Two Times, One Sword (Closed)

Tone 6th

The Guardian
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The night was quiet, the only sound was the water lapping up against the Water Lilies. Sapphire Lake was the host to a home long sense forgotten. The Ieyoshi household was once hustling and bustling with life, from children to elders this house had them all. The house also doubled as one of Japans finest swordsmen schools, being lead by Grand Swordsman Takeda Ieyoshi. The school taught the way of the spirit sword. This style prided itself in the scared arts of magic infused sword fighting, something that wasn't easy to learn. Only twelve students graduated to the rank of Master Swordsman.

Though as years went on members of the house hold started to pass away or just move on, leaving both the school and home in a state of disrepair. However, one man and student continued to live on the old halls of the home. Jiro Ieyoshi was the fifth son of Takada Ieyoshi, and the last to receive the rank of Master Swordsman. It is here, where we start our journey into a tale of very bizarre events that leave the very balance of space and time hanging by a thread. It all starts with a raging impact that scars Sapphire Lake.




Water pounded against the old dilapidated house. The lake screamed in pain as it cooled whatever had struck in. Jiro awoke breathing heavily, clenching his sword, his eyes darted out the window and out to the lake. Small flames skipped across the water, eating every lily pad they came to before going out. The Samurai dashed for the door and outside, the cool night air nipping at his face. He ran to the small dock and looked outwards towards the center of the lake.

"Is this another one of Gin's monsters?" his voice was gruff and deep.



He spotted a floating human like figure out on the water. He closed his eyes "Spirit of the water aid me so that I may save a life." he whispered. He thrust his palm out, aiming at the figure, and a large wave of water shot of towards its target. It rushed past the figure, and Jiro pulled his hand back slowly. The torrent of water followed, bring the shape to shore. The samurai ran full speed to the body, only to be surprised at it was a man encased in metal.

"Surly this is Gin's work." he drew his sword, a blade as white as the moon, and readied it. "Up with you metal man!" Jiro roared.
 
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Acid rain and heavy smog from over-industrialization drowned the megalopolis, like the raging monsoons that made settlements near the coast no longer possible. It, like other megalopolises around the world, struggled to hold a special identity to call its own; extensive globalist objectives of corporate powers worked towards the eventual homogenization of human culture into one governed by consumerism. With a human population as uncountable as the stars, though unnatural scientific advancements in food and medicine, the default named cityscape known KAMI-5 housed them in its solemn care from atop the highest skyscraper and airships to the settlements deep within the Earth's crust. The disease of humanity was virtually the only species non-extinct as entire ecosystems were annihilated under unsustainable actions of those who could not be Kami, guardians of the Earth.

Bred in a vats, and gradually augmented through the development stages, men and women were constructed by various, warring Japanese mega-corporations, meant as a counter-measure against aggression from local and international threats. One of these vat breeds started his life brainwashed as one of these henchmen, conditioned mentally and physically through gruesome, virtual simulations to infiltrate, hack, investigate, interrogate, and kill. It was training bereft of true style, of spirit, classically attributed to dojos of antiquity; it instead surrendered to the cold of objective mathematical calculations to maximize effectiveness and raw killing power. He excelled at the top of his class, gaining the attention of his superiors and granting him quick access into the field. He was a quick study, but it was accompanied closely by an inquisitive nature. Experience on the field slowly unfavorably changed his perception towards his work.

Eventually, this street samurai defected, taking on the name Yori, 'public servant', finding a much more suitable career as a local cop, to uphold the law and protect citizens beyond the narrow scope of his father corporation PaxCorp, one of the psuedo-shogunates that had true power over puppet governments. Gone were the days of a glorious Emperor to pave the way to prosperity. It was but a pipe dream conjured by obsoleted mysticism, replaced by lies of democracy and capitalism. Yori chose his actions carefully with the care of a surgeon to mend the broken spirit of the land, maintaining a balance through the honorable code of the KAMI-5 Police, who kept neutral by refusing sponsorships by any company.

