Disclaimer: I Do not own Guilty Gear or any of its awesome characters...

Guilty Gear: Uphold the Honor

KNIGHT AND TEMPTRESS SERIES

By Traingham

((I))

All of the new officers of the Sacred Order stood in one row with their chest puffed out proudly, some more noticeable than others for gender reasons. They had finally gotten through all of the paperwork and training to be considered worthy for the position. Yes, while some of their backgrounds were a little sketchy and questionable, some quite a bit more disturbing that others in some cases, Kliff was more than willing to recruit them since the order suffered a great loss in the last operation that took place in Rome. Some of the higher ranking officers were now investigating that freak incident with no luck as of yet. Not that it was something that he would have them get directly involved with. They would still have to show their worth on the field before he had allowed them such clearance.

"Congratulations. All of your hard work has finally come to pay off." Kliff told the new officers in his usual low rumble as he walked down the row, examining them all under his bushy, gray eyebrows. One particular officer caught his interest most, that young man being Ky Kiske. The training officers spoke rather highly of him, though there were also reports that he didn't get along too well with elite officer, Sol Badguy. It wasn't exactly something that Kliff was particularly worried about, however. Most of the trainees never really got along with the fiery man, but there was a difference in the way 'most' of them handled that dislike and how the young Ky did. Most of them simply kept their head low and stayed out of his way, where as Ky was brave enough to stand up to him. It probably didn't need much emphasis that Kliff like that in an officer. That was an automatic pass in his book in terms of conduct.

"Remember, the blood and sweat you've all shed is a testament to your great strength and undying will. There is a reason that you are standing here before me right now," Kliff raised a fist and clenched it firmly, "and that is because you all hunger for the same thing, Justice! I pray that when you are all on the field that you never forget that. Should you find yourself in doubt, surrounded by darkness in such times of uncertainty, remember who you are and what you stand for. Hold still to the guiding light of the Sacred Order and deliver your judgment swiftly!"

And with that, the hunched commander turned to the imposing figure that was leaning against the wall behind him with its arms crossed. From any sensible person's point of view this particular individual was not exactly the type to screw around with. It just didn't seem too advised from the looks of it. "Any words, Captain?" Kliff offered.

Sol regarded the commander silently for a moment before finally blinking. He kicked off from the wall, uncrossing his muscular arms as he did and stepped forward with the wisest words the officers would ever hear in their lives from that point forward.

"Don't fuck up."

[ With that out of the way... ]

"Oh, I can smell it now!" Axl exclaimed almost lustfully as he rubbed his index finger and thumb together with enough friction to let off a spark. "Greens beyond my wildest dreams! I can finally move out of my old excuse for an apartment!" The English officer patted a hand roughly against Ky's shoulder as he increased his pace to stay on par with his.

"We've just graduated as officers and you're already showing unfavorable qualities, Low." The promising knight quipped at his fellow officer's words. "At least wait until we've left the building."

"Oh, c'mon, Ky!" Axl leaned over in his friend's face with his usual grin. "You've gotta admit that there was more to joining the force than just having the honor of upholding justice." His last words came out rather sarcastically. It almost sounded as though he quoted them from a book he was forced to memorize, which just so happened to be the case. The answer to his question came in the form of Ky shooting him a stern glare.

Axl stopped in his tracks, allowing Ky to walk up ahead of him. "...Christ, you must be kidding me." He shrugged his shoulders and reached into his pocket to unravel a wrapped slice of gum before popping it in his mouth, grumbling, "Well, I hope I don't end up as his partner."

Another officer by the name of Anji Mito walked past him with a large grin on his face. "No more parking violations for me." And with that remark, walking down the hall haughtily, Anji never realized that he'd just decided himself a partner.

"Aw, yeah." Axl pumped a fist in the air as Venom, Dizzy, Bridget, and Millia walked past him. They didn't want to know what that was about, especially since Axl happened to be standing in the middle of the hall and Sol was walking his way with the usual sneer on his . What followed was an unexpected cry of pain as Sol's left boot struck Axl's backside rather painfully.

"Out the way."

