A Samurai Jack Fanfic
By Laura McDaniel
Samurai Jill Emerges
Jill looked as well, and noticed the system of tall, stone walls that wound through the chamber. "Darn," she said, "and I didn't bring any string!"
Both Jack and the Yamabushi chuckled slightly. "Well," Ichi said, "the good news is that you don't have to exit the Labyrinth the same way you enter. However, plenty of other obstacles await you. In addition, there are three challengers you must confront along the way. I do not know what these challengers are, but I do know not all of them are to be fought, so carefully choose how to approach them. Otherwise, your sword might not turn out right...or it might not come out at all."
Jill nodded as she tried gazing farther up the path in front of her. She couldn't see anything dangerous, but then, it was so dark that couldn't see much of anything. Though the uncertainty made her feel uneasy, she knew what she had to do and decided not to let fear overcome her. She looked into Jack's eyes and whispered, "Wish me luck."
They embraced tightly, his touch at least momentarily quelling her fears. "I have faith in you, Jill, and I will think of you every moment."
"Arigato, Jack," she said quietly, as she slowly pulled away from him. She turned to Ichi and nodded slowly, "I'm...ready to go."
"Are you sure?" the monk asked. "You don't sound very certain."
"I know," Jill said, her voice sounding more confident, "but I am. Just one thing, though."
"Yes, what is it?" Ichi asked.
Jill set down her bamboo shoot and removed her sash and long traveling robe, leaving on her short tunic. "Take this. I don't want to get it caught on anything." She folded it up and set it in the monk's arms.
"That's probably a wise decision," Ichi said. "I wish you luck as well." He turned to Jack and said, "Well, this as far as the two of us can go. Please, return to the forge with me." He opened the door again, and Jack looked back at Jill for one last time.
Jill just stood there for a few minutes after she heard the door shut. There was only one way to go from that point, but she was too worried about hitting a dead end once she got farther. "I must not concern myself with what is to come," she said softly. "I must take this maze as I come to it." In case she had to fight, she picked up her bamboo shoot and held it between both hands in the manner that Jack had showed her. "Be with me, Shoden," she prayed quietly. Then, she slowly started down the corridor. After a few steps, she tripped over what felt like a wayward tree root, even though she didn't see any trees nearby. THUD!
The instant that Jill hit the ground, Jack felt a strange jolt run through him. By this time, he was sitting in a lotus position against a wall in the monks' forge. Not sure what he'd just felt, he looked over to the monks, who were pounding away at an invisible mass of metal. Though he wanted to ask them if they'd felt anything, he decided not to interrupt them because the little bit of pain he'd felt was already gone. Instead, he just shut his eyes and started thinking about Jill again.
It wasn't much longer when Jill hit her first turn. Uncertain if she should turn left or right, she stood still for a moment and waited for some sort of sign to tell her which way to go. She heard a low, animal-like growl coming from the right. Deciding that it was a good enough sign, she followed the wall to the right, which then turned northward again after just a short distance. The sound she'd heard got louder with every step, so she knew she was close to whatever was making it. Whether or not it was the right way to go was another matter. However, once she noticed a small pool of light ahead, she was certain she'd gone the right way.
The pool of light was coming from a pair of torches mounted on a wall in front of her. Jill realized she had to make another turn, but before she could start thinking about which direction to go, she noticed that some sort of large beast was blocking the way. It was the first of the challengers! When Jill noticed that the creature had a head tucked under what looked like an eagle's wing and that the growling noise was its snoring, she held her shoot vertically so she wouldn't hit the creature when she passed it. Remembering that Ichi had specifically told her that not all of the challengers wished to fight, she decided to see if she could step over the beast, but it quickly awoke before she could even get a foot over it. It folded its wing and lifted its head up, revealing a lion's body and the head of a beautiful woman. It was a sphinx.
The sphinx licked at its front right paw for a moment and then brushed aside her long, black locks. She looked at Jill with deep brown eyes and smiled, "Greetings. I apologize for sleeping on the job, but at least I heard you coming." She sat up on her haunches and flicked her tail to the side. "I'll let you pass only if you answer my riddles."
