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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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No sooner had we reappeared at Extor's than we were greeted by Rothie and the Wildman. Chimitsu reluctantly let me go and I headed on down the corridor with the others at my side. We were out of time for preparation and I had to pray that they were ready for war.

"Is everybody ready?" I asked, hurrying down the hall as fast as I could.

"Yes. We've got everyone together and armed, though I must admit, not as well armed as we'd like." Rothie said.

"What have we got?"

"We only have a few artillery cannons ready to go. Everyone else is armed with whatever they could find. Swords, bows and arrows, rifles, anything they could use. Are you absolutely certain about this, my boy?"

"We have no choice. They know I have returned and they know I have the Star's full power within me. I can feel them heading this way as we speak, over a million droids and minions. Aku is running scared now that he knows that I know how to use the Star of the Elements. He has ordered every minion and droid that he can spare out into battle against us in hopes that they will do the job for him. What I must ask you, Rothie, is whether or not you are all ready to possibly lay down your lives for this."

"We're ready, as ready now as we'll ever be. Those of us who are here have accepted the risks or we wouldn't be here. All of us owes you and Chimitsu something in one way or another. It's the least we can do for the two of you who have done so much for us."

I did not like the idea of losing more friends to Aku and his Dark Elementals, but it was a risk that we were going to have to take no matter when we decided to fight them. Personally, I would rather face them now and risk losing everything now than try to face them later and risk losing our allies one by one. Aku and I had been playing cat and mouse for much too long now and it was clear that we were both tired of it.

We were going to fight to the death, every last one of us, and only one would come out victorious. The only question was, which one of us was it going to be? Would it be Aku and his Dark Elementals, or would it be me? The very balance of order rested upon the outcome of that question.

There was only one answer to the question for me and it was not ending in Aku's victory.

I pushed open the doors at the end of the corridor and stepped into the docking bay cloaked in the side of a mountain. It was the only place that I knew of that Extor could be shielded from Aku's all-knowing gaze and still have a large enough opening to drive vehicles from. Everyone had gathered there, some piloting what looked like large metal turtles, and all of them were armed.

"Is everybody ready?" I asked without waiting for greetings.

Everyone nodded their affirmatives and I sighed a little. This was it. The moment we stepped out of this docking bay, there would be no turning back for any of us. We would defeat Aku today or we would be destroyed.

Chimitsu teleported her nodachi into place on her back between her wings, her gown melting away into a more combat-suitable outfit of green and white. It looked similar to what I knew ninjas to wear in the past, but not quite the same. The gi top and pants were of the same style, but her shoes were quite different, no doubt to be able to handle the rocky terrain.

"If everybody is ready, then let us head out. Aku is not going to waste any time in going to war and neither should we." I said.

Without another word, everyone began filing out of the large doorway and down the mountain. I stood there, watching them go with Chimitsu at my side, feeling a bit sad and anxious instead of determined as I thought I would be. I knew that a number of them would not be returning and that thought burned like a bitter sting in my chest.

"Minamoto-chan..." Chimitsu said.

I turned towards her, seeing the same expression in her emerald eyes as I felt in my chest. The thought of further loss hurt her as much as it was hurting me. We both knew that the others were going to fight to hold off the minions and droids while Chimitsu and I made our way through to fight Aku and the Dark Elementals.

She looked so pained at the thought of everyone's sacrifices that I could hardly stand it. I swiftly pulled her into my arms, holding her tightly against me, feeling her arms wrap firmly around my ribcage. Despite her obvious concern for everyone else, I could sense that that alone was not what was upsetting her.

"What is it?" I asked softly.

"I know it's selfish of me to say this when others are going to lay down their lives today and leave their loved ones behind, but I can't help it. I don't want to lose you out there when you're all I have left."

"It is all right to feel this way, Chimitsu-chan. I know that everyone feels this way. They do not want to leave their loved ones behind, either. I do not want to lose you or leave you alone in this world to suffer at the hands of Aku any more than you want to lose me. It is not selfish. It is hope, Chimitsu-chan, and hope will drive us through to the end."

"Then...I hope we make it out of this together."

She looked up at me, her eyes shimmering with tears. I reached up and brushed them away before leaning down to kiss her, softly at first, then deeper and more fervently. I held her tightly against myself, determined not to lose her today or any other day, not now, not ever.

Slowly, I pulled myself away, holding her so closely that my lips lightly brushed her ear.

