Hey everyone, welcome back to the story. Previously, Jack's life was changed when he adopted the Daughters of Aku after he saved them. What's going to happen next is that the girls will get a change of appearance and Jack will discover that the bounty on his head will bring more difficulties his way. Read on to find out what happens.

Jack grunted as he blocked another sword strike from the cultist, who was unrelenting in her attacks. Having enough of this, Jack rolled under her next sword swing and stabbed her through the heart when he got behind her. Ripping out his trident from her body, Jack turned his attention to the remaining cultists in front of him. Blocking a sword strike, Jack moved his attacker's arm out of the way and stabbed her through her stomach. Seeing a archer in the distance prepare her bow and arrow, the Samurai ripped out his weapon from the corpse and turned his attention to her. Dodging several arrows, Jack grabbed his pistol and fired several shots at her. Clutching her wounded areas, the cultist lost her balance and fell from her perch, breaking her neck in the process. Aiming for the last two cultists, Jack fired into their skulls, with brain matter and blood flying out of their heads as they collapsed.

Sighing, Jack holstered his weapon and turned back to the little girls. However, to his shock and terror, they were all dead. They all had their throats slit and their cold dead eyes stared up at nothing.

"NOOO!" Jack cried, falling to his knees, not being able to believe that he failed to save someone yet again.

Feeling the guilt begin to creep into him, Jack hung his head in shame and started muttering to himself, chastising his failure.

"Samurai… Jack…"

Gasping, Jack looked behind him and saw the cultists that he killed get up, However, due to being recently killed by Jack, they all resembled undead corpses. They stood in place quietly for a while, with the Samurai being unsure on what to think or how to react. Suddenly, they all pointed at him.

"MURDERER!" They all screamed, "MURDERER! MURDERER!"

"No… NO! I WAS PROTECTING THEM!" Jack shouted, pointing at the dead corpses of the children.

"MURDERER!" They continued to scream.

Covering his ears, Jack tried his hardest to block out the sound of the cultists. As he did this, the crying of the little girls started playing his head, with it growing louder by the second. Shutting his eyes, he wished for it to end.

"Looks like you little decision worked against you!"

Looking up slowly, Jack saw his hallucination standing over him. However, he looked more jagged and unhinged than usual.

"You always thought you were smart, hm?" The hallucination taunted, "Making the choice of adopting seven little girls out of the kindness of your own heart without much thought or debate."

Jack processed these facts, trying to deny it.

"Heh, pathetic. Did you not realize what the consequences of that was?!" He asked, grinning maliciously, "Your first human kills attest to that as well."

"No! I was protecting them!" Jack replied, trying to make a case for himself, "I was keeping them save from those-"

"Animals? Psychopaths? After your actions, you might as fall into the same group as them!"

Jack shook his head in disbelief at this notion, trying his best to remind himself that he killed to protect someone. However, the more he did that, the more the guilt of taking a person's life grew. Suddenly, Jack heard the noise of a horse neighing and felt a green light envelop him. Looking up, he saw a ominous figure sitting on his steed. At the sight of him, it filled Jack with something that he hadn't felt since he lost his sword.

Fear.

The Real World

With a startle and a scream, Jack woke up from his nightmare. Getting up quickly, he grabbed the machine gun off his parked motorcycle and began aiming it everywhere, searching for any threats that would be willing to hurt him and the girls. However, Jack soon saw that there were no threats and he realized that he got all jumpy for no reason. With that, he turned around and put the large gun back on the motorcycle.

"Jack?"

Hearing a voice say his name, the Samurai looked down to see Ashi sitting up and curiously looking up at him, while also clutching the blanket to her chest. Jack sighed, silently berating himself for acting liking a fool in front of a child.

"Um… hello… Ashi.." He told her awkwardly, kneeling down, "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah…" She replied, with her face being in a frown.

"Is something the matter?"

"Are… are you okay?" Ashi asked.

"How… how do you mean?"

Ashi looked down for a bit, trying to not offend Jack with what she would say next.

"You… you were talking when you were sleeping." She said, "And… and you screamed and got up and you looked scared and…

"Yes, I know." He replied, shutting his eyes for a bit, "However, you don't need to worry about me. I'm fine, honest. It was just a bad dream." Jack told her.

"Okay…" She replied, not entirely believing him.

At that moment, the rest of the girls slowly but surely begun to wake up.

"Hi Jack!" Amori said, smiling at him.

"Hello, Amori." Jack responded, trying to sound as friendly as possible to them, "Have you girls slept well?"

"Yeah!" They all, minus Ashi, replied.

"Good to hear."

