Commander's Fury (Custom World Quest)

[John Connor]

John thought for a second and held out a hand to Shinku “Deal… “ There was no choice in this deal but this Shinku was right. Time to rejoin his men against the droids. He let go of Shinku’s hand to finally turn around and face the battlefield once again.

Making sure the two weren’t about to break the deal, John went back to grasping his plasma rifle and mowing down each line of droids that came up. Waves of plasma energies blasted the clockwork droids one after another. The mercenaries finally felt a sense of relief come back to them when the Commander rejoined the battle and began to shoot at the metals coming near them.

Not sure how long the onslaught had been going on, possibly for hours, days even. Nobody could foretell how long this battle would last. But John Connor fought countless wars before that the skirmish looked nothing but a mere walk in the park.

With familiar confidence, Connor led his run and gun method. Battle cries laced with screams and loud bullets and laser pistols hitting metal, mercenaries finding their defensive position and pulling back to reload and follow suit in their makeshift trenches. Their synergies revealed each of their experiences in wars.

John Connor made his voice heard over the noises of battle “Nobody signed up for the wars I fought either. Yet I still fought them. We had a deal.” His battle cry echoed around the forced battlefield, joined by the endless sound of bullets against metal and blades clashing on the droids. Empty shells fell to the ground yet flames of courage filled every mercenary, as the intensity of battle rose every minute. Blood and sweat watered the ground below and cries of courage and desperation filled the air.

New battle cries joined the old ones of the mercenaries as John kept on the frontlines choosing to be with his mercenaries instead of giving orders.

He did that all his life, pushed aside for others who would die for him.

He kept an eye on each droid that kept crawling into view but noticed Jack, the pirate captain, finally start shooting droids on the frontlines while he saw Shinku disappear into the shadows and cut apart droids with his sword of choice.

The terminator joined the group in the fray of battle crushing droids with his bare hands and catching and throwing the arrows back at the droids joining them.

Seconds turned into minutes as John tried to keep his eyes on 3 figures as he barely noticed Shinku’s brief disappearance from the fight.

The droid fight was mostly on what he was focused on. But something he wasn’t expecting was a medium black void colored horse appearing in the middle of said droid fight.

Even the mercenaries didn’t quite expect the whole horse in the battle. They felt a bit more tense for a moment but as the horse started to battle the same opponents they had, their tension started to ease out.

Everything was going well except that the waves of droids seemed to be never ending. Waves of new bots come with every piece that they destroy. Every line of droids seemed to be “better” than the last group of droids that came right after it and the fight just seemed to get more annoying as droids exploded near a mercenary and they had to pull away for a few minutes to check their injury.

Seconds later, another droid seemed to be a ticking time bomb, as it exploded near John as the terminator pushed it away in time so John didn’t get the grunt of the attack.

A blast marred the cheeks of the terminator as he dusted it off like it was nothing at all.

It seemed like Shinku and John were pushed back by droids swarming on their position until they were back to back to each other. John shooting down Shinku’s droids and Shinku slicing John’s droids and vice versa.

The mercs seemed to get more aggressive as the new allies helping them, allowed them to push back more droids. The group was finally winning the battle, right? However, who knows one battle could not be a whole war.

Quest: Restless Steel with Shinku
Word Count:5422 +704 =6126/10,000

 

[Shinku]

Shinku held his hand out in response with the commander’s gesture. “Then I guess it’s time to help your men out,” Shinku noted, seeing the mercenaries being pushed back by the mechanical droids. He could feel Jack’s disapproval by the pirate’s enraged spirit but had to choose the better path he could think of. After all, the pirate was also a mere acquaintance who literally tried to kill him earlier.

“Just so ye’ know. I did not sign up for this!,” Jack whispered in Shinku's ear in an exasperated tone the moment the commander turned and started gunning the droids. Ironically however, he was the first to fire a shot then charged at the swarm of bots.

Choosing not to waste his time, Shinku stepped into his shadows and appeared behind some of the mechanical droids and started slashing a couple of them. He then threw his blade, latched with its chain to extend his reach and destroy more of their enemies. He then blinked out of the place, the moment the droids’ attention came to him and shots of arrows began to race towards his direction.

He entered the shadow realm and was about to leave when he suddenly felt a familiar presence yet again. He tried to just break against the realm’s borders but he couldn’t do it like he always had.

“We meet again my old friend,” the ghostly presence finally spoke in a voice that he had definitely heard before. Most of the man’s features were still concealed with shadows but his aura was something Shinku could never forget as the one that blasted him at the F-Zero arena yet the same one that gifted him his shadowsteed.

“You again! What do you want this time!” He still couldn’t give his trust to the stranger but with the man’s gift after their last encounter, he’s became more confident that this stranger wasn’t trying to kill him.

“Still rude as ever aren’t we? Shouldn’t you be thanking me now for my precious gift?” The shadowsteed suddenly appeared beside the stranger which the latter began to pet by its mane.

“I’m…in the middle of something now so could you just hurry and tell me what you want?” Shinku got speechless for a while but then retorted impatiently with his mind fixed at the drone battle outside.

“Or is it me that you want?” Orochi suddenly appeared beside Shinku, which greatly surprised the assassin of shadows.

“Well not really. I just want to check on my friend here, Shadow Demon. Let’s just say, I’d have to give him some pointers on my other gift,” he grinned, his face still fixed at the shadowsteed who seemed delighted at the man’s petting gesture.

“What other gift are you talking about?,” Shinku quickly probed, puzzled at the stranger’s words.

“Oh he’s fighting with you right now.,” the stranger responded, his grin still visible on his face.

“Wait, did you mean Jack?,” the assassin of shadows retorted.

