Advent Of A Gunslinger

It all happened so fast--in the quarter of a second no less. What went down in that little blip of time was indiscernible to the average naked eye. But any skilled shooter would be able to break the situation down to a T.

In essence, Hao had drew his weapon first and Axel drew his immediately after. But from there, Axel had such precise control over his six-shooter that he was able to fire from the hip--or abdomen in his case--and send a bullet straight up to Hao’s chest.

With audible gasps spilling out from all of the nearby buildings, the monkey citizens watched in awe as Hao fell to his knees.

“Ngh..to die by Remington’s hand…not so bad...” the monkey sputtered as he lost his breath, slowly dying from the shot to his heart. “Sun is...working with the catfolk…” And with that, he flopped over, and onto the ground, succumbing to his wounds.

“...Is he really speakin’ the truth?” With a flourishing spin, Axel sheathed his weapon and tipped his hat. He then looked around, and spotted a familiar set of cat ears poking out of a nearby window. “Kora! You alright?”

The she-cat leapt over, and out of the window of the building she had been hiding in. “Very. Is he dead?”

The gunslinger tapped the monkey's corpse with one of his hind hooves. “Very,” Axel replied with certainty, “Ya’ll can all come out now.”

The crowd of monkeys that had hid away from the shooter came out to express their gratitude with grateful bows.

“Erm…” Axel looked around at the horde of kneeling primates, then at Kora, “Is this how they--?”

“Congratulate those they deem heroic?” Kora said with a purr, “I suppose so. Much less awkward than being in a sea of loud cheers.”

“Zhu Remington and Nushi Kora have won!” one of them said aloud, and they all rose from their kneeling positions

They all approached the two with gleeful, grateful statements.

“Xie-xie! Thank you both so much!” said another.

“The way you fight was amazing, Kora. You pushed the killer to his limits!”

“And then Remington finish him off! Měilì de!”

“But wait…” a concerned monkey mother looked around, “Where is my baby?”

“I think a certain griffon knows.” That’s when Axel recalled where Vido had run--or flown--off to. “A friend’a mine made sure yer kiddos were safe. This way, ya’ll!”

Those who had lost track of their children in the chaos followed Axel and Kora down the street to a nearby museum where a griffon could be seen watching over the building like a hawk.

“Remy! Is it over?” Vido asked as he landed upon the ground.

“Hm,” he nodded, and turned to the crowd, “This boy here--”

A set of loud whoops and cries from happy monkey children hit everyone’s ears as they all ran up to their respective parents. Various murmurs of how the nice ‘gé lǐ fēn’ (griffon) saved them from being hurt. This was then followed by those same parents looking at, and thanking Vido--causing the griffon to blush.

“My daughter is safe because of you. Xie-xie.”

“My sons are okay! Thank you!”

“I am in your debt, sir. Xie-xie.”

Vido rubbed the back of his head with a meek grin on his face. “It was nothing, really. I just did what I could.”

A monkey woman would approach Axel and nervously request, “...Mista Lei-ming-dun...can I see your face?”

“Oh--guess that’s fine.” Unable to refuse a reasonable person’s request, Axel removed his facemask so they could get a proper look at his face--a face that they wouldn’t forget anytime soon. “Here ya are, miss.”

She glanced at him with a curious expression. “...You are not demon like rumors say. You are cute pony-thing with claws! And cowboy. I love cowboys and Western books!” She then offered him a notebook and a pen. “Sign? Please?”

That got a small chuckle from Axel who obliged as he grabbed the pen and pad. “...Don’t mind at all, miss. What’s yer name?”

“Ming Bo,” she replied with a bow.

Axel signed the page in her notebook, leaving behind a rugged, yet refined signature of his surname with a stylish flourish. “Here ya are, little lady.” He said, offering the pen and notebook back to her.

Ming accepted it with a wide, sunny smile on her face. “Thank you, sir! I won’t forget!”

As she skipped away, Axel couldn’t help but smile in return.