Bridget hastened himself to catch up with Ky Kiske as the white knight made it to the elevator and smiled at him cheerfully. During the training phases, Bridget was practically ranked by the rest of the trainees as the only least likely to graduate. It was through Ky's encouragement and help that he was able to make it through Sol's regiment of hell as some of the higher ranking officers affectionately called it. As one might have guessed, this caused the young man to see Mr. Kiske as a close friend, which Ky appreciated. No, really, he did, but it was just a little hard to get used to when Bridget happened to be the most feminine young man he'd ever met, and god, that voice was absolutely not helping in breaking that disturbing illusion. Axl nearly bashed his head against the desk into a pulp when he made a pass at the young man only to find out that...well, enough said on that subject.

"Well, we made it!" Bridget grinned.

"It would seem like it." Ky nodded.

Bridget took a step closer, "Aren't you excited at all, Ky?"

Ky edged away, "Yes, I am."

"You sure don't look like it." Bridget stepped closer, realizing that the distance between them seemingly had not changed at all for some reason.

"I'm just not very expressive." Ky stepped away again as unnoticeable as he could. "That's all."

"You're cool, Ky." Bridget stepped closer again. He wasn't sure what was going on, He could swear that the distance between them still remained unchanged. "Just kind of weird sometimes."

Ky, finding that this conversation was dragging too long, decided to take the only escape route he could from his overly feminine looking friend. "What an annoying elevator." He turned for the stairs and left quickly, calling back, "Bye, Bridget."

"Um...okay." Bridget nodded, a little disappointed at his friend's decision to take the stairs despite the fact that the elevator was just five floors down, and they happened to be on the seventy seventh floor. Well, good luck to him on that unnecessarily long descent. The faint chime behind him alerted him of the elevators arrival and he turned to enter it followed by two of his other fellow officers, Millia Rage and Dizzy.

Millia Rage was a beautiful woman, tall and graceful with flowing blonde hair that most observers would classify as abnormally long, though most of them would have the sense not to since it was a very touchy subject for her. She was flat mates with the equally lovely, Dizzy. Dizzy was perhaps, a bunch of fetishes mixed together in a bowl to give life to one of the sexiest women to walk the halls of the sacred order. Sure, the fact that she had wings was something that brought her almost as much attention as her measurements, but nobody really talked about it. Last person that did had a one on one talk with Sol Badguy...see what I did there? That's s'posed to speak for itself...

What Bridget didn't know as the elevator doors closed, trapping him inside the suspended steel box of claustrophobic death, was that Millia and Dizzy had a thing for tasty little morsels lke him, so he should have thought twice when the following happened.

"Hey, Bridget." Millia called his attention in a casual manner as Dizzy stared at him from his right in a disturbing manner.

"Yes?" Bridget responded cheerfully. He was oblivious to most things, just in case you hadn't noticed by now.

"Celebration at our house." Millia told him with a straight face. "You're invited."

"Oh, really?" He clasped his hands together excitedly.

"Would you like to come?" Dizzy asked pleasantly, offering him a smile that would have any normal man donating her his organs, "We'd really appreciate it if you did."

"I'm so there!" Bridget accepted the invitation, thinking that this was all just a regular graduation celebration, and that there would be more guests beside him in their home during the party. See what I did there? That's s'posed to be a cleverly disguised trap...

Meanwhile, Axl Low, still on the seventy seventh floor since Millia pressed the button for the elevator door to close before he could crash their little scheme with his unwanted presence, was left to wait for the next one with May. Said officer was a perky young woman that practically breezed through the training sessions they were forced to endure, and yet still managed to complain about it when everyone left the facility to change out of their sweats feeling as though they just followed Dante in his descent of the nine circles of hell. The only person who managed to beat her record of success was Ky Kiske. She had the strength of Popeye the sailor, and most of all, she was annoying...

All in all, Axl's wait for the elevator was long enough to make him think about taking Ky's earlier escape route. Geez, May could talk...

