A Fruity Job! Bounty Hunters for Hire!

[CowpokeRobin]

Brie could smell the charring remains of the horse their adversaries had used to blockade the road, and could only assume Garrett had done something to cause that. She looked over to her pack containing the fruit as her compatriot cracked the reigns and sent them flying down the path. She quickly scooped up the bag and slung it over her shoulders to prevent it from sliding off the wagon as they sped along.

"Hopefully there aren't any more barricades up ahead. Hitting one at this speed…" Brie was cut off by bullets whizzing by them as she turned her derringers to their pursuers. Each crack from Brie's firearms was accompanied by a resounding thud as people were knocked from their horses. The small rounds at this range were hardly lethal, but they packed enough punch to fully impede anyone they hit.

"We need to go faster," Brie yelled as she continued to fend off the mercenaries as best she could. Despite her expert marksmanship, she could only fire so fast. She looked over her shoulder at Garrett and could only hope he had some plan for getting away from their pursuers. Much to her dismay, and only a second too late she noticed something that made her heart drop. A bullet had cleanly ripped through the left side of the pouch she carried the fruit in, and before she could react she watched the canister slip out of the widening hole and onto the roof of the carriage.

"No!" She cried as she dove for the cylinder and managed to successfully snatch it up just as it tipped over the edge of the roof. She breathed a sigh of relief as her hand dangled there with the fruit firmly in her grip. She hoisted it up and held it aloft to ensure there was no damage.

~Crack~

A bullet ripped clean through the glass of the canister sending small pieces of glass towards Brie which thankfully were too small to cause real harm. The real danger, at least to their job, was the small chunk of the fruit that found its way into Brie's open mouth. Without even thinking, she swallowed it whole. Her eyes widened as she faintly tasted the exotic fruit, and she realized what had just happened. She launched the broken container and the rest of the fruit off the carriage towards their adversaries as they all stopped to collect their now useless reward.

"Keep going…" she said just loud enough to be audible, but clearly in shock at what had transpired. She also knew one thing for certain. They'd be after her life once they pieced together why the magic fruit had lost its magic.

[Fox]

“We’ll figure that out as we go,” Garrett said in reply to Brie. A barricade wouldn’t be the end of the world for them. They could always try to divert into the woods themselves. Admittedly, that was probably a terrible idea for a variety of reasons. He whipped the reins to spur the horses to move faster, but it was a hopeless venture. Horses hauling a carriage were always going to be slower than horses that were free and clear. He had an idea, but as he turned back to Brie to grab her, he was forced to watch in sheer horror as their paycheck in fruit form tumbled out onto the roof of the carriage.

Thankfully, Brie managed to catch it, setting Garrett’s heart attack to rest. He reached out to grab Brie, but before he could, a bullet shattered the container holding the fruit. Garrett shielded his eyes from the glass debris only to see Brie swallowing either a piece of broken glass or the fruit. Seeing as how she didn’t choke on her own blood, Garrett suspected the latter. She hucked the now useless fruit at their pursuers.

Garrett fired off a couple more shots at the rogues who still kept up the chase even after that. He turned around and continued the horses at their frenzied pace until they were long out of the forest. Garrett sat down on the roof of the carriage, taking his hat off with a sigh, and running a hand through his dusty silver hair.

“...We’re f*cked,” he groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose, “You ate it, didn’t you?”

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Garrett | #b87333 | Post Count: 9

[CowpokeRobin]

Brie sat on the edge of the carriage, not even bothering to fire back at their pursuers. As far as she saw it, she was probably dead anyway. What little knowledge she had about Devil Fruit, and an odd familiarity with what was happening to her meant they'd probably just kill her as soon as they found out. She sat in silence as bullets flew past her head contemplating what this actually meant. They shouldn't be too far from the town at this point, and she hoped that she'd have something figured out by the time they arrived. 

That was until Garrett brought the carriage to a stop after enough distance had been made to ensure their safety. Despite feeling as though her fate was sealed she also felt a desperate need to preserve herself, as anyone would. Any professionalism was removed from the mouse girl as she was reminded just how small she was in all of this. Her lower lip quivered a bit as a few tears began to streak down her face. 

