Advent Of A Gunslinger

Soon enough, nightfall would arrive upon the desert. By then, Vido had concluded that nothing valuable was lost within the explosion that engulfed his vessel. He did manage to recover a few pieces of jewelry, but other than that, there was essentially nothing left.

The desert was chilly once it got dark, but Axel already had an idea. At his request, he had both the griffon and abyssinian follow him. The further away they got from Klugetown, the safer they would all be.

“Confound it all to heck,” Axel thought to himself, “Cass ain’t gon’ very much like it if her boy don’t return home safe at some point. Gotta make sure we find a way outta here.”

“...Where are we headed?” Vido asked.

Kora walked along, but kept a rather eerie aura of silence about herself. Each step she took seemed to get quieter and quieter until they were barely audible.

At that point, they were reasonably far enough from Klugetown to where they had no fear of being followed. However, they were now essentially stranded with nothing but desert on the horizon in all directions. The blue night sky was illuminated with various stars as well as the full moon.

“...Prettiest night sky I ever dun seen. If only I wasn’t lost.” Axel flew into the air, and pulled down one of the small groups of clouds in the sky. His pegasus DNA allowed him to grab, and mold them with ease. After a minute or two, he shaped it into a small, igloo-esque dome that could fit all three of them inside. He set it on the ground, and opened the door. “Alright, ya’ll. Rest. Today’s been a pretty mucked-up day and ya’ll need to relax.”

“...Si, por favor.” Vido was in no position to argue. He simply crawled into the white, puffy structure to lie down.

Kora took a few steps toward Axel, and put her arms around him for a quick hug. No words between the two. She simply let go, and stepped inside as well.

While it wasn’t perfect, it would, at the very least, keep the freezing temperatures of the desert at bay as they rested. Axel meanwhile, chose to stay awake for a little while longer so that he could keep watch…

“...Ya’ll are alright.”

Back in Klugetown…

Mio went and met with his boss to give his report about what happened earlier that evening. “...and that’s when everyone else showed up and found Gatto’s mangled body. Is he gonna make it?”

“I’m afraid not,” the boss’s voice spoke from behind its chair, “He was far too banged up and lost all of his blood by the time he got back. Not that it matters to me anyway. Fool had it coming the second he decided to overstep his boundaries. He’s a loose cannon.”

“I did, however, observe an explosion of the hostile airship Remington used to escape last time,” Mio went on, “He’ll be stranded and forced to return here sooner or later.”

The boss’s voice let out an annoyed sigh, then continued moments later. “You did a good job today despite what happened, Mio. Yer likely gonna get promoted if you keep it up. So stand by if I need ya for anything else. Get some rest tonight. I’m gonna be dealing with Topaz and her job for the next day or so.”

“Understood,” Mio replied, and turned to leave.

Once he was outside, he was approached by his dragon manager. “Well, friend? How did it go with the boss?”

“Standard as always,” said the tom with an uncertain glance up to the night sky, “I’m concerned about dealing with a pony though. Is that really acceptable for us? Doesn’t that make us...weaker for it?”

Rongu took a huff from a cigar with his flame. “You’ll come to realize that doing anything ya can to get a leg up is important, young feline. For war is not won with thousands of kicks. But rather--”

“Oh here we go…” Mio rolled his eyes. “...Please don’t with the metaphors.” He placed his fingertips against his forehead, “My head is killing me and I need a break.” The tom felt the need to rethink his strategy as he left for home that evening.

“Hm…” the dragon snarled as his employee walked away. “You’ll realize soon enough…you can't do as you please here, boy.”

About four hours had passed.

In the middle of the dark desert...

It was still completely cast under a shade of deep blue as the night silently carried on. The Bone Dry Desert was almost unrecognizable in this state due to how little activity there was. No insects, scorpions, or reptiles were out and about. Just pure, eerie silence…

Until it was broken.

Wooooosh….

