Chapter 9

Written By Illuminet

Disclaimer: Refer to the first chapter.

"..."-Indicate Speech

'...'-Indicate Thought

:::xXx:::

-Preface-

Slayer...

Born of Nosferatu, or as they are more commonly referred to, Vampires. Slayer is the leader of these immortal beings of Nightwalkers. These beings are the mortal enemy of Humankind, and although they have slipped into the darkest annals of history, it was the Gear Project that Frederick had started that caught the interest of Slayer and made him come out of hiding within the darkness of night to confront the scientist.

Slayer entreated Frederick with a clear warning. The Vampire race that had vanished from the world would return to take back the world that they rightfully owned before the birth of Humankind in ancient times. Unlike many of his brethren, who wanted to raid the world quickly, Slayer told Frederick that out of fairness, he would let Humankind prepare to protect themselves.

Slayer's terms were simple: As the creation of the Gears bring about the final piece to the missing link of immortality and the gift of gaining tremendous power to Humankind, he would allow Frederick to create a Gear that would become the Humans champion. On the day where night will always remain, Slayer himself will confront the champion in combat. Should Slayer triumph, Humankind is doomed to fall before the Vampires. Should the Gear be victorious, the Vampire race will remain in hiding and the Humans will continue to prosper in the world as they have been for a very long time.

After proclaiming the Proto-type Gear a failure, Frederick's sight turn to Justice, the first complete Gear. It was Justice who was to originally become the champion for the Humans, but with her death in the Crusades and her revival afterwards, Justice lacked the power to be able to be a reasonable threat against the powerful Slayer. It was when Frederick learned his Proto-type had completed himself that sights were returned to the Proto-type. Later, upon learning that the daughter of the two Gears would likely surpass her parents own power, Dizzy was decided as a possible candidate by Frederick as well. However, even with the greater power she possessed, because she lacked full knowledge and understanding of her own abilities, Frederick decided that she would just be a liability against Slayer.

Because Frederick has found out that Sol Badguy's power evolves not only by normal means, but also the negative feelings that reside within himself and other Gears, he decided that he needed to make Sol suffer. This was made in order to increase Sol's power more significantly. Yet, will Sol's power be enough to compete with Slayer's when the time comes?

:::xXx:::

-Main Story-

Underground Lab, Coliseum...?

His muscles were tense but he forced them to calm down. Sol kept his gaze leveled with that of Justice's. Her eyes bore into his own, hostile and unfamiliar to him. She couldn't recognize him since she was under That Man's influence.

'It comes down to this...funny how a few days ago I would never believe I would ever have to fight one of my own. And the very one just happened to be a loved one...the only one to blame for this is him...'

Sol thought, feeling anger well up inside him. Deciding to take the initiative, Sol charged at her first, already knowing where to strike her and end everything quickly. His thrusters propelled him quickly towards Justice, where he then thrust at her forehead with his hand, which took on a knife like shape. Justice swung out with her own arm, swatting his arm away as she brought her own arm out in a horizontal slash of a sword arm. Sol was sent back by the attack, but he came forward again quickly before she could fully recover to deliver a shoulder charge that knocked her to the ground and made her skid on her back a bit. He stradled her quickly, bringing his right hand to her throat to hold her head steady as he brought his left hand to her head piece. Justice reacted quickly and grabbed his left arm before he could fully put his fingers over her emblem marked forehead. Her tail came up to wrap around Sol's neck, forcing him back. Sol brought his right arm up from holding her neck to grab the appendage and force it off of his neck. His left arm was forcefully trying to break her grip as he tried to grasp around her head piece. Suddenly, Justice's thrusters activated and she propelled both herself and Sol into the air. She slammed him hard into the ground, bringing forth a sharp talon forward to scrape across the armored chest of Sol. Sol only grunted at the pain as he pushed her off him and then embedded his clawed hands into each of Justice's sides.

"You'll pay for this!"

