Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction / Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Cowboy Bebop Meets Trigun ❯ Fifth Moon ( Chapter 7 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Fifth Moon incident. Vash blows a hole in the moon and destroys Augusta while Wolfwood, Spike, and the insurance girls watch. Spike finds Vash in the debris and kidnaps him, while Wolfwood stows away on the Bebop.

Anime/Manga: Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction / Trigun Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 05.21.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.8K | Visits: 604 | Status: Completed

Disclaimer: Neither Trigun nor Cowboy Bebop is mine. (Grrr!) However, I am currently playing around with them both, so there!

A/N: Well, I worked all afternoon to bring to you...dun-dun-duh...Chapter 7. Just so you people know, I had written about 1000 words before I decided to scap the whole thing because it was too much like Episode 16 of Trigun. In other words, this is the second version. I hope it is more original that the last 2 chapters. At least Wolfwood's in it...

Chapter 7: Fifth Moon

Wolfwood left the saloon on his motorcycle a few minutes after Spike did. He loaded up his Cross Punisher, which was currently wrapped in its cloth and leather bindings so as not to alarm the common people, cranked the engine, and was on his way.

He lit a cigarette as the breeze rippled through his black hair. He began to think about the past several weeks. He had split up with Vash and the Insurance Girls after the incident at the caravan. He had jokingly told Vash at the time that he reminded Wolfwood of everything he hated about himself and that it hurt. Wolfwood didn't know if Vash had seen through his attempt at humor, but Wolfwood had been telling the truth.

And now, as he puffed at his cigarette, Wolfwood began to contemplate his mission. He had been told, by none other than Knives himself, that he was supposed to stay close to his brother, Vash the Stampede, gain his trust, and look after him, no matter what the cost, including sacrificing the lives of others. Wolfwood hadn't given the mission a second thought at the time. After all, despite his chosen profession, he had killed many people, especially if it meant protecting the orphans he cared for near the city of December.

But now...

Wolfwood sighed. That damned idealistic, needle-noggined idiot had started to rub off on him. After getting to know Vash, Wolfwood had come to understand a little of what made the outlaw tick. For example, Needle Noggin had sworn off of killing people. Wolfwood himself thought this to be a ridiculous ideal, but it certainly meant a lot to Vash. He had proven that at both May City, when they had gotten mixed up in a quick draw tournament, and at the caravan, when Vash had managed to resolve a serious situation without killing anyone. Because of this, the slightest doubts had managed to wriggle their way into Wolfwood's mind. Not enough to make him change his ways, of course, but certainly enough to make him pause.

Wolfwood tossed the cigarette butt aside angrily. This was no time to be thinking about that. He had to make it to Augusta. Before he had left the Gung-Ho Guns, he had overheard Knives and Legato talking about something “special” that they had both planned for Vash the Stampede. Wolfwood knew it had to do with “eternal pain”, but that was about the extent of what he knew at the moment. In any case, Wolfwood had a feeling it had something to do with Augusta.

As Augusta became visible, Wolfwood saw a blinding light up ahead. Wolfwood stopped his bike. The light seemed to be emanating from Augusta itself. Yet, there was something sinister about it.

“What the hell?” he muttered.

Suddenly, the light began to swell, and the wind began to blow at at a high speed. The radius of the dome of light expanded, vaporizing whatever it touched. Wolfwood gaped as the entire city of Augusta was being annihilated before his very eyes. Then, as if for good measure, the light that did not swallow up the city shot straight into the air. Wolfwood looked up, just in time to see the light burn a blood-red hole into the Fifth Moon.

Meryl and Millie had been inside the city of August when the light first appeared. Meryl had wanted to stay, but Millie grabbed her up, put her on her own thomas, and began to race away from the city, with Meryl's thomas following close behind.

“Millie, I have to go back there!” Meryl had implored.

“I can't do that! Besides, if you die, you'll never see him again!”

The two of them huddled behind a rock as the gale-force winds tore at them. Meryl had squeazed her eyes shut.

“Meryl, look!”

Meryl looked. The light that was taking Augusta, just as it had taken July 23 years ago, was also trying to take the Fifth Moon. Meryl's eyes widened as a section of the moon began to crack and splinter.

“A hole...in the moon,” she whispered.

Then, as if weary from its evil, the light began to fade, leaving behind a ruined city, and a sky the color of blood.

Spike had begun to pick his way through the rubble when he heard a noise.

He had first arrived at the scene a few minutes ago. However, those few minutes had been more than enough to witness the destruction of Augusta and the burning of a hole in the moon. He had been forced to land his red ship, theSwordfish II, because of the gale-force winds, but he had seen most of the destruction from the air. After landing, he had stood outside his ship and watched as the light had died. The landscape had been utterly ruined, and the sky was the color of blood. Although he was certain no one could have survived the blast, Spike wasn't willing to give up on his bounty just yet so he had begun to pick his way through the rubble in the hopes of discovering something. Oddly enough, he had found no corpses.

