Two Times, One Sword (Closed)

"Well Well it looks like we have a natural." Yang chuckled kicking the wreckage to one side of the ring. "Lesson two: Do not let your pride get in the way of your fighting. There are some fights you won't be able to win with sheer force, especially now." he looked her up and down. Two iron golems trudged into the ring. "Lesson three: You are going to take damage and you will like it. Use it to spur on your drive to win." He held up hand, and for a second nothing happened, but then Ayako felt all of her parts just stop. She was being held in place by some kind of magnetic force. "Hit her... hard." he ordered the golems. They reared their fists back and hit her full force in the stomach. First, there was nothing then everything went white followed by a shattering pain, pain for the first time. Ayako dropped to floor, not gasping, not screaming, just sitting there. "The Master gave us the curse of pain to keep us in line, you would do your best to remember the feeling." he pointed to her. "Now get up and fight!" he commanded.
 
They have an off switch. Smart.

She was powerless as the golems wound up their punches, but her pride kept her upright. What she didn't expect was the pain; pain, for the first time in her life. Her creator, John Paxton, had said he spared her the nuisance of pain, because it could only diminish efficiency. Using such a crude method for control was not Paxton's style at all. It was an interesting sensation, despite it being initially very unpleasant, because it was a different experience. Was this what her brother had experienced whenever she fought him? How did it look like he ignored it?

"Curse of pain?" Ayako chuckled. "It is a gift!"

She slammed her fists onto the ground beside her while lying down with enough force that it launched her whole body upward like a nightmarish ghoul freshly risen from the dead. The pain resonated in hands that no human hands experienced before because they couldn't be as strong or as knowingly callous to themselves. It was a show of pride. It was a shame that these golems didn't appear to feel pain. She launched herself towards the golems in a fist style similar to her brother's, an adapted Pax Style meant to be used against fleshbags. Killing them with her tail would be too quick to learn what more pain could offer her.
 
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Ayako's attack slid one of the golems back a bit, but it appeared to be undamaged. The two suits of armor backed her into a corner, one went for a grab, but it was to slow. Ayako twisted around its iron arm and scurried up to its head *Thump* *Thump* *Thump* her fists rammed into the armors head. Small dents started to appear on the golem's head, she was starting to break through. *Foom!* The hand of the other golem grabbed her from behind and tossed her to the ground *Smack!* *Crack!* She hit the ground with enough force to crack one of the lenses in one of her eyes. *Thunk!* A one hundred pound iron foot rocketed down onto Ayako's spine, this time she let out a small gasp.

"Lesson four: Know your limits in a fight and when to retreat." Yang chimed. "That's enough fighting for today." the golems backed off and exited the ring. "I would really rather not break the Master's new toy so soon. On your feet!" Yang screeched.

Slow but surly Ayako got back to her feet "I wasn't done fighting yet." she growled.

"Yeah, but I said you were." he said directly. "However if you wish to continue fighting, then you are more then welcome to try against me." he put a hand on his bald.

"Caution: Right optical sensor damaged, and in need of repair. Warning: Heavy damage taken to spine unable to send complete signal to tail. Caution: Full sync with tail interrupted restarting process." Ayako's internal system sounded.
 
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"Fine. No more fighting for today."

The adrenaline from the fight had dwindled ever since the killjoy called it off. Instigating another fight wouldn't capture the same elation she felt in that moment. Fighting was its own reason. She felt excited, coming to know the gift of pain. Fighting this other golem didn't suit her mood though; he had an ego which deserved to be crushed. If they ever fought, it would be at her prime, when she mastered this body, so that this arrogant teacher's defeat would be complete.

He called her a toy. Her brother had been a toy; this place had turned Yori into something else. Yori shouldn't have been able to escape the temporal stasis that her energy blast had produced. He emerged like a phoenix, and jammed an ordinance charge in her chest. She wasn't meant to survive that. She'd take all she could get from this place and also become something her brother wouldn't recognize. For now, however, she just wanted a place to relax. She hadn't 'hung out' in quite some time, adding to the 75.25 years guiding herself through the eddies of the time stream left by Yori, the first recorded time traveler, at least, according to PaxCorp records.

"So, what do you guys do for fun? Is there a place to relax - a 'watering hole' so to speak?"
 
