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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.

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Mad Jack

*smack* *smack* *smack*

I hardly waited for the heavy black bag to swing back before my bare knuckles slammed into it again, sending it swinging away from me. My long hair flew wildly about my face as the sweat poured down my bare back, a few strands sticking to my neck, jaw, and cheeks. Since Lord Aku had sensed my original's disappearance from the planet and ordered the rest of us to prepare for battle, I'd done nothing but train.

Much to Ekirei's disappointment, I'd cut our private playtimes out of my schedule in order to bring myself into full fighting form. If Minamoto was doing what we all thought he was, then anything less than my best meant death, if not at Minamoto's hands, then at Lord Aku's. It was going to be a do or die situation whenever he reappeared, a fight to the very bitter end, one in which only one side would come out victorious and there wasn't any way I was going to allow it to be Minamoto's side.

For the moment, my connection to him was cut, as if he'd been killed, although we all knew that was hardly the case. I'd gone to report to Lord Aku the moment I felt the connection sever and he'd apparently felt the samurai disappear at exactly the same time. I remembered how panicked Lord Aku had looked, how he'd struggled to control and hide his emotions, but I still saw in his eyes how deeply Minamoto's sudden disappearance had affected him.

He was afraid. For once in all the times I'd been summoned to an audience before him, he looked genuinely afraid for his life.

Why, I didn't know. He didn't say and I didn't dare ask him or let him know that I knew he was afraid. He would've killed me on the spot for saying such a thing, even though it concerned me to know that something had Lord Aku so frightened. Nothing could touch him besides Minamoto's sword and the Star of the Elements if he ever learned to use it, which he hadn't the last time we checked.

But something still had brought Aku into such a panic that he'd ordered all of us to prepare for battle once the samurai had reappeared.

Over and over again my knuckles slammed into the heavy, sand filled bag, swinging violently on its magic-reinforced chain with every blow. Minamoto had been gone for hours now and the most we could do until he reappeared was wait and be ready for battle the moment he returned. Aku wasn't going to wait for him to learn to use the power of the Star or waste his time with our failed attempts again.

This time, he was going with, to personally make sure that Minamoto and Chimitsu were destroyed.

I sensed her energies a split second before she materialized behind me on the balance beam, but I didn't care. Eki knew she wasn't going to be getting any from me 'till this war was over and usually came just to watch. I knew it made her hot to watch me beat on the punching bag all sweaty with my shirt off, but I refused to let it affect me like it did her.

I focused on my training instead, knowing that if I allowed myself to be distracted like that, it'd be the end of me and that was not an acceptable option for me. I'd sooner see the end of Minamoto and his little angel than be brought down by him because I couldn't control myself. I didn't care what Eki did after watching me, just so long as it didn't interfere with what I had to do to keep myself in top form.

"You've been at it for several hours, MJ. Why don't you take a break?" she finally asked.

"I'll take a break when I want to lose my edge. Shouldn't you be concerned about that as well, Eki?"

"Oh please. I don't have to worry about my fighting edge. Of course, you're the warrior, it's to be expected that you'd rather beat the shit out of that punching bag 'till you drop instead of taking a break. You're not going to be of any use to us exhausted, y'know."

I paused long enough to give her a nasty glare before returning to what I was doing.

"You forget, Eki, that Elementals can't get exhausted. Despite all the sweat, I'm hardly tired and I won't get tired no matter how long I go at this." I said.

"Perhaps against a mortal or a stupid punching bag, but against another immortal Elemental? Even we get tired if we go long enough."

I shook my head and slammed my fist into the punching bag again, about to open my mouth to snap out a retort when I felt it. Immense, raw, unharnessed power racing through my mind so wildly that I instantly dropped to my knees. If I'd been capable of it, I would have felt sick, feeling as if my body was going to be ripped apart from the inside out.

Instantly, Eki was at my side, halting the bag before it slammed into the side of my head. I clenched my jaw tightly, trying to control my breathing and failing miserably, digging my fingers into the wood floor. I'd never felt such a raw power before, feeling as if I'd been hit with the psionic equivalent of a Mack truck.

"MJ, what is it? What's wrong?" Eki asked, sounding a little bit panicked.

