Advent Of A Gunslinger

Meanwhile…

While Rongu had had his meeting with the boss, Mio was one step ahead. The bespectacled abyssinian had made his way up to his manager’s house with the intent of letting the dragon’s wife know what her husband had been up to.

“...At the very least, I can inform her of the deceptions that have gone on right under her nose this entire time. She deserves to know that much,” is what Mio thought to himself as he approached the well-kept home upon the hill.

The time he had was limited. Mio knew that the dragon would be busy making a report to their boss--well, for Mio, that was his former boss. Regardless, he had to make haste in order to accomplish what he set out to do.

Mio knocked upon the door a few times, and anxiously waited for an answer with his tail wriggling about.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait for very long, as the door would open, and the red dragon lady would answer. “...Hello? Oh, you’re one of Ronnie’s coworkers, right?” she asked curiously.

“That I am. Though...I don’t exactly work with him anymore…” Mio explained with an apprehensive tone, “...Mind if I come in? I’ll explain more inside.”

The dragon woman obliged, “Oh. Sure. Come right in, sir.” Then she stepped to the side to allow him to enter, and closed the door once the tom had made his way in.

Mio would sit down at the dining room table with her and explain everything that he had found out. From the fact that her husband had been lying to her this entire time and went behind her back to try and strike rich at rare, unstable minerals, to the fact that he played an active role in the enslavement of ponies.

“...I don’t know your stance on how ponies are treated here,” he went on, “But I feel as though that you deserve to know the truth--especially since he won’t tell you.” At this point, he was unable to make eye contact with her, worried that she may not even believe him. “...So yeah...that’s pretty much it.”

Spitha stared down at the table, leaning on it with both arms. “...I see now. So that...that actually explains quite a lot.”

“...It does?” Mio looked at her with a concerned expression, “How so?”

“He stays at work late and often has to leave unexpectedly and out of nowhere,” she explained with a heavy heart, “And he never would tell me anything specific beyond the fact that it was just to do with ‘work’ or something of the sort. But he’s...he’s been lying to me this whole time and destroying innocent families…?”

Mio nodded slowly. “...That is the long and short of it, unfortunately. I’ve been working non-stop to try and find a different approach to all of this. Desperately trying to climb the ranks of my gang so that I could establish new orders…” He turned sideways in the chair, and folded his arms. “...But unfortunately, that isn’t going to happen. The ponies still continue to suffer unnecessarily, just as I did at one point. I don’t want that anymore--but I also can’t just enact new laws out of nowhere. So it was a sort of long-term game of cards that I’ve been playing. But as I said before--I felt as though it was your right to know what your partner has been up to.”

With this newfound knowledge, the dragon woman had a lot to think about. The fact that her husband of many years would go as far as keeping something from her as well as engage in the slave trade. It made her reconsider many things. “...Can I really trust this cat-man? What will Ronnie do if I confront him about it?”

The silence in the room was deafening. Mio leaned forward towards the dragon woman and asked, “...Madam Spitha? Are you alright?”

She snapped out of her paranoid stupor, “...Hm? Oh...I’m fine.” She tried to force a smile on her face, but her quivering, reptilian lips told the entire story. “...J-just need to ponder what I want to do next, dear.”

“Understandable. He’ll be back any time now, so I’ll leave you to decide what you’ll do with this information.” He got up from the table.

But before he would leave, Spitha would stop him with a genuine question. “...And what will you do with this information, mister?”

“Me?” he said as he turned his head to look over his shoulder, “What else? I’m going to finish what I started. I’m still a few cards short of a full deck, but I know I’ll get there soon. Until then, I hope you stay safe, and make a smart decision.”

“...Thank you, Mio,” she said as the tom left her home.

Mio would leave the heartbroken dragon behind. With all of her suspicions having been confirmed by someone who worked alongside her husband, Spitha was hard-pressed for what to do next. Should she break up with him? Should she vocalize her frustration towards his lies? Or should she leave and disappear without a trace?

“I could leave right now...but would that make me any better? No. I have to confront him about it. He needs to face the fact that he’s been lying to me. I just have to make sure I don’t mention Mio at all…”

Meanwhile, on Celaeno’s ship…

Axel had decided to approach Chang once he remembered that the primate doctor said he had an idea. So he would casually open the door to his infirmary. “...Doc?”

