Chapter 6: Gathering, And It Begins
At last, the day everybody and everyone anticipated had arrived. All the contestants were gathering at venues nearest to them, waiting for the next instructions from the organizer as noted in the invitation. Each and every one them was very eager to take part in the challenge, and they were ready for what would appear beyond their path.
"Well, I think this is the place," Lone Wolf SIX spoke as he, Hibiki and Cassandra arrived at a bamboo street outside of Shanghai. He looked around the venue and did not see anyone else arriving. "I guess we're a bit early today. Alright, girls. Why don't we-"
"Lone Wolf-san doesn't need anyone to help him," Hibiki suddenly insisted. "He can do this by himself."
"Oh, yeah? Let me guess," Cassandra spoke. "You're jealous because you don't get the chance to help him a lot like me. So you're telling me that isn't that what you mean?"
"I'm not jealous!" Hibiki exclaimed, blushing in embarrassment. "And that isn't what I mean!"
"Come on, Hibiki. Don't hide it from me," Cassandra said and mockingly poked Hibiki's flushed cheek. "Heh, even if you want to help him, I doubt that your kind of offer would be appreciated by him. After all, he's still got me. Boo-hoo-hoo." Hibiki snapped in total harassment and withdrew her wakizashi, as if to warn the Greek never to mess with her. Lone Wolf SIX sweatdropped and just coughed.
"Girls, why can't I understand them…?"
Then, he looked at around him and sighed. Two months had passed and he was about to join the frenzy he used to handle with very little preparation for himself. It wasn't that he didn't know any martial arts; the impulsive reaction he showed in front of Omega Rugal was the indication. It was the fact that he was disturbed by the word 'Revolution' and past memories; so much that he was hindered from acting rationally. And with some big names expected to make their debut, he knew he would stand barely any chance of winning, let alone surviving all matches.
"Lone Wolf SIX?"
Lone Wolf SIX turned around and saw the caller; it was none other than the ex-Assassin Guild, Millia Rage; and she was seen carrying Sammy in her arms. He stared at the Russian woman for a while before he looked up at the sky and groaned.
"God," he shouted and spread his arms wide open, "why hath Thou made my life to be surrounded with women? Do I look like a pimp in Thy eyes?"
"Shut up, Lone Wolf," roared the voice from the heaven. "It's Thee who desired to have them staying by Thy side. Admit it, PIMP!" Lone Wolf SIX growled in dismay before looked at the puzzled Millia.
"What was that?" she asked.
"Conflicts between two warring sides," Lone Wolf SIX answered. "So, let me guess. You're because you have to. Or is there a better explanation?"
"None of your concern," Millia answered and patted Sammy's head. "At least I won't get trapped in trench wars again." Hearing the answer made Lone Wolf SIX laughed, much to the dismay of Millia.
"Oh, yeah. How was your trip to the Omaha beach?" the author teasingly asked. "How many players had you fragged there?" Millia growled at the question and had her hair making the signal 'don't'. "On the other hand, I better watch my mouth."
"LONE WOLF-SAN/WOLFIE!" Again, both Hibiki and Cassandra shouted at him and seized his arms, glowering threateningly at Millia. "Nobody's going to take him away from us! Not even you!" Then the swordswomen stared at each other. "US?"
"Your girlfriends?" Millia asked in surprise.
"To be exact, two Sister Princess-like women who have deep admiration toward a lucky loser-of-the-century," Lone Wolf SIX uttered. "And I mean, very lucky loser."
"JUST ADMIT IT, PIMP!" again, the celestial voice thundered the sky.
"SHUP UP, WILL THEE?!" Lone Wolf SIX shouted back at the voice.
The silent sky was shattered by a low, vibrating hum. All of them looked at the sky and saw an airship with 'GVS2' marking hovering above them. Wondering at what it might be doing in such place, they later heard a voice echoed out of the vehicle.
"Ladies and gentlemen, fighters and daredevils alike," the voice spoke. "Welcome to the second edition of Guilty Gear Versus SNK, held exclusively around the world. I, your official GVS2 announcer, am speaking on behalf of the organization who conducts this tournament. As everyone of you might wonder, sixteen locations have been selected across six continents for this competition, and I'm sure those who are at these locations can see airships like this hovering above you." Lone Wolf SIX and the three girls looked at each other before gazed back at the airship. "Well, of any of you has read the rules enlisted with the invitation, I'm very certain that all of you know what can and what cannot in this tournament. Otherwise, I will explain it again today."
