Disclaimer- I don't own Trigun or any of the things that I might mention in here. I don't feel like reading it over. I know I don't own Jesse McCartney's song, Because You Live. Gosh, I love that song.
Thank you again to Chrissy! Girl power! I wrote a lot of this, though. Chrissy wrote like the entire beginning. She stops when they get to the city of December. I wrote a little in between what she wrote. But we love her! Go Chrissy! I hope you like this. I'M NOT DEAD!!! And I really need ideas for Trigun Holidays, the New Years chapter. What should they do? R&R people!!!
Traveling Gunsmoke
Everybody ran to get his or her things. They were back in a couple of minutes with everything packed. They stocked up on the food they had.
"We'll get everything else from Boswell," Heather told them. "Okay, lets move out!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Everybody repeated. They walked out of the house and everybody took one look back at it.
"Wow. This was actually kind of fun. It's so sad we're leaving," Chrissy said in a disappointed voice.
"It's okay. We get to go home," Heather reassured her. "Hopefully."
"That helps so much, Heather," Chrissy said in a sarcastic voice. They all started walking towards Boswell. Once they got there, everybody split up looking for their different things. They bought doughnuts, pudding, casserole, cigarettes, candy, Coke, and hot dogs. Of course, Boswell didn't have Dr. Pepper ("Who doesn't have Dr. Pepper?"), Chrissy had to wait until they got into the next city to buy some. They bought everything and left Boswell for the last time. Again, everybody looked back at it with sad faces. They started their long journey into the desert. They walked for a half a day before reaching the next city.
"This is Little Jersey," Vash told them all. They walked into the town to see if they could get Chrissy's precious Dr. Pepper. They went to a very small shop in the very heart of the city. They asked if they had Dr. Pepper. The storeowner said they did and got a big case for them.
"Thanks," Chrissy said after she had them in hand. "Yea!" They left the shop and tried to find somewhere to sleep for the night. They found a shabby looking hotel and walked inside.
"Wow," they all gaped in horror as they walked into the lobby. The counter was made of wood, which was now rotting away, the only lights were candles placed here and there, and the whole structure of the building looked as if it was going to fall down any moment. They all walked to the desk and Wolfwood hit the bell to get someone's attention. From a room behind the counter came a short, heavy, balding man.
"Yes? Do you need something?" He asked the large group.
"We were wondering, is this the only hotel in the city?" Heather asked the man.
"Yes it is! The only one in the whole city, which is actually very good because we get lots of business," he replied happily.
"You do?" Eric asked rather rudely. Danielle elbowed him in the arm. "What?"
"Um, yes we do," The man said looking offended.
"Anyway, how many people can be in one room?" Heather asked him, taking control of the conversation once more.
"Four to a room," he informed them.
"Okay, if we split up girls with girls and boys with boys, we'll need four rooms," she replied while counting everybody. The man went to go get the keys to the rooms while Heather explained everything.
"Okay, Rachel, Danielle, Andie and Stephanie can be together. Me, Chrissy, Meryl and Millie will be together. Levi, Forrest, Eric, and Hal can be in a room. That leaves Legato, Knives, Wolfwood and Vash to a room. Everybody got it?" Everybody nodded. "Okay, good." The man returned and Heather asked everybody to pay a part.
After paying, they grabbed their things and went up to their rooms. They walked up three flights of stairs to get to their rooms because everybody was too scared to take the elevator. The girls had two rooms right next to each other on the right of the hallway, while the guys were right across from them, on the left. They dragged their things in and looked around. The rooms were slightly better than the lobby. There were four beds crammed together with, amazingly, a T.V. right in front of all of them. The bathroom had one, cracked mirror above two sinks. The shower looked as if it barely one person could fit in it. Rachel, Danielle, Andie, and Stephanie had all sat down on the beds when they heard a knock on their door.
"I'll get it!" Rachel said and went over to the door. She opened it up and saw the rest of the girls standing there.
"Can we come in?" Chrissy asked her.
"You can," Rachel raised her eyebrow in expectance.
Chrissy rolled her eyes. "Fine. May we come in?" she asked, annoyed.
"Sure," Rachel responded, happy to know her grammar. They walked in.
"This place is really creepy," Chrissy said to everyone in the room.
"I know. You know the T.V.? I already tried it and it only has three channels!" Eric said angrily.
"Eric!" Danielle exclaimed angrily. "We could have been changing in here!"
Eric grinned. "Then it would have been so much better," he said looking at the stunningly beautiful form of his love, Stephanie.
"Anyway!" Chrissy continued. "I didn't mean the T.V. I meant that this place looks like it's going to fall down any second," Chrissy said.
"Oh."
"What do you guys want to do? I mean you don't want to stay in this hotel the rest of the day do you?" Knives said from the back of the group after following Eric inside. The rest of the guys walked in.
"No way!" everybody mumbled.
"We could go check out the city," Andie suggested.
"Sure," everybody said.
"Okay, lets go!" Heather declared. They then walked back down the three flights of stairs to the scary-looking lobby, and out the front door. They walked all around the city as a group of couples. Everybody was holding hands and talking with the person they were next to.
"I'm so happy we're back together," Knives was telling Chrissy as they walked. "I really like you."
"I really like you too. And that is a huge compliment coming form me by the way because before I came here, I hated you guys," Chrissy told him.
"Really? Wow," Knives said looking shocked.
