The Zepp Military Academy, training ground to some of the fiercest soldiers in the Zepp army; once used as an official base to promote punishment on the enslaved people, it has now been converted as a training ground to promote the strength and piece of the new army as a whole.
Of course, considered the stereotype of the world that reads "'Black Tech' items equals EVIL" and "Zepp Continent equals Uber threat to the world", this is quite hard to persuade, especially when everyone on Earth still looks at the nation with suspicion and...
Potemkin: "GET ON WITH IT!"
Anyway, for those chosen into this academy, and for those that pass, the pride of being one of the elite soldiers of Zepp is an honor itself. In this new civilization that has ousted its former rulers by revolutionary means; the fervor is still strong as more people are joining the army, and the academies for that matter, in the efforts to protect the nation that they have been so willing to change.
It is also no surprise that the acceptance rate of the newly enlisted is 2 percent, which is a lot tougher to get in when comparing to "A Country's" 5 percent acceptance rate of their academies. Not to mention the paper work, the physical training, the developing discipline and what not.
For those that do make it in, the regimen is tough. The entire day is packed with working under stressful conditions, such as running the mile in 5:30 or less, figuring out the best strategy for engaging a Gear in disadvantageous conditions, learning the strategies of leadership and integrity, and trying to open a pickle jar that's been super glued, but I think that one was removed for lack of overall point.
At the end of the day, the soldiers are exhausted and drained, but as they train and learn, they develop the skills to work as a team, to value one member to be just as important as the other, and to never give up... even if you are being attacked by several women with school girl uniforms that happened to have...
President Gabriel: Are you going somewhere with that?
No, not really.
President Gabriel: Then can we please get on with this story?
Ok.
It was around this time that the recruits were nearing graduation. However, there was one task remaining in their school time at the academy, and some would consider it the hardest of all the exams so far.
Although there were the general choruses of people that have graduated with passing grades on all their marks, there is also this elite group of people that have decided to take an "extra credit" exam. Their reasons are various. Some consider it a challenge to push them to the limit. Others consider it redemption for having excessive demerits in their records. One is doing this because he was a jackass and his disciplinary record is up towards the sun. What ever the case may be, they all wanted to do this clearly because they knew their future was in the military.
The exam description is as followed. In the span of 72 hours, two teams of 5 will be dropped down somewhere on the world. Most likely this will be somewhere in Africa. One team will be in standard issue mechs and one will use high powered "black tech" rifles. The objective here is to take over a Gear infested research station, using automatons as the Gears themselves. (The cadets don't know that though. This is so that the cadets experience what it feels like to be attacked by a Gear without any risk of casualties.) Success will depend on how well they succeed in this mission.
And it just so happened that the overseer of this project is our muscularly bounded loyal protector and national hero named Potemkin.
Potemkin: Thank you.
And of course, since this is his story in a sense, he'll get some air time as well.
Now let us being...
Non-sequential Demerits (a.k.a A Day in the Life of Potemkin... of sorts)
A Story in Three Acts
by Vincent Voltaire
Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Guilty Gear, GGX, GGX2, the Reloads, or Isuka, and this is not a self-insert, unlike my last GG story, "The Marriage of Figaro" GG Style, which if you took a look at, may have a lot of classic rule violations. i.e. author powers, crazy and illogical crossovers, the (questionable) suspension of disbelief, etc.
And I think I have dug myself into another grave, so I'll skip everything and get right to the point.
Date: April 21, 218X
Time: 8:01.23 A.M.
