I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORYLINE AND CHARACTERS YOU DON'T KNOW FROM THE MANGA/ANIME!
Chapter Five
Hard Puncher
Whenever something is gained, something is always lost. It's difficult to live after something like that. What is lost can never return. Important things. Irreplaceable things. But what is needed to keep those things is in a firm will, packed into one bullet. Man knows, he knows that nothing will begin unless he speaks. And that nothing will change…unless he moves.
Kyri wore a smile on her face. She and Vash were currently in Inepril City, eating and listening to a young boy beg his mother to buy him a real gun. She found it to be cute and felt happy that the mother didn't succumb to her son's begging.
She had already finished eating and had been just sitting there, watching Vash as he wore that smile on his face. This place was a cute, quiet city, though it looked pretty rundown. Life without a source of income for a city of this size could come to that, AKA the broken-down Plant that could be seen in the background outside the window.
"Kyri," Vash's voice grabbed his companions attention and pulled her away from the window. His face had fallen a little as he continued to eat. "I'm sorry."
A frown touched her own face. She knew what Vash was apologizing for. She always knew what it was for.
The door was kicked open and no one had time to do much of anything as a group of men laid fire upon the duo sitting there, eating peacefully.
Kyri placed her hands in the middle of their table and flipped over Vash. Her partner tossed the shield after her, blocking her from the bullets as he fell to the ground.
When the bullets stopped, laughter took its place; as did the young boy's cries.
"Vash the Stampede. The Humanoid Typhoon. Taken down at Inepril City. Nice headline."
"The 60 Billion-double-dollars is ours!"
"So excited, I could shit."
"Not only are we disgustingly rich, we're gonna be famous across the entire galaxy."
Kyri gave a sigh. She hated this. She hated being chased down all over the place because of a past mistake. And if she hated it, then Vash must have felt even worse. She wasn't even known by her title anymore. She was now just known as the Humanoid Typhoon's tag-along.
Vash's tag-along.
That thought made her blood boil.
Glancing around the table, Kyri watched, a smile spreading across her face, at the look of fear on one of the goons' face as Vash lifted and finger and placed it in the barrel of his gun while his friends just talked to the people in the café. As the leader continued to talk, Vash joined the others, an arm around the smallest guy, and Kyri stood up, feeling no need to hide in fear of bullets any longer. She couldn't help but giggle at all the tomato sauce on Vash's face and clothes. Finally, the leader followed all the looks.
"Oh, I'm so relieved. I was very worried about that." Vash smiled.
The leader gave a sniff. "You reek of tomatoes."
"I know," Vash smiled as he held the now half empty bottle of ketchup up. "I was trying to run away and it got dumped all over me. Hey, would you mind reimbursing me for my dry-cleaning?"
"No, but I'll give you something better."
Kyri gave a sigh and set the table back up and took her seat again, watching as Vash quickly took care of their attackers.
"Jeez, I really hope it's not cold outside," Vash commented.
"We're in a desert." Kyri reminded him.
"True." Vash nodded before giving the child his toy gun back. "Here's your gun, partner. It really helped."
After that, the café decided to give the two of them some free pancakes as a thank you.
"That was very impressive, young man. You must feel special to be protected by one like this." The elder told Kyri. Her answer was a flush as Vash laughed and grabbed the pancakes. "Have you always survived without shooting like that?"
"Mm-hmm! 'Cause it's too wasteful!" Vash answered him around a mouthful of food. "After all, I can come into an entire restaurant like this and buy a whole stack of pancakes for the price of one bullet!"
"You are a strange one. And you call yourself a gunman?"
"You got a point there!" Vash said happily as he leaned back and laughed.
The sound of the gun made all the laughter stop. Kyri gave another sigh.
"I'm very sorry," The maid began.
"Huh?"
The old man stood up with his own gun. "I really hate to do this, son, but you really are Vash the Stampede and his little sidekick, aren't you?"
"Uh…"
"I am sorry. Please die without a fuss."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Vash," Kyri glanced out the window to find the rest of the town with weapons as well. Every time. It happened every time. Kyri's patience was starting to wear thin.
"Hey, no biggie," Vash replied, his mouth still full. "Are you ready to do this?"
