Samurai Jack in the World of Cron
By Red Turtle
Intro: Although having only seen a few episodes, I love Samurai Jack. For a while I've been thinking of something to do with him. Then I came across a letter I had written some ten years ago. It was to the help desk of Might and Magic II, which was an ancient role-playing game (we're talking 5 1/4 inch disks here) that I played for years through out childhood. In this game I had characters, which evolved over the years into really, really powerful guys, and soon I defeated everything in the game, except for two quests. I could never find an Orc God, the most powerful monster that existed, and I wasn't able to ultimately win the game because in order to win you had to answer this question in some weird computer language I was never, ever able to figure out. So, as a frustrated twelve year old I wrote this very passionate letter explaining to them how awesome my guys were and how I needed help to win this. They wrote back about the Orc God, but I never did find it, and I never figured out the stupid language program. So, I started writing stories about my guys in this game trying to win, and they were pretty funny to come across now. And then I realized that if I combined Samurai Jack with them, well, then everyone could win.
So here it is, a cross over between Samurai Jack and Might and Magic II. I don't expect this to be the best Samurai Jack story ever, but hopefully people will enjoy it. Especially those of you who ever played this game.
PART I:
Jack finally realized he needed help.
He had, after a long and arduous journey, finally arrived back in his own time, to face the Demon Aku once more, only to, once more, be thrown into another portal. He actually cried, briefly, for about one minute, then steeled him for another long and arduous journey. This time he was in a forest. But there seemed something different. This didn't feel like time- travel, like last time.
There was but one moon, that was right, and the trees were green, and he was near a river that appeared to be water.
Perhaps it was the dragon drinking on the opposite bank that was alerting his subconscious to the unearth like nature of this planet.
The dragon didn't look at him and he saw no reason to bother it, so he started walking, in the general direction of south, following a faint path marked in the dirt.
Along the way he came across some scattered gems. Five or six, just lying scattered in the ground periodically. He decided to gather these in case they proved useful later.
And indeed they did. Perhaps an hour later he found a fortified town in a clearing of a desert. There were guards posted, who allowed him entry with out question. But with out answers either. They didn't talk at all.
By now he was too tired to do much exploring of the town or talk to its people, several of whom were still out and about even at this later hour. A particularly loud gathering could be seen some distance away, laughing and drinking. Fortunately a welcoming inn was placed near the town entrance, and he ducked into there, stepping over one crippled old man asleep in the sidewalk.
The innkeeper talked a little more than the guards, but only in matters concerning payment. This is where the gems came in; apparently they were used as currency in this land, and reasonably valuable at that. One gem paid for his room for the week.
Before retiring, he wearily regarded a bulleting board by the innkeeper's desk. Its contents held his interest despite his desire for sleep. One message was written in his own language of Japanese! The same ancient dialect he had grown up in. It was a riddle, the answer being a blue moon. He was surprised to see that there. Above in English read: "Anyone being able to translate this script please find Stud's Gang for instant glory".
Jack wasn't interested in instant glory but was very interested in how they came across this message in his native language here. Perhaps it would be a clue for him to get home.
Another lengthy paper introduced Stud's Gang more formally, their names, favorite foods and a long list of great achievements they had accomplished in this land, all with in their forming of about three years. These were actually quite worth boasting about, each had won top honors for their class, they had exceeded the levels of training available by any of the weapon masters, their abilities in speed, accuracy, ect were beyond 100%, between them they mastered twelve sciences, including cartography which had enabled them to map the entire world of Cron (and here is where Samurai Jack registered that he was no longer on Earth), they had a life force of more than 5000 points each, they had learned to enchant their legendary weapons so that, instead of say the Dark Trident of the Three Gods they would have the Dark Trident of the Three Gods +50, they were so powerful they could even travel in the sections of Cron destroyed by intense radiation poisoning, and had done so. While by no means having ended evil in Cron all together, they had gone a good way to restoring portions of the land back to civilizations, and freed many travelers, rescued a King's son, destroyed such fabled beasts as the Ancient Dragon and Murray the Evil (of Murray's World Resort). All this information was to impress upon the reader that they desired to do more, and were currently seeking information on translation of ancient script (see other notice) and time travel so that they might travel to Cron of 8th century and try their hand at defeating Hydras, past evil legendary wizards and the legendary Orc God.
Another twenty minutes had gone past while Jack absorbed all this information. These looked like good fellows to seek out. Surely with accomplishments like these they could assist him in defeating Aku, and he happened to have knowledge of both things they were looking for, so he put his name and room number underneath the Japanese riddle and went to bed.
PART II
He did not sleep long.
The sun had just barely started to rise when a pounding knock came at his door. For a minute, stumbling out of solid sleep, he didn't remember where he was or why someone should knock, but as soon as it came to him he lept out of bed and opened the door, sword at hand just in case.
An interesting group of seven gathered at his door. They were a mixture of humanish people, men and woman, old and young. In fact one was barely six years old by the look of her. The weapons, armor and air about them left no doubt that this must be the famed "Stud's Gang".
"Are you Samurai Jack?" the foremost (and quiet short) knight inquired.
"Yes. Are you, uh, Stud's Gang?"
"Indeed. What information have you on the riddle?"
"The answer is a blue moon", Jack answered.
There was sort of an awkward pause.
