Silver Moon – Book 3 Chapter 18

"Takasugi-san! A report!"

Takasugi casually glanced back at the messenger behind him. "What is it?"

"It's those intruders that showed up a moment ago! It seems that they've managed to free the prisoners from their cells! Most of our forces are already fighting with them, but those female warriors are holding them off! What do you want us to do?"

Takasugi frowned a little before facing forward again. He was currently watching his men pilot the ship from their meeting room. He'd have liked to have focused on where they were heading, but he supposed that this new threat could not be ignored.

"Just send our reinforcements after them. Tell them to either kill them or force them off the ship; whichever is faster."

"Er, sir," the messenger replied nervously, "I'm afraid the reinforcements are being held back as well."

Takasugi scowled as he turned back again. "What?"

"There's apparently some rogue Shinsengumi officer taking them all on at once. They can't even get to where the other battle is happening."

Takasugi clenched his teeth as he faced forward. Damn it, when did the Shinsengumi decide to get involved!?If we don't deal with this quickly, the whole plan could go to ruin…

Especially now that Gintoki has escaped…

From Takasugi's right, Kamui decided to speak up. "Wow, it sounds like this place has gone to hell. Didn't see that one coming," he said with a smile.

"What should we do now, Shinsuke-sama?" asked Matako, frowning.

Takasugi just gave a sigh before softly smiling. "It's no trouble, we'll just have to move out and meet the enemies ourselves."

Kamui grinned. "Finally," he breathed. "Time to fight."

Sogo clenched his teeth as he sliced through another enemy swordsman. Naturally, Sogo stepped to the side as blood flew everywhere. He then pointed his sword back at the horde of soldiers before him. "Who's next?" he asked.

The terrorists just stared at the pile of corpses before them with looks of frustration. "Damn it!" one yelled. "He's just one kid! How can we not get past him!?"

"It's these damn hallways," yelled another. "They're too narrow!"

"We can't get around him, and we can't charge him all at once!"

Sogo just stared at them, uninterested. "Not coming?" he asked. "Then I'll come to you."

With that, Sogo jumped forward towards the horde of enemies, and began swinging wildly. Nevertheless, each move hit its target, and they soon fell accordingly.

This hallway really does work to my advantage Sogo thought. There's a lot of enemies here, but as long as I'm careful and take my time, I shouldn't have any trouble with them.

As he swung, Sogo's mind soon drifted to thoughts of the others…

I hope they're all okay…I heard that intruders had invaded the ship, and I just assumed they were allies. And then when I saw this group of reinforcements moving, I figured that that was probably the best time to reveal myself. At the very least, I think I should do my new allies a favor…by killing every last one of these guards for them….

Sogo just grinned as he continued making headway amongst the blood. No problem!

Meanwhile, Gintoki and the others were getting ready to move. Gintoki had gladly taken a sword that Katsura had offered him, and he took a second to swing it a few times to get the feel of it. Once he was satisfied, he sheathed it and turned to the others. Everyone looked like they were ready to fight, except for one…

Gintoki walked over to Tsukuyo, who was still resting on the floor after getting treated by Elizabeth. "How ya doing?" he asked softly.

"Better," she said truthfully. "But it still hurts to move."

Elizabeth took a moment to flip a sign. 'I replaced all of her bandages with fresh ones and even managed to transfer some blood back into her system.'

Is there ever anything this bird doesn't have on him? Gintoki wondered with awe. "I see, thank you," he replied.

Just then, Gintoki turned to find Tsukuyo trying to get on her feet. It looked like she was struggling amidst her pain. "What are you doing?" he asked her.

Tsukuyo clenched her teeth. "What's it look like? I'm standing up…"

Gintoki could only give a sigh before extending his arms out to her. "Here," he offered.

Tsukuyo looked at his arms reluctantly for a second, trying to be tough, but eventually accepted his hand. To her surprise though, Gintoki just ended up scooping her up and carrying her. She immediately went to argue against it.

"Hey, what are you-!?"

"Tsukuyo, don't even fight it," he said with another sigh. "Just let me hold you, would ya? Besides, it's normal for couples to do this."

It's still kind of embarrassing though Tsukuyo thought to herself. I feel like a weakling in his arms like this…

Gintoki went ahead and carried her over to where the others were standing at the prison's exit. "Okay everyone," he called, "we need to take a moment to decide on what our plan of action is going to be. We can't just rush out there without a plan."

