Here is all the bonus material for the whole fanfic.
Warning! Do not read this unless you've already read the whole story! It will contain spoilers! (it will also contain spoilers for the other two fanfics, so keep that in mind)
IMHO, Aku is, hands-down, the best well-written cartoon villain for his unique character balance of evil and humor. In so many American kids cartoons, villains were never taken seriously with their pathetic "meh" attempts to be menacing and failing at it, and Aku is one of the few exceptions. Both Genndy Tartakovsky, the writer and director of Samurai Jack (2001-2004), and Mako, the voice actor, actually made a great effort to create a genuinely dangerous threat while also making him funny enough that's still appropriate for a cartoon. The very reason I wrote this crossover fanfiction was because he has a color scheme very similar to the Twilis, especially Midna in her mini-form. And because he's a shape-shifter, his trademark power, he could easily pass as a Twili and no one would realize it's him! Since I'm a fan of both Legend of Zelda (starting from 1986) and Samurai Jack who put two and two together on this theory, this was an opportunity for a good story.
It has been over a month since that fateful trip to Hyrule. 11-year-old Cleo Hayster, a blond girl with blue eyes and a ponytail...
The very first sentence immediately tells readers familiar to Cleo's stories that the fanfic is taking place shortly after Mysterious Travel Guide. And it also tells anyone not familiar that she had and adventure in Hyrule before.
...was painting a pumpkin blue after she was done carving it into a scary face she'd seen in Super Paper Mario.
This was based off Count Bleck, the villain from said game (Wii, 2007). I once carved a pumpkin like that, except I didn't have time to paint it blue.
"Whoa, slow down squirt!" the tall, older brother cautioned with a laugh. He rubbed his brown, slightly spiky hair in wonder at her pent up energy. He was still getting used to Cleo's uplifted spirits after she had finally recovered from her grief over her mother's death, three years ago, and stopped blaming herself for the accident.
I, again, wrote a brief recap to the first story and also had to rewrite the descriptions of Cleo and Finn in case this is a person's first time reading any of my stories.
"Came just in the nick of time. I was worried it wasn't gonna make it. Ebay's always been difficult." He handed the parcel to his daughter who opened it eagerly with a "thank you."
Almost immediately, Cleo could see the green tunic and hat she was going to wear that day for Halloween. The whole outfit was a Wind Waker style hero's uniform, complete with a plastic sword and shield. "Cool!"
I needed Cleo to wear the green hero's uniform because it is an important key element to the Zelda series. I decided her second adventure would start on Halloween which is the perfect excuse for her to get the outfit from Ebay.
"I'll take care of the 'Bleck'-o-Lantern while you change."
Probably not the most original name, but it's a clever one.
"I heard you got a new gym teacher at your school. What is his name again?"
"Watai," answered his sister. "He has a son about my age, but I haven't met him yet."
Coach Watai and his son Eiji made a brief appearance in the sequel Bermuda Triangle. The reason I had this brought up in Skribal Sword was because it will make an important impact to Cleo after she had her whole adventure with Samurai Jack. Although right then in the first chapter, it wouldn't mean anything to her or to the readers until the epilogue.
"You're not coming?"
"Sorry sis," apologized Finn with a shrug. "I don't have a costume."
"But this is our first Halloween since we moved here!"
"Cleo, I'm almost eighteen. I'm too old for this kind of thing now."
The story starts on the last Halloween that Finn will still be at home. Finn was going to college very soon and I wanted him to be in this story, even if his role was more minor than in MTG (Mysterious Travel Guide).
It had been the middle of September when they'd last gone there and it had resulted in a crazy almost life threatening, adventure.
Finn actually said the very last part of the sentence a little later in the same chapter.
"You want to visit Syrilla, don't you?"
Finn's face became red. "Well-I-a-" he stammered. "That's not it!" He turned away. "It's not like she's my girlfriend or anything!"
"Right," she giggled. "It's okay, I don't mind visiting the Gerudo Fortress."
"Don't you dare say anything to embarrass me in front of those Gerudos!"
In MTG, after the siblings managed to recruit the Gerudo leader Syrilla, Finn had developed a crush on her. They had a brief romantic relationship during their breaks from their quest.
