He could not have a fight here. Too many lives were in the crossfire.
"Let's take this outside of town," Vash stated, professionally.
The Enlightened smirked. "A duel then, eh? Fine. Meet you outside the gate in twenty minutes."
Vash nodded and as the raider and his gang left to make preparations for the duel, the shopkeeper who he'd gone to earlier ran up to him along with others from the community.
"What are you doing?" the man asked franticly. "Why are you doing this?"
"I have been hired to protect you, and drive off that gang," Vash stated mater-of-factly.
"Hired?!" he squealed franticly "One man can't defeat an entire gang, and when he finds out someone hired you he will be twice as harsh! Please leave now before any more harm is done!"
Vash smiled. "I am not going to fail."
"Please, he's a monster! You don't understand…" the man all but pleaded, "I have a daughter. I don't want things to be any worse for her…"
"Stop it, Hatokoya," a matronly woman stated as she walked to the fore. "Regardless of everything, this man is willing to fight an entire gang for us."
She looked Vash over for a moment and continued, "I don't know how much you're being paid, but no matter, what you are doing is a brave thing. I believe a man with your courage has the strength needed to defeat them"
She smiled and pointed to an in across the way, "Come. Since you're doing this for all of us, it is the least we can do to give you a meal…"
-----------
Twenty minutes later, Vash stepped onto the battlefield with a full stomach. It had been a long time since he'd has a meal that good. It depressed him somewhat though; it reminded him of how Resyuna's mother cooked. That unique Tento cuisine…
Still, memories and full bellies aside, he had a job to do.
"So, you've finally shown up!" the bandit leader stated. "I was afraid you'd grown some sense and run off…"
Vash put his shades on as he stepped into center stage. On one side was the gang, on the other the towns' people. While Vash walked slowly and purposefully into space, his opponent screamed obscenities and gloated.
"You have no hope!" he exclaimed, "Just run away now and I might just let you go!"
"So, people are not aloud to laugh in this town I hear?" Vash remarked.
"That’s right, only I get to laugh!"
"They do say laughter is the best medicine," Vash thought out loud, "And from the looks of it this town needs to take something to deal with melancholy…"
"Huh? What?"
"What I was saying, is they could use a good joke, you long nosed goblin."
"What did you call me?" the leader roared in anger as the people of the town began to snicker.
"I called you a long nosed goblin… though I must ask you, where did you get that mop on your head? Really, I've seen better hair than that wig on rag dolls…"
"A wig?!"
Vash laughed, "Oh come now, its so obvious!"
"You laughed… who's a goblin, who's got a wig, why you I'll…"
*BANG!*
In a blur, Vash shot the raiders wig off his head, showing the world how absolutely bald he was. The man could not help but stand in place in shock while the people were holding their laughter so hard it brought tears to their eyes.
"Leave this down now," Vash stated, "And you will have no more trouble. If you don't, I will be forced to stop you…"
"Eh, boss…" One of the raiders muttered, "I think I've seen this guy before… maybe we should do what he's saying…"
"Shut up!" the boss roared as he pulled a Minigun out from under his cloak. "I'm not going to put up with this any longer!"
Vash raised an eyebrow as the man leveled his outrageously large gun at him. It seemed to be a new build weapon. He did not doubt its effectiveness, but he could not help but be impressed by the fact that the man could lift the thing. Still, such outrageous weapons usually were signs of a weak fighter…
"This gun can fire TWO HUNDREAD rounds in rapid succession!" the enlightened ranted, "It is my invincible rapid-fire gun, Rokumonsen! You'll taste all 200 rounds!"
"Two hundred rounds…" Vash though to himself. "That is kind of cool, but you only need one to defeat an enemy. Just to show you, that’s what I will use. One shot."
"How foolish!" he roared as he leveled the weapon.
In a flash, Vash drew his weapon and fired. The single round struck the weapon in the center between the barrels. The force of the bullet shattered the bolt that held the axel in place and the force of the impact continued down the axis, pushing the axel back through the rear of the gun, and into the tree behind the enlightened.
Everyone stood in place stunned by the display as the six barrels of the weapon fell to the ground without the axel to secure them in place.
"Impossible…" the Enlightened muttered to himself, "he shot the axel out of the Rokumonsen the second I was about to fire, and with just one shot! Who on Earth is this man…"
He paused and looked at his men. "What are you doing?!"
"Ah, boss…" the one who spoke up before muttered, "I remember where I know this guy from…"
"What?" he growled.
"He's Vash the Stampede!" the man cried out in horror. Without another word said, he ran, with the gang members following close behind.
"Never come back." Vash stated evenly.
The boss looked at his gang, looked at Vash, nodded, and ran as fast as his legs could follow him.
Once the raiders were gone, Vash put his glasses away and turned to the towns people. He smiled as he saw the young girl that hired him standing in front.
In a regimented fashion, Vash martched over to the young girl and saluted. "Was my proformace satisfactory, ma'am?"
Her parents rushed over and looked at her in shock.
"Ai…?" her mother muttered, "You…"
The woman looked to Vash. "How?"
Vash smiled and looked at Ai. "So, how was I?"
The small girl squealed in delight. "You are great!" she paused and looked at him, suddenly unsure, "Mister…"
"Yes?" Vash replied warmly.
"Are you really Vash the Stampede?"
The moment he nodded, the small girl ran to him and hugged him with her all.
"I new one day a hero would drive the bad people away," she cried, "I knew you'd come!"
Vash smiled and held the girl close. He wished it was that simple. He wish it worked that way. That the hero could just show up and beat the bad guy. He knew the world was not like that, but… it was times like this that reminded him of what is really was he fought for. To make the world a better place, so little girls like Ai could grow up with smiles and laughter.
"How…" the girls father muttered in shock, "How could a four year old be able to hire the Ultimate Enlightened."
Vash slowly pulled his payment out of his pocket. "With this."
The entire town gasped at the pittance he held, but he continued. "This is her life's savings isn't it?"
Her mother nodded.
He rubbed his hand through the hair of the laughing smiling little girl. "She was willing to give all she had to protect this town. How could I ever say no."
For a moment the entire town shared a moment of silence, until Ai father looked at Vash, "I know you're going to be leaving soon, but when you do, anything you want from my shop is free of charge."
"But you're not leaving tonight!" cut in the woman who'd given him the meal, "So you're staying at my Inn!"
Vash laughed and smiled. "Well I guess that decides it…"
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(Posted Sun, 15 May 2005 20:58)
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