"First and foremost, this is a free-for-all competition, meaning that all of the participants are allowed to use any techniques and tactics to win one battles. However, please note that those who are found cheating either before, during or after that match will be automatically disqualified. Those who don't show 100% commitment along the tournament will also be disqualified without warning. Oh, please remember that the organizer will monitor each and everyone of you from time to time. You can run, but you can never hide."
"Anyway, I'll stop talking nonsense since all of you are very eager to compete. So, let the game begin. HEAVEN OR HELL! LET'S ROCK!"
It had begun. Guilty Gear Versus SNK Series 2 was declared official, and the contestants were now ready to battle. Lone Wolf SIX looked back and forth between Hibiki, Cassandra and Millia before he scratched his head. "Now what? Are we supposed to look for challengers by ourselves?"
An eerie silence enveloped the bamboo forest. All of them looked around before Cassandra saw a woman walking toward them. The woman was staring coldly at them, with glares enough to struck terror in anyone seeing it.
"A challenger? So, who's going to fight first?" Lone Wolf SIX spoke.
"If Wolfie's her target, she must step over my body!" Cassandra insisted and backed Lone Wolf SIX. Hibiki followed on and stood beside him, opening her iaijitsu stance. The woman ignored them and teleported toward Millia.
"What do you want from me? And who are you?" the assassin demanded.
"I'm here to declare my challenge," the woman spoke and withdrew her dual kodachi. "Come and face me."
"Hey, you didn't answer me," Millia spoke and pointed at the woman. "Tell me now, or I shall use my force against you."
The woman idly stared at Millia. "You possess a dark energy inside of you. I have to eliminate it before it consumes you."
"You say what?" Millia demanded.
"………"
"Alright, you asked for it." Millia kissed Sammy's forehead and pit the kitten on the ground. "Kitty, be nice and don't go anyway. Okay?" she spoke and patted his head, in which Sammy responded with a nudge on her palm. Then, she stood up and faced the mysterious newcomer. "Let's have this finished quickly."
Both Millia and the woman stood in their respective battle stance, deeply staring at each other. Lone Wolf SIX, Hibiki and Cassandra, as well as Sammy, waited for the two to begin their duel.
Then, as both women still faced each other…
"GO!"
x-x-x-x-x
Peaceful morning at the Korean village.
"ERROR! BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!"
Robo Ky fired tens of guided missiles at Hikki, all easily evaded by the Korean. Earlier, the robot was seriously offended when Hikki teased him for having a crush toward Yuu. On top of that, Hikki even suggested Robo Ky to permanently reside at the village, just in case he wanted to be with her. Furious as he was, Robo Ky demanded Hikki to apologize yet the cosplay elite ignored and continually provoked him.
"Hah, hah, hah! You cannot catch me! You cannot catch me! PIIDAH!" Hikki shouted as he evaded missiles fired from the robot.
"I WILL KILL YOU, HIKKI!" Robo Ky roared and fired laser from his eyes. It missed and blasted a hill not far from the village. As he was ready to fire another laser, he halted and jolted violently. Again, his body overloaded and imploded.
"What's wrong? Got stuck, already?" Hikki teased and stuck out his tongue at him.
"SHUT UP." Robo Ky demanded. He tried to execute the laser attack, yet his internal warning system had prohibited him for committing such attack. "CURSE. I CANNOT DO ANYTHING IF I KEEP ON LIKE THIS."
"So? Are you going to keep chasing me all day?" Hikki suggested.
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Robo Ky shouted and fired a missile. However, its guidance system were malfunctioned, thus the missile attacked him instead. Robo Ky was too shocked to see what happened that he didn't evade the oncoming projectile. He got hit and was seriously damaged.
"Ouch, that hurts," Hikki uttered and approached the downed Robo Ky. He knelt beside Robo Ky and stared at him. "Hey, you okay there?"