The possessed Gear seethed out as she grabbed his forearms and forcing them out of her sides. She back flipped, whipping Sol hard under the chip with her tail. Sol fell roughly from the force. Sol got up slowly, as Justice came in front of him to swing out with her clawed hand in a large arc that slashed Sol hard across the face. He growled low in his throat as she lashed out with her other arm, but before she could make contact, Sol brought up his own arm to guard against the blow as his right fist came forward to strike Justice hard in the forehead that sent her reeling back from the blow. She clutched her forehead as her head shook, looking as if she was trying to clear her mind. Sol looked at the sight hopefully.

'Did I get it...?'

He hoped so. In order to make her break free from being controlled, all he needed was to totally destroy the armored head piece of her forehead. Justice's hands returned to their sides. Her forehead had some cracks running along it's surface, but otherwise, was still in tact. Sol cursed softly to himself.

'Fuck...why didn't I hit her harder? That could have ended this bout easily.'

He said to himself. This time Justice took initiative as she came forward with another slash of her morphed arm. Sol's own hand transformed to a blade as he slashed out at her. Their blades met in a blaze of sparks as they scraped against the surfaces of each other. Their blades remained lock together until Justice pushed Sol back. She aimed at his head with a clawed swipe of her hand, but Sol simple stepped back from the short attack before coming forward roughly with an uppercut to her chin that sent her skyward with the force behind it. Bits of armor fell from the cracks that lined her chin. Sol was then on top of her, his left hand going around her head piece before he slammed her bodily to the floor. Sol prepared to pull back, intent on ripping the head piece right off her forehead, but before he could get very far, Justices hands came to his forearm, stopping him. Her talons impaled through his armor, twisting his forearm in order to make his grip over her head piece to go in an angle where he could not grasp it more solidly. Sol gave up and wrenched his arm out of her hold. Justice lunged up at him, her arms poised to impale his head with her clawed fingers. He quickly snatched her hands, and pulled her closer to him, where he stuck her hard with his head. Justice reeled back from the head butt, an arm rubbing her forehead.

'Looks like it's been heavily damaged...that means the link should be severed from her head piece and her emblem...which means she'll be set free from his control!'

Sol thought to himself. Before he could congratulate himself, Justice slashed out with her sword arm, forming a concentrated wave of energy to lance out from the blade in a straight line. Sol barely evaded the attack.

"What the fuck...?"

He muttered softly to himself. Justice peered at him through narrowed eyes. Eyes that showed recognition.

"Freddie..."

She groaned out. Her eyes lost the feeling however and soon returned to how they once were.

"Not yet...!"

She said in a dangerous tone. The safety clips of her shoulders opened up.

"Not this again."

Sol sighed. With the last bit of control he had over her, That Man was ordering Justice to unleash the ultimate weapon on her person. Sol's body tensed up as heat began radiating from Justice's shoulders. The furious wave of light came forth quickly at Sol, but he didn't even try to block it. Instead, he held his ground, and just before the beam collided with his body, he jumped into the air, hovering dangerously close to the large blast radius of the Gamma Ray. Kicking his thrusters into action, Sol soared over the attack, landing right behind Justice. Her head turned to regard him with astounded eyes. His own shoulder clips opened, gathering energy.

"Hope you won't hate me for this..."

He muttered. He let his own attack hit her dead in the back, engulfing her form in concentrated energy. This action made Justice collide with her own attack as well, ensuing in a massive explosion that sent Sol off his feet and skidding across the ground roughly in a blaze of sparks as he tore through the ground. The explosion caused his sensors to malfunction for a moment as his vision slowly came back into focus. Sol groaned as he brought a hand to his head. Warnings buzzed through his head, informing him of the extensive damage his armor had taken from the stunt he pulled off. Sol ignored this as he stood up. He stared at the dust cloud that formed after the explosion came. Thankfully it disappeared soon enough and Sol found himself standing in front of a rather large crater that formed from the explosion as well. He wasted no time jumping into it when he noticed Justice lying face first in the center. A good chunk of armor had been taken off her back from his own attack, and the flesh of her back that was revealed was badly charred. Sol grimaced under his helmet at this, but he soon let out a sigh of relief seeing the charred skin beginning to heal nicely. Her armor disappeared from her body, leaving her naked figure on the ground. Sol stood up, looking up towards the sky. The illusion disappeared, showing a large bare ceiling.