"Guess you need really need to know someone before you criticize them," Chrissy said looking at him.
"Guess so," Knives said and they continued to walk hand in hand following everybody else.
Chrissy looked at everybody in front of her, thinking 'This trip really did me some good.' Meanwhile, Rachel and Levi were talking about how each of them had liked the other for so long.
"I've liked you for longer than you can imagine," Levi told her and Rachel looked shocked.
"Really? I've like you for about a year," Rachel told him.
"Only a year? Just kidding," Levi said. Heather and Forrest were having a very similar conversation.
"You've liked me for three years?!" Forrest asked looking shocked. "Wow. I've only liked you since the beginning of this year."
"I'm just happy you like me," Heather said simply and put her head on his shoulder.
They walked to the heart of the city again and found a different shop. They looked around at the whole shop, but didn't find anything too exciting. They went into four more shops, but they were exactly the same from the items in them to their poorly made structure.
"This city is so weird. The wholeplace is falling apart," Danielle said with a disgusted face at the shop.
"Do you want to go back to the hotel now?" Wolfwood asked the group.
"Sure," everybody said. They started walking back to the hotel.
"That was so exciting," Danielle said sarcastically to Hal.
"Oh, yes. Very," he replied smiling. It got dark on the way back and there were barely any street lamps.
"Anybody know where we are?" Vash asked the group.
"No," they responded with uncertain faces.
"Great," Vash said while looking around. "There's a lamp, lets go over there." Everybody walked over to the lamp, while shivering because it was getting cold fast. They got to the lamp and everyone could see everybody else clearly.
"Okay. Does anybody know which way to go?" Legato asked the group while everyone was looking from building to building. Again, everybody looked very uncertain.
"I think it's that way," Heather said pointing towards extremely run-down buildings. She pulled out her cell phone and turned on the flashlight that came with it.
"She's probably right. She's always right," Eric said. "Miss Straight A Student," he muttered. They started walking towards the group of buildings.
"I'm freezing," Rachel said.
"I know me too," Andie agreed. Everyone nodded his or her heads in agreement. They got to the buildings and examined each one closely.
"There it is," Knives said pointing to the worst of all of them.
"Yeah, that's it," Wolfwood said, nodding. They walked inside and felt much warmer. They walked back up to their rooms to take a break from walking.
"I feel like doing something," Chrissy said, after sitting down on her bed.
"Me too," Heather said. "Wait! Oh my, gosh! We can play Mau! Wouldn't that be fun? We can teach everybody! Come on!" she then grabbed Chrissy, Meryl and Millie and led them out the door. They knocked on the other group of girls' door and Heather told them what she wanted to do.
"Oh my, gosh! Yes! That would be so fun!" Danielle said very loudly. The whole group of girls went over to the boys' doors. Heather's group knocked on Levi, Forrest, Eric and Hal's door, while Danielle knocked on Legato, Knives, Wolfwood and Vash's room. Eric opened the door for Heather.
"Hello ladies," he said seductively. "What do you need?"
"We want to play a game and we want everybody to play," Heather told him.
"What sort of game?" He said with his eyebrows raised.
"A card game," she said simply, and he his eyebrows fell back down. "Why? What were you thinking?"
"Nothing," he said and called Levi, Forrest and Hal to the door. "They want us to play a card game with them."
"Okay," The group of three said and all four walked out. The other group of girls and Legato, Knives, Wolfwood and Vash were already standing in the hallway.
"What room do you want to play in?" Chrissy asked.
"Lets play in ours. It is the best after all," Heather said and they walked back in.
"They all look the same, Poomba," said Rachel.
They sat on the floor, and could just barely make a wide enough circle so everybody's knees were touching. "Okay, this game we're about to play is called Mau," Heather explained. "The only rule we can tell you is, think Uno or Crazy 8's. There are other rules but you have to figure them out on your own. Got it?"
"Umm… sure," the group of Trigun people, Levi, Forrest, Eric and Hal all said.
"Okay, lets get started," Heather said and started passing out cards. Everybody who hadn't played before, except Millie, grabbed their cards and looked at them.
"Penalty for touching your cards!" Danielle and Heather said at the same time. They gave everyone ONE card, and everyone who had played, laughed at the newbies' confused faces.
"End point of order," said Heather. Everybody picked up his or her cards. The top card was a five of spades. Heather went first. She put down an eight of spades and said "eight of spades".
Next was Forrest. He put down an eight of hearts and looked at everybody to make sure he put down the right thing, when nobody said anything, he realized it was okay. Next was Chrissy. She put down a ten of hearts. Knives put down a seven of hearts.
"Penalty for not saying 'Have a nice day!'" Danielle screamed and gave him a card.
"Have a nice day?" he said uncertainly.
Millie grabbed two cards and said "Thank you."
Wolfwood put down a seven of clubs. "Have a nice day," he said with a confused face.
"Thank you," Meryl said after catching on a bit, and picked up two cards. Vash put down a king of clubs. Danielle put down a jack of clubs. Hal put down a jack of hearts. Andie put down a three of hearts. Legato put down a four of hearts. Levi put down a four of diamonds. Rachel put down an ace of diamonds. Eric put down a six of diamonds.
"Penalty for playing out of turn!" Rachel threw a card at him.
"What?" Eric exclaimed. "I didn't do anyth-" Heather cut him off.