Shinpachi smiled at this. "For once, you're actually making sense, Gin-san. We definitely need to find a way to locate Takasugi so we can stop his plans for Edo's destruction."

"It's not just about that, Shinpachi," Kagura chimed in. She was currently stretching in order to prepare her muscles for the upcoming action.

"She's right," agreed Gintoki, followed by a pause.

Gintoki and Kagura both shot glares at the boy. "This is a battle for revenge," they said in unison.

Shinpachi shuddered a bit at this. "You guys are looking way too scary!"

"Anyways," continued Gintoki, "in order to stop Takasugi, I think we need to bring down his top officers one by one. All six of them."

Katsura gave a nod at this before he listed off the names. "Kawakami Bansai, Kijima Matako, Takechi Henpeita, Abuto, Kamui, and Takasugi himself."

"Right," said Gintoki. "If we can take down those six, the Kiheitai will lose their figureheads and shall collapse as well. And if Takasugi's forces fall apart, so should his plan."

"Makes sense," agreed Mutsu, following along. "How do you want to go about it?"

"Well, first things first," said Gintoki, slightly lifting his fiancé up in his arms, "we really need to get Tsukuyo to safety. I know that her wounds have been treated for the time being, but the battlefield is no place for her. I'd really feel a lot better if she was back in the hospital."

Tsukuyo immediately spoke up. "Now wait just a minute, Gintoki! I don't want to be left behind just because I'm injured! I want to help too!"

Gintoki just glared at her. "Are you insane!? Just look at yourself!"

Tsukuyo knew he had a point, but her pride as a warrior made her want to fight back. "I'm fine!" she insisted. "I can still be of use!"

"Tsukuyo," Gintoki said sternly. "Just stop."

Tsukuyo went silent for a moment, but still went to argue once more. "But I-"

"Tsukuyo-san," Shinpachi called out to her, "I think that Gin-san is right. You really should focus on escaping and recovering."

"I agree," said Kagura. "We'll be okay without you, Tsukky. You just take it easy."

"There's no shame in this," Mutsu also chimed in. "Nobody will think less of you for leaving in these circumstances."

Tsukuyo stared at them all for a moment before she heard Gintoki whisper something in her ear. "Troublesome woman," he said. "If you won't listen to me, will you at least listen to them?"

Tsukuyo looked back to see the seriousness in his face, and knew instantly that everyone was just concerned for her. And that while it went against what she wanted to do as a warrior, she knew what had to be done…

"Very well, I'll evacuate the ship," she agreed quietly.

Gintoki just gave a sigh of relief. "Thank you," he said sincerely, before placing a small kiss on her cheek. They soon turned red as Tsukuyo looked away.

"Elizabeth can escort her out of here and back to Sakamoto's ship," Katsura told the group. "He's reliable enough to get the job done."

'You can count on me!' Elizabeth's sign read.

"I appreciate it," said Gintoki with a nod. "As for the rest of us, we can all stay and fight."

The rest of the group nodded in return, each of them confirming their intention to enter battle.

"Let's see," Gintoki continued. "With Tsukuyo and the bird escaping, that leaves six of us to fight Takasugi's men. We also have our wild card: that young Shinsengumi officer."

Upon hearing this, Katsura felt a sweat drop slide down his forehead. "H-hold on a second, Gintoki. You didn't tell me that there would be Shinsengumi on this ship…"

"Relax," Gintoki told him. "It's just one guy. As long as you don't run into him, you'll be fine."

"But what if he thinks I'm an enemy terrorist!?"

"You are an enemy terrorist."

"It's not enemy terrorist, it's Katsura!"

"Who said anything about 'terrorist' being your name!?" Gintoki snapped. He then took a second to calm down. "Whatever, we don't even know where the kid is, so we're not going to rely on him. The way I see it, there are six of us, and six of them. That leaves one person for each of us to bring down."

"I want Kamui," said Kagura immediately.

Everyone just turned and look at her, surprised at her hasty reply. "Are you sure?" asked Gintoki.

"Of course," the girl replied. "Being his younger sister, he's basically my responsibility anyway, right? Besides, I really want to kick his ass for what he did to Tsukky back there."

Gintoki actually smiled a little at this, both happy and proud that he could trust someone like her once again. "Very well," he said, "but I don't think that you should go alone. Based on past experience, Kamui usually seems to stick close to that other Yato, Abuto."

Katsura scratched his chin at this. "Yes, isn't he Kamui's assistant or something?"

