The bartender hastily cleaned another glass in the small break he had between orders for more drinks. His staff was having trouble keeping up with the demands and it was already well past three in the morning. Business was exceptionally good tonight as another glass of whiskey was called for. He didn't even bother trying to clean off the dirty smudge still on the glass. Just filled it and passed the drink over. Most of the people in tonight were too drunk now to notice.

He turned his attention to the one person in the bar that was still well behind the rest of the town. "Well, stranger, you're pretty lucky. Tonight is a special night. Kitchen is still open, can't promise they're sober though."

It wasn't unusual for the town to get travellers this late. The smart ones did try to walk more at night then during the day. Lochrose was a small town, not on most maps, and they didn't even have a Plant. So the travellers they tended to get were the ones just passing through on the next town. Happy to find a place where they could get a full belly and a good night's sleep before continuing on.

The bartender was happy when the man ordered a simple sandwich. That he could even handle himself if he had to. Usually being drunk on the job would cause immediate termination in his bar, but not tonight, instead he grinned at the stranger. "What's so special about tonight, you ask? Well you see-"

A loud, boisterous laughter interrupted him, as he was about to answer the stranger's question. A tall, slightly plumped man approached and swung his arm around the new comer his breath heavy with alcohol. "Mr. Mayor. I know we're celebrating, but could you at least try to act official in front of outsiders if anyone is going to take our town seriously?"

The mayor laughed loudly once more, holding the now slightly unnerved traveller closer to him. "Don't you worry about that Clyde! You just wait! With what I have planned for this city we're going to be bigger than July city ever was! Just you wait!"

Clyde simply rolled his eyes, turning away to fill another drink order. Leaving the poor traveller alone with the drunken Mayor. "I can see you don't believe me my friend, but it's true!" Leaning most of his weight on the weary man he turned towards the partying townspeople raising his voice to be heard above the noise. "Isn't that right? We're going to get Lochrose put on every map!"

The resounding cheer of happiness actually made the poor, confused man smile as the Mayor finally removed his arm from his neck. Or maybe that was because of the sandwich that was placed before him. "You're a very lucky man. Tonight, your meal will be on Lochrose! No, no! No need to thank me! Everyone is a friend and family tonight! Drinks for everyone!"

The party lasted well into the night. The stranger quickly lost count of the hands he shook or the drinks he drank. It surely felt like as if he really was everyone's friend and family that night. Yet, he come a little too late to the party and most were too drunk to give him a clear idea of just what they were celebrating. He tried to ask Clyde, but the bartender was too busy once more for idle chat. Eventually he got somewhere with the Mayor who grinned with pride, but his arm this time was wrapping around a prostitute's neck he was leading away.

"I'll do better than tell you, my friend. Tomorrow, I'll show you this town's pride!" Laughing the Mayor was led away to a back room.

Shops remained closed most of the day. Most of the town didn't even wake before the late afternoon to open their shops. The party seemed to have moved from the tavern to all over town. Happy laughter and shouts could be heard all over town as the Mayor and the stranger weaved their way through the streets. Both still a bit hung over, but the newcomer was excited to see just what this town considered to be their pride.

It took longer than normal for the Mayor to lead the man to his Mayor office that shared a building with the Sheriff. Outside was sitting what looked like a brand new car. The man whistled; a car was a luxury by most standards, but to have one way out here? He hadn't noticed any place to replace the gas it ran on.

The Mayor ran up to the car and ran his hand over the door handle. "Isn't she beautiful? She just arrived yesterday. Haven't even driven her yet or named her." He opened the door and took a deep breath. "Huh? What? No, no, no! This isn't the town's pride! It's my pride!" He shut the card door and moved towards the entrance to his office, beckoning the man to follow him.

Inside were two desks across from each other. One had the tag of Mayor on it, the other read Sheriff. Behind that desk was a man that had been absent from last night's festivities. "Just how drunk are you right now, Jeb?" The Sheriff was gruff, but did not look surprised or concerned about his current Mayor's state. "And who's this guy? He's not from-"

"No, he's just on his way to- where did you say you were going again? Ah, right- that's right. He's on his way to Dankin Town. Told him I'd let him see the pride of this town! What's going to make it bigger than July City!"

The Sheriff shook his head as he stood up. "You keep saying that Jeb, but you do know no city would actually sell us a Plant. No matter how much we offered."

Jeb waved his hand at the Sheriff. "You're too serious, Harrison. You need to lighten up!"

"I'll lighten up once the Feds arrive and this whole thing is out of my jurisdiction." Yet, Sheriff Harrison smiled at the two men before him. "Still, even if we don't get as big as July we're certainly going down in the history books." He picks up the set of keys on his desk and moves towards the back. "I'll let you take a peek, stranger. It's not everyday you get to see a legend after all."

Suddenly the traveller had a pretty good guess at just what the "pride" of this town really was as he followed behind the Sheriff and Mayor into this town's prison.

