Advent Of A Gunslinger

Meanwhile…

As outlined by his leader, Alade had made his way across the desert to visit Topaz. Surprisingly, the large tom was able to traverse with little difficulty within a day. He moved under the cover of nightfall when the desert was cooler and he could withstand its conditions.

It wasn’t long before he found himself on the opposite side of a mountain range and near the coastline where the unicorn’s manor was located. Once there, he would come upon the rear of the building, given that it was a coastal beach mansion.

“Yes,” he confirmed with a nod, “Just as I predicted. Dis is right where I need to be.”

With nothing but a satchel to carry his supplies, he traveled down the side of the mountains and made his way towards the backyard. There, he could see the unicorn resting near a swimming pool with various Klugetown servants taking care of her. Fanning her, feeding her--the works.

The tom couldn’t help but look on with an impressed glare. “Well now. Dat is the last thing I would have expected. A pony taming the folks from Klugetown.”

“If you are going to to make comments, I suggest you approach me,” the unicorn called out to the cat man that was on the other side of her fence. “I cannot hear you from way over zere, monsieur--” She paused mid-sentence, and opened her eyes to see the tall cat man waiting nearby. “Oh! You are ze one zat your boss told me about. Ze one zat will help me on my endeavors.”

“Correct,” he nodded, and introduced himself, “Alade Kesari at your service. What is the nature of our assignment?”

Topaz used her magic to open the gate and allow Alade to enter. “It is very simple. I am headed to a far-off land to supply more of the abyzzinians with my magic. Ze last one I helped was killed, so I need to up ze ante, no?”

The tom stepped through the gate, and walked over to her.

Topaz’s lizard-folk servants would shiver in place the closer the tom got to them. His overwhelming size was much more intimidating now that he was a few feet away as opposed to a few yards away. So much so, that his body managed to block out the sun and cast a shadow over them all.

“I see,” he casually replied, “so you ask me for help under the impression that…” he trailed off, waiting for her to explain herself.

Unfazed by his stature, Topaz got up from her chair, and looked up at him. “Under ze impression zat you will be of use to us. I could use your, how you say…” She approached him, and dragged a hoof up his abdomen towards his midsection, “Muscle de gros chat.”

Alade’s eyes narrowed as he swatted her hoof away with a paw. “Contain yourself. I have a wife.”

“Ah! I mena, pardon!” the unicorn replied with a large, forced smile to hide the pain that she had in her hoof. “But I mean zat. Do you think you could help me?”

“I suppose it couldn’t hurt,” he replied calmly, “So you essentially want me to act as your bodyguard, hm?”

She nodded. “Zat is ze long and short of it, yes. It will take us about half-a-day to arrive there.”

“If she keeps it that way, we will have no problems.” The tom was more than willing to serve as an assistant, so long as it didn’t involve whatever her servants were doing. “What mode of transportation will we be using?”

“Oh I have a little boat zat we will be using. Follow me…” The unicorn trotted ahead into her mansion, to which the abyssinian followed.

At the same time…

Celaeno had landed her vessel at the docking station that was only a few yards away from the train station. The bird woman exited the vessel with a bag of coins in her claw. “Alright. I’m gonna go purchase some fuel. Will the rest of you be alright?”

Axel, Vido, Kora, and Chang had also exited the vessel right after her.

“I reckon we’ll do just fine,” said the gunslinger, “I’ve got a bullet with a certain monkey’s name on it.”

Chang would add to this with an agreement. “Indeed, Captain. We will take the train into my hometown and find our target as soon as possible.” He turned his head to the side, and snickered as the sunlight reflected off his glasses. “...And pay my father a visit.”

“...Right,” Celaeno replied with a hesitant, worried expression on her face, “How about you two? Vido? Kora?”

“We’ll be fine,” Kora assured her.

Vido on the other hand had already taken to the skies and started to write down various notes on a pad. “Yes...yes, this will be a great place for tourism. Just need to learn as much as I can.”

“Guess that answers that question,” Celaeno chuckled when she saw Vido take off, and looked at the rest of the group. “Alright. Take care and make sure you catch the next train, alright?”

“Understood, captain,” Chang replied, “This will be no big deal at all.”

And with that, the group made their way over to the train station. Along the way, they could see various other individuals getting ready to board--mainly ponies and monkeys with a few tourists of other species here and there such as hippogriffs. Despite Chang’s tales of the two dynasties living on opposing territories, the citizens from both seemingly got along quite well with many of them talking to each other casually.

“Intriguing,” Kora said as she watched a few of Chang’s kind communicate with the ponies, “Despite their claim over the territory, they seem to get along quite well.”

“Yes, that’s right,” the monkey doctor replied, “Many folks are returning home from the work they do near Saddle Arabia’s territory. Many workers in fields and farms.”

Since he was familiar with farming, Axel would propose a question. “They ain’t got farms on they own soil?”

Chang shook his head. “No. Our residence is what you would call a ‘jungle’ per se. It is far too hot and humid to properly grow food, so we do most of our farming away from the mainland. Down in the fields, see?” Then he pointed to the train. “But our mission lies in the inner city.”

Kora sniffed the air. There was a rather light, calming smell of tea leaves that she could detect. “Hmmm...is that earl grey I smell? Wondrous. Oh, but I just realized something. Since you’re the pri--”

Before she could finish that sentence, Chang covered her mouth with his hand, and shushed her. “Shh! No one is to know of my true title. We will enter the train in secret and make our way through silently and without discourse.”

“...?” Kora raised an eyebrow, and politely pushed the primate’s hand off of her face. “...Is the state of your home so bad that you don’t want to be identified as a part of it?”

“...Something like that.”

With a loud screech and a hiss of steam, the passenger train would soon pull its way into the station from the West. The doors opened, and a few passengers would exit. Followed by the boarding of all the others.

“We best git a move on,” Axel said as he walked ahead, “Ain’t nobody gon’ wait up for us. And Vido! Getcherself down here, boy!”

The griffon listened, and immediately flew down to meet up with the rest of the group. “Apologies, guys! I just needed to snap some pictures of the fields from the air.”

As Chang followed them onto the train, he froze. As if a cold fear shot up through it and into his spine. “...!”

Kora noticed this, and pulled him into the nearest seats behind Axel and Vido. She held onto Chang’s hand and looked into his eyes to check up on him. “...Are you alright? You locked up like a deer in searchlights.”

He pulled his hand back, and rubbed his eyes. “...Sorry. I was just thinking too hard. Don’t mind me.”

Well…

Chang’s perceptions weren’t exactly unfounded. Just before the train pulled off, another group of passengers would enter behind them.

A pair of two anthropomorphic monkeys wearing leather vests whose faces were hidden by traditional cowboy hats. They stuck out like a sore thumb, but in reality they dressed this way to avoid being identified…

“Kàn nà biān...That our guy?” one said to the other.

“Shì de. That’s him alright. Give signal to the boys up front.”