**Author's Notes** For those of you who like Trigun, and have seen the entire series, I suggest reading my "Aftermath" fan-fiction…it's a tale about what happens after the series ended. Can Vash change Knives, can he take care of his brother just as Rem told him to? There's some new characters introduced in it, some old ones return, and lots of twists and turns. Check it out ^_^ I promise, the new characters are not (going by literal definition) Mary Sues.
Luis- Wow, you're just full of hopes for this story aren't you? And wonders at that. Well, you will see some of your thoughts answered as the story goes along, so just be a bit patient okay?
HPFanficluvr- Yeah I had some pairings in mind before I even started the story. You may be right one at least one of them! J
Rosebud- Thanks! Glad to know I'm doing a good job so far, I hope I don't let anyone down when it comes to this story. Milly's phrase I thought was pretty funny myself, and as for Spike…well it's something he's actually said I believe. I know I haven't updated it in a while, I've been preoccupied with my just plain Trigun fic, but! I am going to work on this one a little more, I hope. Please, continue to tell me any mistakes you find, I will correct them or give an explanation or…something. J
Disclaimers: I do not own the characters or the titles of Trigun or Cowboy BeBop, nor am I affiliated with them in any way. (Though I wish I were…how cool would that be?!)
Claimer: The concept for this story is my own- be a little lenient when it comes to time and space travel here..kay?
*Ed prances in with Ein at her feet. Ed stops, turns, salutes and very seriously says "And now onto the story!" She giggles and rolls away as Ein barks…*
Vacation
Part Seven
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
A crowd had already begun to gather outside the sand steamer as the crew of the Cowboy BeBop climbed out of their non-functional ship, wary of their surroundings. The four people who had been on the deck of the large contraption had already made their way down to the ship, taking the short-cut right over the railing. It might've been a long way down but there was the fallen space ship to land on first before hitting the sandy ground.
Low murmurs ran through the air at the sight of the BeBop, which was severely in need of a repair station- these people could not believe something like that still existed. The only hints of lost technology still around were the power plants and the sand steamers and those were pretty primitive.
The BeBop crew stood in a single line, side by side, staring and wondering where the hell they were. If they thought it couldn't get stranger, they were wrong- on top of not knowing where they were, their ship being useless, and their cigarettes having been crushed into nothing…the people were gawking like they were at a zoo.
"What are they looking at?" the violet-haired woman leaned over, taking on a slight ventriloquist act, her jade green eyes staring at them. "You'd think they've never seen people before…"
The older man with black sideburns and a bit off the top shrugged, "How would you look at someone who fell from the sky?"
Before a reply was given, one of the four gawking strangers from the deck came forward. It was the young man in black; his blue eyes seemed to pierce through them as they moved to each person.
"I think before anybody asks anything, I should ask you two things- are you hurt, and who are you?"
The dog barked loudly as though immediately replying to the man's questions, and his eyes went to the animal with a wry smile on his lips. There was a rather skinny…young…person standing next to the dog who promptly proceeded to introduce itself.
"I'm Ed! Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky the Fourth! Woof, says Ein, we're A-okay!" Ed giggled.
Next to Ed was a tall, lanky young man, one the man in black somehow felt a sort of connection to. His hair was rather bushy and dark green, and something about his eyes seemed…off.
"Spike Spiegel," he replied dryly. "And I don't think any of us are hurt. Those two are Jet Black and Faye Valentine."
"Thanks Spike, but I can speak for myself," Faye retorted, already eyeing the handsome young man before them. She offered a hand daintily with a flirtatious smile on her lips, "So now you know who we are…who might you be?"
The man in black chuckled lightly, ready to take the offered hand, when he was suddenly shoved out of the way by the blond man in the red coat. Faye's hand was instantaneously snatched up into gloved ones, her eyes lifting to meet a very starry aqua green gaze.
"Oh miss you're like a star from the heavens! If there's anything I can do for you I'm at your beck and call!"
Spike smirked lightly, turning to glance at Jet, who raised an eyebrow sharing the same puzzled expression as Ed. Faye, however, did not seem to be amused at all.
"Hey! What the…let go of me! What're you doing?! Get off of my leg!" She cried, jerking her hand away only to see the young man clinging to her leg with the same starry eyes of adoration. What the hell was wrong with this guy?
"Look Faye, you've made friends with the natives," sounded the snide remark which could've only come from Spike.
Ed laughed and spun, "Natives are our friends! Where are we? Ein, do you know?" The dog barked and the red-orange haired girl appeared to ponder it as though taking it as an actual response.
The short black haired woman stepped forward, pulling the blond man away from Faye's leg, chuckling nervously.
