Advent Of A Gunslinger

Meanwhile, one block away…

Because Axel’s ballistic weapons had no effect on the tom, he had to resort to more unconventional means of defending himself.

The next time the tom lunged at him, Axel’s claws met with Alade’s and they were both caught in a hefty struggle where neither had an advantage over the other.

“You’re not bad…” the tom purred as he applied force through his paws.

Axel did his best to fight back against the struggle, but he knew his claw-arms would give out eventually. “Rrrgh...quit the nonsense. Tell me whatcha know ‘bout my folks. Where are they?!”

“...Your parents? They’re long dead by now, young man,” Alade replied, “As to who put them down...dat is something I don’t know.”

“...!” The fact that his parents were actually dead all this time temporarily caused the hippogriff’s blood to run cold. For a few seconds, he lost focus on the struggle that he was locked in, which allowed the abyssinian to take advantage.

CRACK!

With a strong push followed by a right hook, Alade punched Axel hard enough to send the gunslinger flying into a nearby crate of coconuts.

“Argh...dammit…”

Alade was about to follow up and attack again, but before he could do so…

A set of light, but quick hooves entered the scene.

“Monsieur Kesari!” Topaz called out to the tom, “Ze mission is ze bust! We ‘ave to leave now! Tout-suite!”

“Suppose I’ll continue dis anotha time.” As much as he wanted to keep going, the abyssinian reigned himself in, and turned to follow the unicorn. “Undastood. Let’s get out of here while we have a lead.”

Chang leapt out from behind the fruit stand, but the tom and unicorn mare had already fled the scene. “Agh...gāisǐ.” He turned his attention to the hippogriff that had been knocked on his back. “Lord Remington! Are you injured? Did you lose anything?”

Axel sat upright from within the crate of cracked coconuts, and spat one out of his mouth. “Blech! Aside from my pride? Not much at all.”

The primate doctor grabbed the gunslinger’s claw and helped him stand upright. “Gah...they got away. My apologies.”

“Don’t worry yerself about that,” he replied as he stood up, “I’m just glad yer still here, pard. But I heard a bit’a commotion from the other block. We better mosey on over there like jackrabbits.”

Chang nodded, and scratched behind his head. “...I sincerely hope that our friends are alright.”

Meanwhile, with Kora….

Well, Chang’s thoughts were certainly in the right place, but things were rather difficult for the group. Kora in particular was unable to properly handle the weight of the enchantment she was casting and could only manage to bend a few parts of the private boat.

“...Uggh…” Even with her glasses, her vision started to become blurry and the world started to spin around her from the sheer toll the magic took on her mind. Kora had to stop herself lest she threw up. “...I can’t...I’m a failure…” With a thud, she fell back onto the rooftop.

Her efforts bore little in the way of fruit. The ship wasn’t too severely damaged and could still function which allowed Topaz and Alade to escape with minor difficulty. The boat sped away from the docks within a minute of the pair arriving upon it.

Kora couldn’t tell what had happened. The extreme level of stress inflicted upon her body from using the enchantment left her unconscious. The last thing she could remember hearing was her name distantly being called by someone.

“...Kora? Sis? Don’t give up on me now…”

“...Mynx? What? How??”

About an hour later….

Everyone had been recovered and taken back to Juzo’s palace for shelter. Including the enslaved ponies that Sun had been preparing to transport. Unfortunately, this meant that Topaz and Alade got away scot-free--so it wasn’t a complete victory. But it wasn’t a complete failure either.

In the palace…

Juzo had allowed all of the ponies to reside in the guest rooms of his palace for the time being and instructed all of his chefs to prepare food for them. Despite his rather casual nature from before, he was more than capable of taking control of a situation. He could be heard giving orders to every chef to make a good meal, and to every servant to treat those enslaved with any injuries they may have sustained.

Sun Gao meanwhile, had been imprisoned in the palace’s dungeon in preparation for trial.

“Jìxù. Gǎodìng cǐ shì!” he commanded to a group of servants.

“Shì de xiānshēng,” those servants replied with a bow before leaving the room.

Axel approached the emperor and questioned, “Are my fri--er, allies gon’ be alright? You got top tier medical pros, don’tcha?”