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[ Following Ky Kiske to his apartment... ]

Upon his seventy seven floor descent to the lobby of the Sacred Order building, which would have left the next man begging for a stretcher to take him to his grave, Ky proceeded to fall into his usual routine of jogging back to his apartment so he could spend the rest of the night resting. Tomorrow would be his first official day on duty and he didn't want to show up tired. No, he wouldn't give Sol the satisfaction.

He came to a six floor building a calm and ritzy section of the city of Reload. It was situated between similar looking buildings in a long row on a narrow one way street. People walked by, greeting him as they walked their dogs and he waved back before ascending the short stairway surrounded by pots of white and blue flowers that lined its stone hand rails, leading up to the main entrance of his building. After slipping his key card along the sensory slot the door, opened for him to enter.

The white knight ascended the flight of stairs that met him as soon as he entered, to the third floor where his apartment awaited him. He didn't seem to hear the squeal of excitement that emitted from the door of the neighboring apartment when he passed it in his walk. It wasn't until he came to his own door, slipping his key card out of the inner pocket of his white jacket that the aforementioned door opened to reveal his lovely neighbor and secret admirer, Jam Kuradoberi. Well, it was a secret only to him. Everyone else who had the awkward pleasure of witnessing their interactions, knew. Hell, the customers at her restaurant knew. Could it have been a coincidence that one of the famous dishes at her restaurant was named ' The Kiske' ? The poor officer had no idea that most of the men who lived in the city had to suppress the urge to kill whenever he walked their way...that oblivious bastard.

"Hidy, Ky!" Jam walked out of her apartment in a red cooking apron and black shorts. Any person that stood behind her would easily be able to tell that she was topless.

"Ah, good evening, Ms. Kuradoberi." The officer greeted her back with a gentle smile. Unfortunately for Jam, Mr. Kiske was a gentleman of the finest caliber. His eyes met her own and nothing lower than that.

"JAM! For the last time, call me JAM!" The Chinese chef promptly went berserk, flailing her arms before reverting to her friendly self again. "I, um, heard about your graduation today."

"You did?" Ky humored her.

"Yep." Jam nodded with a broad smile that would have made any man's clothes spontaneously combust into flames right then and there. Ky's clothes did not, and that bothered some of the readers because they were sure that should have happened. "So I cooked you a feast to celebrate!"

"Th-thank you, Ms. Kuradoberi," Ky didn't see the vein that bulged on Jam's forehead, "You're, too, kind."

"Oh, don't be silly!" Jam giggled sinisterly. "We'll have dinner in your apartment!" And with that, she closed the door before he could protest so she could slip into that hot little number that she bought at the mall just for tonight. Ky was going to finally put out this time! She wouldn't let the night pass without that happening.

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"Um, h-here, have some more!" Jam snatched Ky's plate away from him to serve him his fourth serving of food when he almost came to his last bite, yet again. They were almost done with everything she had cooked and the clock was just about to hit ten' thirty. Her time was almost up. It wouldn't be long before he asked her to leave, and he still hadn't even had the courtesy to take his shirt off for her! What was going on? She made sure to put the right dosage in his soup earlier, so why wasn't the drug taking effect yet? He should have be perspiring, panting, burning with sexual desire, but all she saw was a well composed gentleman enjoying his meal. He even took her up on every extra serving she offered him.

"Thank you, Ms. Kuradoberi." He accepted the plate in her outstretched hand politely when she was done serving him.

"Y-you're w-welcome." Jam nodded, her left eye twitching in annoyance. It's Jam! JAM, DAMMIT! Well, she figured she was going to have to stick with flirting, seeing as how Ky appeared to be impervious to most arousal drugs. This had to be the fourteenth one she had taken the effort to lace in his food already. Did he have absolutely any idea how careful she had been to make sure she didn't put, too, much so as to avoid possible death? No, of course not. He didn't even appreciate it.

"So, Officer Kiske, I suppose I'll have to be extra careful not to commit any crimes now that you're upholding the law." Jam purred with a wink. "I wouldn't want to get on your bad side." She awaited a response from him.

Ky set down his fork and looked at her with a straight face, "No, you wouldn't."