“Interesting. I bet it was you that gave them the shadow stones and that bracelet.” Orochi intervened, his face seemingly delighted at the stranger.

“Oh that. Well the man has to eat after all but well, I knew they’d just play with you anyway. And that bracelet, it’s rather a gift for you, not theirs,” the stranger teased, his eyes darting back at Shinku.

“So want me to steal that from Jack?,” Shinku snarled.

The stranger started to laugh for a few minutes before continuing his speech. “That’s not quite right my friend. That bracelet was meant to be worn by that pirate though I was hoping it would have been that bearded captain but his first mate could work just fine. Anyway, here!” The stranger suddenly extended his right hand and opened his palm against Shinku. The moment his hand opened, the assassin of shadows suddenly felt a sudden burning sensation inside him which lasted for a few seconds.

“What did you do!,” Shinku snarled, terrified of the sudden event.

“He wouldn’t realize it but he’d be loyal to you from now on. He wouldn’t forget his grudge against you but something within him would prevent him from exacting his revenge. He wouldn’t understand it but it’ll be easier for you to convince him with anything. And Shadow Demon, I’d be looking out for you as well.” The stranger’s speech started to fade as it neared its end then the moment he finished his words, he disappeared in the blink of an eye.


‘I don’t like that man! But he looks interesting!’ Orochi hissed, while Shinku remained puzzled and speechless.
The shadow realm around them started to dissipate, forcibly bringing the assassin of shadows back to the battlefield just beside Jack who was busy cutting down the droids.

“Well it’s about time ye’ showed up! Almost taught ye’ scampered away like ye’ always did!,” Jack barked, as he shot another droid with his pistol.

“I just called for backup,” Shinku responded, as he started to cut down some of the other droids around. After a while, a loud neigh could be heard followed by the sudden appearance of a black ethereal horse-like creature. Most of the mercenaries, including Jack, were taken aback by the shadowy horse but eased up when the creature started to hurl dark balls of energies at the droids.

“Hey! You had that all along!,” the pirate complained, as his sword continued to hack and slash a couple of droids. He stood back to back with Shinku as they battled their opponents from every side.

“I did not want to lay all my cards on the table but well, I guess we have no choice at the moment,” Shinku responded, still a bit shocked at the shadow stranger’s new gift. The man’s intentions remained a puzzle for Shinku yet he couldn’t deny that the stranger’s gifts were what he had always needed all along.

“Ye’ sneaky bastard!,” Jack grinned, his fighting style now more aggressive than before. The presence of another ally seemed to have boosted him up, as he fearlessly charged at the droids that they had to escape from just a moment ago.

Though everything seemed going well, they still could not ignore the fact that the number of droids seemed to be unending. It did not take them that long to be pushed back in the corner as more droids join the fray and even better ones at that. Shinku ended up fighting back to back with the mercenaries commander. Jack on the other hand, was lucky enough to be just beside the shadowsteed who was somewhat doing better in battle than the rest of them.

Quest: Restless Steel with John Connor
Word Count: 8407+1107 = 9514 / 10,000

 

[John Connor]

John turned to everyone in the vicinity “I remembered I have an EMP but it’s a risky maneuver.” The terminator looked over at John and frowned “It affects everyone who has metal in the vicinity.”

The terminator looked up “What about RF shielding? Perhaps tinfoil can help mitigate the risk of me deactivating. It’s worth a try.”

John raised an eyebrow and nodded as tinfoil was put on the terminator for a while until the machine could get farther away from the EMP at least for now.
As the terminator got a safe distance away, John pulled out the EMP from his bag and let it fry the droids around the area, avoiding the T-800 in particular. Somehow this felt familiar, like this has happened before somewhere.

Victory against Skynet

Terminators fell silent as red eyes died out and blinked, machines stopping in their tracks. Machines moments away from killing more of John’s soldiers.

Seconds past, and the soldiers stopped in their path, tense to see what would happen if the machines came back to life. Nothing happened.

Cautiousness turned into loud roars of victory.

This scenario would seemingly play out in John’s head only to figure out it would happen here in real life soon enough after the EMP was activated.

A sigh of relief happens after the droids start to fall one by one .

“Why didn’t you tell us earlier you had an ace in the hole, Connor.” One mercenary groaned.

The Commander frowned, “You didn’t ask.”

Then he tried to calm the frazzled Pirate Captain who looked equally as frustrated. “I meant to use it as a last resort and the droids just kept coming, but that’s no excuse.”

John frowned, as he walked toward the vault only stopping when there was a keypad with a Phrase on it.

“Dszg ziv blf ivzoob ollprmt uli
When John walked up to the building door, the Phrase didn’t make any sense whatsoever and just sounded like drabble.

Normally John would have something for this, but there was nothing like that. He eyed the mercenaries who looked at each other with glares and shrugged “We weren’t paid to do puzzles, uh… Ask your bot thing.”

The T-800 interjected with a light glare “Terminator.”

One merc just shrugged. “Fine.”

The terminator walked over to the door and looked, scanning the keypad and then looking at the puzzle.

“This appears to be a secret code of some kind. For example A=Z, B=Y and so on.

“Dszg ziv blf ivzoob ollprmt uli rm gsrh givzhfiv?”

So what you are saying is the key to move on is just an code? This adventure just got weirder everyday.

The T-800 blinked, staring at the first word.

D equals W
S equals H
Z equals A
G equals T

A=Z B=Y C=X D=W E=V F=U G=T H=S I=R J=Q K-P L- O

“So the first word appears to be what?” John replied to the terminator as he nodded in a monotone language “Correct, enter that on the keypad.”

John walked up and pressed the word “What” into the keypad so far and the next word was now being deciphered by mostly everyone around him except for Shinku and the pirate in the background.

