Wassup guys! Here's the second chapter to my story!

I know I previously said that this was going to be frequently updated but I have been going through a lot the past couple weeks. The foundations of my house are under construction and a member of my family recently passed away. Not only that, but writing is really hard for me to do and life just keeps getting in the way.

So from now on, my stories will be updated when I'm able to get to them. I hope you can all understand. But one thing I will ask is that you not nag me on when then they will update.

But now I will answer your reviews that you have been leaving me!

Dark Vizard447: It's always a pleasure to meet a Samurai Jack fan and the creators are actually bringing back the series this year! I'm glad that you like my story!

Thaqif: Here are some answers to your questions.

1. You may have been mistaken; there were 8 Ultrabots in the cartoon. I've recently bumped up the number to 19 and each of them will have their own different weapons, in fact, some of them will have upgraded versions of the original weapons. Also, the AGKT weapons you recommended were hilarious!

2. You are definitely right about the Minions of Set being tougher, stronger and scarier than the Ultrabots, but I saw the Ultrabots episode first and they left a bigger impact on me. But don't worry; I'm planning on making a sequel to this story where the Minions of Set will be introduced!

3. The Ultrabots will be straight up villains in this story.

4. I understand that I'm "deconstructing the shounnen genre" and you're right about the latter explanation about the consequences you face no matter how good you are, but I cannot bring myself to kill Night Raid. Assassins or no, none of them deserved to die like they did. I'm still trying to get over the deaths of Sheele, Chelsea and Lubbock. Their deaths were just too sad and every one of them deserved better. The only exception I'll make are stories that take place after the anime but that's it.

5. I often found myself asking the same question regarding Bol's death. To be honest, the man didn't deserve to die. Yes, he was allied with the Empire and he immolated numerous innocent people but he truly and deeply regretted his actions and he had a wife and daughter who loved him. But don't even get me started on what Wild Hunt did to them. Seriously Takahiro, what the shit!?

6. You have some really intriguing ideas for crossovers but they don't exactly tickle my fancy. I think if you recommended them to other writers then they might pick them up!

Red John: FINALLY someone agrees with me! While you are right about Mine and Tatsumi needing motivation, I still cared deeply for Sheele and Bulat. Also, you're right about Seryu: While I do hate and condemn her for killing Sheele and desecrating Chelsea's body, I couldn't help but pity her for choosing the wrong side. Schizophrenia aside, she truly was committed to the idea of justice but if she only learned about the corruption sooner then maybe she would have been a great help and don't worry; Wild Hunt will definitely get what's coming to them.

Akame ga Kill and Samurai Jack belong to their respective owners, I do not own either of them.

Chapter 2

Wakeup call

TATSUMI'S BEDROOM-5 HOURS LATER

BAAAAAAAAAAWHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM

Tatsumi instantly jerked upward out of bed as a loud explosion rocked the whole base. He frantically looked around only to have another explosion assault his eardrums.

BRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMM

'They sound close…is all of that coming from the Capital!?' He thought frantically.

KRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSHHHHH

That settled it. Tatsumi quickly put his clothes on, grabbed his sword and ran out into the hall where he was joined by Bulat.

"What the hell was that!?" Tatsumi asked as he and Bulat ran to the conference room.

"Beats me, bro! But I have a feeling we're gonna find out soon enough!" Bulat answered.

NIGHT RAID HEADQUARTERS-CONFERENCE ROOM

Just as Tatsumi and Bulat entered the conference room along with the rest of Night Raid, another explosion nearly knocked the group off their feet.

SSSHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKOOOOOOOOOOOOM

"Seriously! What the f*** is going on!?" Mine yelled.

"Sounds like the Revolutionary Army decided to invade the Capital early!" Leone said as she tried to keep her balance.

"That can't be! They're not ready yet and if even they were, they would've let us know first!" Akame corrected.

Najenda's mind was racing. Something was seriously wrong here. The explosions they were hearing were on a massive scale and she couldn't think of anyone else that could attack the Capital with this level of firepower. They needed to find out who was attacking right freaking now.

