Terminator 3.14 : mmmmm Pi!
Chapter two
Kimiko immediately left for the oniwabanshus inn as she heard of the onslought the "akuma" man wrought opun it. When she arrived she saw her brother Aoshi bruised up beyond recognition, specially in the face area, and Okina and the rest of the oniwabanshu where frantically buzzing around him like morons. Baka! she though. She stomped her feet on the ground to make enough decibles so that it could be heard above the ongoing chaos around Aoshi. Immediately Okina and the rest of the oniwabanshu looked up, gulped, and slowly yet surley stepped backwards. "What on earth happened here?" she asked no one in particular when she started to dress Aoshis wounds. "A demonic man was here looking for you...we figured he was one of the Ishin Shishi who wanted to take you hostage to blackmail Aoshi...but we were obviously mistaken since he could have easily defeated Aoshi in an instant if he wanted to." explained Okina. "wierd...what would someone like that want with me?" she said quietly. Just then a man, another cocasian man stepped inside the inn. He was shorter than the previous man, and less built. Yet he still psessed the hardened look of a warrior, and had battle scars to prove it. He wore a gray Kimono and carried a katana and a wakizashi in his belt. He walked towards the group, looking at Kimiko, and asked what was probably the stupidest question he could ask at that time, but he couldnt have known what had happened earlier in this place. "Do you know where I can find a Shinomori Kimiko?"
Silence immediately ensued, as all present in the room looked at this man with narrow, fiery eyes. "uhhh...did I say something wrong?" he started to say, but was not given enough time to finish when Okina and the Oniwabanshu pounced on him without mercy.
"Let me get this straight...so that man was a...a Terminator, sent back in time from the future to kill Kimiko so that her descendant, John Connor would never be born, and the machines would not lose the war. Am I correct so far?" Asked Aoshi. "uhuh" nodded Kirk, who was still tied up and had a watchfull Okina behind him should he try anything funny. "And.." Aoshi continued "my great great nephew, John Connor sent you back in time to protect Kimiko...right?" Kirk nodded. Aoshi sighed. "But if thats the case...why didn't you bring any usefull weapons with you, like some form of light emmiting gun..." Kirk interrupted him "Phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range". Aoshi nodded "yeah, that. so why didnt you bring one or two of them to kill this thing with?" Kirk, sighing, started to explain that stupid drawback of the Time displacement machine. "The Time displacement machine can only send living tissue back through time, anything dead would not pass through the vortex, something to do with the bio-field living organisms produce that make the space-time curviture created by the vortex stable I think."
Aoshi just stared at Kirk with a blank stare, not having understood a word he said. But he dismissed this with a shrug, and asked another question. "So...why didn't you at least send more men through? That way you could outnumber the Terminator and possibly have a chance of winning." Said Aoshi. Kirk suddenly grew a visible bead of sweat on his brow dammit, too much time spent in a Anime setting he thought to himself. "Well...uhh...no one else knew how to speak japanese...nor did they know much about sword fighting techniques. Besides, the story wouldnt be as dramatic if there was more than one "good guy" sent from the future, dont you think?" He then glanced at Kimiko, and made a goofy smile which was supposed to impress her. She grunted and looked away.
"This guy is wacko" stated Okina after hearing his story. "Such proposterous claims...so in the future Machines are built that are so powerfull that they take over the world and enslave mankind, sure I can understand that. And they would send one of their machines back in time to kill the grandma of their greatest enemy, I can understand that too. And the human resistance would send back just one nut-ball back to protect her, I can understand that too. Afterall this is Yankees we're talking about." this claimed a bit of laughter from almost everyone, except Aoshi who was still studying Kirk with a cold expression. "But, what I cant accept, is how this..machine, who you claim is made out of steel, looks exactly like a human."
Kirk gritted his teeth don't these primitive people listen? he thought. "As I said, he is a Cyborg, a Cybernetic organism. he has living human tissue over a metal chasis endoskeleton. In order to go back in time succesfully The machine has to have living tissue over its metallic part...anyway, If he wasn't a machine how would you explain it being so strong to practically slap you people around?"
Okina gave a snort "He could have just had a high ki".
ki? thought Kirk, but he dismissed this.