Jam smiled happily. Ky was finally playing with her...or so she thought. "Oh...so if I just happened to be a bad girl, what would you do about it?" She leaned over, placing one hand on her hip in a suggestive manner,

"You're not a bad girl." Ky told her.

"Oh, yes I am." Jam told him seductively.

"No, you're not." Ky didn't seem to be budging from that. Why wasn't he budging?

"Yes I am!" Jam cried out in annoyance. "I'm a very bad girl! So what are you going to do to me? Handcuff me? Punish me?"

"I haven't been given my handcuffs yet, but I can assure you that the punishment may be severe depending on the crime."

"I've done it all, baby!" Jam was starting to get aroused by this.

"Then you may not be able to afford the bail." Ky went on.

"Tell me more!"

"You have the right to an attorney."

Jam quirked an eyebrow curiously. "Er, what?"

"Anything that you say can and will be used against you in the court of law."

"K-Ky...are you serious?" The feeling suddenly plunged into a deep pit of despair.

"Yes." Ky nodded.

...Silence...

"Grrrrraa!" Jam ran her hands through her hair with a howl of frustration. "Dammit! It never fails! It never fails! Why are you so frickin stiff?"

Ky blinked. "Hm?"

"Oh, never mind!" The Chinese chef stood up from her seat with a disappointed huff and shoved her chair under before whipping around and proceeding to the door to let herself out. "Good night, ya damn tease!" With that she slammed the door behind her hard enough to cause the hanging picture frames on the wall to swing side to side.

The white knight regarded the door silently, trying to make sense of her parting words to him until he simply gave up and looked back at the plates that needed washing. "I better get started, then." He rose from his seat, rolling up his sleeves before he would begin the deed when his door suddenly opened, and Jam poked her head in with her best smile.

Disregarding the fact that this woman might have had a copy of his key card, he greeted her casually, "Ms. Kuradoberi?"

"Yeah...I didn't mean that stuff from earlier." Jam told him with a sheepish grin. "Um..."

Ky blinked...

"Dinner at my house tomorrow, kay!" She closed the door.

"...If you say so." He shrugged his shoulders and grabbed for the first two plates he could get his hands on to take them to the kitchen. After getting them all settled in the sink, he switched on the visual screen hanging over his refrigerator so he could tune in to the news. If his suspicions were right, then there should have been another special report. With 'her' on the loose, he wasn't expecting any quiet, late nights.

"Come on," Ky released the water and grabbed the sponge in one hand to lather a coat of suds on one of the greasy Pyrexes, "Where are you going to make your appearance this time?" She made her first appearance at the city harbor, during the annual world artifact exhibit to steal the 'Flament Nagel' before the very watchful eyes of the Sacred Order knights. Since that time Ky had been following her tracks all over the city, from her theft of priceless jewels in the Reload Museum of history, to her public challenge to the Scared Order elites to arrest her at the central station junction. She was a wild feline that the white knight was determined to bring to justice, and now that he was an official officer, he was now a step closer to making that happen.

"A Special News Report This Evening." Ky dropped the plate in his hand at the sudden announcement from his television, and quickly turned to watch as the female reporter, dressed in a black suit from what he could make out over the news desk, went on with the report, "Just an hour ago, local authorities were informed by museum personnel of a marked envelope that was left on the security desk of the main floor. As many of you have probably suspected already, it does have direct connections to the chain of thefts that had been reported over the course of the past months. The red clad rocker will make her appearance again at the City Museum for her latest target, an ancient artifact that had just been transferred there from the main security vault of the Sacred Order, just yesterday."

By the time the report had finished, Ky Kiske had already come out of his bedroom, dressed in his white and blue uniform. Without returning to the kitchen to shut off the television, the White Knight had taken his leave of his home to head out for his first confrontation.

Justice was about to be served...

[ Shifting to the scene of the crime... ]

Two bodies fell to the floor as a pair of heels clicked rhythmically against the black, marble tiles of the museum, main floor. The security in the museum hardly posed a nuisance for the crimson witch, and seeing as how most of the personell that were hired happened to be men, it was all good fun for her as they fell in the face of her drop dead looks before they even felt her guitar collide with the side of their heads. With the party treats being consumed at such a pace, it was only a matter of time before her hosts decided to greet her. After all, the invitation was originally addressed to her.

