“Miss Betsy LaFontaine! Can I ask you something, it’s mighty important.” A figure uttered… an 18-year-old Kidd Bautista.

It was all but a memory as Kidd now only sees a burning village, holding a small black box. He’s filled with fear as he watches men in metal-clad dusters putting out the flames… the Steel Dusk Company, a violent mercenary company that will do whatever it takes to finish their jobs. Kidd remembers this memory all too well, it had driven him to alcoholism at a young age.

Four years later, Kidd finds himself in a small town in the Leo System, Crash Town was similar to his home in the Monoceros System. It was straight out of a Western film. Crash Town was run by the Galactic Federation, the central governing system in the 88 Systems.

Kidd walks through the swinging doors of a saloon and slowly walks to the bar counter, sitting down, he’s confronted by a Federation soldier.

“Hey, gas-whole… I think you’re in the wrong place…” The soldier said, who was ignored by Kidd.

“Smith, you should probably just leave him be.” Another soldier said.

“No, I’m gonna show this guy that he can’t just waltz in here without paying the tax.” Smith said as he grabbed onto Kidd’s shoulder, turning him around.

“Holy shit, do you know who that is?” A soldier asked.

“You’re “Point Blank” Kidd!” Smith shouted. “You iced a whole fleet of ours, you’re coming with us!”

“Fat chance…” Kidd pulls out one of his shotguns and points it at Smith.

“Look at you, you won’t get away with this Bautista!” Smith shouted.

“Maybe I don’t want to get away… maybe I’m tired of running.” Kidd said as he was about to pull the trigger.

“Uh, sir!” A soldier said.

“Not now!” Smith shouted.

“Actually, it’s pretty important. We see a small starcraft getting ready to crash…” The soldier said.

“Don’t you mean land? Besides, why’s that important?” Smith said.

“Because it’s about to crash into…” The soldier said before a starcraft crashed into the front end of the bar.

People that were in the saloon ran to the opposite end of the building as the ship crashed, the soldiers took their attention off Kidd and walked over to the ship. The hatch on top of the ship opened up and smoke emptied out of it, the soldiers had their guns focused on it.

“Whoever is in there, show yourself!” Smith shouted. “Show yourself or we will be forced to fire!”

“Maybe whoever it is died on impact!” A soldier said as he was struck by a small fireball.

“What the hell!?” A soldier shouted as he was struck by another fireball.

“You feds are as frail as ever…” Kidd said as Smith pointed his gun back at him.

“I’ll be right with you, I better not hear another peep from you!” Smith said as he was hit in the back of the head by another figure.

“More Federation scabs!” The figure, Ryuu Aka, said.

Kidd looked at Ryuu, confused by the young man. He approached him in frustration.

“Are you insane!?” Kidd shouted. “You just knocked out the whole damn convoy!”

“So?” Ryuu said as he looked over at Kidd. “They’re all out cold, that’ll make the getaway easier!”

“No, you dumbass! It’s bad because they’re gonna be sending…” Kidd said as the two of them were surrounded. “More…”

“You’re under arrest for attacking Federation personnel!” The head of the group said. “Both of you!”

“Those guys from before were just easy pickings… I’m sure it’s the same with you!” Ryuu shouted as a metal brace was shot at him, covering his neck. Ryuu was electrocuted and fell to the ground.

“Hey! You attacked him first!” Kidd shouted as he was also attacked by a neck brace and electrocuted.

The two had awoken sometime later, just the two of them in a jail cell guarded by a Federation soldier. Kidd looked over at Ryuu, angry.

“You idiot, your stupid fighting got us captured.” Kidd said. “Last place I wanted to slip away in was a Federation Outpost.”

“I think it was a pretty successful plan!” Ryuu said.

“You call that successful? I’d hate to see a failed plan.” Kidd said.

“Say, what’s your name?” Ryuu asked.

“What are you on about now?” Kidd asked.