Location: The Floating Continent of Zepp
Exact Location: The Zepp Military Academy: Main Training Field
As we take a look at the academy, we position ourselves towards the field, which is right next door to the living quarters of the cadets. Facing the quarters of the Academy stood 10 cadets; three of them were half awaked and one has just gone back to sleep. Beside these cadets were massive backpacks that you would normally find in the shoulders of hikers. Inside these backpacks held the standard issue equipment of any Zepp soldier: One high powered E31 Assault Rifle, capable of drilling through most armor; one R21 Lighthart Pistol, useful in desperate situations as a way to escape capture; several rounds of non-lethal "Black Tech" class ammo, since these weapons are "Black Tech" and there are no casualties in this operation. (Once again, the cadets don't know that.); food and camping supplies, useful when far away from the target location and necessary when in base camp, and a packet of emergency rations and a communicator, which is for situations when the soldier is not able to return back to base and needs to hold out under enemy fire. With the mech pilots, of course, the situation will be different, as they will have a lot more space to store their items, and therefore have lighter backpacks.
In front of them stood two key figures, one of them is the Headmaster of the entire academy. The other is Potemkin, who stands beside him as the Headmaster addresses the ten.
"Attention!" His expression awakens the soldiers, with the exception of the sleeping one. "Now then, whether of not you have chosen to participate in this operation out of free will is not my concern right now. My concern is to make sure that you are ready. Do I make myself clear?" The nine acknowledge. The tenth one continues his napping.
Walking over to him, the Headmaster faces the tenth. "Soldier, this is the Headmaster. I order you to address me at once." The tenth still ignores him.
"Headmaster, is this the one you've been talking about?" Potemkin asked.
"Yes, His name is Duncan, but the cadets call him 'Mr. Cannon Fodder.' Apparently, this cadet is nothing but a loon. He has numerous demerits on him for combat and tactics, he is unable to follow instructions from his instructors, and to make matters worse the cadet has the worst win/loss record on his operation file for every single event he has led.
"Then why has he not been thrown out of the academy already?" The Guard inquired.
"Three reasons. #1, the cadets respect him in his dormitory, and they have revolted numerous times to his dismissal. #2, the soldier has always been a supportive role for his team, even if he is a distraction to the opposing side, and #3, he also has the highest marks for cleanness and order in and around his quarters."
"Interesting."
The cadet wakes up from his unexpected hibernation. He quickly notices the two. "Sorry, Headmaster. I couldn't sleep last night." He yawns. "I partied too much."
"Well, you'll be doing a lot more partying where you are going." He grabs his backpack and chucks the thing onto him, knocking him down. "Now get up." He does so and returns his attention to the front.
"Now then, five of you are here because you want to be the best. Out of all the cadets here, your marks have been the most exemplary. As a result, this operation was offered to you merely as a way to enhance your record as a soldier of Zepp. Likewise, there are some excellent cadets that have declined this exam for various reasons. We shall not hold any prejudice with them, since previous obligations can affect all cadets. However, since you are some of the best, and you want to prove yourself further, you have decided to join up. Understand though that if something should happen in this mission, you will not be penalized for failure."
"Headmaster, Permission to speak, sir?" The first cadet said whose face expressed this uncertainty.
"Permission granted, Cadet Caspian." The headmaster said with respect to the highly praised soldier."
"I do not understand this rule. Isn't it true that in battle, failure is not an option? I do not see how it cannot affect our overall grading to passing with high marks."
"Well, is it not true that you are also in the race to become head of class?"
"You are right sir. I can see that now." The cadet retreats to his position.
The headmaster continues. "Do not be alarmed though, for this final examination, if by some chance you do not succeed, you will not be penalized. Passing the operation, however, is different, for depending on your circumstance, if you do pass, the highest marks will be given on all five of you. With that to say, I may not be surprised if there is a tie for head of class."
"However," he said, altering his voice to express concern. "For some of you, this is the final chapter. I know for a fact that five of you are currently in a limbo over your status as part of the graduating class. Whether or not you continue on to commencement will depend on how well you do in this operation. For the five of you, failure may not be an option. Isn't that right, Tristan?" His eyes immediately lock on the cadet. "I have heard some things about you Cadet, is that right?"
"Yes Sir." He responded with seriousness.
"You record has been for the most part, satisfactory. However, it has come to my attention that there is something that happened with you several months before. Is that right?"
"...Yes Sir."
"Would you care to describe to Potemkin here the reasons for this charge?"