"He had no ki. I could not sense him at all" proclaimed Aoshi. "I see" said Okina, lowering his head in thought. Aoshi reached for one of his Kodachi, and striked at Kirk with it. Kirk, who was sure they didn'y buy his story, winced as he prepared for death...and felt nothing. He slowly opened his eyes to see the ropes tying him had been cut open, and saw Aoshi place his Kodachi back in its scabbard. "I believe you" said Aoshi, as he glanced at Kimiko, who now was pale and looked terrified. "But..." he looked at Kirk "you have to prove your worth as Kimikos Yojimbo"
Oh rats thought Kirk, as he got up to his feet I gotta fight this guy. He then followed Aoshi to a rom in the building large enough for the comming battle.
Hmm...this guy is good. Allthough I've never seen Kenjutsu his style before. I guess he does come from the future. Aoshi contemplated as he easily blocked off Kirks attacks. but, he is no where near my league. Kirk was now panting just as he did when he had ran for miles from his base camp, through the Hunter killer controlled terrirtories, and through the Skynet grid and finally inside the Time displacement machine chamber. His opponent was more than good, he was fantastic. His skill and technique outclassed not only his own technique, but his senseis technique as well. During his years in John Connors army he worked under a 50 year old japanese commander who taught him both japanese, Kenjustu, and Jujutsu. Kirk grutned My senseis teachings will not go to waste. Fueld by rage, he stepped up his attack, striking faster and stronger at Aoshi.
Aoshi found it more and more difficult to block off his opponents attacks. He could also sense his Ki increasing. Has he been trained in ki manipulation, or is he just subconsciously improving his power in this fight? Thoguth Aoshi. Only one way to find out...
He then started to taunt Kirk. "Is this the best you can do, you country bumpkin yankee? Who was your sensei anyway? Your techniques make me laugh." He noticed Kirks face twist in total rage, and the angers side effect was not only shown in his face, but his power also rose. My thought Aoshi, as Kirk stepped up his attack He is using some of my own moves against me...he learns fast. He has a lot of potential He then raised on hand in front of Kirks face "Stop, that is enough. You have proven your worth, but your skill is still lacking. I think it is appropriate if I taught you some of my moves."
"Great" said Kirk. "Can't wait to start."
His wounds had allready healed, yet he had not found his target yet. After having spent a week searching every corner of Kyoto with no success, The T-800 decided to pay another visit to this Shinomori Aoshi.
"Good, you have learnt pretty much all I can teach you. Now all we can do is stay here and wait for the demon...uhh...Terminator to return." stated Aoshi. Kirk could not believe it. "Don't you think it would be better if we took Kimiko away and hid her somewhere? That Terminator is unstopable." Okina stroked his beard as he was thinking about the options available to them, when Kimiko asked something. "Why cant we just talk to him..it rather. I'm sure we can reach a peacefull resolution."
All the men in the room slowly turned their heads and glanced at her, their eyes narrow in disbelief. Kirk slapped his own face to try and wake himself up how can she be the great grandmother of John Connor? She is such a ditz he then raised his head and loked her in the eye. "Listen, and understand. That terminator is a machine. It doesnt feel pitty, fear or remorse. It cant be barganed with, it cant be reasoned with. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, untill you are dead!"
With this, a sudden chill entered the room, one that made the hair on everyones necks stand erect, and gave them goosebumps all over. Kimiko then looked down, swallowed hard and looked at Kirk again. "So what can we do? can you find a way to destroy it?"
Kirk tried to conceal his own fear. "Ofcourse I can. Your great grandon wouldnt have sent me if he didn't think I could" he said as cheerfully as he could, knowing it was possibly the biggest lie he ever told anyone...but strangely enough she seemed to buy it. Kimiko gave a cheerfull smile "Arrigattou gozaimashte Reece san" and then she bowed respectfully. wow...cute thought Kirk, his jaw hanging open. Aoshi noticed this and gave a smirk. "Fine. I f you are so confident that you can destroy this Terminator, then we shall wait here for his return and battle with him. any objections, hero-san?" he said to Kirk half mockingly. Kirk swallowed hard, thinking his gloating was probably not such a good idea. "uhh...yeah sure. noooo problemo"
His presence was so overwhelming and terrifying to the locals, that without giving any verbal commands the people moved out of his way to make a clear path for him as he walked towards the Oniwabanshu inn. When he came towards the door of the inn he lifted his Zanbattou from his shoulder, and thrust it deep within the soil on his right, leaving it protruding from the earth. He then stood still and crossed his arms. His data files told him that the code of honour of a japanese warrior made him seek out the attacker, so the T-800 knew that if he simply stood there and waited, Shinomori Aoshi would find him. As allways, his systematic logical thinking process was fruitfull. Two men stepped forwards, one of them was the old man Okina, and the other was Shinomori Aoshi, a formidable Shinobi, leader of the Oniwabanshu. Behind them was a cocasian man who bore a striking resemblance to Kyle Reece, and next to him was a woman dressed in a womans Kimono with a butterfly belt around her waist. His analysis gave a 99.99 probability that she was Shinomori Kimiko. He instantly stored her picture in his data files.