The two villagers thought that he was talking to them, but he was implying towards Kyri.
The woman gave another sigh. "I guess so…"
"Huh?"
~Behold here comes the son
Believe it he was born
To be the Chosen one
The Call is for a warrior~
The explosion went off in the city, making Alexia lift her head. "You don't think something bad happened, do you?"
"I'm not sure," Alexander answered his sister. A bell began to ring and another explosion began. "But I sure as hell wanna find out!"
The city was in destruction as the members of the place all used weapons and shooting after someone. Milly and Meryl went off on their own, leaving the brother and sister to take their own gander at what was going on.
Alexia's mouth dropped open. "You don't think…"
"Not you two again."
The twins turned to find Kyri standing behind them, a hand on her hip as someone announced for all pursuit on Vash the Stampede and his companion to come to a halt.
"Nice to see you again too, sweetheart." Alexander grunted.
"I should have known that it was you two." Alexia grinned. "Let me guess, someone else after you two for the money on your heads?"
Kyri stared at the other woman for a moment before giving a sigh. "Yeah, this time it's a whole town, though." This woman was smart. No need to hide it any longer. She already knew, anyway.
Alexia grave a smug look at her brother before following the other woman as she walked deeper into the city. "Is Vash all right?"
"I'm sure he's fine. Hasn't died yet so this little city won't do anything to him." Alexander answered his sister.
Kyri paused in the alley and glanced back at the twins. "If the two of you are bounty hunters, why are you not trying to catch us?"
"Honey, you couldn't pay me to chase after Vash the Stampede," Alexander replied. "Now, if it was just you, on the other hand-"
Alexia shoved her elbow into her brother's stomach and he hunched over. "What my dear brother meant was that why bother chasing after the two of you like the others when we can get nearly as much money chasing the others while the other morons are wasting their time?"
"Hmm," Kyri turned her head for a moment. "Smart. Wish the others on this planet were as smart as you."
"What do you me-" The ground began to shake and a large shadow passed over the three of them. "Oh dear. That can only be one thing." Alexia sighed.
"What are you so scared of. We're the ones who put them and the other two freaks in jail last time, remember?" Alexander commented.
"Yeah, but they keep getting out."
"That's because the prisons suck."
"Wait," Kyri sounded surprised. "The two of you are the ones who caught the Nebraska family?"
"Of course," Alexander grinned. "But like I said, it's the prison's fault for letting them get back out. I'm tired of the authorities crying for our help to catch them again. They won't even pay us another time to do so!" He glanced at his sister. "So, any ideas?"
"Why ask me?"
"'Cause you're supposed to be the smart one."
"Oh, so you finally admit that you're the stupid one?"
"We'll just wait for Vash to move," Kyri told them as she leaned against the wall of the building.
"I'll go with that," Alexia grinned. She glanced at the other woman. "So, you wanna tell me about him?"
"About him?"
"Yeah, about your boyfriend."
"Oh lord," Alexander rolled his eyes. "Here we go again."
"M-My boyfriend?" Kyri's face turned a dark red. "What are you talking about?!"
"Ha! I knew you and Vash were doing it! Honey, why do you let him flirt with other women like that?"
Kyri stumbled over her words as an explosion nearby grabbed their attention. Instantly, her blush went away and she returned to her normal self. "Time to move."
"No problem," Alexander grinned, deciding to lead the way towards the commotion.
Neither of them liked what they found.
The Nebraska father and son had decided to catch Vash in any means necessary…including destroying a saloon full of people.
"Vash!" Kyri cried out. At her voice, the rubble moved and Vash appeared, holding one of the women in his arms.
"I'm all right, Kyri."
"She…she called him Vash…" Meryl's voice announced her arrival; her eyes were moving between the man in red and his companion. "Not Ericks, but Vash…"
"Stupid bastard," Alexander called out to the father and son. He had moved forward to help Vash move the women from the rubble. "Didn't I teach you a lesson last time?"
"Ah, if it isn't the Rush Twins." The father grinned. "Come back for more?"
"Just shut it, you old coot," Alexia growled as she hurried to check on the women. "Or I'll do it again for ya!"
