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NOTES TO CHAPTER 2
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- Millia appears in this chapter, and I've put her in the Jellyfish Pirates as
the ending of GGX - the Arcade mode - suggested.
- For some descriptions, I'm going to use the Guilty Gear 5 min anime DVD as a
reference.

Enjoy!
Luca

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As thunder and lightining foretold, rain came that night. It swept the plain
with its strength, drenching the grass and the trees. But by the morning, the
clouds opened, and the sun rose in a clear sky, making the wet grass glimmer as
if it was a sea of gold. Birds chirped happily in the sunshine and the whole
place looked like a part of Heaven.
The illusion was broken by the sound of a powerful engine: something was moving
in the sky. It was a great airship, painted in orange. At first, it seemed like
one of those few cargo ships that were still operational after the catastrophe
caused by Justice years earlier, but a closer examination revealed several
cannons mounted on both sides, and thick armor plating. Above all, the
writing "MAYSHIP" on the aircraft's side showed the real nature of the vehicle:
the main airship of the Jellyfish Pirates. Few hadn't heard of them in civilized
countries: the deeds of the group of female pirates led by the fascinating
Johnny were well-known around the world. The "amazons of the 22nd century", as
someone called them, raided many sites of the globe's most powerful
corporations, stealing everything that was valuable, and distributing it to the
poorest parts of the population. Despite several attempts, no one had succeded
in stopping them: the various governments had their hands full with the
rebuilding, so they couldn't afford wasting too many resources in dealing with
them. And so, the Jellyfish Pirates' raids continued.
The Mayship slowed down and headed towards a group of small hills in the middle
of the plain. As soon as it was above the biggest one, the aircraft stopped in
mid air and descended silently. It landed quietly, and at the same moment, a
side of the hill slid aside, revealing an opening. Many pirates ran out of it,
carrying cables. They were all women, and they all wore what was known as the
unofficial "uniform" of the Jellyfish Pirates: a short sailor shirt and a pair
of shorts. Some had brightly colored bandanas tied around their heads, while
others had hats. Tales on their beauty were known everywhere, and many had
fallen in love with them.
The main door on the Mayship opened and more pirates jumped out, helping the
others connecting the cables to the ship's hull. Among them, a girl stood out:
she was dressed differently than the others, with an orange trenchcoat that
covered almost all her body. There was an opening in it, and the legs, covered
with a dark suit, could be seen, while a metal plate protected the neck. She
wasn't particularly tall, with long brown hair and brown eyes. She seemed
younger than the others, yet everyone followed the orders she shouted.
"Start the refueling!" she said, commanding a group of people that were
adjusting the cables. "We need to take off in an hour!"
"It will be done, May!" they replied in unison.
May adjusted her orange cap and smiled. Everything was going as planned! Johnny
would have been proud of her! Since she was appointed first officer, she always
handled matters with an extreme sense of responsibility, and no one ever
complained on her choices. And now even Johnny asked for her advice sometimes!
She giggled.
The sight of a girl wearing a yellow bandana dragged May away from her thoughts.
"Hello, Dizzy!" she said in a cheerful tone. "You're always working hard!".
Dizzy turned towards May and smiled gently. She was on her twenties, and her
beauuty stood among the other women. She had beautiful blue hair - held in
place by two small yellow ribbons - and a body that seemed carved in marble. But
her most striking feature were her red eyes: there was no hatred, no suffering
in them. They were pure as water.
"Um, I'm just trying to be useful..." she said shyly.
"Come on, admit it! You always work double!"
"Um...but by doing so, things are done faster..."
May patted Dizzy on the back. "Don't worry, Dizzy, I'm just teasing you!"
Dizzy smiled again and said nothing.
"She looks so human!" May thought. "Who would think that Dizzy is a Gear?". Her
memory went back to six months before, when a tournament was held to eliminate a
possibly sentient Gear. May signed up to get Johnny a birthday present, but got
defeated in the semifinals. Strangely enough, the winner never showed up, and as
May was walking home, she stumbled in Dizzy. She seemed hurt and in a confused
state, so she brought the girl with her. Soon enough, she found out that Dizzy
was a Gear, but she didn't care. There was something she couldn't define that
told her that Dizzy wasn't evil. And even Johnny, after the initial surprise,
agreed to keep her with the pirates. Since then, Dizzy proved to be a hard
worker, but also an extremely kind person. A person not tainted by the evil in
the world, May thought.
"Dizzy, let's keep on working! There's still a lot to do!" said a woman. She was
clad in different clothes than the other pirates: she wore a red dress, short
enough to show most of her slender, long legs, and her right arm was covered
by light armor.
"I'm sorry, Millia." Dizzy replied, and after saying bye to May, she walked off
helping the pirates.
May stared at the woman, biting her lip. Millia Rage... nothing much was known
about her. She was pretty - even though the length of her blonde hair seemed to
change continuously - but her blue eyes were cold as ice. May knew that Millia
entered the tournament, but quit halfway, reasons unknown. Then, one day she
showed up at the Jellyfish Pirates' hideout, asking to join. She was tested,
and passed all the tests Johnny made up for her. Yet, there was something
mysterious about Millia. She looked somewhat tormented most of the time, and
May wondered what was going on in the woman's mind.
"May!" a voice shouted from the Mayship. "Johnny wants to see you!"
May giggled insanely. He would have been very satisfied with the current
progresses of the operations!
Humming a tone, she quickly walked inside the Mayship.

