Why I dance the Endless Waltz

Chapter Two

He had been walking for a great bit of time now, as it had been three hours since he had encountered that group of vulgar creatures in the forest along with that young woman they had taken. It was nightfall and he had finally reached a city, perhaps the one that woman was taken off to and that she had mentioned before. Tall buildings stretched up, almost seeming to reach up to the sky if possible. There were different creatures and people of sorts wandering the streets. There were neon lights and such everywhere. More lights seem to be coming from the other side of the city, they flashing in the air wildly. Most everyone seemed to be heading in that direction for whatever event was happening over there. Though, he tried to ask them about it, but they seem to ignore them and keep going. His wooden sandals clattered against the sidewalk as he walked down it looking for someone that might be able to help him. It was then after awhile he found an old woman sitting in a rocking chair in front of a flower shop. The samurai would have never imagined such serene things would be in a city such as this. He walked over to her as she was rocking back and forth slowly, "Excuse madam, but perhaps you could tell me where I am and what event is occurring that everyone seems so excited about?" She didn't look up at him as she was looking down in her lap, with her hood over her head. "If you don't already, you are in Jargon. Most strangers that have ventured here only come here for one reason…" She said as she paused, as she ceased her rocking and coughed slightly. Jack looked at the woman curiously, "And what would that reason be?" Without speaking, she pointed her wrinkled, bony hand over to a wall that had graffiti all over it along with flyers on it. He walked over and looked at the flyers, a hand full of them were all the same. They read: 'Loud music, dancing, women, and drinking. All here in one place. CHRONIC X. Come tonight and bring your friends guys, as Scar is dancing tonight.' There was then a picture of the girl that he had me in the forest in the middle of the flyer.

"I don't believe it. That's the same woman I had met earlier." He said astounded. The old woman started to rock her chair back and forth and gave a small hacking cough as she shook her head.

"I hope the gods have mercy on her soul. Poor girl. I'm surprised she managed to survive this long. Yes, she is stronger than I thought she was and she's still holding on strong…uh…" She coughed again, putting her hand over her mouth.

"You know of her?" The samurai asked, as he looked at the old woman. She nodded and folded her hands in her lap.

"Long ago, when she was younger. She used to come by this flower shop all the time and I would always give her a flower. Ah, she did love flowers. She was always love that one in particular." She said pointing over to the flower cart next to her and to a beautiful white flower, a lily. There only seemed to be just one of them though. He looked at it solemnly; he remembered his mother use to keep a vase of lilies almost everywhere in their home, along with other flowers. "So, what is your name stranger and what business do you have here? There are other places that have a more pleasant atmosphere." The old woman said as she looked up at him.

"I am on a journey to find my way back home, but first I have to find the fiend Aku that has enslaved my family along with others I have seen so far, as he was the one that has sent me to a different world from mine." He said.

The woman seemed to nod a little and rocked back and forth in her chair, "I see. So, you must be the famous Samurai Jack I have heard about and everyone else also. Yes, I know about this. If you want to find Aku he does tends to come here…" She said, getting the Samurai's attention now.

"He does? Tell me when and where does he come?" He asked.

"At the Chronic X of course." A voice said. He turned around and behind him was a boy with jet-black hair with red highlights in them. A cap on his head, though with holes on the sides of them as he had cat ears, the right one pierced with two sterling earrings. His attire consisted of baggy black jeans, tennis shoes, black wristbands, and a red shirt that was torn. It came above his stomach, his bellybutton pierced. Jack looked at him puzzled at his way of clothes he wore and by his cat-like ears.

"Chronic X?" He asked.

"Yea, man. You a real stranger here if you haven't heard of that most happening club in the city and Scar. She is like famous here and she is one of Aku's most prized possessions."

"She is?" He said surprised.

"Well, duh. He comes here ever so often to see her perform. I'm going there to see her myself, tonight. She's going to be on fire tonight…but if Aku were there she would be burning up baby. Who knows, he might be here tomorrow."

"I see…can you take me there?" He asked.

"You? Not like that. If someone saw the way you're dress they would think it was whack. You need some new thread my man." He said, flicking the earrings on his pointed ears.

"Threads?" He said perplexed by the word, not sure of what it meant, "What is this threads you speak of?"