“Next word, T-800.”

Z equals A
I equals R
V equals E

“Enter Are into the keypad.”

Next… John replied after typing Are into the keypad.

B equals= Y
L equals=O
F equals U

“Enter “You” into the Keypad.

“Keep going!” John nodded and entered you into the keypad.

I equals R
V equals E
Z equals A
O equals L
O equals L
B equals Y

O equals L
L equals O
L equals O
P equals K
R equals I
M equals N
T equals G

U equals F
L O
I R


John typed in “What are you really looking for?'' and the lock clicked on the door, letting everyone inside after several tries of letters being confused and several presses of the wrong buttons.

After the door opened, John turned to the pirate Captain and waved him and Shinku over and nodded. Opening the door caused a light wind to pick up and pull back the heroes back ever so slightly.
The trained mercenaries quickened their pace and made their way around the side of the building as something or someone was out to share the shit out of everyone involved here in the first place.

As they traversed a long hallway, the figure of a ghostly apparition suddenly appeared in front of them. The ghost of the vault was ancient and it intended to not let anyone pass its ancient walls. “Turn back, or die like so many others died.” “How many others?”“All of them. Turn back and all death will leave you. You can be safe. You can be alone.” John was aware that the ghost was not speaking to him, but he spoke anyway in order to discern what it wanted from him in return for its offer of safety.


What was it asking for the offer of passing safely through to the vault?

John’s face contorted into an upside down frown and said “We need to get through here no matter what you say.”

The female ghost materialized, trying to scare the intruders from going toward their goal. “Turn back now, or I’ll be forced to result to more…drastic measures.

When John and the others refused to follow her commands, she howled, making the vault rumble like a mountain lion. What was in the cave began to shake and fall.

Cracking and shaking of the cave’s various stigmates began to fall, suddenly loosening up a giant round boulder.

John frowned “What the heck…” This sounds like Multerra Jones, the action hero…”

Restless Steel with Shinku
Word Count: 6126+907 = 7033 / 10,000

 

[Shinku]

Every good thing definitely had their end, as their previous advantageous position was reversed. Exhaustion could be felt in most of the mercenaries who’ve been battling for hours against their never ending swarm of foes. Courage started to melt down, vigor gradually faded with pants of short breaths noticeable from most of them that desperately fought for their survival. The wounded quickly grew in numbers, as their battle efficiency quickly dwindled at the prolonged battle.

The mood however, seemed to have turned another tide upon the commander’s mention of a certain EMP.

“Ei, what’s an EMP mate?,” Jack inquired in a soft whisper, as the commander and its mechanical ally started to discuss with each other.

“Let’s just observe for now.,” the assassin of shadows responded, having no idea of the tool as well.

The rest of the mercenaries continued shooting against the swarming droids with the assistance of the shadowsteed that offered its blast of dark energies to hold their opponents back. Jack now chose to stick to his slow pistol instead of charging straight into battle. Shinku himself decided to hurl his blade from time to time using its chains then reserve his energy most of the time.

After a few more minutes, an unsettling wave of energy suddenly burst out from among them, miraculously stopping the clockwork droids on their tracks. To everyone’s surprise, the droids started to fall one after another, their function obviously stopped by the sudden energy wave.

“Arrggg! Ye’ had that all along and yet ye’ made us fight all of that! What’s wrong with yer’ head mate! Got bored and ye’ decided to play with yer men!,” Jack snarled, after witnessing the multitude of droids lose function within just a few winks.

To protect their commander, the mercenaries blocked Jack as he walked towards John Connor and pointed their guns at the aggressive pirate.

“Hey! Give it a rest. I think what’s important is that the battle is finally over. We can proceed to the vault now,” Shinku stopped Jack, gripping the pirate by his right shoulder.

“Arrggg! Alright, just….,” Jack continued but decided to cut his speech short and faced away from the mercenaries.

Luckily, John seemed to not mind Jack’s attitude but rather apologized and turned around as well. Shinku simply observed as the commander proceeded to make his way towards the only visible door at the place. The other mercenaries eased up with most of them following John Connor.

‘He does know his way around this place,’ Shinku mused, referring to the commander, as he and Jack backed off in a corner.

“Well that’s some battle ain’t it?,” surprisingly, Jack went suddenly from agitated to a livelier mood.

“It is. So what do you plan on doing now?,” Shinku asked, still wary of the pirate’s intentions.

“To get to ‘em booties of course. What else?,” the pirate quickly responded, while doing some weird stretches of his own.

“That’s not what it looked like earlier,” the assassin of shadows probed, his eyes focused intently at Jack.

“Ah yes of course. I’ll try to kill ye’ later but I guess let’s just see what we can find ‘ere first,” Jack laughed in the most conventional way, as if murder was a mere usual task.

The pirate's words were indeed unsettling but his bubblier attitude somehow put Shinku at ease around the pirate. “I guess that’s what we came here for after all. They seem to be having some trouble there though,” the assassin of shadows noted, noticing that the mercenaries’ group gathered in front of the door without anyone succeeding on opening it.

“There’s plenty of ‘em in there. They’d figure it out soon enough,” Jack dismissed, before letting off a big yawn.

Shinku didn’t seem to plan on overstepping his bounds either; instead, took his time on regaining his strength.

“So how’d ye what to split ‘em booties,” the pirate continued as they watched the mercenaries discuss by the door.

“You can have whatever part they’d give us. I just need a single stone,” Shinku responded, giving a surprised look at Jack.

“Ye’ can’t be serious!,” Jack exclaimed but was more puzzled at the assassin’s poker face. “Wait yer’ definitely serious.,” he continued, surprised at Shinku’s lack of interest in the treasures.