"BODY DAMAGE EXCEEDS 75%. CANCELLING ALL MEANS OF BATTLE ORDERS." Robo Ky didn't say anything; he just glowered blankly at Hikki before he moves his sights away. He had lost, not to Hikki but to himself. Not only he was defeated, his pride as a Robo Ky was also put to shame.
Then, he looked back at Hikki. "I… I'M SORRY."
Hikki's eyebrows arched upward. "You said sorry? This is unbelievable for a robot like you. Wow, I wonder what would he say when he knows about this. But what are you sorry for?"
"I DON'T WANT TO TELL YOU WHY FOR NOW." Robo Ky insisted in more calmer tone. "I NEED SOME PRIVACY. PLEASE, LEAVE ME."
Hikki merely shrugged and stood up. "Alright, Robo Ky. Let's forget about what has happened, okay?" he said. Robo Ky just nodded and stared right to the blue yonder. He didn't say anything for a while before he sighed.
"WHAT SHOULD I DO…?"
x-x-x-x-x
The battle between Millia and the newcomer, now identified as Shiki, was getting more intense by each passing second. They had already executed hundreds of moves, yet neither of them showed sign of surrendering. Lone Wolf SIX, Hibiki and Cassandra, on the other hand, was sitting not far from the scene, enjoying tea made by Hibiki and chattering among each other.
"You're stronger than I expected," Shiki spoke as the two women landed on the ground. Millia just coughed and ran a finger through her blonde, staring at the ninja.
"And what do you expect from me? A reward for capturing a criminal or something?" Millia asked.
"I don't have time to answer any questions," the woman replied and lowered her stance. Then suddenly she dashed toward Millia and landed a Tsuyuharai. Millia briefly evaded with Zenten and retaliated by an Iron Sabre. Shiki got hit and was tossed to the air, and Millia quickly followed on with the airborne combo attacks, ended with a Bad Moon. Then, Millia opened her steps and jumped to the air.
"Take this!" she cried and tossed a Silent Force. Shiki got hit and staggered on the spot, and the opportunity was quickly seized. Millia dived toward Shiki in her airborne Winger overdrive. Again, Shiki got hit and crashed on a nearby boulder. Struggling to stand up, she glared at Millia, by now landing directly in front of her.
"Just as I thought," Shiki uttered, despite injuries she had. "You indeed possess a dark spirit. It needs to be cleansed out of your body."
"I don't know on whatever nonsense you're talking about!" Millia exclaimed. "If I did have such dark spirit… I wouldn't have to come here in the first place." Then suddenly she frowned, staring right on the ground. "Zato…" she pronounced the name. The man she hated so much that she even vowed to eliminate his shadow Eddie, and the man she so despised of that she couldn't help herself from thinking of him. She clenched her fist and bit her lower lip, trying to throw the unpleasant memory out of her.
"Millia, look out!" She was late to react to Lone Wolf SIX's shout and became the victim of Shiki's Tenma Hajun.
"This is for hurting me," Shiki declared and finished the overdrive with an uppercut slash. Millia was thrown to the air and couldn't counterattack because as she crashed on the ground, Shiki already grappled her with Shikiju.
"Die."
Millia collapsed to the ground again. She still breathed, yet she could barely move as she was practically 'put under curse' by Shiki. Shikiju; a lethal move that gradually cuts opponent's health while at the same time steals life for self-usage. So lethal it was that Shiki wasn't challenged for a period of time. And today, Millia had experienced its ferocity.
"You," Shiki uttered as the woman approached Millia and stared down to her. "Be grateful to let me cleanse your soul from the disturbing dark spirit." She lifted one of her kodachi to the air and let out a murderous glare. "Saraba."
"IYAA!" Millia let out a battle cry and executed her Psych Burst Counter, preventing Shiki from executing her. Despite the curse she had to endure, she managed to pressure Shiki with her extremely fast combo Gatling. "OMAE WO KOROSU!" she yelled and executed Emerald Rain overdrive. Shiki could not afford herself to block and was hit by the three revolving discs.
"Millia-san's really mad today," Hibiki uttered as the rest of them watched at the duel.
"Do you think so?" Lone Wolf SIX asked.
"It's my intuition, Lone Wolf-san," she replied.
Cassandra just sighed and murmured. "Hah, even if you have sixth sense, you cannot…" She suddenly went quiet. Lone Wolf SIX was glaring at her.