"Ah, riddles, the favorite game of sphinxes!" Jill laughed. "Alright. Let's hear it."
"What animal is that which in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three?"
Jill felt like rolling her eyes at the creature, but knowing that sphinxes were associated with death and destruction, she resisted the temptation. "The answer to that riddle hasn't changed since the first sphinx asked it: The answer is a person. It crawls in the morning of its life, walks on two legs in the afternoon, and walks with the aid of a cane towards the end of its life."
"Good, good," the sphinx said as she licked a paw again. She looked up again and asked, "Hmm...If a rooster laid an egg on a pointed roof, which way would the egg roll?"
"That riddle is almost as old as the one you asked before," Jill said with a laugh. "It doesn't matter which way the egg rolls because roosters don't lay eggs."
The sphinx smiled. "Yes, that is correct as well. But tell me: What if a hen laid an egg on a pointed roof? Which way would the egg roll then?"
Jill paused for a few moments, carefully running the riddle through her mind. At last, she grinned and replied, "The egg would roll down!" Not certain how to handle Jill's cunning, the sphinx tried in vain to come up with a new riddle. "Which came first: The chicken or the egg?" "That's not really a riddle..." "I know. Just answer it," the sphinx snarled. "The egg is the chicken. The chicken is the egg." Deciding to try one more time to defeat Jill, the sphinx waved a paw and made a glass of water appear in front of her. "Tell me: Is the glass half full or half empty?"
"The glass is neither half full nor half empty; it is completely full. One half contains water while the other half contains air."
Frustrated by the way the girl was coming up with an answer for everything, the sphinx snarled and knocked the glass over.
"Well, now it is empty of water," Jill said, calmly.
"But does it still contain air?"
"Of course!"
"I like to know the names of those whom I attack," the sphinx snarled as she stood up and edged closer to Jill. "What is your name?"
Not wanting to fight with such a powerful beast, Jill decided to defeat the sphinx with another method. "That's right!" she replied.
The sphinx blinked and backed up some. "I said, 'What is your name?'" she snarled.
"And I said, 'That's right!' What is my name!"
"That's what I was asking you!" Then, the sphinx finally realized what Jill was saying. "Are you...telling me that your name is 'What?'"
"Yes!"
The sphinx say down again and looked at Jill with her head turned sideways. "That is an unusual name."
Jill smiled. "'That?' 'That' is not my..."
"No, no, no," the sphinx grumbled. "I mean, 'What' is an unusual name."
"Well, 'What' is not really my name," Jill said. "I just wondered if the master of riddles could figure out what I was saying." She looked to the sphinx somewhat impatiently. "Now will you let me pass?"
"Certainly," the sphinx said. "Not only did you answer my riddles, but you came up with a clever way of keeping me from attacking you." With a smirk, she added, "And it's a good thing you stopped me, too. I would have destroyed you with one paw!"
"I am not so certain of that. But I decided I'd rather not find out and save my energy for battles I might face ahead."
"Yes, you have two more challengers to face," the sphinx said. "Just tell me your name and I will let you continue to find them."
"I am Samurai Jill."
"A samurai with no sword, no less!" the sphinx laughed as she stood up again and moved out of Jill's way. "Well, good luck defeating your next challengers with only a bamboo shoot!"
"Thank you," Jill said.
"For what?"
"Wishing me luck!" Jill laughed as she walked past.
"Hmph!" the sphinx grumbled as she curled up again.
"Can you tell me which way to go?"
"No, of course not. You are clever enough on your own," the sphinx sneered as she tucked her head under a wing again and went back to sleep.
Jill shrugged and examined both available routes. She couldn't see very far down either corridor, so she decided to once again listen for a clue. This time, she heard the sound of water flowing and it seemed to be coming from the corridor to her left.