Spike heard the noise again. It was a person moaning. Spike managed to navigate through the rubble and debris until he located the source of the sound. It was coming from underneath a pile of building fragments. Spike moved what he could until he saw who was making the noise.

It was Vash the Stampede!

He looked awful. His red coat was in tatters and had what appeared to be bullet holes in them near his shoulders. His skin was deathly pale, and his eyes wandered restlessly beneath his eyelids. Also, his breathing was quite shallow. Despite Spike's concern that hs bounty might die before he could collect the reward, there was something else that caught his attention. Vash's sleeve on his right arm had been competely shorn off. How that had happened, Spike didn't know, but the outlaw was still clutching his silver handgun in his right hand so hard that his knuckles had turned white.

After closely observing Vash, Spike was able to come to several conclusions:

1. He looked like shit.

2. He was in no condition to fight back.

3. Now was probably the best time to capture him.

After that rapid succession of conclusions, Spike dug Vash the Stampede out of the rubble as quickly as possible. He didn't want the guy to wake up until he was securely aboard the Bebop, no matter how bad his condition was. When Vash was finally free of the rubble, Spike slung him over his shoulder and began to make his way back to his ship so he could contact the Bebop and get them off this hellish planet.

About the same time, Wolfwood was also searching the ruins of Augusta. He also heard a noise. It was a man, who had dragged himself out of the rubble. He was wearing a Japanese samurai outfit that had certainly taken a beating during the blast. He seemed exhausted.

“I felt...the terror,” the man gasped.

“Only you could survive something like that.” Wolfwood knew who this man was: Rai-Dei the Blade, the 9th Gung-Ho Gun. He was an expert swordsman who had been trained by the masters of the Ito school and sought nothing less than the perfection of his technique, mastery of Bushido, and what he called “spiritual awareness”. A formidable opponent, but it seemed that he had met his match.

“Who are you?” Rai-Dei asked him.

“What happened to Vash the Stampede?” Wolfwood ignored the question.

“I don't know.”

“Damn,” Wolfwood muttered.

“If you help me, we may be able to defeat that man, that horrible devil of a man!” Rai-Dei struggled to stand with the support of his sword. “Vash the Stampede is too dangerous to be left alive. If you help me we can-”

“I can't do that.” Wolfwood drew a gun and aimed it at the other man.

“Are you insane? What's the matter with you?” the other demanded. “You and I are-we could-”

“I'm sorry.” Wolfwood shot him, killing him instantly.

Wolfwood lit another cigarette as he began to leave what was left of Augusta.

“Sure, nobody died in the blast, but just look at this,” Wolfwood said to no one in particular. “Another town in rubble. Is this the path you have chosen? Is this it, Vash the Stampede?”

Wolfwood continued like that for a while until something caught his eye. It was another man, and he seemed to be carrying something really heavy over his shoulder. At first, Wolfwood was shocked that someone had survived the blast, but upon closer inspection, Wolfwood recognized the other man.

It was the same guy he had played chess with at the saloon. His name was Spike, or something like that. Not only that, but he had Needle Noggin dangling over his shoulder! Obviously Vash was in pretty bad shape. Wolfwood knew that he had to stay with Vash in order to carry out his mission, but it was more than that now. He actually wanted to save him. Vash was his friend, and he couldn't let that damn bounty hunter take him.

So, Wolfwood set out after Spike, always following from afar so as to not draw attention to himself. They passed by his motorcycle on the way to wherever Spike was going so Wolfwood took the opportunity to grab his Cross Punisher and sling it over his shoulder.

When Spike finally stopped walking, Wolfwood couldn't help but stare. They were standing outside a huge ship that was obviously made for space travel. Wolfwood hadn't known that that sort of thing was still possible for humans.

Obviously, these guys aren't from around here, he thought wryly.

Spike was greeted by a gruff man with a metal arm, a woman with a shrill, bitchy voice whose outfit could definitely not be labeled “modest”, and a little girl with reddish-orange hair and an innocent face. They seemed to converse for a moment (except for the girl who was dancing around the other three, not including Vash, singing) before returning to the ship.

Wolfwood knew what he had to do. He smiled wickedly.

Looks like I'm going to be a stow-away, he thought mischeviously.

He was about to sneak on board the ship when he heard a familiar voice call out.

“Mr. Priest!”

It was Millie Thompson and her partner Meryl Strife.

“Mr. Wolfwood, what are you doing here?” Meryl asked.

“I'm about to stow-away on that ship,” Wolfwood said.

Wolfwood almost burst out laughing when he saw the shocked looks on their faces.

“But why?” Merly cried.