"Penalty for talking!" She gave him a card. "Point of order," Heather said.
"Penalty for touching your cards!" Danielle screamed at the new players, and gave them all one card. They dropped their cards and looked at Heather.
"When we're in point of order you can't touch your cards, but you can talk. Also, when there is an ace, you switch directions. So, since Rachel just put down an ace, it's your turn Levi. Got it?" Heather explained. They continued to play until someone won by getting rid of all their cards. Amazingly, Millie won.
"It must be one of her hidden talents," Meryl said to the group. Millie grinned sheepishly, but didn't say anything.
"Okay. Now Millie is the Mau Queen. She gets to decide one rule for this next game," Heather said to the group. Millie sat there, thinking, then her face lit-up.
"The rule is going to be, if you put down a heart, you have to say the name of someone you think is hot, or sexy," she told everyone. Everybody looked surprised by this new rule, but they had to go along with it. Millie started off the game, this time. She put down a heart first thing. She said Wolfwood as her answer. Wolfwood went and put down a heart. He said Millie. Meryl then put down a heart and said Vash as an answer. Vash also put a heart down and said Meryl. Danielle put down a heart and said Hal. Hal did the same, but said Danielle. Andie put a heart down and said Legato. Legato did the same and said Andie. Levi put one down also and said Rachel. Rachel put one down and said Levi. Eric put one down and said Stephanie. Stephanie put one down and said Eric. Heather put one down and said Forrest. Forrest, put a heart down and said Heather. Chrissy put a heart down and said Knives. Knives put a heart down and said Chrissy.
They went 3 more rounds without putting any more hearts down and finished up the stack, so they re-shuffled it. It was Millie's turn again. She put down a heart and this time, said Vash. Vash looked mildly surprised but got over it. Wolfwood put down a heart and said Meryl.
"What?" she said shocked.
Heather started. "Penalty for ta-"
"I know! I know!" Meryl grabbed two cards because she talked again. She put a heart down also and said Wolfwood. Vash twitched jealously and put down one and said Heather. Danielle put a heart down and said Zach Braff. The Trigun characters looked at her questionably.
"Point of order." Everyone put down his or her cards. "Zach Braff is a really hot actor on a TV show called Scrubs. End point of order." They all picked up their own cards.
Hal went and said Andie. Andie went and said Wolfwood. Legato put one down and said Rachel. Levi went and said Chrissy. Rachel went and said Legato. Eric also put one down and said Danielle. Stephanie put one down and said Legato. Heather went and said Vash. Forrest thought for a couple seconds and said Meryl. Chrissy went and said Ricky Ullman. The Trigun people turned their attentions to her this time.
Chrissy sighed. "Point of order. Ricky Ullman is a really hot actor on earth who is in a show called Phil of the Future. End point of order."
Knives went and said Millie. Millie ended up winning this one too. They played one more game, but didn't make a new rule, and everybody put down hearts in the first round, again. Millie said Legato (unnatural. I know.), Wolfwood said Andie ('Yay!' she squealed inside her head), Meryl said Knives (Vash twitched in jealously again), Vash said Millie, Danielle said Eric, Hal said Meryl, and Andie said Seth Green. The Trigun people fell anime style.
Andie grinned. "Point of order. He's really hot. He's an actor that plays in tons of funny earth movies," she explained.
"Will it ever end?!" Vash whined.
"End point of order," said Rachel. Legato said Stephanie ('Yes! I just love that sexy British accent!' she thought joyfully to herself), Levi said Heather (even more unnatural), Rachel said Vash (Heather and Meryl glared at her. Rachel backed up in surrender), and Eric said Britney Spears. Knives clenched his fists.
"Point. Of. Order," he said. "Who are all these people?!"
Heather ticked them off on her fingers. "Well! Britney Spears is a slutbag whore… a.k.a singer. Some are actors. Some are comedians. They're all from earth. You wouldn't know them," she explained. "End point of order." Stephanie continued and said Chad Michael Murray, Heather said Brad Pitt; Forrest said Rachel (Heather slowly turned to him and raised her eyebrows.), Chrissy said Orlando Bloom, and Knives said Heather. Heather covered a laugh with a fake cough. Millie won again. Everybody looked shocked.
"I think I'm going to stop. That's enough Mau for one night," Chrissy said while standing up. Everybody agreed and got up too. Before leaving the room, all the separate couples gave each other a goodnight kiss. Everybody said goodnight before they walked out the door. Heather closed the door after everybody had left and sat down on her bed.
"That was fun," she said with a smile. "And… it was also a bit creepy, too."
"Yeah, it was," Chrissy agreed. Millie and Meryl nodded in agreement. Everybody fell asleep pretty fast once in their pajamas and bed. They all woke up the next morning and got dressed. The travelers met in the hallway and brought their things down the stairs. They left the hotel and set off for the next city. While walking, there was a lot of holding hands.
Danielle and Hal were so happy to be back together, when they were half way to December, they started making out. Everybody had to pull them apart so they didn't keep walking and split up. They traveled far before getting to December. They all looked at it and thought the big city was much better than Little Jersey.
Walking into December was like walking into New York City. Everyone was busy, everyone looked important, and everybody, had something different to do.
"I feel intimidated. Why are we here? Can we go now?" The words spilled from Heather's mouth in a rush as she turned to go.
Meryl stopped her. "Relax, Heather. This is my hometown."