Now was different. Cops have been killed in the line of duty, but now the killings were more brazen and cocky. Signs of weapon use from all sorts of mega-corperations lead the Police Force to believe in the worst; that either their position of neutrality was no longer accepted by the present powers, or that a new power was seeking to make a power play for the underground. Yori recognized PaxCorp weapon use most of all, including microwave guns that liquefied even the most heavily armored enemies and other hellish weapons of devious fae-like inspiration, such as the metal disk launcher. He made a solemn vow to kill as many of those scumbags as possible with his black metal alloy PaxCorp katana blade, regulation firearms, anti-personnel grenades, and his cybernetic upgrades. In a simple jacket bearing the police crest covering his metal riot armor, he rode on his black motorcycle into the grim acidic fog in search of his vengeance.
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The rest of his memories blurred as he tried frantically to understand what happened to him on his last night in KAMI-5. There was a sharp sensation of intense heat enveloping him, amplified by his metal body parts, followed by a crash into water -- fresh water. The sensation of both feeling truly clean and drowning at the same time confused his senses to the point that he had no idea which way was even up. His information implants were in the process of resolving a time calibration malfunction, of all things, though Yori had no further time to think as a sudden wave pushed him directly to a shore line.

"Up with you metal man!"

Yori's instinct overrode his confusion quickly, though his senses still could not handle even the contrast that the air he breathed was like mana from heaven; the 'metal man' coughed up blackish tar-like spit as he rolled back and kicked upward into a quick standing recovery, facing this mysterious stranger, face to face. When he saw that the man already drew his blade, he drew his own, black as the night.

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"I am Yori of the K-5 Police." His voice was also rustic like the strangers, but each Japanese word was bastardized by English modernization, taking part in that accent. "You will stand down, or you will force me to use whatever force necessary to neutralize you."

Analyzing... Uneven ground. Matching known fighting stances to internal DB. Projecting probabilistic fight paths...
 
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"No! It is you who will stand down! You are trespassing on Ieyoshi land." his words were quick and sharp. He watched as the black tar Yori coughed up as it killed the grass instantly. His way of speaking was dishonorable and hard to understand. Surly he was one of Gin's men. Jiro wasted no time he dashed at as opponent and came at him with a quick horizontal slash to the abdomen, but the sword only made a shallow scratch. "So Gin has made changes to monsters yet again. It matters not you all have weak points!" again he swung, this time coming over with a vertical chop to the head. *Clang!* The mental blocked it and pushed his attack away. Jrio reset and started his enemy down waiting for his attack he needed to know what kind of swordsman he was dealing with.
 
Ieyoshi? That ain't any corporation I've ever heard of.

Yori knew that he still had his firearm, but two things prevented him from using it now. Water most likely clogged the gun shaft, or short-circuited it, and Yori couldn't risk a misfire. Second, and more importantly, this man only appeared to have a sword as a weapon - and nothing else. All his PaxCorp training simulations suggested to go straight to attaining unfair advantage, but this Ieyoshi employee chose not to strike while he was prone, and instead command him to get to his feet. It was a kind of honor unknown even to him as an officer of the law. The sequence of attacks up to this point, Yori guessed, were merely to gauge. This man was clearly competent in the way of the sword as his reset left no opening.

"Weak points?" said Yori, "You're the one without augments or tech!"

Yori charged at the man like a normal samurai would with both hands at the hilt. As he got closer his mechanical right hand grasped tighter, buckling with the sword like a gauntlet. He crouched like a cheetah, and quickly pushed himself to the right with his piston powered legs. The stranger dodged his subsequent upward slash and parried the few slashes that followed, before Yori also disengaged and reset.
 
His words were strange Tech? Augments? What was this... this thing talking about? Such thoughts were pushed from his mind as the stranger attacked with a speed he hand never seen from a normal man, but then again this thing wasn't a normal man. His strike was heavy but Jiro blocked it just in time, sparks flew in the air. "Enough of this! Spirit of the rock lend me your power!" He raised his sword and pointed it downward at the ground, it glowed a dark yellow. "Raw!" Jiro sounded as he plunged his sword in the Earth. Cracks shot out from where his sword had pierced, they shot straight from the tin man. Rocks came up and wrapped around the stranger's feet, binding him to the ground. *SHINNNG* Jrio pulled his sword from the ground and ran at the enemy full speed. "Tell Gin he will never have my land!" he shouted before cutting a deep gash into the metal man's side. He slid to a stop and waited for the explosion her normally would have heard, but once nothing came her turned. The stranger was only holding his side, but it seemed like he felt pain, something that Gin's men never seem to do.
 