As the girls got up from the ground and stretched, Jack took the time to grab the blanket and put it back in the spot where he got it from.

"Jack?" Avi asked.

"Yes?"

"What are we gonna do today?"

Taking note of the question, Jack looked down at the Daughters of Aku and saw that the only piece of clothing they had were the black suits that currently wore.

"Well, the first thing that we will do is head into the city to pick up some supplies."

"The city?" Ali asked nervously.

"Yes." Jack answered, noticing her nervous tone, "What's wrong?" He questioned, concerned at the little girls' nervous shaking.

"We… we never been to the city." Ashi replied, scared at the thought of going somewhere foreign to her.

Jack burrowed his brow at that mention, realizing that due to be raised in complete isolation, the girls had no experience with interacting with the world, which left Jack with another thing that he had to worry about. Kneeling down to match their height, he knew that he had to let them know that everything would be alright.

"I understand that it may be frightening to you." He said softly, "However, I'll be with you at all times. Don't worry, you'll be safe, I promise."

The Daughters of Aku slowly nodded their heads. Smiling, Jack stood up and turned back to his motorcycle, trying to remember what to else he needed.

"Anyways, I'm also going to get you all some new clothes!" Jack said, "You don't have to wear those suits anymore."

Looking at each other in confusion, the girls could not understand what Jack said to them.

"Clothes?" Aki asked.

"What are clothes?" Ali asked.

"What? You don't know what clothes are?" He asked incredulously, turning around to face them.

The Daughters of Aku all shook their heads.

"Then… what are you wearing?"

They looked down, remembering how they got the appearance they currently had.

"Um…" Ashi stammered.

A While Ago, The Cult of Aku's Lair

"Aku, our lord and master is one with the darkness." The High Priestess told her daughters, "He was born from it. It fills him with infinite power."

Inside the deepest depths of the Cult of Aku's lair, there lay burning hot coals, with the purpose of them being a way for the cult to show tribute to Aku by coating themselves in the hot ash, causing them to resemble him in his color scheme. As of now, the High Priestess had brought the Daughters of Aku over to this part of their home to begin the next step of their training, which was to give them the same ash coating that they all wore in order to honor their lord and master. As of now, the girls were wrapped in blankets, which was the only thing that they had worn at that point, and nervously looked down at the steaming hot coals below their perch.

"We too must become with it!" The High Priestess continued, pulling the blanket off Ashi, leaving her naked.

Ashi tried to cover herself as best she could and shook nervously, being scared of what would happen next.

"We are forever grateful and ever in your service."

Moving her cane towards Ashi, the High Priestess used it to push her daughter off the perch and watched her fall into the coals below. After a few seconds, Ashi emerged from the pile, covered head to toe in ash and screaming in pain, agony, and terror.

Present Day

Jack stared in shock, with his jaw dropping in disbelief as Ashi finished up her explanation of how their skin got charred by the hot burning coal. To his knowledge, the black appearance of the cultists and the little girls were just the result of them wearing black skintight suits. However, upon hearing the truth, the Samurai had to try his hardest to not out right explode in anger at what the cultists did. Seeing that there was a pretty large pond to his right, Jack decided to put of his city trip to the side for the time being.

"All of you. Follow." He told the girls, taking Ashi by the hand.

Going over to the pond, Jack checked to see if it was shallow enough for the girls to be in without the danger of drowning. Taking off his upper armor, Jack grabbed some rocks from the ground and waded into the water, motioning them to follow. However, they seemed intimidated by the idea of going into the pond and thus, simply stood in place and looked at the water waringly.

"Don't be nervous, the water won't hurt you, see?" He told them, splashing his arm with water, showing that nothing would happen if it came in contact with them.

With this new knowledge, the only the girls would have to do is wade into the water to get to Jack, who was closeby. Wanting to see who would go first, it eventually turned out to be Ashi, who although initially recoiled at the cold and wet feeling of the water, slowly but surely made her way into the pond and over to Jack. This convinced the rest of the girls that it was fine and they were soon in the water as well. However, they looked confused when Jack handed each of them some rocks.

"What's this?" Ashi asked.

"It's a rock, which you'll use to scrape off that ash." He explained.

"How?" Ali asked.

"Like this."

Taking Ashi's arm in his hand, Jack began using the rock to scrape off the ash embedded in her skin, moving it back and forth gently, as he didn't want to hurt her during his demonstration. When he stopped, Jack noticed that there were was a noticeable difference, as the area where he scraped revealed more of Ashi's natural skin tone than before. With that, the girls understood and began using their rocks to scrape off the ash. It was no easy feat, due to it basically being a second layer of skin. However, despite it taking a while, all the ash had been scraped off and the girls walked out of the pond, with no black charred skin in sight.