* * *

A few hours later, the Mayship was again flying in the sky, off to its
destination. May was on the bridge, taking care of the operations while Johnny
was in his quarters ("Johnny is so lazy!" she thought). The place was filled
with monitors and control consoles, and some pirates were busy at their
stations. Among them there was April, the ship's navigator and one of May's
best friends (although she thought of the whole crew as her family).
"How is the situation, April?" May asked.
"Everything's OK!" the girl replied, adjusting her brown hair.
May groaned, staring at the empty sky around the Mayship. "Oh, this is SO
boring!" she complained, stretching. "Nothing has been happening, nothing
exciting at all!"
"I agree! We need something fun!" April added.
As if it was a reply to them, the whole ship shook. May had to hold on a
handle, or she would have fallen. As she staggered to stay standing, the alarm
rang. Everyone on the bridge was shocked, and May got flooded with reports from
all the crew. She could barely make out the words out of that mass of
alarmed voices.
"What's going on!" she shouted, trying to overcome the confusion. "April,
damage report!"
All the pirates fell silent and partly regained some composture as April spoke.
However, her words didn't bring any good news.
"We have a hole in the fourth level!" said the girl.
"Anything that could have done that?"
"Nothing, the sky's clear! Nothing could have attacked us without being
spotted!" added the girl in charge of the sensors.
"What the... How could that happen?"
"Only something small as a person could have gone undetected, but have you ever
seen human beings that can fly?"
"Uhm...maybe I have..."
The alarm rang again. "Oh, damn" April exclaimed "seems we have an intruder on
the third level! It's impossible..."
"April, alert everyone and get a few people to fix that hole! And tell Johnny
as soon as you can! I'm going!" May ordered, nearly yelling. "I think I'll ask
this 'intruder' a few questions after I beat him up!"
Saying so, May grabbed an anchor - about the same size as her, even though
that it was light as a feather for her - that was laying against a wall, and ran
out of the control room, furious. She would have given that intruder a lesson!