"A master theif appears, stealing all sorts of relics and artifacts, and the Sacred Order just happens to decide that they want to leave one of the 'Jinki' out on display in the city museum? If this isn't some kind of bad excuse for a trap, then what is?" Words were spoken bemusedly from a luscious pair of red, painted lips.

The red clad thief held her hands behind her back as she entered the first exhibit chamber, and there it was, the Thunderseal in all of its glory. She skipped across the room in a childish manner and formed an 'O' with her mouth as she admired it before licking her lips with a smirk. "They could have placed a bow on it."

"Perhaps, if it was really meant for you to take." She smirked as that remark echoed through out the chamber. A figure stepped out from behind one of the statues across from her to reveal Ky Kiske with his arms crossed. The moon ray that shone down from the sky light above, showered him in its brilliance. It probably would have looked rather dramatic from another person's point of view. The lovely theif just found it pretty amusing to think that he must have picked that place as his hiding spot so he could make such a dramatic entrance just for her. How sweet of him to hold her in such high regard.

"Well, not exactly the man I was expecting to welcome me, but you're just as inviting. I can't say that I'm against having such a fine stalker. Makes me wonder if I should be stalking you, Ky."

"I'd like to skip the foreplay, I-No." Ky told her, taking a few steps forward to shorten the distance between them.

"Aren't you the bold one?" I-No placed her hands on her hips, puffing out her chest so that it pressed against the exposing cleavage of her red, leather jacket. "So, are you going to show me a good time? By the looks of that strapping, new uniform I'd have to assume that you finally made it as an officer of the Order, eh?"

"That's right." Ky nodded.

"Ooh!" I-No adjusted the strap of her beloved guitar and held it in an attack stance. "Are you going to take me in, Mr. Kiske?" Her fingers twitched as she bent at her knees. Her red hat tipped forward and all the white knight could make out as it overshadowed her emerald eyes was a devilish smirk. Looks like it was time to mambo.

"Don't resist, I-No." Ky gripped his fist at his sides.

"Do I look that easy?" I-No quipped before she let off an ear splitting riff from Marlene, twisting and distorting the space in front of Ky before he suddenly realized that she was already on the offensive. He threw himself to the side and rolled when he came in contact with the marble tiles, seconds before the statue that had been mounted beside him crashed to the floor, reduced to a mound of white sand. Ky looked between what remained of the fine statue and its destroyer with a look of awe.

"Looks like I've already stolen your breath away." I-No giggled sadistically as she stroked the neck of her guitar with a cheeky grin. "Too early for that, Ky. I have so many more techniques I'd like to show you."

"Don't pull them out, too, quickly." Ky decided to take that moment to charge her. "I wouldn't want to exhaust you!" His ears were assaulted by another shrieking melody and his sight began to blur again. Taking that as his cue, he leaped into the air with a somersault and came back down with a swift kick. I-No's body briefly resembled a red water image as she swiftly stepped to the side to dodge, however, Ky was quick to make up for error, whipping around on his hands and knees when he made contact with the floor to trip the witch with a leg sweep, but it was a wasted maneuver seeing as how she simply stopped herself in mid-air before she could hit the ground.

She linked her hands behind her head in a relaxed gesture as she crossed her legs, floating away slowly like the Cheshire cat. "Almost managed to drop me on my back. I think I might have been a little unfair, mistaking you for a simple talker." She landed a fair distance from him and resumed her fighting stance.

"Why come, I-No?" Ky resumed his own stance. "You knew this would be a trap, so why take the chance?"

"Don't you think its still a little early for sharing secrets?" I-No rushed forward, gliding toward him as she lined the path behind her with sparks from grinding Marlene along the marble. She tried to strike the knight with a rising swing, missing by a hair before whipping around with another swing to let her guitar crash against his back with enough force to send Ky's body skipping along the floor like a flat rock thrown along the surface of a lake.