She came across a very narrow stream flowing gently towards her. She dipped her bamboo shoot into it to measure its depth and discovered that she could probably walk through it easily. Jill removed her geta and tucked them under her right arm while she waded out into the water. The stream was cold, but the faster she moved, the less she noticed it. Eventually, the stream came to an end and she found herself looking at...
...a stone wall.
A dead end! She couldn't believe it. Jill got out of the stream, water dripping from the hem of her tunic. She walked over to the wall set her geta and bamboo shoot next to it so she could feel the wall with her palms. It was solid. No hidden exits. Nothing. It was just a wall. Jill sighed heavily. "I'll probably hit more dead ends along the way," she reminded herself, "I shouldn't be discouraged." She quickly picked up her belongings and waded into the stream once again, back to the point she'd come from. "Well, at least I know which way to go now," she said with a smirk. After slipping her geta back on, she extended her bamboo shoot in front of her so she could feel her way around again and then started down the corridor to the right.
That particular corridor seemed to be littered with large stones. Had Jill not been tapping her way around with her bamboo shoot, she probably would have fallen several times. Instead, she carefully stepped over every obstacle that stood in her way, which gradually started to wear out her legs. Just when she was thinking she'd had enough, she arrived at yet another fork in the road. This time, she decided to be a little more cautious about which route she chose. She glanced down both of them and noticed small flickers of light coming from the corridor to the to the left, but nothing from the right. Standing still, she also heard some strange mechanical creaking sounds coming from the left as well. Regardless of whether or not that was the right way to go, she was curious about what the sound was, considering the monks had told her they tried to live only by natural means. Whatever the sound was, it certainly wasn't natural. Perhaps it was one of the challengers? She decided to go investigate.
At the end of that hallway, there was another stone wall. But before she was able to turn around, she heard the noise again. She finally noticed that underneath the light of a single torch, there was a line of four metallic-looking lizards. They had swiveling eyes like those of chameleons, and when they moved, they made the sound that Jill had heard earlier. Though to begin with, the lizards were looking in every direction imaginable, they all eventually came to focus on Jill with their shiny black eyes. "Greetings," they all said in unison. Their voices creaked just as much as their eyes.
"Likewise," Jill said as she glanced down the row. She noticed that the lizards all had extremely sharp claws and there seemed to be sharp knives at the end of their long tails. "So...what am I supposed to do?"
"Fight us," they all said, their voices emotionless. "However, there is something you must keep in mind: one of us is a silver chameleon from the planet of Ikamono and the rest of us are robotic clones. You must destroy the robots but leave the real lizard alive. If you kill it, you are stuck here until the monks notice how long you've been gone and you will not pass the test. Do you understand?"
Jill nodded, even though she didn't know how a flesh and blood creature could appear so artificial. Then, she realized that up close, it might not seem so unreal. She held her bamboo shoot in battle position and nodded. "I understand. And I am ready."
All at once, the lizards pounced on her. Their weight made Jill stagger backward a bit, but she managed to keep herself balanced with the aid of her bamboo shoot. The lizards all dug their claws into her flesh and blood began to trickle from the wounds,but she remained still.
"Why aren't you fighting back?" the lizards all asked.
"I am waiting," Jill replied.
"For what?"
She didn't answer. And the lizards didn't cease tearing at her flesh. Jill was waiting for some way she could differentiate the real lizard from the mechanical ones. Finally, she noticed that the one sitting on her right shoulder and nipping at her braid had weaker claws than the others. Surely it was because they weren't metallic! She moved her shoulder slightly, which made the lizard crawl up her neck and onto her head. When it tried to dig into her scalp, it got its claws tangled in her hair. Knowing that it would probably reach her scalp eventually, Jill quickly started to destroy the other lizards. Keeping her torso and neck still, she shook the other three lizards off her left ankle, right arm, and the back of her right leg. They all landed on their back and struggled to get up, apparently not being very well constructed. One by one, she slipped her bamboo shoot under their backs and flung them against the wall. The sound of shattering metal and shorting wires followed. Then, she set down her bamboo shoot and sat the remaining lizard on the ground.