Yang raised an eye brow "There is such a place. Here we call it "The Fire Pits." it's a place where we get our repairs, and let our joints hang free. I believe the human equivalent would be a bath house?" he ran a sharp finger across his chin. "Though your training is not done for the day Ayako."

"Oh come on, you said I was done fighting." she sighed.

"Correct, you physical training is done for today, but there is knowledge outside of battle to be obtained." he retorted. "You faced a man named Jiro yesterday, and you clearly observed the powers he had. You underestimated those powers and well... here we are. So, I will answer three of your questions on what exactly you witnessed that day. I could just tell you about them, but I am enjoying this game we're playing." he steel gaze pierced threw hers.
 
"By what mechanism does Jiro use in order to control elements against physical, natural laws?"

Ayako cut to the chase of the matter. Setting up attacks and barriers basically from thin air had no apparent natural explanation readily available to her. It confused her to think that no future technology could easily replicate what he had done to fend her off. The arrows were funny to her. The large pillars of earth shooting from the ground, the tidal waves - those weren't. She didn't bother to ask about Yori's new power of flame. It was probably a process that was similar to what Jiro was using, a secret which amazed escaped her keen perception.
 
Yang chuckled "You pour girl. No machine can do what Jiro does." He approached her "Have you felt something different about the air in this world?" He waved his hand. "A certain electricity jumping from one place to another, it's spirit energy. The natural force that moves between all living things. The samurai has learned master this force. He sends this energy into his sword and from there can manipulate the elements. However, this requires a lot of will power and can be very exhausting." He smiled and ran a finger down her cheek "if you wish to continue on this path head to library, all the information is there." He whispered
 
Rubbish.

Talk about spirits and willpower was something she would have never believed in the future, but there still might be some truth in what Yang was saying. She swatted his hand away when he ran his finger down her cheek. It was though he was still trying to start a fight despite her giving ground that she wouldn't be up for it.

"You know this first hand? How many times has he, or samurai like him, run your smug face to the ground?"

She didn't care that her remaining questions weren't about what she experienced during her fight. She had to stand up for herself against this golem that presumed to be her teacher. As for libraries, she doubted any could really provide her the answers she needed, unless she poured endlessly over them. Given that the library wasn't going to be as organized as PaxCorp intranet databases, it would be a hassle just to reorganize things to their proper place.
 
Yang opened his hand and stopped Ayako in her track. He stared squeezing his hand, her joints stared to bend under the pressure causing agonizing pain. "I grow tired of your tone you stupid fool! Look around you! You are not in your time anymore, surly your creator programmed you with some sort of respect." He snarled. "Do you think I would be able to do this to you with some kind of device? Look at me I couldn't carry such a mechanism on my light weight frame. This is true power!" He squeezed tighter causing Ayako's eye to completely crack. He dropped her to the floor "I already told you everything you wanted to know is in the library." He hissed and walked off leaving Ayako to seize where she was. "Get up your fine." He called
 
She couldn't identify what kind of force acted upon her, magnetic, gravitational, "spirit energy", or otherwise, so there was no way to counter it. In her original body, there were anti-magnetic devices to counteract fields of that source, but there appeared to be no mechanism to counteract such things in her now. This golem's belief was that it was "spirit energy", though, and that was enough of an answer. When she learned more about what spirit energy was, then she could exact her revenge. It was true there wasn't a device on his frame that appeared to generate the force she experienced, but there was still a mechanism behind it all; in other words, there was a process she didn't yet understand, but would come to understand. Ayako got up against the pain which now overwhelmed her entire frame, as the after effect of the damage still weighed upon her. Whatever Yang had done had compounded over the beating she received from the other golems. She couldn't see from the eye that completely cracked under the force. Her frame felt brittle though it was made out of a strong metal; any more pressure and she would have expected the metal frame itself to crack under the vice grip.

She eventually caught up with Yang, and into the library. The grandness of it didn't impress her, and neither did the collection of musty tomes arraying the long walls. It looked like the very picture of inefficiency with no mode of central control. How was anyone supposed to learn as they waded through a mountain of paper? Clearly having information digitized in her age was the better method to organize information. Was there any organization to this place at all? She remembered there was one a thing called the Dewey Decimal system, but it had been obsoleted with the age of computer database organization. Her 'mentor' stated that everything she needed to know was in this library. Problem - even if it was true everything she needed to know was in this library, how could she separate that from things she didn't need to know? Her current motive was to defeat her new mentor, and not in the pure search for knowledge. In her mind, she refused the phenomenon of 'spirit energy' to be anything besides something that could be reduced to what she already knew. As soon as she learned the relationship, then this time period would once again be subservient to her wrath.

