Cowboy Bebop 2, Session One: Vagrant Moon - By Greg "sgoast" Reynolds |------------------------------------------------| | Disclaimer: | | I have absolutely no connection to Bandai or | | any of the people that make "Cowboy Bebop" | | therefore I would be quite pleased if I wasn't | | sued. Yes, that'd be nice. "Cowboy" and all of | | its characters are trademarked and so don't go | | talking smack about 'em or else! Hehe ^_^ | |------------------------------------------------| It had been 3 years since Spike went down in a blaze of glory. Each bebop had gone their separate ways by then, which had left Faye out on the street. The image of what had happened repeated in her mind like a broken record. She never really knew in full the events of that fateful day, but common sense pieced together the shadowy parts. Faye looked different now. Not physically, but the way she dressed had gotten much more conservative. Gone were the days of sleepless nights, chasing bounties and genuinely enjoying herself. It was all over. The rain drizzled lightly on Faye's black leather trench coat. She walked through the crowd as just another person. Not the proud intergalactic knight she once was. She felt the rain seep through her jacket. "Just another day" she repeated to herself over and over again. Suddenly a loud bang, as if it was a gunshot, resonated through the crowd. A tall, dark, scared man came bursting through the jungle of people, pushing them aside and cursing all the way. "Get away from me you son of a bitch!" he screamed behind him. Faye looked at him questionably, that was until he knocked her aside. "Look where you're going, jackass!" she exclaimed. She sighed remembering the last time she let her emotions take control of her like that. It was with Spike. Before she could reiterate her past, another figure burst from the faceless crowd. This time smaller, faster, and a hell of alot stronger as Faye could tell when she was knocked square on her ass. This time though, she took him down with her. "What's wrong with you!" she burst out at the fallen sprinter. "What's wrong with me!?! What's wrong with you?!? I'm out here chasing a 60,000 dollar bounty and you trip me!" "60,000 dollars! Your chasing him for only that chump change?" "Excuse me? 60,000 isn't chump change to a person who doesn't have it! Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go catch dinner for the next week." And then he was gone. "What a little brat." she mumbled to herself and kept walking. The next morning, Faye found herself at the local tavern. Although her wild days were over, she still enjoyed a stiff drink. An ugly bulky man stumbled into the bar. "Hey baby, how you and me..." Crash! Faye shattered the bottle over his head. She cracked a smile. "I don't think you're my type." Just then, the bounty hunter from yesterday walked in and laid his head on the bar's surface. "One prairie oyster, please." he said with bloodshot eyes. "Well, well, well, isn't it the out-of-luck outlaw. How was your little wild goose chase?" "Why so formal? I thought you hated me with a passion." "Trust me, passion is the last thing you'll see from me." Faye said looking over at him "By the way, I never caught your name. What is it?" "Giovanni, Nakoma. You can call me Nako." "That name seems familiar..." "You've never met me. I would have remembered you." "Why? Because of my insurmountable beauty?" She said with a sexy smile. "No, because I would remember that never shutting mouth." Faye fell out of her chair. "Hey! Listen here! I used to be a feared bounty hunter!" "Yeah, and I used to be a criminal. Times change." Faye paused. "Oh crap! That's how I remember you! You had a pretty big bounty on your head once. It was my partner, Spike, who brought you in." Just then, she felt that sadness that she had tried to keep dormant all those years. "Yeah, so that was his name. He was a hell of a fighter and the reason I became a bounty hunter once I had paid my debt to society. Hey, you think you can take me to see him sometime?" he said with naiveté in his voice. Faye looked down and picked up her drink. "He's dead." "What?" "He was killed. I'm not sure just how, I just know he went down fighting." "Damn. That's sad. I have him to thank for alot of the good things in my life." "How can you thank him? You hardly even knew him and when you did, you were running from him." "Like I said before, things change. I've changed, and I'm sure you have too." Faye smiled. "Yes... I want to change back." They talked throughout the entire day. It was 11 'o clock when Faye stumbled back to her apartment. She had spent the last 14 hours drinking and talking to Nako and now she felt the best she had in years. She fell back onto her bed, folded her arms, and stared up at the ceiling. "What the hell is wrong with me?" she thought. "I meet some jerk on the street and the next day I'm talking to him like I've known him all my life? Shit. This isn't right. I don't like him. But he does remind me alot about..." Her thoughts were cut off by the sound of her laptop, screeching like a banshee. Faye jumped off of her bed and flipped it open to see that all the numbers had congregated into a smile. She paused "ED, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU! STOP PLAYING WITH MY COMPUTER!" "Faye-Faye don't like Ed's picture?" The voice squeaked out of the computer. "Ed would think Faye-Faye would be happy to see Ed again." "Oh yeah, Ed..." She said sarcastically "I missed you soooo much..." "Well, if that's the way you're going to treat Ed, then I'll.." "Wait!" She cut her off. "Ed, I thought you had left us for good." "Well, Ed had a few things she had to straighten out, but now Ed's ready to have fun with Jet, Spike person, and Faye-Faye again!" "Spike's gone." "Where'd he go?" "To a much better place." "Ed is confused." "I'll tell you later... Did you hear me say anything?" She jumped back defensively. " Ed heard you say something about Spike person and someone named Nako. Who is Nako?" "It doesn't matter... It doesn't matter." Faye walked in to the Tavern to notice Nako