“I’ll be needing something in return of course,” Shinku bargained, catching the pirate’s full attention.

“Spit it out then,” Jack responded in an impatient tone.

“You help me find another stone. And you can keep the rest of the loots we can find,” the assassin of shadows offered, his eyes intently staring at the pirate’s.

“Now that ain’t bad of a deal! Count me in!,” the pirate exclaimed, enthusiastically almost catching the attention of some mercenaries around.

Shinku was obviously about to speak some more when the commander finally called them. The door had finally opened and most of the mercenaries had started to enter.

“Well, that’s our queue matey!,” Jack invited, quickly rising from his position. He rushed with the mercenaries into the newly opened door followed shortly by Shinku.

Shinku kept looking around and had his senses open for any more danger inside a poorly lighted hallway. The pirate who was previously hesitant at the deal with the mercenaries seemed to have blended with the group pretty well this time. The assassin of shadows however, seemed not to mind at all but instead focused more on the mercenaries’ actions.

It was quite a long walk from the previous battlefield without any notable changes in detail to the surrounding environment. Same pattern of stone bricks filled the walls, with few torches hanging on the sides to provide meager lighting on the hallway. They walked quite a long way when the sudden appearance of an unknown presence disturbed Shinku. He was about to warn the rest when the mercenaries stopped one after another. The assassin of shadows quickly drew his sword observing the mercenaries in front of him.
“Turn back, or die like so many others died,” a female voice suddenly echoed within the hallway. The voice came from somewhere ahead of them.

Shinku couldn’t catch a view from where he was, but with the reaction of some mercenaries, someone was definitely in front of them. No one seemed to be doing anything at the moment but the assassin of shadows could feel the unrest on each of their spirits. He wanted to step into his shadows and see the situation up ahead but he deemed it smarter to just let those in front handle the situation.

After a few moments, the ghastly entity again spoke, this time in a more threatening way. Shinku quickly grabbed his sword but what ensued was far from his expectations. The ground suddenly shook violently causing the assassin of shadows to momentarily lose his balance. He struggled to keep himself upright while evading some pointed stones that fell from the ceiling.

Quest: Restless Steel with John Connor
Word Count: 9514 + 1149 = 10,663 / 10,000

 

[John Connor]

John muttered something else when he looked up, the tremors growing stronger as everyone seemed to keep their pace with each other at least for now. The terminator looked at John and nodded “Come on! MOVE IT! ALL OF YOU!”

If the shaking of the cave wasn’t enough, the addition of a rough huge rolling rock didn’t help. The mercenaries started to run in front of the commander following right after as everyone kept running.

Getting out of the danger area was number one priority but the panic didn’t stop when they arrived back in the room with the droids filling the cave. There were a few more pesky droids, although there were less of them, it didn't mean they were anymore of a pain in the ass.

The room had an eerie glow to it as he started to shoot at the few remaining droids. The terminator evaluated said situation as less trouble than it was before. That is before the droids started to form into some kind of clustered hive mind, into something more than just a droid.

The mercenaries looked up and pointed a gun up at the growing blob starting to form legs, arms, and even a head of what seemed like a boss of some kind. Something unlike what the terminator or John Connor had faced before, maybe even the stranger’s experiences as well.

The man looked up at the terminator “You know what it is, Uncle Bob?”

The terminator said with disdain in his voice “I am unsure… but let me scan for potential weaknesses, John.”

The T-800 stared at the mass of droids that formed into a “Clockwork” robot monster of some sort and his red scanner began to trace various targeted areas in his depth chart. “Over THERE, THERE, AND THERE!”

The tension filled cries of mercenaries shooting droid clumps felt so much like deja-vu, it began to give John distant chills.

Every shot at each weak spot of the mecha boss, the droids just clumped together like they were made of liquid metal and it brought back memories of the T-1000.

Droids falling apart harmlessly like they were liquid metal drops and suddenly falling to the floor and turning back to droids began very, very annoying for everyone involved. Not to mention the creature was absolutely huge. Every time the mercenaries push back to retreat and shoot at the target “weak” spots, they form a hole and “heal” up again.

John muttered as his plasma rifle kept hitting the droids one spot and they healed time and time again. Each time is more annoying than the last.

Even the man was starting to run out of ideas himself, until the terminator spoke up. “Liquid Nitrogen, I suggest we use this to freeze the droids. They won’t recover from breaking out of dry ice.”

John turned to the terminator who suggested liquid nitrogen, “Yeah? Where would we find it? Things have a habit of showing up when we least expect it, like NOW…”

The mercenaries looked up as they kept shooting “Where do we find this .. freezing nitrogen?”

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any weirder, they did. A cave set up with pipes running through the area looked like a movie set put in the middle of a cave. John eyed Shinku and the others and didn’t say much except look at Shinku for a second “I need to borrow your shadow horse. Is it possible to borrow it for a short time, Shinku?”

He eyed the man and the fellow pirates on Shinku’s side and frowned. “I’ll be back soon.”

As John walked toward Shinku’s prized Shadow stallion, he eyed the magnificent creature as he looked over at Shinku, waiting on a silent nod of approval. Shinku shook his head and the horse walked slowly toward Connor.

Within a slow, climbing approach on the creature itself, John eyed Shinku and let the man lead his horse toward what they needed to continue.

With his mind set on the “prize”, he grabbed the saddles and let the horse carry him off toward his location with only a hint of distrust. Valuable minutes would crack on the clock, minutes his mercenaries and what his temporarily allies had in mind for holding off the giant reforming clockwork robot.

John couldn’t help but hold onto the Shadow steed while looking around, making sure there were no sudden attacks outside where the ship was. To his surprise, Shinku’s shadow steed was speedy but got scared for a second from the sudden noises outside the cave.