Ever the teasing one, Kora purred, and leaned over to get a better look at the gunslinger’s exposed smile. “Rrrrrow. Is that a smile that I see on your face, Lord Remington?”

“Heek!” Axel responded with a horse-like whinny mixed with an eagle’s chirp, “Don’t sneak up on--why does that matter to ya?” He huffed, and turned his head away from her.

Kora giggled, and put a paw on his neck. “Oh you know what I mean, buddy. It’s nice to see you finally perk up. It only took a massive fanclub of primates to do so.”

Axel rolled his eyes and glared at her. “Don’t git funny with me.”

All of the rejoicing was interrupted when a certain someone cleared her throat.

“Ahem.”

There stood Empress Su with her guards as stoic as ever. Her mere presence immediately caused all the monkey folk to kneel before her.

Axel was about to say something, but before he could get any words out…

“Retreat to your homes,” the Empress commanded her people, “Stay inside until further notice. As for the rest of you...stay here.”

With that, every monkey citizen rose from their kneeling positions and left the streets to return to their homes. Soon, it was all quiet and there would be no one left aside from Axel, Vido, Kora, and the Empress.

And of course, Chang wasn’t too far behind.

The primate doctor appeared from behind the Empress, having helped the guards watch over her previously. “Is everything alright, friends? I had to watch over all sides of the situation.”

Axel tried to answer, “We’re fine, pard. But--”

But Empress Su cut everyone off. “Ānjìng! Quiet!” She cleared her throat and continued--arms crossed and glaring down upon them, “Now--I find it highly suspicious that westerners such as you would actually go out of your way to save me. Explain yourself. What do you seek to gain from such an act?”

Axel raised a brow, taken aback by her words.

Kora blinked her eyes twice and stared at the monkey empress.

Vido rolled his eyes from the lack of gratitude.

All were stunned into silence by what she had said.

“Well?” the Empress called out to them, “Shuōhuà. Speak.”

Chang walked around in front of them, and spoke on their behalf. “Empress--why are you treating them with such scorn?”

“They are not of this land,” she repeated her point while focusing her eyes on the trio, “I do not know what their intentions are. I also find it suspicious that they were here on the same day an attack occurred.” She leaned forward, with her gaze focused hard on them, as if daring them to lie. “Almost as if--”

“Enough!” Chang screeched, causing the Empress to flinch and stand upright.

At last, she would ask, “Uch! And just who are you to support these foreigners anyway?”

“I’m surprised you’ve forgotten…” Chang lifted his glasses to expose his unmistakable jade-colored eyes to her. “Mother.”

Upon seeing his eyes, Su went into a frenzy as she knelt down to him. “...Wukong Jiānqiáng?!” She looked over his shoulder at the hippogriff, griffon, and abyssinian, “And these are your friends? I am so sorry...I had no idea. They are more than welcome!” She said with a big, shaky smile, “I-I was just so overwhelmed from the Wushi preparations that I--”

Chang pulled away from her with a disgusted grimace on his face. “Tíngzhǐ. I’ve seen your true colors today. You treat guests with hatred simply for being from the outside, even though someone who just tried to kill you was on inside?!” He grabbed the bridge of his nose.

In a desperate attempt to save face, the Empress was on bended knee in an attempt to convince her son that she wasn’t being mean on purpose. “P-please don’t hate me! I was just confused!”

It...had little effect on the doctor. “Ack. Save it. I’m off to see father,” he turned to try and leave, but was quickly stopped when his mother pulled on his arm. “Hei!”

“No! Please! Don’t tell your father!” the monkey empress pleaded desperately, “I’ll give you everything you’ve ever wanted and more.”

Once again, Chang wrestled away from her. This time with a warning. “Touch me again, and I will have more complaints for father. Now make yourself useful and have the guards pick up Hao’s body and escort us to the palace, please.”

Defeated, Su would have no choice but to listen to her son if she didn’t want things to get any worse. “...Fine. Guards! Grab our suspect’s corpse. The rest of you, follow me.”