Advent Of A Gunslinger

Rongu would proceed to knock on each and every door in that little complex of houses. Each one provided the same answer: None of the residents knew a ‘Mio’ at all. It got to the point where the dragon’s trail went cold.

That is, until…

He stopped at one last building, and knocked. Only to receive no answer.

“Hm…interesting.”

The leads he had on the situation between the day before and the current day led him right to this particular area. And if all but one of the buildings gave the same response…

“That means he’s here. He has to be. And if so, he’ll face the music for what he’s done to me…”

Inside…

All the sudden, Mio would feel a sensation travel all the way up from his tail and into his brain. Something was wrong--though he couldn’t exactly put his finger on it.

Out of nowhere, he leapt off the couch, and crawled onto the ceiling with his feline dexterity.

Which left Spitha rightfully confused. “...Is everything alright?”

“No,” he replied curtly with a whisper, “Absolutely not. Something bad is about to happen. I can feel it. You’ve ever hear about the perception that abyssinians have nine lives?”

Since he was whispering, Spitha naturally replied with a whisper also. “I hear that about all cats, yes. Why?”

“It’s because our sensory-perceptions are almost supernatural. To the point where we can escape almost certain death.” His tail flicked once more, and his deep-yellow eyes were clearly panicked, shifting around with every time he blinked. “...You need to hide. Now. Go to the other side of the house. Hurry.”

She looked down at the floor, with uncertain twitching eyes. While she was confused, and even a bit hesitant, she didn’t want to spend time debating him over it. “...Okay,” she whispered and quickly flew to the other end of his abode and locked herself in one of the rooms.

Once she had left, Mio was able to relax somewhat. He dropped from the ceiling, adjusted his suit cuffs, and about two seconds later....

Tap. Tap. Tap.

There was a knock at his door. His presumption of danger was correct.

“...Please don’t tell me that’s…” He crept over to the door, and looked through the peephole. Sure enough, his former manager was on the other side with a demented, unstable smile on his face. “...dammit. Why...how?”

“I know you’re there, Mio. Answer me before I burn this entire complex to the ground,” Rongu threatened him from the other side of the door as he blew a bit of fire into his hands to show that he was serious. “Or I could just...come in there and check myself. And if you’re not there, then I’ll be on my way. Choice is yours--if you’re here, that is.”

From his side of the door, Mio locked up and stared at the door as if his life flashed before his eyes. “...Can I really…?” But then, he quickly snapped out of it, and shook his head. His claws were at the ready, and he stared the door down with conviction behind his visage. “No. I refuse to run from a coward. What would that make me?”

Twist-click!

Mio opened the door, and glared daggers at the dragon. “What do you want?”

And the dragon would glare right back with his smug overbite. “You know why I’m here. Where is she?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mio protested, and leaned against the door frame in a casual manner. “I have nothing to say to someone like you. Get out of my sight.”

“Testy, aren’t we, pussy man?” Rongu clasped the fireball in his claw, “You know that I’m the last person you should push…”

Mio adjusted his glasses. “Whether or not I know where ‘she’ is is irrelevant. A grown adult should be allowed to go wherever they want.” He bared his fangs, and narrowed his eyes. “...I’m sure you know all about that, Ronnie.”

“...” Upon hearing his nickname, the dragon shut his eyes. The fire in his claw disappeared, and he lowered his arm completely. “...You wanna know something, Mio?”

“What?” he asked with an apprehensive tone.

Flick-BANG!

In a fraction of a second, Rongu had pulled a revolver from within his suit, and fired it at the tom.

But Mio was much faster. In those milliseconds, he was able to process just when Rongu reached for the gun, widen his eyes, and spring off of his digitigrade legs and onto the ceiling.

In this instance, the hand was not quicker than the eye.

“You’re trying to steal her from me, ain’tcha? Is that it? Are you that sad and desperate?!”

BANG-BANG-BANG!

Another three shots were fired off, and Mio quickly evaded each one. He zipped, and zagged across the ceiling, down onto the floor, and scurried off into a different direction, hidden from sight…

Rongu shut the door behind himself to ensure that he wouldn’t escape. With the revolver raised, and poised to fire, he stepped further and further into the home. First, he stopped to inspect the kitchen to see if Mio was hiding behind a counter, but found nothing. He gave a frustrated huff, and kept going.