After getting the Hylian Travel Guide out of the hollow tile in the basement, tramping out to the woods, drawing a portal spell circle, reciting the incantation, appearing in the Lanayru Province, traveling to Lake Hylia, getting shot out of a cannon toward the desert, and walking across the sands along a canyon pathway, they finally arrived at the Gerudo's Fortress.
This is the longest sentence I have ever written. Had to be this ludicrously long for the humurz!
They were not the least bit worried that it took hours, knowing that when they got back, (even after days) hardly any time will have passed in their world.
And this is the reason they would bother to go through all these shenanigans. Lol!
As they approached the entrance, a guard stopped them. "Who goes there?"
"Uh, Finn and Cleo," Finn responded, a bit unsure.
"Oh really... Prove it."
"What?! How?"
"Fight me. Prove to me that you're every bit the warrior Syrilla said you are."
"I'm not even armed! How was I supposed to know about this?"
The guard shrugged. "That's not my problem."
"I'll do it," Cleo said with a sigh.
Finn looked at her. "Are you serious sis? All you've got is a plastic sword."
"I'll manage." Cleo stepped forward. "I'm ready."
The guard gave an amused smirk. "Brave one aren't you? For a child." She held her spear ready. Cleo also prepared herself.
Finn was about to open his mouth in protest when another female voice spoke "That won't be necessary". Finn gasped out. Coming to the entrance from the fortress was the Gerudian leader Syrilla.
I was originally going to have Cleo go though a metaphorical combat tutorial with some random guard. But it would be much more fitting to have Syrilla coach her, so I had her interrupt.
"So you've been training your skills with a sword, have you?"
"Well... yeah sorta. I'm still practicing."
"Wait, you mean in a video game or in real life?" asked Finn in wonder.
"Both," Cleo piped with a bit of satisfaction.
Finn shook his head wryly. "I didn't know that!"
After the events of MTG, she had started practicing in case she needed the skills for whenever she got to return to Hyrule. It was a good thing she did in the month before Skribal Sword started. Otherwise, she'd be (how should I put this?) under-leveled. Also an interesting fact, playing video games actually improves your skills. No joke! Action games helps your focus and reflexes, shooting helps with eye precision, puzzles and strategy improves your mind (timed puzzles and RTS also encourages thinking on your toes), the list goes on.
"Let's see how strong your swings are." She held her staff tightly in a defensive position. "Now don't hold back, hit me with your best shot." Nodding, Cleo took out her sword and swiped horizontally at her and then made a vertical slice. Syrilla blocked her every move with the staff. "Very good. Now try to stab at me." Cleo charged forward and thrust at Syrilla who dodged with ease and countered. Cleo was knocked off her feet, causing Finn to gasp. "You need to be faster than that, even in defense. Now if I attack like this!" Syrilla was about to swing one way but then tried to psyche her out by changing her aim. Cleo was quick to notice and managed to block it with her shield. "Very good! And finally, a spin attack. Think you can pull this off?"
"I've never done this before. But here goes..." Cleo held her sword ready and spun as fast as she could. Syrilla blocked it and Cleo again fell on her rear. She was momentarily dizzy.
Cleo needed to go through all the basic moves before she was ready for the unexpected surprise quest waiting for her in the Twilight Realm.
"I just heard the whereabouts of a rare treasure up in the mountains and I plan to get my hands on it."
Cleo suddenly became more curious. "What kind of treasure?"
"You sure you want to know?" The child nodded with intense interest. "Very well. It's called the Moon Pearl. It's suppose to be a legendary treasure. According to my resources, it is located in the Temple of Hira."
"Really? I've heard of that. It's said to have the power to protect you from dark curses. We're really gonna find it?"
The Moon Pearl was an item obtained in Link to the Past (SNES, 1991/92). It was suppose to keep the player from turning into a bunny when he enters the Dark World. In this fanfic, it has become one of the important quest items and it prevents Cleo from becoming a lost spirit when she enters the Twilight Realm.
"Cleo, I know you're excited about this. But do you remember what happened the last time we had an adventure like this? You know, the one that was crazy and almost life threatening?"
And he said it!
"A shame. But your brother's probably right." Finn was a little flustered at that. "It's your decision, and I won't force you otherwise. I was planning to go on my own anyway."