It smiled. "You did that without even scratching me once!" Then, it swiveled its eyes in opposite directions as it looked at her. "You on the other hand..."
"I know," Jill said, rubbing at one of the bleeding gashes the lizards had made. "Don't worry about me." She glanced around the room and again saw nothing but that single wall. "So how do I get out of here?"
"Well," the lizard said, flicking its tongue out some, "let me show you." It skillfully crawled up the wall and looped its tail around the torch. Then, part of the wall next to it slid sideways, revealing an opening that led to another corridor.
"Aha!" Jill laughed. "A hidden exit! I knew I'd see one of those sooner or later!"
The lizard climbed down the wall again and sat at Jill's feet. Looking up into her eyes, it said, "There lies your way. Are you sure you wish to continue?"
"Yes," Jill nodded. "Though I am hurting, I have but one challenger left and I intend to finish it."
"Then good luck," the lizard hissed.
"Thank you," Jill replied with a nod as she went through the exit the lizard had opened.
While the lizards were ripping through Jill's flesh, Jack felt something tear at his own. He thought that perhaps he was developing some kind of rash, but he found no blemishes on his skin. Once again choosing not to interrupt the monks, he decided to bear the pain. Cringing only slightly, he leaned his head against the wall and tired his absolute hardest to keep still. He felt his breath quickening, but he consciously kept it at a slow, steady pace. After what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few minutes, the pain left him just as suddenly as it had arrived. He straightened himself up again and looked over to the monks, who were still hard at work on Jill's weapon. That was the second time that Jack had felt such a mysterious pain. If he felt it again, he vowed to tell the monks.
************
Only one more challenger! That was all Jill could think. But she knew she still had the Labyrinth to deal with. The passage snaked its way right and then headed south. Though she expected another fork in the road, she found herself in a brilliantly lit room. "Am I finished?" she murmured.
"No!" a voice replied. Jill looked up to see a man dressed in a long black robe. He had short black hair and wore rather thick looking glasses.
"Are you my next challenger, then?"
"Yes."
"Already? But I just got done with those lizards..."
"I know," the man said with a nod, "but the mountain has decided that you've spent enough time navigating the Labyrinth and wishes for you to meet your final challenge."
"The mountain decided that?" Jill nearly shrieked.
"Yes!" the man replied. "It has its own type of magic, one that even the monks who live here cannot fully understand. They've permitted me to study it for a while. My name is Tonchiki and I'm a magician."
Jill yawned, "I'm not here for a magic show!"
Tonchiki laughed, "Not that type of magician! I am here to present you with your final challenge, and I shall do so with a spell that I created myself."
"Oh...well then. What kind of spell is it?"
"You'll have to see!" the magician said with a smile. "It will frighten you at first, but once you figure out what's going on, it shouldn't be too difficult to deal with."
"Let me have it."
Tonchiki clapped his hands three times and then slowly pulled them apart. After he chanted some incomprehensible magic words, a blood-red orb formed in front of him. He pushed it forward, and it hovered just next to Jill's heart. "Have fun with it!" he said with a laugh as he walked over to one of the room's walls and leaned against it.
"A red orb?" Jill muttered. "What's so difficult about that?"
What looked almost like a long, black arm stretched out from the orb and seemed to reach directly into Jill's heart. Jill didn't feel anything unusual, but she was pretty certain it had taken something from her. When the arm retracted, the orb changed shape and gradually revealed the figure of Aku.
"Great!" Jill exclaimed. "How am I supposed to defeat it now?"
"Huh?" Tonchiki slapped his forehead and yelled, "It's not supposed to do that! It's just supposed to attack you!" He muttered again, and the python immediately changed itself into a massive octopus. It wrapped its tentacles around her arms, legs, and waist, which instantly knocked her over on her back.
Unlike the first time she had fallen, Jill hit the ground so hard that she thought her back was broken. "Can't you get this thing off of me?" she shrieked.