Gingerly making his way through the house, the dragon would slowly open each door in the hallway, aim his gun, and find nothing. Nothing in the bathroom, nor was there any movement in a room filled with books. Which left only one door…

“This has to be it. I bet the coward is hiding in there with my wife right about now. Vermin doesn’t understand what he’s dealing with…”

But before he could reach for that doorknob…

SHING!

Mio pounced from out of seemingly nowhere, and tackled the dragon to the floor in order to wrestle the gun away from him.

“Dammit! Stubborn little--!”

With a bang!, another shot was fired albeit accidentally. Mio took one of his cards, and slashed it against the dragon’s neck. Despite the fact that it looked like a normal paper card, it was apparently sharp enough to pierce the dragon’s scales and leave a deft cut that was near the point of blood being drawn.

“Agh!” The brisk, shooting pain in his neck caused Rongu to let go of the revolver by force. But he wasn’t going down so easily. With sheer force, he spread his wings and threw Mio off of his back, causing the tom to fly out of the hallway, and land on his back in the living room.

“OOF! Shit…” he grit his teeth, and tried to get up. Unfortunately....

SWOOP!

Rongu flew over to him, and pinned him to the floor by holding his arms. The dragon’s superior strength would prove to be too much for the abyssinian, leaving Mio trapped. “I just need you to answer one question: Did you tell my wife about the true nature of my work?”

Mio struggled, and found himself unable to move. But he refused to back down. “I did,” he hissed, “You don’t deserve someone like her. You’re nothing but a liar who’s broken the cardinal sin of--”

“Silence, cur!” With a snarl, the dragon would increase the amount of force applied to Mio’s arms, causing the floorboards to break with a snap! “You don’t know anything about me or my life! It’s none of your business and my wife doesn’t need to be lectured by some little puss-boy!”

Despite this, Mio still wouldn’t back down, baring his fangs. “What she doesn’t need is someone like you ruining her dreams and not respecting the way she treats you. She deserves someone better.”

Once again, Rongu fell silent, and shut his eyes in a contemplative manner…

“...Now why don’t you let me go and we can settle this like mature gentlemen, hm?” Mio asked with a cold stare into the dragon’s eyes.

“...no…” Rongu mumbled something that was barely audible.

This prompted Mio to ask, “What was that?”

“NO! HAAAAAGH!”

With a mighty roar and hefty swings of his fists, the dragon threw several punches upon, then blew fire directly onto the tom’s face, actively burning him alive.

“REEEEEER! AAAAAGH AGH!” Mio released a blood-curdling caterwaul as he felt his fur scorch and singe right off of his face.

And within seconds, he’d hear a voice call to him. “RON! STOP IT!”

Click!

On a dime, the dragon ceased his flame breath, and turned around to see his former lover in a state of distress. “...H-hun? I…”

“...Get away from him!” she screamed with the revolver from earlier gripped tightly in her claws and poised to shoot the dragon between the eyes, “Is this how you treat those who work with you? I can’t even begin to imagine how you treat the slaves…”

Rongu stood up, and tried to approach her. “...S-spith, I--”

“You’ve changed, Ron! You aren’t yourself anymore!” She took a step towards him, and roared even louder with the gun at the ready. “But you know what? That’s it! Get out of here! I never want to see you again!”

“...So that’s it, huh?” he stared at the floor, “...Fine. Do whatever you want. But don’t come crying back to me when you’ve realized that you threw away a--”

BANG!

Spitha didn’t hesitate. She fired a shot directly through one of his wings.

“UCH!” he nearly collapsed, and started to back away. “Y-you’re making a big mistake! I’ll just go find somebody else and you'll be--!”

BANG!

Yet another shot fired, this time through his other wing. This would render the dragon unable to fly for a while. “Leave. Now,” Spitha commanded.

With no further words, Rongu quickly turned tail and hobbled out of the home with his ex-wife pointing the gun at him the entire time until he was out of sight.

Then, she looked back at Mio. The tom’s face was burned to a crisp and still smoking. Thankfully, he was still breathing, but it was a weak gasp for air at this point with blood gushing out of his nose at an alarming rate.

“Uh….ah...eeh…”

“...Don’t worry, Mio,” Spitha knelt down to his side, “I’ll get you out of here. I promise.”