"We can all talk about that later! Let's get outside and see what going on!" Najenda shouted.

But before the team could even head outside, a massive tremor shook the entire hideout to its foundations.

RRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMBBBBBBBBBBBBBBLLLLLLLLLLLL

The floor started to crack as the rumblings continued to get more and more violent until the roof suddenly caved in. Everyone quickly began dodging as many falling rocks as they could, but the floor started falling apart.

CRRRRAAAAAACCCCCCCKKKKK

A large hole opened up beneath them and Night Raid found themselves plunging into the abyss. Akame began to fall in as well but Tatsumi, who was at the edge of the hole, quickly grabbed her by the hand in the nick of time.

"Hang on! I'll pull you up!"

"TATSUMI LOOK OUT!"

Before Tatsumi could react, a large boulder hit him in the back of the head, sending his world into darkness.

1 HOUR LATER

Pitch black.

That was all Tatsumi could see. It was also deathly quiet and he couldn't feel a thing. It was like floating in an infinite void of nothingness. He wondered…is this what death felt like? Was this really it? Was everything he did truly for nothing?

"-mi!"

What was that? He saw a small, bright light breaking through the darkness.

"-sumi!"

He heard a voice calling out to him. It sounded familiar…

"Tatsumi, please wake up!"

Akame?

Tatsumi struggled as hard as he could to open his eyes and when he finally did, he was greeted with the concerned faces of Akame, Lubbock, Leone, Sheele and Bulat. He noticed Sheele's Teigu was shining brightly.

"He's awake!" Sheele exclaimed.

"Thank god you're alive, bro!" Bulat said, relieved.

"Tatsumi, look at me. How many fingers am I holding up?" Lubbock asked as he held up 2 fingers, unaware Tatsumi was suffering from double vision. "8?" He answered. Lubbock looked at his fingers. "Eh, close enough." He shrugged.

BWACK

"No its not, ya doofus." Leone snapped as she smacked Lubbock upside the head.

Tatsumi turned to his right to see Mine and Najenda hurriedly walking over to him.

"How are you feeling?" Najenda asked.

"I feel a little…light headed…" Tatsumi said and he tried to get up, only to visibly wince when he felt a sharp pain coming from the back of his head. "Try not to move too much, Akame says you took a nasty hit." Mine explained.

"It's a good thing your skull is so thick." Akame bluntly stated.

"Was that a compliment or an insult?" Tatsumi deadpanned.

"Uh…"

"Never mind." Tatsumi sighed. "Where are we anyway?"

Tatsumi looked around the illumined area to see that they in in a wide, cavernous space with huge piles of rocks and rubble all around them reaching as high as the ceiling, which seemed to go on forever. The ceiling itself had caved in and was blocked off with massive boulders.

"This the basement level of our headquarters. It's also our workshop." Bulat informed.

"This is where you guys were going to make me work if I refused to join!?" Tatsumi demanded as he remembered Najenda's words when he first met them.

Everyone looked incredibly guilty.

Rrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmbbbbbbllllllll

Night Raid was shaken out of its thoughts when another tremor shook the base. "You guys think it was an earthquake that hit the Capital?" Sheele guessed.

"No." Said Akame. "Those were definitely explosions."

Speaking of which, more explosions and other muffled sounds came from above.

Babooooooooooooom

Vwaaaaashooooooooooooooooooommm

Kaaablaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam

Brakka brakka brakka brakka brakka

Booooooooooooommmssssshhhhhh

"Holy crap. It sounds like the end of the world up there!" Lubbock commented, a tiny bit scared.

"Are we sure that isn't the Revolutionary Army?" Leone asked.

"Like Akame said, they aren't ready yet. They don't have enough firepower, manpower, or support to launch an attack on the Capital at this point. They would also let us know ahead of time if they ever decided to mount a final assault." Najenda explained.

"Then who is it?" Tatsumi inquired.