Aoshi walked towards the T-800, one Kodachi in each hand. Okina also used his club-like Shinobi weapons as he followed Aoshi. The T-800 Grabbed Hold of his Zanbattou and pulled it out of the ground effortlessly. Damn thought Kirk, The sword is nearly as big as he is.
"The woman behind me is Kimiko. If you want her, you must first go through ME!" yelled Aoshi. Some sort of wind-like force eminated from him, spinning around him, waving his Coat about as if it was a ships sail, and blowing the soil around his feet outwards. The T-800 noticed his Energy radiation readings where higher than it was in their previous encounter. Accordingly the T-800 activated his Power cell to shift from Dormant phase to an active Phase, using more energy than he usually would. However his powering up did not look fancy at all, and left no physical sign, like the wind effect of Aoshis power up. Before Aoshi started his attack, Okina leapt into action, hammering at the Terminatiors body. He only got the chance to hit him once, when abruptly the T-800 rammed his fist into Okinas abdomen. The sheer force of this punch was so immense that his fist whent right through Okinas flesh, and came out his back. Holding that stance for a few seconds, The T-800's cool emotionless eyes turned at Aoshi, who was about to lose controll. "OKINAAAAAAAA!" he yelled, as he unleashed all of his power, its force being so great that it formed a small crater underneath Aoshi. He whent straight into his ultimate attacks stance. The T-800 dropped Okinas lifeless body on the floor and turned his body sideways so that his left side was directly facing of Aoshi. He held his Zanbattous hilt with both hands, and held it horizontally pointing away from his chest. Aoshi darted towards the T-800, his speed so great that Kimiko could only see a blurr. When Aoshi and the T-800 clashed, Aoshi unleashed his flurry of attacks, and the T-800, also with god-like spped, made a few slashes with his Zanbattou. After only a few seconds Aoshi darted past the T-800 and stopped a few meters behind him, standing perfectly still. The T-800 also stood still. the next few moments of silence felt like an eternity for Kirk and Kimiko. a wind slowly built up, blowing past the two combatants. the wind sent ripples across the gi of the Terminator, and blew Aoshis hair and coat sideways.
Suddenly without any warning, a fountain of blood sprayed from a now apparent diagonal cut across Aoshis chest. He fell to his knees and coughed up some blood. Kimiko screamed and started to run towards her brother but Kirk Reece moved an arm in front of her to stop her. The T-800 turned around, not even a scratch on him, and walked slowly towards Aoshi.
Aoshi managed to muster enough strength to turn around and look at Kimiko. "I'm sorry sister..." he coughed up even more blood. "I've failed you. Reece san. Please take good care of my sister. Run away immediately. Seek out the captain of the third division of the Shinsengumi, I'm sure he will be able to help." a few drops of tears now formed around Aoshis eyes. Kimiko who was weeping now, gave one last shout "Oni-saaan" when Kirk grabbed her arm and ran away. The T-800 was about to terminate Aoshi, when he saw his target leave. damn he thought. my CPU read-and-write switch was activated because I was sent out alone on this mission...the Bushido code of the natives is begining to affect me. He turned around, ignoring the dying Aoshi and stromed after Shinomori Kimiko, making a note to not get caught up in these one on one battles again. Even though he was begining to learn to "enjoy" it, his mission took precidence.