“Who or what’s there?! Come out!”

The grass whistled in the wind as it seemed to be all John’s imagination or was it… Something spooked the horse, but there was no way John could see it.

Turns out the horse had to sneeze over something in the air.

After all that reaction, nothing happened and John pulled himself back on the horse.

“It will be alright, it was nothing, I’m sure of it.”

John then led the horse toward the mercenary's ship. Time was of the essence.

As the mercenaries gritted their teeth and kept shooting what seemed like an endless monster of metal, John stepped into the ship.

“Damnit, where is it, where is IT?!. “The ship was dark and the Commander was forced to dig in the dark until he was looking for what he wanted.

He bent down and shined the light down on the plasma weapon until he found a storage container of nitrogen in a container and safely contained the nitrogen in the case, hopefully enough for several shots to freeze the robots.

As soon as he filled the container, he placed it on his back, and strapped the Plasma rifle near the container on his back.

He really hoped to hell this worked like last time.

John Connor crawled back up on the shimmering dark horse and slammed his feet into the horse’s sides and began his ride back to the cave’s interior where the mercenaries were fighting a losing battle and Shinku and Jack were getting annoyed.

The nearby horse neighing alerted Shinku that John was finally back with the “plan.” The T-800 looked over at John “You have the liquid nitrogen?!”

John nodded and looked over at Shinku “Stand aside.”

He stared down the metal menace and pulled out a short cord of what seems like bigger tubing and began to spray a freezing like substance on the droids as water turned to snow and icicles stuck out of the each hive mind of droids. Each droid began to freeze like they were a mirror about to break. One shot by the mercenaries effortlessly took down several droids stuck together as each droid began to break like broken glass.

The soldier did the same with several other grouped together droids and they too fell like when ice was slightly too thin. Eventually several clusters of its arms fell off and its head fell off next, causing the creature to fall into the void below.

Quest: Restless Steel With Shinku

Word Count: 8206 / 10,000

 

[Shinku]

The violent tremor stopped after a while, though the mercenaries still seemed to be nerve-wracked at what just happened. Shinku stood by his shadowsteed, vigilant at whatever could come next. They haven’t settled for long however, when a loud rumbling sound disturbed the group yet again. The tension rose quickly as Shinku witnessed the mercenaries abruptly turn back and run.

“We’ve got to run matey!” Jack suddenly bolted out, overtaking most of the mercenaries that similarly retreated with haste. Though at the back, Shinku could definitely see a large boulder towering above all the mercenaries, rapidly approaching them.

“Here!” Shinku quickly climbed the shadowsteed before snatching the pirate, helping him up the nether horse. The pirate’s agility made it easy for both of them, allowing Jack to ride behind Shinku without much trouble. The shadowsteed then sped up, leaving all the mercenaries behind. They could hear all sorts of panicked shouts from behind, before they gradually faded as the shadowsteed effortlessly widened the distance between them. It didn’t take the Shinku that long before he finally got out of the hallway and into the room where they previously encountered the droids. He let the shadowsteed walk a bit more to the side before he decided to get off along with the pirate.

Shortly after, the mercenaries came out of the tunnel rampaging towards the room. Their commander and the mechanical man came out last before the large boulder burst out after them, crushing into a wall.

Just when they thought they finally had some break, the droids that John disabled started to be activated one after another. Without delay, the mercenaries dealt against the revitalized machines, with Shinku and Jack providing some backup support. The ;pirate shot a couple with his pistol while Shinku commanded the shadowsteed to fire its dark energy ball.

The battle went smoothly this time but their hellish encounter just wouldn’t allow them to have their break. As most of the droids fell down one by one, those that remained suddenly clustered themselves, gradually forming one giant mechanical being. The process provided the droids with some sort of a shield, deflecting its attackers weapons.

No matter how much the group tried to destroy the convergence, their shots couldn’t do anything against the droids’ defense. Finally, a giant clockwork droid formed, towering at a height that almost reached the now shattered wooden floor from where Shinku and Jack fell.

The group was finally able to deal some damage to the large machine however, the parts that were shattered would just go back, mending the part where they came from. Lasers, missiles and bombs started to fire from the gigantic droid’s multiple weapons, forcing the group to scatter around.

“Shiver me’ timbers! How we be defeatin’ that monster!” Jack barked, witnessing that their giant enemy could miraculously repair itself from each of their attacks. He continued his delayed pistol shots anyhow, working on each of his reloads as quickly as he could.

A plethora of similar complaints could be heard among the mercenaries as they fought in what seemed like an endless battle with the gigantic machine. The clockwork droid's multiple weapon system made it even harder for it to deal with.

Shinku delved into his shadows and got out just behind the gigantic droid. He tried to look for any weakness but what he did not expect were turrets that suddenly opened at the droid’s back and shot towards him. He was forced to enter the shadow realm once again then returned beside Jack.

He was about to try and enter his shadows once again when John suddenly called out to him. A solution came up but what they needed to defeat the gigantic droid seemed to be back at the commander’s ship. After a few lines of haggling, Shinku decided to let John borrow the nether horse. He could feel Jack’s resistance from behind but he figured they’d have to take care of the situation somehow. Hence without wasting much time, he telepathically commanded the horse to give the commander a ride. It wasn’t that hard to convince the shadowsteed who immediately walked towards John Connor.

The commander gave the command to cover him which his mercenaries dutifully obeyed. Without much issue, he was able to ride the shadowsteed and flew off the pit.

“Are ye’ sure of that matey.,” Jack protested the moment John had left the place. He continued his desperate shots while evading some of the bullets, lasers that flew to him.

