Advent Of A Gunslinger

“Oh really?” Kora responded challengingly with an excited purr, “Nice to see another weapon user around these parts…”

Next to her, Vido had his claws extended and at the ready. “No time for games, gata. She looks serious.”

On the other end of the train car…

Axel stared his adversary down with both guns drawn. He then whispered towards Chang. “Psst. You know who these dingos are?”

“Yes,” Chang whispered in return, “They’re part of the you-know-who. But I don’t want them to know that I’m...you-know-what,” he explained in reference to his royal title.

“Hei!” the monkey with the rifle shouted, “You speak when spoken to, understand? Now. Are you Xiānshēng Remington?”

“Uh…?” Axel looked to his doctor companion for a translation.

Chang would then clarify. “That means ‘Mister’, addressing you.”

“I see…” he turned to look at the cowboy-monkey, “Well. I suppose I am. Then again, it’s a rather common surname ain’t it? Ain’t no guarantee that I’m the particular Remington that you after. Now that I’ve introduced myself, why don’tcha do the same, friend?”

“Hm. Very well,” said the monkey gangster, “We are the Sǐwáng Tiānshǐ. Or Death’s Angels for you lesser-informed speakers. Now if you don’t want any problems…” He cocked his weapon via flicking the lever, “I suggest you follow what we tell you.”

The gunslinger was unafraid. Their lack of tact was on full display given the fact that they approached a group of four as a mere duo. Though, this didn’t mean that it was a complete mismatch. The potency of their weapons was still in question…

“Guess this is our target. But I wonder who leads ‘em…” Axel thought it over to himself as he considered what his next move should be. “I don’t exactly cotton’ta no orders from someone that pulls a trigger on me. I reckon you’d benefit from a different sales pitch, partner…”

“We’ve got them outnumbered,” Vido remarked boldly, “We can do this no problem.”

“There is no guarantee of success, though,” Kora added as she stared at the monkey woman before them, “Keep that in mind as we approach.”

At last, Chang finally spoke up. “Hang on! Before you do anything you might regret, consider that we are on a speeding locomotive with multiple escape routes. All of which that I know by heart.”

“Is that so?” said the monkey with the rifle, “And just who are you anyway?”

“Who I am is irrelevant,” said the doctor, “You may think you know everything and have a carefully thought-out plan...but nothing is as it seems.”

“...Right.” Their enemy wasn’t convinced at all. “And I’m supposed to be afraid of some kid? You’re kidding me, right?”

Axel glanced at Chang from the corner of his eye. “...Lil’ Buddy...what are ya…?”

Chang didn’t respond to the gunslinger. Instead, he reached into the inner pockets of his labcoat. “No,” he said to the gangster, “I am not kidding you, Kai Fang.”

When he heard his name said to him, the gangster grit his teeth. “W-what? How do you--?! You know what? Forget it!”

BANG!

Under the impression that the young monkey was reaching for a weapon, the gangster fired off his rifle immediately.

To which Chang reacted almost flawlessly. The doctor dove under the bullet which flew and hit a window at the other end of the train car. He then grasped the rifle from Kai’s hands, and with a BOOM!, sent him flying to the nearest end of the train car with an open palm strike.

“Oof!” the monkey man grunted as he landed on his back, and slowly stood up, “...How do you know who I am?”

With a confident chitter, Chang would respond by raising the rifle above his head. “As I said, there are many things you may not know. Now...surrender yourself while you still have some honor left in you.”

Kai refused, and instead scurried out of the back of the train car.

Axel fired off a shot, but missed. The primate was simply too agile. “Dammit. We gotta git after him.”

“Yes, yes,” Chang agreed as he ran to the end of the train that Kai exited from. “He’s on top of the locomotive! Lái ba!”

From the corner of his eye, Axel could see Vido and Kora engaging the monkey woman in close combat. The two of them were almost equally matching her, but he still made a mental note to return as soon as he was done with this ‘Kai’ fellow.

“...Hang on, ya’ll. I’ll be right back.”