The officer came to a stop when his body crashed against one of the supporting pillars of the building and he arched his back almost immediately with a sharp grunt. The way she swung that guitar, it almost felt like he'd been hit with a log.

"You're messin' with my tempo!" I-No allowed him no time to stand, gliding toward him again as she tugged at one of her guitar strings with considerable force, though instead of snapping like one would expect, the string stretched out like a serpent, crackling fiercely with red magicks. The guitar string broke free, smashing into the marble tiles leading up to Ky as though it weighed a ton and I-No whipped it up, sending the end of the vicious string after the white knight along with chunks of the marble. It should have sliced right into him like a hot, butter knife.

It didn't...

Ky's desperation allowed him to unleash what pent up energy he had within him and channel it outward into a barrier that exploded upon being hit by the witch's attack.

"Hn!" Ky got back to his feet after the deflection and rushed in I-No's direction, jumping in the air to whip around in a mid-air roll, and bring down a leg with enough momentum to fell her. She hit the floor face first with smack and Ky ran past her to jump for the Thunderseal. Wrenching it free from its display mount as he landed on the floor, he whipped around to face I-No's fallen form and prepare another attack.

Hm? Was it just the adrenaline pumping through his veins or did he feel a little weird holding this sword. He could almost feel it vibrating in his hands as though it would rip free from his grasps if he gave it the chance.

"Ungh..." I-No pressed her palms against the floor and pushed up, arching her back as she raised her head. For a moment she looked pretty enticing. "You know...to hell with being gentle. I always liked it rough, anyway." She got back on both feet and turned around lazily to regard the knight. Her eyes zeroed in on the relic in his hands, and she pointed at him teasingly. "Do you even know how to use that?"

"Swordplay is my forte."

I-No cackled, "Now, you're just gettin' a girl excited."

"You're mistaking this for a game, bitch."

I-No and Ky turned their attention to their newest guest, an imposing, six foot figure dressed in a red, sleeveless with a black undershirt, and white jeans with buckles along the legs. The words 'Rock You' on Sol's red headband seemed to glare at the two in the dimness of the chamber with a burning glow as he adjusted his fingerless gloves.

-Suddenly-

"FLAME VIPAAH!" Sol roared without any kind of warning to Ky as he stomped forward with his left foot, gripping the Fireseal tightly with his left hand. The marble tiles in front of Sol Badguy erupted with flames, lining the path toward I-No before the ground beneath her burst like a volcano! Ky shielded himself as the witch was suddenly consumed in an explosion of fire that nearly rocked the entire building, and yet, when the intense flames had extinguished, I-No still managed to exist. Somehow.

"You always did know how to greet old friends, bastard!" I-No snarled at the red clad gentleman with a fury Ky had not seen within her. Apparently this wasn't their first meeting, and judging by her near immediate, outward display of dislike for the man, their relationship must have been personal.

"The Flament Nagel. Why did you take it?" Sol questioned I-No, arms crossed calmly.

"Don't go on asking me questions like that!" I-No growled. "My business s'got nothing to do with you, Immoral Flame." At her curt response, Sol's hair flared up in a crown of spikes and I-No was suddenly consumed in another erruptin of flames...or so it would have seemed. This time the crimson witch had somehow managed to teleport herself halfway across the other side of the room. Ky was simply aghast. The captain had not even moved a muscle the second time, and yet he was still capable of such power.

"Well then, Ky." I-No called the white knight's attention. "We'll continue our session another time. Until then, don't dare wear yourself out with anybody else or you'll regret it." She ended her farewell will a smirk before she took off upwards like a bullet, and smashed through the skylight above, leaving a mess of broken glass in her exit.

"Dammit-"

"Don't try it, punk. You wouldn't be able to handle her." Sol stopped Ky dead in his tracks before he could even try and pursue her.

"If I'm not, then you obviously are!" Ky rebuked his superior officer. "Are you just going to let her escape like that?"

Sol placed a hand on the side of his neck and worked out a kink before responding, "That's not important."

"Then what is?"

"The fact that you fucked up."

END PART ONE