“What’s your name, stranger?” Ryuu asked. “We’re gonna be here a while, may as well get to know each other, my name is Ryuu Aka!”

“Kidd Bautista… not that it matters.” Kidd said.

“You should join my team.” Ryuu said.

“Are you wrong in the head, kid?” Kidd asked. “You get me put in a cell and then you ask me to join your team?”

“I think you’d be a nova fit!” Ryuu said.

“Yeah… no…” Kidd said as he looked down, noticing his guns were gone. “My guns… they’re gone… I’m sorry Betsy…”

“Huh, they are gone…” Ryuu said. “Who’s Betsy?”

“That’s none of your business.” Kidd said.

“Then how about this… if I help you get your guns back, then will you join my team?” Ryuu asked.

“You must be crazy… it’d take a miracle just to get out of here.” Kidd said. “I’ll humor you then, if you manage to do that, then I’ll join up with you.”

“Challenge accepted!” Ryuu said as he looked down at the bindings on his hands, the cuffs covered everything from his wrist to his fingertips. Standing up, he walks over to the door of the cell, the guard looked back.

“What do you want?” The guard asked.

“Say mate, those are some nice cell keys you got there… mind if I borrow them?” Ryuu asked.

“That’s your plan?” Kidd asked.

“Pfft, you’re an idiot aren’t you?” The guard said. “I’m not just gonna hand over the keys.”

“Oh… okay.” Ryuu said as he sat back down next to Kidd.

“How long did it take you to think of that one?” Kidd asked.

“Not long, but my plan isn’t finished.” Ryuu said as he looked down at his binding, he starts to wince.

“Oh god… what are you doing now?” Kidd asked.

“They’re not breaking, these things usually break.” Ryuu said.

“I don’t know what kind of bindings you’ve been in… but these things are made of Dustinium.” Kidd said.

“What’s Dustinium?” Ryuu asked.

“It’s heavily mined by the Federation for their equipment, it’s nigh unbreakable.” Kidd said. “You’d have to drop it into an active volcano to destroy it.”

“Volcano?” Ryuu said. “That gives me an idea.”

“Tough break, kid… you’re not gonna find one around here.” Kidd said.

“Can you two quiet down back there?” The guard angrily shouted. “We can’t have any of that yammering when Notics comes by.”

“Wait, what did you say?” Kidd asked.

“Notics Twilight… the Outpost Captain is looking to work with him on something.” The guard said. “Now shut it!”

“You better have a plan Ryuu… I need to get out of this cell.” Kidd said.

“Why, do you know that guy?” Ryuu asked.

“Let’s just say that we’re old friends.” Kidd said.

“Cool! I never had friends before.” Ryuu said.

“Um… okay? Just get us out of here.” Kidd said.

“On it!” Ryuu said as he looked back at his bindings, which began to glow orange.

“What the…” Kidd said.

The bindings began to melt in Ryuu’s hands, revealing the two Dragonoid arms that produced the heat.

“Holy… so you did make those fireballs.” Kidd said. “Do you have a Cosmic Gem?”

“Cosmic Gem? Nah, mate!” Ryuu said.

“Really?” Kidd asked.

“Yeah, my gramps and my mum both trained me in Red Dragon Style since I was a kid.” Ryuu said. “Mostly my gramps though.”

“That’s beyond insane…” Kidd said. “Red Dragon Style, I’ve only heard of it. Never really seen it in action though.”

Ryuu walks over to the guard and taps on his shoulder from inside the cell.

“Hey, mate!” Ryuu said as the guard turned around and pointed his gun at Ryuu.

“How the hell!?” The guard said as Ryuu grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled him towards the cell, causing the guard to hit his head and fall to the ground.

“How’s that for an escape?” Ryuu asks.

“Huh… you really do have this handled, huh?” Kidd asked.

“Yeah, now let’s get your guns back!” Ryuu said as he grabbed the key.