Yori's sensors had never picked up anything like Jiro's earth based attack; it was likely a technology as unknown as the Ieyoshi corporation this man was allegedly working for. Black ichor mixed with blood spilled from his opened side of machine workings and flesh. This was the sort of advantage that Yori was used to fighting against. Perhaps this entire environment was simulated, though it looked and felt incredible, tailored for men like the one he was fighting right now. Now that the gloves were off, there was no holding back. His back was turned and his feet still embedded in the earth, though. His gritted his teeth through the pain.

This Gin person again. . . "I answer to no man! I only care about justice, and those I've sworn to protect!"

The rocked entombed his feet cracked and crumbled, as machine gears overcharged and whirred. With the combined brute force of man and machine, he was free of his crude bounds, though his cut open side still hurt like hell. He turned around and raised his sword again, finally mustering through the pain, waiting for his opponent to raise his defenses. If this opponent was to be overcome, he would give him a fair chance, since the enemy hadn't stabbed him when he was prone, but now it was a real fight, with no pulled punches.

[Rocket Boosters: ACTIVATED]

This time Yori charged directly at Jiro even quicker than before, as the boosters launched him forward from his feet. The flames from the exhaust ignited the grass along his path. After closing the distance quickly, Yori used his momentum to slash kick Jiro with his right leg. It was dodged nimbly; the intensity of the flames could be felt as they nearly licked Jiro's tunic. It was followed by more furious direct sword slashes before Yori jumped overhead, slashing from nearly all angles as the leaped arced in a tight semi-circular path. These strikes were parried by Jiro, who followed the movement despite the blinding smoke, turning to meet each strike masterfully.

Yori activated an additional boost as he jumped backward in their, with both of his feet pointed at Jiro again, essentially using the bottoms of his feet as double flamethrowers. Jiro jumped back in time out of range of the blast. Yori scowled as the intensity of his boosters dwindled to a minimum, just enough to keep him suspended high in the air, simulating levitation/flight.
 
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None of Gins men could fly even his most recent models, so who was this man? This fight was starting to become meaningless. Where swords clashed words could do a whole lot more. Jiro sheathed his sword and bowed "Feel as if I have made a deathly error, I mistook you for the enemy and for that I am deeply sorry." he said in calm voice. "I will not fight you, but please allow to explain mys-" Jiro was interrupted by a low humming sound.



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Jrio's eyes went wide at the site of the enemy airship "No not now." he growled. The samurai move with great speed to the dock and grabbed a piece of charcoal, using it to draw a large circle with a symbol in it.

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He spoke a few chants and plunged his sword into the symbol. The weapon glowed for a few seconds, then lake itself began to glow. Light surged through the water, the light shot into the air and hardened into a thick glass. The wall slowly began to move towards the center of the lake, stopping in the middle. The top of the wall closed off creating a sort of box, but the box appeared to be just sheltering a small section of water.

"STUPID BOY!" a voice from the ship call, a loud speaker perhaps? "The Goddess Stone will be mine this day!" The voice was low and gruff.

Jrio kept chanting, his mind focused on the one spot in the lake.

"Bah if you want to give your life for a rock then so be it!" the voice shouted.

Golden containers were dropped off of the ship and landed with a ground quaking thud. The containers opened to reveal several metallic
beings, all of which were advancing on the swordsman. He could stop chanting, he had to protect the Goddess Stone.​


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Yori descended when Jiro sheathed his sword; finally something he said or did allowed the other to see reason, though time was still not on his side.

"What kind of stupid airship design is that?" he said aloud. "It's about as streamlined for combat as a float!"

The stranger samurai was in a sort of trance and didn't respond. Yori couldn't understand the ritual at all; the only way that Yori could rationalize what was going on was that the symbol was to satisfy an embedded encrypted sequence and that the sword blade edge acted as a passkey. A glowing lake wasn't unusual according to this rationalization either, or its motion: artificial lighting and fluid dynamics had been perfected in his time. The Goddess Stone itself was likely the name for part of a large database of Ieyoshi specific information.

As soon as the crates dropped, however, he knew exactly what this situation was, from his countless combat simulations raised by PaxCorp; this game was known as 'Protect the Decker'. The Decker was critical for any intelligence or anti-intelligence mission; it was his job to focus only on activating technology in cyberspace, making him vulnerable from enemy attack from all sides. It simply wasn't fair to fight against one defenseless decker; though Yori didn't know the samurai stranger yet, his strong policeman code compelled him to defend and equalize the fight.

His gears whirred as loudly as they had before when escaping the earthly bounds that the stranger had imprisoned him with. His mechanical body only had moments to automatically disassemble, clean, assemble and reload his regulation firearms. His mechanical arms geared themselves up by rotating into his shoulder sockets, greasing for ease of motion.

