James walks out into the dusty road under the hot sun, clapping his hands twice. Under his arm, he holds a stack of papers. His trusty camera is wrapped around.

“Hello, could I get everyone’s undivided attention please? I am interested in getting your help with my newest masterpiece! I expect you all to take this honor very seriously!”

There’s a moment of confused silence as everyone realizes that James is being serious about this whole thing.

“Okay, sounds fun!” calls Bryan, and soon everyone seems to be excited to receive their role, though anything involving James tends to inspire a lot of apprehension.

After everyone spends a half hour or so learning their lines, they gather to start shooting the scenes under the guidance of James. Soon, though, people begin having problems.

“Th-that’s where you’re wrong sheriff! As u-usual, you have a stick up your butt! N-not that you’d even know what that means!” calls Bryan. He is dressed in chaps, spurs, and a ten gallon hat. He winces as he sees Koichi’s reaction to the line.

“What’s all this about a stick up my butt? I keep myself clean and stick-free!” Koichi argues back directly, apparently not even reading the script. Koichi is wearing another cowboy outfit, with a large sheriff’s badge on his vest.

“Koichi, say your line, come on! This is your moment!” Oscar offers his encouragement from the sidelines, where he too is dressed in western garb.

Koichi’s feelings seem to be hurt though, and his reading isn’t very good, “W-well Mr. Morales, you lack the spark of a real hero! You are too stupid, and uh, you uh, don’t have much depth, either! One could call you a Buff Buffoon!”

Urumi, garbed in a frilly dress, seemingly very sweaty in the direct sunlight loudly groans, “You’re kidding me, right? James is just messing with us! The whole script is us insulting one another!”

James seems to pay her no mind and continues filming.

“Perhaps this is all just a part of the story?” Keri asks civilly. “Or perhaps James just can’t help it?”

“My character calls Jack’s character Mr. Mediocre in pretty much every scene, even though we’re supposed to be friends,” grumbles Urumi. “This is a farce.”

“I thought we would keep up with the farce a little longer though, no? I enjoy my part quite a lot!” Oscar beams, a tiny bit smug. “Oh well, the part did not inspire me that much, admittedly. It did not make the use it could have out of my skills. Come on Raul, let’s end this.”

Raul, who was reading his part and quietly blushing, looks up and nods, tossing the script to the side.

The two of them walk over to James, who is filming Koichi and Bryan from under the water tower.

“Alright, James! You heard us! We do not stand to make fools of ourselves and be called names!” Raul commands.

James, seeing that the jig is up, sighs and puts down the camera, cracking a smile. “Perhaps you are all not the fools I thought you were! It only took us a few scenes for you to notice! That’s right! I made you simpletons make fools of yourselves on camera! None of you will ever be hired in this town again!”

Bryan, beet red, runs up to James, “You vile… I read the whole script! I saw what you said about my sister!”

Raul and Oscar both falter, feeling bad for Bryan. Raul puts a hand on Bryan’s shoulder and clenches his fist, “He said vile things about my countrymen. He also cruelly mocked my cause.”

Bryan looks James in the eyes, and suddenly throws a punch, which rushes over James’s head.

James tries to crawl away, but Bryan throws a powerful kick his way. In reaction James quickly scuttles up, reaching in his pocket for something.

Bryan sees the glint of metal as James pulls out the revolver. Screams can be heard from far away as everyone sees things begin to look serious. Raul jumps into the fray.

“I’ll shoot you, scum! I will stamp out your pathetic life!” James screeches, as Bryan wraps his arms around him.

James screams and wriggles a hand free, punching at the air. The pathetic flailing eventually connects with something, the leg of the water tower, and dust flies off of it, the wood cracking.

The water tower begins to fall, and it’s all over in an instant.

“H-hey, I’m gonna have to fix that, you know!” whines Kyle from everyone’s bracelets. “At the very least I gotta pay for it! Be careful!”

The four of them are soaked, but okay. Raul is holding a leg that had almost fell on them. Oscar is holding the gun and the scruff of James’s shirt. Koichi slowly moseys on up.

“Alright boys, I’ll take this one from here. Thank y’all fer yer help,” he says, and slaps the handcuffs on James. “I’m taking you down to the station.”

“M-me?! I was simply directing! This buff buffoon started something out of nothing!” James protests, as Koichi begins guiding him over to the stockades. “The gun wasn’t even loaded, you imbecile!”

Koichi ignores him, and soon James is locked in the stockade, apparently unable to leave for the next few days. Everyone is still deciding on what his sentence should be.

Once all that is dealt with, Otto comes out to fix the water tower, and Keri suggests that all the guns be put in the safes. Furthermore, they decide to take the bullets out of them and give those to V.A.L.

“I’m trained in safe-cracking, so I can open all the safes here, and figure out the pass codes,” Keri elucidates, when asked about the plan. “But it is unlikely that I would take a gun myself, because without ammunition, it would be useless. The rest of you will have no chance at getting the guns, so hopefully you all can trust in my idea.”

In the end, everyone agrees to this, and all the bullets, shells, blanks, and rubber bullets get placed in V.A.L.’s compartment. Leaving the place completely free of dangerous equipment.

"Bzzt, I will not let these fall into the wrong hands!" V.A.L. whirrs.