"No!" Tonchiki said. "For some reason, I seem to have lost control of it!" He muttered again, and this time, razors sprouted on the underside of the octopus's tentacles. While the spell-created creature wound tighter around her, she felt the blades sink deep into her skin.
"First of all, you should know better than to cast such a spell on somebody whose greatest fear is Aku. Secondly, all the things you're muttering are making it act up!" she shouted.
"Ichi tried to tell me I needed to stop that," Tonchiki sighed, shaking his head.
"So is there anything you can do?"
"I can use a spell to get myself out of here, but not you. I could contact the monks, but my telepathy isn't very good..."
"Just forget it..."
She'd just about accepted that she was going to die due to the carelessness of an inexperienced, easily frustrated magician. Even though her vision was starting to blur, she noticed that Tonchiki's eyes were closed and he was facing the wall, apparently too afraid to face his own creation. Then, it occurred to her that she couldn't die like that. She had to win the battle for Jack, Tonchiki, the monks, the people from her city she had to rescue, and herself. With a sudden burst of determination, she tried wriggling her arms free.
All three monks stopped what they were doing and looked to Jack with disappointed expressions on their faces. "Well, Jack," Ichi snapped, "enchanted weapons are faster to forge than usual ones, and yes, we are about finished. But that gives you no right to whine like a child!"
"No!" Jack snapped. "It isn't me! It's Jill!"
The monks exchanged confused glances. "Elaborate," Ni said.
"The entire time she's been in The Chamber of Trials, I've felt her pain."
"You mean that somehow the pain she's felt in battle and whatnot has been transferred to you?"
"Yes!"
"Such is possible, I suppose," Ichi said, scratching his beard. "But what does that have to do with the sword?"
"She needs it. I don't know what was hurting her before, but this time, she's fallen victim to a spell cast by a seemingly inexperienced magician and not even he can control the magic!"
"Inexperienced magician?" Ichi snarled, turning to San. "I told you not to let Tonchiki be one of Jill's challengers, but because he's somehow distantly related to you, you think you're special enough to disobey me?"
San sputtered, "Well...I..."
"Stop bickering!" Jack shouted. "Work this out later. Jill is in trouble now! Is there any way you can get the sword to her?"
"Yes," Ichi said nodding, "but I don't know if it's cooled enough." He pointed to the blade, which was now slightly visible. "However, I do think I can cool it when I transport it to her. It's not normal procedure, but I understand how drastic this situation is, even though you didn't elaborate on exactly what the spell Jill is under has done." He spread his arms apart, creating a golden circle on the floor. He lifted the sword and set it down on the circle. Clapping his hands, both the sword and the circle disappeared.
"Here's hoping it gets to her," Ichi sighed. Turning to Jack, he said, "Well, I guess the test is about over. Let's go wait for Jill at the door." Looking at San, he barked, "I'll talk to you later."
After hearing the sound, Tonchiki turned around with a flabbergasted look on his face. "You destroyed my spell! I can't believe you were able to do that!"
Jill smiled slightly, trying not to make it apparent that she was gradually growing dizzy. "Yes! Now how do I get out?"
"There should be a portal for us in a second." Just as the magician had said that, a glowing portal appeared in the center of the room.
"Thank you, Shoden," Jill sighed. Turning to Tonchiki, she stammered, "You get out of here first so the monks can have a nice, long, talk with you. I should be out in a minute."
The magician furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the girl's wounds. "Are you sure you don't need any help?"
"I'll make it."
Though Tonchiki didn't believe that Jill could possibly make it out on her own, he walked up to the glowing portal and disappeared from the room.
Jill watched him go as tears formed in her eyes. Why was she always so stubborn? Her legs felt like gelatin and she knew they wouldn't be able to support her much longer, so she staggered to the portal as quickly as she could. "I'm...coming...Jack..." In a flash of light, she appeared in the hallway outside the door where Tonchiki, Ichi, and Jack stood waiting for her. "I...did...it..." Jill panted as she handed her blade to the monk. Then, she collapsed at Jack's feet.