"Perhaps we should discuss this over drinks", a black-leather (undoubtedly Ancient Dragon Skin Leather +50 or some such fancy dig) girl suggested, "I think were going to need to talk to you a lot."
"I would like to talk to you as well. I need you to help me defeat an evil Demon named Aku in my own land."
"Right. Okay. You buying?" another knight asked, giving him a strange eye. It wasn't just the quizzing stare but also that the eye was orange.
The six year old kicked him in the leg.
"Don't mind him, we have plenty of money", she replied.
"Yeah, they don't even charge us anymore", another girl threw in.
Well, this sounded fine to Samurai Jack so he donned his shoes and trusty sword and accompanied them. To his surprise they walked past the local bar with the sprawling crowd of degenerates outside and instead took him into a small room.
"Where are we go-" he started to ask when a flash of light and sudden nausea interrupted him.
"Oh, sorry, are you unfamiliar with teleportation devices on your world?" one of them asked, helping him from the floor.
"I've been thrown through some time-portals", he remarked, catching their interest.
"So you know the answer to the riddle and you know how to time travel?"
"Yes. We have much to discuss", he told them.
They opened the door, and the seedy town had been replaced by one of beautiful statues, fountains, plaques, sparkling floors and ceilings. There weren't as many people up and around here, a couple strolling by the fountains, three guys practicing some performance art involving poetry and mangos, and a young woman sketching the likeness of one of the statues. None of them were lying crippled on the ground begging for change.
"How beautiful", Jack remarked.
"Yeah", one of the young men, dressed in a dark green robe, sighed, "I remember when we all first came here, and we saved up our money for months to be able to buy those devil-food brownies."
"Devil food?" Jack asked.
"Don't worry, we'll introduce you to them", the lead knight assured him with a hearty clasp on the lower back, "And speaking on introductions, we should formally know each other, shouldn't we, seeing as we are going to be great friends. I'm Stud, of course. I started this whole gang (Jack noticed their eye-rolls) and I've lead them ever since. This here is Sir Kill, Nightbird, Muffin, Gene Eric, Simon, and Cassandra. Best lot you'll ever have the honor of working with."
They all shook Samurai Jack's hand. He lingered at the six year old.
"Is she also among your fighters?" he asked at last.
"Of course I -", she started to say, then put her hand to her head, "Oh, how foolish of me. I forgot to regenerate myself."
A quick chant later she turned into a young woman in her twenties or so.
"I'm really 23", she explained, "Its just that a lot of spells I cast cause me to grow older, or younger, and I have to remember to fix it, that's all. I was wondering why you were looking at me like that."
"I see", Jack said, although he didn't at all, "Well, I am known as Samurai Jack. I am from Earth."
"Earth?!", the young wizard (Simon, Jack thought it was), exclaimed excitedly, "I've never heard of that! You must tell us all about-"
"Hold on, we'll start with the riddle, but after we eat", Stud ordered.
Jack was amazed that they all followed Stud's lead, when he was the second shortest of the group. Although Aku was foremost on his mind, he defiantly wanted to learn more about this world. He didn't know how to ask what races they all were without being rude, but he was sure they weren't human. And there was something odd about the humans he did see, something not quite like on Earth.
They arrived at a very fancy restaurant and were immediately shown to the best table, near a window overlooking a perfect garden where they could watch the sun rise as they dined on delectable Lightly Salted Tongue of Toad and, of course, The Brownies. Stud insisted that they cover some basic elements of Jacks life before drinking. Apparently the drinks here were quite expensive and quite strong.
First Jack explained the Japanese language, how it existed on Earth and how he spoke it from his time a few hundred years ago. Thus he understood the riddle, and knew the answer, and how to write it and everything.
They were very, very excited by this and then explained that this riddle was, in fact, key to their ultimate quest, something they had not dared to breathe a word to anyone outside their group. It seemed that this planet, Cron, had a bomb imbedded in a super computer at the planets core, guarded by 10,000 Demon Kings. The Demon Kings were, of course, no problem but when they got to the computer they found it guarded by so difficult a foe that, after fighting for hours, they finally gave up and haven't returned yet. It was a password, which Simon after much research learned was the answer to this question, which was written in a language he could find no reference to anywhere. This bomb was set to go off in the year 1500, about forty-seven days away at this point, and it would destroy the planet, unknowingly to anyone else but them (and whoever built the bomb in the first place). So, they were understandably very anxious to resolve this. Simon in particular was ecstatic to learn about a whole separate language other then their own. Apparently Cron had only one common language, very close to English.
At this point Stud ordered them all drinks, and announced the game plan. There was too much for them to learn from each other in one night, they would end up talking for days. So, instead they would get pleasantly drunk, sleep a few hours, then first thing in the mid-afternoon they would all return to the computer, enter the password and disable the bomb. Then they would party, eat and drink some more, and discuss the next quest, which is time traveling in order to find an Orc God. After that, they would discuss joining Samurai Jack in his quest.