"Heather doesn't like big cities," Danielle explained. "She's more of a country girl. She tends to lose it at the sight of big crowds. Just look at her and you'll see what I mean."
Heather's eyes were wide and shifty. She was hyperventilating and looking nervously around her searching for the best escape route.
Eric decided to be cruel and scare her a bit more. "The walls are closing in!" he yelled.
Heather screamed. "Make them stop. Make them stop," she mumbled repeatedly.
Rachel placed her hands on Heather's shoulders. "Heather, chill out," she said calmly. When Heather didn't stop mumbling, Rachel slapped her.
Heather immediately stopped and looked into Rachel's red eyes. She glared. "You… you slapped me!"
Everyone laughed as Rachel said, "Yes, Heather. Yes I did."
"Humph!" Heather crossed her arms and snuck her nose in the air.
They all kept walking. Meryl and Millie said that this was where the Bernardelli Headquarters was located. They wanted to visit their old friends.
First, the traveling group bought a few rooms in a hotel. Then they followed Meryl and Millie to a large, tall building with a huge, gold-plated sign that read, "The Bernardelli Insurance Society Headquarters."
"Holy cra-ud!" Eric corrected himself before Chrissy could glare at him.
"Yeah. It is really big isn't it?" Millie sighed.
"It's probably not as big as you think it is. Guys, come on. Stop gawking and lets go hit that Chinese restaurant we saw on the way here," Stephanie suggested.
Eric turned to look at her and screamed. Stephanie's hair had turned into a jet-black waterfall flowing down her back and stopped behind her knees. Her eyes had changed into a bright green. She wore a tight neon green tank top and black, baggy cargo pants. And finally, to top it all off, she sported her prided green and black Etnies that she was sure to always keep a blinding white.
"Stephanie?! What the Hal happened to you?!" Danielle exclaimed.
"What? What happened to me?" Stephanie asked, worried.
"Y-your hair. And your clothes…" Eric stuttered. "You look so hot!"
Stephanie looked at her now ebony hair and grinned. "Awesome…" she whispered.
They followed Meryl into the building. On the front desk was a sign that said 'Job Openings' and next to the sign, sat a girl of about 25 years old with blonde hair and green eyes. "Karen? It's me, Meryl!"
The blonde looked up to see her old friend come in with a big group of people. "Meryl? You're alive! Where have you been? You haven't been contacting the agency lately. We lost hope."
Meryl's eye twitched. "Could I uh… just go see the chief for a second?" she asked angrily.
"Sure, Meryl. His office is where it has always been. I'll tell him you're on your way up," Karen said while picking up the phone and dialing a number. "Hello, chief? This is Karen from the front desk. You'll never guess who just walked in the door." She then proceeded in telling Meryl to go up 8 flights of stairs and walk down the hallway to the last door that says 'Chief's Private Office'. That was where the man was waiting.
"Thank you, Karen. Why the stairs? What happened to the elevator?" Millie asked.
"Well… when somebody was riding the elevator, they heard this crack or some other strange sound. Now everyone is afraid to take it. You can try it if you're feeling… brave but I advise against it," Karen informed.
The travelers silently chose the stairs. None of them wanted to die anytime soon. By the time they all reached the eighth floor, they were too tired to walk. After a couple minutes rest, they gathered up their strength and went over to the chief's door.
Meryl stopped and looked at Vash. "Um… Vash? I don't think it would be the best idea for you to come in with us. On second thought, why don't some of you stay out here? This office isn't really all that big." Heather, Rachel, Legato, and Andie decided to come into the office with Meryl and Millie. Wolfwood, Knives, Forrest, Levi, Chrissy, Hal, Danielle, Eric, and Stephanie stayed out in the hallway with Vash.
"Miss Meryl? Miss Millie? You're alive!" the Chief exclaimed happily and stood up to give them each a giant hug. "We thought you two had died."
"Yeah… we heard. I wanted to speak to you about that," Meryl declared while glaring at her boss. She swiftly snatched a flyer off of his desk. "What is the meaning of this?!" She pointed to a title that read 'Job Openings'. "Are we fired or something?"
"Just calm down, Miss Meryl. We'll get this sorted out. I didn't know you were still alive so I had those signs put up just in case you didn't ever come back. I'll have them taken down this instant." He called Karen at the front desk and told her to take down the 'Job Openings' sign. "See? All is well."
"I just wanted to let you know that you broke the Bernardelli code," Meryl said.
The chief frowned. "How so?" he asked.
"In the Bernardelli Employee Handbook, it states clearly that the chief, that's you, cannot assume that an employee is dead with out any evidence to support, unless the employee hasn't made known that he or she is alive after three years of his or her last report. Sir. It has been only two years and 364 days! My last routine report was two years, 364 days, 23 hours, and 59 minutes ago. And oh! There goes the last second." Meryl pointed to the clock. "I'm still hired," she said simply.
The chief just gaped. "So, suck on that!" Heather exclaimed.
The chief chuckled and said, "Even if you were10 years late, I would still hire you, Miss Meryl. You have always been and will always be perfectly qualified for this job. Tell me what you been up to. I want to hear all about it."
Meryl told the chief about Vash coming home after fighting his brother, Knives. She then told him how Heather and the rest of the kids came to be with them saying that they were orphans that were hostages in a battle they fought in. She left out the parts about what Vash and Knives were along with most of the unexplained incidents that occurred while fighting the Gung Ho Guns and Legato. She also pretended that Legato and Wolfwood were never killed. All of this came with the help of Millie, Heather, Rachel, Andie, and Legato.
