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So I gaze on you in the sanctuary,
to see your strength and glory.
For your love is better than life,
my lips will speak your praise.

So I will bless you all my life,
in your name I will lift up my hands.

My soul shall be filled as with a banquet,
my mouth shall praise you with joy.

You have been my help;
in the shadow of your wings I rejoice.
My soul clings to you;
your right hand holds me fast.

Responsorial Psalm.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter One: Eyes on my Future

“Y’know, I’ve never been to England before. It’s pretty.”

With wide eyes and genuine curiosity, May’s gaze examined the
beautiful country of England for the very first time. It was all that
Johnny had described it to be. Gentle, babbling brooks, tall oak
trees, small and peaceful wildlife scurrying along the blades of
weatherworn grass. May had seen nothing like it.

Just to the side of May was Dizzy, also in awe of the sight they were
now taking in. The two girls were standing on a large cliff face
hanging above the lower forests, packed with untainted greenery. From
this position they were given an eagle eye view of the wider
countryside, in all its natural glory.

“Yes,” Dizzy began with awe. “It is very beautiful.”

May nodded. “Uh huh. I’m glad Johnny decided to let us land here. But
I suppose we’re here for more than that.”

That was true. The Mayship was passing just over Northern France at
the time, but Johnny and some of the other Mayship girls on the bridge
realized that the ship was low on fuel. Johnny knew better than to
land for fuel inside an inner European country, their prices for it
were through the roof, so he ordered the girls to land the ship in
England. The towns and cities dotted along the country were remote and
far between due to the devastation caused by the Crusades, trade
between them was still very fierce. So the competing companies
producing this fuel often lowered their prices to outdo the others.
This was good news for anyone like Johnny. The Mayship was his shining
baby but it sucked up gas like nobody’s business. When the
announcement was given to land, June and Dizzy asked if they could buy
some spices and herbs while the fuel tanks were refilled. Johnny
accepted this, but May decided that she and Dizzy should go buy them,
for the simple fact that she needed to stretch her legs a bit.

While taking in the lovely setting before her, Dizzy thought of
something. “May?”

The girl in question looked over to her friend. “Yeah?”

“Won’t the Mayship be at risk if we land it here?”

Thankfully, England was abounding with large forests, which gave the
Mayship perfect cover while on ground.

“Nah.” May said, shaking her head. “This place has got a lot of trees,
which is a good thing. Plus, all the girls are still on the ship. If
anything happens, like a bounty hunter sees us or something, they can
always take off and pick us up later.”

Dizzy nodded. It did make her more comfortable to know that the ship
would not be at risk, for more reasons than one. The Mayship was her
home now. Like any normal person, Dizzy felt protective of her home,
in the same way that her home gave her a warm security. Even though
she missed Testament, the forest and all her small animal friends,
Dizzy held the Mayship to a great value in her heart.

Only one thing (or person, more accurately) meant more to her.

May.

Dizzy’s peered at May from the corner of her crystalline red eyes, her
face twisted with the most haunted of expressions. She could feel her
heart beating faster and faster with every second she spent on
marvelling at May’s adolescent exquisiteness. Many of Dizzy’s dreams
had been occupied with May’s angelic presence. The young brunette
holding her would whisper sweet words of affection to a yearning ear,
declaring undying love and unconcealed desire.

Then Dizzy would awaken with the emptiest of feelings within her.
Dreams are wondrous because they allow you to explore things you may
never experience. But they are also horrifying when you face up to the
fact that they are illusions of the mind. Fabrications of a longing
psyche that allow false hope. It proved that there was such a thing as
blissful torture.

Though May’s attraction to May was fast developing into love, she was
very reluctant to tell the orange-clad girl how she felt. Most of the
crew, now realized Dizzy’s affections for May, but where very doubtful
of her chances. They loved Dizzy like a sister but they couldn’t lie
to her. The innocent-hearted Gear had very poor odds in this game. But
what made it worse was the strength of her caring. April once told
Dizzy that it might have been a simple crush, nothing more. However,
this could not be true.

Crushes eventually fade away. This tingling inside Dizzy’s heart
wasn’t going anywhere, which in turn made the situation much more
complicated.

And so, Dizzy kept her feelings concealed. It would be safer to have
May as a friend rather than lose her over this.

May’s dark marble eyes looked over at Dizzy. “Dizzy are you okay?” She
asked gently. “You seem sorta... lost.”

Well, that *is* the kind of effect May had on her... “No... I am...
fine. I just... this place reminds me of my old forest and my old
life. That’s all.”

May smiled charitably. “Hey, no need to worry about all that now! All
that’s behind you. You’re with me and the rest of the crew. That’s the
only thing that matters.”

Dizzy blushed lightly as she looked away. “Thank you, May.”

