Hungry!

Hungry! (HUNGRY！) is the fourth episode of the Trigun Stampede anime.

Synopsis
Vash goes to July, the third city, in pursuit of Knives, who has robbed a plant and cruelly destroyed the city. Meryl and Roberto decide to continue their coverage of Vash as reporters.

On their way across the desert in a car, they meet a mysterious man who claims to be an undertaker. The unidentified man, carrying a large cross wrapped in cloth, dressed in a black suit that is out of place in the desert, barefoot and wearing shoes, calls himself Nicholas D. Wolfwood.

Summary
Three days later after the Jeneora Rock incident, Vash travels the desert with Meryl and Roberto in their car. They hear on the radio that the Jeneora Rock incident is linked to Vash the Stampede. A man and a woman have been identified as him accomplices and the police is also searching for them. Roberto notes that if their headquarters find out they are wanted criminals now, they will be fired. Roberto turns off the radio and tells Meryl that Vash haven't eaten since few days ago. They see some cloud up ahead and Meryl wonders if its sandstorm, but Roberto states its Worms and that they are good source for protein in these parts. Meryl then notices a man in a black suit in front of the car and Roberto steers the wheel trying to avoid him, but they still hit him.

As the man is hurt, Meryl takes him in the car and drives to the closest gas station. She enters in the shop, looking for help, but find the owner and his wife dead. They hear some noise and find the couples child hiding. As the man is better, he prays for the deceased, but isn't very good at it. Meryl wonders if he is really a priest, but the man states he is an undertaker. She wonders about the large cross he carries, but he tells her to stay away from it. The man then tries to comfort the child and gives it a lollipop. He then hands 20,000 invoice to Vash and Meryl, which shocks them how expensive it is. The man tells them they need to ask him about his rates before asking him to work, but Meryl states he volunteered to work before they could even ask. He and Meryl then argue if he did volunteer or not. Roberto sees the price and also notes its too expensive, but asks the man if he is okay as he got hit by a car. The man explains that he is tough and is fine. Suddenly there are some tremors and a Grand Worm shows up and swallows them along with the gas station.

They survive, but are now trapped inside the Grand Worm. They see a flying Worm and that the walls of the Sand Worm are resonating with its fly. Meryl realizes that its true that the Worms are interconnected. Roberto guesses that this Grand Worm must be the boss Worm around these parts. The couples child decides to follow the flying Worm and the group runs after him. However as the child is faster than them, they fail to see in which tunnel it goes and decide to split up and each go one of the four tunnels. Meryl ends up finding the child collapses in her tunnel, but suddenly she gets attacked.

Vash and Roberto return to the man in black suit and explains that they couldn't find neither of the child or Meryl. The man suggest that they should look for a way out themselves, but Vash is sure that Meryl and the child are okay and wants to save them. The man states he is a weird for wanting to sacrifice his life and explains that Vash has one life and he should fight for it, no matter who he needs to hurt. He captures a flying Worm and eats it and then captures another and gives it to Vash. Roberto tells Vash to be careful and explains that assassins take the first bite to let your guard down, but then lace what they pass to their target with poison. Roberto states he heard of humans who can control Worms, but the man states he is stuck here with them. Roberto wants to look inside of the man's cross as its too heavy to be a cross, but the man refuses. Vash tries to call them down, but Roberto states the man they are facing is capable of killing with his smile on his face. Vash disagrees as he can see in his eyes. However, as Vash turns back towards Roberto, he is gone.

The two go looking for Roberto, Meryl and the child, but the man suggest they are already digested. Vash states that the place is filled with skeletons and if they were digested, they should have seen their bones by now. The man states they are walking in circles and are lost. Suddenly the Grand Worm shoots them out and the two realizes they have been in its nose. Some men see them and warn them to run as the Grand Worm is coming for them. Vash intends to get eaten and get back in, while the man tries to change his mind, stating he may not get lucky and escape again. Vash tells him to run, but the man doesn't move and wait for the Worm to eat them both.

Inside, Vash stands up and sees the child, who then runs and hugs him. The man stands behind Vash and tells him he is too careless and he already let him several times out of his sight. Vash states that even so, the man didn't attempt to shoot him even once. Vash hears a sound as the child moves away. Vash realizes that the child is using that unique mosquito sound to control the Worm. The child states the sound should be inaudible to regular humans, but congratulates him for seeing through his disguise. Vash wonders if he killed the couple and the child states that humans always assume its a family when there see a group of adults and children. Vash asks about Meryl and Roberto, which makes the child realizes he came back for them and tells him that if he wants to know, he should make him talk.

The man states Vash is again wide open. He then takes out the cross which is actually a large gun and shoots, but aims at the Worm and makes a hole in it. The child then decides to use it to escape. The man isn't done and re-transforms his weapon and shoots out a laser beam and spins it in 360, cutting the Grand Worm in half and killing it. Outside the three men that saw Vash and the man getting eaten, are impressed.

Later, Vash had found that Meryl and Roberto are okay. The three men, the man in black suit and Meryl sit by the fire and enjoy the worm meat. Meryl isn't really interested in the meat, but the man tries forcing her to eat for her own good. Roberto realizes his cross is a machine gun, which is why its that heavy. Roberto knew he was bad news, but Vash states they made it thanks to him. Vash then joins the rest by the fire and eats some of the meat. The man introduces himself as Nicholas D. Wolfwood. Wolfwood then states they should be going, which surprised Meryl that he is coming with them. Woolfwood states they need someone like him and that he won't be expensive, but Meryl argues with him. Vash tells them to look at the sky, where they see a large number of flying and glowing Worms.

A bit later, Woolfwood tells Zazie the Beast, the child from earlier, that he overdid it and almost killed him. Zazie states that this way he earned their trust, and that killing "friends" is his favorite.

William states that what Vash manifested in that moment, must be the gate that allows access to the higher dimension, but its still locked as his morality and ethics are functioning as a defensive measure. William states that Vash is more human than anyone. Knives laughs and states they will have to pry it open then.

Appearances

 * Nicholas D. Wolfwood
 * Meryl Stryfe
 * Roberto De Niro
 * Vash the Stampede
 * Zazie the Beast
 * Elendira the Crimsonnail
 * William Conrad
 * Knives Millions