"The Brave 12, The Gangsters and the Jewel of Neptune"


It begins at an opulent nightclub. When a man knocked, the bouncer responded by opening a sliding window.

"Yeah?" the Bouncer asked.

"Ricko Benny Giordano."

The door opened.

"Come on in," the Bouncer replied. "Welcome to the Blue Monkey."

There was jazz music playing and a lot of people dancing.

Three people enter the club, and the Brave 12 follow them in.

"Nice club," commented J.D.

"Sure is lavish," Lincoln responded.

"Yeah," Laney agreed.

They take a seat at a table and watch the dancing. J.D. detects something behind him and sees some robot thugs getting ready.

"Uh oh," exclaimed J.D. "Showtime!"

People were fleeing in fear as the robot thugs opened fire with machine guns.

J.D. sliced two thugs' arms, and Jack pushed them into two more thugs.

When Jessie saw three more thugs, he sliced off their heads, and a flamethrower thug came up behind them and fired fire at them.

But Jessie's sword absorbed the fire and turned into a blade of flames.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Jessie. "This is awesome!"

"That's cool," remarked Lily.

"Very impressive," Jack commented.

Jessie cut the thug in half down the middle, causing it to explode.

"That takes care of them metalheads," J.D. noted.

"I agree," someone like Edward G. Robinson answered.

They saw a quintet of gangsters.

"We saw you fight, and it was absolutely impressive to see," the boss continued. "Nyah."

"You're Roaring Twenties Gangsters," J.D. declared.

"That's right, see," the Boss said. "Let me present the boys. Stitches, Mr. Shine, Mr. Pibbles and Knuckles."

"Uh, actually, my real name is…" began Mr. Pibbles.

He was then wacked.

"Mr. Pibbles," Knuckles answered.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," J.D. replied. "We're the Brave 12."

"We know," the boss answered. "We'd heard a lot about you all. We would like you to join us for a little job, see. Nyah."

"What kind of job do you have in mind?" J.D. asked.

Back at the Gangsters' apartment, the boss told them the lowdown.

"Everyone, say hello to the Public Works and Utilities Building," the boss began.

He unveiled a small replica of an enormous building.

"Hello," greeted Mr. Pibbles.

"It's a well-known fact that deep inside this building lies the legendary Neptune Jewel, see," explained the Boss. "Nyah. And it's our job to get it out."

"You mean, uh, we have to get inside that little thing?" Mr. Pibbles asked.

Stitches facepalms.

"What is the importance of this jewel?" Jack inquired.

"Here's the skinny, see," the Boss answered.

The Mob Boss told them how the Neptune Jewel was created. It was kept inside a tall mountain many eons ago by an ancient spirit who gave the jewel special powers that would give it control over all the world's waters. Aku desired the Jewels' power so that he could rule the world. But the water spirit stopped him with a powerful light blast, and she summoned the elemental forces of Nature to protect the Jewel. She summoned the elementals of Earth, Wind, and Fire. Earth, Wind, and Fire have guarded the jewel for eons, making it nearly impossible for Aku to get it. Since Aku's failure, it has been centuries since anyone attempted or even considered it.

"So you see, you'd have to be pretty nuts to try to steal the Neptune Jewel," the Boss said. "At least, that's what I thought until we saw the Brave 12 in action here. The way you guys cleaned up those robot thugs back at the Blue Monkey made me think we're just crazy enough to pull this one-off. So, are you up for it, guys?"

"We'll do it," J.D. agreed.

At midnight on Sunday, they walk to the building, and Jessie and Lily enter through a pipe and swim through the water until they reach the main chamber. They both saw the jewel on a pedestal and it was beautiful.

"So that's the Neptune Jewel," Jessie mused.

"What a sight," Lily gasped.

They swam up to the terrace, where a light turned on and the three Elementals emerged. A rock wall sealed off the room.

