Silver Moon – Book 3 Chapter 14

Gintoki silently peeked out from behind a tree and stared at the spacecraft that sat in front of him. That's it he thought. That's Takasugi's ship…

"Looks like we found it, eh Gin-san?" whispered Shinpachi from behind him.

Gintoki just gave a nod. He had actually been genuinely surprised at how easy it was. Once they had noticed an abnormal amount of Shinsengumi police cars hurtling off in one direction, all they had to do was stop one and demand to know where they were going. The poor officers coughed the information up before Gintoki even had a chance to torture them, not that he was disappointed or anything. On the contrary, he was glad to receive this information, and with it he easily managed to track down Takasugi's movements to this location.

"I wonder why he parked here in the middle of a forest," said Shinpachi, looking around. "The Shinsengumi have already started surrounding the ship. This can't be good for him."

"Nor for us," said Gintoki quietly. "Those bastards probably won't let us anywhere near the ship for fear of us interfering."

"Hmm, true," the boy agreed.

"Which means…we need to get in there as soon as possible before they cut off any access to it."

"But how?" asked Shinpachi, scanning the ship with his eyes. "I doubt they're just going to leave any doors open for us."

"Think again," said Gintoki, pointing at the ship.

Shinpachi followed his finger to see an open hatch on the side of the ship, plain as day, with nobody guarding it or standing inside of it. It was just a plain old empty hatch; a free gateway inside.

"This is such a trap," mumbled Shinpachi, his eyes drooping.

"So?" asked Gintoki, staring at the opening. "I thought that didn't matter to you."

"It doesn't," he replied honestly. "But it still worries me. Also, another thing, we don't have any weapons with us."

Gintoki just stared down at his empty hands. He no longer had his wooden sword with him; it had snapped in two while he was fighting Kagura. "No big deal," he said calmly. "They'll have weapons for us inside."

Shinpachi frowned. "Yeah, but they'll be in our enemies' hands, pointed at us …"

"It's fine," Gintoki replied. "We'll figure something out."

"You're being way too calm about this!" Shinpachi shouted at him.

"Well, there's no use worrying about it," said Gintoki with a shrug. "Anyways, we might as well get moving."

Shinpachi just sighed. "Right, let's go."

Gintoki gave a nod, and then glanced at the nearby Shinsengumi. Once he was sure that their attention was focused in the opposite direction, the two of them made a break for it. They both ran straight towards the ship and jumped into the open hatchway. They then wasted no time in running down the hallway they found themselves in. Once they reached the end of it, they quickly turned a corner, only to stop dead in their tracks.

"Shit," Gintoki cursed.

Standing in front of them was a large horde of enemy samurai. They all looked rather menacing and carried weapons of various shapes and sizes. "Hmph, well that was easy," said one of them with a grin.

Shinpachi immediately went to turn around. "We have to go back!"

Gintoki instantly reached out and stopped him. "No, it's too late."

Glancing backwards in horror, Shinpachi realized that even more samurai were pouring in from the passage they had just entered from. They were now surrounded on both sides of the hallway.

"This is really bad!" the boy shrieked.

Gintoki just clenched his teeth and glared at the group in front of them.

Meanwhile, one of the men towards the front began laughing at the duo. "Man, these guys are stupid! They fell right into this simple trap! That's so pathetic!"

The rest of the men in the hallway gave a big laugh. Shinpachi nervously looked back and forth while Gintoki remained silent.

The man who had spoken up then pointed his katana at them. "I mean, look at them! They don't even have any-GRAH!"

At that moment, Gintoki had moved forward to punch the man in the face. As the terrorist flew backwards, Gintoki snatched up his sword. With a fire burning in his eyes, Gintoki proceeded to cut down two more men before they could even react.

Shinpachi simply watched in awe. He only ended up snapping out of it when Gintoki called his name.

"Shinpachi!" he shouted, throwing him another sword that he had swiped.

Shinpachi quickly grasped it by the hilt and wasted no time in using it. Running up to join his boss, the two of them began swinging wildly at their enemies. Samurai after samurai fell before them while the group to their rear struggled to catch up. The initial attack had apparently taken everyone by surprise.