I growled softly, panting as it began to fade, leaving me there shaking on my knees and feeling more than a little bit of pain. It tore through me so painfully that I couldn't even answer Eki, struggling to catch my breath. The residual energies felt painful and hot, almost like whenever any of us were struck by Light Elemental magic, only on a much larger scale.

Then, I felt it.

I could feel the connection to Minamoto return and I didn't have to think twice to realize that he had returned from wherever he'd gone. He'd reappeared as suddenly as he'd vanished in the first place, but something felt different this time. There was something different about him that I couldn't place at first.

"MJ...speak to me..." Eki said.

"He's back..."

She was clearly startled, straightening a bit before kneeling down next to me, one hand resting on my shoulder. I swatted it away and took in deep breaths, feeling the white-hot pain diminish by the second, trying to clear my thoughts so I could think straight. I wouldn't have admitted it to Ekirei or anyone else, but that had hurt like hell, burning its way along the connection to Minamoto and into the depths of my very mind.

"Who's back?" Eki asked.

"Minamoto...I felt it just now. He's back on the planet."

"Are you all right?"

"Does it look like I'm all right?! I feel like I've just been hit with a fucking Mack truck! Of course I'm not all right!"

I saw her flinch before she reached up and brushed my hair out of my face over my shoulders. I didn't push her hands away this time, furrowing my brows as I tried to figure out why the hell I'd been hit like that at the very same time Minamoto had returned. Nothing could've blocked our connection and I knew that he didn't have the power to psionically burn me like that.

"What do you think caused it?" she asked.

"I don't know, Eki. Minamoto doesn't have that kind of power to block the connection and burn my mind like that. I don't think it was him. It was something else connected to him that did it. It's so strange...he feels so different, stronger somehow. I don't understand how he could become so strong so quickly."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you felt it the other night, too, when he and Chimitsu were together. I could feel everything Minamoto was doing and experiencing and you felt the same for Chimitsu. He was so weak then, so normal and mortal. His defenses were down in his moment of sexual excitement and I could feel everything he normally kept so well guarded in his mind. He felt so mortally vulnerable that I'd wondered how the hell he kept getting the upper hand, how he kept surviving when we were certain he'd bitten the big one."

"So what feels so different now?"

"He feels stronger, full of power and energy. He's shining so brightly with it that it's almost painful for me to try and seek him out over our connection. Something's happened to him while he was gone, Eki."

"I'm going to find Aku-sama. He needs to know about this if he doesn't know already." she said.

"No! Let me get myself together first. I'll make the report myself."

"MJ, you're in no condition..."

"Enough! I'll be fine, Eki."

I caught the look she shot me a second before I closed my eyes, trying to regain my composure. I wasn't shaking anymore, but I wasn't at my best like I had been a moment before the energy had hit me, either. It was going to take a few moments before I was presentable for Lord Aku and we both knew it.

We both felt the energies at the same time and I inwardly groaned, hating the demon's uncanny ability to show up at the worst possible time. Oh, how I hated him for showing up when I wasn't in the best of appearances, for catching me so vulnerable and with my defenses still very shaky. No doubt, he'd done it on purpose, just to irk me.

"Aku-sama..." Eki said with a bow.

"Lord Aku..." I said, still on my knees, not looking up to meet his gaze.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence before I felt his all-knowing gaze penetrate through my bare, sweaty back. There wasn't any doubt in my mind that he knew what had just happened, but whether or not he knew what had caused it was an entirely different matter. Oh, how I hated him for this, though, catching me so vulnerable and weak before him.

"I just felt a very unusual energy surge a few minutes ago. I do not suppose either of you could tell me what it was, hmm?" he asked.

"Minamoto. He's back. I felt it seconds after the energy spike, my lord."

"Indeed the samurai returns, but he returns stronger. What did you feel when the surge hit you?"

"Pain, my lord. Like a white hot fire burning my mind. I didn't feel his return until after it had passed."

"And do you know why?"

"No, my lord, I do not."

He was enjoying this! He was enjoying seeing me so weakened and taken by surprise. He was even enjoying toying with me, asking questions to which he'd already had an answer to.

