A Samurai Jack Fanfic
By Laura McDaniel
The Road to Freedom
"Mother?" Jill murmured.
"Is that...?" Jack asked expectantly.
"I...think so," Jill said, swallowing hard.
"Why don't you go to her?"
"I don't know....I just don't know if I can. I mean, you've seen what Aku does to people here. What if she doesn't know me? What if...?"
"Jill, you vowed you wouldn't let fear stop you."
"You're...right..." Jill thoughtfully replied. She took a deep breath and walked over to the woman they were looking at.
She was a relatively short Japanese woman who very much resembled Jill. Her face was worn with age, but her eyes seemed ageless. "Mother?" Jill repeated, once she stood next to the woman.
"Toshi? Is that you?"
Jill nodded. "Yes. But please, call me Jill right now. I'll explain later."
"Were you caught, too?"
Jill shook her head. "No. I'm here to get you out of here. Where is Father?"
"Watching the puppet show, I imagine. Immature as it might seem, that's his favorite thing to do here."
Jill chuckled. "That sounds like him."
"You say you are here to free me?"
"Yes."
"It's not possible," Chiyo sighed. "A small band of us tried a few years ago, but we were all..." Before she could finish her sentence, but she suddenly put a hand up to her left ear and cringed in pain. In a virtually emotionless voice, she said, "I cannot talk to you about this. I don't want to leave. Aku provides!" She continued holding her ear and mouthing things to herself.
"What is she doing?" Jack asked.
"I...don't know," Jill replied. "She never acted like this before. Mother, does your ear hurt?"
"Get away from me," Chiyo pleaded, backing into one of the games. "Aku will punish me if I go against him."
Even though she felt strange going against her mother's wishes, she stepped next to her mother's left side and put an arm around her while leaning closer to her ear. She heard a murmuring sound coming from her mother's ear.
"Leave me alone!" Chiyo gasped. She squirmed out of her daughter's grasp.
"There's something in her ear, Jack. Do you think you can help me get it out?"
Jack wasn't completely sure how to handle the situation, but he knew he had to do something. He took Chiyo's hands in his, and despite the fact that she was trying to get away, he was able to keep her from getting away. "I just want to help you," Jill said. She caught a glimpse of something silver in her mother's ear and then carefully reached in to pull it out.
"Don't touch that!" Chiyo moaned.
When Jill had the object in her hand, her mother suddenly calmed down and Jack let go of her. The object looked slightly like a hearing aid, but instead of magnifying sounds, it made its own. Now that it was out in the open, it was possible to hear that the sounds it made were pro-Aku statements such as, "Do not go against Aku. Aku is your master. Aku is your provider. He wants what is best for you." Jill couldn't stand the sound, so she quickly dropped the object and squashed it beneath one of her feet.
"What was that?" Jack asked.
"It's a device given to people who go against Aku while they're here. Every time thoughts of escape, overthrowing Aku, or anything along those lines, it filters out the thoughts first by repeating statements in support of Aku and then by emitting loud, intolerable sounds. Everyone from Kemui has one since the escape attempt."
"I'd like to free everyone from Kemui. Is there any hope that I could help get them out?" Jill asked.
"Not with those devices in place, no."
"I can't go around and pull out everyone's devices. If only I could change the signal..."
"There is a way," Chiyo said. "Though typically, the content of the messages vary slightly from individual to individual, it is possible to manually override the messages delivered to individual sectors. I know this because I was forced to clean the control room for a week after I took out my device."
"Is that a punishable crime, then?"
"Yes, but only if I am caught. I will be more careful this time than I was before. What do you plan on doing?"
"I've got the ability to create a portal to get everyone out here, so I suppose I need to find a central meeting point. It can be anywhere."
"The Pit of Hate World resort lobby would be a good meeting place."
"Err...there's a resort down here?"