"You keep doing what you're doing, Ieyoshi Decker. I've got point!" I would give my retirement savings for heavier armaments right about now... like a rocket multi-launcher.

As soon as one of his regulation firearms, a 9mm pistol with +P punching power, it popped from his leg holster invitingly and he pulled it out with the speed of a gunslinger, firing several armor penetrating rounds, from a stable cop firing stance, smack dab in the closest metal warrior's torso and head.
 
The golden warrior stopped a for a second, gave a slight shake, then focused its attention on the strange samurai. *chunk* *chunk* *chunk* The warrior strayed from the group and made its way to the samurai. It towered over him, but the strange thing was the helmet on the gold monstrosity was empty... just a black void. Befor the samurai could fire another shot the gold warrior cracked him across the face with its massive fist. Yori landed on the ground with a hard smack. The gold armor walked back to the, who were rapidly advancing on Jiro.

One armor punched Jiro straight in the ribs but the samurai did not move, though a cracking echoed through the lake. "It's over you stupid boy! Your father died by my hands and you will too!" The voice from the ship roared.
 
Yori was paralyzed in shock for not seeing the lumpy golden automaton go down after firing nigh-perfect shots into the head and chest, followed by an irrational fear of seeing that null black void for the first time. The hard crunch of the punch seemed to ground his jaw gears into loose bolts. He got up from the ground, surprised that the machine didn't finish him off; perhaps it was stupid to make certain of kills.

"Hey Air-Heads!" Yori yelled, drawing back his black sword of the night with one hand, made of out a superior metal that could easily cut through the weak gold (unless reinforced somehow). "I'm not finished yet!!" Yori charged again with all of his might, yelling a ferocious battle cry, over-clocking his gears to close in quickly to the target he failed to protect for the first time. As he ran, he pulled out one of his grenades with his free hand and flipped out the pain with his thumb; meanwhile his sword arm was spinning like as fast and as uncontrolled as windmill underneath a waterfall, rotating freely in his arm socket. Just before the moment of collision, Yori activated a short rocket boost, shoving a grenade into the open chest of one of the golden warriors and twirling and hurling it like a discus high in the air where it would explode. Following through with the adrenaline from a rampage wrought with both confusion and righteous fury to protect the innocent and honorable, Yori started hacking at the golden bodies of the warriors with great abandon, with intent to leave no part moving.
 
The golems were cut shreds, thin pieces of gold lay on the ground before Yori's feet.

"Who do we have here?" the voice called from the ship. "I thought the Ieyoshi clan worked alone? Whats the matter boy? Couldn't handle your father's legacy on your own?" he chuckled.

Jiro, for a moment, came out of his trance "Yori you must run!" he cried.

The box in the water flickered and Jrio drew his attention back to it continuing his chants.

"Ah Yori is it? Well let me introduce myself." the loud speaker cut off.

There was a quick wind and then a gravely voice from behind Yori "I am Gin Yoko of the Black Wind, but you may call me master."

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"Move aside you stupid fool, victory is within my grasp and I will not have some outsider take it from me." his voice was low.

"Yori run, now! He will kill you!" Jiro warned.

"You should listen to your friend Yori, I will kill you." Gin coiled back ready to strike. "So what will it be?"

(Please play the music I posted in my last post for this.)​
 
A compartment in Yori's forearm opened; it was military grade cybernetic adrenaline in a syringe, purplish green in color, chock full of repairing nanites. Yori injected himself in the arm like he was stabbing it, then cast the syringe aside. It was only to be used as a last measure; this was such a situation. He was on his last limb after his fight with both Jiro and the golems.

"You're the one sending automatons made out of weak gold of all metals, are flying in a thing as poorly designed as a blimp, and you call me a fool? Too much fresh air has really gotten to your head, Smog."

Yori knew that what he was doing was foolish, but he made an oath to protect. He stomped on a skull fragment of one of the fallen golems with his metal foot. Yori pulled out his gun again, so that he was now holding a blade in one hand and a pistol in the other. He supposed this Gin was flesh, and not a void like his golems, so it might do something this time.

"This Ieyoshi property is not yours, whatever it is, and I won't allow you to have it."
 