That was a good question. If it wasn't the Revolutionary Army, then who was attacking the Empire right now? Some third faction they didn't know about? If it was, then who could it possibly be?

"We can talk about that for another time. Our primary focus should getting out of here, but we need to hurry. All of us are in a tight, enclosed space and with breath each we take; we use up our remaining oxygen." Najenda said.

"Not only that, but our combined body heat is going to make this place as hot as a furnace." Bulat added.

"Then let's not dawdle any longer. It's going to take us a while to dig ourselves out so let's get to work." Najenda ordered.

NIGHTRAID WORKSHOP/BASEMENT- 4 DAYS LATER

For Night Raid, it was supposed to be simple. Clear away the debris, get topside and figure out what the hell was going on. In order to get out of the basement, they had to climb upon the mountains of rubble so they could get up to the hole in the ceiling and remove the boulders blocking the hole.

Unfortunately, things are never easy and it was proving to be very difficult.

For one thing, they had to be extremely careful when climbing or moving the rocks. If they took out or stepped the wrong one then they would have an avalanche of boulders coming down right on top of them. So far that happened to them at least 12 times. Luckily for them, they were spared from being crushed to death by using their Teigus to catch, cut, or destroy any boulders that tried to fall on them.

But it didn't speed up the process, it was becoming painstakingly slow. The heat was starting to get to them and most of the team had to remove their clothing, leaving them clad in their undergarments. Lubbock would have been overjoyed at the sight of the Najenda and the other female members of Night Raid in their bras and undies but since the situation was dire he mostly kept it to himself.

Another problem they encountered was lack of oxygen and food. They could hear their stomachs constantly growling and they were short of breath most of the time. It would only be a matter of time before they either starved or suffocated to death.

But while they were climbing their way out, they could still hear the muffled sounds of more loud explosions and gunfire from outside. It was literally nonstop. At one point they heard a loud, high pitched scream but couldn't exactly figure out what could have made a noise like that. At one point there was a massive thunderclap so loud it shook the earth and threatened to burst their eardrums. The defining sounds of warfare went on and on and on until it finally stopped in the middle of the 3rd day. After that, there wasn't a single sound.

It was now day 4 and the end was almost in sight. They were almost out of the basement but most of them looked ready to collapse from sheer exhaustion.

"I…can….*huff*… barely breathe….." Leone wheezed.

"We can't…give up….we're so close…." Tatsumi gasped.

"We're almost….there. Just…try to hang…on…"Bulat said, sweating profusely.

CRASH

Everyone suddenly looked upwards towards the ceiling. It sounded like it came from inside the base. Then they heard footsteps.

"Over here! They must be trapped down there!" Came the voice of a girl.

"Move aside! I'll clear away the debris!" Said another voice. This time, it belonged to a man.

"Who's…up there?" Mine asked.

"I don't know…but…nobody else knows about…this location. Only…we know." Najenda breathed.

They heard the sounds of someone moving away the rubble at a rapid pace. Little by little, they could see rays of light peeking through the rocks as they were moved away. Night Raid readied their weapons. They didn't know who was in their base or what they wanted from them but if whoever was digging them out were hostile, Night Raid wasn't going down without a fight. As last of the rocks were removed, the team saw who their rescuers were.

The first individual was a tall, blue haired man wearing white colored robes and had an odd looking mace slung over his back. The strangest thing about him was that he had cow-like horns on the sides of his head and there was a large, red orb on his chest.

The second person was a young, auburn haired girl sucking on a lollipop. She wore vocalist-like clothing, earmuffs and she had what appeared to be a cosmetics box hanging off her waist.

"Chelsea!? Susanoo!?" Najenda exclaimed.

"Master! Thank god you're okay!" The man known as Susanoo said.

"Glad to see you and the others are still amongst the living! Wait…why are you all in yours skivvies?" The girl who was named Chelsea asked.

"It's hot as hell! You try spending 4 days down here!" Leone barked.