And with that, the hippogriff flew out of the train car. The speeding steamer was still racing through a very thick and dense jungle with no light from the sun escaping down below. It was like a dimly lit forest on all sides.

Meanwhile, within that passenger car…

The monkey woman had been effortlessly locked in a fierce battle between herself, the griffon, and the abyssinian.

Vido’s combat style revolved around boxing--making use of his quick-footed lower lion-half and fierce upper eagle-half. Unfortunately, his hooks were too slow to properly land on the primate lady, resulting in a lot of whiffs. Her staff also kept him at bay, forcing him to crouch and evade constantly.

Kora’s kickboxing style didn’t fare much better. Due to the nature of her svelte body being suited for hit-and-run attacks, she couldn’t very well land a hit due to the monkey gal’s agility matching her own.

It was almost like dancing, the way this monkey moved. Each of her limbs were as strong as legs but with the nimbleness of arms allowing her to casually swap between each one in order to flip, drop, spin--essentially have control over the flow of the entire fight.

She performed a quick handstand, and spun her staff with her hand-like feet, forcing both Vido and Kora to dodge constantly. The she-cat had a quick idea of going in for an attack below the staff in order to dropkick the monkey’s abdomen.

Unfortunately, that didn’t work out.

Like a skilled breakdancer, she switched her active limbs. Her left foot clenched upon the staff tightly and blocked the full force of Kora’s pounce. Then, she quickly passed the staffed from her left foot to her left hand, flipped upright, and struck Kora with the staff’s end with a CRACK!, hard enough to send her to the opposite end of the train car.

“Hhhhh!” Kora hissed as soon as she hit the floor.

Without missing a beat, she pointed the staff at the griffon. “Your move, boy.”

“Yeesh, chill out, chiquita,” Vido snarked, “Is this really necessar--awk!”

She pointed the staff at his neck, and growled. “Shut up and fight or get out of my way.”

On top of the train…

It was just as Axel and Chang had suspected. Kai had retreated to the roof of the speeding train. The locomotive was now powering its way through a series of open fields surrounded by gorgeous plants and bushes. Gone was the endless, thick jungle and the sun was beaming down with its brilliant rays.

The hippogriff flew up, and landed in front of the monkey man that was trying to scamper off to the front of the train. “Now hold up one sec, partner…” he muttered with one of his six-shooters drawn, and aimed at the primate, “I got a question for ya.”

“Eek!” Defenseless, Kai held his hands in the air, “Listen. I’m just doing my job! You wouldn’t shoot an unarmed man would you? That would be dishonorable!”

While he had a point, Axel wasn’t just going to let him control the situation. Quite the opposite in fact. “Maybe. Maybe not. Just answer the question: What do ya know about my family name? Anything to do with Abyssinians?”

“I...er…” Kai broke eye contact, and looked off to the left side of the train.

“Answer,” Axel repeated coldly with his gun now primed and aimed at the monkey’s chest. “Or we can drag this out for as long as possible…” he said while slowly aiming down at the monkey’s lower midsection.

“Ghhh...you Western dog.” Kai grit his teeth and glared into the masked gunslinger’s eyes, but there was nothing he could do at this point. “...Fine. Yes--we were just about to meet up with a pony and abyssinian who we’re doing a little exchange with. As far as your clan name goes, I merely saw it on a poster…”

The eagle-pony’s eyes stared into the primate’s soul as if daring him to falsify the information. No words, just a simple, yet powerful leer at his opponent.

And Kai buckled under the pressure, afraid of what he might suffer through if he didn’t tell him everything. “...A-and then I remembered one of our contacts said something about trading a hippogriff named Remington!”

“Tch...I knew it…” Axel shook his head.

PLINK!

All the sudden, Kai froze in place, and collapsed upon the roof of the train.

Axel looked up to see Chang with his legendary rifle--but instead of a bullet, he shot a tranquilizer dart. “What the--?”

“He will be fine,” said the princely doctor as he picked up the unconscious gangster monkey, “We can’t afford him possibly escaping. There will be other gang members we can interrogate down below.”

“Fair enough. Let’s get back’ta Kora and Vido.”