Gin left out a hardy laugh "I like this one he has spirit!." his tone quickly change. The swordsman pointed the tip of his blade at Yori's neck "Do not meddle in affairs you no nothing of!" he charged Yori with great speed, speed nothing like a normal human. No blows were stuck, just heavy angry breathing came from behind Gin's mask. Surprisingly Gin sheathed his swords, but the breathing didn't stop. "From what I saw that weapon in your hand is some sort of new rifle, yes?" he gripped the Yori's arm and bent it so the gun was point at his head. "You weaklings and your guns. Go on and shoot me you dishonorable mechanical abomination. Shoot. Me." his words were sharp and pointed.
 
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You're insane. However, in the brief moment that passed, Yori thought about the speed at which Gin had gone to reach this point. Gin might be fast enough to dislocate his arm just before a shot could be fired. Jiro had been right. This fight was over before it began; it was all in Gin's complete control.

"I don't take requests." Yori replied coolly. Gin's arm hold now sufficiently analyzed, Yori made a break for it by using his 'cop-fu' to escape the hold quickly, by contorting his arm so that Gin's joints couldn't hold it. The hold wasn't that strong though; it was clear Gin wasn't at all trying at this point.

Yori, tumbled away, and stood up, free for only a moment. Stow away his gun and sheathing his sword on his back hilt, Yori turned around and raised his fisticuffs, Irish boxing style. It was clear that Gin would win a sword fight quickly; both would know this. With the assumption that Gin had an ego, he would opt to fight on the level. A fist fight might be able to buy some much needed time for Jiro. It was a gambit. If Gin chose the sword, however, Yori was dead either way, regardless if he was fully armed or not. It could also be that even in a fist fight Gin would still win in less than a second, unless Gin wanted to milk the fight for sheer entertainment value.

"You want a fair fight, you whiner?" Yori taunted. "You and me, mano a mano. These beauties have your number on them if you want a taste."
 
Gin marched closer to Yori "You are oblivious to who I am, aren't you?" he raised his hands. "Do you even know where you are you oaf? What year it is?" his tone was condescending and his movements mocked Yori. "As you wish I will fight you, but if I win I will take you as my own, open you up, and see what makes you tick." he struck a fighting stance. "Oh but lets make it a little more fun." he snapped his fingers. Three giant gray balls fell from the airship. They unfolded to reveal three hulking iron warriors.

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Gin pointed to Jrio "Go." he said in low dower voice. The warriors began a slow step by step advance on Jiro, ground crumbling beneath their feet. "See the drones you destroyed earlier were just that, drones. Win against me, I'll call them off, and be on my way. Lose and-" *Crack!* Yori's steel fist buried into Gin's jaw. Gin's head snapped to the right under the force. "Shut up." Yori said in a low growl. An upper cut to the stomach made Gin slump over. The golems stopped and looked back at their master. Gin's body shook them sprung back to life, a loud pop could be heard as he moved his jaw back into place. "Impudent whelp!" Gin kicked Yori square in the gut, knocking him back. The golems continued on toward Jiro "Obviously they never taught you manners where you're from!" he roared. He rushed at Yori arm coiled back.​
 
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As Yori was to go for another punch straight in the jaw, Gin caught the fist and uppercut Yori's elbow joint, fracturing it. Dodging Yori's other arm with ease, Gin elbowed him in the stomach. Yori made a futile grab attempt, but only grabbed wind. Gin weaved in and out of Yori's punching range perfectly, countering with swift, sound punches to the jaw and stomach. Yori's tracking sensors could not keep up, so he was forced to use his instinct to guide him against the cutting wind. No man could move as fast as Gin was; Gin was clearly not a man.

Gin punches were essentially limitless, but Yori knew that these punches were meant to prolong his suffering. The shock waves from each of these blows impacting Yori's cyborg body popped the air violently. Finally, Gin cracked Yori's jaw with such force that it launched him upward a distance of about ten feet before landing away from him about another fifteen feet away. "You bore me, brute. Your fighting style is uninspired, a confused and pathetic mess. Stay down if you want a quick death from my golems."

Yori coughed up bone shards and blood, before kicking himself up. He slowly moved his arm, and with decisive cracks, set his own jaw and broken arm back into place. Yori was sure he didn't look very pretty right now, bleeding and bruised, especially his face. "I will honor Pax Style with my life." Pax Style was designed to take out any enemy combatant, having mathematically 'solved' essentially any normal combat scenario. Neither Gin or Jiro were normal, however. That is where Pax Style failed. It didn't calculate when an enemy could move as demoniacally fast as Gin did.