Meanwhile, outside the office, Danielle and Hal were making out in a corner. Hmm… they seem to never get bored of it. Vash and Wolfwood were chatting with Knives. Forrest and Eric were talking about what they found sexy in girls. Stephanie was sitting by them, eavesdropping and hoping to score some gossip points with the other girls. Finally, Levi and Chrissy were having a heated discussion about the people they were paired with.
"I kind of just realized… I think I'm sort of getting over Rachel. What do you think?" Levi asked hesitantly.
"Well, I wouldn't know. I'm not you. I feel the same about Knives. I mean, he's nice and all. He likes me. He's really cute. He just… doesn't seem my type," said Chrissy.
"What is your type?" Levi raised an eyebrow.
Chrissy blushed. "This might sound weird… but y-" She turned to see Meryl, Millie, Heather, Rachel, Andie, and Legato walk out of the room thanking the chief for his time. "We'll talk about this later."
"All right," Levi winked.
"We have another three years!" Millie said happily.
"Millie. We still need to write reports. I really don't want to get fired like we almost just did." Meryl rubbed her neck. "Ugh… I need a massage. Badly."
"I'll do it for you!" Vash volunteered.
"Later, Vash." Meryl looked at him. Vash smiled knowingly.
"I suggest we go rent a car. I definitely do not want to walk to the next town," Stephanie complained. "But first… CHINESE FOOD!!!" Her long, shiny, black hair bounced up and down as she jumped excitedly all over the place.
"Fine. Go with Stephanie if you're hungry. I'm not too fond of Chinese food, myself," said Heather.
"I'll come with you to rent the car," said Chrissy. "I'm not really that hungry."
Everyone but Meryl, Chrissy, and Heather went to rent a car while arguing about which color to choose: purple, blue, or red. With Meryl wanted purple, Chrissy wanting blue, and Heather begging for red. They ended up getting a black van with neon green racing stripes in honor of Stephanie who was ecstatic when she saw it.
Soon, they began driving across the desert to reach their next destination. Unlucky for them, the van broke down three fourths of the way there so they had to start walking, groaning the entire way.
They finally reached the third city and looked around. "What city is this?" Hal asked.
"New Oregon. This is where that feud thingy over the satellite is," Heather informed.
"That ended last time we were here," Vash corrected and then stuck a heroic pose. "Vash saved the day again!"
Meryl rolled her eyes and asked. "What are we doing here anyway?"
"I don't know," Wolfwood replied. "Ask Vash."
Meryl glared at him. "I was," she said sharply.
"I don't know either. Forrest was leading the way," Vash answered.
"I don't know where I'm going! I don't live on this planet!" Forrest ejaculated.
"Whatever. We're here, now. So I guess we'll stay to get a bite to eat and get some rest before we travel a little more," Chrissy suggested. "What is here, anyway?" she asked.
"The satellite is the biggest thing, here. I guess we could walk in there and say we're taking over for a couple hours!" said Millie with a thoughtful expression.
"That's crazy, Millie. They wouldn't let us in for a million double dollars," Meryl said.
"Actually…" Danielle began. "That might not be such a bad idea."
"What? Give them a million bucks? But we don't have-" Rachel began.
Danielle cut her off. "No! No! I meant that we could-"
"Crash the satellite!" Heather exclaimed. "I meant-"
"We get what you mean, Heather. I actually think that might be fun," Stephanie agreed.
"And do what? Tell people our life stories? You guys are weirdly insane. I don't even know why I hang out with you people." Chrissy rubbed her temples.
"Because you love us!" Heather gave Chrissy a hug.
"We provide the entertainment while you keep us in check," said Danielle.
"Well, I, for one, agree with Chrissy," said Meryl. "What would we do? The people wouldn't want to listen to a big bunch of kids."
"On the contrary, I think you're wrong on that one, Meryl. We aren't just a big bunch of kids. We're from Earth," said Andie. "And earthen kids are cool."
"You're actually going to tell them that you're from the past? Are you crazy? You've all lost you're minds!" Knives exclaimed.
"I second that." Chrissy raised her hand a bit.
"Ok! Ok! All in favor of taking over the satellite for an hour, raise your hand," said Heather. Rachel, Danielle, Andie, Stephanie, Eric, Hal, Vash, Millie, Wolfwood, and Heather all raised their hands. "All right. All in favor of being stupid and boring and leaving the satellite alone, raise your hands." She counted Meryl, Chrissy, Knives, Legato, Levi, and Forrest. "Ha! Majority rules! We're going! And you guys have to come along whether you like it or not!"
The losers fell behind the rest of the excited group as they walked down the streets and into the building of the satellite. Before the desk clerk could welcome them and ask what they needed, the travelers were already stuffed into an elevator rising to the top floor.
"My gosh! Get off my foot!" Vash ordered.
"Someone is stepping on my hair," said Heather at the bottom of the mob.
Chrissy was smashed up against the wall with Levi. "This is kind of awkward…" he blushed.