"Well on the upside the sweat makes look really sexy." Chelsea joked.

"You have no frickin idea." Lubbock silently muttered.

NIGHT RAID HEADQUARTERS-CONFERENCE ROOM

Susanoo and Chelsea wasted no time as they helped everyone out of the hole. After they were out, Night Raid flopped onto the floor greedily breathing in large amounts of air.

"Thank goodness…I thought I was going to suffocate!" Sheele gasped.

"I think my life just flashed before my eyes…" Tatsumi groaned.

"Thanks for helping us out. I don't think we would've lasted for another day down there." Mine thanked.

"We're lucky we managed to get to you in time. It's good to see you all again after so long." Susanoo said as he helped Bulat up.

"Hahahaha! It's great to see you again as well, old friend! You haven't changed one bit!" Bulat laughed as he pulled Susanoo into a hug.

"Indeed. But you seemed to have changed your hairstyle while I was gone." Susanoo pointed out.

"You noticed? I thought I would go with one that best suited my personality." Bulat said passionately while striking a pose. Susanoo sweatdropped.

While that was going on, Chelsea got reacquainted with Mine, Sheele, Najenda and Leone. "Looks like you guys really got the short end of the stick this time, huh?" Chelsea said, grinning mischievously.

"You can say that again." Najenda chuckled. "Not to sound mean, but why are you guys here? You're supposed to be at the Revolutionary Army headquarters until the both of you are relived."

"Mr. Su sensed that you were in danger and naturally he couldn't sit still so he dragged me along back to the Empire to help" Chelsea revealed. "Normally we would use an Air Manta to get here quicker but since the Revolutionary Army was using most them for a mission, we had to make due with horses."

"Overprotective as usual." Najenda sighed, smiling.

"But enough about that, how ya been Chel?" Leone said as she walked over to Chelsea, only for the girl to immediately step away from her. "As much as I like you guys, I'm not going anywhere near you because you all reek."

Leone sniffed her armpit and her nose instantly wrinkled. "Yikes! I'm gonna need a shower!"

"I think we're all due for a shower." Sheele stated matter-of-factly.

"Same here." Mine said as she turned her head to the massive hole in the floor. "That had got to be one of the worst experiences of my life."

"Which part? Being stuck down there or the fact that your breasts haven't grown in yet?" Chelsea asked evilly.

"WHAT!?" Mine snarled as she whipped out Pumpkin. But before she could put several holes into her currently snickering antagonist, Lubbock quickly injected before the ensuing melee could begin.

"Um, I hate to interrupt you girls but Akame is really not looking too good." Lubbock said as he pointed over his shoulder. That immediately got everyone's attention. They all looked towards Akame who was slumped against a pillar, looking incredibly pale. Tatsumi was at her side, trying to help her up.

"Akame! Speak to me! Are you okay!?"

"So…hungry…need…sustenance…" She croaked. An audible gurgling sound emanated from her stomach to emphasize her point. That's when everyone's stomachs (except for Susanoo and Chelsea) began grumbling loudly. But it wasn't the regular kind of grumbling that reminded you that you forgot to eat lunch. This was the painful kind of grumbling to remind you that you hadn't eaten in 4 days.

"I can tell that most of you are close to starvation." Susanoo observed. He suddenly pulled a cooking apron out of nowhere and began to hastily put it on. "I will prepare a large meal for you all so that you may regain your strength. In the meantime, I highly suggest you take this time to thoroughly bathe."

"Please." Chelsea begged while holding her nose.

NIGHT RAID HEADQUARTERS-DINING ROOM

While Susanoo busied himself in the kitchen (with Chelsea helping) the rest of Night Raid spent 1 hour in the washrooms to clean themselves up, making sure they completely washed the smell of B.O off their bodies while using up most of the shampoo in the process.