"More or less," said Gintoki with a shrug. "The point is, you'll probably run into the both of them at the same time. It's best if someone goes with you."

"In that case," Mutsu spoke up, stepping forward, "I will go."

Kagura stared at her. "Mutsu?"

"It's going to be a battle amongst Yato's, right?" asked Mutsu with a smile. "Then I'm your partner."

"Ah, that's right, you're a Yato too," Gintoki mumbled.

Shinpachi just stared at the both of them in shock. "EH!? She issssssss!?"

Mutsu just ignored them as she extended her hand out to Kagura. "What do you say? Want some help kicking your brother's ass?"

Kagura just grinned before clasping Mutsu's hand with her own. "You got a deal."

"So it's decided," said Katsura, with his arms crossed. "Leader and Mutsu will take on Kamui and Abuto. That leaves the four members of the Kiheitai."

"Takasugi," Gintoki said suddenly. "I want that bastard for myself..."

The rest of the group just stared at him for a moment before Katsura gave a sigh. "Yes, I suppose there's no arguing against that…Are you going to be all right fighting against him?"

"I'm not the one you need to worry about," said Gintoki quietly. "Can I trust you three to deal with the rest by yourselves?"

"Of course, Gin-san," said Shinpachi with a smile. "We'll make sure their plan is stopped."

"You can count on us, Kintoki!" Sakamoto exclaimed. "Say guys, who do I get to fight?"

"Hmm," mumbled Katsura, going over a plan in his mind. "I think I have an idea of how we'll split the last three…First off, I'll take on Kawakami Bansai. I've heard that he's a talented swordsman, but I don't think I should have too much trouble dealing with him."

Katsura then turned to Shinpachi. "As for you, Shinpachi, I think you should fight with Takechi Henpeita. He's the main strategist of the Kiheitai, so he's going to be smart in battle. Do you think you can handle him?"

"Yes," said Shinpachi with a nod. "I've actually fought with him once before. I think I'll have a good chance of beating him this time around."

"Good then," said Katsura with a smile.

"What about me, Zura?" asked Sakamoto excitedly. "Who do I get to take on?"

"It's not Zura, it's Katsura! And you'll take on the only one left: The Crimson Bullet, Kijima Matako."

"Who's that?" he asked, clueless.

"She's a fierce warrior who fights using guns, kind of like yourself…"

"Sounds weak! Ah ha ha ha ha ha!"

"She is," agreed Kagura as she cracked her knuckles. "I've fought her before," she said with a shrug.

"You guys aren't taking this seriously enough!" Shinpachi screamed as he pointed at them. "These opponents aren't going to be easy!"

"Aw, it'll be fine," Sakamoto assured him. "I'm pretty talented myself when it comes to handling guns." Then, as if to prove himself, Sakamoto went to draw his gun with one swift movement. However, upon picking up the weapon, he started to lose his grip and ended up fumbling around with it for a second. When he was finally able to get a firm grasp on it, he accidently pulled the trigger, causing a bullet to shoot off into the nearby wall. Those standing around him quickly ducked.

"Whoops," he said innocently.

"You're way too careless!" Shinpachi yelled once more. "I'm starting to get worried here!"

"Yes, well, worried or not, I'm afraid we're stuck with him," Gintoki interrupted. "Anyways, we know our plan now, so it's time to move out. There's no need to waste any more time."

Gintoki then walked over to Elizabeth before gently handing Tsukuyo over to him. "Take care of her," he whispered. Elizabeth just nodded in response. Gintoki then looked to his fiancé.

"Be careful, Gintoki," she advised.

"Idiot," he told her. "Just worry about yourself."

Tsukuyo frowned at this, but gave a small nod anyway. Gintoki then turned to the rest of the group. "All right, let's move out."

"Right," the group replied. And with that, they all took off down the halls, heading towards the sound of action.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth stayed behind and ended up running in the opposite direction with Tsukuyo in his arms. As they ran, Tsukuyo stared back in the direction of the fighting with a sense of longing. Oh, how she truly wished to be a part of the battle and help out. Surely there was something she could do, even in her broken state?

After a few moments of thinking, Tsukuyo looked up to the bird carrying her. "Excuse me," she said, "can you stop, please?"

Elizabeth just stared at her before producing a sign from within his mouth. 'What is it?'

Tsukuyo frowned for a second. She knew that this would be hard to explain. "Listen, I know that I'm injured, and that I'm in no shape to fight, but I have a request to make…Please let me go help them…"

Elizabeth simply continued running as he produced another sign. 'You're in bad condition. You'd just get in the way.'