'Figures...'

Sol said to himself. He grunted slightly and fell to his knees. He put his hand over his forehead and shook himself out of dizziness as his armor disappeared as well. He lowered his hand looking at his head piece. Sol sighed.

'Looks like I'll need to find some new leather straps to hold this thing up on my forehead, not to mention some new clothes.'

He thought off hand, leaving the head piece to fall to the ground as he left it abandoned on the ground. One of the weird perks for Gears when equipping their armors was that when the armor disappeared, any article of clothing a Gear might be wearing also gets removed. This was the last thing on Sol's mind of course as he went to inspect Justice. Kneeling beside the fallen Gear, Sol took her in his arms, gently slapping her cheek to awake her. Her eyes squinted slightly before opening into slits as she emitted a groan. Her golden eyes fell to mismatched colored crimson and gold eyes of Sol.

"Freddie..."

She said weakly in her groggy state. He smiled gently at her.

"Good, looks like you simmered down and are back to normal."

He told her. He helped her sit up.

"She's beautiful, Freddie...thanks for keeping your promise."

Justice said with a smile. He smiled back.

"Don't worry about it. And the name's Sol now."

He informed her.

"Sol..."

She said softly, as if testing the name on her lips.

"Yes, I know it used to be my Human middle name, but I've already taken it as my first name for the a long time now. Along as your last name for my own."

He said. Justice looked at him confused.

"Sol Badguy, then...?"

She asked. Sol nodded.

"Yeah, that's it."

He confirmed. Justice shrugged.

"I'll just have to get used to it. We need to get going. Dizzy is waiting."

She told him, getting to her feet along with Sol. The two made their way out of the crater, Sol retrieving his head piece on the way out.

"Justice, I'll take you with me, but your going to have to stay out of the fighting. Since that asshole's got your armor under his control, your going to be a liability since you and me both are at our strongest only when our armors are on."

He told her in a serious voice. Justice nodded, though that was the only confirmation she gave Sol.

:::xXx:::

With Testament and Faust...

"Yo, Testament...and Dr. Baldhead? What are you doing here?"

Testament almost lost concentration when Johnny's voice came to his ears.

"What's going on here?"

Ky asked. Testament grunted.

"If you couldn't tell, I'm a bit preoccupied with this guitar swinging bitch!"

Testament said as he blocked a thrust attack that I-No had just pulled off. No matter how hard he hit, I-No was not fazed by his attacks in the slightest. That fact that she was regenerating her wounds at an unbelievable rate wasn't helping matters either.

"Looks like the doc is holding his own better than Testament is."

May stated. Johnny looked down at her.

"Yeah, but why does the doc keep screaming all those weird phrases when he attacks? I mean what's up with all that yelling of -Going My Way- and -What A Psycho-?"

He asked. May just shrugged.

"What is he anyway? Is he Human?"

Jam asked. Johnny shrugged this time.

"He says he is, so I guess so. The tallest and the lankiest, anyway."

He said to her.

"Maybe we should help them out, since they seem to be reaching their limits."

Anji suggested. Baiken stepped forward.

"The faster we take down these two, the faster we can get back to our search for That Man."

She said. In an instant she was in between Testament and I-No, lashing out viciously with barrage of slashes.

"Let's get this over with. I'll be your opponent!"

Baiken challenged. I-No smirked, before laughing.

"What, you planning to poke me to death with that dull butter knife of your's, deary?"

I-No mocked. Baiken let out a feral growl from her throat.