Everyone heartedly agreed to this. Apparently, except for Jack and Simon, this was quite the partying group. Although Jack really wanted to get to Aku, he also wanted to save this world from destruction. And he wanted to try the libation of this land. Stud ordered him an Orc Beer, which Sir Kill also drank. Jack learned Sir Kill was himself half-orc, which accounted for the green ting in his skin, the orange eyes and the slightly broader features in his body. Jack soon learned that everyone in the group had similar mixed heritage. Stud was a halfling mixed with a dwarf, Nightbird was Elf, Simon and Muffin half Elf and human, Gene Eric a gnome, leaving only Cassandra as fully human, and even humans were mixed somehow in appearance, Jack realized, they were all both the equivalent of white and black. There weren't races the same as there were on Earth; obviously there were no Japanese besides Jack.
PART III:
Due to a bad hangover on Muffin's part, they had to wait until about five in the afternoon before they were all ready to go to the master computer. They traveled through the teleportation device to another town, not as fancy as the last one but not as seedy as the first. They explained that this town was at the center of the world, and the computer located in a nearby lake. Jack was quite surprised when, at the lake edge, Gene Eric chanted a spell that allowed them to walk on the water. They walked to an island in the middle of the lake. They probably could have swum there just as easily, but walking was pretty cool. Simon opened the gate to the entrance of the cavern, and Cassandra lit the way with another spell. They proceeded though a maze of tunnels, made all the more boring by the fact that all but Jack had already been though it several times. After an hour or so they reached another gate, already broken open by their party earlier, and walked over the 10,000 rotting bodies of Demon Kings. It then took another twenty minutes or so of walking before they reached a large room, with a huge computer. Simon immediately raced over to it and began eagerly typing the answer. They all gathered around and waited as it was processing the information.
"Correct. The bomb has been dismantled", the computer finally stated.
It took a few seconds before it hit them, the quest was finally over. Of course this was much more an intense rush for Stud's party than for Jack, as Jack hadn't been agonizing over this for the better part of a year.
After much loud cheering, they all embraced Jack, eventually throwing him to the ground in their earnestness. Jack had never had such companionship, and found he enjoyed the excitement of being with so many others.
After the initial celebration Stud announced it was time to return to one of the cities and dine once again. Jack started to dread the trip back through the dark boring caverns but was surprised to instead suddenly find himself seated at a very nice dining table reserved especially for them.
"What?" he asked, still unaccustomed to these displays of travel.
"Oh, yeah. I have a homing beacon set for this restaurant, so we can instantly party whenever we need to." Simon explained casually.
"Homing beacon?" Jack started to inquire, but was interrupted by the waitress.
"What can I get for you all?"
"We need eight cups of Sizzling Swine Soup, the largest order of Red Hot Wolf Nipple Chips, and eight Roasted Legs of Wyvern. We'll have a round of your rarest Rare Vintage, and keep it coming", Stud ordered.
The waitress nodded and left for the kitchen.
This was Jack's first real meal here, as the tongue he'd had last night hadn't really filled him up that much. They continued discussing aspects of both their worlds though the soup and chips, but after the Wyvern Legs arrived everyone focused on eating those, which was quite a challenge as they were about three feet long. Jack was surprised that Stud and Gene Eric were able to eat it all; it was about as big as they were.
After their fine meal, they took a stroll to a nearby castle. Along the way Stud showed Jack some interesting aspects of Cron, like Sarikins Mine, the circus (Jack won several cupie dolls!), and some Cosmic Sludge that liked to hang out on one of the mountains and ambush unwary adventurers. Since they were already well acquainted with Stud's gang they didn't dare attack them.
At the castle they greeted the king and hung out with him and his son for a while, but they were just doing it to be polite so they could ask permission to use the time travel device. This took about half-an-hour.
"Okay, Jack, you've done time travel before. We're going to start off in the eighth century, okay?"
Everyone looked at him expectantly. He hadn't actually told them much of his time traveling, that it mainly consisted of Aku throwing him into a portal.
"I've never traveled in your world", he said carefully.
"Well, do you have any general tips? Something to help guide us?"
"Perhaps once we arrive I can be of more use", Jack suggested.
"Alright", Stud replied.
He set the controls, and once again Jack found himself instantly transported to a new and different land. Here the land and sky was much different, and so were the creatures. Almost immediately a Hydra attacked them, but that was easily defeated.
After that excitement they all gathered together and, once more, looked expectantly at Jack. He decided that he might as well take the lead, perhaps fortune will guide him right and he will find the Orc God for Stud's Gang. Then he can go about returning to his world and defeating Aku.
Fortune did smile upon Jack that day. They had wondered less than two hours before spotting a dark shape moving against the skyline. It was far in the distance, and looked to be massive. While still a mile away, they felt the ground tremoring with each step the creature took. If it wasn't an Orc God, it was bound to be something worth fighting.
So intent were they on tracking this creature they ignored all the others that occasionally darted out to ambush them. In fact they would just run away, as they were faster than any other creature in Cron. Jack barely could keep up with them, but was faster than the other creatures at least.
After a while the large distant creature stopped, and they were able to gain ground on it steadily while it rested. As they got closure they approached quietly, attempting to discern enough information about their quarry before engaging in battle.
They learned a lot just by looking and smelling. It was defiantly a huge orc, resting along some hills, near an encampment full of normal sized Orcs. In front of the large orc was an elaborate display of worship.
"I think this is the God you seek", Jack informed them confidently.
"Yep", Stud confirmed.
"It's a shame we'll have to waste all our time on those little ones first", Muffin replied.