Thankfully, Ekirei knew when to keep her mouth shut and didn't say a word after her customary greeting, staying on her knees beside me.

"Of course you wouldn't. Neither of you have felt this power before, but I have. Oh yes, I know exactly what this change in the samurai means." he said.

"What does it mean, my lord?"

"It means that he has activated the full power of the Star of the Elements and knows now how to use the power that has been awakened within him. That is why it burned you so when he returned from the Light Elemental's castle."

"She would dare to interfere?"

"Of course she would! She would dare if it meant that her goal was obtained and not ours. She wants to see us crushed and order restored, but not this time. We are going to see to it that her rule is destroyed once and for all instead of the other way around."

"Then, if she's interfered, we're out of time, are we not?"

"Unfortunately yes. He is still not completely used to this power within him and the enormity of what he commands. If we strike now, before he learns how to fully control it, we will be able to crush him in his tracks before he becomes a threat."

Ekirei and I didn't have to think very hard to know exactly what Lord Aku was saying. Minamoto was making his way back home as we spoke and no doubt, he'd already told his little troop of friends to prepare for war by the time he and Chimitsu returned. It was time to gather up the other Dark Elementals and the minions and go out to meet them for the last time.

"I will go and assemble the minions immediately, my lord." I said with a bow.

"I want them ready in exactly a half an hour."

Without another word, he curled up into a swirl and disappeared, leaving me alone with Ekirei. I pulled myself to my feet and sighed, hating to be humiliated like that before him, but it was better to be humiliated than to be sent into the Pit, especially at a time like this. We didn't have much time left now, not at all.

"Are you all right now, MJ?" she asked.

"I'll be fine."

I turned to her and reached up to pluck a black feather from her shoulder, tucking it back into her long braid.

"You go get the girls together. I'm going to take a quick shower and then I'll go get the minions rounded up for battle. If Lord Aku starts getting antsy, just tell him it won't take me long. He'll have his troops by the time his half hour is up." I said, leaning forward to give her a kiss.

Eki barely had time to respond before I pulled away and turned, walking towards the bathroom. I magically started the shower while rummaging in the closet for a towel, sensing Ekirei's energies surge and disappear in a teleport that no doubt left a showering of feathers on my floor. She wasn't entirely annoyed with me, but she was pouting at the fact that I hadn't taken more time with that kiss.

I stepped into the shower and washed off as quickly as I could, not wanting to waste too much time when I knew I'd just be getting sweaty in battle all over again. I felt almost anxious at the thought of knowing that by the time the day was out, Minamoto and his little angel would both be little more than a memory. That thought reignited the bloodlust in my veins that had faded when Minamoto's power surge had hit me earlier.

He was going to pay for burning me like that, him and his little angel.

Stepping out of the shower again, I didn't even bother with the towel, using magic to dry myself and dress before teleporting to the minion levels. I was almost mildly surprised to see them all waiting for me, all in full uniform and each armed to the teeth. A pleasant surprise, nonetheless, especially for stupid minions that Lord Aku kept in his employ.

Slowly, one of them approached me, a paper in its hand. I took it and hardly watched as it scurried away back into formation, no doubt terrified of me and the power I held. I unfolded the paper, reading the kanji scrawled across it, finding it to be orders directly from Lord Aku.

I'd been expecting to lead these runts out to battle myself, but it seemed that Lord Aku had other plans instead. Actually, I liked his plan a lot better than going out and wasting my energies so quickly. Minions were better cannon fodder and so were the robot destroyer droids that Aku had conjured in the time I'd been in the shower.

I held up the paper, teleported it away, and began to address the minions.

"The time has come, dark ones, to see to the destruction of the last Light Elemental, Chimitsu, and my original, Jack Minamoto. He has given me orders to augment your powers and send you with the destroyer droids out as the first wave to meet their troops. There's over a million of you each and only a thousand of them without Jack and Chimitsu. It shouldn't be difficult for you to destroy them all." I said.

I didn't even wait for any reaction from them, snapping out my hands and augmenting their fighting abilities. I didn't understand why Lord Aku saw fit to waste my energies and his time like this, but I wasn't about to question his reasons. If he wanted me to do something, then I had no choice but to do it, even if I thought that such orders were futile.

