Advent Of A Gunslinger

Back on the airship…

“Alright, we’ll be landing down soon…” Vido commented to himself as he took a seat behind his airship’s controls. “The minotaur’s place isn’t that much farther.” He looked down at the bandages that covered his pelvis and sighed. “Ay…here’s hoping mama isn’t upset with me by the time we get back.”

Moments later, Kora appeared and approached him on the deck. “...Salutations, Vido. How are you doing today?”

The griffon let out a small screech-like scoff, “Eek. Could be better, could be worse. I’m just glad to be out of that and to see Axel’s sister safe and sound. He’s one step closer to finding the rest of his family.”

“I’m aware of that, but…” the she-cat took a step closer, placing a paw on the back of his neck, “What about you? How are you feeling? Do you think you’ll ever find out what happened to your father?”

Vido looked down at the wooden deck of the airship and hesitated for a moment. Such a question was hard to answer because of how much he had endured over the course of this grand adventure. Shootouts, sexual assault, constant death…needless to say, he started to weigh whether or not he wanted to actually find out about his father at this point.

“I don’t know,” he replied aimlessly, his voice devoid of emotion, “I’m sure he’d want me to know the truth. But at the same time, he wouldn’t want me to run around like a little chicken with its head cut off trying to pursue his death.”

Kora started to think about her own family. Namely her sister and how her death had affected her. “I…see. We are of similar minds. But no one will force you to seek out the truth if you don’t want it. You’re a young man and have an entire life ahead of you. It’s up to you how you wish to spend it.”

“That’s something I do know,” said the griffon, “I’ve been wanting to kickstart my tourist business. Maybe expand and get employees to back me up…” He then chuckled while shaking his head. “Ah, but here I am now--focused entirely on trying to uncover the secrets of something I’m probably better off not knowing.”

“Are you certain that’s how you feel?” Kora asked.

Vido nodded. “Yes. I loved mi padre--but I can’t keep chasing down a rabbit hole trying to find something that will probably only lead to more sadness. What happened with him was his business. Right now? I want to focus on helping you and Axel out so we can all live happy lives and reform the South so none of this can affect anybody else. It’s bad enough that the griffons tend to be looked at as vultures who constantly make things worse for themselves…” he paused, and cleared his throat, “Ahem--which may be true--but! I don’t want that to define who I am. Do you get what I mean, gata?”

“Of course I do,” Kora said with a purr, “As I said before, you’re quite the young man. Don’t let anyone take that away from you, understand? If…I were in the market for a partner, let me just say that you’d be at the top of my list.”

The griffon reacted with a blush as he scratched the back of his head. “W-well…I dunno about all that. But thanks for the words of encouragement, Kora.”

“No problem,” she replied, bringing him in close for a hug, “I’ll always be here if you need me.”

“...!” His wings expanded uncontrollably. At first, he was caught off-guard by such a gesture, but moments later, he accepted the embrace, and put his arms around her, hugging her in return. “Gracias, amiga…”

Meanwhile, near the edge of the Junkyard…

“So, explain to me who you know here again, s'il te plaît?” Topaz asked as she used a fan to cool herself off in the desert heat via magic.

“We’re going to visit a friend of mine,” Alade replied, “Ejei will be able to give us everything we need in order to…progress with our plans.”

“Ooh! Zat’s right!” the brown unicorn squealed, “After all, you can’t have a kingdom without rezources am I right?”

The tom chose not to respond. Instead, he led her over the sand dunes until they reached the canyon. Unfortunately…

Alade and Topaz made their way towards the junkyard only to find that it wasn’t in the happiest of conditions.

“What the…?” The tom looked down over the canyon and realized that the Caninian Army had arrived and was actively performing a complete takeover of the region. Many of the diamond dogs involved were dead, and the rest put up little resistance.

Among the casualties…

“Ejei…” Alade muttered under his breath. He watched as her corpse was dragged out of the junkyard. “Who would…how…”

Topaz watched on, and took a closer look with a pair of binoculars. She could see the mangled, fragmented head of the hyena woman as she was placed into a body bag. “...Yeezh. Zat doezn’t appear to be ze dog’s doing. Zey don’t carry heavy firearms zat could cause such injuries.”

“Then it can only mean one ting…” Alade growled under his breath, “Someone did dis on purpose.”

“Alright, zen,” Topaz proclaimed, “Change of plans. We’re going to figure out who killed your lover.”