Yori understood the irony of honoring this style too, fitting as this fight would most likely be his end. PaxCorp was his clan, and company head Paxton was as close to being a 'father' that a vat child could ever have. He could not agree with company policy to kill enemy company employees or the honorless killing of non-combatants, but no PaxCorp agent tried to move in to kill Yori when he joined the KAMI-5 police. In fact, PaxCorp went along with it, and pretended Yori's transfer was their plan, as a sign of good will. Yori still hated PaxCorp, and he defected to become a ronin until joining the police clan, but Yori knew his survival depended on the quest of combat perfection and will to survive that PaxCorp instilled in him. Working with the police and a resolution to protect the weak made Yori too soft to use Pax Style to its fullest potential.

"So be it." Gin seethed, drawing his sword. "No more stalling! Draw your sword and die with your style. You have 3 seconds."
 
"And you have two." Gin drew his duel katana and charged at Yori. *Beep Beep* The cyborgs tracking sensors just barely caught a glimpse of the rogue swordsman, but it was enough. *CLANG* Sparks flew as Yori blocked a powerful downward slash from Gin, the ground cracked underneath Yori's feet. *CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG!* Gin rained downward sword blows, that would have split the Earth in two, on top of Yori's sword. Warning lights flashed, alarms sounded, joints began to crack, yet the samurai just grit his teeth and pushed back. "RAH!" Yori roared as he shoved his way back against Gin's blows, breaking the chain of hits.

"You are a strong man I'll give you that! How about you come work for me, eh? Make you a General. Power, fame, riches, and all the woman you could ever want. It could be yours if you just help take the goddess stone." Gin called from behind his mask.

Yori just looked at him with feral eyes, then charged him with a strong horizontal slash. *CLANG!* Gin blocked with easy. "Fool." Gin whispered. A searing pain shot through Yori's human shoulder, as one of the demon's swords pierced it. The cyborg let out a shot scream and jumped back.



Jiro could not ignore the battle behind him, nor the man who fought for him, but he couldn't abandon his spot. The golems were getting closer with each passing second. It was only a matter of time before they would each him and he would have to defend himself... damn it he fell right into his trap. Minuets felt like seconds as he felt the hard cold punch of one of the golems across his back.

Flashing lights followed by a black haze, yet he didn't let go of the sword. One heavy punch after the next each increasing the haze of darkness. His eyes began to close as he slipped into unconsciousness. "Rakurai!" was the last word he had heard, and one that made his eyes shoot open.



Gin glanced at his iron warriors, almost fully upon Jiro now. "I'm done playing your game! It's time to end this." he raised a hand to the sky and instantly it became black with storm clouds. Electricity surged through the clouds, as heavy rain drenched the fighters. "You think I'm afraid of a little rain!" Yori charged. *Whoop* Yori ran into a dazing punch to the chest knocking him to one knee. Gin sheathed one sword and gripped the other with both hands "Behold the power of the Damned Sacred Sword! Rakurai!" He gave a powerful horizontal swipe, but to Yori's surprise he missed. The cyborg gave a smirk... then it all came at once. A bright white surge of lighting struck Yori, sending his systems into overload. There was nothing but pain.



"Rokkushirudo!" Jrio came down from mid air and plunged his sword into the ground, deflecting the wave of energy with a huge slab of stone. Yori fell to both knees, most of his systems were fried.

The barrier around the Goddess Stone disappeared instantly. Gin let out a laugh and snapped his fingers. A huge harpoon was launched from the airship and into the water. "Well Jrio it's been fun, but I have a dimension to conquer." with that Gin was gone in the blink of an eye. What came out of the water was a huge bright blue stone, with the black arrow stuck in the base. Jrio watched as his life's work floated away into the sky.​
 
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Damn it.

Yori had understood the precarious balance between life and death that his profession incurred. Gin's offer to become a general had been laughable. Yori would never work for a psychopath that stole what wasn't rightfully his. The rain from Gin's Rakurai fell on Yori's battered face as he lay prone, dying. The rain drops were too pure; it was not like the acidic rain from where he came from. Those countless, tiny insults battered him, reminding Yori of how thoroughly he had been defeated. He had been part of missions that failed, but this was the first time that failure had been entirely his. He couldn't even buy enough time to seal whatever it was that Jiro sought to protect.