"You know, threads!" He said as he pinched and pulled the fabric of his shirt, "Threads man. The clothes, the clothes!" He said, the samurai finally understanding now. He looked Jack over for a moment before he scratched his chin. "You're taller than me, but I think I have something upstairs you could wear?"

"Upstairs?"

"Yea, I live here with the old woman." He said, looking over at the old woman in the rocking chair. Who had got up for a moment and grabbed his ear, which was a sensitive spot. He squirmed and yelped trying to get away from him, "Come on! I'm sorry, grandma!"

"Little rascal. You should know better by now, Neal," She said, as she let go of his ear after awhile. He stumbled back some and rubbed at his abused ear. Since he did stay with her, he had to refer to her as Grandma not old woman. He wasn't really her grandchild, but he acted as if he was. They seem to have some sort of strange bond between each other as Jack observed them.

"Geeze, you didn't have to do it so hard." He rubbed his ear again, before he walked over to the front door of the flower shop, opening it before he looked back at Jack, "Follow me." Jack emerged inside the flower shop, there were a portion of flowers that were still fresh and blooming. Neal led him up a flight of stairs that was the second floor of the flower shop, but mostly where the kitchen, bathroom, and bedrooms were and also a sitting room where a television was. He led him into a room that had dark blue walls; there were posters of different sorts on them, along with one about Chronic X. Jack walked in; his wooden sandal stepped on an empty can. There seemed to be a few more around the room. Well, he could say the room wasn't really tidy. Neal pounced over to the closet and rambled through it tossing clothes out from behind him, the samurai dodging the flying clothes as he ravaged through them. He then found a few items that would be worthy enough for him to wear. He turned around and held up the items of clothes and then stuffed them into his arms.

"Here man. These are your new threads for the night. You can try them on. I'll be outside." Neal said, as he walked out of the room and shut the door.

"But…" He stopped as he had disappeared. His vision looked down at the bundle of clothes in his hands, none he really even seen before. Sure enough he would be having a struggle putting these on. He thought that as he could see a link of a chin going around a pair of baggy jeans, "This will be a challenge…"

Neal gave a long cat like yawn and put his arms behind his head as he waited for Jack to come down and emerge out of the building. Stumbling and noises could be heard above, as the samurai was having difficulty dressing into these unusual clothes he had given him. The pants looked more like a shirt and he couldn't tell if these other things were clothes at all. Ten minutes passed and Jack had finally managed to succeed in clothing himself now. He opened the bedroom door and walked out and headed downstairs and to the entrance of the flower shop. Neal was leaned against the wall, his ears twitching as he heard his footsteps. He turned his head and watched him exit the shop. The samurai was dressed in baggy blue jeans with slits at the knees, they seem to slip down off his waist every time he pulled them up, a black leather vest that only button down at the abdomen. The rest just gaped open showing his bare chest and he also wore a headband as his hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Neal walked over to him surveying him head to toe for a moment and rubbed his chin, "You need something else. Ah, I know!" He said, as he then unsnapped one the earrings of his pointed ear and handed it to him. "Put this on your left ear. This should work nicely." He said, as Jack took the ear jewelry and looked at it. He still didn't understand why some males wear these earrings, he always thought the women wore them. Well, in this world he guessed this look was trendy. He hesitated for a moment, but snapped it on his ear. The young cat boy then rummaged in one of the many pockets of his pants and pulled out a pair of red visor shades. He unfolded them and placed them over the samurai's eyes. He blinked and looked at everything around him, it looked a little darker and redder too.

"Yeah, now you stylin' now. You look phat." He said.

"I think it may be because the clothes are too big." Jack said, looking down at the large baggy pants. Neal shook his head.

"No, no. Not fat. Phat." He said, correcting him. Jack just looked at him quizzically, still not understanding the meaning of this word 'phat'. Neal put a hand over his face and shook his head once more, "Man, just forget it. I'll tell you later. I guess you ready now. Just follow me and try to keep a low profile." He said, as he started to walk off and give a wave at the old woman, "See ya, later grandma. I might be back for dinner."

