Chapter 5: Last Minute
It was a week from the date Guilty Gear versus SNK 2 would officially start, and already all of the recipients were very eager to compete in the tournament. They had been training and perfecting their skills along the passing two months as preparation to face their challenge. With not much time left, they must now make last-minute planning and did more incentive training.
International Police Force headquarters, Paris.
"What? No evidence of the bureau's involvement?" Ky questioned his subordinates.
"No, sir," one of the police officers answered. "Even after we interrogated the bureau's ex-members, evidence regarding their involvement is still unclear."
"This cannot be," Ky murmured and stared at the officers. "I don't care whether they know or not. We don't have much time now; I want this investigation to continue. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir!" simultaneously all of them answered.
"Alright. Dismiss."
All of the police officers left the office, and Ky took the chance to sit back on the chair, lazily staring at the ceiling. He was called by the IPF commanding officers soon after receiving the invitation and was ordered to set up investigation regarding the upcoming tournament. He was also informed that Kevin, who had recovered from injuries, would be co-assigned with him in the investigation. There was no promising result from the investigation he had taken, and cooperation from the South Town police would be very helpful to have it completed as soon as possible; possible before the tournament.
"Officer Kiske, your wife would like to see you," his secretary informed via intercom.
"Let her in." Ky answered.
A minute later, Dizzy entered the office, accompanied by Hotaru and Rock. "How is it, Ky?" the hybrid Gear asked. Ky could only shake his head to answer 'not good' and leaned back on the chair. "So, what are we going to do now?' she asked again.
"What is your suggestion then, officer Ky?" mockingly Rock answered.
"Don't mock me, Rock," Ky replied and glowered at the son of geese Howard. "Besides, I'm occupied with tasks my employers assigned me. Whether I should join the tournament or not, it's up to them."
"Then we should accept the invitation!" Hotaru insisted. "Dizzy-chan and I have been training for the last six weeks, and we're ready to take the challenge. Rock's agreed to join us, but what about you?"
Everyone's eyes were focused on Ky, expecting an answer from the ex-Holy Knight. "Well, I…"
"Why don't we have a talk first?"
Instantly all of them looked at the door. A military officer with eye patch was standing there. He focused his sights on Dizzy, Hotaru and Rock before looked at Ky, the last staring at him.
"Who are you?" Ky demanded.
The military officer entered the office and approached Ky's desk. "Colonel Heidern, and like everyone else in this room, I also received the invitation to this anticipated tournament."
"So? What do you want from us?" Ky questioned.
"As I said earlier," Heidern said, "let's have a talk about this matter. Shall we?"
x-x-x-x-x
"Take this, you breezy mo-fo! LOOP THE LOOP!"
In less than a second, all the gangsters were pummelled by Bridget's yo-yo overdrive. Already pissed off after being mistakenly recognized as a girl, the Englishman was even furious when the gangsters offered him as a cover girl for an explicit magazine. Embarrassed and humiliated he challenged them in a duel and ended with the crossdresser being the winner.
"Alright," Bridget spoke as he opened his IK stance, "who's going to be my next victim?"
"Damn you!" one of the gangsters roared. "I shall rape you hard and make you sorry for messing with us!"
Bridget was seriously offended, and glowered at the gangster. "YOU DIE! SHOOT THE MOON!" And the foul-mouthed gangster was sent to the celestial object and never to return to the Earth again. "Do I have to repeat myself again? I'M A BOY, DAMN IT!" He eased off for a while before resumed screaming. "And nobody has ever insulted me like this, and I mean NOBODY! ARGH, I must get rid of this femme fatale image!"
"Heya, Bridget!" Bridget turned to his left and had a delighted grin on his face.
"Naruto!" he pronounced the name. "Lone time no see, no? where have you been?"
Naruto just laughed and teleported next to the Brit. "Nowhere. Just messing around with Harem No Jutsu."
"You say what?" Bridget asked and laughed. "Man, you're getting bolder since the last time I met you."
"No big deal," Naruto spoke and grinned. "Hey, you should know this. Sakura and Sasuke are so mad whenever I talk about you. I mean, they're jealous because they don't have a friend like you."
Bridget just laughed and seized Naruto's head and ground it hardly. "Oh, really? Then I shouldn't act like a fool." He released Naruto off his grapple and stared at the shinobi. "By the way, what brought you here?"
Naruto turned unusually serious when he heard the question and took out a card from his jacket. "I've got this, and everybody in Mokuba village also got this." Bridget gawked at the card and suddenly gasped.
"No way! You've got the invitation, too?" he exclaimed.
"Yeah, so do the mid-class ninjas in our village," Naruto spoke and put back the card inside the jacket. "It said that anyone receiving the card will be invited to the Guilty Gear-whatsoever tournament, but it never mentions anything about us."
"This is so weird," Bridget thought and scratched his chin. "I must see him immediately, to see whether he knows about this."
"Something bothering your mind, Bridget?" Naruto asked.
"Err… nothing, nothing." The blonde answered. "So, Naruto, have your people decided on whom to represent them?"