* * *

As May got out of the elevator that brought her to the third level, she gaped:
the whole place looked like a battlefield. Fire erupted from holes in the steel
walls of the corridor that led to the crew's quarters. Many pirates were laying
on the floor, unconscious, while the others were busy fighting the fire or
tending the wounded. May ran forward, her anger rising. "Someone will pay for
that!" she said to herself as she tried to locate the cause of the disaster. As
she passed by a branch of the corridor, she heard fragments of a conversation.
"I've found you, at last!"
"What do you want from me? I just want to live in peace..."
May quickly went in the direction of the sound, and found Dizzy standing still
in the middle of a corridor, as if she was a statue. And there was a man before
her.
"Peace is foolish. You have the power." Douglas said, sounding perfectly
calm. "And you can do anything with it! The whole world can be under your
control."
"I don't want power!" Dizzy shouted. "My power only makes people unhappy!"
"You don't need people. Those are just worms in your way."
"I..."
"HEY!" May shouted, interrupting the conversation. "What are YOU doing here?"
"I'm merely fulfilling a task." Douglas replied, icy. "And it seems I can't get
things done without getting annoyed by nuisances...like those people from
before, they thought they could stop me and suffered the consequences."
May's grip on her anchor tightened. "So you're the cause of all this, aren't
you?"
"Yes."
"Why? Why did you do all of this!"
"I need the Innocent Gear, or Dizzy as you call her. I hope you're reasonable
enough to hand her to me without complaints. Otherwise... I'll have to resort
to more drastic methods."
"Wait a minute, old man! Dizzy is not a toy you can use as you want! And I
won't let you have her! She's my friend!"
"Friend..." Dizzy whispered.
"Indeed, you're foolish, young girl." Douglas said. "You're standing up for her,
even though you are destined to certain death?"
"I'm NOT going to lose! And it's not only for her... you hurt my family! And I
won't forgive you for that!"
"You sound brave, girl. But bravery won't be enough against me."
"My name is May, gramps, you'd better remember it!". Saying so, May put herself
on guard.
"May, please don't risk your life for me..." Dizzy said. "I...don't want
you to get hurt...". She spoke slowly, as if she was trying to keep something
under control.
"I'm sorry, Dizzy. But I won't leave you alone, or I couldn't forgive myself.
And I'm going to be all right, trust me!" May smiled.
"How moving!" Douglas laughed. "But now, it's time to finish this."
May raised her anchor as Douglas readied to leap at her, but all of a sudden the
ceiling above them exploded. As soon as the smoke cleared, a man jumped down
from the hole and put himself between the two. He was tall as Douglas, wearing a
pair of black trousers and a black jacket. The latter was left open, showing
steel muscles on his chest, and a black belt around his waist. The eyes were
covered by a pair of black sunglasses. A large hat was resting on top of his
head, and he had a seathed sword in his left hand.
"JOHNNY!" May said in excitement.
"At your service,, May." Johnny bowed.
"I knew you would come!" May jumped up and down enthusiastically, suddenly
unaware of the danger that was around her.
"So, you're the famous Johnny, I see". Douglas grinned sarcastically. "Even you
are asking for death."
"I'm too good to be defeated by someone as ugly as you!" Johnny replied smiling,
then he turned towards May. "May, get on a escape pod and bring Dizzy with you."
"But Johnny!" May complained. "I want to fight with you! And I can't leave the
others like this!"
"I can handle this alone, and as soon as you escape, he won't have any interest
here."
"But..."
"No 'buts'! Go, NOW!"
May stepped back. She never heard Johnny being so harsh. She opened her mouth to
reply, but Dizzy grabbed her arm and dragged her away.
"LET ME GO!" she shouted, trying desperately to resist. "Dizzy, let me go! I
want to fight!"
"Johnny is helping us, May..." Dizzy said, sounding extremely sad. "I don't
want you to get hurt...You're my...friend, so..."
"I...understand"
"And..." Dizzy shook as if pain struck her. "I don't know... if
I..can...hold...for long..."
"Are you all right?"
"I...let's go, before it's too late...". Dizzy's grip on May loosened.
"...I have no other choice...". May turned towards Johnny as she ran away.
"You'd better be all right, ok, you big stupid head!"
Douglas moved forward, but Johnny blocked his path. "I'm your enemy. And I'll
show you how great I am!" he said.
"You'll take your pride with you in the grave, human!" Douglas replied as he
jumped forward, ready to strike.
Johnny's reaction was quick as lightining: before his opponent could even get
near him he drew his sword and aimed at Douglas's chest.
"You let your guard down, my friend! Taste the Johnny Special!" he shouted, as
his blade hit his opponent three times. Immediately after, Douglas was engulfed
in flames and collapsed on the floor.
"Pitiful..." Johnny commented, as he seathed his weapon.
"Hmm...you're far stronger than what I expected." Douglas exclaimed, as he got
back on his feet, apparently unharmed, aside from burns on his clothes.
Johnny was paralyzed by surprise. "How could you...".
"It was a good enjoyment, but now it's the end!". Douglas vanished and appeared
right behind Johnny.
"What the..." Johnny said, turning, before a punch hit him, slamming him against
a wall with the strength of a tornado.
"So...powerful..." he muttered, and passed away.
Douglas didn't bother to check if he was alive or not: recovering Dizzy was his
first priority. He could still sense her presence on the ship...somewhere above
him. He grinned. Soon, the hunt would have been over.

