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War Of Shadows	By : TurtleNinja Category: +S through Z > Samurai Jack Views: 3353 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Samurai Jack, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Mad Jack

I shifted uncomfortably in Lord Aku's audience chamber, watching Ekirei grovel on her knees before the shadow demon. She begged and pleaded with him for forgiveness, while he seemed very impatient with us. Twice now, we had failed to obtain either the Wind Elemental or my original, at least not for very long.

Damn him! How'd I miss such cleverness? Baiting Ekirei to attack in order to set himself free like that...had I been so occupied with Chimitsu that I hadn't noticed his plotting? I mentally cursed myself and Ekirei over and over again in my head, half praying that Lord Aku would not see us destroyed or sent into the Pit of Hate for our failures.

The plan had been so flawless, so perfect, that I couldn't see where it could have gone wrong. Even Ekirei's vicious temper shouldn't have screwed things up so royally for us like it did. We had the Wind Elemental. We had my original. We had them both in the dungeon chamber, and yet they still managed to escape!

I growled softly and thought back to my battle with Chimitsu at the castle belonging to the Scotsman in the Highlands. It had been so unbelievably easy, just so easy, but I'd still failed in the end. Had she left a trail or cue for my original, or had it been just rotten luck?

I teleported myself onto the bridge leading across the loch to the castle, looking through the rains at the tall, forboding structure. Hardly impressive, that rickety old thing. Yet, supposedly this was where the Wind Elemental had taken my original for safekeeping until he had recovered from his injuries.

I shook my head as the rain poured down, soaking me from head to foot and rolling down the heavy leather jacket I wore. The castle was dark but for one single light down in the dining hall. No doubt that Chimitsu was awake and keeping guard there. All the Scots had retired hours ago and my original was still recovering high within the castle's depths.

Grinning, I strode deliberately towards the castle, slowly drawing my katana as I approached. I'd be able to wound her, but I wouldn't be able to kill her, which was quite the pity. Oh well. I'd just make up for it with a little torment when I returned with her to Lord Aku's domain.

I didn't even bother with the door, teleporting through it into the dark dining hall. A single candle stood on a table in front of Chimitsu, who seemed to be in a deep meditation. I'd have to be careful if I didn't want her to hear or otherwise sense my approach.

Slowly, deliberately, I moved closer to her step by step, heart pounding in my chest, waiting for her to turn around and see me coming her way. Just a few steps more and I'd be able to run her through or slice off her wings, rendering her helpless. Or perhaps not helpless, but if I caught her wings, I'd be able to keep her grounded.

The adrenaline rushed through my veins wildly as I raised my katana...

She remained still....

I slashed down as quickly as I could....

*THUNK*

Shit! Missed! I growled softly and viciously tore my blade from the back of the chair that it had sunk into. Looking up slowly, I found myself looking down the blade of Chimitsu's nodachi, her eyes cold and calculating. She didn't frighten me in the least, even with the heavy blade in my face.

"I should've known you'd be bold enough to come here, Mad Jack." she said.

"It was only a matter of time, dear angel. The least you could've done was stay still long enough to die."

"Nice try. You know as well as I do that you can't kill me. Even if you could, fat chance that I'd stay still long enough for you to do me in."

"Eh, it was worth a shot, but playtime's over. My master's getting impatient and I've got a delivery to make."

"Ah, yes, my head and Minamoto-kun's on a platter. Oh, yes, I'm definitely going to allow that."

She swung again with lightning speed, narrowly missing my head, slicing the candle's wick and dousing the flame instead. The room was instantly shrouded in darkness, save for the occasional bolt of lightning that streaked across the sky outside. I spun my katana around in my hand, circling the table just opposite of her, waiting for her to make her move.

She stopped just behind the chair she had toppled and a slow grin crossed her face as her wings flared out. She wouldn't dare. Even she wouldn't be so stupid as to stir up a wind in here and not only wake everyone, but bring down the entire dining hall on both of our heads.

Instead, she lightly flapped them, hovering back and disappearing in a teleport through the door. I sprang over the table and leapt in a teleport through the wood, rolling in the mud and rainy grass to come up in a parry against her downwards strike. So the clever bitch wanted to mud-wrestle? Fine with me.

I lunged forward and swung at her side, rolling again in the grass before coming back up. I'd caught her dress, but didn't appear to catch her at all, damn. She swung around again, down towards my shoulder, forcing me onto my knees in a block with the force of the blow. If my blade had been any sort of ordinary katana, her blade would have easily shattered it.

"Y'know, I think I like you in this position." she said.

"How so?"

"Grovelling on your knees like the worm that you are."