"Can we go to the city, now?!" Aki asked.

"Um… not at the moment." Jack replied awkwardly, "I first need to find you suitable… attire."

"Where?" Anzi questioned.

Looking around the forest that they currently were in, the Samurai noticed the large flora in the area, which was big enough to cover a small child if they were crafted in a certain way. Stroking his beard, Jack suddenly got an idea. Grabbing as many large leaves, flowers, and plants as he could, he put his long neglected crafting skills to use. Although it took a while to make the improvised clothing pieces, as the size of a makeshift dress didn't really compare to a single hat made out of straw, Jack soon presented them to the Daughters of Aku, who accepted them gleefully.

As of now, their appearances were drastically different compared to the ones they had when they were in the cultists' care. The girls appreciated what Jack did for them, as proven by their hugs and their repeated "thank yous".

"Please, don't think nothing of it." Jack replied, smiling nonetheless.

After they pulled back, Jack noticed that the sun was in the process of going down over the horizon, although it was only still the middle of the day. Realizing that'd he'd need to get what he needed from the city as soon as possible, Jack put his upper armor and helmet on and started up his bike.

"Are we going to the city now?" Anzi asked.

"We are. I promise that we will only be there for a short time." Jack replied, "Let's go."

With the little girls getting on his bike, they held on tight as Jack hit the ignition and started driving for the city. It didn't take very long, as his new form of transportation was really useful for traversing the large stretches of land that Jack usually would've walked through before. Seeing that he was pretty close, Jack slowed down and stopped by a large tuft of grass, rolling the motorcycle into it.

"Why did we stop?" Ami asked.

"Because I don't want to draw attention to myself." He explained, getting off the bike and helping the girls off it, "I also want to make sure the bounty hunters don't hear me coming."

"What's a bounty hunter?" Ashi asked.

Realizing what he just said, a sudden inner fear creeped into Jack. Despite him agreeing to take care of these girls, he realized the danger that they all were in. Even though it had been years since Aku had appeared to take on Jack face to face, the bounty on his head still remained. To make matters worse, the price was raised from two googolplexes to seven, since the Shapeshifting Master of Darkness really wanted Jack out of the picture. As he processed this revelation and attempted to come up with an efficient plan to protect the girls, Jack answered the question with some hesitancy.

"Um… they are… people who hunt others when a reward is offered."

"Are you a bounty hunter?" Ali asked Jack, wanting to know who he was besides a Samurai.

Jack sighed, feeling it was best to let the girls know what was the danger that they faced.

"No but… many are after me, even to this day." He told them seriously, "Which is why I want to let you know something."

The girls listened up for what Jack would tell them, looking at him as he kneeled down if front of them.

"When we head into the city, please, stay with me at all times." The Samurai advised, "If trouble arises, I want you all to hide and get to safety."

The Daughters of Aku all nodded, understanding what Jack said. However, a part of him wasn't convinced, as he placed his hands on Ashi's shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

"Please! I need you all to understand! Do you?!"

"Yes." She replied softly.

"How about all of you?!" Jack asked, looking at the rest of the girls.

"We understand." They said at the same time.

Sighing in relief, Jack stood up and had the girls follow him, walking away from the bike. Covering the vehicle with a camouflaged blanket, Jack pointed towards the path in front of them.

"There, we're going down that way." The man said, "Don't worry, I'm right behind you."

As the girls walked down the path and admired the surroundings, Jack followed close behind, scanning the area around them and trying to see if there were any traps laid out by any bounty hunters.

"So, how is this babysitting job treating you at the moment?"

Eyes widening, Jack looked to his left and saw his hallucination walking along with him. Growling in annoyance, the Samurai looked away from him and continued his lookout for any traps.

"You know, you wouldn't have to worry about caring for well being of these seven if you just let them be in the care of someone else."

"You say that like I had an easy choice on what to do with them." Jack hissed quietly, not wanting to frighten the girls with the fact that he was talking to himself.

"You did, you just didn't take the time to assess all the possible choice you could make." The hallucination replied, "However, I don't blame you, as a day of killing does make awfully tired as well."

Jack furrowed his brow and glared at his hallucination, who had a smug smile on his face.

"I was protecting them, why can't you understand that?"

"I do understand." It shot back, "After all, you'd do anything to protect someone as precious as these children, which even extends to murder."

Remembering the nightmare that he had earlier where the cultists he killed began calling him a murderer, Jack audibly hissed at his hallucination, which got heard by the little girls.

"You have no right to judge me!"