After they were done and had gotten their clothes on, they went to the kitchen where Susanoo had made a full course all you can eat buffet with more than enough food to feed roughly 30 people. Since it was more than enough for the 8 of them, they dove into the banquet like a pack of rabid animals. Pretty soon the sounds of food being viciously scarfed down filled as Night Raid ate and drank themselves into oblivion…not actual oblivion but anything to quell the rumbling in their stomachs.

Chelsea and Susanoo stared at the ensuing massacre of cuisine with mortified looks on their faces. While Chelsea could understand that they were stuck in a hole for 4 days without eating anything, they probably should've taken their little feasting spree down a couple notches.

Susanoo understood the same thing as well. While he was happy that they were enjoying the feast he made for them, it discouraged him to see them completely abandon all of their table manners. He was mildly shocked to see his master Najenda wolfing down her food. He knew she had better manners than that!

"Look on the bright side. At least they're enjoying your food." Chelsea said, dodging a discarded chicken bone that flew from the table.

"It's a pity that they're not taking their time to properly eat it." Susanoo grumbled as he rubbed his temples.

After several minuets there wasn't a single scrap of food left and Night Raid was left full and very satisfied.

"*BURP* Ahhhhh….I've never felt so alive!" Leone sighed.

"Susanoo…I am forever in your debt." Akame thanked.

"Same here. Starving to death is not a pretty way to go." Lubbock added.

"Think nothing of it. I cooked all the time back at the Revolutionary Army headquarters." Susanoo assured them. Tatsumi looked at Chelsea and Susanoo with curiosity. Were they with Night Raid too? If they were, then why didn't his friends mention them?

"So when are you guys going to introduce the two of us to your new friend?" Chelsea asked while eyeing the brown haired young man. "Looks like you picked up a real cutie, Leone."

"Thanks! Bulat's been taking a really big liking to him if you get my meaning." Leone snickered as she winked towards the Hundred Man Slayer.

"You know…" Bulat began.

"Chelsea's right." Najenda interjected. "Tatsumi, I would like to introduce you to two of our other senior members: Chelsea, our stealth and reconnaissance expert, and Susanoo, my Teigu."

"Oh! It's a real pleasure to meet the both of you!" Tatsumi said as got up from the table and held out his hand towards Susanoo. However, he was met with the horned man's steely glare. Tatsumi was taken back a bit. "Is there something wrong?"

"Your fly is down! Its bothering me, so please close it!" Susanoo said loudly.

No one said a word. Tatsumi, with a look of shock and embarrassment on his face, slowly looked down to see that the man right. Without saying a word, Tatsumi zipped up his pants…and the whole room exploded into laughter.

"Way to leave a first impression Tatsumi!" Leone laughed.

"Honestly! Someone with a brain would notice!" Mine giggled.

"Actually, Akame and I noticed it at first but we thought it was a new fashion statement." Sheele said innocently.

"I'm not someone that free and open!" Tatsumi shouted in protest.

"There's no shame in being free and open, bro." Bulat said, his body literally sparkling.

"From now on I'll be more careful and take a look now and then." Akame said as she looked at Tatsumi's pants.

"PLEASE DON'T!" He exasperated.

"Your first time meeting a humanoid Teigu and your fly was down. I bet this will be some story to tell your grandkids, huh?" Lubbock joked as he jabbed Tatsumi's shoulder.

"Lubbock I swear to god I'll-"But then Tatsumi stopped himself in midsentence. Did he just say humanoid Teigu? Didn't Najenda mention earlier that he was her Teigu? He turned towards Susanoo and looked at him. The cow horns and the red orb on his chest now made it abundantly clear that this man was not human.

"You're really a Teigu?" Tatsumi asked in astonishment.

"That is correct." Susanoo said as shook Tatsumi's hand." I have been at my master's side since she first joined the Revolutionary Army. My core was originally in a dormant state after the passing of my previous master but Ms. Najenda was the one to reawaken me."

"You could say that it was my charisma that brought him out of it." Najenda said coolly.

"Actually, the real reason was because you reminded me of my former master. He was such a courageous man…" Susanoo corrected as he reminisced about the good old times with his late master.