I roared and pushed up, shoving her back before striking again. Quickly, she sidestepped, and her nodachi tore down my back from right to left down from my shoulder to my hip. I swung around, watching her nimbly dodge, stepping back and away from the castle.

So that was her plan. Draw the fight away from the castle to keep from waking the others, including my original. Clever, but not clever enough. First I'd take her, then I'd come back for my original, and all before the army of Scots woke up and figured out what'd happened.

I followed, ignoring the rain that poured down like little bullets, focusing entirely on the Wind Elemental. Over and over our blades met, toying with each other, striking and parrying endlessly. But I didn't care. I enjoyed the challenge of fighting another Elemental. After the last encounter with my original, I didn't think he was much of a challenge.

I lashed out again, my blade finally finding its mark, raking its way across her left thigh. With a roar, she swung around, clipping my shoulder painfully in response. I snarled and took a few steps back before leaping at her again, our blades colliding in midair before I struck the ground, rolling away until I was able to get back onto my feet.

"You'd do yourself well to get the hell away from here while you still can." she warned.

"I don't think so. Y'see, if I leave here without you or my original, Lord Aku's gonna have my hide, so, I think I'm gonna have to pass on that warning."

"Suit yourself, but you're gonna regret it."

"I don't think so."

We collided again and I walked away cleanly, watching her stumble a bit. I took the chance and slashed down, only to have a blast of green wind strike me in the face, momentarily blinding me. I growled again, spinning my blade around in my hand. Ok, if she wanted to play hardball with magic, then all right, we'll play.

As she regained her footing, I held up my left hand and flung a handful of conjured shuriken at her, forcing her to dodge or be sliced to bits. Neither of us had broken a sweat yet and I doubted that we would for some time. Elementals did have the advantage of not tiring as easily as a frail mortal body would.

"Impressive, I'll give you that." she said.

"Well, you wanted to play hardball, so let's play."

"I don't think you wanna play hardball with me, youngling."

"Youngling? I'm insulted!"

"Good."

Again and again our blades met, sparks flying, only to be extinguished by the rain. She pushed me back across the slippery grass and mud towards the bridge, but what her intentions were aside from driving me away from the castle, I didn't know. I only wanted to toy with her before showing just how strong I truly was.

Another round of shuriken littered the ground inches away from her feet before disappearing again. I drove her back towards the castle this way, watching the conjured metal projectiles sink into the ground as she hopped out of the way, silver sparkles being the only proof that I'd ever thrown anything as the shuriken disappeared. I could tell that she was getting frustrated, watching her brows furrow in concentration.

An instant later, I found myself sliding back across the wet grass as a shimmering green orb struck my chest, disappearing. Time for a new attack. As she drew near, I flung out a thin, wire garrote, only to watch her slice it into pieces in rapid succession.

"Interesting magic. You smell like an Elemental, but you fight with mortal weapons. Why is that?" she asked.

"I'm the master of all mortal weapons, woman."

"You haven't had enough years to master them all, so what kind of Elemental are you?"

"The Elemental of War."

"Elemental of War? That title belonged to my sister!"

"Your sister was Metal and Defensive War. There's a difference."

She struck down heavily and pushed me back a few feet, drawing so close that our faces were inches from each other.

"So it would seem. You don't deserve the title." she said.

"Heh. We'll see about that, now, won't we?"

I pushed her back and slashed low, being rewarded with a shriek of pain. Perfect. I'd finally managed to land a blow on her. She limped away, one sandal coming free from her bare foot. Swinging around, she caught my shoulder again, twice now.

I roared and lunged in, watching her block almost awkwardly with her wounded, bleeding foot, but she was still good enough to match me. With lightning speed, she pushed back and swung around, slicing deeply into my calf. I swung back with the hilt of my blade, catching her in the chin, spinning us apart and into the grass.

"Not bad, not bad." she said, panting.

"Hai, but this battle's far from over."

"Indeed it is."

In a flash, she was dashing towards me again, her blade shimmering with the rain that had soaked us both. I struck back with equal speed, knowing that she knew what my original and thusly myself were capable of. I left the magical attacks behind, favoring traditional weaponry.

Chimitsu, on the other hand, delivered the occasional magical attack that I deflected or dodged, batting them aside with my katana. The occasional glance towards the castle told me that nobody had heard or seen us yet, but they could at any moment. I couldn't allow that. I had to end this battle and quickly, before it dragged out any longer.

Still, Chimitsu was a worthy opponent and I would have to cheat a little if I wanted to get to what I want. Heh. She knew that I was clearly after my original, but the little fool didn't know that I was after her as well. She only thought that my earlier sneak attack had been merely to drive her away so I could get to my original.