The sound of wind resonated and whistled throughout the dunes where the trio had hunkered down. Except, this wasn’t any normal wind. It was completely unnatural. Almost as if it was being generated from above them…

Axel’s little cloud structure was blown away as a result. The hippogriff was the first to come to his senses and awaken. “...Wha? What the…” It took him a second, but once his eyes were able to fully focus, he could see a mighty aerial vessel that floated through the air high above them. This was the source of the odd wind current that woke him up in the first place! “Now who in tarnation could that belong to…?”

It wasn’t long before Vido and Kora stirred, and woke up once their shelter had dissipated.

“Ay, que esta pasando…” mumbled Vido. The griffon in particular was shocked at what he saw once he fully opened his eyes. “...Tan chulo! That’s our ticket outta here, baby!” With no hesitation, Vido spread his wings and took off. “Come on, you guys!”

Kora finally broke her silence out of fear for her new friend’s safety. “...We can’t let him get hurt, Sir Remington.”

“Dagnabbit…” Axel dusted the sand out of his hat, and placed it back on his head. “Hop on, and we’ll both go.”

The martial artist of a she-cat leapt onto the gunslinger’s back and he immediately took off after Vido.

The closer they all got, the more details they would see. Chiefly of which, was the fact that the ship’s blimp was in the shape of what appeared to be a bird giant, with multi-colored feathers surrounding it.

Almost immediately, Axel knew who this vessel belonged to. “...Wait a hot minute, this be--”

“Aha!” Vido cheered, “This thing is active and has a crew. I knew it!”

“...Who does this belong to, Remy?” Kora purred quietly, nervously.

“...Yer in fer a surprise,” Axel decided to keep it under wraps until the captain of the vessel revealed themselves.

Vido had already landed on the deck of the airship. A much more traditional ‘ship’ in every sense of the word. Akin to those that sailed across the ocean. “Alright, compadres...I’m gonna see if I can locate the captain and negotiate.”

“...You?” Axel asked as he landed upon the deck also. With no sign of any crew members, they were able to speak freely for the most part.

Kora had gotten off of Axel’s back, and stood upright upon the deck. “...Are you sure?” she asked with a jittery flick of her tail, “This place gives me quite the off-putting sensation…”

The griffon waved his claw downwards, shrugging off their concerns. “Ay, you all don’t know this about me, but I am a top tier conversationalist. It’s why my tours are so popular. As a fellow captain myself, I think it’ll be easy to meet them halfway.” He turned, and started to walk down the wooden steps that led below deck. “Wait right here while I go handle things.”

Both Kora and Axel exchanged a glance of uncertainty...

Click.

Then the sound of weapons being prepped could be heard behind them...

Meanwhile, below deck…

Vido would make his way down to the inner confines of the ship and pass by a few doors. Some of them carried supplies, others carried weapons, one door led to further below deck, and eventually, he would happen upon the residential area of the ship.

“I see, I see...now where is the captain? If I can just meet with the leader of this vessel, then we can have an easier time here. I won’t let you down, papa. I promise.”

The loss of his father’s ship was something he tried to shy away from dealing with. Vido knew that the death of Kora’s sister weighed heavily upon her soul. The loss of an inanimate object was nothing in comparison, right? It wouldn’t look good to get bogged down emotionally at the moment.

“...But what’s mama going to say when she--no. I can’t--I can’t think about that right now. She’ll be happy to see me return. Our gata friend needs comfort more than I do. Just need to speak to this captain. Pilot-to-pilot. Come on, Vido. Focus…”

Eventually, he would come across a room that contained some treasures. “Hm. They’re pretty loaded. Wonder what their captain is like? Hopefully it’s not a superficial one.”

The very next door had some steam seeping through. Was it possible that someone was in there?

“Hmm…”

It wasn’t entirely closed, so Vido was able to peek inside.

“...!”

He let out a silent gasp. His wings fanned outwards, and spread involuntarily as a result of what he saw within that room…

“...MUJER HERMOSA!”