* * *

"This way!" May shouted to Dizzy as the two ran through the maze of corridors in
the ship's third level. May's objective was to reach the main elevator, then get
to the escape pods.
"We're near now..." she said, but her voice died in her throat as she saw
Douglas right before the elevator's doors.
"You can't run anywhere from me." The man declared. "I will always find you."
"It's too early to say that, gramps!" May exclaimed as she broke a little glass
panel next to her and pushed a button. Suddenly, a big steel plate dropped from
the ceiling, blocking the corridor between the two girls and the man.
"This will block him for a while. We can still escape!" May said. "Come on,
Dizzy, follow me!"
"Uhm..yes..." Dizzy replied. She seemed to struggle with herself, and spoke
little.
May led Dizzy again through the winding corridors till they reached a small
hatch. With some difficulty May opened it and strong wind blew from the opening:
it led directly to the left wing of the Mayship.
"There's a ladder here, and we can climb to the upper levels from here! Just be
careful, or the wind will knock ou off!" May explained.
The two girls got out of the hatch and started walking on the Mayship's big
wing, struggling to keep their balance. The ladder was relatively near them, but
they were forced to walk slowly, measuring each step carefully.
They were about halfway when they heard a low laugh: as they turned, they found
Douglas about two paces away from them.
"Man, you're so stubborn!" May said. "Why don't you just give up and leave us
alone!"
"I find your futile resistence interesting. Just like that man from before. He
was so foolish to fight me." Douglas said.
"What did you do to Johnny!"
"I gave him a good beating. I don't know if he's alive or not."
"JOHNNY!" May exploded in anger. "Now I won't forgive you...EVER! Take THIS!"
The girl stretched her left arm forward, and the air behind her began to
glimmer. Out of nowhere, a massive whale of light appeared and jumped towards
Douglas.
"You want to impress me with those childish tricks?" Douglas said, covering his
face with his arms. There was a flash, and when May and Dizzy could see again,
the man was still there. However, blood dripped on his cheek from a small cut.
"You are a disobedient child." Douglas whispered in a cold, bone-chilling voice.
"Now you shall be punished!"
He ran towards May, so fast that she couldn't even see his movements. Before she
could understand what was happening, he was in front of her.
"DIE!" Douglas screamed, raising his right arm. May was paralyzed by terror
and could only see the hand getting near her, bringing death...
Suddenly, Douglas jumped back, merely avoing a steel arrow that stuck into the
Mayship's metallic hull.
"STOP!" Dizzy screamed, as a great pain ran through her. "I...won't...let
you...harm her... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
Dizzy screamed louder: part of the back of her shirt ripped off, as two wings -
one white, the other black - grew on her back. Soon after, a tail with a small
ribbon on its end grew out as well.
"Dizzy..." May said in shock.
"Finally you show your true power, Innocent Gear!" Douglas exclaimed.
The black wing changed shape to the one of a figure covered by a cloak. Where
the head should have been, a skull was staring at Douglas, and its empty
cavities irradiated hatred. Without a sound, the figure extended towards the man
at incredible speed, but as soon as it was near him it retracted and became a
wing again.
"This is not the time, Necro!" Dizzy said, as if she was talking to her wings.
May couldn't believe what her eyes saw. She stood looking at Dizzy, while her
mind was drowning in confusion and amazement.
Douglas, on the other hand, wasn't particularly impressed.
"So, what are you going to do, Innocent Gear?" he said. "Show me what you've
got! Show me that you're truly a superior being like me!"
"NO!" Dizzy replied. "I won't...and you won't have what you want!"
"And how you're supposed to do that? You might be strong, but you're
inexperienced..."
Dizzy looked at the ground below: the ship was flying over a forest.
"Like this!" she exclaimed, and grabbed May.
"Hey, Dizzy, wait a minute, what are you....WHOAAAAA!" May screamed as Dizzy
spread her wings and jumped off the ship. She flew into the forest and
disappeared from sight.
"Stupid girl..." Douglas thought. "Now..."
He was ready to follow her, but a yellow ribbon that looked like hair tied
him up.
"What?"
Douglas turned and saw Millia Rage next to him, her hair extended to trap him.
"You're staying here." the woman whispered.
"I've heard about you, Millia Rage." Douglas had a sarcastic tone. "The assassin
who betrayed her own master..."
"Shut up." Millia's eyes were burning with rage, and her voice was sharp as a
razor. "I'm not an assassin. And you'd better mind your own business."
"It still hurts you, I can see that. But I do not want to fight now... so I have
a proposal?"
"Proposal?" Millia frowned.
"Yes. My and The Man's forces need an experienced assassin like you..."
"I told you already, I'm not an assassin. And you and The Man, whoever you are,
can go to Hell, for all I care. Forget it."
"Then, a sad fate awaits you."
Douglas grinned, and broke free with ease.
"Damn you." Millia said as she got on her stance.
The man stretched out his left arm, his palm directed towards the woman, and
lightining erupted from his hand. Millia screamed in pain as electricity ran
through her body. She staggered back, but her foot didn't land on anything
solid: she was on the edge of the wing. She tried to regain balance, but it was
too late. With a scream, she fell down.

* * *

While walking, Sol got an eerie feeling and stopped abruptly. A Gear was nearby,
he could feel it.
"This trail is boring. Let's change our direction." he said, as he started
walking in a different direction.
"Wait!" Ky exclaimed. "Weren't we supposed to go to the Gear laboratory?"
"Yes, but I got bored. We still have plenty of time, so let's take it easy!"
"Don't you think we have a duty to fulfill..."
"Duty, duty, duty! You guys always talked about that. It was so boring, that's
why I left."
"Sol!"
"Don't get too pissed off, boy!". Sol laughed as he walked off.
Ky sighed. He still had no other choice but to go on. Muttering under his
breath, he followed his companion.