Kirk Reece helped Kimiko on the horse he stole earlier, and he himself hopped on it. He glanced backwards and saw the T-800 running after them, His Zanbattou in arm. "ok, lets see if hes as fast as this horse" he grinned, and rode off with the horse along the streets of Kyoto. The T-800 was running at full speed but with each step he took, the Horse took an equivalent of 10 steps. Evenetually the Horse carrying Kimiko was out of his augmented sight. He needed a transportation means of his own. As he thought this, he saw a Tokugawa Army soldier riding casually on a big horse, one which could definitely take his weight. He moved towards the soldier. The soldier noticed the Cocasian male and grinned. "What do you want?" he said. The T-800 did not bother to make a request like he did with the clothes. He simply grabbed onto the armour of the soldier, and with ease threw him off the horse, sending him crashing into the wall of a nearby building. He then got on the Horse and left.
after an hour or so of riding, Kirk asked Kimiko "Your brother said something about the captain of the third division of the...what was it again...oh yeah Shinsengumi? Who is he?" Kimiko who was still very upset about her brothers death, and understandably so, wiped away the remaining tears from her eyes and gave the answer. "The Shinsengumi, they are an ellite fighting force loyal to the Shogunate. They and the Oniwabanshu are our greatest line of defence against the Ishin Shishi." Kirk Reece gave a "hmm" as acknowledgement. Suddenly his eyes went narrow again, and you could notice a vein pop up on his brow. "You didn't answer my question. who is this captain guy?" Kimikos eyes went wide, and then she smiled again, in that cheerfull way. "oh, gomen gomen. His name is Saito Hajime. He is probably the strongest among the shinsengumi. Im certain he can help defend us." Kirk gave a sigh. "Oh I'm sure he can. the problem is would he want to? considering we are running away from a machine from the future." Kimikos cheerfull expression changed to one of gloom and dissapointment. "ah...hai, you are right about that." But she soon regained her perky smile. "But we have nothing to lose in trying ne?"
Heh though Kirk. leave it to her to eradicate all traces of pesmistic thought
Saito Hajime was not pleased that besides the Ishin Shishi, there was a new menace in Kyoto, wrecking havoc everywhere he went. This man seemed to be Strong enough to take out Most of the Oniwabanshu without much effort. He even fatally injured Shinomori Aoshi. hmmm, I guess I should stop chasing after the Battousai and hunt this man down... he smirked ever so slightly, his narrow eyes glinting. well...for a little while anyway.
It was then that one of his suboridnates enetered the room and with him brought Shinomori Kimiko along with a cocasian male. Is that him? he thought, judging the man in front of him. No, he is too small, and he isnt wearing that black gi
Shinomori Kimiko began to speak "Saito san, we ned your help. This big Terminator wearing a black gi and a Zanbattou killed my brother and is after me"
Saito smiled. well well, this is interesting. He ignored Kirk Reece entirely and asked "So that bastard thats causing all the trouble in this town is a...Terminator? do tell what a Terminator is".
Kimiko looked at Kirk Reece, and Saito Hajime who saw this, also turned his attention on the man. "Well..." started Kirk Reece. "Its like this..."
Of all the crazy things concerning demons and other worlds and different dimensions he had heard in his life time, he had to admit that this story won the prize. However there was a part of his intuition that told him not to dismiss this possibility entirely. "Well...Reece. No matter what the nature of this man is, I must ask Kimiko to stay here. Both for her own Protection, and for questioning about the man who killed her brother." Reece noded his head. "Yes, I was going to request that we stay here anyway." Saito Hajime took a cigarrete, lighted it and took a puff as he went deep into thought. If this man...or machine, whatever he is...wanted to kill Shinomori Kimiko, it was a good idea to keep here here both to protect her, and to use her as bait to bring him here and then...heh, all the fun things he would do to him. He called for his subbordinate who was standing outside the room, and told him to call all of the men who belonged to the Third division of shinsengumi to this building. "wait" he said before the man walked out. "Ask Okita to bring his team of Shinsengumi here as well, I reckon this will be a bloody battle."
The T-800 had heard Shinomori Aoshi say "Captain of the third division of the Shinsengumi" before he died. He searched through his files on the bakumatsu era of japan, and found a photograph along with a small biography of the captain, whos name was Saito Hajime. His highest probability for sucess now would be to contact this Saito Hajime.
"Damn it" thought Akira. "Out of two entire divisions of the shinsengumi I happen to be the only one who gets posted outside of the building. I'm getting tired of just standing around playing guard." He continued to moan as such untill he noticed a tall man, about twice his height, wearing a black gi approach him. "This should be interesting" he said to himself.
The big man stopped in front of Akira, and looked down at him. "I'm a friend of Saito Hajime, I was told he is here, could I see him please?"
Akira snorted. "Yeah and I'm a friend of the emperor Meiji. Give me a break, No one disturbs Saito san."
"Where is he?" continued the Big emorionless man.