"That'll be your job", Stud decided, "Fire your Star bow, and that will take them all down. The rest of us will deal with the God, and if we aren't through with him by the time you're done you'll get a shot at him. At that point, if the battle is still going on, first you're to cast invisibility on us, then just use your Star Bow. And, if we're failing, you know to get us out of there quick if you can."
"Right", Muffin confirmed, reading her bow.
"Now, Jack, we haven't actually seen you in battle. Are you any good? Are you just going to use your sword?"
"It is a very special sword. It has served me well. And I am very good in battle."
"Very well", Stud accepted, "Jack, Sir Kill, Nightbird and I will take the Orc on physically. Now, Simon the first thing you do is cast Power Shield, and Cassandra you do entrapment. I do not want this thing getting away from us, understand? After that, focus on whatever spells you have that work on one monster."
Yes", they replied together.
"Okay, and Gene Eric, your job, of course, is to keep us alive. But there's only one of this creature, so it can't kill us all, I don't think. So try doing that mass-distortion thing first. And make sure to stay behind all of us and don't get hit."
"Right."
It had been a long time since any of Stud's party had taken a battle seriously, and prepared for it. They checked all of the protective spells were in effect, made sure the spell casters had everything they needed to cast a lot of powerful spells, and even took the time to stretch properly before launching the charge, as the Orc God was still resting.
The Orc God did supply the anticipated hard fought battle. Although no one was killed, Nightbird was temporarily rendered unconscious and Stud came very close. So intense was the battle that Jack's shirt was lost and his hair undone from the tight ponytail. No one noticed in the course of it but of course Molly, Nightbird and Muffin definitely took notice afterwards. Jack paid no attention; this was a normal outcome of fighting a fierce opponent in his world.
They raided the Orc God's carcass and the neighboring town, claiming some very fancy trinkets although they no longer had need of anything. And as Jack tended to abstain from material possessions he wasn't impressed either. Stud really wanted to bring the head back with them, but it was bigger than their team could carry and there were no spells to make it possible. So they settled for one of the toenails, hoping that would be enough to impress the people of Cron (who really didn't need any more impressing).
PART IV:
They returned triumphantly to Cron, and the toenail was promptly put on display at the city of Middle Gate. Soon word traveled of their latest adventure and rewards were left for them at many inns and castles. Meanwhile they dined at the local tavern, eating their fill of Horrors d'oevres, Soup de Ghoul with garlic toast and Dragon Steak Tartar. The dragon steak was Jack's favorite so far, and it went deliciously with Orc Beer. If they tipped the waitress enough she would sing different songs for them, so that was entertaining.
But after a while their discussion grew to that of Jack's own quest. Over more Orc beer he told them everything about Aku and how he had destroyed his home world, and his quest to return and defeat him. They soon all embraced this quest as their own, and vowed to set about finding a path to Earth, and to the end of Aku. After a good night's sleep.
They meant to begin early the next mourning but were delayed several hours. This time it was Jack who delayed the party as he dealt with a hang over. He soon fashioned a remedy out of tea he'd brought with him, and recovered. Meanwhile Simon, Cassandra and Gene Eric investigated every piece of literature on the planet for reference to Earth, or to any means of out worldly travel, and finally discovered some useful tombs within the vast and dark Luxus Palace Royal Library of Queen Lamanda. Here they learned some interesting point about time travel, and an obscure note that traveling past the beginning of time in Cron would put them into an unknown world unlike Cron. They needed more research to figure out exactly how one travels past the beginning, and gathered some useful theories to test.
So by the time they were done with all that Jack was in top shape, and he and Stud were signing autographs (Jack signed in Japanese, which absolutely fascinated the people). They returned to Castle Pinehurst and experimented with time travel until they did indeed find themselves beyond the beginning of time for Cron, and into a new world (for Studs' gang, the world was refreshingly familiar to Jack). As luck or fate would have it, they materialized right next to Aku, barely having enough time to gather their wits before he retaliated on them with all his might.
They quickly learned that none of their magic functioned in this battle, but fortunately they were all well equipped and warriors in their own right, so they were able to match Aku. He directed his wrath at Jack, but with so many at Jack's aid he was soon overwhelmed, and while he successfully defeated Molly, Sir Kill, and Muffin, the others were all standing at the end of the battle. Jack delivered the final blow with his sword, feeling the rush of relief at a quests end that the others were all able to experience earlier.
The world changed to reflect the future with out Aku's tyranny, and it was a much better place. Molly, Muffin and Sir Kill were successfully revived at a nearby town. Stud's gang decided to accompany Jack to his home village, so gratified at the new experiences after spending so long in a world they knew every inch of that they wanted to spend as much time as possible there. This turned into a very long time indeed when they found that they had no way to return to their own world, with the possible exception of using Aku's warped magic somehow. This wasn't a tragedy by any means, for the food on Earth was much, much better, the people and language so new and exciting, and they had each other as company and missed none from the past.
They did, however, constantly have to explain themselves over and over again to every human they met, from Sir Kill's green skin to Gene Eric's pointed ear two-foot stature. And they missed magic, especially when it came to taking a boat across a river instead of walking over it. And how they missed instant teleportation. But overall it was a happy ending for everyone involved, exciting adventures were had, Earth and Cron were saved and they shared their happiness together.
