Chapter 5: The Gear's True Identity

"You'd ready for this, boy! Cause here I come!" Sol said smirking as he begins to attack Jin with his main weapon.

Both begins to fight as Jin tries to avoid most of Sol's sword slashes but to his surprise he got knocked off by his uppercut sending him in mid-air. Sol leaps and makes a combo slash, Jin eventually parries both of his sword slashes by deflecting move from move but knocking him with a single kick sending him through the ground.

"Unbelievable... I've never seen Jin would parry these kind of moves and he is showing his athleticism." Koji smiled excitedly.

"I don't think that's not athleticism, Mr. Masuda." Akira said knowing of Jin's feats. "My brother once told me that Jin is no ordinary person. That's why those feats he uses is not ordinary."

"Hmph, this fight is getting weirder and weirder than I thought. You're no ordinary human to face me." Sol said remarking of Jin's actions.

"Who cares if I'm not a human. We're both monsters you see." Jin said knowing of his acts.

"Feel free to say things, boy. But I can't lose to you." Sol smiles in arrogance as he begins to charge Jin for the second time.

Both of their blows are seen by Ryu, Yoko, Daigo and Sin knowing of their fight is extremely dangerous.

"Hey, sounds like someone is fighting down there." Sin wondered and seeing that Sol was there. "Oh crap, not the old man..."

"Ryu, I think Akira is with Jin and Mr. Archaeologist is there. We gotta find them." Daigo said as Ryu agrees.

Jin blocks Sol's sword with both of his hands but he lands a straight kick to the face to knock him down. Upon hitting with his sword, Jin still dodges and manage to trip Sol with L.L.R.K followed by Shun Masatsu and a roundhouse kick followed by a back punch and a Spine Cracker. Sol realizes that Jin was a worthy opponent and he charges again as his right fist begins to unleash fire to punch to the gut. Without warning, Jin dodges the move but lands Sol a straight kick to his face while both of his arms had crossed and knocks him to his gut with a heavy knee sending him in a little distance.

"It's amazing that Jin beats that guy with a single knee." Koji complimented as Akira smiles.

"I've never seen Jin's moves are getting improved."

"Wow... Jin manages to beat the old man. How lucky he was...?" Sin said shockingly.

"Jin wants to get his confidence back after he was defeated by Akuma in a fight." Ryu said after watching both Jin and Sol fight.

"No kidding, Ryu. Jin is a strong fighter to beat me down in the first place. But why he was defeated by someone who had the same move as you?" Daigo said in disbelief.

"Akuma is very hard to beat him, Daigo. If that happens... he might ended up getting killed if he unleashes his Wrath of the Raging Demon since he was the guest on Jin's game." Ryu said telling him causing Daigo to get scared.

"That was lucky that he's not on our game. Otherwise, we all get killed by him."

"That was fun, boy. You surely got lucky that you haven't been barbecued if I unleashes the flames from my sword y'know." Sol said as he stands up while clutching his gut and he warns him. "You have to keep that Gear that this guy was handling. There's more enemies will come this way."

"What do you mean, Sol?"

"You will see for yourself." Sol said as he walks away while trying to snap his neck and Jin knows something within him.

"You made it, Jin. You just beat the old man fair and square." Sin said happily and Jin replies and knowing of what Sol says.

"Yeah... but I'm confused to his words. He just said that I was lucky that I wasn't end up being barbecued."

"What the old man says that you were lucky that he didn't unleashes some flames from his sword. That way you might ended up getting burned into a crisp." Sin said telling him.

"I just want to know more about Sol, Sin." Jin said seeing his presence. "He just said there are more enemies on your game. But I could sense something is definitely happened here."

"We'll wait here until you came back." Ryu said letting Jin to find Sol. "If Sol is saying there are more hostiles in their game. I'm sure we can help."

"Okay, Ryu... just keep an eye on everyone. Once we're done, we're gonna get back to our respective games." Jin said as he goes to find Sol.

"Dad... what just happened?" Yoko asked as Koji replies while looking on the Gear he was handling.

"This Sol fellow just came here to attack me but luckily Jin manages to save me from being pummeled."

"What!? The old man had done that?" Sin reacted and Koji shows the artifact to them.

"I guess his reasons for attacking me because of this Gear I was handling. He was saying about Justice."

Meanwhile, Jin tries to find Sol and he senses his presence after he was defeated by him. Frankly, Sol was actually hiding beneath the tree while sitting and having a smoke.

"I knew you were there to find me, boy." Sol said sensing Jin's presence which he saw him.

"Okay, Sol... I don't know why are you warning us about more hostiles are coming this way. But why are you saying that I was lucky that I wasn't end up being burned into a crisp?" Jin said wanted to know of Sol's words until he reveals.

"My words are logic, boy." Sol said as he throws the smoke bullet from his mouth into his main weapon. "You see in our game, there was a person wanted to obliterate innocent lives of this people if you finish the whole thing. That explorer fella seems to be that he's from that game that was totally obliterated."

"What!? What do you expect from Mr. Masuda, Sol? Your harsh words is starting to annoy me." Jin said raising his brow and Sol stands up and he reveals what happened to the Ehrgeiz game.

"If you don't believe me, that game was totally obliterated by Ramlethal Valentine when she demonstrates her abilities. That game might be popular but it was wrecked by Valentine's clutches. The same obliteration did to my game is to kill innocent peoples' lives. They can't survive if the balls of fire had stick on ya."