"Shinpachi, I'm going to cut us a path!" Gintoki shouted. "Can you cover the rear!?"

"This is no time to be making butt jokes!" Shinpachi screamed back.

"Wha…?" mumbled Gintoki, cutting down another enemy. "This isn't a joke!"

Shinpachi, being the straight man, took a second to pause. "Oh…sorry…it's just so hard to take you serious sometimes…"

"Well I am being serious! And pay attention!" he warned, saving the boy from an unexpected attacker with a thrust. "Can you do what I asked!?"

"Of course!" Shinpachi replied, whipping around. "Just leave it to me! I'll cover your rear!"

"Close enough!" Gintoki shouted back. Wasting no time, he proceeded to cut down every man that appeared in front of him, sometimes even taking two or more out with one slash. Glaring straight ahead, he persisted in pushing forward. He was going to make them a path, even if he had to do it entirely through brute force.

Shinpachi in the meantime made every effort to keep up with Gintoki while at the same time keeping the horde behind them at bay. He mostly focused on blocking attacks, but took the opportunity to strike back when necessary. The hallway wasn't all that wide to begin with, so the confined space greatly limited the enemies' movements. Thanks to that, Shinpachi was able to avoid having them all come at him at the same time.

"Almost there!" shouted Gintoki, nearing the end of the horde. Suddenly getting an idea, he stabbed one of the terrorists through the chest, and then hoisted him into the air with his sword. Using all of his strength and screaming loudly, Gintoki used the man's body as a battering ram of sorts, and harshly forced his way through the last of the enemies. In the ensuing chaos, bodies went flying everywhere.

"Come on, Shinpachi!" he shouted, running ahead.

"Right!" the boy shouted back, turning away from his enemies and chasing after him. The remaining horde quickly tried to readjust itself and follow in their footsteps. They had a hard time of it though, and ended up lagging quite some ways behind. Nevertheless, they still chased after the intruders, doing their best to put a stop to them.

Taking a second to look back at them, Gintoki grinned. "Thanks for covering my rear back there," he told his employee. "You really saved my ass."

Shinpachi just smiled at this. "Shut up," he told him. "I thought you said that this wasn't the time for jokes."

Gintoki smirked. "Hmph, it's not."

Sure enough, the two of them turned a corner only to find another horde of enemies waiting for them. Raising their swords, the two men went to attack once more…

"Is this really the best way in, China?"

"Of course, they'd never expect us to come in from here."

"Hmm…maybe I should have just joined up with the rest of the Shinsengumi down there…"

"Hey, if you don't like it, then you can leave! I don't need you here babysitting me!"

"Hey, keep it down! They'll hear us…"

Kagura and Sogo had found themselves in another argument upon arriving at the site of Takasugi's ship. The Yato girl had wasted no time in scaling the spacecraft, eventually ending up on the roof. And the young Shinsengumi officer, having no choice but to follow her, did just that. The two of them now currently stood atop the spacecraft, looking for a way in.

"So how exactly are we going to enter from the roof?" asked Sogo skeptically. "I don't exactly see a chimney around here…"

"Well of course not, dummy," Kagura spat at him. "Here, we'll just use this," she said, gesturing down to her feet.

Sogo looked where she was pointing, and found a small square window that appeared to function as a skylight for the ship. "A window, eh?" he asked, walking up to it.

"That's right," she replied.

"Hmm," mumbled Sogo, looking closely at the window. "I don't think that there's a way to open it, though."

"Not a problem," said Kagura, lifting her foot. She immediately brought it back down on the window, smashing it to pieces. "There, now it's open."

"I see," Sogo replied, mildly surprised. "Well, I guess we might as well jump in before someone notices us."

Kagura nodded. "Right."

"Ladies first," insisted Sogo, going out of his way to shove Kagura into the freshly broken window. The Yato girl simply threw him a glare before landing on her feet.

"What the hell was that for, you bastard!?"

Sogo soon jumped in after her, also landing on his feet. "Hey, keep it down would you? We're not here to attract attention; we're here to rescue your friend."

Kagura was about to continue her shouting, but instead chose to hold back. Swallowing her pride for the sake of her friend, she just gave a sigh. "You're right," she admitted. "We should try and stay hidden if possible. Let's just try and find out where they're keeping Tsukky so we can get her out of here."