The End
Intro: Although having only seen a few episodes, I love Samurai Jack. For a while I've been thinking of something to do with him. Then I came across a letter I had written some ten years ago. It was to the help desk of Might and Magic II, which was an ancient role-playing game (we're talking 5 1/4 inch disks here) that I played for years through out childhood. In this game I had characters, which evolved over the years into really, really powerful guys, and soon I defeated everything in the game, except for two quests. I could never find an Orc God, the most powerful monster that existed, and I wasn't able to ultimately win the game because in order to win you had to answer this question in some weird computer language I was never, ever able to figure out. So, as a frustrated twelve year old I wrote this very passionate letter explaining to them how awesome my guys were and how I needed help to win this. They wrote back about the Orc God, but I never did find it, and I never figured out the stupid language program. So, I started writing stories about my guys in this game trying to win, and they were pretty funny to come across now. And then I realized that if I combined Samurai Jack with them, well, then everyone could win.
So here it is, a cross over between Samurai Jack and Might and Magic II. I don't expect this to be the best Samurai Jack story ever, but hopefully people will enjoy it. Especially those of you who ever played this game.
PART I:
Jack finally realized he needed help.
He had, after a long and arduous journey, finally arrived back in his own time, to face the Demon Aku once more, only to, once more, be thrown into another portal. He actually cried, briefly, for about one minute, then steeled him for another long and arduous journey. This time he was in a forest. But there seemed something different. This didn't feel like time- travel, like last time.
There was but one moon, that was right, and the trees were green, and he was near a river that appeared to be water.
Perhaps it was the dragon drinking on the opposite bank that was alerting his subconscious to the unearth like nature of this planet.
The dragon didn't look at him and he saw no reason to bother it, so he started walking, in the general direction of south, following a faint path marked in the dirt.
Along the way he came across some scattered gems. Five or six, just lying scattered in the ground periodically. He decided to gather these in case they proved useful later.
And indeed they did. Perhaps an hour later he found a fortified town in a clearing of a desert. There were guards posted, who allowed him entry with out question. But with out answers either. They didn't talk at all.
By now he was too tired to do much exploring of the town or talk to its people, several of whom were still out and about even at this later hour. A particularly loud gathering could be seen some distance away, laughing and drinking. Fortunately a welcoming inn was placed near the town entrance, and he ducked into there, stepping over one crippled old man asleep in the sidewalk.
The innkeeper talked a little more than the guards, but only in matters concerning payment. This is where the gems came in; apparently they were used as currency in this land, and reasonably valuable at that. One gem paid for his room for the week.
Before retiring, he wearily regarded a bulleting board by the innkeeper's desk. Its contents held his interest despite his desire for sleep. One message was written in his own language of Japanese! The same ancient dialect he had grown up in. It was a riddle, the answer being a blue moon. He was surprised to see that there. Above in English read: "Anyone being able to translate this script please find Stud's Gang for instant glory".
Jack wasn't interested in instant glory but was very interested in how they came across this message in his native language here. Perhaps it would be a clue for him to get home.
Another lengthy paper introduced Stud's Gang more formally, their names, favorite foods and a long list of great achievements they had accomplished in this land, all with in their forming of about three years. These were actually quite worth boasting about, each had won top honors for their class, they had exceeded the levels of training available by any of the weapon masters, their abilities in speed, accuracy, ect were beyond 100%, between them they mastered twelve sciences, including cartography which had enabled them to map the entire world of Cron (and here is where Samurai Jack registered that he was no longer on Earth), they had a life force of more than 5000 points each, they had learned to enchant their legendary weapons so that, instead of say the Dark Trident of the Three Gods they would have the Dark Trident of the Three Gods +50, they were so powerful they could even travel in the sections of Cron destroyed by intense radiation poisoning, and had done so. While by no means having ended evil in Cron all together, they had gone a good way to restoring portions of the land back to civilizations, and freed many travelers, rescued a King's son, destroyed such fabled beasts as the Ancient Dragon and Murray the Evil (of Murray's World Resort). All this information was to impress upon the reader that they desired to do more, and were currently seeking information on translation of ancient script (see other notice) and time travel so that they might travel to Cron of 8th century and try their hand at defeating Hydras, past evil legendary wizards and the legendary Orc God.
Another twenty minutes had gone past while Jack absorbed all this information. These looked like good fellows to seek out. Surely with accomplishments like these they could assist him in defeating Aku, and he happened to have knowledge of both things they were looking for, so he put his name and room number underneath the Japanese riddle and went to bed.
PART II
He did not sleep long.
The sun had just barely started to rise when a pounding knock came at his door. For a minute, stumbling out of solid sleep, he didn't remember where he was or why someone should knock, but as soon as it came to him he lept out of bed and opened the door, sword at hand just in case.
An interesting group of seven gathered at his door. They were a mixture of humanish people, men and woman, old and young. In fact one was barely six years old by the look of her. The weapons, armor and air about them left no doubt that this must be the famed "Stud's Gang".
"Are you Samurai Jack?" the foremost (and quiet short) knight inquired.
"Yes. Are you, uh, Stud's Gang?"
"Indeed. What information have you on the riddle?"
"The answer is a blue moon", Jack answered.
There was sort of an awkward pause.
