The $$60 Billion Man
We open on a saloon, literally in the middle of nowhere. Some men are sitting around drinking, talking about Vash the Stampede. The Sixty Billion Double Dollar Man. They say he showed up in Dankin Town and created quite the mess. Apparently the whole town got zapped, mountains of corpses. The coffin maker got so rich he built himself a mansion! He's beyond crazy, messing with Vash is like dancing with death. Women. Children. He don't care, he'll kill them all!!! They call him The Humanoid Typhoon. The barkeep as this is going on is carrying a keg out of the door, when he sees something and bolts off screen. The men talking reach for their guns.
Oh my. I guess Vash has arrived. He brought friends as well, who open up with dozens of machine guns, perforating the bar. Another guy opens up at the end with a shotgun.
The only thing standing is the SALOON sign, with a stranger in a red duster putting down his drink. The gang is LEGIT SHOOK. The man stands up and adjusts his sunglasses as the boomerang returns to the one who threw it. A gigantic man with a cyborg arm, bolts sticking out of his other shoulder, a red vest and a big green mohawk. Mohawk man is excited, he's found the man he's looking for.
The stranger draws as it fades to black, the only sound being a hail of gunfire as the title card for this episode appears.
The next scene takes us to Dankin town. A city of rubble with hundreds of people milling about. One night, a man explains. He didn't believe the rumors, but he really is a typhoon! Over half the town ain't nothing but rubble now. (ADULT SWIM) it's the Sheriff relating this to a bounty hunter looking dude. The bounty hunter wants to know how sky high the death toll is. Zero. A miracle without gods help. He asks for a description. A giant man with earrings, a big red coat, short legs, spiky hair. The bounty hunter with the long duster and big gun leaves but the Sheriff tells him to stay clear of Vash.
Next we hit another Saloon in Felnarl, about ten iles away. Some ruff looking sorts are playing pinball. The radio is talking about Vash's latest exploits. Suddenly the door opens and two young women are seen. One tall, one short. They get leered at by the ruffians. What'll ya have? A banana sundae. A gateau mille feuille with ceylon tea. Comedy pratfall by the ruffians. One of them tells the ladies to order milk with that or the gag just won't work, they'll give you all the milk you could possibly want...She doesn't want milk though, she wants ceylon tea. Whoops her thong broke. The offended ruffian calls her a bitch...
Yep. Not going to mess with her. The short one tells her to be more careful and to see if she has a spare sling. The short one asks the barkeep what he knows about Vash and he asks them if they are bounty hunters. Nope, they are here on business. He didn't see Vash personally and he was gone from the city by dawn, heading east. He's about 12 fields tall, wields a huge weapon, supposedly with a mohawk and nerves of steel. Tons of henchmen. Quite the womanizer as well. That's their man alright!
Vash is sending his goons out looking for the stranger. One of his goons talks back, saying that little coward couldn't be him. Not big enough to cross the humanoid typhoon. Besides the stranger is dressed just like the man they are looking for.
An old goon is out looking for the stranger. Gets got and judo chopped for his trouble, but not before yelling out "It's Vash!" But I thought his boss was Vash. The stranger is looking for bullets when we get a flashback to the opening. Apparently his gun was empty when he confronted the goon squad earlier. Let's just let this play out in .gif form.
So the stranger is interrogating this goon. He's used to pain, is single, most women find him repulsive, and it would really do them a favor if he'd just die. He calls over his buddies and wow.
Big Vash doesn't fuck around! Friendly fire is on bro. But he doesn't care. The only way he can be happy is when I'm happy. Real heel talk here. Vash taunts the stranger, asking him to shoot him with that big gun of his and then kicks his prone man into the stranger and they tie him down, they are going to bring him to the feds.
Suddenly the two ladies arrive...on brown chocobo things that make Doom Demon sound effects. They are also aardvarks. The gang wonders if these ladies are friends of the stranger's. The ladies head in for a parley. They finally introduce themselves. The short one is Meryl Stryfe of the Bernardelli Insurance Society. The tall one is Milly Thompson. They come bearing...doughnuts. The gang wants to know if they're with the stranger, they are not. From atop the nearby plateau the bounty hunter from earlier introduces himself. Loose Ruth, sometimes known as Constance Rifle. He's here for the big catch and points his gun at the big guy. Everyone is shocked, including the tied up stranger.
So Ruth thinks the boss is Vash and points his goofy doubled barred long rifle at him. The chief goon laughs, the boss isn't Vash, Vash is the stranger tied up over there. Ruth doesn't care for no henchmen chatter and lists off Vash's characteristics. Red coat, short legs, large weapon. The boss sets him straight. Long red coat, spiky blond hair, large handgun. Meryl says giant man, huge weapon, mohawk. Sitcom hijinks ensue. Head goon notices that the inside of Ruth's coat is red and does some goon figuring. Ruth also wonders if this is how Vash stayed alive so long and a wild gunfight appears.
The insurance ladies hoof it out of the combat zone, as does the stranger in red. Meryl is going to order the town to evacuate while the stranger starts eating their doughnuts. The stranger wants to know why they were there, they are disaster investigators assigned to tail Vash 24/7. The man stops after hearing this and Milly wonders what is wrong but Meryl decides to pay the stranger ten dollars and the doughnuts to get him to warn the town while they go back to the gunfight to deescalate the situation, leaving her chocobo behind before he's even agreed to do it.
The goons and Ruth have stopped fighting. No casualties this time, but then Milly guesses the bounty hunter is probably dead. So plan b? The deluxe 30 box of doughnuts. They are discovered and big giant Vash asks them where that guy is. Milly tells them they split up and lo and behold, Ruth is alive. They decided to talk this one out and split the bounty 70/30 after Ruth agrees that the big man isn't actually Vash. The goon squad wants to leave but Ruth has a plan...
To tie up the ladies. What a heel. Ruth says that they should enjoy the ladies tied up and the big guy notes that while sick and twisted he kinda digs that. Pleasure before death, or death without pleasure. Oh...oh my. She's packing heat though and before long a goon calls out trouble. Wait, that's no goon. It's the stranger in red!
He freed the ladies with a single shot and is on the run, though Meryl isn't impressed with their hero. The stranger is cornered and offered the choice of suicide or death by boomerang. The stranger doesn't approve of suicide.
Wow, that didn't take much. The goons run away and Vash warns Ruth to look out just as he is about to throw a grenade cluster...and gets whacked by the boomerang's rebound. Milly wonders if the stranger really is Vash the Stampede.
Not this goofball. Ruth's bomb goes off and a large part of the cliff face falls directly onto Felnarl as Vash has a fit.
Milly and Meryl are in Lewiston Town about 40 iles away filling out thier disaster report. The landslide that destroyed Felnarl was caused by the bounty hunter Loose Ruth and not the humanoid typhoon so all insurance claims should be processed as normal. Their Vash hunt was a wild goose chase. What about that crazy guy? Meryl doesn't buy it. The townsfolk are all talking. Vash showed up in Felnarl and funny thing is, nobody died.
NEXT TIME: TRUTH OF MISTAKE