The massive Potemkin walked to the cadet as he struggled to get the words out, intimidate by his size. "I acted... without just cause in... a..." He took a break to swallow his saliva. "...live target training exercise that resulted... in serious injuries to both me and my team." His voice was calm, but accented with doubt, concern, and misery on the part of the cadet. "As a result, I was suspended from the academy for one month, and I am currently in probation. I am participating this to redeem myself, Sir."
"That'll be all. You can stand down now." Tristan relaxed his shoulders as he released himself of the accumulating tension in his body. The Headmaster walked back to Potemkin and addressed him. "I can understand that, since you are in direct connections with the President, he requested that you'd lead this mission. Is there any specific reason to this?"
"No. He told me to lead this exam to see how capable our new soldiers are."
"Ah, a test sample. Well then, you have the information for the exam correct?""Yes." He hands him several papers, which explain the objective, location, and obstacles the opposition will face. The Headmaster confirms the listing to Potemkin, and then turns to the cadets. "Cadets, Potemkin and I will be leading you to the aircrafts. Once you have left Zepp airspace, Potemkin will describe you the mission objective, understood?"
The nine cadets acknowledge. Duncan makes a half-assed reply that is barely ignored by the Headmaster.
"All right then. Move out."
Time: 9:23.23 A.M.
Location: Same
Exact Location: Several Miles bordering Zepp Airspace
On board the dropship, which is currently carrying 6 robotic mechs, the ten cadets, Potemkin, and the pilots themselves, Potemkin approaches the group with anticipation. You'd think that the massive size of Potemkin would upset the limit of the ship, but interesting enough, when you consider that the dropship can take the weight of 10 mechs, it kind of balances out.
"Mech Pilots. Respond when I call your name. Cadet Caspian"
"Present. Sir." He replies with quick effectiveness, and then returns to his seat.
"Cadet Doloman.""Present." The pilot replies as he continually fixes his uniform, which appears to be ruffled up and somewhat disorganized. "I apologize for this. I have overslept before our expected departure time. I will take full blame in my tardiness."
"I understand." He pretends to make a mark in his name. "Cadet Elba."
"I am ready, 1st Class Guard Potemkin." The woman stood up and faced him without fear. Her uniform was a lot more organized, and considerably more perfected than Doloman was. "I am ready to perform my duties as you command."
Out of curiosity, Potemkin checks her name on the roster. "Cadet Elba, it appears that you have great marks in all of your tests."
"I try to be perfect in everything." She says with bravado."I can see that. However, there is this line that says you have been very aggressive in achieving the objective, to the point at which you make total disregard for your fellow comrades."
"I don't understand, Sir." She said, confused. "I have not done such an action to my team."
"Well, it says here that you have resulted in numerous injuries, several destroyed buildings, and in one case, set the Headmaster's house on fire."
"Look, I had nothing to do with that, ok?" She said valiantly. "I was not involved with any of those operations, you understand?"
"There is no need to react like this. I'll believe you, Cadet Elba." He writes down a note on her name and continues. "Cadet Sidney."
"Cadet Sidney, ready for duty, Sir." Potemkin checks his bio on his roster. "You appear to have a lot of high marks by this report."
"Yes sir." He said, matching his tone to reflect his expertise. "There is not a single flaw on my record."
"It would appear so." He looks at the dossier and notices no demerits on his record. As he looks further on his record, there are several marks that tell he was working with several of the cadets around him in various missions. Noticing this as a record of surviving adversity, he feels there is no need for continued inquiry and so he continues downward to the last person. "And finally, Cadet Tristan."
"I am ready to serve." He stands up and acknowledges Potemkin before quickly sitting down. Potemkin notices his sullen and almost slient manner of expressing his shame over the incident. Not wanting to upset the Cadet further, he shifts his attention to the infantry soldiers. "Infantry Soldiers; respond when I call your name. Cadet Fiona
"Present Sir." The dark haired woman presented herself to the Guard. "I am ready to perform my operation as necessary."
