Advent Of A Gunslinger

Near the edge of the capital…

Chang and Axel made their way towards the train station at the edge of the city. They were carefully escorting the pony slaves down one of the roads under the cover of nightfall and everything seemed to be going well.

That is, until…

The primate prince noticed something from the corner of his eye.

“...?”

Axel could sense his hesitation, and spoke out to him. “Hey, pard. What’s the deal? Ya feelin’ somethin’?”

“...Yes. Something like that. Lord Remington?” he turned his attention to the hippogriff. “Can you do me a favor?”

“What’s the deal?”

Chang took a step towards one of the nearby alleys. “Get these Neighjing ladies to the train station. I’ll be right behind you.”

While he wasn’t entirely sure what the doctor had been planning, Axel chose to place his trust in him. “Alright...c’mon, gals.”

The three mares stayed silent and swiftly followed the hippogriff towards the train station.

Meanwhile, Chang entered one of the dark alleys where he had thought he had witnessed a shadow move against one of the nearby walls. With his gun drawn, he carefully approached the shape that he thought he saw.

“Show yourself,” he said with a flick of his weapon’s hammer, “I can tell that you were following us. So don’t bother trying to run at this point.”

To his surprise, the one who cast a shadow wasn’t an enemy at all. However, it was a rather familiar face…

A purple one to be exact.

There, among the boxes and other recyclable material in the alley, Rufang slowly emerged. Her fur was matted and in tatters along with several scratches and bruises along her body. None of which were a result of the ‘battle’ they had.

First, he lowered his weapon. “...Rufang?” Then Chang took a step forward, muttering in disbelief, “Is that really you? What are you doing way out here? Aren’t you supposed to--”

“Tāmen hèn wǒ! They hate me!” she said with a feverish sob, covering her face with her hands, “The very minute I lost, they killed my contract and kicked me out. Now I have nowhere to go…”

Yet again, Chang’s monkey paw curled. The mere idea that someone could treat their own in such a way caused his blood to boil. But now wasn’t the time for him to fall into a fit of rage. He needed to ensure her safety.

Rufang was unsure how to take his silence, and started to slowly back away from him. “L-Listen...don’t bother with me. I’ll figure my own--”

Chang suddenly grabbed ahold of one of her arms, and lifted his glasses to expose his jade green eyes. “Head to the Imperial Palace. Ask for Emperor Juzo and tell him you know his only son.”

Upon seeing his eyes, Ru’s entire body started to tremble with her tail swishing about. “...T-t-t-t-the prince?! The prince had sex with m--?!”

He placed his hand over her mouth. “Shushu! Go to the palace now and tell my father everything you know. Tell him to send the Royal Shuò Battalion to storm that ‘fighting ring’ immediately.”

The prince removed his hand from her mouth. Ru responded silently, and with a grateful bow, and quickly skittered off into the night…

“...Don’t screw this up, father. Please welcome her with open arms.”

With that established, Chang was able to return to his primary objective of making sure the ponies from the underground trade route were safe.

Luckily, he wouldn’t have to worry for very long.

Once our intrepid doctor arrived at the train station, he could see Axel encouraging the three mares to get on and instructing the conductor on where to take them.

“Git these little ladies back’ta Neighjing safely, ya hear?”

The conductor--being the same elderly monkey who they had saved from Sun previously--agreed with a smile, “Yes, yes. I take them home. Don’t worry.” While his Western-speech wasn’t perfect, it would appear that he could still understand the gunslinger.

The three Mashu ponies waved as the train slowly pulled out of the station. Even though they didn’t give a verbal response, the gentle, grateful tears that ran down their faces were apparent enough to get the message across.

“Whew…” Axel let out a relaxed sigh as the train left the station.

Which is exactly when Chang arrived to check on the situation. “How is everything, Lord Remington?”

“Them gals got away just--”

BANG!

Both the doctor and gunslinger reacted just in time to a bullet that was fired from a nearby rooftop. When the bullet ricocheted off of the ground nearby, it left a small crater in the pavement--a suspiciously similar size to those found in the heads of Su’s guardsmen.

“What the--?!” Axel immediately retaliated with a few shots of his own, straight up at the roof closest to the train station. “Chang! Get off the street!” he ordered the primate, “I’ll handle this sumbitch!”

Chang listened and responded by dashing over to the nearest fruit stand whose awning provided him with enough cover to stay hidden from the building they were being attacked from.

With that, the gunslinger spread his wings and took to the air to find their shooter…

Meanwhile, not far from there…

On the other end of the city near the fight club, Alade and Topaz were leading a set of a dozen pony slaves all bound together by chains towards the docks. Sun was nearby, providing them assistance with the escort.

Though, the monkey gal was curious. “Hey, Ms. Unicorn--you’re really willing to sell your own kind?”

“Uch--hmph!” Topaz cocked her head upwards as she trotted with a haughty gait, “You make it zound az if I only care for myzelf. How utterly presumptuous.”

“I don’t mean harm with the question,” Sun replied in earnest, “I’m simply curious as to why a pony would be looking to send her own kind into slavery.”

“...Hmph…” Topaz refused to answer, which caused her bodyguard to step in.

“Ahem,” the large abyssinian cleared his throat, “I don’t mean to interrupt, but we’re here on business. My associate’s reasonings are none of your concern.”

Sun pulled out her staff and casually tapped it against her shoulder as she walked. “Hǎo ba--okay, no need to get antsy about it. Just keep your eyes open for any opposition…”

Little did they know, things were about to get wild very soon.

Up above on a nearby rooftop, Vido had been spying on the situation that was before him. “Ay...so this is what they’re doing. It’s worse than I thought. I just hope Kora can shut that boat down before they get there.”

That she was.

Over near the docs, the she-cat had made herself busy and did her best reading out the symbols she had seen in her book. “Okay...here we go...Mesebaberi!”

Wooooooosh!

From within the pages of the book, a purple mist started to fly out and surround the boat. Kora had to hold her hand up to keep the spell active long enough for it to fully take effect. “...Should be no longer than five minutes,” she thought to herself. With no one around in the nearby vicinity, she figured she was perfectly safe.

Unfortunately, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

From his position, Vido knew that they’d be at the docks as soon as they rounded the next corner that they were approaching. He knew he had to do something. But what? “Maldito! I need to figure something out before they…” That’s when he glanced at the weapon he had been formally given permission to use by the Emperor. “...I really don’t want to use this. Maybe if I load it up with something different…”

Much to the griffon’s surprise, the monkey gal below would stop on a dime.

“...hang on, everyone,” Sun said, causing the pony slaves to stop as well. “Something’s off. Do you hear something?”

Topaz’s ear flicked. “Hm? Pardon? I don’t hear anyzing.”

“Me neither,” Alade responded, “What’s de problem?”

“I hear…bullets being fired,” said the monkey, “Look alive. It could be anyone out there.”

The burly tom cricked his neck. “Dis will be ova quickly. Allow me.”

“Oh! How chivalrous of you, Monsieur!” Topaz squealed, “But do hurry back, yes?”

Alade glanced back at them with a small grin on his face. “Don’tchu worry. You all head on towards de boat. I will meet with you shortly.” With that, he walked off into the darkness of the empty streets, towards the sound of the bullets. “...Is it finally time for us to meet, then?”