Chang walked up next to him with a concerned stare. “R-remington. Don’t pester him unless--”

But his father was amicable in his response. “Bié dānxīn--it’s alright, Chang. I now see that this situation was...far more catastrophic than I was prepared for.” The monkey man looked at Axel, “As for your friends, they shall be alright. The griffon suffered a lot of nerve damage to his wings but should recover soon. The abyssinian female seemed to be enduring a severe case of light-headedness from lack of oxygen.”

That put the gunslinger at ease. “...Thank the stars. Last thing I’d want is more losses on my hands…” But he was a bit uneasy as a result--contemplating just how far this journey had taken him up to this point. Axel had began to wonder if it was all really worth putting them through such danger alongside him.

Sadly, he wouldn’t have much time to reflect upon it.

Axel responded to the emperor with a yawn. Unable to keep his eyes open anymore from how tired the ordeal had made him. “...Good. Make sure they come back strong. I got some things I need’ta think about.” And with that, he hovered away from the foyer and flew up the steps to the guest rooms of the palace.

The emperor sighed, and glanced at his son. “...I want to apologize, Chang. You were right. This is a far greater problem than I could have predicted.”

Chang lifted up his glasses, and stared at his father for a moment. “...Is my hearing unstable? Or did you just admit to one of your faults?”

“That’s a good one, my boy,” Juzo replied with a chuckle, but his expression quickly turned sour once more. “...But I’m serious. Seeing these helpless pony-folk fall victim to the Triads. This presents a massive international conflict with Neighjing…”

The prince fell silent. The problems that presented themselves had a habit of spiraling further and further beyond one’s control. “...What will you do, father?”

Juzo sighed with a hand on his neck. “...Well first, I need to get some sleep. And you should too. It’s rather early in the morning and the sun should be rising soon. After that, I’ll need to consult the court on how to properly punish Gao Sun first thing in the morning for engaging in slavery, weapons dealing, and underground prostitution.”

Chang looked down at the ground when he remembered that he had engaged in such acts and then began to wonder. “Oh yes! I almost forgot.” He looked up at his father and asked, “...The one who I sent here. Where is she?”

“Rufang? She’s perfectly fine. If you’d like, she can be placed in the protection system for witnesses.”

The prince let out a sigh of relief and complied. “...Yes. I’d greatly appreciate that, father. But I want you to be more aware and start taking a more active role in the protection of our people going forward. Chiefly of which, I suggest you start adding routine patrols to the--”

“Gah…” Juzo turned and started to walk away with a low grumble. “...Son. You know I don’t want to do that. The last thing I want is to enact a police-state rule.”

“What? Father--!” Chang followed his father out of the foyer and into his private quarters. The elder primate could be seen heading into a small private kitchen where he was pouring himself a cup of tea from a kettle. There, Chang would continue his response. “There is no need for that! I am simply saying that you must find ways to keep a closer eye on your subjects. If you had, that underground sex ring may have been busted a long time ago!”

Juzo paused and glanced down at his teacup, then sat down in a nearby chair. “...Maybe. Maybe not. There’s no way to tell by reflecting on the past, son. All I can do is move forward.”

Chang pulled up a chair and sat next to his father. “Father. I am simply doing what I can to offer you sound advice so that this land may find peace without fear of underground gangs and syndicates. Don’t you want that also?”

“Of course I do,” the elder monkey replied, “But coming to these decisions all by myself are not an easy task.”

“...You don’t have any sort of representatives or advisors to assist you with such things?”

Juzo blinked his eyes, then scratched his head with an uncertain tilt. “...I never considered it. Do you think it would actually help?”

“Is he serious?!” Chang froze, unable to form a reply. The fact that his father didn’t even have a simple council in place shook him to the core and painted things in a clearer picture. No wonder these arms dealers had gone unnoticed for so long. “...You need some serious help,” Chang got up from his seat, “But I can’t do everything for you. It is your responsibility as emperor to work things out and find the best way. Good night, father.”

With that, the prince left the room and left his father speechless.

After a minute of staring at the door his son left out of, Juzo grumbled to himself. “...Argh...just take the throne from me, why don’t you?”