"Jack?"

Hearing Ashi call his name, Jack stopped what he was doing and looked down at her. Noticing that the eyes of her and her sisters were one of worry, Jack tried to play it off as best as he could.

"What is it, Ashi?" He asked.

"Who were you talking to?"

"Uh… no one."

"But you…"

"Please! Don't worry about me!" Jack said suddenly, "There's nothing wrong, I promise."

While the rest of the girls simply shrugged and continued walking, Ashi looked at Jack with a sad and confused expression, thinking that something was wrong with him. Continuing down the path, the Samurai and the girls soon ended up in the city. It was a very unique and interesting sight for the Daughters of Aku, who due to never heading outside before, found what they saw to be refreshing. Jack, on the other hand, having been in the future for approximately thirty years now, didn't even bat an eye at the sights of flying cars and futuristic buildings. Instead, he simply focused on getting what he needed for himself and the girls. Purchasing some food, Jack put the supplies in his bag and headed over to a merchant who was selling clothes of all sizes.

"What will it be, sir?"

Eyeing the clothes on display, Jack saw some that looked like they could fit the girls.

"Seven of those." He told the merchant, placing some money on the table.

"Coming right up." The merchant replied, grabbing those specific clothes and looking at the girls, "Are those your daughters?"

The question made Jack gain an incredulous look on his face, with the Daughters of Aku looking up at him when they heard this, curious on what he would say.

"Um... no, I'm… I'm only looking after them, that's all." He replied, flustered.

"Adoptive caretaker?" The merchant inquired.

"Yes…" Jack told him, not really liking this conversation.

"Hope you can take care of them." He responded, "After all, the times we live in aren't the best for raising the youth, y'know?"

"Yes, yes, can I please have the clothes now?"

"Here you go sir, hope these are adequate enough for them."

Grabbing the bag, the Samurai and the little girls began to walk away from the merchant and back towards the bike. As they walked, Jack suddenly thought about what the merchant said and wondered if he truly did make the right choice of becoming the sole caretaker of the Daughters of Aku and if it wasn't too late to leave them in a place where they wouldn't have to fear the possible bounty hunters that would come their way. Before he could think more about this, Jack saw something that made his eyes bulge and his mouth drop.

In front of him was a wanted poster of him. Usually, he didn't care for it, often going and staying at places which had them all over the place in the past. However, since the loss of his sword, Jack used the outdated appearance of him on the wanted posters to his advantage to remain inconspicuous when out buying supplies that he needed or just traversing the lands. Unfortunately, the wanted poster in front of him now had his current appearance on it, as well as a drawing of him with his samurai helmet. Realizing the severity of this, especially since Jack being seeing multiple intimidating or suspicious looking men or creatures slowly make their way towards him.

"Come on girls, this way!" Jack told them, hurrying through a crowd and motioning the girls to go faster..

"Where are we going, Jack?" Amori asked, concerned by how fast they were moving.

"We're taking a shortcut!"

Going through a crowd of people in order to lose the bounty hunters, Jack found a walkway that would lead them to the forest and get them in the clear. Quickly walking to it, Jack opened the door at the end of the walkway and waited for the girls to go through. Once the were through, Jack shut the door and barricaded it with a large container. Watching him do this, the girls' attention went towards a round and furry man standing in the distance, causing them to gasp in fear. The Samurai heard this and placed himself in front of the Daughters of Aku, who hid behind him and peeked around him. Examining the man in front of him, Jack realized that he resembled the "crazy round man" that appeared on the day where Mad Jack was born.

"SAMURAI JACK!" He yelled, "You have bested me in combat many years ago!" Og ranted, "However, I will not be one to make the same mistake! I will get that googolplex no matter what!"

Staring each other down for a bit, the Samurai and the bounty hunter waited for one of them to make the first move, Suddenly, Og let out a yell and charged for Jack, much like he did during their first fight many years ago.

"Jack." Ashi whimpered, scared at what would happen next.

"Stay calm." He advised, preparing his attack.

When Og got close enough, Jack took out his trident. However, instead of using it against him, Jack tossed it at Og, who confusedly catched the weapon, unintentionally slowing down. With Og distracted, Jack rushed for him and punched him hard in the face, following up with a roundhouse kick, knocking the bounty hunter on his back. Not relenting in his attacks, Jack grabbed his legs and spun him around several times, launching him into a building. Seeing Og fall down from a considerable height as a result of this, Jack rushed for him, jumped up, grabbed him, and slammed him to the ground.

"Googolplex…" Og groaned once more, passing out from his injuries.

"Once again, there will be no money for you, crazy round man." Jack told him.