"Cassandra, be polite." He reminded.
"Yes, Wolfie," obediently she spoke and frowned. This time, Hibiki giggled at her, causing her to heavily blush. Lone Wolf SIX coughed and looked back at the battle when he noticed Sammy curling beside him.
"I think I've met you somewhere, kitty," the author spoke and patted the kitten's head, but suddenly Sammy hissed and scratched his palm. Lone Wolf SIX yelped and pulled back from Sammy.
"Lone Wolf-san!" Hibiki cried and seized his bleeding palm. "What happened to you? Who did this?" She saw Sammy glowering threateningly at him, its paw dipped in blood. "You! You did this to Lone Wolf-san?" she demanded. Sammy ignored her and kept glowering at Lone Wolf SIX before sat a bit far from them.
"Ouch, damn that kitty…" Lone Wolf SIX murmured and winced from the pain caused from the defensive scratch.
Millia ended her combo attacks and landed faraway from Shiki, the latter recovered from the intense pressure. She, as well as Shiki, panted very heavily and didn't have enough energy to continue the battle, let alone finish it. Yet they were determined.
Instant Kill was their only choice.
Both Millia and Shiki embraced themselves and were later engulfed by reddish aura. They were ready to defeat their opponents with a single blow. Lone Wolf SIX, Hibiki and Cassandra were also waiting – for the upcoming victor.
"Yo, Lone Wolf!"
Everyone was startled and looked at the direction where someone had called Lone Wolf SIX's name. It was Person WMA, accompanied with Mina. A strange silence engulfed the whole location as all of them stared at the two, expect for Hibiki who waved at her fellow Japanese.
"Whose match is it now, huh?" Person asked as the two arrived at the scene.
"What the hell are you doing here, Person?" Lone Wolf SIX demanded.
"What the hell am I doing here? Hey, I got an invitation and I thought you sent it to me, so I came here," Person answered.
"Not again…!" Lone Wolf SIX growled. "Ouch! Hibiki-chan, that hurts…"
"Gomen," Hibiki apologized as she wiped the blood of the scar. "And please stop calling me Hibiki-chan, Lone Wolf-san. I found the word -chan very uncomfortable."
"But you're so cute when you have -chan behind your name," Lone Wolf SIX insisted. Hibiki blushed and growled, and reacted by tying the bandages tightly on his hand. "OUCH! YIKES! Okay, Hibiki-chan… YELP! I mean, Hibiki, I'll pull back my words."
Shiki was staring at the people in wonder, and grumbled at them to have disturbed her focus on the battle. She forgot that Millia took the chance to react.
"Hey, where are you looking at?"
Shiki looked at Millia. "What the…!"
"Time to finish this once and for all! IRON MAIDEN!"
Immediately Millia plunged her hair into the ground, and a huge light pillar erupted below Shiki. The ninja got engulfed by the immense beam and was lifted to the air, before a hair cross strangled her. Shiki cried in absolute pain and tried to free herself from the hair trap yet the strangling became tighter with every movement she made.
Silence.
Shiki was immobile inside the hair cross, and there was no sign of retaliation. Millia released her off hair, and she fell to the ground.
"Is Millia-san…" Hibiki uttered before a declaration echoed in the air, and it came from the previous airship.
"DESTROYED!"
Millia sighed and summoned back her hair to return. She corrected it for a while before approached the spectators, and picked up Sammy. "Kitty, did you behave while I was battling?" she asked and softly kissed the kitten's nose.
"Yeah, acting nice and such. He scratched my hand!" Lone Wolf SIX whined and winced as Hibiki put potion on the bleeding scar. Millia blinked in disbelief and looked at Sammy.
"Did you hurt Lone Wolf, kitty?" she asked. Sammy growled and stared at Millia, as if telling her that he was innocent. "Awww, why do you stare at me? You're telling me that you didn't do it on purpose?" Sammy meowed and nudged against her cheek. Millia sighed and embraced the kitten, cuddling him like a mother cuddling her child.
"Damn opportunist…" Lone Wolf SIX grumbled and glared at Sammy. Sammy noticed him and sneakily grinned, telling him that he was victorious. "I'll get you, devil cat…!"