Danielle and Hal were standing in the middle of the elevator macking on each other with out taking breaths. Stephanie was pressed up against Eric who had an expression of pure bliss on his features. Vash and Meryl were smashed together with Meryl's face in his chest. Wolfwood was back to back with Vash with Millie next to him with her back to the wall. Rachel, Andie, and Legato were in a row against the wall. Knives was lying next to Heather complaining about all the diseases he could be catching from this "contaminated air," as he put it.
And Forrest stood there all alone thinking, 'Wow… this is less lame then I thought it would be.' He chuckled inside his head. 'I'm glad I took that dare. Pretending to like Heather has been really fun.' Too bad Heather was in too much pain to hear that. Or was she?
Heather's aqua eyes flashed red for a second. 'Did I just hear what I thought I heard?' She narrowed her eyes just as someone stepped on her hair, pulling it again. She screamed, "Damn it! That hurt!" and promptly forgot what she heard as she tried to crawl away from the Chrissy Death Glare aiming at her.
To the thankfulness of its occupants, the elevator doors finally opened. Everyone fell out, gasping for breath. And to their embarrassment, an old, white haired man in a suit took one look at them and sighed, shaking his head. "So young," he whispered. "They have whole lives ahead of them. Didn't your parents tell you that drugs were bad for you?" He sighed again and stepped into the elevator.
The travelers got up and brushed the dirt from their clothes. "That was disgusting," said Meryl.
"Totally…" Danielle agreed, continuously brushing off invisible dirt.
"All right!" Rachel exclaimed, rubbing her hands together. "Where's the broadcasting room thingy?" Vash led them to the room.
Then Stephanie did a very reckless thing. "Put all of your hands up! We're taking over!" The speaker guy didn't do anything. "I mean it! We are armed!" She winked at Andie who pulled out her two real-looking air guns. "Now do you believe us?" Stephanie smiled evilly.
"Ok! Ok! I surrender!" The speaker guy put his hands up.
"Rachel? May I see your black scarf?" Heather asked.
"B- but… It's my black scarf…" Rachel said meekly.
"Yeah… That's why she asked to see your black scarf," Knives said. Legato looked at him ready to defend Rachel if he said anything rude.
Danielle just grabbed the long black scarf and tied the speaker guy up. Rachel scoffed. "That's why you needed my scarf? Ew! He probably like… has AIDS or something! I'm gonna die!"
Then, simultaneously, Danielle and Heather looked at each other and said, "If you pet a cat that someone with AIDS had pet before, you could get AIDS and DIE!"
"And if you sit on a toilet that someone with AIDS sat on, you could get AIDS and DIE!" said Stephanie.
"What was that?" Wolfwood asked.
"Oh! They were just mocking this AIDS video we had to watch in science last year," Eric explained. "It was really lame."
"What the hell is AIDS?" Knives asked. Chrissy didn't glare as hard at him as she did to the others.
"AIDS stands for Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome. You can get it from exchanging IV drugs with someone who has HIV, Human Immuno-deficiency Virus or AIDS, or you can get it by having sex without protection with someone who has the disease. It's an STD," Meryl said.
"How did you know that?" Vash asked amazed.
"I went to high school," Meryl said simply.
"Didn't Rem teach you any of this?" asked Wolfwood. "My God…"
There was a silence. "You did not want to say that," said Chrissy, glaring.
"Oh! Sorry 'bout that! Heh, heh… heh…" Wolfwood laughed nervously.
Eric stood next to the switch that said "on air". "Um… guys? People can hear us…"
"Good! Let's get this show on the road!" Millie clapped her hands together.
"So… yeah… that…" Rachel began.
"Yes, Rachel?" Chrissy prodded. "Was there anything you wanted to say?" There was a dramatic pause.
Heather started applauding. "Give it up for Rachel!"
"Hi… I'm Andie. We're from Earth," Andie said.
"Don't tell them that!" Chrissy ordered.
"Why not?" Hal asked.
"Because… because… The press would go after us! We wouldn't be left alone!" Meryl yelled.
"Honey, we are the press." Eric patted Meryl's shoulder.
"Watch! We can say anything we want and they'll believe it," Stephanie whispered so the audience couldn't hear. "I'm sorry for the late notice but a typhoon is coming in five seconds!" Screams of terror were heard from outside the building.
"Just kidding!" Vash said.
"Oh yes… Vash the Stampede. Let's chat a little about him, shall we?" Rachel suggested.
"That is a fantastic idea." Wolfwood was beginning to really like this rendezvous.
"What should we say?" Andie whispered frantically.
"Nothing!" Vash answered back.
"For all of your information," said Knives. "Vash the Stampede is in this very city! You are all in extreme danger!"
"Uh huh. You're one to talk! You're his brother, his twin brother," Vash pointed out hoping to drag Knives into trouble with him.
"Oh… and how do you happen to know so much about Vash the Stampede, Sir?" Stephanie asked him.
"Because… because…" Vash stuttered. "I'm… his number one fan!"
"Right…" Wolfwood said sarcastically.
"There are a million people out there who would disagree because Vash the Stampede has no fans," said Stephanie.
"You know… I would have to disagree with that," Heather said.
"No fans on this planet," said Forrest.
"Wait a second. What is this planet called, again?" Danielle asked being her blonde self.
"I think it's like… Smoking Gun or something," Rachel guessed.
"It's Gunsmoke, stupid!" Heather corrected.
"I'm not stupid! You're stupid, stupid!"
"You're the stupid one, stupid."
"I have to go now. Bye stupid!"
"Bye, stupid!"
