Advent Of A Gunslinger

Axel couldn’t believe it either. “Rose? How in the hell…”

Apparently, Roseanne had to have jumped from one ship to the other in order to make it there. The fact that she landed the leap was impressive, but the fact that she was out there fighting at all was unprecedented.

But she was there. In the flesh. It seemed that her depressive state wasn’t enough to keep her from fighting…

“...I wasn’t askin’.” Rose insisted as she punched the wall of the ship with a hard crash!, causing a hole in the wood next to Typh’s head, “Let him go.”

“E-eep!” The eagle woman cringed against the wood. Her entire body was caught in a loop of fearful, involuntary shivering as she stared up at the muscular minotaur woman.

Axel took advantage of this, and got up onto his hooves. He flew over and stood beside her with a satisfied sigh. “...Thanks, Rose.”

Satisfied, Roseanne pulled her arm back, and began to back away while tossing one more comment at Typh. “Yous a disgrace, birdie hoe. Don’t say nothin’ta me.”

Now even more hysteric, the eagle stood up and began to laugh. “Oh...this is rich! You dogs hide your greatest asset until it can take the battlefield by surprise? Smart, I’ll give you that. But you didn’t account for one thing.”

“And what’s that?” Axel questioned tensely.

From behind her back, the eagle woman showed off a bottle of green liquid. Her claw released it, and it dropped into the deck with a loud crack!, as the glass shattered and the liquid splattered in every direction. Within seconds, the injuries that her deer crewmates had sustained from Axel’s bullets had reversed themselves, restoring them to fighting condition.

“...Are you serious?” was all the gunslinger could say in response.

But Roseanne wasn’t intimidated at all. She simply drew her shotgun, and cocked it. “Don’t care how many she sends at us, Ax. We got this.”

“Do you really think this was over?” Typh snapped her claw-fingers, “We’re just getting warmed up!”

From the doors that led to the lower deck, more deer-folk appeared, effectively surrounding the minotaur and hippogriff on both sides.

“...Gyat-damn…” he muttered, “This ain’t good…”

“Relax, bro,” Rose whispered, sneaking him a few bullets, “Just follow my lead…”

Meanwhile, on Celaeno’s ship…

Battle was in full swing on this side of the conflict. With Monocrow having successfully escaped back to his captain’s ship, he was already hard at work fighting back against the deer that had invaded them. His aim skill was flawless as he had already dropped a few of the deer with well-placed shots, but their sheer firepower had them outmatched.

What they didn’t expect, however, was a fierce abyssinian huntress…

Kora waited until they were hyper-focused upon her allies when…

“HHH!” With a quick pounce and a hiss, she tackled one buck to the deck of the ship, and choked him until he passed out. Followed by another, and another--effectively thinning their numbers before they could even realize it.

Which enabled Vido to land kill-shots. Sniping them straight through the head to end their lives. “This will teach you to mess with us.”

In the back of Celaeno’s mind as she reloaded her next shot, she made a mental note of just how helpful these strangers were. “Damn. If we make it out alive, I’m gonna really miss these guys. They’re good people.”

Even though Axel and Rose were surrounded, the minotaur gal was more than confident in herself and her newfound godbrother.

She took one look at the gunslinger, and made a few gestures with her fingers. Some of which included a looping motion with her index finger, a balled fist followed up by an extension of her pinky, and a walking motion with her index and middle fingers.

To the untrained eye, there was no way to tell what they were planning. But Axel understood completely, replying with a thumbs-up with his claw.

They then focused their attention on the two dozen deer surrounding them. Roseanne loaded a special shotgun shell with a white casing into her weapon. “You gon’ regret this, bird-lady.”

“And why’s that?” Typh replied with an arrogant smirk, “I have you outnumbered by the largest of margins. You’re the ones who should be afraid.”

“Don’t think so.”

BAM!

Rose fired her shotgun at her hooved feet. The result was a billowing cloud of smoke that concealed everything on the deck of the ship. The deer were all temporarily blinded by this which gave them the advantage they needed.

With a quick flap of his wings, Axel dove in, shooting a bullet clean through the heads of two deer, followed up by grabbing and throwing one into a group of several others.

And Roseanne was an unstoppable force of minotaur, plowing through the deer with the sheer might of her shoulders. Each time they attempted to catch her in a magical grip, they were met with a body that they simply couldn’t hold onto. Visceral slams and crunches of bone could be heard with each deer body she came in contact with.

“What the--?!” Typh shouted, “Damn scallywags--do I have to do everything myself?!” The eagle woman reached for her gun. But before she could fire…

CRACK!

The sound of it being crunched and snapped in two could be heard followed by a heavy pair of nostrils that snorted hard enough to emit steam. The same hand would then grab the eagle woman by her neck.

Rose glared at the ornithian right in her eyes. “You got some kinda nerve pickin’ a fight witcha own brother who ain’t did nuthin’ to ya. Crow’s an honest man that wouldn’t lie’ta me.”

“I...awkk!” she screamed, but had no power against the muscular minotaur’s overbearing hand.

“And now ya done picked a fight with mah brother? The only family Ah got left?!” she shouted, and promptly tossed the bird woman downwards, sending her clear through the upper deck and into the ships interior. “Well yous ‘bout’ta git whatcha deserve!”

Rose would then grab one of the nearby barrels of gunpowder and toss it down the hole she created when throwing the bird woman down below. She then aimed her gun and fired--

BANG!

With a loud explosion, a fire was created below deck which would serve as the pair’s distraction as they made their escape. “Axel! Gimme a claw!”

The smoke disappeared and all of the deer crewmen had been dispatched by the gunslinger. He turned and noticed the minotaur running in his direction. It didn’t take him long to figure out what she had done and what she was planning to do next.

Roseanne jumped onto his back, holding tight as he flew away from the ship.

FWOOSH!

It erupted into flames behind them, and started to descend into the vast emptiness of the desert…

Axel took a second to marvel at what had just happened behind them. “...You a crazy cattle gal, y’know that?”

“Damn straight, brother,” Rose replied as she hugged him tightly, “Damn straight.”