"Wow I..." Finn didn't know what to say.
"I'm glad you came to visit, Finn. It's nice seeing you again." Syrilla armed herself with her two sabers. "I must be off now. Wish me luck you two." And then she was out the doorway.
Cleo was feeling a little let down. Then she looked at Finn and noticed something peculiar. The look on his face immediately told her that he was about to make a really stupid decision.
And Syrilla knew it was coming. The "It's your decision, and I won't force you otherwise" was quoted before by Finn in MTG, when he was trying to convince Syrilla to defect. And she just used the same reverse psychology back at him. She can really push this guy's buttons as well as he did her's.
The temple was a tall tower. It was in the shape of a square layered cake (that was the child's impression), each floor slightly smaller than the previous. The dull bricks almost blended into the rocky environment.
The Temple of Hira is the same one that appeared in LttP (Link to the Past). This is where Cleo collected the first Essence of Light, and it's the only dungeon that didn't have a boss battle.
There were stalfos and weird looking beetles guarding the place.
When I wrote this, I was referring the beetles to those weird shelled octopus things that heavily bounce you back (they appeared in the Temple of Hira). I forgot that I was planning to write in an insect army from Aku's world. But I decided not to correct that mistake, instead I just left it to readers' speculation to whether they were the official Zelda monsters or the very same robot bugs that came looking for the essence.
There were many crystal switches throughout the tower that opened certain gates and closed others. There were also pitfalls, some of them hidden that wouldn't open until you walked across it and suddenly found yourself a floor or two back down.
These are the puzzles similar to the ones in Temple of Hira. You have to drop down a certain pitfall in order to get the Moon Pearl (but in Skribal Sword, if you're bold enough, you leap over it).
"Wait a minute." He picked up a rock from the ground and tossed it at the path to the pearl. A pitfall opened up before them. "I knew it!" The hole was big, too big to just hop across.
"So what do you suppose we do?" asked Syrilla.
"Give me a second to think. Maybe-Cleo!" He saw his sister run full pelt toward the pit and leap as far as she could. He could barely breathe when she caught the edge on the other side and pulled herself up. She had made it.
This is the first time you notice Cleo's actual recklessness. Because she had survived a great deal of danger from both Ganondorf and Majora and a fate worse then death, she thinks she can do anything, letting it go to her head. Finn is the more cautious one and trying to look after his sister like a responsible brother should. Even though he's proud of Cleo for her bravery and willingness to act when needed, in the back of his mind, he wishes she'd not do anything stupid.
She looked around and saw her own shadow growing and changing shape. She realized that the shadow was pulling her inside it. "FINN!"
"CLEO!" Finn was about to run toward her and nearly fell down the pit.
Syrilla caught him and held on to his arm tightly. "Wait, you idiot!"
This was similar to a cutscene in Wind Waker (GC, 2002/02) where Link tried to save his sister Aryll from getting taken, only to almost fall off a cliff and grabbed by Tetra.
She was falling... falling... falling... Memories were fading... She no longer knew anything... All was nothing to her... she felt lost... alone... ...Then she heard a voice... calling her name... She looked up and saw someone falling with her... But all she could see was his silhouette... A man in robes was coming closer... reaching out his hand to her...
Cleo was, once again, having a prophetic dream. It was showing her exactly what will happen to her in the near future, where she fades into a lost spirit and Samurai Jack (still a lost spirit himself) rescues her.
... ... ...Cleo opened her heavy eyelids. The first thing she saw was nothing but a blur, there were dark colors all around her and the only source of light was on the horizon. It was the same gleam of twilight as before. What had happened? Then a tall, shadowy figure was towering above her, its features unrecognizable in her hazy vision. And before she could figure out who or what it was... she once again fell into unconsciousness.
She was very nearly close to learning, from the beginning, that she was in the presence of Aku. She caught her first glimpse of the demon's true form and (despite watching the cartoon before) wasn't able to recognize him in time.
The room she was in was made of stone... or was it metal? There were glowing neon lines on the walls and floor in a high-tech geometric pattern. There was a large, plain square on the wall next to her and a small plain circle. She touched the circle and the square opened up, revealing the world outside.