Jessie and Lily prepared their swords as the Earth Elemental formed a rock hammer and slammed it down, and Jessie and Lily dodged. The Fire Elemental formed a sword of fire and slashed at them, but they dodged and a massive wall of fire formed. The Wind Elemental created a whip of wind and lashed it at them, and they dodged again, and the Fire Elemental fired a bunch of fireballs, which Jessie absorbed into her sword, and she and Lily hid behind a rock, and the Earth Elemental caused the stalactites above on the ceiling to fall, and they ran and faced all three of them.

"You will never possess the Neptune Jewel," Fire warned. "You will not be able to escape."

"Come and get us!" Lily yelled.

"Insolent Fool!" cried Fire.

They ran, and Fire chased them. They ran some more, and Fire fired an enormous blast of fire, which they dodged, and it exploded when it hit the wall. Fire launched more fireballs, one of which deflected off a rock and struck Wind, transforming Wind into a powerful tornado with a strong suction.

Jessie saw Fire about to be pulled in and jumped into her path towards the tornado, absorbing her and undergoing a powerful transformation. Jessie's clothes transformed into glowing pink, red, and orange flaming clothes, she sprouted pure fire wings, and her power levels were unimaginable.

Jessie flew towards Lily and shielded her as Earth was drawn in and water rendered the elementals immobile.

The room was flooding.

"The Room is flooding," Jessie cried. "Lily, grab the jewel!"

"Right!" answered Lily.

She went to get the jewel, and she got it.

"Let's get out of here," Jessie urged.

They blasted their way through the structure.

"Hey look!" yelled Mr. Pibbles. "They did it."

They cheered wildly for them.

"Whoa!" shouted J.D. "Look at Jessie!"

"She looks amazing," Varie noted.

"Something must've given her an amazing power increase," Lisa guessed.

"Yeah," Laney agreed. "I can sense it. I also sense the Fire Elemental in her."

"They must've become one," Naruto concluded.

"That could be it," Sakura speculated.

They landed on the boat.

"We got the Jewel," Lily announced.

"Good work, you two," J.D. praised.

"Very impressive," Jack said.

The jewel then floats through the air and lands on Varie.

"What's going on?" Varie wondered.

"I don't know," J.D. admitted.

The Jewel then embedded itself right into Varie's back, causing her to experience a powerful energy boost in a blinding flash of aqua blue light.

When it was all over, Varie was altered forever.

"Varie?" J.D. asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, my love," Varie replied. "I feel amazing. In fact, I'm feeling better than ever. My power is now greater than ever."

"Fascinating," Lisa commented. "When the Jewel embedded itself in your back, it gave you a massive power boost."

"I can feel it," Varie replied.

"It's amazing," Laney exclaimed.

"This is a predicament," the Boss added. "We were meant to present the diamond to Aku."

"Aku!?" shouted Jack.

"Huddle!" J.D. yelled.

They gathered in a huddle.

"Our plan was for them to lead us to Aku after we got the Jewel," J.D. revealed. "Now, it's time for Plan B."

They agreed.

"All right, boss, can you escort us to Aku?" J.D. asked.

"Well, all right," the boss murmured.

They arrived at Aku's Castle hours later, and the members of the Mob had summoned Aku.

Aku arrived. "Who dares to summon… Oh, it is you."

"Uh, yeah, boss," the boss answered.

"Do you forget that you are forbidden from coming here?" Aku demanded.

"Uh yeah boss, I know, but we have something for you," the Boss replied. "Some friends of yours are here to say hello."

"And who could these friends of mine be?" Aku asked.

They emerge.

"Surprise!" shouted J.D.

When Aku saw them, he was shocked. "You!"

They took their swords from their sheaths and slashed at him.

Aku had collapsed.

But before they could strike the final blow, the Castle and Aku vanished.

"Drat!" shouted J.D. "We were so close!"

"There's always next time," Jack emphasized.

"Well," Varie began. "It doesn't matter. Let us just stick to our original plan."

"You're right," Vince admitted. "Let's get moving."

Later, they all resumed their quest."

Continues in Part 10