"Yeah. That too." Najenda muttered. "Anyway, not only is Susanoo an exceptionally powerful combatant but he was originally created to escort important people. Along with his battle ability, he's fully equipped to with the skill to do various household chores so he can be useful around the clock. Cleaning, laundry, whatever it may be! The repertoire of food he can cook literally numbers in the thousands!"

"Wow! You know, I always thought your prosthetic arm was a Teigu." Tatsumi guessed. Everyone visibly tensed up. Najenda's arm had always been sort of a touchy, if not toxic, subject for her. Surprisingly, she let out a small chuckle. "Don't I wish." She said, smiling.

"Huh. I kinda expected the boss to go ballistic there for bit. Looks like you been here long enough to get on her good side!" Akame said cheerfully.

Tatsumi raised an eyebrow to that. Was that really Akame? Granted, she showed him that she could be happy at times but she sounded a little bit too happy. He turned towards where Akame was sitting…to see that there was another one sitting right next to her.

Tatsumi flipped.

"EEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHH!? T-T-T-T-T-T-TWO AKAMES!? WHAT THE HELL!?"

POOF

There was a sudden puff of smoke and one of the Akames transformed into Chelsea! "Gotcha~!" She sang playfully. "You should've seen the look on your face! I did the same thing to Lubbock when I first joined!"

"Oh jeez, you had to bring that up." Lubbock said as he cringed at the memory. Instead of imitating one of the girls, she imitated Bulat. You can pretty much guess how that went.

"That was…amazing!" Tatsumi breathed. "You completed copied her voice, her looks, everything!"

Chelsea smiled brightly. Whenever someone praised her Teigu's ability it made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. "That's all thanks to this little beauty right here!" She said as she set her cosmetics box on the table. "This is the Teigu know as Phantasmagoria: Gaea Foundation. It allows me to transform into any person as well as any living creature in the world!"

"Anyone?" Tatsumi asked.

"Anyone and anything. Because of my Teigu, I excelled in covert and undercover assassinations. I could be your maid that served you your tea or a harmless blue jay sitting on your windowsill but either way…" She explained as she held up a deadly looking sewing needle. "You'd never see it coming."

Tatsumi was impressed when he heard that. His curiosity grew when he thought about the other possibilities Gaea Foundation might have. "When you say any living creature, do mean Danger Beasts as well?"

Chelsea pondered for a moment. "Well…I can. But I didn't like it at first to be honest. Having to transform into those grotesque looking things makes my flesh crawl. But lately Mr. Su has been advising me that I take a more offensive role if things get hairy. So yes, I can transform into a number of Danger Beasts even though it's not really my thing. Also, I have to get used to using these in case I'm in a pinch." Chelsea explained as she pulled out several kunai.

"Pffft. Sounds like you should've learned how to do all that before you joined." Mine teased.

"Not going to lie, you're pretty much right about that." Chelsea acknowledged.

Tatsumi wished he met these two earlier. They seemed like such interesting people with amazing abilities. But that's when he remembered something. "Say Leone, you said that you knew everyone here like the back of your hand. Why didn't you mention Chelsea and Susanoo?"

All eyes turned towards Leone, expecting an answer. The blonde had a look realization and embarrassment on her face. "Uhhh…..hahaha….i guess it just kinda slipped my mind…" She replied nervously. Everybody groaned.

"Seriously? After everything we've been through?" Chelsea demanded.

"I'm quite disappointed in you, Leone." Susanoo admonished.

"Sorry." She apologized as he rubbed the back of her head.

"So why were you two at Revolutionary HQ instead of here?" Tatsumi inquired.

"We were actually with Night Raid for a very long time but we got a message from the Revolutionary Army that they were shorthanded and needed some extra help." Chelsea explained.

"We were stationed at their headquarters in the south for about 4 months but when I sensed that my master was in peril, we quickly set off back to Night Raid. I was most fortuitous that my comrade Chelsea volunteered-"

"Dragged." Chelsea corrected.