"You'll be saying something totally different when my -butter knife- as you call it severs you into two at the waist."

Baiken snarled. I-No's mood became darker.

"You want to fuck with me, eh, bitch? That's fine, I'll smash you to pieces like the frail mortal you are. And that goes for all you other assholes who want to step in against me."

I-No said in a deeper, more sensual, and enigmatic voice. It was no idle threat. Johnny seemed to be in another world when the two women fought.

"Ooooh, cat fight!"

He said stupidly. The males eyed him oddly.

"Huh?"

Ky responded. Johnny looked at the shorter man, as a perverted grin graced his lips at Ky's clueless expression.

"Come on, Officer, don't tell me the sight of two hot women going at it doesn't get you excited? I mean just look at those..."

Bridget interrupted the black clad bandit swordsman.

"Uh Johnny, I'd stop there if I were you..."

Bridget stated. Johnny looked at the boy unfazed.

"Can it Bridget, not when I'm on a role. Now then where was I...oh yeah, those heaving breasts..."

This time Anji interrupted.

"Uh, Johnny, normally I'm all ears, but I think it really is best to heed Bridget's words..."

He went ignored and unheard as Johnny continued.

"Those swaying hips and..."

Now Chipp's turn.

"Uh, your going to find yourself in a lot of pain if you don't shut up..."

As with Anji and Bridget, Chipp went ignored.

"...those firm asses. How can you guys not..."

Before Johnny could continue, his chin was struck hard by a high kick courtesy of a very miffed Jam. As Johnny went skyward, May was there to intercept him, and with a racket like motion of her anchor, Johnny was sent back to earth face first, groaning. The other guys cringed, before shaking their heads and sighing.

"Dumb ass."

Chipp said. The others nodded.

"Agreed."

Johnny just laid there, talking incoherently.

"I saw angels just now..."

:::xXx:::

With Sol and Justice...

"Proto-type...it's been a long time."

The two Gears stopped dead in their tracks when they heard the voice of the one who tormented them the most.

"Not long enough. Where the hell are you?"

Sol stated as he stood protectively in front of Justice. Even with his enhance vision, Sol couldn't see a thing. Light filled the Gears vision nearly blinding them. Sol growled when he saw That Man, sitting on a throne wrapped in giant black chains and red skull motifs. Dizzy was strewn against That Man's lap, unconscious.

"For shame, Proto-type. Not even dressed, I see."

That Man said, shaking his hooded head. Sol's eyes narrowed.

"Don't blame me for that, asshole. Besides, my state of undress shouldn't be your concern. What did you do to her?"

He showed slight concern for the young woman laying on top of That Man's legs.

"A little bit of tampering. But the results came up short. These breed of Gears born from Gears are very unique, but not as customizable as the original Gears built by man. She is immune to all forms of control, unlike her mother, so unfortunately, I can't use her as an asset against you. Still...that doesn't mean I can't take care of you myself."

That Man said. Sol smirked.

"It's about fucking time you did, too! I'm going to enjoy smashing your face in, old man."

Sol said as he cracked his knuckles in each palm, before summoning up his armor again, fully healed from it's stasis mode. That Man stood up, holding Dizzy by the waist. With a snap of his fingers, two black chains slithered down from the ceiling to wrap around Dizzy's arms, raising her in the air. His left hand came forward, as a flame began emanating from his palm. The flame got bigger until it formed into the Fire Seal Outrage and fell into That Man's hand.

"Oh shit."

Sol muttered. That Man chuckled.

"Don't think I'm only going to use the Fire Seal Outrage, Proto-type. How about this as well?"

In his right hand, lightning gathered, before it too formed into the Thunder Seal Outrage and fell into his other hand.

:::xXx:::

With the others...

"What the...! Where did...?!"