Akira shook his head. "Look, Saito san is in the middle of some important stuff. He can't be disturbed right now. If you want to wait though, you can sit on that seat over there".
The man simply looked around the perimeter, as if he was scanning it, and then bent over Akira, looking him coldly. "I'll be back!"
With that the man turned around and left. About time thought Akira. what a dork. Akira grew tired of just standing around, so he decided to sit down and take a short snooze. Not as if anyone would notice anyway.
After a minute or so of sleeping, he heard the faint sound of a horse galloping. the sound grew louder and louder, untill Akira opened his eyes and looked upwards, only to see the hooves of the horse comming down on him with amazing speed. After that, Akira would complain no more.
The T-800 had allready mastered the horse. With a simple tug on the rope connected to its head, he commanded it to stand on its two hind legs, and use its two front legs to break open the door of the building. After this was done, he got off the horse, tied it to a post, and grabbed his Zanbattou and walked into the building which was crawling with shinsengumi.
No sooner had he entered the front yard of the Shinsengumi building that a dozen shinsengumi, all dressed in the same green and white/ yellow kimono ran from inside the building and formed a half circle around him intended to block all his possible routes for entry. They obviously did not know the capabilities of a Terminator. The Samurai all drew their swords out and attacked the T-800. He simply made a clean swipe of his Zanbattou and in the process instantly cut five shinsengumi in half. This gave the other remaining Shinsengumi time to close in on him, entering the blind spot area of his zanbattou, and all stabbed their swords into his torso and abdomen with all their might. The T-800 stood still, many swords sticking through his upper body, letting streams of blood ooze out. "yosh!" said one of the shinsengumi, as he thought they had finally killed the "Akuma". However his cries of victory where premature, as the T-800 grabbed the blades and slowly yet surely took them out from his flesh and tossed them on the floor. If the shinsengumi samurai where not scared enough to simply stand still and tremble, they would notice that the tips of their swords which the T-800 had removed from himself where now completely bent and twisted, as if the material they had collided with was of a much stronger kind.
The T-800 ran towards the Samurai who were too terrified to move, and cut through them as if they where paper.
Having terminated all of the Shinsengumi who had stepped out of the building, he stepped indoors.
"whats that noise?" Kimiko asked Kirk and Saito Hajime. Kirk, clenching his fists, said "It's him, the Terminator". Saito Hajime who was sitting in the wooden floored training hall, in front of the small shinto shrine which housed the rack that held his sword, looked back at Kimiko and Kirk Reece, and pointed at a wall at the other side of the room. "pull on that candle holder and the wall will slide open. Go through it and go down the ladder. It will lead you to a tunnel that will take you to the hills outside Kyoto." Kimiko bowed down and thanked Saito Hajime, but he did not turn around to look at her. "Just make sure you close the door once youve stepped through it. Wouldn't want the Terminator to come after you now would we?"
The T-800 had continued the Massacre in the shinsengumi building, killing anything standing in his way and only sustaining minimal damage himself. He still had not been damaged enough for his endoskeleton to become visible. No matter where he looked, He could not detect Kimiko or Saito Hajime. After paving yet another corridor full of the mutilated corpses of the shinsengumi samurai who tried to aprehend him, he came across a small boy whos power level was similar to that of Shinomori Aoshi. Not flinching one bit, He stormed through the narrow corridor, holding his zanbattou at a 90 degree angle to his side. The blade of the zanbattou was so long and the corridor so narrow that the blade of the zanbattou pierced the wooden wall, and carved a scar in it as the T-800 ran through the corridor. The boy, Okita, who was another captain of a shinsengumi division, and a close friend of Saito, firmly gripped the hilt of his katana with both hands and waited for the Demon to come to him. Okita did not flinch as the Large man grew larger and larger when he ran down the corridor in Okitas direction, His swords rampage sending bits and pieces of wood flying about in all directions. When the T-800 was at blades reach of Okita, he made a horizontal arc swipe wih his zanbattou, finally taking it out of the wall. Okita who had very fast reflexes jumped over the Zanbattou which continued on its horizontal motion, and slammed against the oposite wall of the corridor, shattering it. The T-800 pulled the zanbattou out of the wall, and when Okita landed on the floor after his jump, he attempted to stab him with a forward horizontal thrust.