"..."

"So tell me boy, you got a smart mouth to know more about me. But I was impressed to see you beat me with close combat." Sol said smirking.

"Just me call me Jin, I'm not a kid you see..." Jin corrects him and Sol reminds him his former best friend.

"Your name sounds like the person I knew. Asuka R. Kreutz who is my nemesis, That Man."

"..."

"You were right. We're both monsters and not human. The reason I had this headband that I crafted is to maintain my human self." Sol said pointing out on his headband.

"You mean you are formerly a human." Jin wondered in confusion.

"The truth is Sol Badguy is just my alias while working as a bounty hunter and I was a former scientist who majored in a Magic Particle Physics before working with the Gear Project." Sol said as he finally tells his real name. "My real name is Frederick."

"Frederick? But how come everyone knows your Sol?" Jin said in a serious tone.

"I kept my alias so that no one would recognize me. I still have my grudge on That Man. He was the person who forced me to converted into a Prototype Gear. That is why I'm no longer a human anymore but a Gear." Sol said telling him. "If I remove my headband my Gear self will be activated. You will see that I had a mark of a Gear in my forehead."

"Whoa... just like I was transforming to my devil form." Jin said surprisingly.

"It is called Dragon Install which it activates my Gear powers for a boost. But I can repressed it." Sol said knowing of his Gear powers as he tells him. "I don't make friends with other people because of my role. But for you, you are a special one. You and I we had looking for the same thing. I was just giving a high regard towards you."

"So tell me, Sol I mean Frederick... who is Ramlethal Valentine?" Jin asked.

"That bitch wants to rule the world and is after Babylon. She wants to remove all the redundancies in our world to make everyone die." Sol explained. "She just call herself a pawn so that she and I are gonna blown away. But I was saved by Elphelt his sister who look like Aria."

"Wow..."

"Oh yeah... I forgot to tell you that Aria is my former girlfriend who had died from her terminal illness." Sol said calmly. "What about you, you don't have a girlfriend in your game?"

"No, Frederick... I don't have a girlfriend really?" Jin reacted blushing as he tells him. "I just don't like to have close relations because of my cursed blood."

"Hehe... it's too bad to waste your youth just because you would become a monster when you turned into. You got a smart mouth, y'know." Sol smiled nicely.

"Anyway, about what you said about the Ehrgeiz game have been obliterated. Just tell me..." Jin said finally changes the subject as Sol finally tells him.

"After someone who plays as me in this game, when Valentine destroys the innocent lives of every people in my world was obliterated with a single blow. But one day when it was closing time, Valentine became extremely dismayed after seeing this game you're talkin' a bout remarking this as old and cranky and she decides to use her power like she did before when you clear the game. She particularly destroys it."

Flashback:

In the Ehrgeiz game Lee Shuwen saw a sphere like-flame comes out and obliterates the whole thing as other Ehrgeiz characters like Prince Doza, Yoko, Koji, Clair, Inoba, Godhand and others are trying to escape from being obliterated as few of them are disappearing as it explodes in flash of darkness and the whole game was destroyed rendering unplugged as Sol continues to explain the turn of the events.

"Ever since that game is totally busted, five of these characters manage to survive from the obliteration and this guy became mortified after his student was among with the other characters are obliterated in the blasts. So they give them a chance to live in the Game Station instead. I became disappointed when the owner of this arcade center where we lived was disappointed when he remarks my game is extremely deadly but dangerous and none of the players won't play this game anymore because the Ehrgeiz was unplugged due to overloaded."

Flashback over:

"This is why I recognized that explorer with you is one of the survivors from getting their game obliterated in Valentine's hands." Sol said knowing of Koji's presence.

"She's way too petty." Jin said while lowering his head and angrily realizing what she had done. "Didn't she knew that this Ehrgeiz game was created with Cloud's game and my game? How could she put her dirty hands on that game? What manner of a lady would be loathing on old games such as this?"

"..."

"I need to inform Ryu and the others about this. That lady has to be stopped. I know for sure the next game she would get rid of it was Project Justice game." Jin said knowing of the next target happened making Sol stands up.

"I'd better warn Ky about this too. We maybe rivals but we're much like a bit of friends because of Sin. But don't be so sure that game would be targeted by Valentine. You will find out for yourself."

As Sol walks away, Jin has to inform Ryu and the others about what happened to the Ehrgeiz game as he quickly runs off. Zato-1 appears to be bulkier than the former as he glares at Jin who is running quickly as he taught.

So Godhand was there, huh? How interesting... and looks like they're gonna beat that no gooded lady who wrecked our game, hahaha...

Trivia:

*Sin was surprised to see Jin beats Sol in his game.

*Sol does his win animation in this chapter while walking away despite being defeated by Jin.

*Sol also does his normal pre-fight having smoking from the bullet before he spits and puts the bullet on his sword.

*Sol's real name is Frederick which everyone does not know especially in the games.

*The obliteration of the Ehrgeiz game due to overloaded is based on all characters' endings in Guilty Gear -Xrd- SIGN which involves Ramlethal Valentine obliterates innocent lives using her powers.

*The word Jin says to Sol about Ramlethal Valentine is a reference to Zalbaag in the Final Fantasy Tactics during his confrontation with his elder brother, Dycedarg.

*Zato-1 appears in this chapter but in reality it was Dasher Inoba in disguise.