He was right. His hand shooting up to cover his mouth as his travel pack fell to the floor. Inside the cell was a tall, muscular man, long blond hair hanging around his face. His body was littered with welts, cuts, and bruising. The stench was nearly overwhelming and it was all the man could do to keep what he had drank the night before down to ask his question.

"Alive?" Sheriff Harrison moved forward and gave the figure a push. It elicited a nearly inaudible moan from the hanging man and upset the flies that had been investigating the torn flesh. "Seems to be. Although, not surprising when you consider how hard it was to take him down. Luckily the bounty doesn't matter if he's alive or dead."

The Mayor let out a laugh. Either still to intoxicated to be sickened by the sight before him or just uncaring. "This is what's going to put this town on the map you see! Lochrose! The town that put an end to Vash the Stampede! Eh? Wrong guy?" Mayor Jeb gave his head a shake. "No, there are people in town who've seen this monster before. We even gave them their shot to give back a little of what this guy gave to them! No, we're sure-"

Sheriff Harrison interrupted, seeing the distress on the man's face. "I know it looks awful, but trust me. This man is a monster. Many of the people in this town had family in July."

"Which is why we are going to make this town, the place where Vash finally fell, even bigger!"

The Sheriff could only shake his head at his friend. "Jeb, you're going to upset someone if you keep saying that."

Once more the Mayor merely waved away the Sheriff's concerned. He smiled at the traveller who was reaching into his pocket at that moment. "You should stay until the Feds come to take him away. They should be here later today or tomorrow. It'll be a real party then, Mr… you know? I never did get your name."

"You never asked." The man took a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket. "My name is-" He pushed the round, gold tinted frames up towards his eyes. "-Vash the Stampede." The Mayor instantly sobered up as a large handgun was pointed at him. "And I'm really sorry fellas, but you have the wrong man."

It happened in an instant. The Sheriff reached for his gun and Vash shot it cleanly out of his hand without missing a beat. There was no one else there. The town had very few deputies to begin with and they were all out supposably keeping the peace, but most Vash had seen drinking on their way here.

"Holy crap," the Sheriff was nearly breathless. "It's really him."

"It can't be!" The Mayor was livid. "The other guy has to be the real Vash! He had over twenty henchmen, a scar over his eye, and a red hat! He even said he was Vash! This guy- this guy can't be him!"

Vash waited until the Mayor finished shouting so he could be heard easily. "Frankly mister, I don't care if you think I'm really him or not. What's going to happen now is Harrison here is going to open that cell door and cut that poor man down." Vash turned a cold eye towards the Sheriff. "Right?"

Sheriff Harrison nodded. Even after the town had managed to run off the man's henchmen he had always thought the capture of Vash had been too easy. It had been a hard battle won because of the town's small resources, but their town shouldn't have even stood a chance and now he understood why they did. Still, to keep his town from being turned into rubble the Sheriff did his best to remain calm as he opened the cell door and reached up to cut down the man they once thought was Vash the Stampede as the real one reminded him to be gentle.

While Harrison was busy cutting the imposter down, Vash turned back to the flustered and angry Mayor with a grin. "I really hope you didn't buy that car with money you thought you were getting from the bounty."

Suddenly the Mayor went from angry to terrified. "Not my car!"

Vash flicked back the barrel of his gun before the upset Mayor could get any wise ideas. "I just want to borrow it. Now, where are the keys?"

"You better give them to him." Harrison warned as he carefully freed the beaten man from his bonds.

Defeated the Mayor hung his head. "Alright, they're in my pocket." Slowly he reached down towards his pocket were the bludge of the keys could be seen. At the last moment, because of the drink or the thought of losing his car he's still not sure why, he grabbed his gun from it's holster instead. Before he even had a chance to aim it the prison was once more filled with the sound of gunfire and the Mayor fell to his knees holding his injured hand.

"Bring him out to the car." Vash ordered as he walked over to the Mayor and relieved him of his keys. "You should see a doctor right away. If you do that it you should be able to fully recover."

Defeated Mayor Jeb could only look up at the man before him. "You really are him, aren't you?"

"One of a kind. And if we're not followed I'll send you a message on where you can pick up your car."

He was dead. Definitely dead. Or so the bandit formally known as Vash the Stampede thought. To his pleasant surprise, he was not in fact dead, or hanging up in that blasted cell. He opened his eyes and above him he saw stars, however, they were quickly replaced by a goofing looking face that suddenly broke out in a smile.

"You are alive! You had me pretty worried there for a moment. Don't worry, you're safe, but don't try to move just yet. You're pretty badly hurt."

The blond face left his view and the bandit turned his face towards the sound of a fire that the man was carefully attending to. "Who the hell are you?"

Vash sighed as he took a pot away from the fire. Pouring soup out into a bowl. "A thank you for saving me would be nice."

The man snorted. "I never asked you to save me."

"Why does everyone always say that?" Things fell silent for a moment as Vash blew on his soup to cool it down a little. "You really want to know who I am?" The man waited for an answer, but his rescuer merely smiled. "You wouldn't believe me anyway."