"We will, Chimitsu-chan...I promise you that." I said.

Reluctantly, we drew apart and hurried out of the docking bay to take lead of the others, heading westward. Everyone was silent, few speaking as they marched down the mountain and into the plains. Off in the distance, we could see a dark wave moving swiftly over the hills, hurrying in our direction.

I could feel the tension ripple over the group with us as the realization hit us all at once. Those were Aku's troops, sent out to meet us as the first wave of the war. Chimitsu and I would fight our way through them and leave the others behind to battle the first wave while we took care of the rest.

I did not like it, but we did not have any choice.

Closer and closer we came to them, both side charging towards a collision course that would determine the fate of the planet and the very universe itself. I drew my katana as they closed in, hearing the whine of various blasters and energy cannons charging up. Beside me, Chimitsu-chan withdrew her nodachi from her back, holding it with both hands before herself.

We did not hesitate to rush in as our armies collided, Chimitsu rushing headlong into the minions and droids with her nodachi brandished, taking down anything in her way. I did not stare after for long, doing the same with my katana, barrelling my way through the minions and destroyers. They were the only thing standing between us and Aku's fortress, which lay just ahead with a ghostly image of Aku looming overhead, daring us to come and fight him.

Oil and robot parts flew all about amongst sparks and artillery explosions, taking out numbers of droids and minions, but hardly making a dent in the overall numbers. I pressed on, refusing to allow myself to tire, my only goal being to make it through these droids and minions. I had lost sight of Chimitsu, but I knew that she had to be all right on her own, knowing that she had proven herself repeatedly as a capable warrior.

Slicing a droid and then a minion in half and three pieces respectively, I broke through the rear of the battalion, noting that none turned to dispatch me. Clearly, they knew that Chimitsu and I were neither one to be harmed, but rather allowed to continue into the depths of the fortress. I turned and looked at all the pieces littering the ground amongst the carnage I had left behind.

I looked around for Chimitsu, trying to spot her amongst all the fighting, not wanting to continue on without her. I watched for some time, but could not see any sign of her. My heart pounded wildly in my chest as I began to realize that she might have fallen in all the chaos, perhaps in the explosion of an artillery shell or amongst the blaster fire.

We had fought this far together, only to have her be amongst the first to fall in the early waves of the fight.

I shut my eyes tightly, hands squeezing around the handle of my katana until my knuckles had turned white, not wanting to believe that she was gone. The frustration of having known that she was gone was more than I could bear and I raised my katana high overhead with a roar, slamming it down hard into the ground as I fell to my knees.

Every time I thought I had a chance, that this time would be different from the last, Aku found a way to prove me wrong. He always managed to find a way to take those I loved most away from me. My family, my dearest friends, and now my first and only love.

I knelt there for a little while, not wanting to move on and fight my way into Aku's fortress. Not without her, although it was seeming more and more likely that I was going to have to press on without her. The others would not be able to keep it up forever, not with the limited resources we had, and that meant that I could not waste time mourning Chimitsu.

Suddenly, I heard a loud battle cry coming from a familiar feminine voice over towards the edge of the battlefield. Slowly, I raised my head, hoping beyond hope that I was not hearing things that were not there. It would crush me to my very soul to think that she would not be there.

Much to my delight, however, I saw her standing there, battling two minions while a droid came up behind her. There was no time for me to warn her or say anything, but somehow, I knew that she knew it was there. Indeed, she swung around, cutting the droid in half before sending the minions aside with a blast of wind as she took flight.

She soared high above the battlefield before sheathing her nodachi on her back and finishing off the minions with a blast of green energy, vaporizing them instantly. I watched as she flew over, landing gracefully as she folded her wings against her back. Flicking a stray strand of blonde hair out of her face, she looked down at me with a smile.

"You don't plan to kneel there prayin' to the gods all day now, are you, Minamoto-chan?" she said teasingly.

"I thought you were dead, Chimitsu-chan. I did not see you at all when I made my way out and I thought I had lost you in there."

"Lost me? Oh hell no, not to some sleazy minions. Just a lot of chaos to fight through without hitting anyone on our side. Now, you gonna kneel there or you gonna come with me and kick some Dark Elemental ass?"

I smiled slowly and pulled myself up off the ground, tugging my katana out of the dirt as I felt the Star of the Elements grow warm against my chest beneath my kimono. I wiped the dirt from the blade before resheathing it, glad to be back on track again and feeling quite foolish for thinking that mere minions could have harmed Chimitsu-chan. I was so close to my goal now that I could almost taste it, feeling as if I really would succeed this time and everything would be as it was back when I had been a child, that I would see my family once again after so many years.