Sogo just glanced at her before shrugging. "Fine."

After that, the two of them began running down the hallway that they had found themselves in after breaking in. Hoping that nobody would discover the mess of broken glass on the floor, they left it behind. They continued moving silently from hallway to hallway, checking around corners when necessary. Eventually, they stopped upon discovering a large room. The two of them hid behind the corner while they observed it.

"What's that?" Kagura whispered.

"Hmm," said Sogo, glancing at it. "I'm not too familiar with spacecrafts, but if I had to guess, I'd say it's the control room."

"Oh," said Kagura, her eyes widening a bit. "So this is where they fly the ship from?"

"Presumably," he replied. "They probably also monitor all ship activity from here. If there are cameras in these hallways, this is where the feed would transmit to."

"So they might already know that we're here?"

"Possibly…"

"Tch," said Kagura, clenching her teeth. "I'll bet they know where Tsukky is. We should go in there and see what we can find out." She immediately moved towards the room.

"Wait, what!?" whispered Sogo. "We can't go in there! They'll know we're here!"

Kagura shrugged. "They might already know that anyway. You said so yourself." Without waiting another second, the girl slipped into the room. Sogo just gave a sigh before he ran over and slipped in after her.

Upon arriving inside, the two of them found themselves at the back of the room. All the personnel inside were currently focusing their attention away from them. They were too busy watching what was happening on their monitors. Taking their opportunity, Kagura and Sogo chose to hide themselves in a dark corner.

"Man, there's a lot of computer screens in here," said Kagura, scanning the room. "Do you think one of them will show Tsukky's location?"

"Maybe," said Sogo, also looking around. "Do you see any-"

Sogo immediately cut his words short as a ringing sound went off. It sounded a bit like a telephone.

"Ah, it's Takasugi-san," said one of the control room workers.

"He must want a report," said another.

Sogo and Kagura just kept silent as they looked at each other. They tried to listen in as the workers answered the call.

"Yes sir," the worker replied. "Yes, that's right…"

"I can't hear what the other guy is saying," Kagura complained as she perked up her ears.

"Shh," Sogo told her. "Listen…"

"Our guest?" the worker asked. "Yes, he is still running through the halls…No, he actually brought one other person with him…Yes, it's just the two of them. The Shiroyasha and his samurai apprentice I presume…"

"The Shiroyasha!?" Sogo whispered. "The boss is here!?"

"What?" Kagura cried. "Gin-chan!?"

"No, our hordes of soldiers didn't work," the worker continued. "It seems the Shiroyasha simply diced them up…Yeah, it's not really a surprise…Hang on, let me pull it up on the monitor…"

A second later, an image of Gintoki and Shinpachi appeared on the big screen at the front of the room. The two of them were still running away from their enemies and cutting them down when necessary. Kagura just watched the monitor with wide eyes.

Gin-chan? Shinpachi? You guys…are here too?

Shaking her head, Kagura cleared her thoughts. Duh, of course they are. They must have come here to save Tsukky, just like I did…And Tsukky is only in this situation because of what I did to her. Ugh, what a mess…

"All right, his exact location," the worker continued with his report. "Let's see…Right now, he's running down hallway B on the second floor towards-"

Kagura tuned him out as she turned towards Sogo. She simply gave a him a frown as she looked him in the eye. "I'm sorry," she said.

Sogo just gave her a confused look. "Huh?" he whispered.

Kagura didn't respond. Instead, she rose to her feet, and leapt out of her hiding place and into a walkway between desks. She then jumped again, this time heading for the giant monitor.

"What do you bastards…"

She placed her legs together, and aimed her feet at the screen.

"…THINK THAT YOU'RE DOING!?"

As the screen exploded in a shower of electric sparks, the whole room gaped in astonishment. Even Sogo didn't know what was going on. What are you doing, you insane bitch!? he cried in his head.

"What the hell was that?" screamed one of the men.

"Someone destroyed the monitor!" yelled another.

"With…a drop kick…?"

Kagura slowly rose out of the wreckage of what was once the large monitor at the front of the room. She then brushed herself off before glancing around the room with a grin. "You got that right."