Describing places wasn't easy and this is but the first part of the Twilight Realm I had to describe. In Twilight Princess (GC, Wii, 2006), when you enter Midna's world for the first and only time, you only got to go to the Sol Shrines and the Palace of Twilight, since it's very near the end of the game. There was not much to see officially what the realm holds. And because Cleo's entire quest takes place there with the eight essences and the invading army, I had to invent so much more than what Nintendo had created, the different regions, races, culture, technology, everything needed for the story.
He was a Twili, no doubt about that. He was short, for an adult, around the same height as herself. Like all Twilis, he had a marbled black and white body and glowing tattoos. Unlike the others, who had teal tattoos, his were acid green. He had long red hair and a beard, and his face... was pretty oddball looking. Eyes round as coins, a flat nose, wide mouth, and when he laughed, she could see a slightly curved canine.
This is the closest description to what I'd always pictured a Twili version of Aku to be. To put this more simply, he's kinda like a cross between the swamp hermit Aku and Pygmy Midna.
"Oh, right! Where are my manners? My name's Okam," he answered with a bow. His name was as odd as his face, Cleo thought.
Besides possibly the description, his name is actually a hint to his true identity. If you thought of spelling his alias backwards, it would say Mako (Dec 10 1933-Jul 21 2006) which is the name of Aku's voice actor.
Insects, giant black insects were swarming the whole town. Buildings crumbled underneath their tread, fires erupted, smoke was rising. They were headed straight toward the palace. But then they were shot down by a rain of arrows from the guards. Several bugs managed to get onto the palace walls before they were felled by kargarok riders. The last one (a beetle) almost reached the window Cleo was at and she jumped back, startled.
Just like in the cartoon, they are supposed to be robots, not real living breathing creatures. While the writing didn't say they are machines, I purposefully left out that detail, making readers assume that they're not, and trying not to make it too obvious for SJ (Samurai Jack) fans.
"Mid, what are those things?" Cleo asked.
"What's this?" Okam demanded. "First you neglect 'Princess', then you call her by a stupid nickname?" Cleo was starting to get annoyed by this guy.
As evil and deceptive as he is, he can be pretty silly in his own sarcastic, mocking, and sometimes accidental way. I've been trying my best to keep Aku in character while he's trying not to be that character, leaving him to behave like an occasional jerk ass while under the guise of a wise (or wise-cracking) old Twili.
Okam cleared his throat. "The Essences of Light," he recited. "are the very life blood of the Twilight Realm. They are like sols, only a hundred times more powerful than the two here in the palace. They were created to keep this realm in balance and without it, not even we Twilis will wholly exist in the Realm of Shadows. They are what shaped our race from the Dark Interlopers who were banished here long ago." Okam looked at the curious expression on Cleo's face and seemed to have read her mind, for he added "An old scroll was recently discovered, it told me all there is to know about them. From what I understand, it may be the key to saving our world."
Coming up with the quest items, their backstory, powers, and very purpose was a challenge to create. It took awhile to carefully think through how they'll play out in the whole story from beginning to end.
She got the Moon Pearl. Its soft glow lights the night and protects the lost!
Before I could write the whole chain of tasks for Cleo to follow, I had to come up with the quest item ideas from scratch, because they were going to be the blueprint for the middle part of the fanfic. The Moon Pearl, being the first quest item, I thought of using a series of gemstones and precious metals. I had the right idea, but I decided not to name them as such. The Essences of Light are based on the quest items in Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons (GBC, 2001). The essences from those games followed a theme and mini-story descriptions, so I used the same inspirations. The ones in the story share in common certain sources of light (even shadows). The types of light told me what element they might be for the places, people, and dungeons, and the mini-stories, once I came up with them, gave me a pattern to follow and in what order the essences are to be gathered. All of that guided my story writing.
Everyone looked around, the citizens cowering in fear. Then, out of nowhere, a smoky image appeared above their heads. It was Midna's face, half covered in hair, but it couldn't be...
Mom told me this was referencing to the Wizard of Oz (1939). It actually didn't occur to me when I wrote this.
"Veran... I thought I had banised you from the Twilight Realm!" Midna called out.
"Midna," Veran answered in a sweet tone. "It's been too long... Do you really think you can keep me out forever?"
"So it was you then?! You are the one behind the invasion?"