Once the power increase had been completed, I was greeted with a bow before they left, heading out into the vast plains to meet up with Minamoto and his little rebellion. No doubt, Jack and Chimitsu would be the most difficult, but the rest were of little concern to any of us. They'd no doubt fall easily to the minions and droids and it'd be a miracle if any of them survived the fight.

Without any further reason to remain on the minion level, I gathered my energies and made the jump to Lord Aku's audience chamber. The other four were already waiting, with Fuki at her customary spot near Aku himself as his favorite bedmate. Aku was in his Elemental form and I knew that could only mean one thing.

He alone was going to battle Minamoto to the death, despite how much I'd been wanting that particular honor.

I greeted him with a bow as always, curious as to why he had changed his mind and not sent me out with the minions. I knew that we'd been expected to fight, but I had thought that we'd be out on the field with the others. It didn't quite make sense why he was having us stay behind and why he had taken his Elemental form instead of the usual one.

"My lord...why is it that you have asked us to stay behind? I thought we were all going out together to fight." I said.

"That was the original plan, yes, but plans change. There's no use in wasting your energies so soon with the samurai. Let him come to us here in my castle. He will be tired after fighting his way through the minions and will be no match for us. One by one he will face us and if he manages to make it all the way through you...he will face me."

"Very well, my lord. Your word is law, after all."

I bowed again and stood off to the side with the ladies, daring to sneak an arm around Eki's waist, protocols be damned. I didn't care if Aku or the others saw it. I wanted it to be explicitly clear whom would be sleeping with her after this war was over.

"Hideri, I want you to be the first on the lower level. Netami, you follow her, then Fuki, then Ekirei, and lastly, Mad Jack. Be warned that you will not be resurrected if you fail. I have had enough failures over these last few months and I do not need any more. We are going to crush the white samurai now or we will die trying." he said.

We bowed in the usual salute, knowing that the time for playing games was over. I watched as the others left to station themselves on their levels, hanging behind a bit. I didn't like the idea of us working separately when Minamoto had a team with Chimitsu, not one bit.

"Is something bothering you, dark one?" Lord Aku asked, walking up to stand beside me.

"Somewhat, yes, my lord."

"Nervous, are we?"

"Iie, never. But I am thinking as to whether or not this is the best course of action in this matter."

"Ohh? You dare to question me?"

"Of course not, my lord, but you must understand that I know exactly how the samurai thinks. Couple that with the knowledge of the Metal Elemental, the warrior, and, well, you know that I am going to be concerned."

"What could possibly concern you that you would dare to even hint at questioning my orders?"

"That we are splitting up. We are splitting up while Minamoto and his bitch are working together as a team. We know that the minions and their thousand troops are little more than a distraction. It is clear to all of us, especially me, that Chimitsu and Minamoto are intending on going on ahead while they hold off the minions."

"So what is there to worry about?"

"I fear that alone, we are no match for the two of them together. Even you, my lord."

I could feel the tension ripple through the air, coupled with his anger. He was pissed that I'd stated such a thing, but I wasn't going to go off without warning him that his choice of plans could be disastrous for us. It was, after all, my duty as the War Elemental.

"Get out of my sight and get to your post." he hissed through his teeth.

"As you wish, my lord."

I gave him a bow and turned around, heading down through the many corridors to the level just below this one. I could sense Minamoto and his little group drawing near and knew that it would be only a matter of time before they fought their way up to me. A part of me hoped that they would be destroyed before they reached me and another part hoped that I'd be able to see their destruction myself.

Yet another part of me felt as if Lord Aku was sacrificing us in his defence and that same part of me felt as if it would serve him right if Minamoto destroyed him as a result.

Shaking off the musing thoughts that'd sprung to my head, I positioned myself facing the door Minamoto and Chimitsu would have to come through to get to me and thus Lord Aku as well. Of course I wasn't going to go down without any kind of a fight, but I was hoping that I wouldn't go down at all. Anything to see the destruction of my original and his little angel woman.

Come on, futago...I'm waiting for you...
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War Of Shadows