"Heh" spoke Okita, not at all afraid, "You will need more than that, demon". With that he leaped into the air again, and landed on the flat side of the zanbattou the T-800 was pointing in front of himself with his outstretched arm. The T-800 did not have time to react as Okita ran down the blade of the zanbattou and thrust his katana at the T-800's face, making a scar on his cheeck. The force of the attack was commendable since the T-800's skull followed through the direction the blade was thrust at. "Got you" chirped Okita. "Saito san will be pleased with this." The T-800 slowly moved his bleeding face at Okitas direction again, and with cold stares that would shatter ice, simply said "Saito Hajime...take me to him."
Okitas eyes grew wide with disbelief. He attampted to repeat his horizontal thrust move again but the T-800's neural net had allready learnt that move, and compromised to counter attack it. As Okita started to run down the flat side of the blade the T-800 simply fliped it 90 degrees so the flat side would be vertical, and slammed the flat side against the wall of the corridor. Okita managed to avoid being squahsed by flipping in the air, and his feet landed on the opposite wall of the corridor. No sooner had his feet touched the wall that he started to actually run along it, increasing his distance with the T-800 who immediately pursued him.
When the T-800 got close enough, he slashed his blade at okita, but he got out of the way of the blade of the zanbattou by flipping from the wall, turning vertically in the air and running along the roof. Doesn't gravity effect him at all?" thought the T-800, unable to compute what he was seeing. Okita then continued darting from wall to wall, from floor to roof, allways managing to just barely miss the attacks of the T-800. But unknown to him the margin by which he was escaping was growing narrower and narrower, untill eventually the T-800 managed to strike Okita in the back, not cutting him to deep for it to be a mortal wound, yet managing to stop his running on walls thing. The T-800 picked Okita from the floor by his neck, and held him high up in the air. "Saito Hajime, Where is he?"
The stubborn boy would not speak, so the T-800 threw him forwards, sending him crashing through a door which was at the end of the corridor. When he walked towards where Okita had been laying on the floor, covered in broken bits of wood, he noticed a man with long hair tied in a pony tail and wearing the Shinsengumi uniform, sitting at the far end of the room, his back turned to the scene. "Okita" he said without turning his head around. "This demon is too much for you, I smell a great deal of blood on him." He picked up the longest Katana from the sword rack of the shinto shrine in front of him, and slowly unsheathed its blade. "However, not so much blood as I can smell on the Hitokiri..." he had finished unsheathing the katana and had placed the scabbard on the floor. "He is no match for me."
"Saito san...be carefull, he is a monster." Okita coughed some blood as he managed to dig his way out of the pile of broken wood, and painfully dug out a few splinters that had stabbed him. Saito Hajime smirked as he got up to his feet and turned around, facing the Terminator. The T-800 could now see the face of Saito Hajime, a lot younger than the one in his data files, and different hair too. A slight breeze started to blow from a window in the room, which wavered the bamboo leaf like hair which hung down Saitos brow. He then started to get into his famous Gatotsu stance which involved him holding the hilt of his katana with one hand near his head, pointing the blade of the katana in a slightly downward angle, and extending his other arm forwards, his hand touching the side of the blade of the katana. The T-800 analysed the power of Saito Hajime, and was rather pleased to see that it was immensly higher than that of Shinomori Aoshi and Okita put together. He knew that such "emotions", albeit miniscule, where probably a glitch caused by his over exposure to humans, but at this point there was nothing that could be done about it and hence, it was quite irrelevant. He decided he was going to enjoy these emotions. He looked at the injured Okita whose presence would only get in the way of the fight, and since he was not a target there was no point in terminating him. He looked down on the fallen boy. "Get out!"
Okita, startled, glanced at Saito, who nodded. Not particularly considering this a "good day to die", he was too hapy to oblige and left. "Now its just you and me. Let me show you why they call us Shinsengumi Wolves of Mibu" said Saito Hajime. He shifted his right leg on the floor a few inches forwards, and slightly crouched down. "Gatotsu, stance 1". He then ran straight towards the T-800 and thrust his blade at his chest, and sliced upwards, creating a large vertical scar. The T-800 counter attacked by kicking Saito in the chest and sent him hurtling towards the shinto shrine. After only seconds Saito stood back up, wiping some blood from his lips, and started to stare at the scar he just gave the T-800. The T-800 noticed this and he himself started to look at his chest. To his surprise the cut was so deep and wide that his endoskeleton was clearly visible. By now the shirt of his gi was also in tatters, so the T-800 simply took the remains of it off and tossed it to the side. Saito grinned ever so slightly, his dark eyes glimmering with the blood-lust of battle. Maybe he isnt as bad as I first thought.