"Oh, what gave me away? Am I that obvious?"
Aku is the big bad in the story, but since readers are not to know that yet until the story is nearing the end, there had to be another villain to act in his stead so they could focus on that character away from Aku. Originally I was going to create an OC villain, a fierce insectoid leader of the army. Then I remembered Veran from OoA (Oracle of Ages). There had been fan speculations that she is a Twili, plus she looks a lot like Midna (which is also why I made them sisters in the fanfic). So I decided to use her as the undercover big bad. Also, in MTG, there was a brief mention of Midna remembering her last skirmish with Veran in the past.
"Just what, in the name of Culex was that all about?" Okam questioned dubiously, looking at Cleo with agitation.
Culex is an ultra powerful entity from Vanda and a hidden optional boss encountered in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES, 1996). He lives in an inter-dimensional gateway located behind a sealed door in Monstro Town. The door can only be opened by a Shiny Stone (traded in Moleville for a Firework). Then he will ask you if you want to fight him before he leaves Mario's world. Should you accept his challenge, you'd better be prepared for a long hellish fight and die a lot. HE'S FRICKEN HARD, harder than even the final boss (Smithy)! I used to fight him many times as a kid and had my fair share of losses (I did win a few times).
He grabbed the tip of the plastic cosplay sword and pulled it back, causing it to twa-a-a-ang when he let go. She gave him a whack on the head. He was unimpressed. "That didn't even hurt."
Of course, realistically, being hit in the head by a plastic sword hurts plenty. The Twili disguised Aku couldn't feel pain except by weapons blessed by deities.
"You shouldn't even be here, this is not your realm."
"Neither is Hyrule, yet when Ganondorf attacked I decided to stay and fight instead of going home. I didn't care! Innocent people were getting hurt and-"
"I understand!" Midna cut in.
Cleo was recalling her first adventure in MTG. In reality, most people in the real world (if they were in her shoes) wouldn't do exactly what she did in Hyrule. There are even some who refuse point-blank to accept other people who are different from them in their biased and unfair bigotry. What Cleo had said is actually very important because, showing her true xenial nature, Midna realized Cleo may be able to wield the Skribal Sword, considering how picky the weapon is.
"Cleo, When people do good deeds, evil will do everything it can to bite them in the butt. It's the way things are." They looked at Okam. "I have seen something like that in the pa-"
"Thank you, Okam!"
Okam would believe that, because he's the evil that's doing everything to bite good in the butt. Cleo, at the final battle, threw the quote back at him, only it's in reverse.
Her red hair came to life and elongated rapidly toward the lock and inserting itself into three holes. There was a sound of booming, metal clicks, whirls, and shifting.
The last time her hair shot out like that was to kill off her enemy, Zant, in TP.
For a fleeting moment, she thought it was the Master Sword, but upon a closer look, she realized that the sword she was looking at was different. The crossguard was straight instead of curved downwards and the blade's shape was tightly twisted, like an entwined rope.
The description of the blade shape is a hidden sign of its origin from Oni. His sword had a entwined infinity symbol shape. The Skribal Sword's is the same except tighter with no gaps in the metal. It transforms into Oni's sword in the last battle.
"Have you noticed the stone with a rune on the blade?"
"Yea?"
"Well, touch it and see what happens." Cleo took out the sword again and did as told. The moment she placed her finger on the rune, the tip glowed bright. "Now touch the tip to this wall and trace it." She tried it and a glowing line trailed behind the sword's movement. She instantly thought of drawing on a DS screen and tried to draw a rupee. When she was done, a bunch of real rupees popped out of the wall.
The magic runes thing is a whole new and cleverly unique item/equipment system, with the sword being able to become other items in a certain way. This fanfic is meant to be like a DS (2004) or 3DS (2011) game, with the drawing and everything the runes do.
Then she drew a heart and heart-shaped fruit was produced.
There was no other way to describe whatever kind of hearts Cleo would get when she experimented with it. There are heart fruit growing in Skyward Sword (Wii, 2011).
Cleo glanced at the rune again and quickly noticed (wondering why she hadn't done so before) that there were three holes below the rune. "The one you have is the Rune of Skribal, it's permanently attached to the blade. It's not the only rune in existence, there are others out there. The three extra slots are there for them. If you ever come across them, you can place them in these slots to gain new powers and abilities, so use them wisely."
