Gunnm Information: * BK 17--Nova flees Zalem * BK 16--Yugo born * BK 15--Kaos born * BK 8--Ido leaves Zalem * BK 6--Motorball: Adam scandal Jashugan's brain is repaired by Nova, Jashugan becomes Motorball champion Yugo's brother dies * BK 4--Nova gives Makaku his maggot body Yugo meets Vector, receives his brother's hand * BK 2--Biggott releases 1000 TR-55 units in preparation for the TUNED project * AK--Yoko is found by Ido, raised as Gally Koyomi born GUNNM GAIDEN--CHAPTER 2 "O Holy Night" The dreams fell down to Earth...white became dirty, men became angels..... PROLOGUE (Dina, standing at the apartment door, a cigarette in her hand) Dina--"What now, Ido?" (Ido is seated in front of a Christmas tree, holding Gally) Ido--"Oh, hello, Dina. What do you think of it?" (overhead angle) Dina--"You two are mooching off of me already, you shouldn't go bringing trash into here!!" Ido--"But it isn't trash..." (from behind Ido) Ido--"It's called a Christmas tree! You know, 'Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way...'" Dina--[shrugging]"Whatever, I don't get it. (at the door) Dina--"You and your cat could actually go out and earn your keep!!" SFX--SLAM! (Ido is petting Gally) Ido--[sighing] I thought she could appreciate it. But..they don't have Christmas here in the Scrapyard... (hand grabs hat) Ido--"Now it's my turn to go out." (close up of Gally) Ido--"Wait at home, Gally." Gally--Meow. WINTER (Cityscape, the Scrapyard at night. Ido in foreground, with his rockethammer, collar raised, breath visible) Ido--"So cold tonight!" (Closeup of Ido, breathing on a gloved hand to keep it warm) Ido--It's been two years since I was banished to the Scrapyard...I've adapted to the scrap, but not to the cold. (Ido walikng through an industrial maze, steam coming out of sewage pipes) Ido--"It's because of Zalem cooling the whole Scrapyard...even the street rats are hiding in their holes tonight..." Footnote--Zalem collects the solar energy to heat itself, casting a shadow over the Scrapyard, cooling it 5-15 degrees C [10-30 degrees F--Ed.] SFX--SPLASH! Ido--"Wha...?" (Low angle shot, shadow in FG. Ido in BG, on a walkway, rockethammer raised) Ido--"Who's there?" (From above--girl, very young, long dark hair, wide eyes...looks vaguely familiar...back to the wall, dressed only in a tattered dress that extends to mid-thigh. It might have been a nightie, or a surgical gown, at some point. She is ankle-deep in sewage) (Girl's POV--Ido, looking down, moved by her pathos) (close up on girl) Girl--[teeth chatter] (view from below, girl's head now clear in foreground) Ido--"What are you doing out in the cold?" Girl--"Ah.." (shot of girl's face, but a good deal of the sewer behind her, hidden in shadow) Girl--"Ah...ah...ah..." SFX--VWERM (two clusters of three lights, bobbing vertically, reflecting in the sewage, appear) SFX--BRAKASH (we see their source. It is a mecha, at least three times the girl's height. The lights are its 'eyes', mounted on short stalks from either side of its 'face'. The mecha looks to be equal parts ant, human skull, and cadaver. Its arms and legs are reminicent of Izuchi's from Rusty Angel. The girl is trying to flee, terrified; Ido is aghast) (The mecha's hand, twice the size of the girl's chest, is about to grasp her) SFX--KRANG! (the girl is staring blankly, arms to her face as the rockethammer is driven squarely onto the mecha's hand) (the mecha's eye acquires the new target) (mecha's POV. Ido is standing in front of the girl; she is still frozen) Ido--"Get away!" (close up of Ido's face) Ido--I can't defeat this thing with a direct attack! "The legs!" SFX--ZWEEN! (the mecha tries to kick Ido, or at least kick water at him, as Ido swings his rockethammer) SFX--FWPASH! (low angle. the mecha has fallen, as Ido dives away) SFX--FWSSH (Ido and the girl, standing at