“You don’t have to thank me.” May’s eyes turned back to the
countryside setting. “You’re my friend. I’d do anything for my
friends.”

Soon after, Dizzy found herself stumbling to speak. “But then... what
if... a friend thought that maybe-“

“Johnny!”

Dizzy cut herself off as May let out a giddy sequel, from seeing her
noble and dashing captain walking up to the two of them. It was
decided that he and April would go purchase the fuel while May and
Dizzy went to buy June’s ingredients. So now they were getting ready
to leave. Dizzy fell silent and May’s confident smile doubled over as
Johnny approached her.

“Hey, Johnny!” May said brightly. “Is everything taken care of?”

Johnny nodded, tilting his hat up a little. “Yup. We’re all set here.
You remember the plan right? April and I will go get the fuel from the
village, while you two go do what you have to in the marketplace. You
got it?”

May nodded in conformation. “Sure!”

As did Dizzy. “Yes.”

“Okay,” Johnny began. “We’ll meet each other back here in about two
hour’s time. Then we’ll take off again.”

Just then, Johnny looked over to April, who was talking to one of the
Mayship crewmembers by the ship. “April! We’re leaving now!”

April yelled back. “I’ll meet you there! I have to take care of
something!”

Johnny sighed. “Oh well. I suppose I can handle this for now. I’ll see
you two later, okay?”

With a final wink, Johnny walked down the sloping hill towards the
small village located behind the cliff face. After watching Johnny go,
May’s beautiful bright eyes glanced back at Dizzy.

“Lets go, Dizzy.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Axl Low smiled brightly as he walked along the cobblestone-paved
ground of this small, secluded village. He had been searching and
searching for That Man, the man who he believed could jump across time
just like Axl could, but to no avail. Even so, Axl was still confident
about finding him. If it meant going back to his own time and seeing
Megumi again, then he’d search forever.

At the moment, Axl was in the alleyway of the suburban district of the
town. This place wasn’t fancy, but if he could find a decent pub or
bar, this search wouldn’t be a total loss.

{I could really use something to keep me going...} Axl thought. {Maybe
I should turn back... I did see a-}

Axl stopped as his blue eyes locked on to one sexy looking number. She
was swathed in pure red (and black) leather, had an odd looking hat,
and the most strange of all, she had a 20th century style guitar
strapped to her waist.

“Hmm...” Axl mused. “Cute body, unique taste in clothes... she reminds
me of someone... oh well. Might as well introduce myself.”

Over at the corner of the alley, I-no stood, with her back rested
against the wall. It was high time she began her Carnival. The fiery
rocker observed Axl from the side of her ever-shifting eyes,
deliberating over her next move.

{Hmmm...} I-no thought. {Maybe he’ll be useful to me in sending that
b*****d, Corrupted Flame, a message. Heh, heh...}

Axl strode up to I-no with a bright smile, resting his duel
kusari-game on the side of his waist. “Hey there, babe. You all
alone?”

I-no smiled innocently (as hard as it sounds). “That’s right.”

Axl then inspected I-no’s guitar. “Hey. That’s a nice guitar you’ve
got there? Perhaps we could go somewhere nice and quiet to listen to
it? Just you and me?”

“I’d love to.” I-no grinned darkly, losing that previous innocent
smile. “Just make sure you listen with all you’re heart and soul...
I’ll send you straight to heaven!”

“Uh? Whoa!”

Axl leapt gracefully to one side while I-no’s powerful, leather
wrapped leg swept below his feet, in the position that had been in. He
landed a short distance from That Man’s avatar, with the most confused
of expressions on his face.

“Hold up a second here!” Axl said. “I thought we were gonna listen
to... Gah!”

The young Brit ducked as a second kick, aimed at his temple, whipped
over his head, slightly ruffling his long locks of platinum blonde
hair. I-no employed a mere fragment of her blistering speed, but all
the same it was enough to bewilder Axl. In an instant he lost sight of
her, and all too late she re-appeared behind him.

I-no grinned as her fingers wrapped around her mighty weapon and
friend, Marlene, and she swung it towards the back of Axl. The young
man yelled out as I-no’s guitar collided with the small of his back,
knocking him off his feet and towards the opposite wall. Axl slammed
against the hard stone wall face first, although he managed to
maintain his grip on the kusari-game. He slouched down a little till
he was sitting on the floor raggedly, and then turned around.

To see I-no about to blast him with her guitar.

Axl’s eyes shot open and his body rushed with adrenalin as I-no
plucked at the strings of her faithful companion. A volatile wave of
golden sound energy was emitted from that motion, and Axl quickly dove
to one side to avoid it. The shot wave blasted into the wall,
triggering a resounding explosion that rocked the alleyway. A wafting
cloud comprised of smoke and dust floated around, causing a singe to
Axl’s eyes. He desperately waved the dust and smoke out of his eyes
and his way, clearing a path for him to see a little better.