Tsukuyo just sighed. "I know that," she admitted. "I know I might just slow everyone down or find myself in more danger but…but I feel like if I could help in even the slightest way, then I should…"

Tsukuyo remained silent for a moment after that, before she decided to speak up again. "Please, let me go-"

"Hey, who's over there!?"

Tsukuyo and Elizabeth both looked up to find a large group of enemy guards standing in front of them. Elizabeth quickly stopped in his tracks. He shot a sign out of his mouth. 'Shit!' it said. Moving quickly, Elizabeth flung Tsukuyo over his shoulder before catching the ejected sign. He then used the sign to beat down the nearest approaching guards before taking off in the opposite direction.

'Time to run!' the sign now said.

Tsukuyo just clenched her teeth as she stared at the groups of enemies chasing after them. Damn it she cursed. How am I supposed to convince Elizabeth to let me go now!?

Gintoki led the charge down the halls, with the rest of his group following behind him. Numerous enemies stood before them, but the group quickly dealt with them as they moved. Eventually, Gintoki called back to them. "Does anybody know where we can find our targets?"

"No idea," Katsura grunted as he cut down a terrorist. "Should we just make a big ruckus and hope they come to us?"

"Heeeeey," Sakamoto called as his eyebrows perked up. "Why don't we ask those lovely ladies over there if they know anything?"

The rest of the group looked to where Sakamoto was pointing, only to see some of their allies fighting against Takasugi's forces. "Sakamoto-san, that's the Hyakka, remember?" Shinpachi reminded him.

"Hmm, maybe they do know something…" Gintoki mumbled to himself. "Come on!"

Leading their charge over to them, Gintoki jumped and swooped down upon the Hyakka's enemies before slashing them all down. The rest of the group followed suit until all of the enemies were down for good.

Gintoki then turned to the Hyakka. "What's up?"

"Gin-san!" most of them cried out of surprise.

"You're free!?"

"Where's the boss?"

"Is she okay?"

"She's…fine," Gintoki told them. "She's currently escaping this place, but we decided to stay and fight. Anyway, we need to ask you a question."

"What is it?" one of them asked.

"We're looking for a few people on this ship. Maybe you've seen them?"

"Who are you looking for?"

Gintoki took a moment to put a hand to his chin. "Hmm…Well, first off, we're looking for an unlikeable asshole who has a bandage over one eye…and, let's see, we're also looking for a stupid punk that smiles a lot and kind of looks like that runt behind me."

"I'm not a runt!" Kagura shouted back.

"We also need to find some jackass who wears headphones all the time, and a slut with guns, and some guy that looks like a pervert. See anybody like that around here?"

The Hyakka just gave him looks of confusion. Eventually, one of them spoke up. "Well, I don't know about those first two, but we did see a group resembling the last three you described..."

"Really? Where were they?"

"They just passed by us a moment ago. We were too busy fighting to do anything about them though."

"Did you see where they went?" Gintoki asked.

The woman pointed down the hall. "That way, and to the right."

"Thanks," Gintoki told them with a smile before taking off. "I owe you guys one!"

The rest of the group simply continued following Gintoki's lead. As Sakamoto passed by the Hyakka, he gave them a smile. "If you ladies are done here, you're more than welcome to come with us if you wa-"

Sakamoto's invitation was cut short as Mutsu kicked him from behind. "Keep moving, fool."

Gintoki followed the instructions provided by the Hyakka, and after a few more twists and turns, he arrived at a large metal door. Not even bothering to try opening it, he called on his two powerhouses. "Kagura, Mutsu…"

All the girls did was nod their heads before they both ran forward and kicked the metal door in with ease. Whether it had been locked or not, the group would never know. Once everyone had run inside, they took a moment to look around the room they now found themselves in. It was big, probably the biggest the ship had to offer. There were several pipes running from wall to wall, and ceiling to floor. Some of them would release steam every now and then. A pathway darted off to their right, and there was a ladder to the left that led up to a walkway. At some point along the walkway, there was another ladder that appeared to lead to an opening in the ceiling.

However, none of this was really relevant, because the group was more preoccupied with the three enemies that stood before them. Sitting on one of the horizontal pipes sat Bansai, who was softly playing his samisen. Standing near him were both Matako and Takechi, with hands on their respective weapons, ready to draw them at a moment's notice.