"Where may I begin?" she asked. Her mentor wanted respect, so she'd give it, for a time. At least then, her mentor would believe that his demonstration of power had instilled some fear into her.
 
Yang lead Ayako to an intercetly craved black wood table. At the center of the table was the Japanese symbol for kownledge. "This is where you'll be learning from." he said placing his hands on the table. In brillent flash the carvings in the table light up in a deep blue.

"Spirit energy." Yang bellowed. In an instant books came flying from thier places on the shelves. Several large books stopped just above above the table. "Definition." Yang said looking up. A book opened itself and turned to the definition of spirit energy. "The given off by all things living and dead." He read allowed. The book moved back into the above stack. "Ayako this is an Abeiky table, simply ask it for a topic and the according books will come to you. You have three hours to study, then I suggest you get yourself repaired in fire pits." the golem turned and walked out of the library.
 
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She grinned, but only after Yang had left the room. Now we're cooking! It had been over 75 years since she had seen an interface similar to this one, and it was rather convenient to have. Learning with this method would amplify the learning process exponentially compared to if she had to look for things herself. Her hands upon the table could feel the strangeness of the deep blue light that formed the carvings on it.

"Definition, Abeiky Table. List all known simple commands associated with the use of a Abeiky table."

It was intended to be the equivalent to the --help argument for a simple shell command line of a computer. She didn't think 'Definition' could be the only command possible; it would be natural to know at least all the simple commands first to aid in her search.
 
This strange voice crept into the back of her mind "Commands include: Define, Search, Narrow search, Exact match." the voice whispered.
 
She was perturbed by the sudden voice in her head. More than disturbed, however, she was a bit angry at this unexpected function of the Abeiky table, or maybe it was just the side effects of 'pain', that new sensation that she was still working with. Seeing from one eye was a nuisance if she had to look at the pages all the time, however. Audio feedback at the back of her skull was a minor nuisance.

"Narrow search all known practitioners alive who can manipulate spirit energy for combat purposes."
 
A book came flying off the shelves and opened to a two page list of which most of the Ieyoshi family was listed, but all of the names except Jiro's were crossed off. Gin's name was present as well Yori's. However, there appeared to be a blank space in the middle of the list like a name had been been removed. The name also appeared to be part of the Ieyoshi family.
 
Ayako laughed audibly before stifling herself with the back of her hand when she first saw the small list. Her golem mentor almost implied that manipulating spirit energy was a trivial venture. This proved that it wasn't, given that the list was only two pages long, including the names that were crossed off. So even if you mastered it, you were a target. Bet was on Gin being the cause of most of the deaths listed on those pages. Her laughter ceased, however, when she saw her Yori on the list.

How the hell did he get on this list; how did he learn and master the art so quickly? Might be the Ieyoshi brand of teaching that is responsible.

The blank space caused her to further question the result of her inquiry.

"Exact search - compare blank space under name "Ieyoshi Jiro" of this page to the earliest version which had an entry at this space."
 
The voice came creeping back into her skull "Restricted access to all earlier versions of any document." it whispered. The book remained open waiting to waved away or spurred on.
 
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She waved the book aside. The voice in her head deal was getting old quickly, though she couldn't rationally be mad since it seemed like just an automated response. Ayako was slightly disappointed there was such a thing as a restricted information mechanism for the Abeiky table.

"Search: Combat Techniques with Spirit Energy, sorted in ascending order from least to most challenging to master."
 
Three large, thick, black, leather bound books hovered off the shelves of a red bookcase. The tomes were simply titled one through three with the Japeneese number on each cover. The first landed on the table and opened to the frist page. "Evil lercks with in these pages." was written in red ink.
 
"Evil is in this book?" Ayako's face beamed. Her slightly annoyed frown turned into a satisfied smirk. "Interesting. No text I've read had warnings like these~"

The red ink was a very nice touch. It almost looked like blood. Red was her favorite color, after all.
 
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