"Well, that's enough talk for now. How about we play a nice love song for all of you lovers out there," Levi said in his best radio voice.
"Ooh! I wanna pick!" Rachel declared.
"No Elvis!" her friends yelled out simultaneously.
Rachel sniffed. "You guys are so cruel…"
"How about Jesse McCartney?" Chrissy asked.
"I like that idea," Heather said.
"Me, too," Stephanie and Danielle said.
Chrissy looked at all the buttons that played songs. "They don't have him!"
"I have an idea," Legato said while staring at a cord that connected to the control panel. "Do any of you have some CD playing device?" he asked.
"Oh! I do." Stephanie pulled out her walkman.
"I brought my CD's," said Chrissy. She pulled out Jesse McCartney.
Legato hooked up the walkman with the CD in it to the control panel with the cord. What track number?" he asked.
Chrissy had him switch to each track until he got to one song where she said, "Stop here!" The song started to play:
Staring out at the rain with a heavy heart
It's the end of the world in my mind
Then your voice pulls me back like a wake up call
I've been looking for the answer
"I love this song!" Heather yelled out. "It's called 'Because You Live' by Jesse McCartney," she said to the confused Trigun characters.
Eric weirdly walked up to Rachel. "May I have this dance?" he asked.
Rachel laughed. "You may," she replied. Eric wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Um… Eric?"
"Hmm?" he asked treasuring her oncoming anger because he was just weird.
"Do you want to let go of me?"
"No."
"Wanna see what I can do?" she asked evilly.
"Whatever," he waved it off.
Rachel grinned mischievously. Then, before Eric could react, Rachel elbowed him in the place where he didn't want to be elbowed in. He fell to the floor holding his painful area, crying.
Rachel turned around to face him. She looked down at his shaking form. Her hand slowly rose to cover her mouth. "I AM SO SORRY!!! I meant to hit you in the stomach but… you're just too tall!"
"N- no problem. Let me just… go into the men's room to make sure everything is still intact." Eric hobbled out of the room.
"You so did that on purpose," Stephanie said, trying really hard not to laugh.
"No. Actually I didn't," said Rachel.
Eric shortly came back. "Are you ok, Eric?" Heather asked.
"A little. Unless you wanted to kiss it for me," Eric said suggestively.
"Dream on," Heather hit him in the head.
As the song went on, Levi shyly walked up to Chrissy. "Will you dance with me?" Chrissy smiled and agreed.
After an hour of playing different songs and being funny and weird, the travelers left the room. They almost forgot to untie the radio dude.
"I'm actually glad you people came. Just look at that." He pointed to an area on the control panel that said 'number of listeners.' "Before you came, that thing said that only 1,000 people were listening to us. Now look at it." The number had gone up to 734,023.
Millie smiled proudly. "I knew this was a good idea."
They all left to rent another car. Heather was playing with her cell phone. She looked at the date and squealed. "My birthday is tomorrow! How weird is that? When we were at school, the date was November 5th. We've only been here for around… Oh my gosh… Guys! We've been here for two months!" She started laughing hysterically.
"What do you think everyone is doing right now?" Chrissy asked sadly.
"I don't know. Do you think they're even looking for us?" asked Danielle worriedly.
"They are," Rachel reassured her. 'I hope…'
"Come on, guys! We'll get home soon!" Andie tried to cheer everyone up.
"Gray skies are gonna clear up! Put on a happy face," Rachel started singing a song from the musical, Bye Bye, Birdie, which they were in. "Brush off the clouds and cheer up! Put on a happy face!"
"Take off that gloomy mask of tragedy. It's not your style. You'll look so good that you'll be glad you decided to smile! Pick out a pleasant outlook. Stick out that noble chin! Wipe off that full of doubt look. Slap on a happy grin!" Heather took up the song.
"And spread sunshine all over the place! Just put on a happy face!" Stephanie sang along.
"Put on a happy face," Rachel sang.
"Put on a happy face," Andie started to sing, too.
"And if you're feeling cross and bickerish, don't sit and whine. Think of banana splits and liquorish, and you'll feel fine!" Stephanie sang again.
Andie sang in her most awesome voice. "I knew a girl so gloomy, she'd never laugh or sing! She wouldn't listen to me. Now she's a mean old thing! So spread sunshine all over the place just put on a happy face." They all danced a little. "Spread sunshine all over the place just…" she paused.
"Put on a happy face!" Rachel, Andie, Stephanie, and Heather finished. They bowed. "Thank you! Thank you!"
"Ooh! Let's sing anoth-" Heather was cut off.
"No," said Rachel, Andie, and Stephanie.
"Psh! Fine!" Heather crossed her arms. "For he's a fine, upstanding, patriotic, healthy, normal, American boy," she sang quietly to herself as Wolfwoodbegan to drive to the next city. "Where to?" he asked.
"I was thinking we could go to July," Meryl suggested. "You know, for Vash's birthday. It's in two days you know."
"Yeah. And my birthday is tomorrow," said Heather.
"Really? So we can celebrate that, too!" Millie exclaimed.
"What a coincidence," Vash said.
"You have no idea how excited I was when I figured that out. Ask any of these people. I was out of my mind with happiness!" Heather said.
"Oh yes… You would not believe. She would not shut up about it!" said Chrissy laughing.
When they arrived at July, Meryl rented the usual hotel rooms. They went to bed after a long, vigorous day of traveling.
