Advent Of A Gunslinger

Meanwhile, with Axel…

Axel had spent most of the day enjoying himself with the festivities of the clown and mime acts. The hippogriff stallion was able to walk away from the situation with a clear head and a sound mind.

To be precise, he spent most of the day with Clarabelle and played various fairground games with her. They even rode the ferris wheel together and grew to be generally fond of each other’s company.

Eventually, around the middle of the afternoon, Axel declared that he had had enough fun for one day and was full from all of the various fruit-based pastries that he had consumed over the last few hours.

“That was fun, wasn’t it, dear?” Clarabelle asked as they started walking back towards the manor.

“Indeed with was, Ms. Clara. I can’t believe you were so skilled at that there horseshoe toss. Ya managed’ta win blindfolded!”

Clarabelle replied basfully with one hand against the side of her face. “Oh no…I was just lucky, that’s all. Anyone could’ve managed to score if they tried like I did.”

The hippogriff scoffed as he started to flex his wings. “Tch--don’t sell yerself short--ach…dammit…”

“What’s wrong, dear? Are your wings okay?” the minotaur lady questioned with a worried stare.

“It’s fine…” He replied as he winced with only his right eye open. Axel then started to stretch his left wing, and slowly flexed his right. “Yeah, much better. Sorry--it’s kinda the whole reason why I ain’t use ‘em too much today.”

Clarabelle leaned over to inspect his feathery appendages and took note of the various wounds that had started to heal. “...You were injured on your last mission, weren’t you? In an attempt to defend your sister?”

“Hm…” Axel shut his eyes for a moment. The minotaur was rather savvy and was able to pick up on the exact way the bullets entered and exited his body. Combine that with the fact that he had finally reunited with his sister, and it was easy to figure out. “You noticed, huh?” he muttered, “Guess I can’t blame ya.”

“Well…no. I care about you, Axel. Deeply. Ever since the day we met, I could tell that you were more than just any ol’ random gunslinger lookin’ for a fling…” she held her hands behind her back as she walked and paused as she tried to search for the right words to say, “You…seemed like the kinda guy that I could possibly see…myself with. Maybe…” That last sentence was spoken in a low mutter.

To which Axel tilted his head, as he didn’t hear those last few words. “‘Scuse me. Didja say somethin’?”

“No. What are you thinking? His life is far too dangerous and if he dies, you’ll be sadder than you were before.” She shook her head. “Nothing, nothing. I…need to go get some things ready. If you’ll excuse me…” Clarabelle began walking around the side of the manor towards the back of it, leaving Axel behind. “But maybe I can still make it worth his time…if the other girls help me.”

As Clarabelle left, the gunslinger was naturally confused by what he had just witnessed. But he didn’t question it, as he simply made the assumption that she had to return to her normal occupational duties.

“Oh uh…that’s fine. See ya later, Ms. Clara,” he said with a wave as she left. With that out of the way, Axel began to think about what he should do next. “Alright. Now if my calculatin’ is halfway decent enough, we should be able’ta mount an attack…”

Naturally, the next logical step would be to think up methods of invading Klugetown and flipping it on its head. How he would do that was beyond him at the moment since his sister still needed time to recover. Plus, he wasn’t sure if his allies would even agree with the plan he had in mind.

But surprisingly, once he entered the manor’s main room once more, Axel would come into contact with someone familiar that he hadn’t seen in a long time since his adventure started:

A certain tom with red glasses sitting at one of the nearby tables.

“Mio? What in the blue-suited blazes…?”

“Ah, I knew you’d be here,” the tom commented from afar as he stood up, “Listen, dear Axel. We don’t have very much time. I come from Abyssinia with a special request.”

The hippogriff raised a brow. “I’m listenin’.”

One quick explanation later…

“...And that’s the gist of it,” Mio finished what he had to say, “If the minotaurs fight alongside us, we’re guaranteed to be able to practically steamroll that pathetic town and work towards fixing the South as a whole.”

“I see…and yer askin’ me, becauuuuse…?” he tilted his head with an open claw expectantly awaiting an answer.

“Because you’re the very epicenter of the entire operation,” Mio went on, “It’s only natural for me to ask you first. Without your approval, none of the other minotaurs would be willing to follow.”

Axel slowly stepped forward until his face was mere inches away from the tom’s. “Wait…you wanna bring them into this?”

“Only if they’re willing to fight alongside you,” Mio reiterated, “If not, then there’s no pressure. I’ll figure something else out. I already sent a note in earlier to request their aid. If they refuse, I’ll simply move onto the dragons next…”

“Hmph…” Axel crossed his claw-arms and backed away from the tom. “You got a good head on yer shoulders. Can’t blame ya fer thinkin’ ahead like that. Even so…”

Moments later, Martha walked out to them, holding the note in one of her hands. “Now hold on a minute. What’s goin’ on here?”