"Cadet Fiona, I must ask you about something about your military record." The soldier replied. "According to this, the instructors tell me you have a lot of behavior problems throughout your term here."
"I understand that sir. I have been trying to control my aggression towards everyone, and until recently it has been a problem for me to do so."
"Yes. Your record is fine otherwise. You may sit down now." Fiona returns to sit down as he moves down towards two others. "Cadet Mason."
"Ready, Sir." The cadet arose in formal stature with the attitude of a soldier; focused, still and ready.
"Cadet, I have one question to ask." said Potemkin as he checks his record.
"Ask away."
"This record here tells me that you have had certain occasions with bringing contraband to the academy."
"Uh..." His skin started to warm up in embarrassment.
"Though it does not state what contraband you brought with you, it states it was not anything illegal or prohibited by the laws of the Zepp government, and so you were given a minor infraction for that."
"Of course not. I could never bring any illegal contraband to the base. I'm not that type of guy I assure you." His skin was starting to sweat up, fearing his secret would be found. The Guard was secured and did not need to inquire any further. "I won't ask anything more about this, then."
"Thank you, sir." In relief, the cadet quickly sits down and relaxes. Potemkin continues.
"Cadet Sheldon. Are you here?"
"Cadet Sheldon is here, sir." The cadet quickly awakens and addresses him with a stern, dark, and disrespectful emotion on him. Potemkin came to ask for this sudden intrusion. "Cadet, explain why you responded to your superior like that."
"...Sorry."
"You understand why you are here, correct?" He takes a look at his record, which is all marked up with demerits, demotions, poor grades, and various other remarks, all of which happened during this semester. "I do not need to remind you that this is your last chance to shape up. I hope you realize this."
"...Yes... Sir." He sits back down in a puffed-up and ill manner, holding near disregard for the Guard. The Guard felt something was up with him, but he went back to the list nonetheless.
"Cadet... Lillian?"
"I must interject, sir." The female cadet arose, embarrassed for having her named after a flower, and at the same time, part of the Zepp army to boot. "My name is Cadet Leon."
"I must correct you. It says right there that your full name is Cadet Lillian Belladonna Florentine the 4th? Do you wish to be called Cadet Leon?"
"Please, Sir. All the cadets call me that, and that name brings so much shame." She said, making several red splotches along her cheek. Potemkin make a small acknowledgement, allowed her to sit, and came to the last name on the list. "And lastly, Cadet Duncan."
"I am present, sir." He replied in an almost satirical manner, which got the laughs of a few cadets, but none from Potemkin. "I can understand how the Headmaster felt about you." He makes a note to keep a close eye on this guy as he confirms the ten. Once set, he addresses everyone.
"Soldiers, once we arrive on the site, you'll be given 12 hours on establishing your base camp. Once established, you shall receive instructions on your operation. I, First Class Guard Potemkin will monitor your progress. This operation will take 72 hours to complete, and no more time will be allocated after that, understand?"
The ten acknowledge.
"Good. Rest up, for we shall be arriving at the site soon."
The engines are quickly set to cruise mode as the dropship leaves Zepp airspace on route to Africa.
Time: Same
Location: Several Miles off the West Coast of the African Continent
Exact Location: The Mayship; Mobile Headquarters of the Jellyfish Pirates
As the 11 female members of the crew rest along the walls of the ship, sun tanning, fighting, catching a breeze, or trying to see where Bridget fits in the crew, April is currently in the bridge, with Johnny and May by her side. They are wandering around the world right now, passing through several unimportant and pretty barren locations... well, at least Johnny would see it that way.
"But Johnny? I want to go see the lost city of El Dorado. Why are we not heading there?"
"Because April." Johnny said. "We lost a lot of money after we got caught up with Ky and his freeloaders while in Chile. Do you remember?"
"Well..."