"Volunteered to assist me." Susanoo finished.

Unbeknownst to everyone, the gears in Sheele's airheaded mind suddenly shifted into overdrive until something clicked. "Wait a minute!" Sheele suddenly exclaimed as she shot out of her seat. "If you two came here then you must have seen what's been going on at The Capital!"

That's when everybody suddenly realized that they had forgotten all about the battle that had ensued at The Capital while they were trapped in the deepest part of their headquarters. "Oh crap, she's right! How could we have been so forgetful!?" Najenda cursed.

"Join the club." Leone quipped.

"Do you guys know what's been going on? The two of you surely have to know!" Bulat pressed. What happened next surprised Night Raid. Chelsea and Susanoo looked down at the floor, their faces had darkened considerably. Chelsea looked visibly scared, as if she had remembered a deep seated trauma. Susanoo had an extremely grim, worried look on his face and it took a lot to make him look like that.

"Guys, what's wrong?" Akame asked, noticeably concerned for her comrades.

Chelsea and Susanoo looked at each other, unsure of how to answer. Susanoo decided to speak up. "We…think its best if we show you. But we warn you: you're not going to like what you see."

NIGHT RAID HEADQUARTERS-EXTERIOR

After they got themselves ready, Night Raid walked outside and saw that the cliff their base was situated under had completely collapsed. It caved into the roof, destroying the upper half of their base and scattering numerous rock and debris all over the area. But that wasn't the only thing that caught their eyes. They saw a massive column of smoke rising into the gray, afternoon clouds. What surprised them the most was that it was coming from The Capital. That was definitely not a good sign.

"Is that coming from-"Tatsumi asked only to be interrupted by Chelsea.

"Yup. You can see it all the way from Revolutionary HQ." She informed. Everyone looked at each other with confusion, bewilderment and fear. They all rushed into the woods as fast as they could while Chelsea and Susanoo merely walked after them. They had to know what was going on. None of this made any sense, what the hell was happening!?

After running through the woods for several minutes, they approached a clearing that led to a nearby cliff overlooking the Capital. They picked up the pace, entered the clearing, ran to the overlook…

and they all gasped in shock.

(Samurai Jack Soundtrack-Episode 18 destroyed village theme)

The Capital had been utterly annihilated.

The walls that had surrounded The Capital had been blown to pieces by repeated explosions. Numerous craters dotted the land, a majority of them in densely housed areas. Patches of fire consumed buildings in the eastern, western, southern, and northern districts. Storefronts and houses were reduced to ashes. The imperial palace and been completely decimated, the castle and the mansions of the nobles destroyed and set ablaze. The smell of burning wood and carrion permeated the air.

Night Raid couldn't believe what they were seeing. They all stared at the horrific sight that assaulted their eyes. The sheer amount of devastation they were looking at was absolutely jaw dropping.

An entire Empire that they swore to liberate, one that stood for over 1000 years, had been completely destroyed. All 200,000 square kilometers. Chelsea and Susanoo soon showed up, taking in the terrible sight as well, albeit very calmly.

For a very long time, nobody said a word. Najenda was the first one to break the silence; she slowly turned her head and looked at Susanoo with a look of shock and mortification on her face. "What the f*** happened!?" She breathed gravely.

Susanoo shook his head. "We don't know."

To be continued…

Looks like someone didn't like the Empire! Will Night Raid find any survivors amongst the ashes?

This chapter was really fun to write because in this universe, Chelsea and Susanoo joined Night Raid way before Tatsumi did so the two of them got a little friendly reunion with the rest of the team and got to introduce themselves to the newest member.

Also, I tweaked Chelsea's abilities a bit so she can engage in more direct combat instead of her usual stealthy approach.

One special thing I should mention is that I don't want to introduce the Ultrabots yet. Like in the cartoon, I want them to be this unseen, enigmatic force that the main cast has no idea who they are or what they're up against. I want to go for a very suspenseful sort of path for this story.

Don't forget to review, but please don't flame!