And I had to invent all the runes and their abilities myself. It was actually pretty hard, I had to keep reinventing and tweaking them ahead of time in a quests guide I wrote until their powers are acceptable enough and not lame in some way. But I ran out of ideas and had to place the runes I thought were the lamest as the last to be gathered (although I still tried to make them useful somehow). Besides the Rune of Scribal, all the rest of them were named after subjects from mythology and I had to find out what kind of powers would fit with the names. That's why it was so hard.
"Will you come with me?"
Before Midna could answer, Okam said "Sorry kid, but that's not an option. She's the Twilight Princess and she needs to stay right here for her people's sake."
Cleo was a little disappointed. She would've loved to have Midna for a partner. "I suppose you're right," she sighed.
"Tell you what Cleo, I'll come with you!" Okam offered as though it was the treat of a lifetime.
"No thanks, you'll just slow me down."
"Hey, didn't your mother teach you to respect your elders?" Okam asked in annoyance.
"I'll be fine on my own, thanks!"
First time readers would most likely think Okam would be Cleo's partner this adventure and, when Okam was shut down, wonder who was going to be one. They'd got their answer soon enough, though.
Cleo spent her rupees on a new shield so she'd be better protected. She also supplied herself with magic bottles in which the Skribal Sword was powered by.
The first version of this said there was a bomb shop and that she needed a special permit slip (or something, I can't remember) she would get later to buy the bombs. I originally thought she would still use normal items along with runes, but that was before I watched a LP of Okami (PS2/3, Wii, 2006) and got the inspirations needed for the runes (Any Okami fan will notice that some of the rune's powers are very similar to the brush techniques). I later completely replaced the illogical sentence with one where she buys magic vials and that made a lot more sense.
A poe came out of nowhere and attacked her. It was small and easy to deal with.
Normally, in the TPverse you can't see poes unless you have a sixth sense. I think the reason Cleo could see it is because it's visible in the Twilight Realm
When the lantern broke in half after hitting the ground, the small light didn't fade. It rose out and just floated there. Cleo stepped carefully closer to it to get a better look, then gave it a prod with the Skribal Sword, it had no effect. A second take and she could clearly see that it was a small blueish-green flame.
This is the same as in Ocarina of Time (N64, 1998) and Majora's Mask (N64, 2000) where, after defeating a poe, you collect a poe soul from its lantern and it can have a random effect on you if you consume it (either replenishing or draining your health). In various Zelda games, like in TP, they can be traded in for essential items in side quests. But in this fanfic, the soul trapped in the lantern is going to be Cleo's partner (I have no idea how Jack ended up in there).
She had seen these things before in Twilight Princess, they were supposed to be lost spirits, once human before they unfortunately stumbled into the Realm of Shadows.
"Hello?" Cleo tried to say. It completely ignored her. Whoever this poor soul was, it was totally unaware that she was there or aware of itself.
She looked at it bereftly, wondering what to do. Cleo herself was lucky she didn't suffer the same fate, thanks to the Moon Pearl... A sudden thought struck her. She took off her backpack and brought out the Essence of Light. Hoping this would work, she brought it close to the ball of flame that was the soul.
A beautiful light shined from the pearl and traveled to the lost spirit. It spun and splintered and enveloped it like worm silk creating a cocoon. The light got brighter for a moment before it suddenly stopped. For a moment, in her sinking heart, she thought that nothing had happened. But then...
"... ... hnn... ...W-wha... ... ...whe...am I... Where am I?..." Cleo heard an adult male voice coming from the lost spirit, its light pulsating in rhythm of its speech. "...Who-who are you?"
Cleo smiled hugely. Although it (he, she corrected herself) still didn't get back a recognizable body, at least the spirit was no longer lost.
Very early in the story planning, I almost forgot about Samurai Jack. Because Aku's in this fanfic, even though he's yet to fully reveal himself (hence the main reason I wrote this fic), it would be too trivial not to have Jack, since they are bound like Yin & Yang in the cartoon's storyline. And because all humans turn into lost spirits when they enter the Realm of Shadows, it was a self made choice for his role as Cleo's partner, so it helped Jack fit into the story perfectly.