(Flashback)
We see Johnny at the helm of the ship, conveniently parked at a nearby gold mine and his team currently extracting whatever gold is inside. "Ok, ladies, once we get this gold out, we'll be able to pay off the orphans for helping us escape our Swiss Back heist there... and a little something extra for us."
"Sure Johnny," May replied. "But I have one question, did you really need to keep that smoke flare in the back of our ship."
"What smoke flare?" He leaves the helm, goes outside, and notices a tiny missile mysteriously lodged in one of the engines, puffing smoke in a profuse manner. "Uh, oh..."
Seconds later, a full fledged airborne armada descends on the crew, lead by the Interpol Knight himself, Ky Kiske. "Johnny, you are hereby wanted for stealing 7 million world dollars from the Swiss"
"Uh... Everyone, get back on the ship, now!" The announcement was made as the crew jumped back on the ship and hit the "light speed" button with insufficient haste. Unfortunately, the engines detach themselves from the plane and drop out of the sky shortly thereafter for dubious lack of gas.
(End Flashback)
"Well, on the plus side, he just took the cash." May said.
"Need I remind you that he also took my one of a kind, rare, priceless, Swarovski porcelain poodle? It was my precious." Johnny proceeds to cry as the two pirate girls' comfort him. A small blush is made at this successful endeavor.
Suddenly, the intercom is opened up to the three. It was Leap, the, for lack of better words, "creatively metaphoric" cook of the ship. She opened up the channel and asked in her polite manner where our target is next. "Johnny, the rest of the girls are wondering where our next stop is. Could you tell us? Also, Dizzy's two 'friends' are having a fight again."
We hear Necro and Undine, Dizzy's two protectors/assistants/"proto-wing systems" arguing about the differences between what type of battle uniform she should wear and the differences between the numbers five and six.
"Necro, listen to me. I think it would be best if we had her fully clothed. Do you see all those people glaring at us every time she goes into battle?"
"Nonsense, Undine. The more people look at her, the more fearful she becomes. The body suit screams 'fear me.'"
"Can't you two ever get along?" Dizzy lamented. She, being stuck in the middle of this argument, had to reply in such a manner. Johnny sighed and made contact with the lady. "Ok, Leap. Send everyone in five minutes." He ends his communication and faces the two. "Ok, girls. Any ideas?"
"Well..." April stated to ask. "Someone told me there was this abandoned station somewhere in Africa."
"How much gold is in it?" Johnny replied.
"It looks like is at least 1,000 world dollars. Most of it is in cheap stuff though.""Not worth it. But then again, we are pretty low on money. Any other stuff we can raid there?"
"Not unless we can..."
All of a sudden, a sonic boom resonates around the entire ship, startling everyone and awaking Febe, July, and Janice, the cat, who fell over from her spot inside the ship. Octy was taking lookout at the time and makes a quick link to the three. "Johnny, its Octy."
"Octy, could you tell me what just happened?"
"A large red ship just passed us. It looked like it was from Zepp. Anyway, we are all right over here."
"Ok, report to me if anything else happens."
"Got it!" The conversation quickly ends.
"Do you wonder where a ship like that is going to, Johnny?" May replied.
"I don't know. Are you thinking of tailing it just to see?" Johnny added.
"Can we?"
"No." He shook his head. "I made several promises not to get involved with Zepp... for reasons I won't get into." He mentally recalls the several occasions that Potemkin asked him to keep Dizzy on the crew, just to make sure the official statement of her death still stands. Ky also said the same thing as well, but not with making a huge argument over it. "Besides, aren't we supposed to go to Africa?"
"Does anyone else have any ideas?" April said.
The three are curiously looking around the map for any other alternatives. Nothing is showing up to be of any worth. "Ok, Africa it is. Tell everyone to get ready, April." Johnny said. She leaves the bridge to gather the girls. May walks over to him. "Johnny, maybe April is a bit confused. Do you think that there is anything in that continent right now?"
"Maybe, but things have been so quiet in the world that we might as well occupy ourselves. It's an abandoned research station in the middle of Africa. What's the worst that can happen?"