TRIGUN STAMPEDE Episode 4 saw the introduction of two new characters, one of which is a very popular character from the Trigun series, a priest carrying a large cross-shaped object. When Vash, Meryl and De Niro crash into the unfortunate man with the trailer attached to their cruiser, Meryl opts to take him to a nearby Plant for assistance.
The other new character introduced to the TRIGUN STAMPEDE roster is Zazie the Beast, sporting a whole new look from their appearance in the 1998 anime. After picking up Nicholas D. Wolfwood, Vash and company rescue a child whose parents were murdered; completely unaware of the two-pronged plot being formed against them by their new companions.
Big Appetite
The fourth episode of TRIGUN STAMPEDE starts out with three unnamed characters enjoying a meal of Worm meat by their campfire when they spot a man dressed in a black suit lugging a huge cross-shaped item on his back. Clearly exhausted from traversing the desert, a close-up reveals the sweat on his face, and his laboured breathing is the last thing heard before the episode's title card and opening sequence. The next scene features Vash, Meryl and De Niro driving in their cruiser with a trailer in the back. As Vash sleeps soundly in the backseat, De Niro helps himself to Vash's ration of the food, which worries Meryl a little because Vash didn't eat the day before either. In reality, Vash hasn't eaten in the three days since the Jeneora Rock tragedy. As they drive, they spot countless glowing Worms congregating in such number that Meryl mistakes them for a sandstorm. De Niro tells her that they're an important source of protein in the region, and not too bad if one can handle their ghastly appearance. As they converse, Meryl turns her attention away from her driving for just a moment, which nearly causes a catastrophic accident as the suited man from earlier walks right into the path of the oncoming cruiser.
In her attempt to swerve the vehicle away from him, Meryl ends up hitting him with the trailer attached to the back of the cruiser. She and the others immediately take him with them to find treatment, arriving at a small Plant to ask for help. They discover the corpses of the owners, and come to find a child hiding in a locker. The suited man regains consciousness and helps bury the child's parents, attempting to deliver a decent eulogy as he is a priest, apparently. After the impromptu funeral, the priest speaks to the child and tells him that he was an orphan too. De Niro tells the man that he's looking surprisingly good for someone who was literally hit by the trailer on a moving vehicle, which the priest attributes to his toughness. While they're talking, the ground shakes ominously and everything is swallowed up by a Grand Worm that suddenly appeared.
Belly of a Beast
While inside, Meryl and the group notice that the Worms are all interconnected, using their detached electron network to communicate with each other. By De Niro's observations, the Worm currently playing host must be the big boss in the area. The child they rescued from the Plant runs off somewhere on his own, leaving the adults to come up with some kind of plan to get out of the Worm. Arriving at a chamber with several corridors, the priest assigns each member a corridor to investigate. As Meryl ventures deeper into hers, she finds the child they were with unconscious, and tries to help him, but she is attacked by something off-screen. The others come back from their corridors with no luck in finding Meryl or the child. The priest suggests that they find their own way out and forget about the other two, but Vash is sure they'll find Meryl and the child, even if it's at the cost of his own life. The priest tells Vash that he should value his life before taking a huge bite out of a Worm he caught and passing the rest to Vash.
De Niro tells Vash to be careful as it is a standard assassination technique to take the first bite of a foodstuff to make it look safe for their target to eat when in reality, the remainder that they receive is laced with deadly poison. De Niro explains that their intelligence network is excellent, adding that he knows about human beings who are capable of manipulating Worms. De Niro also observes that the cross-shaped burden the priest lugs around is far too heavy to be a regular cross, but he isn't very forthcoming about the contents, telling De Niro that he'd have to take it from him by force. De Niro tries to tell Vash that the priest is definitely someone who can kill with a smile, and upon their rough entry into the Worm, De Niro is shown clearly observing him. Vash says that the man's eyes tell a different story. While Vash and the priest hit it off, they don't even realize that De Niro is no longer with them. They're soon spat out by the Worm, which has chosen to surface, and upon landing, they come across the three adventurers from the beginning of the episode, who witness the newly-escaped Vash rush right back into the mandibles of death, despite their pleas for him not to go back in there.
The Real Beast
Back inside, Vash finds the child they came with standing among several glowing Worms. When they see Vash, they run excitedly to hug him, and the priest tells Vash not to let his guard down. Vash responds, saying that despite all his vulnerabilities over the course of the day, the priest never once shot him. Vash notices a high-pitched mosquito sound, and realizes that the child is the one controlling the Worms. The child tells Vash that people often make the assumption that if a child is with two adults, then they must be a family, which is what they manipulated to gain everyone's trust. Vash asks about Meryl and Roberto's whereabouts, prompting the child to remove their hat and reveal their true identity: Zazie the Beast. Zazie asks if Vash didn't realize that coming back for them would get him killed, the same question the priest asked him earlier. The priest tells Vash that he's wide open again before revealing what he's been carrying: a cross-shaped machine gun, blasting a hole in the Great Worm through which Zazie escapes. The priest fires several more rounds
They camp out in the desert, eating Worm meat with the three unnamed desert nomads from the beginning of the episode. The priest introduces himself as Nicholas D. Wolfwood, and Vash finally eats something, probably due to Wolfwood's influence throughout the course of the day's events. After eating, they notice a great cloud of Worms in the sky above that create an effect similar to the Aurora Borealis. Wolfwood is shown meeting with Zazie, whom he officially introduces to the audience before criticizing him for going overboard, but Zazie retorts saying that it helped Wolfwood gain the group's trust. Zazie adds a chilling revelation regarding Wolfwood's character: killing companions is right up his alley. Wolfwood simply responds that he just gets the job done, regardless of who gets in the way. Elsewhere, Knives and his companions are discussing the manifestation of a gate to the higher dimension once accessed by Vash. It is explained that Vash's ethics serve as a lock on said gate, which prompts Knives to say that they just need to pry it open, even if it means destroying Vash. While ominous, it may have served better to end this episode of TRIGUN STAMPEDE on the positives from the campfire.