"Perhaps we should discuss this over drinks", a black-leather (undoubtedly Ancient Dragon Skin Leather +50 or some such fancy dig) girl suggested, "I think were going to need to talk to you a lot."
"I would like to talk to you as well. I need you to help me defeat an evil Demon named Aku in my own land."
"Right. Okay. You buying?" another knight asked, giving him a strange eye. It wasn't just the quizzing stare but also that the eye was orange.
The six year old kicked him in the leg.
"Don't mind him, we have plenty of money", she replied.
"Yeah, they don't even charge us anymore", another girl threw in.
Well, this sounded fine to Samurai Jack so he donned his shoes and trusty sword and accompanied them. To his surprise they walked past the local bar with the sprawling crowd of degenerates outside and instead took him into a small room.
"Where are we go-" he started to ask when a flash of light and sudden nausea interrupted him.
"Oh, sorry, are you unfamiliar with teleportation devices on your world?" one of them asked, helping him from the floor.
"I've been thrown through some time-portals", he remarked, catching their interest.
"So you know the answer to the riddle and you know how to time travel?"
"Yes. We have much to discuss", he told them.
They opened the door, and the seedy town had been replaced by one of beautiful statues, fountains, plaques, sparkling floors and ceilings. There weren't as many people up and around here, a couple strolling by the fountains, three guys practicing some performance art involving poetry and mangos, and a young woman sketching the likeness of one of the statues. None of them were lying crippled on the ground begging for change.
"How beautiful", Jack remarked.
"Yeah", one of the young men, dressed in a dark green robe, sighed, "I remember when we all first came here, and we saved up our money for months to be able to buy those devil-food brownies."
"Devil food?" Jack asked.
"Don't worry, we'll introduce you to them", the lead knight assured him with a hearty clasp on the lower back, "And speaking on introductions, we should formally know each other, shouldn't we, seeing as we are going to be great friends. I'm Stud, of course. I started this whole gang (Jack noticed their eye-rolls) and I've lead them ever since. This here is Sir Kill, Nightbird, Muffin, Gene Eric, Simon, and Cassandra. Best lot you'll ever have the honor of working with."
They all shook Samurai Jack's hand. He lingered at the six year old.
"Is she also among your fighters?" he asked at last.
"Of course I -", she started to say, then put her hand to her head, "Oh, how foolish of me. I forgot to regenerate myself."
A quick chant later she turned into a young woman in her twenties or so.
"I'm really 23", she explained, "Its just that a lot of spells I cast cause me to grow older, or younger, and I have to remember to fix it, that's all. I was wondering why you were looking at me like that."
"I see", Jack said, although he didn't at all, "Well, I am known as Samurai Jack. I am from Earth."
"Earth?!", the young wizard (Simon, Jack thought it was), exclaimed excitedly, "I've never heard of that! You must tell us all about-"
"Hold on, we'll start with the riddle, but after we eat", Stud ordered.
Jack was amazed that they all followed Stud's lead, when he was the second shortest of the group. Although Aku was foremost on his mind, he defiantly wanted to learn more about this world. He didn't know how to ask what races they all were without being rude, but he was sure they weren't human. And there was something odd about the humans he did see, something not quite like on Earth.
They arrived at a very fancy restaurant and were immediately shown to the best table, near a window overlooking a perfect garden where they could watch the sun rise as they dined on delectable Lightly Salted Tongue of Toad and, of course, The Brownies. Stud insisted that they cover some basic elements of Jacks life before drinking. Apparently the drinks here were quite expensive and quite strong.
First Jack explained the Japanese language, how it existed on Earth and how he spoke it from his time a few hundred years ago. Thus he understood the riddle, and knew the answer, and how to write it and everything.
They were very, very excited by this and then explained that this riddle was, in fact, key to their ultimate quest, something they had not dared to breathe a word to anyone outside their group. It seemed that this planet, Cron, had a bomb imbedded in a super computer at the planets core, guarded by 10,000 Demon Kings. The Demon Kings were, of course, no problem but when they got to the computer they found it guarded by so difficult a foe that, after fighting for hours, they finally gave up and haven't returned yet. It was a password, which Simon after much research learned was the answer to this question, which was written in a language he could find no reference to anywhere. This bomb was set to go off in the year 1500, about forty-seven days away at this point, and it would destroy the planet, unknowingly to anyone else but them (and whoever built the bomb in the first place). So, they were understandably very anxious to resolve this. Simon in particular was ecstatic to learn about a whole separate language other then their own. Apparently Cron had only one common language, very close to English.
At this point Stud ordered them all drinks, and announced the game plan. There was too much for them to learn from each other in one night, they would end up talking for days. So, instead they would get pleasantly drunk, sleep a few hours, then first thing in the mid-afternoon they would all return to the computer, enter the password and disable the bomb. Then they would party, eat and drink some more, and discuss the next quest, which is time traveling in order to find an Orc God. After that, they would discuss joining Samurai Jack in his quest.