“We’ve got no choice for now. Besides, I still control the shadowsteed so I can do something should he attempt something against us,” Shinku assured the pirate as he similarly evaded and pondered of a way to somehow contribute to the chaos.

“I be trustin’ ye on that.” Jack complied. “But what say ye’ we run off this place and plunder that vault,” he whispered, while the gigantic droid threw chaos in the room.

“With what just happened, I don’t think that’s a good idea. We don’t know what else could be waiting for us there,” Shinku responded, voting against the pirate’s idea of treachery.

Shinku aimed instead, to cut as many bullets as he could to at least help ease up the others from the droid’s heavy attack. The mercenaries continued to shoot, while others reloaded and some provided support by tanking the attacks with their shield or attending to the wounded. The battle ensued for hours, the mercenaries gradually tiring out of the exhausting battle.

It all seemed like a hopeless battle until John Connor came back with the shadowsteed. Shinku could immediately feel the mercenaries’ return of vigor the moment their commander got back to the battlefield. Immediately, the commander fired what seemed like a blue stream of liquid that almost immediately froze the giant droid. Parts of the clockwork machine started to cease their function until the whole robot stopped altogether. Having their opponent frozen, the mercenaries fired everything they got to hopefully end the battle. Frozen metals started to fall off, and fortunately remained at the ground as shattered parts. With their mood boosted up, the group fired even harder, throwing in some grenades from time to time. It didn’t take that long before their gigantic menace finally collapsed into shredded pieces of metal.

A victory cry raged throughout the ruins, as the mercenary celebrated their victory on their massive foe. Jack joined in with the battlecry while Shinku simply let off a sigh of relief as he walked towards his shadowsteed and John.

“I hope that this is the last battle,” Shinku stated once he stood in front of the mercenaries’ commander. He then proceeded to brush the shadowsteed’s mane who immediately neighed in response. He then eyed the mercenaries as they jumped for joy, seemingly forgetting about the vault itself. He simply stood beside the nether horse, patiently waiting for John’s next steps.

Quest: Restless Steel with John Connor
Word Count: 10,663 + 1149 = 11,812 / 10,000

 

[John Connor]

The ghost returned out of the nothingness of the vault’s space. “Congratulations, I guess you all passed your test!” “Enjoy the spoils of your victory as she faded from view, allowing John, his mercenaries, Shinku and Jack to continue toward their prize.

John turned toward Shinku and nodded “Come on. I doubt there’s anything holding us back from the whole vault now. The terminator went in front of John just to check first and stood on guard, his eyes immediately scanning through the walls seeing nothing dangerous.

“Uncle Bob” nodded and said “All clear. All may proceed.”

With a brief sliding of the vault door, a large lit room was full of what seemed like golden treasures and more. John seemed more alert and tense than usual expecting something to hop out. “I can’t believe the vault is just open just like that… “

He sighed and looked up, cautiously and then covered his emotions again “Shinku, I’ve always said this but I’m not sure if it is true or not. He had a habit of talking purely philosophical “This battle had been won, but not the war.”

He kept walking forward, the terminator scanning briefly and looked over at Shinku with his frown and monotone voice “It’s confirmed safe, Shinku. I believe it is safe to enter.’

The terminator actually made sure of it by picking up a diamond on the floor and picking it up, seeing if something happened.

Again he found a treasure chest full of valuables and looked over at the others and sat it down in front of the vault.

“Take your pick, there’s a lot more inside.”

A few mercenaries looked at each other and bent down, digging through the gems and diamonds inside, looking for something to take back to the director to pass along with themselves for extra cash over the time.

John wasn’t quite interested in the gold per say but just the satisfaction of the finished quest and that one battle was just completed.

He wearily eyed the silent Shinku staring at what seemed like a sword of some type but watched as he suddenly smashed the diamond into pieces, the man having new power.

John frowned, not sure what to expect from this newly powered man as the terminator stepped in front of John instantly “Stand down, now.”

The terminator’s scanners brushed on the fact Shinku was in fact more powerful. John didn’t call for the terminator but the terminator stepped forward anyway.

His mission was to protect John Connor no matter the cost, no matter the mission.

He stared down at the world below. During what the humans called “Sleep” period, the terminator actually went back through his own files, determining what went wrong with their scenario at hand.

He had successfully completed his mission this time but he hoped he could complete it this time.

Uncle Bob stared down Shinku “I don’t know what you did with the real Shinku, but this isn’t the time to fight over little things at this very moment. However Shinku seemed to be normal, something that didn't compute to the Skynet made infiltration terminator.

Magic was something completely different to the android and he blinked several times and looked back “Magic? That… is highly unusual. I’ve only seen it used a few times in the last… DA or what they called Dante’s Abyss here…”

John walked forward “Yeah, me and Uncle Bob here were part of last year’s Dante’s Abyss Conquest, we met… quite a lot of figures along the way.

The terminator turned noticing the Commander, John finally joined them in a chat.

“Yes. I met some fire princess named Azula, a dragon commander named Riley, Atlantis and much more.

The mercenaries raised an eyebrow “Is that why your name sounds so familiar all over the world?”

John frowned “Yeah, that’s why the director was so… interested in me. He heard of my antics in Dante’s Abyss Conquest last year and things just sort of fell together one by one.

The T-800 turned and said “I’m not sure this year. There are already banners and things being sent out for this year’s event, rumor this year is item collecting. Still interested?”

The mercenaries looked back “I hate to break up your get together, sir but we need to head back to Sark. He’s awaiting you and us and your pet terminator back there. Bring your friend if you want.”


John eyed Shinku and blinked “Not sure exactly, never met him before but I think he may have been in an earlier Dante’s Abyss also in a high ranking.”

