ALTERNATIVE
| ALTERNATIVE | |
|---|---|
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| Japanese Name | ALTERNATIVE |
| English Name (Funimation) | Alternative |
| Episode No. | 22 |
| Original Airdate | September 2, 1998 |
| US Airdate | May 6, 2003 |
| Previous Episode | OUT OF TIME |
| Next Episode | PARADISE |
| |
ALTERNATIVE is the twenty-second episode of Trigun.
Synopsis
The episode opens with Vash and Wolfwood sitting around a fire and talking. Meryl is awake and overhears most of it. The next day, the group is driving in a car toward a destination. Milly and Wolfwood are joking around, while Meryl attempts to talk to Vash, but can't do it.
The group reach their destination, which is the walled town of Keybos. Vash and the group try to get in, but are turned away. Just then, Vash catches a small blond boy attempting to rummage through the car. The kid attempts to run away, but is stopped by Milly and made to apologize before they actually let him go. Wolfwood decides to follow him.
The kid leads them back to a building that has been carved out of a cliff face. Wolfwood knocks on the door and immediately gets pelted with all manner of objects. He realizes their assailants are children and offers them food (notably, the group's emergency rations). Once things have calmed down, Vash and Wolfwood start to talk to one of the older children, a boy, to find out what happened. He tells them that the kids in the building are from the towns around the area and ended up congregating here when all of the towns were abandoned one day. The boy describes what happened to his own town, and Vash asks him if he noticed anyone else in town besides the locals at that time. The kid says no, but then says he heard a voice say, "This is what you get for taking too long." Vash realizes who's behind the disappearances.
Just then, two kids walk by carrying a basket of laundry. Wolfwood offers to help them carry it, but to no avail. He watches the kids carry it to Milly, who congratulates them. They then head inside and observe Meryl teaching some of the girls how to cook a basic meal. There is a montage in which the kids all have a joyful dinner and are then put to bed. The blond boy murmurs for his mother. Meanwhile, a patrolman is walking the streets of Keybos when he notices the town's giant gate is open. He demands to know what's going on, only for the entranced gate guard to come out from behind the door and shoot him. This causes other citizens to come out in alarm, only to see a man with a saxophone leaning against the door...
The next morning, Vash, Wolfwood, and the kids awaken to a hail of gunfire as a pissed-off posse of Keybos residents demand to know what's going on. They've assumed that Vash and Co. - the group that were turned away yesterday - are responsible for what happened to the town. Wolfwood prepares for a shoot-out, while Vash decides to go outside and try to reason with them. Wolfwood reluctantly follows, and they are in the midst of being unsuccessful when giant sandworms suddenly appear. The posse is distracted by those while Wolfwood and Vash direct Meryl and Milly to get the kids to safety by running into Keybos and climbing to the top of a tall building.
The action moves to the town as the residents either flee or attempt to fight the worms. Milly gets separated from the group when a kid runs off, causing Wolfwood to divert to cover her while she makes it back to Meryl and the other children up on a rooftop. The worms are relentless, and Vash is trying to figure out why. Suddenly, he figures it out as a worm prepares to attack. A shot rings out, but instead of shooting the worm, Vash has shot a small device that the blond boy was wearing behind his ear. It turns out that this device was akin to a dog whistle that allowed the boy to control the worms. Once this is gone, the kid's entire demeanor changes. He introduces himself as Zazie the Beast and starts brandishing two pistols. He points one at Meryl and the other at Vash. Vash tries to talk him down, appealing to who he was as Bete, when a shot rings out and Zazie crumples to the ground dead.
Vash turns to see Wolfwood standing there, brandishing The Punisher. Vash is furious, grabbing Wolfwood's lapels and insisting he didn't have to kill Zazie. Wolfwood defends himself by saying that if he hadn't intervened, the corpse on the rooftop would've been Vash's instead. The two men come to blows before Wolfwood leaves. Meryl and Milly watch all of this unfold, completely stunned.