Everyone heartedly agreed to this. Apparently, except for Jack and Simon, this was quite the partying group. Although Jack really wanted to get to Aku, he also wanted to save this world from destruction. And he wanted to try the libation of this land. Stud ordered him an Orc Beer, which Sir Kill also drank. Jack learned Sir Kill was himself half-orc, which accounted for the green ting in his skin, the orange eyes and the slightly broader features in his body. Jack soon learned that everyone in the group had similar mixed heritage. Stud was a halfling mixed with a dwarf, Nightbird was Elf, Simon and Muffin half Elf and human, Gene Eric a gnome, leaving only Cassandra as fully human, and even humans were mixed somehow in appearance, Jack realized, they were all both the equivalent of white and black. There weren't races the same as there were on Earth; obviously there were no Japanese besides Jack.
PART III:
Due to a bad hangover on Muffin's part, they had to wait until about five in the afternoon before they were all ready to go to the master computer. They traveled through the teleportation device to another town, not as fancy as the last one but not as seedy as the first. They explained that this town was at the center of the world, and the computer located in a nearby lake. Jack was quite surprised when, at the lake edge, Gene Eric chanted a spell that allowed them to walk on the water. They walked to an island in the middle of the lake. They probably could have swum there just as easily, but walking was pretty cool. Simon opened the gate to the entrance of the cavern, and Cassandra lit the way with another spell. They proceeded though a maze of tunnels, made all the more boring by the fact that all but Jack had already been though it several times. After an hour or so they reached another gate, already broken open by their party earlier, and walked over the 10,000 rotting bodies of Demon Kings. It then took another twenty minutes or so of walking before they reached a large room, with a huge computer. Simon immediately raced over to it and began eagerly typing the answer. They all gathered around and waited as it was processing the information.
"Correct. The bomb has been dismantled", the computer finally stated.
It took a few seconds before it hit them, the quest was finally over. Of course this was much more an intense rush for Stud's party than for Jack, as Jack hadn't been agonizing over this for the better part of a year.
After much loud cheering, they all embraced Jack, eventually throwing him to the ground in their earnestness. Jack had never had such companionship, and found he enjoyed the excitement of being with so many others.
After the initial celebration Stud announced it was time to return to one of the cities and dine once again. Jack started to dread the trip back through the dark boring caverns but was surprised to instead suddenly find himself seated at a very nice dining table reserved especially for them.
"What?" he asked, still unaccustomed to these displays of travel.
"Oh, yeah. I have a homing beacon set for this restaurant, so we can instantly party whenever we need to." Simon explained casually.
"Homing beacon?" Jack started to inquire, but was interrupted by the waitress.
"What can I get for you all?"
"We need eight cups of Sizzling Swine Soup, the largest order of Red Hot Wolf Nipple Chips, and eight Roasted Legs of Wyvern. We'll have a round of your rarest Rare Vintage, and keep it coming", Stud ordered.
The waitress nodded and left for the kitchen.
This was Jack's first real meal here, as the tongue he'd had last night hadn't really filled him up that much. They continued discussing aspects of both their worlds though the soup and chips, but after the Wyvern Legs arrived everyone focused on eating those, which was quite a challenge as they were about three feet long. Jack was surprised that Stud and Gene Eric were able to eat it all; it was about as big as they were.
After their fine meal, they took a stroll to a nearby castle. Along the way Stud showed Jack some interesting aspects of Cron, like Sarikins Mine, the circus (Jack won several cupie dolls!), and some Cosmic Sludge that liked to hang out on one of the mountains and ambush unwary adventurers. Since they were already well acquainted with Stud's gang they didn't dare attack them.
At the castle they greeted the king and hung out with him and his son for a while, but they were just doing it to be polite so they could ask permission to use the time travel device. This took about half-an-hour.
"Okay, Jack, you've done time travel before. We're going to start off in the eighth century, okay?"
Everyone looked at him expectantly. He hadn't actually told them much of his time traveling, that it mainly consisted of Aku throwing him into a portal.
"I've never traveled in your world", he said carefully.
"Well, do you have any general tips? Something to help guide us?"
"Perhaps once we arrive I can be of more use", Jack suggested.
"Alright", Stud replied.
He set the controls, and once again Jack found himself instantly transported to a new and different land. Here the land and sky was much different, and so were the creatures. Almost immediately a Hydra attacked them, but that was easily defeated.
After that excitement they all gathered together and, once more, looked expectantly at Jack. He decided that he might as well take the lead, perhaps fortune will guide him right and he will find the Orc God for Stud's Gang. Then he can go about returning to his world and defeating Aku.
Fortune did smile upon Jack that day. They had wondered less than two hours before spotting a dark shape moving against the skyline. It was far in the distance, and looked to be massive. While still a mile away, they felt the ground tremoring with each step the creature took. If it wasn't an Orc God, it was bound to be something worth fighting.
So intent were they on tracking this creature they ignored all the others that occasionally darted out to ambush them. In fact they would just run away, as they were faster than any other creature in Cron. Jack barely could keep up with them, but was faster than the other creatures at least.
After a while the large distant creature stopped, and they were able to gain ground on it steadily while it rested. As they got closure they approached quietly, attempting to discern enough information about their quarry before engaging in battle.
They learned a lot just by looking and smelling. It was defiantly a huge orc, resting along some hills, near an encampment full of normal sized Orcs. In front of the large orc was an elaborate display of worship.
"I think this is the God you seek", Jack informed them confidently.
"Yep", Stud confirmed.
"It's a shame we'll have to waste all our time on those little ones first", Muffin replied.