"Yes, off with you. Little scamp," She said, as she rocked in her chair. Jack bowing to her respectfully as he then followed the cat boy down the ruin sidewalk. They had cracks running through them and pieces of paper, flyers, and cans rolling around on the ground as they made their way to the other side of town, where the most happening events were starting up. After fifteen minutes of walking, they finally reached their destination…Chronic X. There were more people here than Jack expected to be. Different types of people, creatures, and even machines and robots were there. Loud music could be heard muffling inside, as people emerged inside. The club was very large and it was all black and had neon green lines trimming it's outline, along with the words CHRONIC X' in big bold green neon lights in the middle. They approached the club and made their way of the steps, they meeting a fairly large bouncer who had only one eye, "Hold it right there. Oh hey, it's you Neal. I see you came here again. You aren't going to cause any trouble tonight are you?"

"Course not. Only when I need to of course." He said, with a grin.

"You of all people like to come here. I shouldn't even be letting you in, but you're my main little man so it's cool." He said, but his gaze fell upon the samurai, "Who be this stranger? Never seen him before."

"Yeah, he never been here before. He's with me so he's cool. You know I thought I would show him around." Neal said, covering up. The bouncer looked at Jack with a steady gaze, he looking back. He then motioned his head to the right in a gesture.

"Alright, you two can go ahead in." He said, as Jack followed Neal inside as they walked by the bouncer. The doors slid open as they walked inside; Jack covered his ears as techno music blared out loudly and different hues of neon light flickered continuously in the cabaret. All sorts of people and other creatures were dancing to the loud techno music playing; there was a long large bar on the right side of the wall. A creature wearing a white dress shirt and black vest with a red tie and also had eight tentacles was serving drinks at the bar. There was a portion of large transparent, different colored balls hanging from the ceiling as figures, all females, were dancing inside of them. He looked to his left and could see another floor just below this one as it surrounded a very large stage at the bottom; this floor must have been the balcony.

It's the Ultimate; I can't go for it!

It's the Ultimate; I can't go for it!

Somebody scream! Somebody scream!

Jump around to awesome sound!

Move your feet to the killer beat!

Let your body go out of control!

And work your body to its Ultimate!

It's the Ultimate; I can't go for it!

It's the Ultimate; I can't go for it!

Somebody scream! Somebody scream!

Neal turned his head to the disturbed samurai, since he wasn't at all use to very loud surroundings, bright flashing colors and others being so active in such things. He was more used to being the forests and enjoying the solitude of it all and the peaceful atmosphere. But this? He couldn't handle it, but he had to stay focus at the task at hand. He removed his hands from his ears slowly and stood up straight. "Hey, loosen up a little. Don't go all stiff on me. It won't be long before she appears." He said a bit, loud so he could hear him over the loud music and chatter around the room. Jack seemed to give a nod as he walked over to the railing around the balcony and looked down at the large stage. He noticed there were a few peculiar items around the stage, some which looked dangerous. The volume of the techo music turned down a few knots as the DJ up in the booth near the ceiling started to speak into the microphone now.

Yo, yo everybody! The night is young and so is this hot music! We have a real treat for you tonight…that's right you know what time it is baby! Scar is here tonight! Stand back guys or you might get burn. Cause' this woman is on fire! Whoo, baby! And here she, the mistress of forbidden dance herself…Scar…

The lights stopped flashing and started to dim down to darkness. Jack looked around not sure of what was happening, he looking over to Neal for answers. His ears twitched as he walked over to the balcony, which mostly everyone was gathered around and motioned him over. He followed and stood beside them…smog was creeping over the stage floor below along with a large amount of water rising until it covered it.

"What is happening?" He whispered to him.

"The show is what's happening. She's about to perform." Neal said as he looked down, not really liking the looks of the water. Of course, he being a cat of course he didn't like water, especially a large quantity of it. Music then started to fade in slowly, the volume gradually increasing more and more. The fog crept over the dark surface of the water, bubbles starting to form in the middle as shadow could be seen. It started to emerge from the water. A figure then slowly started to loom out of the shallow water and was on its hands and knees. Dark wet hair dangled down as her head hanged down; she was dressed in dark clothing. A dark skirt with leather straps wrapped around it and her hips and a tight tank top wrapped tightly around her upper body, also a leather collar was attacked around her neck that had a chain linking to and running down into the shallow water. He then noticed that she had on the same bonds around her wrists from when he had seen her earlier.

