to the rider, blinding him and causing him to crash straight to a boulder. With five more to go, two riders surrounded Mako and Fyra from both left and right side.

“I take left! You take right!” Mako commanded, drawing out a double-barrel sawn off shotgun holstered on his hip.

The witch took aim and pulled the trigger, but the shotgun malfunctioned, releasing nothing more but a disappointing puff.

“Dang it! Not now Boomthorn!”

Luckily, Fyra paid no heed to Mako’s command. She fired her SMG to the right, and shot a chained crossbow bolt to the left. Both threats were instantly eliminated, with the left rider pulled along by the chained bolt. His body was dragged by Silverbolt as the chase went on.

“WEAKLINGS!! CAN’T EVEN KILL KIDS!!” Anubrax was deeply angered having observed it all through a telescope.

Anubrax whistled for one of his men to pass him his signature weapon: a shoulder-launched gauss cannon. Upon receiving, the Sandking took aim on the side scope, capturing Mako, Fyra and the remaining three riders in sight. Completely disregarding his own men’s presence, Anubrax fired.

A deafening boom thundered The Sand Gang convoy. Even the monster truck rode by Anubrax was pushed slightly aback from the cannon’s recoil. A blinding ball of light energy relentlessly at the two kids with dozens worth of mach speed.

Though missed, the projectile hit the ground nearly a meter away from Mako and Fyra. The ground exploded gloriously as a 100 feet tall mushroom cloud was formed. Both kids and their ride were sent flying onwards while the remaining three riders got caught in the explosion and reduced to ashes.

Although slightly dazed from the sudden jump, Mako continued to accelerate his Silverbot further utilizing the extra push from the explosion just now. He noticed a warning sign far ahead and once they’re close enough to read it, a mischievous smile beamed from the witch’s face.

“Hey Fyra! Soot up that sign eh!”

As ordered, Fyra unleashed a fireball towards the warning sign using her powered bracer. The sign caught fire and turned black from soot, obscuring any warnings it had written on it. The duo flew past the sign straight into whatever that lay ahead.

“Say, I didn’t catch the warning just now. What did it say?” Fyra confessed.

“Oh you’ll find out soon enough.”

10 seconds behind, the Sand Gang convoy had also passed through the soot-covered sign. A violent quake suddenly shook the sandy ground below both convoy and the Silverbolt.

Out of nowhere, a patch of ground exploded below one of the convoy’s buggies, sending it flying yards away. A van-sized Scarab beetle emerged from the exploded ground with a blindfolded machine gun wielding human riding on top of it.

Other patches of ground began exploding randomly as well followed by a Scarab-rider emerging from it. The Scarab-riders hollered as they opened fire at their intruders.

“You brought us to a Scarab Gang nest!?” Fyra shouted in disbelief.

“Yep! Just as planned!” Mako replied proudly. “Scarab-riders can’t see crap, so they’ll rely on the ground’s vibration to find stuff. Though they could feel Silverbolt hovering above, it’s nothing compared to those wheelies behind us.”

Meanwhile, an all out war ensued at Anubrax’s convoy. Some of the Scarabs were gunned down by sheer firepower of the convoy, while the Sand Gang’s vehicles were flipped and thrown here and there by the giant insectoid. Bullets and bombs went flying through the air as explosions, manic screaming and death overshadowed the loud engines of the Sand Gang’s convoy.

“We’re surrounded, boss! We need to retreat!” one of Anubrax’s henchmen commented.

“AAAARRGGHH!! YOU MIGHT GET AWAY THIS TIME, BUT NEXT TIME YOU BOTH ARE DEAD MEAT!!! ”

With that, Anubrax ordered his convoy to retreat as our protagonists fled onwards to their destination. This isn’t the first time the devil and the witch had a brush of death, and this surely won’t be their last.

*****

Somewhere in the desert of Kaandur, lie the shanty town of Cratemouth; a little town where all of its buildings, homes and shops alike, were made inside abandoned spaceship cargoes. Its inhabitants are as diverse as anywhere in Delirith; humans, non-humans, hybrids, cyborgs, straight up robots- and just like any inhabitant of Delirith, all are mad in their own special way.