Wolfwood looked away toward the ship and said softy, “Because Vash is on board that ship.” His gaze shifted back to the Millie and Meryl. “He's been kidnapped by bounty hunters.”

“WHAT!” both of them shouted.

“We'd better go with you, then,” Meryl told him. “You're going to need help because if they're the same people I think they are, they're just as good as Vash when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, although,” Meryl hesitated, “I don't know if they're as good when it comes to guns.”

“No.”

“But Mr. Wolfwood-” Meryl began to protest, but Wolfwood cut her off.

“No, you shouldn't come with me. If these people are as dangerous as you say they are, I wouldn't be able to protect you, and from what I saw of Vash, he wouldn't either.”

Meryl's face grew pale at the news of Vash's condition. Wolfwood knew that she had feelings for the goofy gunman, even if she didn't admit it to herself. He could see. After all, he had been right when he told Vash he was a troubled man the first time they met. Sometimes the answers just crashed down from heaven.

“Well,” Meryl said quietly, “if you're sure about this, I guess I'll just have to trust you, won't I?”

Wolfwood didn't say anything. He simply nodded and began to walk away. He turned around briefly when Meryl called his name one last time.

“Just promise me that you both will come back!” Meryl's voice was a mix of emotions she couldn't express.

Wolfwood flashed one of his devilish grins before he raced off to board the ship.

Vash woke up slowly. His head was throbbing, and he felt a few pinpricks of pain along his shoulders. He remembered that he had been shot there.

Who-who shot me? Vash wondered.

He sat up gradually and began to take in his surroundings. He was in a small room that seemed to consist mostly of metal. There were no windows, so it had the feel of a prison. Vash realized that he was on a bed. He also noted that his wounds had been treated and that he wasn't wearing his red coat. It was draped over the edge of the bed, a tattered reminder of a tattered past.

At that thought, something clicked in Vash's mind. Images began to flash, unbidden, through his thoughts.

Legato's invitation.

Running through Augusta, shouting at people to get out.

The two dead Gung-Ho Guns, Monev the Gale and Dominique the Cyclops, impaled upon a wall by metal spikes.

E.G Mine and his death at the hands of another Gung-Ho Gun, Rai-Dei the Blade.

The fight with Rai-Dei and Vash being backed into a corner with no way out, about to die.

And then...and then...

Damn! Why couldn't he remember more than that? It was right there, but something in his mind recoiled from whatever it was that he didn't remember.

Vash's warm, flesh-and-blood hand pressed against his face. His eyes were closed.

`Do you intend to die, Vash the Stampede?'

Vash's eyes snapped open. The voice of Legato Bluesummers was playing from the deepest, darkest corner of his mind. Even as a memory, he tormented Vash.

`The time has come for you to use it. Go ahead use it. USE IT! It's something only you can do. Use it...QUICKLY!'

“Stopit, stopit, stopit, stopit, STOP!” Vash shouted.

“Coward,” muttered Rai-Dei. “I cannot believe he is begging for his life.”

The gun in Vash's right hand began to emanate a light. It seemed to seeth with fury as the top of his gun popped off to reveal a spinning, cylindrical object in the gun that was the source of the light.

“What the hell is that?” Rai-Dei sounded worried.

“No...please don't do that! Not the light!” Vash implored.

Yet, he couldn't stop it. He couldn't release the gun as arm and gun became one. Vash's arm began to morph into something far more terrible. His arm became gray and stretched until it no longer looked like an arm. It was a weapon. He was a weapon. The light became a globe in the center of this horrible monstrosity of a weapon as it prepared to fire of its own accord. Rai-Dei tried to escape, but he was blocked by a peace of falling rubble.

“Stop it! Please stop it!” Vash pleaded again. Then, he opened fired on his ownright arm, now the Angel Arm, with his left, and he screamed from the pain but managed to direct the blast towards...towards...

Vash was horror-stricken as he saw what he had done. As an image flashed in his mind depicting the Fifth Moon, stained red with a huge hole on its surface, he whispered, “The moon...”

After that, everything dissolved away into the white sound of his scream.

Well, that's the end. I hope it's not a cliffhanger ending since I've had a complaint or so about them. Hopefully you Meryl and Milly fans out there can forgive me from leaving them back on Gunsmoke. We might see them again, though. I really haven't thought that far ahead yet. And I really hope Wolfwood isn't OOC. Also, since I have finished the Fifth Moon incident, I can now share with you people my master plan.

Here goes: I planned this story from the very beginning so I could cover the Fifth Moon incident. I wanted to use it as the starting point of the real story, which involves Vash being kidnapped by the Bebop crew. He will be able to see lots of new sights, one of which might be Earth. You never know! Anyway, I'm glad you guysput upwith me throughout this whole “sticking really close to the Trigun plotline” thing. The story should get more original from here on!

Love and Peace, everybody!