The first thing he noticed was the wall. I-no’s sound waves had
created a shallow but wide crater there. About seven inches deep. Any
further in and it would have broken the wall. But it didn’t. The
alleyway was too narrow for that to have been a random occurrence.
I-no had to have instinctively calculated how powerful the attack was
and how deep it would be. All in a few seconds of thought. This woman
was no ordinary fighter... But Axl was even more surprised when he
finally caught sight of I-no.

She was almost orgasmic, all over a simple fight.

I-no sighed softly, seductively running a hand through her midnight
black hair, the other hovering over the curve of her breast, sliding
down her flat stomach to the arc of her leather-confined crotch.

“We’re not done yet.” I-no moaned. “Stand up.”

Axl stuttered nervously. “I-I’ve had enough music... really...”

I-no gave off a disappointed sigh. “How sad. You have no staying
power. Anyway, if you run into a man named Sol, tell him that I-no’s
looking for him. Ciao!”

I-no then walked away, out of the alleyway and onto the main road. Axl
just looked on blankly, his eyebrow twitching, then stood up, dusting
off his outfit.

“Whoa. So she’s an acquaintance of Sol’s, huh? No wonder she’s so
strong...”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Is this the stuff?” May asked.

May and her pirate Gear friend Dizzy walked along the bustling market
of this English village. It was a cold winter’s day, but many people
were here, buying fruits, vegetables and other bare essentials. No
matter what damage came to the world, by Gears or whatnot, the
consumer trend for shopping was perpetual.

May did her best to avoid bumping into too much. But they were so
eager and curious that they couldn’t watch themselves to keep from
banging into other people. So she did her best to put up with it by
helping Dizzy pick the stuff out.

Dizzy nodded. May had been pointing to a food stall that sold spices,
and realized that one of the items was in fact what she had been
looking for.

“That’s the one.” Dizzy said, her voice rising slightly to avoid being
drowned out by the loudness of the surrounding customers.

May took a closer look. “It’s pretty expensive. Are you and June gonna
make something special for tomorrow, or what?”

“June decided that we should.” Dizzy uttered. “I do not know why. But
she makes very nice foods. I want to be able to cook like that
someday.”

May smiled at Dizzy. “You really love it, don’t you?”

“I do. I love cooking things. I think I like the idea that I help out
on the ship, too. I’m so clumsy, and I always end up breaking things,
so...”

“No need to say it like that.” Chipped in May. “Accidents happen. I
should know. Whenever I cook, June threatens me with murder. Maybe I
should take up cooking lessons or something?”

Dizzy handed some money over to the stall owner to pay for the spices.
“June could always teach you, like she did with me.”

“And have her knock my block off when I accidentally burn one of her
precious, priceless pots? Not likely! But...” May then winked
suggestively at her crimson-eyed friend. “Maybe *you* could teach me
how to cook?”

Dizzy’s was thrown for six. “Me?”

And May just shrugged. “Yeah, why not? You’re a great cook, and I’d
like for you to teach me. I gotta learn to cook someday, right?”

Dizzy squirmed a little. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to do this,
but... “Well... I...”

Suddenly, May clasped onto Dizzy’s hand with a soft grip and looked up
at her with those innocent, adorable dark eyes of hers. Dizzy almost
choked. May was touching her. It sounded so simplistic and
insignificant in her head but the feeling it gave her... The
sapphire-haired girl was putty in May’s hands.

Dizzy’s voice spoke out automatically. “I would love to teach you...
May.”

“Alright!” The brunette girl yelled happily. “Trust me, it’ll be
great!”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

April sighed as she dragged herself across the cobblestone pavements
of the village. Johnny had gotten ahead of her, but she knew where he
was going, since he gave her a set of directions to the place where
they could buy the fuel they needed.

The journey wasn’t too long but April still felt tired after it all.
Which was understandable, she hadn’t gotten much sleep these past few
days. Not that she understood why.

{Maybe I’m working too hard.} April thought. {Maybe I need a break.}

“Hey!” Just then, April was jerked out of the way as a woman, veiled
in a pallid white cloak, zipped past her in a furious dash. The young
pirate was knocked off her feet and she landed coarsely on the ground.
The older woman pulled down her hood and looked back at the girl as
she ran away

“I’m sorry, kid!” She said rapidly. “Forgive my haste!”

April felt all her anger slip away as her eyes were graced with that
rapidly moving vision of goddess-like beauty.

Her eyes glazed over, and her voice was reduced to a breathless wisp
of its former state. “W-Who... is she?”