Advent Of A Gunslinger

The Empress led the group through the capital and to the main temple where the Emperor, Chang’s father, was located. The palace was a massive temple-like structure that was located on a lake filled with the cleanest of water and had beautiful little fish jumping out and about. So much so, that our trio could be seen making passing glances at the aquatic creatures. Chang had to snap his fingers a few times to snap them out of their stupor so that they could keep going.

Eventually, they would enter the temple and be escorted to the main throne room where Chang’s father was located. The massive yellow and red doors slowly opened, and Chang gave his friends a warning.

“...Be advised. Father is a tad eccentric,” he whispered, “Please do not judge him at first glance.”

“Ain’t they all?” Axel joked while thinking about his own father.

Vido replied with a snicker. “Got that one right, boss.”

Kora nudged them with both of her elbows. “Ahem! Not a problem, Prince Chang. I’m sure he’s a great man.”

With a sigh of relief, Chang would follow his mother into the throne room.

Empress Su called out to the middle of the room, “I’m back. There are some lovely western tourists here to see you,” she said with a wide smile on her face and stepped out of the way so that the four of them could see the Emperor.

The Lord Of The Land

A large, muscular monkey man on a throne was surrounded by four other monkey women who were busy taking care of him. Two of them stood on either side of his throne with leaf fans to keep him cool and the other two were massaging his legs and cleaning his fur.

“Hello! Welcome!” he said in a loud, yet jovial tone. Compared to his citizens, he spoke the Western language far better than they did. “Especially you, my son. It’s great to have you back.”

Chang nodded, and turned to his friends. “Everyone, this is my father: Wukong Juzo. Reversed in your language.”

“Very nice to meet you all. Say hello, ladies.”

The monkey women around him all bowed and resumed their work.

“Er...howdy?” Axel replied, and looked at Chang with a confused expression. “Hey now, just who are them gals? They look a bit...well-dressed’ta be servants.”

Indeed. Those four monkeys around Juzo were all dressed in robes that were very similar to what Su was wearing. Not standard attire for servants at all.

Chang folded his arms, and tapped his foot against the floor. “No. Believe it or not, those are also my mothers.”

Axel was stunned into a state of silence, unable to figure out what to say next. All he could do was take a step backwards.

Innocently, Vido would actually step forward and ask, “But wait, how does that work? Isn’t that all like...cheating?”

“V-Vido!” Chang let out an embarrassed squeal.

Juzo simply laughed it off. “Ha! Westerners don’t quite understand which is fine. These ladies are all my consorts. And thus, also act as mothers to my boy.” He stood up from his throne, and clapped his hands. “Su--and everyone else, please retire to your rooms until later.”

All of them--Su included--would bow, and leave the room without a word.

The emperor monkey would leap into the air, and land next to the group while wrapping an arm around his son’s neck. “Alright, my boy. What seems to be the trouble?”

Chang huffed, and pushed his father’s arm away. “Fùqīn! Stop this. We have important issues to discuss. Ones that you are not paying attention to.”

“If I may,” Kora spoke up, “Your son is quite right. We have quite the emergency on our hands.”

“That’s right,” Juzo replied, “The guards showed me the corpse and confiscated the weapon from Hao’s body. He worked for the Death’s Angels--a criminal organization that operates somewhere in the capital.” He waved his hand in a dismissive fashion while sporting a cocky grin. “They’re a buncha cowards who don’t stand a chance. Let ‘em get themselves killed.”

“WH--?!” It took every bone in Axel’s body to keep himself from chewing the emperor out for such a lackadaisical approach to the situation.

Vido put a claw on the hippogriff’s shoulder to keep him calm, and shook his head--silently telling him that it wasn’t worth it.

Chang took a deep breath, and exhaled. “Father. I completely disagree with this. This is exactly why I left five years ago. I can see things haven’t changed.”

“Son--do you think I have time to send out my guards and militia to try and find some gangsters and possibly die in the process?” he asked calmly, trying to reason with Chang, “There’s no guarantee they’d ever be found unless they exposed themselves.”

Chang grabbed the bridge of his nose.

Once Axel had calmed down and gathered his thoughts, he asked, “Lord Juzo, yeah? Any info on that there weapon ya got off him?”

“It serves no use to me,” the emperor shrugged with his hands in the air, “Do you folks want it?”

Taken aback, Axel’s eyes grew wide. “Hold up. Yer willin’ta just give it up?”

Juzo folded his arms. “I got no use for it. You folks could benefit front using it more than me.” He snapped his fingers.

Moments later, a monkey servant would appear with both the weapon in question and a briefcase.

“Thank you, Wu,” he said to the servant who left promptly after. Now that they had a better look at it up close, they could see that it was a high caliber sniper rifler with a scope attached. The weapon itself was reflecting the light with its silver body and showing warped rainbows on both sides--meaning that it was made of pearls. “Here it is. All yours now.”

Axel nudged Vido forward. “Go on, friend.”

“Wait, me?” the griffon questioned.

“You deserve it fer savin’ all them kiddos. Plus, I can’t very well carry all’a the ammo now I can I?”

“...You make a good point.” He turned to the muscular monkey, and accepted the rifle. “Gracias, Lord Juzo. I will make good use of it.”

“Good. Cuz I’m paying you all for your efforts today as well,” he said as he offered the briefcase next.

Axel accepted it, and opened it up. Inside were a dozen small gold bars. More than enough to purchase a new airship with. “...Damn--wait, you just givin’ this to us?”

“No need to thank me,” said the emperor with a hearty laugh, “I’m just doing what I see as right. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an important meeting to attend.” He shot a wink at the group, and proceeded to take his leave. “Take care, everyone!”

Chang watched his father leave, and sighed. “Gah...this is hopeless. Come on, let’s get back to Celaeno.”

But our trio wasn’t exactly ready to leave.

“Wait just a sec, pard,” Axel said as he closed the case, “We ain’t done ‘til we find what we’re after. And that’s the truth behind these here Triads. Ain’t that right, ya’ll?”

“Verily,” Kora added, “We’re here to find out what the abyssinians are really doing, and to halt their progress. Do we have any leads on what to do next?”

Vido had been inspecting the weapon for the last few minutes, and found something. “Ay. The name engraved on this weapon: Zhen Huxi Incorporated...what could that mean?”

“Zhen Huxi?” Chang raised a brow, and stepped forward to look at the manufacturer engraved on the side of the weapon. “...I know where this place is located. They are arms dealers and could point us in the direction of our target. But we have to wait.”

“How come, Lord Wukong?” Kora asked.

Chang responded, “...They operate in the early hours of the morning. We need to rest up so that we’ll be prepared to deal with them when it is time. You all are free to stay in my guest rooms until then.”

“Then let’s git a move on, ya’ll. This'll lead us right to the cat-folk that are working with the shady monkey-folk and cut their slavery supply drain by the gonads.” Axel proclaimed with Vido and Kora smirking in agreement.

“I can’t believe they’re willing to help fix my homeland. They’re all wonderful people…” With a big smile and a heavy heart, Chang hugged each of them. “...Thank you. Thank you all.”