Running through the hallway, Ryuu and Kidd had been knocking out groups of Federation soldiers. There was no sign of the main office or Kidd’s guns in sight. After running into a room, they were confronted by two guards holding guns that looked like speakers.

“Shoot, I didn’t expect them to have these!” Kidd shouted.

“What are those?” Ryuu asked.

“Sonikers!” Kidd said. “They fire bursts of sound, they were primarily used as crowd control!”

“That isn’t good!” Ryuu said as he was struck by a bubble of heavy sound.

“Shoot!” Kidd shouted as he was launched back by a sound bubble.

“Now what?” Ryuu asked.

“Fight back against the sound!” Kidd said as he jumped up and towards the guards. Kidd was launched back by another sound bubble.

“You call that fighting back… take a look at this!” Ryuu said as he leaped from his position towards the guards.

The two guards rapidly fired a large number of sound bubbles toward Ryuu, who propelled right through them. 

“He’s going through them!” One guard said.

“Just keep firing! He can’t go for long!” The other guard instructed.

Ryuu kept flying through groups of bubbles until he reached the two guards, grabbing both of their heads and hitting them against each other, knocking them out, and landing on his feet.

“You ain’t too bad, kid.” Kidd said.

“You ain’t too bad yourself, old man.” Ryuu said.

“Old? I’m twenty-three!” Kidd said.

“You sure? You smell a lot like my gramps after he goes drinking.” Ryuu said.

“Fair enough…” Kidd said as he looked around the room.

“Say, doesn’t this look like an evidence locker?” Ryuu said as he picked up a plastic bag with a pistol in it.

“Hey… you’re right, this is an evidence locker.” Kidd said.

“Maybe they put your guns in here then!” Ryuu said as the two began to dig through the piles.

Kidd grew distressed as he was tossing various weapons aside, he couldn’t find his shotguns. He stood up and looked over at Ryuu, angry.

“My guns aren’t here!” Kidd shouted.

“Well, you have your pick of the litter now.” Ryuu said. “Just take the ones you like.”

“You don’t understand! It needs to be those guns!” Kidd said.

“Well, they aren’t here, mate!” Ryuu said.

“They’re somewhere, they have to be!” Kidd shouted as he continued looking around. “Maybe they’re probably in the big boss’s office.”

“They’re just shotguns, why would they be kept in the head honcho’s room?” Ryuu asked.

“That doesn’t matter right now, it’s our best bet though.” Kidd said as he walked towards the door. “We gotta find them and get out of here before that Notics guy arrives.”

“If you say so, let’s shove on then!” Ryuu said as he followed Kidd out the door.

The duo began to climb higher and higher up the building until they reached the top floor, finally finding the building’s head office, an extravagant door with the Federation’s shooting rocket emblem on it.

“You reckon this is it?” Kidd asked.

“It’s big and shiny, this has gotta be it.” Ryuu said as he kicked open the door, revealing a room with spacious office room.

“Look for the guns, quick!” Kidd shouted as the two shuffled into the room.

Ryuu began to make a mess of the room as he searched for Kidd’s weapons. Opening a closet, he pulled out the guns, wrapped in plastic.

“Kidd, I found them!” Ryuu said.

“Good… I was getting worried that someone here took them for themselves.” Kidd said as he took them. “You did well today, kid!”

“Let’s just get the hell out of here.” Ryuu said. “There’ll probably be more Federation lackeys, we did a number of the forces already here.”

“It’ll be a hell of a lot easier with these guys.” Kidd said as he raised his guns.

“Does that mean you’re gonna join my team?” Ryuu asked.

“I’m still not sure about that.” Kidd said.

“You said you would mate!” Ryuu said.

“Let’s just get out of here for now, then I’ll give you my answer.” Kidd said.

“And that answer will be a yes, I presume!” Ryuu said.

“Let’s just get out of here, I’d rather not run into Notics.” Kidd said as the two ran out.