Brie sat there, legs dangling off the side of their vehicle as she heard Garrett take up a seat behind her on the surprisingly sturdy roof. She didn't want him to see the tears now rolling down her face. He didn't say much, but Brie was hardly listening. Her eyes narrowed as the thought dawned on her. They weren't partners or even in anyway obligated to help each other. They were bounty hunters, hired for the same job. His loyalty shouldn't even be in question, and it was in that moment she locked eyes with a small, seemingly abandoned village not to far off from their current position.

"Alright," she said as she stood up and withdrew one of the small smoke bombs she had prepared. "I'm not going to make it easy," and with that she launched the small device directly between them, using the distraction to dart for the buildings to the north of them. She was no longer crying as she was fully convinced Garrett would claim the reward one way or another.

[Fox]

What were they going to do? Garrett was running through the possibilities in his head. That rich guy probably had connections all over the North Blue, which would make things a real pain for them. They probably ought to just ditch the north entirely, right? It was no guarantee, for sure. He didn’t seem like the forgiving type either. Mm… Garrett squinted and sighed deeply. Well, this job was a wash. First things first, they had to leave the island as soon as possible.

As Brie stood up, Garrett was a little surprised but assumed that she had reached a similar conclusion. Which was why when she threw a smoke bomb in his face, he was utterly baffled. He jolted to his feet, waving his arm around to clear out the smoke. When vision returned, Garrett spotted Brie running for what looked like the ruins of a village in the distance. He hesitated for a moment as the pieces in his mind clicked together. Did… did she think he was going to hurt her?

“Kid!” he called out, but realized that she was probably too far away to hear him by now. He cursed under his breath, jumping down from the carriage, slapping one of the horse’s flanks to get them going. First place they’d look is the area by the carriage. Hopefully those horses would take it a long ways away. That done, Garrett turned and ran off toward the village and Brie.

“I’m getting too old for this kinda thing…”

It didn’t take Garrett too long to arrive at the village, but he’d long since lost sight of Brie on the way. Walking down the mainstreet of the village, Garrett glanced around a bit cautiously. He wasn’t here to hurt her, but she probably had different ideas about him. He cupped his hands to his mouth.

“Brie! I’m not going to hurt you! Let’s get outta here together!” Garrett paused, listening for a response.

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Post Count: 10

[CowpokeRobin]

Hearing Garret call after her may have given Brie some pause had adrenaline not been pumping through her system compelling her to run. Overall he had seemed nice, but it's getting comfortable around nice seeming people that gets you a knife in the back in this line of work. As far as Brie was concerned she had to escape. It was this thought that kept her feet moving towards the small, abandoned village and particularly towards a large church building in the center of town. Reaching it she quickly scurried up to the steeple to try and ascertain Garrett's position. It was then that she noticed something just as alarming as Garrett closing in behind her. A wagon coming out of the forest path they had taken, no doubt the bandits from before attempting to find her as well. They were still a far way off from where her and Garrett currently were, but it would only be a matter of time before they made it to the small town. Brie made a decision right then and there to place her trust in Garrett.

"Garrett!" She cried from atop the church steeple as she pointed behind him to the slowly advancing caravan. They maybe had 30 or so minutes before they'd make their way this way, and thanks to Brie's I'll conceived idea to run the wagon they had taken was no longer a means of escape. She slowly made her way down into the church proper and out it's front door beckoning Garrett in. Her face was still a bit red from her recent exertion and emotional fit, but she hardly had the time for embarrassment over the latter.

"I'm sorry and I still don't trust you, but we have to deal with them. I'm probably dead either way so you can turn me over to them if you want, but I'm willing to fight. Whether it's them or you then them is your choice," she quickly explained as she stared up at the half-lunarian. She put on a brave face, but this was the first time she felt her life was truly in someone else's hands.

[Fox]

“How’d she get up there so fast…?” Garrett rumbled in equal parts confusion and amazement at Brie standing atop the church steeple. Adrenaline was one hell of a drug, he supposed. As she disappeared inside of the church, Garrett made his way to the church from the street, stopping at the bottom of the steps as Brie popped out of the front door, beckoning him inside. He didn’t make her wait, climbing the steps and noting the redness in her face.