He lit a cigar. "Well, aren't the two of you nice guys? Hey, time's up, wonder-boy. Throw the fear of death into him, Gosef."
The son aimed his arm at Vash and the woman he was holding. Kyri, seeing her moment, jumped in and knocked the arm into another building with her Gunblade. She landed, holding her weapon at the ready. "You all right?" She called over her shoulder.
"Yeah," Vash nodded.
"What kind of man are you to cower and let a woman protect you?!" The crazed lunatic cried.
"One that can kick your ass." Alexia called to him.
"So the two of you won't kill, no matter what, huh? That's disgusting. You're both just hypocrites! I know at some point you've killed those who gave you a hard time. How do I know? Because nobody can survive what you've been through without hurting somebody. The bounty on you head is proof! What do you say to that?!"
"You talk too much," Alexander commented, setting the other woman down.
Vash ignored him as the crowd mumbled and set the final woman down. He then moved back out beside Kyri, pulling out his sunglasses.
"So you're finally ready to fight!" The man grinned. Kyri lowered her blade and stepped back a few paces as Vash got ready to grab his gun. "Oh, so you wanna draw? It's pointless, no matter what caliber pistol you use! You can't stop a car ramming at 120 iles an hour! You've both felt it at least once already! Even your measly brain can realize my son's fist is a force to be reckoned with! This is your last chance to run! Although, no matter how fast you run the next thing you know, you'll be in tiny pieces! Now pay attention, for I am about to lecture you on just how much of a fool you really are! Using these!" He snapped his fingers and both of his son's arms began to spin. One was headed for the crowd, the other for the women and the Rush twins. "Which one are you going to save?"
Everything seemed to go slow over the next few minutes. Vash whipped out his gun and ran forward to the women and the twins, leaving Kyri to save the crowd. Vash shot the hand out of the way, but Kyri felt that this time the Nebraska family needed a better lesson.
Gosef no longer had a right hand.
"You…you cut my son's hand off!" He growled at Kyri and she glanced over her shoulder at him. "You bitch!"
"That's my name," She told him. She glanced at Vash. "Six bullets?"
"Not quite." He popped open his gun. "I have one left. It's a special one." He decided to spin the chamber as he stood again before shooting it into Gosef's remaining arm, cutting its ability to wheel back in the arm that Vash had taken care of. Gosef fell backward in pain.
"I don't believe it!" Milly's voice cried. "They beat him! They really beat him! And only with six bullets and one swing of a sword! It's unbelievable!"
"Suddenly, it's become very clear to me," Meryl began. "Why he's called the Humanoid Typhoon. It's actually him. He's actually real…the Legendary Outlaw…Vash the Stampede!"
"That was amazing!" Alexia cried as she moved up to Kyri. "Why in the hell don't you have a name on the wanted papers? You kick ass!"
Kyri opened her mouth to reply, claiming that she did have one, but stopped herself as Vash gave her a dark look. That was right; the Bladed Siren hadn't been seen in almost twenty years; no one knew that she was the woman that was now traveling with the Humanoid Typhoon. Vash wanted to keep it that way but as time went on, Kyri felt something pulling at her veins.
"You're both amazing!" The young boy from the café grabbed their attention and Vash smiled at him.
"That's nice of you guys to say that," Kyri began, trying to keep herself calm.
"But we're no more amazing than you are." Vash told the children.
"It's ain't over yet!" The Father's voice grabbed them as he lifted a gun to shoot. Kyri had grabbed the trigger on her Gunblade but Vash had fired first; with the boy's toy again.
"That's twice you've saved me today!" Vash grinned.
"Hey! Don't ignore me, you! D-Don't think you've w-won, e-even for a s-second."
"Let's call it quits already!" Vash called as he stood up with a smile. "After all now, this land is made of…Love & Peace!"
Alexia watched as Vash began to perform his maneuver that he had created in the events before, and gave a smile as the two children followed suit, crossing their fingers like he had.
~Why not?~ She told herself. "Lover & Peace!" She cried out, joining the trio. Alexander gave his sister a head-shake but Kyri gave a giggle before holding up her own crossed fingers.
"Love & Peace!"
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