Naruto confidently grinned and corrected his Mokuba ninja badge. "I am. Sakura and Sasuke tried to avoid it, but Kakashi-sensei insisted them to go with me."
"Wow, that's so great!" delightedly Bridget spoke.
Naruto laughed and made a victorious pose. "I, Naruto from Mokuba village, will show the world! I'M THE GREATEST MOKUBA NINJA THE WORLD HAS YET TO SEE!"
x-x-x-x-x
"Wake up, Person. Wake up, it's morning already."
Lazily Person WMA woke up from his deep, relaxing slumber and was greeted by Majikina Mina who had earlier waked up. "Ohayou, Person. How was your sleep?" politely the archer girl asked.
"Felt so good," Person answered and got up from his lying position. "Ah, to be greeted by the most beautiful girl in the world. I wonder how lucky I am to be with you, Mina." Mina blushed and frowned a bit, fiddling with her fingers. "Damn it, you're so cute when you blush."
"A-arigatou…" softly Mina answered, brushing her hair off her shoulder.
Person groaned in excitement upon hearing the response. "Can you say that again?"
"Arigatou?"
"For Heaven's sake, you're so cute when you say that! Give me a hug."
"PERSO-"
A sound of shattered glass startled the couple. Swiftly Mina jumped off the bed and, with her pajamas still on, seized her weapons and rushed to the kitchen. There was no voice for seconds before Mina called Person from the kitchen. "What the heck is going on?" Person uttered and went to the kitchen. There, he saw Mina confronting a ninja girl and despite the confrontation, neither of them showed any sign of aggression.
"Person With Many Aliases, right?" the ninja girl asked.
"How the heck did you know my name, stranger?" Person demanded.
"Zofeah-sama has requested me to send this invitation to you," the shinobi answered. "And, please, I'm not a stranger. I am Chidori, shinobi of the Wind Village." Chidori, then approached Person but Mina stood on her way. "I wish not to have argument with any of you. I am only accomplishing what Zofeah-sama has ordered."
"Let her, Mina," Person told her. Mina just sighed and stepped aside, letting Chidori to approach Person and handed him a scroll. "Whatever this is, thanks for sending this to us. Send my regards to this Zofeah when you meet him, okay?" Person spoke and took the scroll.
"Zofeah-sama will be grateful to hear that." The shinobi bowed at him in respect and jumped out through the broken window. Person looked at the intruder before he shrugged and untied the scroll.
"A rather traditional way of inviting people," he uttered and took a quick reading of the content before he nodded.
"What is it, Person?" Mina asked. "What are you nodding of?"
"Nothing," Person answered and gave the scroll to Mina, in which she took and read. It took a while before she looked back at Person in surprise. "Well? What do you think?"
"Are you going to accept this invitation?" Mina asked.
"As a matter of fact, yes." He answered. "And besides, this is, I believe, not like what had happened the last time. I mean, everything he organized was a total chaos."
"The last time?" Mina asked again.
Person slapped his forehead. "Oh, I forgot you weren't involved in the event," he said, laughing.
"Don't laugh at me, Person," Mina spoke and pouted.
Person stared at her pouting face and squealed. "EWWW! You're so cute in that face! Give me a hug."
"PERSON!"
x-x-x-x-x
Onboard the Ultrasaurus.
"Eh? An invitation?" Sheo asked as he accepted the scroll from Chihiro.
"Haii. Zofeah-sama said that he would like to see a band of skilled laureate warriors participating in the tournament," Chihiro answered.
"That sounds interesting," Sheo spoke. "A band of warriors of literacy accepting challenge from anonymous… I think I'll give it a shot."
"I will inform Zofeah-sama that you're interested, Darren-san," Chihiro spoke and bade farewell at the author before jumped off the gigantic dinosaur. She let out a grin – to be exact, a wickedly confident grin – carved upon his face before looked at his harem.
"I bet you'll enter the tournament," Asagawa Mai spoke. "I can tell it from your eyes."
"Of course I am," the Wanderer spoke. "This is going to be my chance of making fortune out of this event. After all, I'm still mad at him for causing an even he shouldn't have done in the first place. Oh, once I get him, I'll make him sorry."
At the beach, Lone Wolf SIX suddenly sneezed and split the ice cream on his face.
"May God bless you, Lone Wolf-san," Hibiki uttered and wiped the ice-cream off his face.
"Hibiki, please. No more reference to Duo Maxwell, okay?" Lone Wolf SIX reminded.
"Err… gomen," Hibiki replied and slightly frowned.
"Awww, look at our Hibiki," Cassandra teased. "Got scolded by Wolfie once again. Boo-hoo-hoo." Hibiki glowered at the Greek in annoyance and pulled out her wakizashi, warning her not to act rude in front of her.
Back on the Brontosaurus.
"But, of course, I shouldn't just fight them because of personal grudge. I should behave like what a wanderer should be," Sheo thoughtfully spoke. Then, suddenly, the response he got was pillow attacks from all the girls including Mai. "Hey! What was that for?"
"Yeah, right," all of the girls insisted in unison.