Sogo could only clench his teeth in frustration as he watched this. What the hell does that idiot think she's doing!? This wasn't part of the plan!

"Who the hell are you!?" asked several of the crewmen.

Kagura simply cracked her knuckles. "Just some teenager with a bad temper."

Before anyone could ask her another question, Kagura sprung into action. She instantly became a whirlwind of chaos within the control room. Heads were knocked into heads; fists flew into faces. Everyone immediately began running and shouting, not quite sure what to do. They weren't fighters after all, just pilots.

"What do you want from us!?" screamed one of the men in terror.

"I came to collect my fee," said Kagura coolly as she kicked a computer aside. "There's hell to pay."

"For what!?" asked another man, crying in the corner.

Kagura just grunted as she lifted a computer over her head. "If you thought I was just going to sit here and let you spy on my friends…you've got another thing coming!" The rampaging girl then threw the computer into a desk, and the whole thing surprisingly went up in flames.

"This girl is insane!"

"Let's get out of here!"

The crewmen who were not yet knocked out began making a break for the exit. However, just as they were about to escape, a young man stepped out to stop them. He immediately drew his sword and cut down the first couple of pilots that stood before him. The swordsman then gave a sigh.

"I understand what you're trying to do here, China, but don't you think that it would have been better if we had just stayed hidden?"

"What's the matter?" asked Kagura, kicking another man across the room. "I can't do Gin-chan a favor?"

Sogo just shrugged as he pointed his sword at the men in front of him. "Destroying their intel will only do so much for him. The boss is still going to have to figure most of this out by himself."

"What are you talking about?" grunted Kagura, destroying more and more technology. "I'm just getting started. As soon as I'm done here, I'll go lend him a hand!"

Sogo simply rolled his eyes. "Tch, so naïve…"

"zzzt…Say, what's going on in there?"

The whole room seemed to go silent for a second upon hearing a new voice. Kagura and Sogo weren't quite sure what to make of it at first, but the crewmen immediately knew what was happening. One of them quickly snatched up the nearby transceiver.

"Takasugi-san! Intruders in the control room!"

Takasugi raised an eyebrow at this report and smiled slightly. "Intruders?" he purred.

"That's right!" the crewman shouted back. "There's some crazy strong girl raising hell in here! I think she might be a Yato!"

Takasugi's eye widened in surprise upon hearing this. "A Yato girl, you say?"

"Yes sir! She's attacked most of the men, and the room is a wreck too. There's also another-"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU BASTAAAARD!?"

"AHHH!"

Static…and then, silence…

Takasugi looked at the transceiver with mild surprise before gently setting it back down. He then managed to smile to himself once more. "Well, this is unexpected. Kagura is on board too, is she?"

And here's another chapter completed! Finally! I'm sorry that it it ended up taking so long for such a short chapter. Life and laziness have been keeping me busy XD Anyways, at least there's some action in this one! And by the way, thank you to all who wrote reviews for me recently. They were lovely :)

Other than that, I don't think there's too much to talk about here. The chapter was pretty straightforward. Let's just go ahead and continue with my top ten favorite Gintama characters!

Number 6: Hijikata Toshiro

It's weird, Hijikata used to be a lot higher on my list, but lately he seems to keep dropping lower and lower. It's not because of anything he did; I just realized that I happened to like a lot of other characters more. But I still love Hijikata though! He's basically the Roronoa Zoro of Gintama! And I love Zoro! The typical silent badass swordsman; you can't go wrong with that :) Aside from that, I really love Hijikata for his loyalty. His devotion to his chief is nothing but admirable. Even if his boss is a weird stalker gorilla-esque loser, Hijikata still loves and respects him with everything he has. He even stayed loyal to Mitsuba (I'm assuming) after all those years they spent apart. I also really like Hijikata's seriousness, as it usually plays very well with the rest of the Gintama cast. In most cases, he even acts as a foil to Gintoki, which leads to some really hilarious scenes XD All in all, Hijikata is just one hell of an awesome dude. (And also my favorite Shinsengumi member!)

Well, I think that's about enough from me. Feel free to leave a review with your thoughts on the chapter! Next chapter, Takasugi makes a move! Please look forward to it! See you then!