"Oh, yes! Everyone stays in his or her own spacious hotel room. It's not that bad, actually...aside from the fact that the intent of this place is to turn us away from all that is right and good so we are able to readily embrace evil."
"A terrible, terrible tragedy," Jack said.
"Who is that, anyway?" Chiyo asked.
"I cannot tell you his name. He is the enemy here."
Chiyo looked up at the man, focusing carefully on what she could see of his eyes under is hat. "It's him! The one whom Aku detests so!" she exclaimed.
"Shhh!" Jill said, nudging her mother. "Please, don't draw attention to us. Tell no one of what we are doing."
Chiyo nodded. "You have my word. I don't want you to be sent here as well." She smiled and embraced her daughter. "I love you, Toshi. Many times, I have thought of you, and many times, I have wished that you were by my side, but I always realized that you were better off wherever you were."
"Well, times were hard for me. I was so young at the time, but I had help. And thanks to Ja...I mean, you know who, I have become what I thought I could never be."
Chiyo smiled at Jack. "Then, I thank you as well...even though I never really thought I'd have the chance."
Jack smiled, but he could not think of the words to say.
Chiyo let go of her daughter and pointed to her right. "The control building is that black building over there. It's password protected, though, and I cannot recall the word I need to open it."
"I'll find a way in...Thank you."
Jack and Jill quietly started to walk over to the control building. On the way, they passed by a large group staring in one direction. "What's going on here?" Jill asked. She stood up on her tiptoes and glanced over the crowd. "Oh...it's a puppet show. Must be the one my father is watching."
"I ha-aaaate Aku!" a puppet that looked like a man exclaimed.
"Booooooooo!" the audience replied.
"No! You must love Aku!" another puppet exclaimed.
"Yay!" the crowd cheered.
"I do not love Aku! Aku is evil!" the first puppet exclaimed.
"Boooooooooo!" the crowd responded.
"You are wrong! I will hit you now!" the second puppet exclaimed.
The puppet that loved Aku took out a big hammer and started hitting the first puppet while the crowd went wild.
"Stop this foolishness!" a new puppet said. It looked like Jack. "I will destroy AKU!"
"I...don't see why we should watch this..." Jill cringed.
"My thoughts exactly," Jack replied.
"Oh...I don't know if it's the actually the show that he likes as much as the puppets. He's somewhat child-like in some ways. Now you see where I got it from!" she smiled. "Let's go."
Before Jack and Jill could leave the puppet show, I small voice asked, "Do you like the show?"
Jack and Jill looked down to see a small demon that looked somewhat like Aku, only instead of six horns, she only had four. "Is that...Aku?" Jill asked, backing up slightly.
"It doesn't look much like him, but I don't know what it is," Jack replied, preparing to draw his sword.
Jill put a hand on Jack's before he took his sword out of its hilt. "Not now, Jack. We're so close now..." She looked at the demon and, swallowing hard, asked, "Who are you?"
"I Sokkusu!" the little demon squeaked.
"Do you know Aku?" Jack asked.
"He's my daddy!"
Both Jack and Jill cringed slightly, but tried to hide it from Sokkusu. "Oh," Jill said.
"You like the puppet show?"
"It's OK. But we've got somewhere else to go."
"No! Stay! It not over!"
"We will come back, little one," Jack said.
"No! Watch it now!" Sokkusu exclaimed, waving her little arms.
"What are we going to do?" Jill groaned.
"I don't know..." Jack replied.
"What wrong with you? Do you not love Aku?"
"I love Aku," Jill hollowly said. "I just have other things to do."
"Something wrong with you!" Sokkusu looked up and down Jack and Jill, and suddenly, her eyes stopped on their feet. "FEET WRONG!" she screamed.
"Wha-what?" Jill asked.
"FEET WRONG!" Sokkusu repeated, jumping up on Jill's shoulder. "You wrong, too!"
Jack and Jill looked down at their feet and then at everyone else's. "Uh-oh," Jill said, "we're not wearing the regulation footwear..."