GUNNM GAIDEN

                                 "Hometown"

SFX: VWAM

("digital" image--billowing smoke, wreckage seen [from a horizontal
position])

(we see a half-buried Deckman, lying on its side. It has a screw loose.
Literally.)
SFX: background noise

(a pudgy hand pushes on the ground)
SFX: TAMP

(the Deckman pushes itself up. It is number 50, clearly kin to 10)
SFX: eerk!

(we see a convoy of trucks in some sort of earthworks. they are wrecks,
riddled with bullets, one is burning)

(the deckman is nonplussed by the chaos, surveys the scene)
SFX: FWOOSH
Deckman:......??

(a person in Rent-a-Gun suit #54 is bleeding from his head, right arm, and
right leg)
54: "I...need...water..."

(50 is oblidgingly catching some fluid leaking from a tank on the underside
of a vehicle in a helmet)
"Water": splish splish

(50 helps ease the helmet up to the man's mouth)

(closeup on the man's eye)
SFX: BLOING!

(the man violently spits it out. It's reasonable to assume that WASN'T
water)
SFX: SPLOOSH!

(man reaches towards the Deckman)
54: "Idiot! Go...get me some water!..."

(50 looks down with concern)

(50 looks for enlightenment at the helmet as the man's eyes roll back and
his head fals down onto the ground)
SFX: thunk
50: ....

(closeup on Deckman)

(he sets off, up out of the earthworks, helmet in hand. Zalem is in the
background)

(...crossing the desert dunes...)

(....on through the night...)

(...through what used to be Arches National Monument...)

(somewhere in the desert, abandoned buildings in BG, a cow skeleton in FG)
SFX: FSSSH

(a Tuned agent's foot)
SFX: sssh
word balloon: beep beep

(a Tuned agent in cloak and cowel, covered in sand...the shadow of a wall)
SFX: beep beep

(she raises her head, cygnet heads catch the light as sand runs off the
cowel)
SFX: sssssss

(the agent stands)
SFX: WHOOP

(overhead view, agent crosses to an object half-covered by the sand)

(she kicks her jeep out from underneath the dune)
SFX: WHOOM....KRASH!

(the jeep starts up)
SFX: VRRM

(Profile of Zalem, force lines. A message is coming)

(Eizenberg is at a terminal in the GIB)

(he gazes passionlessly at the screen)

(he presses a button)

Transmission balloon: (Deckman 50 with a cross across him, with the caption
DELETE)
SFX: Bip

(the Tuned agent grins fiendishly)

(she glances at something)
SFX: FWP

(she throws a knife through a rattlesnake's head)
SFX: ZAM!

(a cute little rat is up against one wall of the building)
SFX: squeek!

(Tuned agent opens up on it with her rifle)
SFX: squee....BRAAMF!
Agent: "Hah!"

(a dung beetle is rolling a ball of dung around)
SFX: koro koro

(Tuned agent throws an arachno-bomb at it)
SFX: fwoo

(the bomb goes off in a massive explosion. The force blows back the agent's
cowel. It's Gally, laughing like a maniac. Uh-oh.)
SFX: KAWHAM!
Gally: Ha ha ha ha!

(meanwhile, the Deckman is still going, up over a sandy and rocky rise)

(he puts one foot over the crest)
SFX: tmp

(closeup on Deckman)
50: !

(FG, view of 50 from the rear. BG, a strech of sand, rocky coastline in the
distance, and the Pacific Ocean)
[looks kind of like Point Reyes--Ed]
SFX: splash

(A happy Deckman)

(50 immediately scurries out for some water, helmet in hand)
SFX: plish

(50 stops apprehensively at the extreme edge of the panel)

(...then dashes away as a wave comes crashing down)
SFX: GaSPLOOSH!

(as the Deckman reassesses the ocean, a group of children notice him)
Balloon: (one boy points down the beach)

(closeup of 50, looking at them)

(the group of kids starts playing around 50)
SFX: Hee hee!
50: ? ?

(the children prod and play with 50)

(one child covers 50's eyes as another rams a stick into his mouth)

(a child does an impression of the Deckman, to the delight of another)

(group picture of the children on and about 50...in a set of crosshairs)
SFX: WAN

(Gally, somewhere nearby, has her gun sighted on 50)

(the crosshairs reflecting in her eye)

(she lines up one shot...)

(..then another, but the children are persistently in her way)

(her finger on the trigger rests)

(montage of three pictures. As the sun sinks, the children (in silhouette)
play with an then finally leave the Deckman. Two children are left)

(a boy leaves wearing the helmet, much to 50's concern)

(sensing his distress, a girl offers a scallop shell. 50 looks at it,
unsure what to make of it)

(the girl waves a goodbye as the children run back down the beach to their
homes. 50 stares after them, holding the scallop)

(50, still on the beach, staring blankly. Stars coming out behind him. He
looks kind of sad and lonely)

(Deckman examines shell...)

(...digs a hole in the sand...)

(...places the shell at the bottom of the hole...)

(then fills it in, forming the top into a dome)

(his attention is captured by something out at sea)
50: ...------!

(50, in silhouette, watches the sun kiss the horizon)

(he reaches out towards it)

(The Deckman in the crosshairs)

(he is blown into two pieces)
SFX: BAM

(in a swirl of cape, Gally emerges from her hiding place)

(closeup on Gally's eye)
Gally: "G-1, mission accomplished."

(the sun is almost below the horizon)

(the tide washes over the "corpse" of the Deckman, and it is starting to be
carried out to sea)

(a drop of spray has lashed up against 50's cheek, looking like a teardrop)

fin

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The views expressed on this page are not necessarially those of Yukito
Kishiro, and are the product of a combined total of eight years frantically
trying to learn psychology, geology and biology but NOT Japanese
literature. Sorry, sensei.
Special thanks to Shueisha and Viz, for letting us go ahead with this, or
at least not getting in our way.
This has been brought to you by KAOS (KumquAt and The Odd Soul).