The mercenaries began to pack up every little material they brought with them, from the gold they found to a storage container to give to the military director as well.

As ammo, big military weapons, supplies and much more were finally tossed to the men, the terminator followed suit to help them to make work go faster on their end.

The mercenaries actually had a question “So this guy is actually a terminator?”

The T-800 nodded “Highly advanced learning computer, every time I get hurt, I learn and adapt.”

The mercenaries looked back “Hm. Interesting. Perhaps the director might have a job for you another time, Connor. Be sure to mention T-800, he’d see them as useful in the long run.

The terminator turned human eyed the mercenaries and nodded, he’d be sure to give them a chance after two full missions of working together.

John remained quiet, tired as he carried what he could toward the ship. After everything was back inside, John nodded and turned to walk inside of the ship.

“If you need to contact me, look up my comm at this number.

He slid a card to Shinku and nodded. “It’s private and encoded.”

The card shown as a blank holographic card connecting to John’s private comms in case of trouble.

Of course he knew not every ally was to be fully trusted in the long run, he learned that after 30 years of war back home.

He yawned, as he stepped back inside of the ship and nodded, allowing the ship to take off, the engines pumping energy out as the ship took off and turned toward the sky leaving Shinku to his own devices.

John strapped inside with the mercenaries allowed for everyone to fully communicate with Sark on the way back to the HQ, as the trip would take a while.

Perhaps Connor deserved that well deserved nap after all who knows.

The mercenaries in front of the ship drove and kept in touch with Sark.

Sark went back and forth with Calgary and the others and detailed what happened, how it happened and everything that actually happened.

“Did you get what I asked for?” Sark replied,starkly

The mercenaries eyed John and the terminator with gun nearby “Commander got it, sir. He found his terminator that went missing during Dante's abyss last year.”

Sark blinked “Hm? An extra visitor? Interesting. I’ve never learned of this terminator. Let him come to me and we can think of adding him along with John for rewards.”


A few mercenaries slept while their Commander slept on and off while the terminator stayed awake just to see most of the mercenaries tired and sleeping.

“Wake up, Connor.” The terminator called out

“Huh, what?” The man talked in his sleep for a second

John looked somewhat tired when the ship finally landed and he had to shake off every once of tiredness in front of the director, Sark.

The ship landed and the mercenaries headed toward the HQ as John and the terminator followed right behind, walking into the office of Sark with a few things in hand.

“Sir, we found something you might be interested in…”

John handed him a small paper with information detailed on the paths they took, where they could enter again and get more gold if necessary and maybe more.

“Sir, if I may interject.” John looked at Sark and the T-800 and nodded

Sark moved his hand over and said “Go ahead, John. What is it?”

“I might join Dante’s Abyss again this year sir.”

The terminator eyed John wearily and blinked “Perhaps item collecting is interesting, who knows.”

Sark looked over at the two “Are you going this year?”

John sat and thought about things “Not sure yet, though the adventure usually tempts me to join up. “

John sighed “I’ll decide tomorrow. Let me think about it after I sleep for the night.”

The terminator looked up at Sark “So you are Sark, the director am I right?”

Sark crossed his arms “Yes. I heard you were the infamous terminator in Dante's Abyss last year. Quite an interesting terminator you are after all.”

“Would you like to potentially earn some cash on your own to help out John in the long run?”

The terminator eyed him and frowned “I was programmed to protect John Connor. I can help you out in the long run and as well protect John in the process.”

Tell me all you know about this year’s Dante’s Abyss, Sark.

Sark itched his head and looked up “How much do you know about item collecting?”

The terminator said “A lot. I’ve done a lot like that.”

Sark turned and said “Think of it as an item collecting on Steroids.”

The terminator raised an eyebrow “Right, I’ll consider that in my determination if we should join this year’s Dante’s Abyss or not. Thank you.”

The robot got up to shake, as Sark tried to shake but had to shake the metal hand softly as nobody knew what laid beneath the metal hand of the terminator but a hard chassis of metal.

Sark began to look back and forth for a bit before standing up again “What should i call you? Just Uncle Bob, Thank you.” The terminator nodded, turning its head toward the wall.

“How much do I and John get paid for all of this.”

Sark sighed and gritted his teeth.

“Crap all this talk and I forgot to pay you two for your hard work for us.”

Sark handed over a bag of goodies, and Essence shrugged and nodded “Thanks for the slight reminder.”

Money was handed to the terminator for John and the robot to spend anywhere, and potentially upgrade their weapons eventually during Dante’s Abyss.

Nobody knows what will happen in a while but John finally dragged himself up after hours in bed which consisted of a hard cot and saw the terminator with a bag in hand. “Here, there’s your share of what Sark promised from the last mission.”

He’s also paying me too.”

John pulled himself up and took the bag of essence he was promised and looked inside.

“I just hope whoever or whatever takes this when we go on to fight.”

John closed his eyes and sighed “There’s no fate in what we make for ourselves.”

Quest: Restless Steel with Shinku
Word Count: 10,663 + 1149 = 10,028/ 10,000

 

[Shinku]

Shinku received a nod from the mercenaries’ commander before the latter gave the command to continue. The mercenaries cheerfully obliged, marching back to the hallway as if nothing happened at all. In fact, a chant of victory echoed as the men traversed the path towards their prize. Who was to blame, everyone went through hell for whatever treasure lay inside the ruin’s vault.

Shinku on the other hand, proceeded with caution, given all the trouble that they had gone through. He kept his shadowsteed close to him, his senses still keen at everything around.

“D’ya think we be havin’ more troubles after this?” Though also on felicity, Jack couldn’t help but be wary of what could happen next. He walked beside Shinku this time, his eyes continuously surveying around.