the edge of a waterfall--their path leads off into space. The girl still has not changed her pose) Ido--"It's a dead end!" (Ido sees a convenient cable, just out of reach) SFX--kachunk! (Ido grabs the girl around the waist and puts the head of his rockethammer over the cable) Ido--"Hold on to me tightly!!" SFX--KLIK (Ido's hand on the "danger" button) SFX--FWORSH (rockethammer in gear) SFX--YAAA! (Ido and the girl are carried off into space, at the cost of Ido's hat) (the pair are almost across the gap, spewing exhaust as they go) Ido--"Waterloooooo!" (low angle--mecha, hunkered on the edge, clutching a fist) Mecha--Graaaa... (from above, mecha half in profile) Mecha--GRAAAAAAA! (Ido and the girl [she's still clutching him tightly, she really sticks with a theme--Ed.], huddled behind a building's edge) Ido--huff...huff..."We seem to have escaped, for now..." (close up on Ido's face and the back of the girl's head) Girl--[teeth chattering] chikka chikka chikka Ido--".........." SFX--SQUEE... (door opening) Dina--"I'm home.........." (Ido, barefoot, is on the bed, helping a strange YOUNG girl on or off with a new shirt. Ido's shoes are drying by the nuclear stove, where a pot of tea is being made. Someone's socks and shirt are hanging up on a line to dry. Gally is curled up on the waste can) Ido--"Ah." (close up on Ido's face, sweating nervously. The girl, with a towel over her head, can be partly seen in the right corner) Ido--"Wuh--Welcome back." (Dina, staring blankly from the doorway) SFX--Bloing! (the girl, shod in shoes much too large for her and attired in the shirt and a bedsheet, is in the street. Gally's food bowl, the rockethammer's suitcase, and a book are joining her. Ido, carrying the Christmas tree, is falling off the bottom step. His vision is obscured by Gally's arrival across his face) Ido--"Y-you've got it all wrong! This girl...! Aaugh!" (doorway POV. Ido has his coat in one hand, the Christmas tree in the other. The girl has Gally clutched in her arms) Ido--[through clenched teeth] "You...heartless little knee-jerk dimwit..." (Ido, over his shoulder to the girl. He is starting to put on his jacket) Ido--"Well...where's your home? Where do you live?" (close up on girl) Girl--[babbling]"Ah-a-ayayah.." (close up on Ido) Ido--She's suffering from amnesia, maybe it's a temporary result of the shock she's been through? (the Ido troupe, walking the streets. The girl still has Gally in a tight embrace, Ido is rolling the suitcase and carrying the tree) Ido--"I was thinking perhaps I could stay with you...at your house." (close up on Ido. Sad smile) Ido--"But...you don't have a roof over your head, either." (Gally and the girl. She is shivvering mightily) (Ido puts his coat across her shoulders, and she looks at him blankly) (Street shot, up to smokestacks) Ido--What is there to do... (Ido, looking grimly at pocket change) Ido--We don't have the money for a hotel room... (close up on Ido. He is clearly troubled, but maintaining a stiff upper lip) Ido--If we don't watch out, we won't see the sun rise tomorrow... (from a little distance, the trio at a footstep food stall) Ido--"Two cocoas, please." (view from on high. The closest object is the bright light of a street lamp. Below they sit on a pipe, jutting up from the ground. Ido is hunched over, seeming to stare into his drink. The girl has Gally curled up in her lap. Next to Ido is his rockethammer, between and in front of them is the Christmas tree. There is some litter in the street) (Ido, turning to the girl) Ido"You...I can't really call you 'you' forever, can I?" (close up of Ido) Ido--"'Carol', then? Like a Christmas carol?" (close up on Carol) Carol--"Unh?" (the trio, some lights in the distance in the BG) Ido--"The life I've lived...it's kill or be killed, eat or be eaten. I've been bounty hunting to survive