The battle was continuing on an even level for the duration of 5 minutes, not that time was rellevant to either of the two. most of the time each of their attacks would be blocked by the other, allthough there were rare occasions when one got lucky and managed to wound the other. The T-800 was now decorated by 3 more wounds in the stomache and an arm, whilst Saito Hajime had one or two ribs broken, and a few cuts here and there. "Wouldn't you say its time we ended this?" he asked the Terminator. The T-800 simply stood still, both hands grabbing the wooden handle of the Zanbattou. "kuff" spat Saito Hajime "I guess I go first again." and he stepped into a variation of his Gatotsu stance. Pretty much all of his attacks where a variation or other of the Gatotsu, or at least the attacks he used anyway. He had never needed to learn other techniques since he had mastered the Gatotsu perfectly and left no flaws in it.
He dashed again towards the T-800 who expected him to go for another stab at his chest. His sences told him that as strong as his alloy chasis was, it had suffered some fractures from the blows of Saitos strikes and if hit a few more times, would actually break. The inbuilt Casuality logic systems which used past experiences to predict future events told him that Saito would again target his chest. Moving his zanbattou in front of the anticipated target of Saito, he prepared for another strike. Saito, however, bent to a crouch, and thrust his katana vertically, impaling the T-800. Regardless of the weight of the Terminator, Saito used his katana to lift him up from the floor. "Your mine now" he said, as he used his free hand to punch the T-800 in the chest several times with an impressive kempo technique, his hands fading to a blurr as he did so. After that he made a vertical downward slice with his sword which sent the T-800 smashing through one wall, and continued through the adjacent room and smashed through a second wall before he fell to the floor, denting it.
Saito regarded his bruised knucles and contemplated the strength of the steel the Terminator was made of. The T-800 slowly gained his composure and stood up again. The punches Saito unleashed on him had done what he hoped would not hapen. a crack had now formed in the alloy chasis at his chest. He looked Saito in the eye, tightened his grip on the Zanbattou and ran towards Saito, and unleashed countless strikes with his blade. Saito met every single one with his katana. The force unleashed when blade locked with blade was so immense that each time it happened sparks where given off. The T-800 made a forwards horizontal thrust with his zanbattou, only to have Saito jump on top of the blade just as Okita had done so earlier, but after he landed on it he made a backflip and landed his feet on the wall at the opposite end of the room. On contact with the wall he bent his legs as far as they would go and kicked backwards with all his might, which sent him darting towards the T-800 like a bullet. As he was flying horizontally through the air, he grabbed the hilt of his katana with both hands and outstretched his arms as far as possible, making himself in the shape of a spear. To increase his speed he started to spin around his own axis, like the earth spins around itself. This increased his aerodynamic attributes 2 fold.
The T-800 only had enough time for one move, and his CPU calculated instantly that the best one would be to move the flat side of the zanbattou in front of the extrapolated flight path of Saito in order to cushion the force of impact. The T-800 did not predict the force which the spear-Saito would make, and was shocked that on contact, the tip of Saitos blade started to drill a hole in the thick blade of Saitos Zanbattou, and continued through it and only came to a halt after piercing the T-800's right eye. Thankfully only the flesh eye was pierced and the blade had stopped before reacing the actual camera. Saito was now on his feet again, and swiftly pulled out his sword from the hole in the Terminators zanbattou. When he examined the blade for any signs of damage, he noticed a intact eyeball sticking at the pointed edge, surrounded by a few milimeters of skin. Heh, I blinded him at least. he thought, as he moved his head upwards to examine the Terminators head which was bent downwards. The T-800 was using one hand to rub the area of his eyes to wipe the blood away. Saito, for the first time in the battle, felt the hair at the back of his head stand up when he saw the T-800 move his head upwards, and for the first time saw the glowing red demonic eyes of the Terminator.
Instinctively Saito moved a few meters back. "Okay...we've dragged this fight too long allready. Time to finish this." said Saito, as he went into a Gatotsu stance. "This is the ultimate Gatotsu stance not even a demon like you can withstand" he said. The T-800 noticed his "Ki" suddenly flare up, and accordingly increased his own power cell output to 600 that of normal opperational mode. "But before I destroy you, allow me to tell you my code. It is Aku Soku Zan (kill evil swiftly), and you can have the honour of being the greatest evil I have vanquished" said Saito Hajime.