Walking back to the girls, he saw them run up to him with excited expressions on their faces.

"Jack! You did it!" Ami beamed.

"We aren't safe yet." He replied, picking up his trident, "Not until we back to the forest."

With that, they continued on, trying to get to motorcycle as fast as they could. Thankfully, no bounty hunters were in sight, with the Samurai and the Daughters of Aku nearing the location of the bike. As Jack went to remove the blanket, some mines that were hidden in the ground sprung up in the air, primed and ready to explode. Thinking fast, Jack dived to the floor, taking the girls down with him and covering them with his body to protect them from the blast. Hearing them go off and explode above their heads, Jack wondered who was able to set this trap for them. He soon got his answer when the sound of motorcycles cut into the air and several goons on bikes showed up and began circling around them. Growling, Jack grabbed the machine gun from his bike and began aiming it at the goons.

"Girls! Hide!" He advised.

"But… Ali stammered.

"NOW!"

Following his orders, the girls got up and began running away, looking for a hiding spot. However, in their confusion and frightened states, they didn't know where to go.

"Where do we hide?!" Anzi cried out, scared of what was going around her and her sisters..

Panting heavily out of fear and tiredness, Ashi soon spotted a very large tuft of grass in front of them, which looked big enough and thick enough to securely hide them.

"There!" She told her sisters, pointing at the spot.

Running as fast as they could, the Daughters of Aku hid themselves inside the large tuft of grass, with them being undetected by the bounty hunters. As of now, the only thing they could do was watch and hope that Jack made it out well. Pressing the trigger on his LMG, Jack unleashed a hail of bullets onto the robotic motorcycle riding bounty hunters, taking a considerable amount of them out as a result.

Unfortunately, Jack's rapid fire power would come to a quick end when one of the bounty hunters used his electric whip to snatch the gun from his arms, flinging it far away from him. Being shock for a moment, Jack quickly regained his bearings and assessed the situation. He had managed to take out seven bounty hunters and at the moment, three still remained. Grabbing his trident, Jack activated the shock function and waited for one of the bounty hunters to charge him. Leaping in the sky, Jack pierced the robot's chest with blade, blowing him up. Rolling out of the way of another attempted hit and run, the Samurai quick drawed his pistol and shot out the tire, causing that bounty hunter to be sent flying off his bike and into a tree, where he promptly exploded.

That left Jack to deal with the electric whip wielding bounty hunter, who currently charged for him. Waiting for the right moment, Jack watched as the robot prepped his electric whip and aimed it for Jack. As he was about to use it, the Samurai threw a knife into his arm, causing it to be rendered useless. With that, Jack ran for him and with a mighty yell, struck him with the shock function of his trident, firing the bounty hunter's circuitry and blowing him up as a result. With the battle won, Jack picked up his machine gun and the electric whip, seeing that it was a useful weapon.

"Girls? Where are you?" He called out, worried for their well being.

Glad to see that their caretaker had managed to win, the girls stood up and called for him.

"We're here!" Ali replied.

Rushing over to them, Jack began checking them over, wanting to make sure that nothing had happened to them during his fight.

"Are any of you hurt?!" Jack asked, sounding like a concerned parent.

"We're okay!" Amori told him.

"Are you sure?" He inquired, not wanting to worry about their well being.

"Yes." They all replied.

Sighing in relief, Jack stood up and wiped his brow, being glad that nothing was wrong.

"I'm glad that nothing has happened to you. However, that was too close." The Samurai told the girls, "We must keep an eye out for things like that or else, we may not come back from it." He warned.

Noticing that the sun was setting, Jack realized that it was getting late. Due to his encounters with the bounty hunters, he decided that it be best to stay off the mainland for a while and to find some shelter. Walking with the girls back to his motorcycle, he noticed a sidecar on one of the now uncommanded bikes. Throwing the bullet riddled robot corpse out of it, Jack checked it and saw that it could was big enough for the girls to be in. Ripping it off, Jack carried it back to his bike and attached it to the side. Helping the girls inside, he checked to see if everything was fine with them.

"Comfortable?" Jack asked.

The girls all nodded their heads in response, liking that they now had their own personal seat instead of having to ride on the back of the motorcycle like before. Hopping onto his bike, the Samurai started it up and sped away in search of temporary shelter.

And that's the second chapter, hope you guys enjoyed it. I really tried to improve the action sequences with this one, as well as character interactions, let me know what you guys think. Next, Jack will tell the girls a little story from his childhood and then spend the day with them, enjoying the beauty of the outdoors. Anyways, check back for more chapters, thanks 4 reading, Lt-RexCole out.