Chimitsu-chan began to head towards Aku's fortress, but I hesitated, turning back to see how the others were doing against the droids and minions. I could not see it very well, but it was not looking good. I could see droids and minions flying all over every few seconds, but I could not see our allies and how they were faring.

It was not something I liked to feel, this uncertainty as to how things were going to turn out when I was not there to help. I did not like leaving them alone to fight without me, even if it was what we had planned all along and had no choice but to follow it through. It was not like a samurai to leave his allies behind to fight in his place while he went on ahead of them.

I began to head back to the battle, intending on helping the others destroy that first wave before heading in to fight Aku so that they could survive while Chimitsu and I fought alone.

Don't ye dare go 'n turn your back on the plan now, laddie...

I froze and pressed a hand to my head, hearing that warm, familiar voice, even though I knew it was impossible. He had been dead for a couple of weeks now, before we had even fully orchestrated this battle. Slowly, I turned, knowing that there was no possible way he could have survived and be speaking to me now.

Yet, when I had fully turned around, I saw him standing there, a ghost between myself and Chimitsu-chan. It was indeed Duncan that I had heard, even though I knew that he had been dead for some time now. The look on his face was firm, yet still somehow jovial.

"Duncan...I cannot just leave them there...they will be killed!" I cried.

Don't be foolish, lad. You know as well as they do what ye must do.

I looked at him, then turned slightly back towards the battle, torn between helping my friends and doing what I knew I had to do.

They're all willing to lay down their lives, not just for you, but t'see that demon destroyed in his own lair. Ye know that I'd do the same if I could be there myself with you. Don't let us die in vain by wastin' your time with those minions. Your job lies ahead of ye in that castle...now go before more time is lost!

I turned back around and looked at him, our eyes meeting for the briefest of seconds and I nodded, seeing his spectral form smile. He returned the nod before slowly fading away, leaving me staring at a confused Chimitsu. She had apparently not seen what I had, nor heard Duncan's voice.

"What is it, Minamoto-chan?" she asked.

"Nothing...just an old friend giving me some encouragement."

She gave me a somewhat curious look before nodding slightly.

"All right, then. Let's get this over with."

Without another word spoken between us, we headed on up the mountainside to the entrance of Aku's fortress. I knew that he would be waiting within, but so were the Dark Elementals. No doubt, we would be facing them first before dealing with Aku, most likely because the demon wanted to wear us down a bit so he would have an easier time with us.

I narrowed my eyes as we stepped into the dark entry way, looking around carefully in search of booby traps or an ambush attack. Yet, nothing came rushing out of the darkness towards us. Cautiously, we made our way into the bowels of the fortress, heading down a dark, forboding corridor in search of the first of the Dark Elementals.

The only question was...which one would it be?

"Nice place Aku's got here, eh, Minamoto-chan?" Chimitsu asked.

"I think I prefer my father's castle better."

"True. Wonder who his decorator is. Lucifer? Heh. All that's missing is the blazing fires and the little imps with the pitchforks stabbing you in the butt..."

I gave her a look, hardly amused. This was not the time to be making jokes about anything of the sort. We were here for only one thing and that was to destroy the Dark Elementals and Aku, not entertain them.

"Right. Heh. Sorry. Just couldn't help it. It's so gloomy in here that I figured a joke would lighten things up a little for us." she said.

"I appreciate your efforts, Chimitsu-chan, but we must focus on our job and not lose sight of that."

"Yeah. Guess you're right. C'mon...they should be just beyond that door ahead of us."

I looked towards where she was pointing, seeing another doorway opening up into another room just ahead of us. I gave her a nod before walking on down with one hand resting on my katana, ready to draw it the moment I felt any danger. We stopped, standing on either side of the door, cautiously peeking in around the corners before heading on in.

It was empty and devoid of almost all light, without any sign of the first of the Dark Elementals. I furrowed my brow, knowing that Chimitsu could feel the presence of a Dark Elemental and in all honesty, I could feel it, too. She was either in the room with us or very close to it. I kept my hand on the handle of my katana, ready to strike the moment she launched any sort of surprise attack and could see that Chimitsu had a hand on her nodachi, ready as well.

"Welcome to Hell, samurai..."
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War Of Shadows