When they woke up in the morning, everyone wished Heather a happy birthday. The girls took her to a salon, not a saloon, to get her hair, nails, and make up done. Of course they wouldn't let her have all the fun alone. Next to Heather, Stephanie, Chrissy, Millie, Meryl, Rachel, Andie, Danielle, and Eric who decided to come instead of going to the saloon with the rest of the guys.
"So are you girls… and guy enjoying your makeovers?" the salon lady asked. The girls… and Eric sighed in response. "I'll take that that as a yes." The lady smiled and walked away.
Back in the saloon, all the guys were getting wasted except Knives, Legato, Levi, and Hal. They were just drinking soda laughing at the very drunken Vash, Wolfwood, and Forrest who freakishly looked more like Vash than Knives did. Levi and Hal were spitting out more soda than they were drinking, they were laughing so hard. When Vash started to pull off his boxers, Knives decided it would be a good time to interfere. The drunks were dragged back to the hotel, given water, and put to sleep.
When the girls arrived back, they got a surprise. The guys had decorated the room Heather was staying in and yelled out 'Surprise!' Wolfwood and Forrest were still out. Vash, since he wasn't exactly human, had woken up and gotten over his hangover before them.
"Wow! This was the first surprise party I've ever had in my life. So… I would say I'm turning 14. I don't know…" Heather paused to think.
"Whatever. We put 14 candles on your cake anyway," said Levi.
"Make a wish!" said Hal.
Heather sat in front of the cake and stared at the candles. "Ooh… fire…" she mumbled amazed.
"Just blow!" Stephanie ordered. Heather did so. You will never know what she wished for. I'll just tell you, it came true. They cut the double chocolate cake and served it to everyone.
"This is the best birthday ever!" Heather gave them all a hug. She then opened up her one huge present. Heather started to slowly tear off the doughnut wrapping paper. "Ah screw it!" she exclaimed as she gave up trying to keep the paper nice. Under the wrapping paper was a huge box with what seemed to be air holes on it. Heather opened the box and out came…
"Oh! This is what I've always wanted! Thank you! Thank you, thank you, and thank you! And oh! It's so… big! I just love the color of it. Hmm… that's odd. Why is the tip, right here, shaped like that? I think it'll be too big for me to ride on. I'm way to small. Should I wear a helmet? Riding something like that looks dangerous. I might even need lessons. Well thank you guys! This is my third favorite animal. It's so cute! I'll name it… Vash Jr."
Vash blushed. "Don't name it that."
"Why not? I love donkeys," said Heather, pouting. (AN Hmm… I believe you were thinking of something else. If you weren't, you are now.)
"Fine," Vash sighed. Everyone went to sleep. In the morning, for Vash's birthday, they all went to the saloon. Only Millie joined Vash, Wolfwood, and Forrest with the drinking.
"Ooh! It's getting hot in here!" Millie started to unbutton her shirt.
"Yeah! Go big girl!" Eric and Wolfwood cheered.
"Oh yeah!" Millie slurred.
Meryl stopped her and led her back to the hotel. She passed out onto Meryl on the way. "A little… help?" Hal helped pull her off.
Meryl made doughnuts for Vash and Knives' birthday. (AN Which is on the same day, I just figured out. Yes… I know I'm slow. Shut up!) Heather came up to him with an unusually large toothpick.
"Happy birthday, Vash." She threw it at him.
"Is this my present?" he asked.
"Psh! No! Open it up!" Meryl ordered.
"Open it up?" he repeated doubtfully.
"Just open it. You'll like it." Chrissy grinned.
Vash held onto it and looked at them. He reluctantly cracked the large toothpick in half. There was something inside. He pulled it out. It was a tiny piece of paper rolled up really tightly. He unrolled it and read out loud, "27 years ago, Vash the Stampede destroyed the city of July… bla, bla, bla… Here we go. According to two Bernardelli representatives, Vash the Stampede should no longer be feared as the Humanoid Typhoon. As of now, Vash the Stampede no long has the bounty of $$60 billion on his head. Bla, bla, bla." Vash looked up at Meryl. He shot up from his seat and gave her a hug, which she immediately returned.
"Aw!" Heather clasped her hands together and squealed.
"Ok! Enough fluffiness," said Chrissy, smiling. "Let's just get to sleep and leave for the next city in the morning."
Eric, Hal, Levi, and Forrest walked to their room. "So what color nailpolish did you get, Eric?" Hal asked.
"Pink! You like?" Eric flashed his cotton candy pink toenails and fingernails at his roommates.
Everybodypacked for their leave in the morning and got into bed. Everyone dreamed sweet dreams except Forrest whose conscious was getting the better of him. He kept tossing and turning in his bed dreaming about Heather throwing fireball at him and torching him and sending him to hell for the farce he was playing. It was finally when the vision of the fireball lit his hair on fire; he woke up in cold sweat. "I have to tell her," was all he said.
FINALLY!!! I'M FINALLY DONE WITH THIS CHAPTER! I know you people hate me for taking so long. I hope the length of this chapter explains why I took so long. It took me a really long time to get the time to do this chapter. I've been extremely busy lately. I'm in this one play and it's taking a lot of my time. My teachers are really evil for all the homework they throw at us. I still have an essay to do that's technically due on Monday. So I hope you're not bored with this story. It's finally here! Please review!!!