“Yes? Lord Remington, I presume?” his voice called out from the far end of the room.

Axel entered, and traveled in further until he reached Chang’s quarters. “That’s right. I got a question...what was yer idea? Did it line up with what the Cap’n was tellin’ us?”

Chang dropped down from his tire swing. “That it does, sir. You see...this bounty has to do with a fellow member of the Wukong Clan. Are you familiar with the region?”

“Nah.”

“Alright, then I shall explain.” Chang reached into a nearby drawer and pulled out a map of the world which included Equestria. But in particular, he pointed to a region far away from Equestria known as Saddle Arabia. “Are you familiar with the region known as the Middle East?”

“Oh yeah, I remember that place,” he replied, “I’ve met some drifters from yonder. Big ol’ bronco-folk.”

Chang dragged his finger across the map, East and away from Saddle Arabia. “Here we have what is known as Far East. Way past Saddle Arabia and far away from dragon lands. This is where I am from. And...where your next bounty is located.”

“Well, the cap’n did say that our doctor monkey would know more. This just got hella interestin’.” Axel leaned against the wall. “Is that a fact? Celaeno said you’d know more. So I’m curious--what is it that we’re after here? She said somethin’ about abyssinian activity over there. I’m assumin’ that ain’t natural, is it?”

“It is not,” said the doctor as he pointed to one part of the Far East’s mainland, “The region is split in half by two empires. One led by the Mashu Dynasty and one led by the Wukong Dynasty. The former is called Neighjing, and the latter is known as Hong Wukong. As you can probably infer from the names, one territory is controlled by ponies and the other is controlled by us Monkey-folk. That is where I am from...and where I am heir to the throne.”

“That’s right…” Axel mumbled as he looked at the map, “Ain’t you a prince? Why ain’tcha back home on the throne?”

“That I am,” Chang replied, “And I refuse to return because of the state of disarray the region is currently in. My father--the current Emperor of Wukong--is allowing various gangs to run amok. Are you familiar with the concept of the Triads?”

A network of gangs notorious for operating in various areas around the world. The Triads were most known for their involvement in extortion, racketeering, and of course…participating in the slave trade. Specifically the one started in Klugetown.

Naturally, being a bounty hunter himself, Axel had familiarity with the name. Upon remembering them, he snapped his finger-claws.

“I recall it now. They fight just like the Colton Gang and Bullcolts, only on a much more grandioso scale…” Axel recalled both gangs that used to roam and cause trouble in all regions of the South. “...You mean’ta tell me that our target is among on’a them Triad folk?”

“...Sān Hé Huì…” Chang spoke the words of his native language, “That is what it means. The union of heaven, earth, and mortality. Personally, I see them as full of sloth, wrath, and idiocy. Nevertheless, they are dangerous opponents, and it is highly probable that they have foothold in the Klugetown slave trade.”

Axel nodded, and looked down at the floor. “...Which means that my folks could very well have been involved.”

“It’s not impossible. I’m willing to wager the abyssinians are actively making deals with those foolish monkeys even as we speak. And my father? Well, he’s too busy worrying about the approval of the general population to notice. Egotistical diǎosī…” Chang walked over to his desk, and grabbed his weapon--the rifle that was able to change sizes whenever he saw fit. “That is why I gave him ultimatum. If he wants me to rule the kingdom, he is to improve everything. Otherwise, I will keep our family’s ancestral weapon for ourselves. The Wukong staff...which I have altered into a firearm.”

Intrigued, Axel would lean forward to take a closer look at the weapon. The long, red barrel was attacked to a golden handle and trigger and fed ammunition from a revolving loader. “...Damn. I ain’t no expert on politics. But that there’s a mighty fine piece’a work. Revolvin’ rifle just like Colt Patterson’s. And here I thought the design was outdated…” He looked up at the monkey doctor, staring right at his opaque glasses. “Just how didja make a staff into a gun?”

Chang would raise those glasses up so that they would rest upon his forehead and expose his brilliant jade green eyes as he answered with a smug expression. “...Who did you think invented gunpowder, Lord Remington?”