"She is chained like some animal…" He said, he started to move from his position to see if he could help her, but Neal stopped him and pulled him back as he shook his head.

"Don't get carried away. Do something stupid here and it'll cost you. It's better if you just be a spectator." Neal said, warning him. The samurai nodded and continued watching as she had slowly picked herself up, around the water sparks of electricity glittering about and soon more of it was coming as it was quickly moving across the surface of the water.

"That is dangerous. Won't she be hurt?" He said wearily, Neal flicked his ear and then shook his head.

"Not much. Just keep watching." Neal said, giving a slight purr under his breath. They both watched as the woman gave out a loud scream, the electricity coursing through her body. Her arms thrown up in the air, with her head down as she continued screaming, it then came to a halt as she slowly got up, despite the electric shocks. The music was still fading in slowly, but it was getting louder as she had stood up firmly with her fists clenched. The crowed roared then started to roar in anticipation as she was starting to begin the steady slow movements. Jack looked at her as she was doing this, his thoughts wandering off for a moment.

Those are the same moves I saw her perform in the forest…

Her body leaned back, her arms spread out slanted upwards in a perfect angle, one leg prone forward and the other bent into a squat. Just for a moment she stayed like this before she pounced upwards, despite the bonds on her, and did a graceful back flip. She landing on her feet and a fist thrusting out in the air briskly, the sound of the music began as a single note followed with her moves. Her fist pulled back and then the other one thrusting into the air, another note being made. More various music was made and then words following them, as her movements were faster with the music.

{Techno music starting up slowly steadily}

Can ya hear it?

Bump

It's coming…

Bump bump

It's here.

Bump bump bump

It's the fear!

SCREAM! I SAID SCREAM!

{Music getting faster}

Run; run as fast ya can! You can hide from the fear!

Hide if you want to, but you know the fear is near…

The crowd was getting louder with their shouts and bellows. They going back to dancing, the sound of feet stomped against the floor. Jack was irritated and uncomfortable, though his vision was still on the woman down below, but was yanked away as the cat boy dragged him through the raging crowd he pulling him over to a secrete booth, it looking somewhat like a bubble, it didn't have any openings. Neal walked right into it and easily passed through it, along with the samurai. Inside here, they couldn't hear the loud music, it was very faint though. There flopped on what appeared to be a circular couch, with a table in the middle. Jack sat opposite of him and looked about quietly.

"Guess you didn't find what you wanted to, huh?" His ears twitched as he gave a yawn.

"Maybe and maybe not. I was wondering…could you tell me about that girl?" He asked, looking at the cat boy.

"Girl? Who Scar…well…" Neal seemed a loss of words for a moment and looked at his hand, "You should ask the old woman about that. She might know more than I do. I can tell you that's she's been here for awhile and well, she has a connection with Aku. So, she's more than just a dancer."

"Aku? You mean to tell me what she is one of Aku's minions?" He said, looking at him.

"Nah, nah. Nothing like that…a slave would be how you would put it really," He said, licking his hand and then picked up a glass that had a blue fluid in it and sipped it.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at him in a serious tone.

"I must meet with her."

Neal immediately spit the fluid out and coughed violently, his fist coming up and beating on his chest as he cleared his throat and looked over at the samurai in shock.

"You crazy! No one can't talk to her much less come within ten feet of her!" He said, rubbing his mouth.

"Well, I have to meet with her, regardless of the situation." He said, standing up. the pants slacking down off his waist, he pulling them back up. Why did these pants have to be so baggy? He started to make his way out, but Neal had waved a hand and shook his head.

"Hold it…if you're really going to do it, then I'll show you a easy and safe way to do it. I'm not doing anymore than that. All right?"

He nodded giving him a bow, "Thank you."

He waved his hand, "Whatever, you can have your ass handed to you if you want."

He blinked looking at him in some confusion.

"Why would I want a donkey handed to me?"

TBC

Well, I'm finally done with this chapter…it might be another week or two before I can write another chapter too this. I'm trying to do other chapters for my other fics. Check them out. I did my best so you could be satisfied with this chapter for awhile, I hope it's a bit satisfactory. Review.