"That'll be your job", Stud decided, "Fire your Star bow, and that will take them all down. The rest of us will deal with the God, and if we aren't through with him by the time you're done you'll get a shot at him. At that point, if the battle is still going on, first you're to cast invisibility on us, then just use your Star Bow. And, if we're failing, you know to get us out of there quick if you can."
"Right", Muffin confirmed, reading her bow.
"Now, Jack, we haven't actually seen you in battle. Are you any good? Are you just going to use your sword?"
"It is a very special sword. It has served me well. And I am very good in battle."
"Very well", Stud accepted, "Jack, Sir Kill, Nightbird and I will take the Orc on physically. Now, Simon the first thing you do is cast Power Shield, and Cassandra you do entrapment. I do not want this thing getting away from us, understand? After that, focus on whatever spells you have that work on one monster."
Yes", they replied together.
"Okay, and Gene Eric, your job, of course, is to keep us alive. But there's only one of this creature, so it can't kill us all, I don't think. So try doing that mass-distortion thing first. And make sure to stay behind all of us and don't get hit."
"Right."
It had been a long time since any of Stud's party had taken a battle seriously, and prepared for it. They checked all of the protective spells were in effect, made sure the spell casters had everything they needed to cast a lot of powerful spells, and even took the time to stretch properly before launching the charge, as the Orc God was still resting.
The Orc God did supply the anticipated hard fought battle. Although no one was killed, Nightbird was temporarily rendered unconscious and Stud came very close. So intense was the battle that Jack's shirt was lost and his hair undone from the tight ponytail. No one noticed in the course of it but of course Molly, Nightbird and Muffin definitely took notice afterwards. Jack paid no attention; this was a normal outcome of fighting a fierce opponent in his world.
They raided the Orc God's carcass and the neighboring town, claiming some very fancy trinkets although they no longer had need of anything. And as Jack tended to abstain from material possessions he wasn't impressed either. Stud really wanted to bring the head back with them, but it was bigger than their team could carry and there were no spells to make it possible. So they settled for one of the toenails, hoping that would be enough to impress the people of Cron (who really didn't need any more impressing).
PART IV:
They returned triumphantly to Cron, and the toenail was promptly put on display at the city of Middle Gate. Soon word traveled of their latest adventure and rewards were left for them at many inns and castles. Meanwhile they dined at the local tavern, eating their fill of Horrors d'oevres, Soup de Ghoul with garlic toast and Dragon Steak Tartar. The dragon steak was Jack's favorite so far, and it went deliciously with Orc Beer. If they tipped the waitress enough she would sing different songs for them, so that was entertaining.
But after a while their discussion grew to that of Jack's own quest. Over more Orc beer he told them everything about Aku and how he had destroyed his home world, and his quest to return and defeat him. They soon all embraced this quest as their own, and vowed to set about finding a path to Earth, and to the end of Aku. After a good night's sleep.
They meant to begin early the next mourning but were delayed several hours. This time it was Jack who delayed the party as he dealt with a hang over. He soon fashioned a remedy out of tea he'd brought with him, and recovered. Meanwhile Simon, Cassandra and Gene Eric investigated every piece of literature on the planet for reference to Earth, or to any means of out worldly travel, and finally discovered some useful tombs within the vast and dark Luxus Palace Royal Library of Queen Lamanda. Here they learned some interesting point about time travel, and an obscure note that traveling past the beginning of time in Cron would put them into an unknown world unlike Cron. They needed more research to figure out exactly how one travels past the beginning, and gathered some useful theories to test.
So by the time they were done with all that Jack was in top shape, and he and Stud were signing autographs (Jack signed in Japanese, which absolutely fascinated the people). They returned to Castle Pinehurst and experimented with time travel until they did indeed find themselves beyond the beginning of time for Cron, and into a new world (for Studs' gang, the world was refreshingly familiar to Jack). As luck or fate would have it, they materialized right next to Aku, barely having enough time to gather their wits before he retaliated on them with all his might.
They quickly learned that none of their magic functioned in this battle, but fortunately they were all well equipped and warriors in their own right, so they were able to match Aku. He directed his wrath at Jack, but with so many at Jack's aid he was soon overwhelmed, and while he successfully defeated Molly, Sir Kill, and Muffin, the others were all standing at the end of the battle. Jack delivered the final blow with his sword, feeling the rush of relief at a quests end that the others were all able to experience earlier.
The world changed to reflect the future with out Aku's tyranny, and it was a much better place. Molly, Muffin and Sir Kill were successfully revived at a nearby town. Stud's gang decided to accompany Jack to his home village, so gratified at the new experiences after spending so long in a world they knew every inch of that they wanted to spend as much time as possible there. This turned into a very long time indeed when they found that they had no way to return to their own world, with the possible exception of using Aku's warped magic somehow. This wasn't a tragedy by any means, for the food on Earth was much, much better, the people and language so new and exciting, and they had each other as company and missed none from the past.
They did, however, constantly have to explain themselves over and over again to every human they met, from Sir Kill's green skin to Gene Eric's pointed ear two-foot stature. And they missed magic, especially when it came to taking a boat across a river instead of walking over it. And how they missed instant teleportation. But overall it was a happy ending for everyone involved, exciting adventures were had, Earth and Cron were saved and they shared their happiness together.
The End