sitting at the bar again. She quickly sat down and began to talk. "So Nako, Are you going to...Oof!" He jabbed her in the stomach with his elbow. "Shut up. That person sitting behind you is possibly the highest bounty on this planet. I just have to hold out here for a little and..." "Hold that thought." She said, getting up and walking over to the wanted criminal. Approaching the table, she dropped her trench coat at the stool she was sitting on revealing her original yellow outfit. "She's going to get herself killed." Nako thought covering his eyes. Faye climbed into the booth the bounty was sitting in and caressed his face. "Hey baby," she said with insincerity in her eyes but a suggestive tone in her voice. "You busy right now?" "Huh huh huh, yeah! You sure you can handle me?" He said with a perverted smile. "Pretty sure." She dragged him into the alley. "Heh, so" He said taking off his shirt. "You ready?" She pulled out her gun and placed it over his heart. "Are you?" "Well, to say the least. I'm impressed." Nako said with a surprised look on his face. "But why did you split the money with me? I didn't do anything." "You needed the money, I had it." "How charitable from the lady who was calling me an asshole two days ago." "Eh, I was just showing some hospitality." Faye never showed hospitality though. Even to Spike, she never showed it, and now to this stranger she was being so hospitable as to give him half of the bounty. Cash that could have easily gone to herself. What did this mean? The two walked by an electronic store and noticed the monitors in the windows flickering. "Faye-Faye! Where is Spike person?" Ed's voice reverberated from the line of TVs. "NOT NOW ED!" Faye screamed at the storefront, turned off all the monitors, and kept walking. Later that night, Faye laid down on her bed like she had the night before, this time less invigorated and more confused. She knew she had loved Spike, but she wouldn't lend him a dime. Now this vagrant comes along and changes everything. Maybe it was her that changed. "Yeah, that must be it, it's me... I need some time to myself to figure this out." It felt like old times. "Look at this," said the masked informant. "This is Red Hook Opie, or as his friends call him 'Rho'. You'll be able to find him at the warehouse outside of town. He's got a $500,000 bounty and he's responsible for 12 bank robberies, 35 cases of assault, and 17 cases of murder. Only a guy with a death wish would go after this guy, and seeing how you we're last week I thought you might be just the man for the job." "It's different for me now" "Oh, all of a sudden you have a reason to live Neko?" He said as he slapped his back. "Yes, if it was any of your business..." "Come on, tell me this great savior. Family? Nah, I know they're dead. Religion? Right... A holy murderer." He laughed "...Or is it a girl? That's it! Neko's got a girl now!" "Just give me the damn address and get out of my sight." "Aren't we the sensitive one? Here. Now catch that guy." The rusty door of the warehouse creaked open. Neko walked in slowly with too much on his mind to be truly ready for Rho. Where was Faye anyway? He hadn't seen her all day and now he was getting scared. But right now he had to concentrate. Less than 50 feet away saw the world's most wanted criminal and all he could think about was a rude, careless woman who was nowhere to be found. This kept echoing through his mind as he stepped closer and closer to their stomping grounds. What didn't go through his mind was the box that he had just knocked over, informing Rho of his presence. "Well if it ain't the infamous Nakoma Giovanni." "Well hello to you too." "How's the business going, last time I heard you weren't doing so good, actually rumor has it that some chick gave you part of her share of a profit." "How did you know that?" "It doesn't matter to you. What do you expect to do here?" "Well, I'm expecting to get that $500,000 you've got hanging over you." "Really?" Rho said throwing a punch at him and knocking Neko backwards "Come get me." Rho took out two automatics and began shooting. Reacting quickly Neko jumped up and hid behind a box. Gasping for air, he felt a sharp pain shoot down his arm. Grasping it and then pulling back his hand, it was drenched in blood. After tying off the wound with a bit off his t-shirt, he emerged from behind the box and emptied his gun towards him. Not a single shot hit. "You moron, why don't you come here and get me." Rho said, dropping his weapons. "Look, easy." What he didn't know was that under Rho's coat, he was concealing a small pistol with enough firepower to kill him with one shot. Neko walked closer and closer until he was in arms length. "One hit, I know that with one hit I can knock him out." Just then Rho jabbed him quickly leaving Neko lying in a corner with Rho steadily. Rho took out the weapon and pointed it at his head. "You are a naive little shit, aren't you? Time to finish that." Just then his left shoulder and kneecap exploded in a shower of blood. "Yeah," There stood Faye in a warehouse window. "But he's my naive little shit!" She jumped down and picked Neko up. "Next time you decide to do something stupid, tell me ok? I can't clean up after you all the time." They had left the scene right after they had picked up the bounty. They didn't want to stick around for any repercussions. "So what did you mean back there." Neko inquired. "Huh?" "You said 'my naive little shit'. What did you mean by 'My'?" "I needed to talk to you about that." Faye said suddenly weakening a little. "I want to go back to space to bounty hunt." "Oh... So you're leaving." "Yes, and I want you to come with me." "Oh my god. Are you serious? You hardly know me." "I hardly knew Spike, and he still welcomed me with open arms. I just want to do the same." "One problem, neither of us has a ship." "Oh yeah, ED!" Faye yelled out. Then from the sky, a screech of joy was heard as a giant space ship landed. The door opened revealing a triumphant Ed sticking out her chest. "Is Faye-Faye and Neko-ne ready to go?" (See you soon space cowboy)