“I don’t know. Let’s just keep our eyes open in case something happens,” Shinku warned, his eyes fixed straight at the path, yet his mind readily alert for anything that could pop out anytime.

The ground was shallowly dug with a path that was obviously caused by the massive boulder. Along with it, scattered a number of shattered rocks. The torches on the wall still provided sufficient lighting for them to traverse the path without trouble.
Fortunately, their march was able to take them to the vault’s opening without any more trouble. As such, they finally made a stop with the android scouting ahead at the door.

As the mechanical being did its inspection, Jak approached Shinku for a small talk. He did talk a bit deep for someone who seemed to be void of emotions. He could only nod in agreement though still contemplated the commander’s intentions.

Shortly after, the android announced the safety of the vault before sliding its doors to reveal a room full of countless treasures.

The commander finally invited the assassin of shadows inside who simply nodded in response. Jack, on the other hand, bolted inside the vault, digging himself into a mountain of gold coins.

“Avast ye! What ye’ be waitin’ for in there! Come ‘ere and start diggin’ these booties!,” the pirate yelled, as he started to fill his pocket with whatever treasures he could grab.

The assassin of shadows remained by the door as he watched the others intently. Shortly after, he turned around to reveal what looked like a small stone, glimmering in a faint crimson hue, on the palm of his hand. “I only need this,” he mused under his breath, before leaning on a wall to patiently wait for the others. He thought of simply bolting out but realized that leaving without anyone’s knowledge could get him into trouble. After all, those mercenaries, especially that John Connor wasn’t someone that he could easily deal with.

‘Ah! I can feel its power in me!,’ the voice of Orochi suddenly rang inside Shinku’s head as he witnessed the stone shattering before his very eyes. Gradually, the crimson stone formed into minute dusts before being pulled towards Shinku’s blade. The stone completely disappeared yet on the blade, speckles of crimson dusts lined along its dull edge.

The assassin of shadows felt a sudden rush of power, coursing through his veins. As the shadow demon noted, such power was indeed intoxicating. He had to intently suppress his sudden rage to cut something. He huffed, in a desperate breathing exercise to control himself. Fortunately enough, his attempt was successful, as he ended up catching for his breath. If anyone saw him at the moment, they’d think that he’s running out of breath as he desperately leaned on the wall to stabilize himself. He did calm down eventually, which made him eye his sword’s new appearance. A shot of pride came, as he silently celebrated his newfound power.

‘Yes, that’s right kid! Marvel at our new power! Soon, we’ll both be strong enough to eliminate those bastards that killed your family!,’ the shadow demon enticed, playing at Shinku’s thirst for vengeance. The assassin of shadows could neither repel or approve, his mind conflicting at his possible choices. He simply held his sword, pinning both his hopes and hatred at the demonic weapon.

He flinched upon the sudden confrontation of the android. He was puzzled at his mention of whatever happened to the real Shinku? Somehow it dawned to him that this particular machine might have been able to identify the presence of Orochi inside him. He took a deep breath before gesturing a bow of courtesy.

“I meant no harm. And I’m still myself. What you witnessed is just a test display of my power,” Shinku stated as politely as he could. A couple of other mercenaries witnessed the tension. Jack on the other hand, seemed too caught up in his own world of collecting his treasures.

“Magic, yes you are correct,” he confirmed at the terminator’s inquiry of magic, but his ears somehow tinged upon its mention of Dante’s Abyss. “Dante’s Abyss you say? Did you happen to be a participant?,” he asked, suddenly recalling John’s involvement in the said event.

Shinku listened intently as the android confirmed his inquiry. The machine mentioned however, that their involvement was the previous year’s event, a bit later than Jak’s year of participation. Somehow he contemplated that anyway until John Connor added to the android’s speech, naming some of whom he met at the event.

The assassin of shadows was about to respond when a mercenary suddenly cut into the conversation, raising his own inquiry. A few moments later, another mercenary came up, reporting the commander’s need to return.

“Do you happen to know someone by the name of Jak?,” Shinku cut into their conversation, not wanting to let the opportunity pass. John however, denied any knowledge of the eco warrior.

“I see,” he sighed, exactly as he thought the answer would be. He then quickly sheathed his sword as not to attract some more attention as he leaned at the wall to wait for his companion.

Shortly after at John’s command, the mercenaries started to leave the vault in clusters.

“Ahoy matey! Did ya’ get sumtin’?,” Jack greeted Shinku as he left the vault along with the others.

“Yeah, I got what I needed,” the assassin of shadows replied, walking along the others, his shadowsteed, following closely behind.

“Aye! So where away we be mate?,” the pirate continued, leaving Shinku a bit puzzled at his words. “What, did I not tell ye’ I be’ keepin’ me deadlights on ye’,” he continued as he juggled some coins along the way.

“Of course. Well you do know where I live so just follow me I guess,” Shinku responded, though still in confusion, he chose to just go with the pirate’s speech. He had to take up more of the pirate’s speech and stories until they finally made it out of the ruins.

Surprisingly, John Connor suddenly walked up to him, offering the assassin of shadows a way to contact him.

“I’ll make sure to contact you if I need something. Thanks,” Shinku responded, bowing as a gesture of gratitude. Eyeing the card however, it seemed to be just a blank piece of holographic paper. He did catch the commander’s mention of it being encoded however. Perhaps he’d be able to figure that one out later on his own but as of the moment, he’s way too tired to ask further.

“I’ll be seeing you then,” he then waved his goodbye as he rode his shadowsteed bringing in the pirate with him. Having its master onboard, the ethereal horse soared in the air, en route to the city of Arcadia.

Quest: Restless Steel with John Connor
Word Count: 11,812 + 1260 = 13,072 / 10,000
Shinku Exits