"I'm sorry, he gets strange sometimes we just don't know what to do with him. I think it's fair to say who we are- I'm Meryl Stryfe and this is my partner, Milly Thompson. We're from the Bernardelli Insurance Society…that's Nicholas D. Wolfwood, and the broom head is Va…uh…" She trailed off, wondering if she really ought to tell who the man was. It might not be such a good idea.
He seemed to think otherwise. "I'm Vash the Stampede miss!" Vash clung to Faye's hand once more then backed away in mild fright from the glare she gave him.
The collective gasp from the crowd behind upon hearing the man's name seemed to hint something ominous to the BeBop crew. They couldn't tell what it could possibly be- the man was a head case. Unless being an idiot was like being God around here. Wherever "here" was.
"Bernardelli?" Jet tilted his head, "Where the heck is that? I've never heard of it before in my life. Nowhere near Venus I'm guessing."
"Venus?!" The other four declared in shock. There was the off chance that they didn't believe someone could go there or that they had no idea where or what Venus was.
At that moment, the conductor of the steamer approached them, shoving past the crowd, ordering them back inside the transport. He came to a stop before the crew of the fallen ship and whistled loudly.
"I'll be damned! I didn't believe them, but I guess it is true! Lost technology fallen from the sky, look at that..."
"Lost technology? What the hell are you talking about?" Faye arched an eyebrow, looking to the BeBop. "Haven't you ever seen a space craft before?"
"Ma'am I don't know how you folk came about acquiring one of these, but something like this hasn't been seen in over a hundred years! Whatever the case, it needs to be pushed off the track so the steamer can continue. Think we can manage it?"
Jet blinked…it was going through all of their minds, he knew it. The BeBop…lost technology? What kind of back-water place was this? The people looked normal enough, save for the strange one in the red coat, who went from looking stone serious to misty eyed when he looked at Faye. He'd never seen something like the sand steamer before, though, otherwise he'd assume they were in a desert on some planet in the Milky Way.
"It might take a lot of people, but I guess we could try it." He grunted and moved to the battered ship. Repairs were going to take forever, he could feel it.
Everyone helped in moving the BeBop safely away from the tracks, though it took a lot of man power and there were probably several strained muscles afterward, and once it was shoved against a nice pile of sand, the conductor delivered the bad news.
"Now I heard that one of you is Vash the Stampede…I'm not going to blame this mess on you, whichever one of you is him, but I'm afraid I can't let any of you onto the steamer again. You can get your belongings but after that you're on your own. Sorry, it's a liability, I've heard stories and seen to many destroyed towns to take that risk."
At the news of this everyone's eyes bugged in disbelief. The short insurance girl seemed to take it the worst- she appeared to be turning purple in the face. The BeBop crew pointed at the man in red right away, suggesting he was this Vash person, yet nothing came of it. It only took a few minutes before the eight people and the dog were standing in the middle of the desert at night, surrounded by a heap of metal, suitcases, and a big cross shaped object watching the sand steamer head off into the distance.
Everything was silent for a moment until the yelling began. Meryl was really going off on Vash, though indirectly, storming around in a circle with her fists at her sides.
"I can't believe this! Why doesn't anything ever go right when we're with you? Nothing but trouble happens whenever you're around!"
"But…Meryl, this isn't Mr. Vash's fault," Milly tried to soften the blow on the man, who already looked to feel guilty. "He didn't make them crash into us…he didn't do anything wrong."
Seething, the petite woman sat down, defeated. She knew it wasn't Vash's fault…they just had really bad luck.
"So would someone mind telling me where we are? Ed, does your computer work?" Jet asked, looking to the limber kid clutching the laptop tightly.
"Ed will try…hmm…no online connection! The wormhole! Zzzap!"
"Great…" Faye muttered, avoiding eye contact to the clingy blond man.
"If you want to know where you are, we're somewhere near New Oregon on Gunsmoke." Wolfwood finally replied, reaching into his breast pocket to pull out a cigarette.
Immediately Spike's eyes were on the smoking stick like it was a piece of heaven. He didn't even seem to hear the name of the planet which wasn't even known to them…not at first anyhow.
"Gunsmoke? The wormhole…Ed, didn't you try explaining something about it before? Those lights we saw?" the lanky crew man asked.
"The wormhole acts like a space tear…transporting all in its way to another place or time or both!" Ed replied from her place on the ground, resting against Ein.
"Something like Dorothy going over the rainbow in the tornado?" Faye asked…that movie was from her time, not that she remembered ever seeing it as a kid. Not that she remembered anything from a few years ago. But…there were books.
"Uh-huh!" Ed replied with a wide, innocent grin.
Spike groaned lightly, turning back to Wolfwood as the others stared at each other. "Mind if I bum a cigarette? I think we're gonna be here a while…"
**Well ok I'm done with this part..sorry it's not as great as the others have been but I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. It'll get moving soon. J**