"Welcome Shiroyasha," Bansai said calmly. "Brought some friends, have you?"

Gintoki just frowned at him. "Yeah, they tagged along, so what?"

Bansai also frowned before he ceased playing and slowly stood up. He then pointed up to the hatch in the ceiling, where the ladders and walkway led. "Shinsuke has decided to go up there so he can oversee things. I believe he is awaiting your presence, Shiroyasha…"

Bansai then pointed to the path that led off to the right. "Kamui is down that hallway, and he's waiting for you…" he added, addressing Kagura.

The whole room just went silent at this revelation. Gintoki and Kagura looked shocked to have gained such information so easily. They almost wondered if it was a trap, until they saw Matako's reaction.

"What are you doing, Bansai-senpai!?" she shouted angrily. "Why are you just giving that information away to our enemies!?"

Bansai just calmly gave a shrug. "I'm just passing on the message for them. This is how both Shinsuke and Kamui wanted it. Besides, if we took on this whole group of fighters at once, we would be outnumbered and overwhelmed. We would easily lose."

"He's right, Matako-san," Takechi agreed. "It's better if we just handle what we can and trust that the others will take care of the rest."

"It works out better for both sides this way," Bansai added. He then glanced up at Gintoki. "Well, Shiroyasha, are you going to move on? Or would you prefer to stay here?"

Gintoki just stared back at him before giving a small nod. "Thanks for the info," he said briefly as he took off running towards the ladder.

Kagura also got ready to run. "Mutsu, let's go!"

"Right."

As the two girls took off, and Gintoki started climbing the ladder as fast as he could, Matako just gave a snarl. "Grr, this is stupid! We should just deal with them while they're right in front of us!"

"Do what you like," mumbled Bansai, who seemed to have gone back to strumming his instrument.

"You better believe I will," Matako replied as she whipped out two guns. Wasting almost no time at all on aiming, she quickly fired a shot at Gintoki before firing another one in the opposite direction at Kagura. True to her skill, both shots were perfectly set to hit.

As Gintoki reached the top of the first ladder, he only had an instant to react against the shot coming his way. Acting almost purely on instincts, he withdrew his sword before swinging it vertically in front of him. The bullet immediately broke apart, having been cut in half. Gintoki kept moving.

As for Kagura, she quickly saw her bullet coming at her, and prepared accordingly. She pulled one of her legs back before nailing the timing and kicking the incoming bullet with all her strength. The bullet flew back towards Matako like a rocket, and she was barely able to dodge in time as it whizzed passed her.

"That little bitch," she cursed through clenched teeth.

"That stung!" Kagura winced as she kept running.

"Damn it," Matako growled as she took aim again. However, this time, something quickly knocked the gun out of her hand. "Ah, what the-!?"

Matako turned to look, only to find a light trail of smoke rising out of Sakamoto's gun. "Not so fast there, girlie," he said with a smile.

Katsura and Shinpachi took this opportunity to draw their weapons as they slowly took a step forward.

"Your opponents-"

"Are right here!"

"Ah ha ha!"

And I got another chapter done! Yay. Well, I guess now you know what the upcoming fights will be. I hope you're excited. I also hope that you thought this chapter was at least a little funny, but that just makes me think that I hope for too much XD

Anyways, this chapter is long enough as is, so let's just get my Top Ten Characters segment out of the way. Time for the top three!

Number 3: Takasugi Shinsuke

You know, I've always been on the fence as to whether or not he was number two or number three, but after some thinking I'm fine with having him third. Well, what can I say about my old buddy Shinsuke? I don't know, there's just so much to his character. He's basically Gintoki's foil/rival/antagonist/villain/comrade wrapped up in a tragic package. I honestly feel really bad for him sometimes. Aside from that, one thing I love about him is how the story always gets serious when he's involved. At the very least, you can always count on that. I once said that Kamui was one of my favorite villains, but you better believe that Takasugi is right up there with him. His goal is to "destroy everything", and while that may seem like a typical villain plot, there's something about the vastness of Gintama's universe that makes me realize: "Holy crap, he really wants to destroy everything!" I don't know, he just seems so serious and believable when he says it. He's just so bloodthirsty and badass, that I can't help but love him. And it is for those reasons that he placed third.

But enough about that! Please feel free to leave a review with your thoughts and as always look forward to the next chapter! Next time: there are confrontations! Um…yep, confrontations and stuff. It'll be good, trust me! XD See you then!