If I wanted to get rid of her long enough to get to Minamoto, I'd just have to bring her down first.

Back, back, back, she pushed me towards the bridge again, only this time, I didn't resist. I let her back me in that direction before I lunged forward to tip her slightly off balance, just enough to knock her to the ground. She rolled out of the way as my katana bit into the dirt, being caught with her nodachi across my side.

I swung viciously in her direction, catching her upper arm as she rolled away, getting to her feet. She was no longer limping, which meant that she had healed her foot and I wouldn't be able to use that to my advantage anymore. I circled her, being kept at bay by her five foot long blade until I saw an opening, lunging in low.

She swung down heavily, narrowly missing my left arm, her nodachi digging solidly into the dirt. I rolled and sprang to my feet before she could pull it free, slashing along her wings. She screamed and a few bloodstained feathers fluttered to the ground. I'd missed taking the wing completely, but for the moment, she wouldn't be flying anywhere with that sort of injury.

I spun my blade around in my hand, watching her stagger a bit until she regained her footing. She was panting now, slowly wearing down as she struggled to keep up in healing her own injuries. The blood continued to roll down her wing, staining the feathers a bit before the rain washed it away.

Clearly, she had been expending her energies on healing my original, which was just perfect for me. If I could get her to expend her energies and drain herself down to nothing, I'd be able to take her down no problem. I had no healing energies of my own, nor did I need them. I could always lick my wounds after I'd dealt with the little Wind Elemental.

"You're tiring." I said.

"You only wish I was tiring."

"Nope. I'm pretty sure you're tiring. You can't hold me off forever, Chimitsu."

"Don't tell me that you don't think I have something left up my sleeve."

"Maybe you do, maybe you don't, but I'd think you'd have done something by now, eh?"

She shrugged and an instant later, several bolts of green energy tore into my body, catching my shoulder, leg, side and forearm, disappearing into green sparks as they struck. I saw that I wasn't the only one with shuriken in my arsenal and made note to keep my eye open the next time she and I fought, if we fought again at all.

I backed up along the bridge, my boots thumping against the wood as Chimitsu followed, her steps silent under the sound of the rain. She swung down, her blade biting into the wood and I blocked her returning upward strike towards my head, pushing her blade back down. Open. She was wide open now. Perfect.

Quickly as I could, I slammed the hilt of my blade into her chin, snapping her head back and spinning her around until she struck the ground. Her nodachi clattered on the wood and then disappeared into green sparkles, the rain soaking her hair and flowing dress. I leaned down, felt for a pulse. She was alive, of course, but that strike would keep her unconscious for some time.

Now to leave the calling card.

I lifted her up over my shoulder with my left arm as I crossed the bridge, taking a few steps back onto the grass. With a flick of the wrist, I sank a shuriken into the railing to hold a paper until my original awoke and found it. Until then, it wouldn't disappear.

Shifting Chimitsu's weight in my arms, I smirked at the castle before disappearing in a teleport.

I opened my eyes to watch Ekirei on her knees, pressing her head to the ground in a gesture of apology for her failure. Lord Aku had gone silent, watching her, contemplating our punishment. But it never came.

"Very well. Seeing as how you had them both this last time, I shall let the two of you off. But do not fail me again or I shall quickly lose patience with you."

In a swirling of shadow, he disappeared, leaving us standing there in shock at the thought of having narrowly escaped the Pit of Hate. Eki rose from her kneeling position, staring down into the abyss from which Lord Aku usually rose to greet his minions. How'd we get so fortunate?

"Eki, what did you say to him?" I asked.

"I haven't a clue. A lot of begging and pleading and ass kissing, but that usually doesn't work with him."

"Hn...either he really believes we can pull this off or he's got a hot date with Fuki tonight."

Eki made a face and sighed, her outfit shimmering into her usual thigh-high boots and tight top with the short skirt. I liked this outfit better than the gown she wore earlier. Not that I'd been complaining, but she could at least move better in this one than the gown.

"Now what? He's only givin' us one last chance on this."

"We go into the city to the Demon's Den."

"What good is going there gonna do?"

"I can't feel my original."

She paused, her expression momentarily turning thoughtful.

"I can't feel mine either. They must have gone to to her castle, which means we can't follow."

"Then we wait for them in the city. They'll have to head back there if they want to retrace their steps north like they were before."

"That could take awhile. Are you sure we've got the time?"

"What do you mean?"

"My original's weakening. I could feel her power drop an instant before they teleported away. It could be days before they leave her castle and return to the city."

"Then we'll just have to wait that long."

Without waiting for her to say another word, I made the teleport to the city, heading for the Demon's Den.
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War Of Shadows