"GATOTSU ZERO STANCE" shouted Saito Hajime as the same kind of Ki-force that wrapped around Aoshi wrapped around him, blowing through his hair and kimono. However the intensity of his Ki was on a whole different level, and actually started to glow a bright blue colour. Without further delay Saito Hajime ran towards the T-800, who moved his zanbattou for a counter attack. As the two blades met, amazingly Saitos blade cut through the T-800s zanbattou as though it were butter.
The T-800 managed to only just dodge Saitos attack himself, this being because cutting through the zanbattou reduced the momentum of Saitos attack. dammit thought Saito. I'm open for an attack now. The T-800 took advantage of the opening and punched Saito in the troso and sent him flying towards the other end of the room. The Terminator then noticed that there were more swords at the place the shinto shrine stood a few minutes ago. He moved towards it and grabbed a katana similar to that of Saito Hajime, and unsheathed it.
Saito got to his feet after coughing some blood. bah, there goes another rib. But he soon forgot his pain when he saw the Terminator get into the Gatotsu zero stance. "What the? you think you can immitate my attack after just seeing it done once?" he taunted the T-800 arrogantly. "My CPU is a neural net processor, a learning computer. The more contact I have with humans, the more I learn." replied the T-800. "heh, then show me." Said Saito mockingly as he also went into his Gatotsu zero stance. The Two looked at each other, looking for an opening, yet found none. The T-800 was the first to move, and after a second or so Saito followed suite. They moved at each other with speed as fast as lightning, however in their perspective the events where taking place in slow motion. They had entered Bullet time!
After clashing their swords, they phased out of bullet time, stopping a few yards away from eachother, none facing the other one.
Suddenly the blade of the T-800s sword shattered to bits and fell to the floor, and a few cuts appeard on his chest, sending blood spraying out. The same thing happened to Saito Hajime, but since he is human afterall, he fell to the floor, bleeding, and unable to continue the fight. "cough cough Your attack had the exact same strength and skill as mine. Impossible, it took so many years for me to master it. Doesnt matter if your a machine or not, you are a demon as long as I'm concerned." The T-800 walked towards him. "Shinomori Kimiko...where is she?" Saito stared at nothing in particular for a monet or so, and did not answer. The T-800 picked him up from the floor and threw him at wall, which tore open on impact with Saito. As luck would have it the wall that crashed open was the same secret door that lead to the tunnel. The T-800 knew that Kimiko had gone through that door, and no longer needed to attack Saito Hajime. Ofcourse he knew that wasn't the real reason he didnt want to kill Saito. It appeared that among the newfound emotions he had gathered, respect for a warrior was one of them, and he did not want to kill a man such as Saito when it wasnt his mission. He analysed Saito and found that his condition was not critical, and he would survive. The T-800 was about to go through the door when he heard familiar electrical discharge noises comming from the front yard of the Shinsengumi building, and when he looked out the window he saw flashes of bright light as well. He moved outside to investigate.
The T-800 had arrived at the front yard when the two time travelers arrived. one was a very large fat man who seemed to be dead, and the other was a cocasian slim built man, only one foot shorter than the T-800 himself, with long dark hair. The slim man looked around himself, noded at the T-800 and walked towards the corpse of a fallen shinsengumi. He bent over him, and touched the shinsengumis kimono with one hand. After a second or so he stood up again, and his skin changed to a reflective chrome substance and changed to the shape of the kimono the man had been wearing. After the shape of the kimono was achieved, the chrome substance changed colour and texture and was now totally identical to the kimono of a Shinsengumi samurai. His long hair then tied itself to a ponytail similar to that of many Shinsengumi. After getting his appearance right, he bent over and picked up the mans katana and slid it inside his belt. The T-800 now moved towards the fat mans dead body, looked at it, and then looked at the slim man. "So, Skynet sent a T-1000 to assist me?" he asked. The T-1000 gestured at the dead body. "I also brought you a present." he said. The T-800 noded his head , and started to rip open the fat mans body. inside it he found an electric Vulcan minigun with a canister housing the ammunition. He lifted the minigun to examine it. "excellent"
The T-1000 examined the extensive damage to the T-800's flesh, and the crack in the chasis of his chest. "we need to cover those wounds up with something. You must at least pass for a human for this mission to be a sucess." the T-800 noded in affirmation, and wondered wether or not sunglasses were around in japan at this time period.
To be continued...