The systems that were not fried whirred in constant agony to keep his bio-mechanical heart beating. Such a heart was useful for strenuous tasks a normal heart could not handle, though both still had the dire weakness to electricity. No armored MedTruck would come barreling to his rescue, not when his mini radio transmitter was dead and when he knew he was far away from home.

He watched as the blue stone was carried off into the sky by a harpoon, rage filling his heart to give him enough energy to lift his arm and yell a fierce roar of defiance, firing several defiant shots at the tether between the ship and the harpoon, before finally losing consciousness.
 
Jiro watched sorrowfully as the stone was carried off until it was nothing more then a speck on the horizon. The rain began to let up and Jiro's attention returned to the dying man beside him.

"Jiro are you alright!" a villager called as he ran up the main path to Jrio's home.

"I'm fine! Wake the village doctor and gear smith! Bring them immediately!" Jrio shouted back to the villager.

The man took off to the city as fast as his feet could carry him.

"Hang in there my friend." Jrio whispered to the limp body of his fallen comrade.

Yori's eyes fluttered open as he tried to comprehend his surroundings. He was floating in what seemed like a world constantly kissed by a setting sun, the sky ablaze with reds and yellows.

"Where am I?" he said in a gruff whisper. Was he dead? He didn't feel any pain in his body, so he must have been dead.

"No warrior you are not yet in the land of the dead." a female voice called out. He turned to see a beautiful standing in front of him.
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"Where am I?" Yori went on guard instantly.

The woman chuckled "Watch your tone warrior it's not becoming to speak to a goddess like that."

She floated over to him "You must help get the stone back Yori, for it is the only thing that can return you back to your own time." she placed her hand on the center of his chest. "I'll be watching Yori, do not disappoint me." she was deadly serious.

The goddess's hand on Yori's chest burst into a white hot flame, the warrior screamed in pain.

Yori's eyes shot open as he screamed bloody murder, something didn't feel right. Panicking and in extreme pain his eyes darted around looking for the cause.

"Hold him down!" a male voice commanded.

Yori looked sat up a little bit and found the horrifying scene of a ripped off chest plate and bleed exposed skin underneath. In fact most of his armor was torn from his body. The pain was unbearable as the swordsman screamed in agony.

"It's alright Yori just go back to sleep." Jrio's face now hung over Yori's.

Jiro placed a finger on the warriors forehead and said a few strings of words. *Bzzt* a shot transfer of electricity and Yori was out like a light.

 
Never before in Yori's experience had he seen the Sun so vividly. The bright colors of red, orange, and yellow bombarded his senses, as did the beauty of the woman who claimed herself to be a goddess. In his time, the sun was but a fading, almost forgotten light, shrouded constantly by mucky gray acid rain clouds and fog. This woman couldn't be a hologram, though; all of Yori's senses pointed to the incomprehensible, of a mysticism as separated as his future sun. It was too real to be anything but the truth, with her soothing voice contrasted against the pain the white hot flame she instilled within him. She might as well be made onto a god. Such was also the fate of his beloved city KAMI-5, personified as a living, breathing collection of people as uncountable as the stars. In his time, the earth was a bustling anthill, with so many passages and living spaces below ground and in the skies, that getting lost would be easy if not for technology and mind-numbing routine.

Floating back into unconsciousness after getting a horrifying glimpse of his own ruined body, he thought about all that the beautiful goddess had said and what all this might mean to her. Yori doubted his ability in taking back the stone after being quite handily defeated, though he couldn't doubt the urgency of retrieving it. If such a stone had the capability to bend the laws of time, and now a madman had it, existence itself was at stake. The basic bottom line from learning metaphysics in the light of nigh Singularity technical inventions being produced was this: if you could travel through time, don't. Space-time was a fabric that only a god could patch up, and who knew what kind of hell could be unleashed if paradoxes emerged. By being in this time, Yori knew he was at risk at causing damage. Perhaps he already did; if not for his fight against Jiro, perhaps he would have been alerted sooner to seal the stone. Or a better warrior could have fought and killed Gin; it was a failure Yori could never take lightly.

Would the goddess continue to be there as the Sun, watching, even in his time, or would she tire after mankind put their faith in cities and science alone? How was he flung back into time in the first place? His head gears whirred silently as he slept, until he awoke with a violently drawn in breath. His cybernetic eyes shot open, scanning the room, filtering out the afterimage of the bright colors of the dreamlike sun. Sitting up quickly, his chest ached in pain, but he tried to ignore it for the sake of urgency. The first thing he looked for was his sword.