Her mistrust made him frown, but, honestly, he couldn’t blame her. They were total strangers. Still, that didn’t mean he was heartless. Garrett could see the fear and uncertainty in her eyes. He clicked his tongue, looking away from her as he took off his hat and placed it on her head. “Hold onto this for me. I’ll want it back after all of this is over.”

Moving past her and into the church, Garrett took stock. It wasn’t a bad spot. There were certainly worse. It was probably the most fortified location in town with the best vantage point. He shut the doors, closing them inside of the church. There were windows, but they were high and narrow. Not the easiest point of entry. They could do this.

“We’ll bottleneck ‘em,” Garrett explained, “You go up top and see if you can’t pick off a bunch of them when they get close, alright?”

“Oh. Your Devil Fruit. Have you figured out how to use it?” he asked. Whatever it was, it could potentially help them out. He’d take any advantage at this point. He didn’t think he was going to get out of this without using his abilities either. Cracking his knuckles, Garrett transformed, growing in size. His skin turned a deep shade of red as his hands became more akin to claws. Horns sprouted from his forehead as his hair began to glow with a faint purple light.

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Garrett | #b87333 | Post Count: 11

[CowpokeRobin]

Brie had hardly noticed she had lost her hat in the prior chase until Garrett handed him down to place on top of her head. She was certain hers was somewhere in the small town they’d now be making their stand in and it was a secondary priority to find it when this was said and done. While the hat was a tad too big for her it really didn’t cause too much of an issue as her ears slipped into the mostly void cavity above her head. Brie was still wary of her ally, but it wasn’t exactly an issue she had time to grapple with.

Brie scoped out the area as Garrett gave his plan. It would take advantage of their rather unique skills, and Brie was certain she could easily leap between the buildings on either side of the main road. Brie looked up at Garrett, certain she saw a flash of something else in his eyes. A sort of determination mixed with uncertainty perhaps? It was as she was trying to figure out how he felt that he asked a question she dreaded.

“Kind of…” Brie lied. She had some idea what her new, accidentally obtained powers did, but she was hesitant to even use them. They felt as if they were the heavy weight of rope upon her shoulders that one may feel prior to a hanging. Which depending on the way things shake out may be exactly where she was heading.

"Let me um…” concentrating really hard she mustered up some energy that had been present inside her, feeling it as though she’d known it all her life. Welling up as though it were going to boil over and explode. A faint, pinkish light began to radiate all around her as she wondered what might happen. That was until everything began to get bigger quite suddenly and she found herself in near, pitch black darkness.

“What did I do? Did I… did I die!?” she yelled from underneath Garrett’s now colossal hat. Brie had found herself in a much larger world as she now stood at an unimpressive 4 inches tall. “Garrett! Where did you go!?”

[Fox]

Garrett looked away for a second to summon a couple wisps and send them into the church’s rotten wooden pews. The pews suddenly came to life floating around and drifting lazily through the air. When Garrett turned around, Brie was gone. Disappeared. But he could still sort of hear her, though it was muffled and sounded miles away. Weirdly high pitched? He crouched down and picked up his hat, unveiling a tiny Brie underneath it. Garrett stared at her blankly in disbelief.

“...Brie?”

He wanted to ask what happened, but Garrett could hazard a guess. Her Devil Fruit had done it. There was no other explanation for this wacky magical nonsense. He was entirely at a loss for what to do or say until a bullet came whizzing through the church doors. Garrett hissed a curse under his breath and scooped up Brie in his hands, covering her with his body as a second bullet pieced the doors and scored a hit squarely into his shoulder.

“Agh… dammit,” Garrett moved away from the doors, directing some of the pews to pile up at the entrance, effectively barricading it. The other pews moved to cover the windows. Garrett moved over to the stairs and looked down at Brie cupped gingerly in his now comparatively giant hands.

“Ahh… can you un-small yourself??”

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Garrett | #b87333 | Post Count: 12