The Ultimate Plot Device II

"Destroy All Enemies!"


Written by Sheo Darren under threat of death from Gouki for calling him by his bastardized Capcom USA name


Conceived by Sho Tsuzuku and Sheo Darren on a boring day with too much booze at hand with Gouki within hearing range


Back To The Time Paradox

(Or, Why He's So Damned Pro-Active In This Fan Fic, Instead Of His Canon "Lurk-Moar-Wait-For-Challengers-Then-Strike" Policy)


Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. Do not sue. Also: read carefully.


Sometime in the 1970s…


It was a good night for Gouki. His latest bout of self-training had brought him inches closer to the eternally-distant insight he sought. It still eluded his grasp, like air spilling out of hands that sought to capture it (for now he could catch and carry water in his cupped hands without wasting a single drop, such was the perfection of his control over his body), but he felt that sooner rather than later he would gain it at last.

He headed back to his cave home with his shadow and thought in subservient tow to his person.

I will master the Ansatsuken! I will be greater than my Master Goutetsu and my brother Gouken! I will become the strongest in the world!


The sky exploded into fire.

Gouki spun around and looked up in time to catch the flying leviathan scream overhead. Trails of orange-red flames traced its aerial wake.

He stared despite himself. It was a train. The kind of train that chugged about during the early part of the 19th century with thick billows of smoke chugging out of its funnel's flaring mouth. With gouts of fire beneath its ten-meter long body keeping it in the air.

He was impressed. A flying train? Even a driven martial artist could appreciate spectacular entrances and technological advances. Though it did strike him as a bit ramshackle…

The train slowed to a hovering standstill near him. It gently touched down upon the grass. The sliding panel door smoothly opened. An old man and a youngish-looking lad hopped out of the contraption and ran towards him.

"Gouki!" the old man yelled at him.

Gouki was impressed, not stupefied. "You know my name, but I have never seen you before. Who are you?"

"There's no time for introductions! You have to come with us!"

"You will make time." His tone brooked no argument.

"Doc, just tell the guy who we are," the younger man said. "But hurry!"

"Fine, Marty, fine. I'm Dr. Emmet Brown. This," the old man gestured to his companion, "Is Marty McFly."

Gouki nodded. "You are Americans? Foreigners?"

"In more ways than one. We've come from the future."

"The… future?"

The claim made sense, even to an elementally simple and violence-driven mind like Gouki's. He'd seen examples of what technology had accomplished over the years: wrist-worn time-keeping devices like the one Ojou-san wore that kept near-perfect time and could be ordered to shrill once a certain time was reached; boxes of electronic wizardry that allowed you to watch and listen to scenes from faraway lands and times; and of course those newfangled konpyuuta.

And it didn't hurt to have graphic visual evidence backing it all up. Jumbo jets and oil tankers impressed Gouki with their size. A flying train, though, easily had those titans beat in terms of marvelous wonder.

"Mr. Gouki, you have to come back with us," the old man– Doc Brown– insisted.

He was sufficiently distracted to murmur, "Back where?"

"Not where. When! Back to the future!"

That got him. Gouki was now fully listening. "Back to your time? Why?"

"To stop Judgment Day!"

"Judgment Day?" Callused brows rose. The term rang a mental bell. He was reminded of his pledge to become the master of Ansatsuken. True, he was already strong, but he still lacked that something to push him past his human limitations. What was it he missed? It eluded him. Teased him. Taunted him.

Intent. Killing intent.

"What is this Judgment Day?" Gouki growled.

"The beginning of Mankind's fight to preserve its existence as a species. Listen carefully," Doc Brown lectured. "In the near future, Mankind will build sentient Machines. Machines that can think for themselves. Don't ask why; it's not important. Anyway, these Machines will begin a war with Mankind. They will devastate Mankind, but Mankind will win because it has a mighty hero fighting for it. That hero," he pointedly looked at Gouki, "Is you."

The 'hero' laughed. "Hero? I? You have a sense of humor, old man…"

"I'm not joking! In the future, you will become a powerful warrior! One of the greatest– if not the greatest– warriors that Mankind has ever produced. You will have the power to sink islands! Defeat monsters come out of nightmares! Go into space and there spread your name and power and legend amongst the stars!"

That both pleased and troubled Gouki. To be assured about his fate as a great warrior delighted him to no end. (Yes, I believe these foreigners did come from the future.) But, at the same time, knowing that his destiny was set in stone caused him to question himself. Where now the source of his drive to see just how far he could go, if he knew he was going to b able to do it, anyway?

For the first time in his life as a martial artist, Gouki felt sad.

"I've said too much," Doc Brown realized. "I may have inadvertently changed the timeline!"

From the train's open door, a shaggy dog stuck its head out. It barked. Repeatedly. Angrily.

Doc Brown and Marty froze. "Oh, no," the former murmured. "It's here!"

Gouki easily tasted the fear on them. Something had truly arrived. Something they feared. Something dangerous. "What is it?"

"The Machines' time-traveling hit-cyborg," Marty exclaimed. "A Terminator!"

"They've probably found out about Gouki," Doc Brown said. "They're trying to change the future!"

"Terminator." Gouki did not know what the English word meant, but it sounded deadly. "Good."

"No! Bad! Can't you understand English?"

He was about to say no, then realized something. "How can I understand you if you come from a different time and place?"

"Universal Translator! Come on, man!" Marty made for the train. Doc Brown was halfway there already. "We can still get away!"

"No."

The time-travelers stopped dead in their tracks. "Do you want to die?" Marty desperately asked.


These strangers bring the gift of the future. My future. They say I will not die in this fight. That I will have many fights to look forward to. That my renown as the Strongest is assured.

But my future is not set by their words. My future is made by my hands.

Gouki grinned at the source of the approaching noise.

Now, you machine warrior from the future! Come out and meet the man who will unmake you!


The foliage rustled. Parted.

The man who emerged was stark naked. His whole body seemed to be composed of well-toned muscle. He towered over Gouki, and Gouki was no ten-kilogram weakling.

"Oh, my God," Marty yelped, "It looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger!"

"The Governor of California," Doc Brown grunted almost resignedly.

"Huh? What was that, Doc?"

"Forget I said anything, Marty."

"Gouki." The Terminator spoke in a heavy foreign accent that would be called by those in the know as Austrian/German. "You're terminated."


"So what happened next, Gouki?" Iliya's blood-red eyes were wide with wonder. "Were you terminated?"

Gouki chuckled. He liked this child.


A/N: Yes, Gouki decided to stay over at Iliya's Manor for a while after winning the Grail War. He is old. Even Ansatsuken Masters possessed by Satsui no Hadou need to unburden their thoughts every now and then.

Anyway, I hope people who'd wondered about why Gouki has violated canon in this fic by actively going after people and critters is explained. Enjoy!