Ky had joined the fray and was now fighting Raven. Raven came forth with a powerful right hook, while Ky drew back the Thunder Seal to defend against the blow. Unfortunately, the magic sword disappeared, and Ky was knocked down hard by Raven's fist. Bridget glared at the dark servant of That Man.

"Hey, that's cheating! You bastard!"

He shouted. Raven just looked dumbly at the fallen Ky.

"But..."

He began to say, but Jam's voice overpowered his when she was by her unconscious husband's side, cradling his head against her chest.

"No darling, don't die!"

She wailed. Johnny and Chipp looked at each other.

"Uh...I think she's over reacting. He just got knocked out."

He said. Chipp shrugged.

"True...but when a loved ones hurt, all people will react differently...in Mrs. Kiske's case it's...er, I don't know."

He responded. Bridget lowered his head, his hair over shadowing his eyes.

"Believe me...you two are better off not knowing. Once she gets over the crying...things become scary. There was this one time when a petty thief stole a purse from some lady who was walking ahead of mom and dad on their way to work. Anyway, dad gave chase, since he was an officer of the law. While he was in hot pursuit at an intersection, dad get's hit by a bus that couldn't stop in time when the thief came by a little bit before dad did. He was left pretty much in the same state as now, and once mom got over the initial shock...let's just say she went berserk."

Bridget said darkly. Johnny cringed.

"That thief must have had his ass handed to him once she caught up with him."

He said Bridget shook his head.

"She didn't kick the thief's ass...more like she beat the bus into nothing but a pile of scrap metal. I was told the driver and his passengers barely got out of there alive."

Everyone stared at Bridget wide eyed.

"Why do I get the feeling Raven is going to be in some serious trouble?"

Johnny asked.

:::xXx:::

With Sol and Justice...

"Oh shit...this looks bad."

Sol muttered. He knew things wouldn't be easy, but this was just ridiculous.

"What's wrong Proto-type? Lost confidence, have you? I suggest you give up and go home, Proto-type. Justice and Dizzy will be in good hands, I assure you. Wallow in your despair for not being able to defeat me yet, and build your hatred. It will make you powerful enough. Slayer won't be making an entrance for at least the next four or five centuries. Use this time to be ready for him."

That Man said.

"Slayer? Never heard of him."

Sol said. That Man shook his head.

"Should you fail when the time comes, not only you, but everyone will die. You don't want to put your family in danger, do you? Come back here when you've ascended your limits ten fold."

That Man warned him. Sol lowered his head, processing the new knowledge brought to him. After a long uncomfortable silence, Sol finally spoke.

"Sorry, I can't do that. I'm not leaving my woman or my child with you for the next four or five hundred years. When Slayer comes, I'll be ready for him."

Sol said firmly, standing with unyielding. That Man sighed.

"If by some small chance you do defeat me on this day, you will be signing the world's death warrant. I am the key which will hold Slayer back for so long. If you take me down, the key will be broken and Slayer will descend immediately on this world. And you will have to fight him. And you will lose and die, killing your family because of it. Don't be foolish, Sol Badguy...wait until you are truly ready."

That Man explained. Sol shook his head.

"I am ready. More than you'll ever truly know. I will beat the shit out of you and this Slayer you talk about this day, and I will take Justice and Dizzy with me. Get ready bastard, because I'm going to tear you a new asshole!"

-To Be Continued-

Note: Sorry for the delay. I've been busy. Luckily, I've finally got a copy of Guilty Gear Isuka and have been playing it every chance I get. I heard the general public didn't really like this game as much as Guilty Gear X2 (Guilty Gear XX: The Midnight Carnival), which is too bad because I actually enjoy playing Guilty Gear Isuka quite a bit (Despite being a short game, it's very addicting). I bring this update mostly because I'm very happy to say I've finally obtained the very nearly impossible to get Gamma Ray data chip for Robo-Ky MK II, and anyone who has gotten it knows obtaining it is no easy walk in the park. Anyway, I'll try to get up chapter ten as soon as possible (I only have about a quarter of it done...).