Advent Of A Gunslinger

Sure enough, a certain eagle woman was waiting for Zula back in her little base located at the edge of Klugetown. She was standing there, leaning her back against the wall with her head tilted downwards to conceal her eyes. Once the tigress arrived and saw who it was, she let out a mildly impressed purr.

“Well I’ll be hogtied and damned,” she commented as she walked up to her building, “Is that Typhae herself?”

And as soon as she was addressed, she raised her head to look at Zula. “Damn right it is,” the eagle lady replied. “And I’m here to make an offer. I’ve heard quite a bit about you from the grapevine, friend.”

“Hm…”

A pirate and her crew could offer an immense boon to Zula’s army that she was starting to create. Ignoring an offer of this magnitude would be downright foolish. At the same token, however…

“To blindly trust her would be equally foolish. I’m going to have to see for myself just how serious she is. She IS a pirate after all.”

At last, Zula would speak to her, “Come inside, and let’s have a chat.”

“Deal,” Typh replied amicably.

Zula led the eagle woman down into her base and took a seat in her chair behind her desk. “Alright. Now…what exactly are you intending on giving me? Aren’t you the gal that runs an entire crew of magical deer?”

“I did…until they were killed by a certain hippogriff.”

“...Remington continues to be a pain in your ass too, hm?” Zula added with a sigh, “Now I’m starting to see why you came here.” She tilted her head as she started to realize something. “But wait a second, if your crew is dead, what exactly are you preparing to offer me?”

“They were killed, yes…but still. I wanna do whatever I can.”

Zula tilted her head away from her with a suspicious glare on her face. “...What’s the catch?”

“No catch,” she shook her head and went on, “I just want that cowboy bastard and Celaeno dead!”

“Here’s the thing,” the tigress retrieved her blueprints from the nearby desk drawer. “Remington holds valuable information that could create weapons beyond our current understanding. And we use them in combination with the Aionite that we’re finding underneath Klugetown…”

Typh caught on quickly enough to respond. “Then we’ll have the strongest weapons in the South--probably the world even!”

“Exactly,” Zula replied with a purr. “Now then. You said you’d be willing to do anything to help me out right?”

“That I am,” the eagle lady nodded, “My gun is at your side, miss.”

A small, excited grin expanded across Zula’s face as she got up from her desk. “I think I just might be able to help you help me--so to speak.”

“Eh?” Typh raised a brow as she watched the tigress walk towards a small safe near the end of the room. “Whatcha mean by that?”

Zula opened her safe, and retrieved something from it: a golden charm that was shaped into the form of a skull the size of an orange that was attached to a chain. She then closed the safe and walked back over to the pirate bird. “You said your entire crew was dead, yeah? Are their bodies still around? Or their bones at least?”

“Aye, they’re out in the middle of the desert, though. It’d be quite a trek to get there. Why do ya ask?”

“...You’ll see soon enough,” Zula replied as she started to twirl the charm on her finger by its chain. “Let’s just say…hypothetically, if there was a way to give you back something you recently lost, would you take the offer?”

Typh glared daggers at the she-cat. The entire situation read as sketchy but ultimately, she had no choice in the matter if she wanted to accrue anymore gold.

“...Maybe,” she answered coldly, bluntly, “But that depends entirely on the offer itself and the person making it.”

“...Follow me,” Zula purred as she walked towards the exit of her little base of operations, “And I’ll show ya better than I can tell ya.”

Just outside of Caninia’s borders…

With the wind blowing in his mane, Axel steeled himself as he stared down at the town made entirely of scrap and spare parts. “Varmints ain’t gon’ know what hit ‘em…”

“The dynamite is all set, compadre!” Vido informed him as he took a step back from the bundle of red sticks that he had placed near the rocks.

“Swell,” Axel replied, and looked over in Kora’s direction, “You prepared, little lady?”

“Verily,” Kora purred in response, perched on her haunches upon the cliffside. “Our strategy is perfect. All we need to do is--well, we start on your cue, Lord Remington.”

“Mighty fine…” The hippogriff flew into the air, and hovered there for a moment. “Sun is out. Wind is just right. All we need is a spark…”

Once everything was in its proper place, Axel reached for his right revolver, and aimed it into the sky. “...This one’s for you, pa. Let’s make history and do the impossible.”

BANG!

With a single shot fired, that was Kora’s cue. She braced herself, and bared her fangs…

“....!!”

She caterwauled on such a high frequency that it wouldn’t be perceptible to Vido or Axel. But you know who could hear it?

“ROWWWW!”

Diamond Dogs.

With a mighty howl, dozens upon dozens of diamond dogs all dressed in shaggy leather and spiky clothing emerged from the buildings down within the canyon. They immediately began to run--no, stampede Westward towards the canyon’s exit. Thunderous paws quaked against the earth as the pack of what looked like one-hundred diamond dogs ran off to where they thought they heard a sign of fresh meat.

“Now,” Axel gave a command as he watched them leave the canyon.

And as soon as they did, Vido lit up a match, and held it against the bundle of TNT they had set up. “Alright. She’s lit. Get back, compadres!”

Vido and Axel flew away while Kora dove behind the nearest slab of rock nearby. The dynamite’s fuse hissed until…

Sssssss….BLAM!

With a loud explosion, the rocks near the TNT bundle were blown off the cliffs and sent tumbling down. As they rolled, more rocks would come down in a full-scale avalanche that would be large enough to create an entire wall of rocks that kept the diamond dogs locked out of their own home…for now.

“Bullseye,” Axel proclaimed as he pointed down the Junkyard, “C’mon, ya’ll let’s git a move on. We ain’t got much time.” And with that, he swooped down into the canyon like a bold eagle…

“Si. Come on, gatta,” he flew up and followed Axel downwards, gliding like a hawk.

“I can’t wait to tear them apart…” Kora hissed to herself as she elegantly pounced and made her way down the cliffs like a skilled panther. “Mom and dad, I will get revenge for you. Maxine as well. Hold tight.”