Somewhere in Cratemouth, stood a supply stall that sold- well- supplies. There’s no fixed currency in Delirith thus businesses were normally conducted through bartering or fulfilling one’s favour. The latter method will be shown by our little witch and one-horned devil, as the former was seen knocking violently on the supply stall’s closed roller shutter.

“Ey Mr Ricky! Mr Rickyyyy!!!”

*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*

“Gar’ dammit child! Can’t a man have his noon nap in peace!”

[ RICKY HAIRSON ]
Bald as he is Bold!

“What in solar fart yer two want?”

“We got your skin and claws, boss!” Mako proudly presented the wheelbarrow behind him, containing eight Scorpex claws and four of its shedded skin, harvested from the Scorpexes the duo had hunted throughout the week before.

“Well, ‘least you both ain’t woke me up for nothin-” Ricky pulled the wheelbarrow into his shop and disappeared for some time. Mako and Fyra waited patiently for a moment when the stall owner returned with their payment inside the wheelbarrow.

For the Scorpexes’ claws and skins, the duo earned themselves a sack of food, a jerry can of fuel, and a small box of shotgun shells.

“What!? Just this?” Mako remarked.

“Why? Don’t like your paycheck?”

“No, the rest is fine, but this-'' Mako lifted up the box of shotgun shells- “we used way more throughout our hunt last week. Hell, one whole box per day if we stumbled with some baddies!”

“Ain’t my problem you suck at ammo management kid.” Ricky pulled down the roller shutter closing it shut, but was stopped by Mako who held the shutter back up.

“Come on boss! At least give two!”

“No means no!” Ricky pulled the shutter this time with more force. Mako couldn’t hold his grip and ends up letting go, but even then it refused to close shut completely because the witch’s feet were in the way-

“ARGHK!-”

“Fart sake-” Ricky lifted the shutter back up- “fine! If ye kids want more shells from me then first off, don’t let them Scorpex venom soil the skin. It could melt ANY organic material in this world!”

“Next, try getting something with bigger skin and claws, and teeth even. The bigger the better,” Ricky added his statement before finally closing the shutters for good.

-BAM!-

“Welp, now what?” Fyra asked as they both took the wheelbarrow, left the stall and made their way out of Cratemouth.

“Now- we go home.”

Mako turned the gear case of his round digital watch, digitally constructing (digistruct) Silverbolt in front of the duo from thin air. Once the digistruction was complete, the two kids packed up their things, got up the hoverbike and rode off.

“So, about Mr Ricky-” Fyra continued her question- “should we do it? Hunt things with bigger skin, claws and teeth?”

“Hell yeah we will!” Mako replied unhesitantly. “It’s not like we haven’t killed big baddies before.”

“We’re going to kill something sooo BIG, Mr Ricky ‘ll give us his entire stock of shells- no, his WHOLE STORE!”

“I don’t think he's gonna do that last part anytime now,” Fyra remarked, adjusting her seating position on the bike.

“Yeah, I’m just joking on that last part. But I’m hella serious for the first one. And I know just the beast that could help us with that!”

They arrived at their camp right before dusk as the sky darkens at the final stages of sunset. Their camp was nothing more but the remains of a crashed airship, hidden inside the valley of a desert canyon. Mako and Fyra got off the Silverbolt, unpacked their stuff and wind off after a hard day’s work.

“The beast you mentioned-” Fyra continued- “you didn’t mean the Razesaurus now, did ye?”

“Mmhm. That’s exactly what I meant!”

Fyra opened her helmet revealing her scarred face with scarlet-red eyes. Nearly half of her face was filled with burn scars and though there’s no physical mark, her right eye was completely blind of sight.

“Not that I’m doubting, but based on our two weeks stay in this desert, you should know how frequently we kept encountering bad guys here right?” Fyra reasoned. “I mean, we only killed like four Scorpex and a whole convoy went after our ass. Imagine if they saw us dragging a Razesaurus corpse.”

“I know the risks Fyra,” Mako replied, taking off his hat and clothes revealing a scar filled and quite lean muscular body for a boy his age, “That's why instead of defending ourselves, we’re going to steal from them first!”

“Seriously?” Fyra replied in an unimpressed voice. “I don’t see how’s that going to make things easier, but screw that-”

“-I’m in.”

