3: National Census
#3: National Census is the third chapter of Travis Strikes Back. It depicts Travis Touchdown acquiring the Death Ball for Golden Dragon GP.
Summary
Jeane and Travis decide to do another edition of the Travis Strikes Back Digest.
Travis opens the narration by bringing up the topic of urban legends. Kamui has told him that Count Dracula exists, is still alive, and collects Death Balls, so Travis heads off to Romania. When he gets there, though, he's unable to get info on Dracula from random people because they just think he's high and ignore him. He wanders around until he finds a pub with a horse at it. Travis can tell from the horse's sparkly eyes that he knows where Dracula is, names it Epona, and asks it to take him to Dracula's castle. Although Epona was able to bring Travis to several castles, none of them had Dracula in them.
Travis' next idea is to ask a fortune teller. He goes to the Fortune-telling Parlor underground and chooses a teller named Sundance. Travis finds the whole thing sketchy, but Sundance does divination with coffee and tells Travis to go to Balbonia Castle.
Travis, Jeane and Epona go to the castle (with Jeane and Epona fighting on the way). As soon as they arrive, Jeane runs into the castle, and Travis follows her. They wander through into the castle's great hall, where they come upon Dracula being assassinated by a man with a katana. Travis wants to fight the man, but he slices Dracula's head off, reaches into his brain and pulls out a Death Ball, which he tosses to Travis.
The man, Mondo Zappa, knows who Travis is and what he was looking for, and tells him he can live if he leaves. He keeps talking, though, and goes on to introduce himself as part of the Federal Mimetic Assassination Administration. He explains that the Dracula with a Death Ball was only a fake; the actual Dracula made a deal with the Reaper to acquire a tolerance to light and went out to live in the world. His current identity is none other than Doppelganger, who is rumored to be in Central America. Mondo leaves to go hunt him down. Travis appraises Mondo ("there are still a few out there") and heads off to have the Ball appraised by Buzariashvili Bishop.
Back on the Schpeltiger, Travis and Jeane speed down the road.
Trivia
- Epona is the name of the goddess that protects horses in Gallo-Roman religion. More famously, it is the name of Link's horse in The Legend of Zelda series, which is likely the reference Travis was going for, given his interests.
- Mondo Zappa killing Count Dracula in his castle is likely a reference to Episode 51: The Man who Stole Blood of Killer is Dead, in which Mondo's target was a man named Sebstian who lived in a gothic castle and styled himself after vampires like Dracula.