here. But back in my home, I was learning to be a doctor." (cityscape, Tube in middle) Ido--"Ever since then, I've just barely been able to get by...but I have a dream, I'll tell you." (low angle shot, Ido's hands raised up to heaven, Carol staring) Ido--"I want to have my own clinic. I want to have it say "Daisuke Ido, Medic" on a grand sign right over my front door!" SFX--ffff... (Ido is dragged back to reality as something falls downward towards him) Ido--"?" SFX--tsss... (something is in Ido's hand, melting) Ido--"It's snow...!" (Ido is staring agog at the snowfall, Carol is babbling again...even Gally seems excited) Ido--"This is the first time I've seen snow." Carol--"Wah...yababaaaaa." (close up on Ido, looking a bit more cheerful) Ido--It's white, so very, very white... (view from behind. Carol has tossed off Ido's coat and the sheet and is dashing excitedly off into the snow. Gally has lept off her lap. Ido is staring after them) Carol--"Yiiii! Wheeeheeeyooooou!" (cityscape, with snow) Ido--Even here amid the rust, we can still have white snow, so very white... (close up on Ido, looking down heavily... ...and then he raises his head) (in the light of the lamppole Gally and Carol are dancing as the snow falls down around them) (Carol enraptured...)[Ed.--this picture has been haunting me for a week now] (Ido is captivated by the scene in front of him) (shadow in FG. Ido reacts) Entrant--"Hey, you there..." (the person is dragging a cart behind him. Jowels, low brow, middle age...looks familiar) Gonzu--"I remember you. You gave me a hand that time I bit it in the middle of the street, right? You remember me?" Ido--"Uh...your name's Mr. Gonzu." (close up on Gonzu) Gonzu--"You look like you're going nowhere." (house exterior. The christmas tree has been left outside) (inside, POV from above. Gonzu, legs wide apart, is seated in a chair opposite Ido and Carol, on a beat-up couch. Carol is trying to feed herself soup from a spoon, Ido is trying to clean up. Gonzu is having a drink. Gally has a bowl of milk on the floor.) Gonzu--"Aw, gee, too bad. You know, you even look like you've been having problems with a woman." Ido--(nervous) "Hee hee." (Gonzu and his drink) Gonzu--[not appropos of anything--Ed.]"Your problem is, you basically don't have the bod to be a bounty hunter. If you've got some skill at it, why doncha be a doctor?" (Ido, nervous--probably trying to conceal something) Ido--"Well, my trouble is I've only trained on humans. (Gally, hard at work in the saucer) Ido--"There aren't any cyborgs where I come from." (Gonzu, low angle) Gonzu--"That makes sense. If you can't fix cyborgs, you just can't stay in business." This guy must be from way out there... (close up on Gonzu) Gonzu--"I've got a buddy...his name's Gauss. He's a cyberdoc. He's a little crusty, but he's still got skill." (close up on Gonzu. Avuncular smile) Gonzu--"Plus, he's looking for an assitant. You want to give him a try?" (Ido, ecstatic. Carol, concentrating hard)Ido--"That...that's more than I could ev--" Carol--[biological noises] (same shot. The look of ecstacy hasn't gone from Ido's face, he's too shocked. Carol is concentrating very hard) Carol--[more biological noises] (same shot. Ido's face is still frozen, and now he is both sweating and blushing. Carol is smiling happily. Something off camera is emitting fumes) (exterior view. The house, the tree, Gonzu's cart. Snow is accumulating) Gonzu and Ido--[shouting]"Eeaurgh! Get me something to wipe this up with! Her amnesia's so bad, I think she's forgotten how to keep her legs crossed!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The views expressed on this page are not necessarially those of Yukito Kishiro, and are the direct responsibility of the mocha and the large lime soda. 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).