And with that, the devil and the witch prepped themselves that night with weapons and bombs. They had plenty of rest and enjoyed a goodnight’s sleep as first thing in the morning, the duo will pull off a heist to steal another’s hunt of the mighty Razesaurus.

****

“Target in sight. I repeat, target in sight. Over,” Mako spoke, holding a walkie-talkie in his hand.

“Dude, I’m right beside you,” Fyra replied, without holding a walkie-talkie in her hand.

The time had reached its peak high-noon when Mako and Fyra had found the target for their heist. A few hundred yards away, Sandking Anubrax and his men were seen surrounding a dead Razesaurus. The gang leader overseered his men pulling the 12-feet body up with a pulley, placing it on top of a huge platform trailer attached to an armoured track-wheeled truck in front.

Even from afar, one could marvel at the monstrosity of the Razesaurus; its overly muscular humanoid body yet lizard-like skin, its fierce dinosaur-like face, and teeth and claws that could crush any armoured vehicle like paper. Only a madman would dare face this monster, which unfortunately for the Razesaurus, that’s like 101% of Delirith’s population (with a 1% margin of error).

“It’s time-” Mako put down his telescope as he and Fyra left their hiding spot.

“We’re good! We’re good! Aaaaaand done!” One of the sand-bois announced as the Razesaurus corpse was successfully placed on top of the platform trailer.

“GOOD JOB BOYS! I WON’T BE NEEDING THIS SCRAP ANYMORE!” Anubrax took off his rusted iron-crown and threw it across the sky. “RIP OFF ITS TEEF! I’LL HAVE IT AS MY CROWN!”

The Sandking’s announcement earned a celebratory cheer from his boys, firing bullets and rockets to the air as they hollered in delight. Meanwhile, the driver of the armoured truck in front of the platform trailer waited patiently for his leader’s order. He adjusted the front mirror when Mako and Fyra suddenly appeared inside its reflection.

“Wait wha-”

*WHACK!*

“WE’LL HAVE GUTS AND MEAT AND BONES TO LAST US TWO NIGHTS!!”

The Sand Gang continued their manic celebration not realizing that the armoured truck was hijacked and its driver kicked out. Not long after, Anubrax noticed the armoured vehicle took off without his order, and the original driver running towards him.

“Boss! Boss! Those kids! They- they-”

“YES I COULD SEE THAT! BUT HELL WITH IT! WE HAVE PLENTY OF BERTHAS!” Anubrax whistled, signalling his men to bring forth a backup truck. The truck attached itself to the platform trailer carrying the Razesaurus’ corpse, apparently left behind by our protagonists.

Back to Mako and Fyra, half an hour passed before one of them realized that the truck they hijacked didn't pull anything. They got off from the vehicle and Mako immediately banged his head on the truck in frustration.

“MOTHERFLIPPING! DARN! GABNABBIT!-” Mako punched the truck non-stop before collapsing face front to the sandy floor below. Fyra watched in silence as the witch sulked.

“Uggghhhh… Fyraaaa… Kill me pleeease…”

“You gotcha boss-” Fyra took Mako’s double-barreled shotgun from his hip, aimed at the boy’s head and pulled the trigger.  Unfortunately (or fortunately- I don’t know) the gun malfunctioned and let out a pathetic puff.

“Looks like Boomthorn doesn’t want you dead yet.”

“Aaahhhhh…..” Mako groaned, rolling back to face the cloudless sky.

“Y’know, maybe we should take things slowly. Maybe we shouldn’t go for the big boys straight on,” Fyra suggested, offering her hand as he pulled Mako back to his feet. “There’s plenty of creatures bigger than the Scorpex but smaller than the Razesaurus. One of them’s bound to value more than one box of shells from Mr Ricky’s standard.”

“Yeah, but that means we have to hunt and protect our hunt,” Mako argued.

“So? Doesn’t make a difference compared to, say, all the time. Besides-” Fyra handed Mako his Boomthorn back- “the witch never gives up even in dire times.”

A smile formed on Mako’s face, grabbing his shotgun back into his grasp, “and the devil never leaves its partner’s side!”

With their spirit back up, Mako digistructed his Silverbolt and they both rode off into the sunset to hunt for bigger skin, claw and teeth.