The Ruins of Oz
starring Samurai Jack

story by
Mercutio Puck

Chapter Five.

"She's beautiful. I can't believe we were able to create something so... so..."

"I know, Gregory. The lord has certainly blessed us with such a precious gift."

"I only wish we could give her a better life."

"Don't say that. We are."

"Are you sure?"

"Gregory..."

"Don't get the wrong idea, Mae. Henry and Em are nice people, but they're just as poor as we are."

"They have a farm."

"A farm of dust..."

"Gregory!"

"I'm just saying, Mae. Why don't we try to raise her ourselves?"

"Really, I think..."

"Mae. This is your gift to me. I could never give that up."

"I... I don't know, Greg. I don't know what to say."

"I love you, Mae. And I love our beautiful, beautiful daughter. Say yes."

"...okay."

"Okay?"

"Yes!"

The darkness took its time to shift into the light. The windows were very sensitive to the brightness but they eventually gathered the strength to stay open. The images were blurry, but the focus was getting clearer to see two faces kissing. One looked down into the eyes.

"Mae, look! She's opening her eyes."

"Oh, Greg. They're amazing."

"Have you thought of a name yet?"

"Dorothy. It means, 'gift of gods.'"

"It's perfect." The man stroked just edge of the left side of the view. "Welcome to the world, Dorothy Gale."

The road seemed to get longer with every step that was taken. Three pairs of legs traveled the long path of winding curves and gentle inclines, but the speed was becoming tedious and nobody showed signs of wanting to rest. Jack was particularly quiet throughout the distance covered, even though words were barely spoken since recruiting the intelligent Scarecrow to assist Jack and Gale. However, Jack was still the person that knew the area the least as well as its inhabitants. Despite wanting to get there as soon as he could, he has to keep an extra sense of awareness while at the same time not worrying the others. He still could not believe there was a higher power that was actually ruling over Aku in the form of a winged primate and the fact that he's never seen it himself keeps him all the more on the lookout on all his surroundings. It's as if he couldn't afford to blink, so he just remained silent.

The sky was still lit; somehow it managed to maintain morbidly orange despite the time passing and lack of sun. It was the only color other color Jack has seen since arriving in Oz. He could depict that it was nowhere near the night from his landing in a purplish darkness in Munchkinland. Even though there was no sun to be seen, he still wore his unique woven headgear to keep the brightness out of his vision.

He stood on the right of Gale. No longer was he a few steps behind her like he previously was. And to his right was Scarecrow, who walked with a little stumble with steps he took. However, his legs were still strong enough to avoid any awkward tripping. A piece of straw fell from his boot and was picked up by the wind, but Scarecrow thought nothing of it. He didn't even appear to notice and neither did Jack and neither did Gale. They were just a few steps from reaching the peak of an incline in the road.

"Up ahead." said Scarecrow, still walking with the rest. "We're nearing the Black Forest."

"Really?" asked Gale. "It's been so long for me, Waco."

"Me too." Scarecrow replied.

"Jack, that means we're getting closer to where we need to be." she explained.

"Emerald City." reiterated Jack.

"That's the one." said Gale with a smirk.

"All we have to do is stay on course through the forest." said Scarecrow. "Emerald City is just on the other side."

Determination increased throughout Jack, Gale, and Scarecrow as soon as that thought was realized. Jack's steps became a little larger; thus propelling him a little further than the rest. Scarecrow and Gale had no trouble catching up to him and were ready to aid Jack when needed.

After about a half-mile, they approached the entrance into the Black Forest. But to everyone's surprise, thick, firmly planted roots with dark-green moss, along with a wall of heavily trunked trees, was blocking passage into the wilderness. It was as if they had reached the border and could not follow the road any farther.

"Should we just walk around?" asked Jack.

"No." said Scarecrow. "It is imperative that we follow the road to Emerald City."

"The forest isn't letting us." explained Gale. "There's too much roots. I didn't even know they could grow that way. All... wall-like like that."

Jack thought it was nothing out of the ordinary. After all, they're only trees. Plants have been known to do some weird things, like face the sun, provide refreshing water, or even eat flies. Jack thought if botany could do such things like that, they could surely grow excruciatingly close together and even have roots growing out of the surface several feet tall and form a blockade. Then Jack gave a second thought and concluded that it was a little weird after all. However, he was in Oz.

"This is silly." Jack said. "We will simply climb over this root wall. It won't be that hard." With that, he walked towards the roots and readied himself to ascend. He gripped one root at arm's height with his right hand, then his left. His feet found other roots for him to step and help him get higher. He was climbing with ease and encouraging the others to join him.

They shrugged at each other and took steps to start climbing. But suddenly, the ground began to shake and Scarecrow and Gale backed off immediately. Jack's hold on the roots became tighter as the earth quaked harder and harder with every second he was still hanging to the wall.

"Jack, are you mad?" shouted Scarecrow, recuperating from his jump.

"Get off!" yelled Gale.

As much as he didn't want to, he jumped off anyway. After he landed, he turned around to see what was becoming of this quake. The wall's roots were retracting out from the center, both left and right. Jack feared he had disturbed something very powerful as the ground showed no signs of stopping its shake. Jack looked at Gale, then at Scarecrow. Then Gale and Scarecrow looked at each other. After making eye contact with everyone, they centered their focus back the shaking forest. All at the same time, Jack readied his sword out of his sheath, Gale steadily aimed her shotgun, and Scarecrow took the scythe off his shoulders in a primed stance. The three were ready for something big indeed.

Then the earth stopped shaking. Jack, Gale and Scarecrow held their ground for a time only to be measured in seconds. They put themselves at ease and beheld what had become of the blockade. It had completely disappeared. Tiny dirt particles floated across what used to be there, but the path that continued to Emerald City was still seen.

Jack raised an eyebrow and put his blade back in his sheath. "Well then..." he said, breaking a silence.

"Yeah..." joined in Gale. From the lack of said words, it was obvious the three were confused to what had just happened. She disarmed herself from her shotgun and awkwardly patted on her thighs, making a popping noise with her lips.

"I guess we keep going then." said Scarecrow, still sounding unsure of himself. "Shall we?"

"Oh! Yes. Certainly." Jack stammered from the surprise.

"Okay!" chimed in Gale. She stepped with her right first, then the others followed and joined her side by side. Everything seemed like a strange convenience for them. However, they can never be too sure to trust what's in front of them.

"None shall pass." a deep, crusty voice echoed slowly.

They knew it was too good to be true as they prepared themselves in a split-second. They set their gazes directly to what was in front of them. Jack's was the only jaw to drop when he saw the lines of trees turning around while at the same time, having the branches lower. Then closed knotholes began to open, revealing bright yellow eyes and mouths like that of jack-o-lanterns. They weren't just trees anymore. Monstrous creatures now stood in the way of the three, daring them to make it through the forest alive.

"As keepers of the Black Forest," started the tree-thing on the path's right, in the same voice used before revealing their faces. "we cannot allow anyone to go through us."

"Therefore," said the tree-thing to the path's left. "you may not proceed."

"But it's the only way to Emerald City." said Gale. "We have to get there as soon as possible."

"You do not understand, my child." said the right tree. "Our forest is filled with dark magic, wandering strangers, and the land's most dangerous creatures. More frightening then us keepers, even."

"And Emerald City is far worse than our forest." interjected the left tree. "By not letting you through, we're actually saving your lives from grave danger. It would be most wise for you to turn around."

"I'm sure we can handle it." said the Scarecrow. "Our friend Jack desperately needs to return to his time so he can undo all this mess. The minute he's back to his place in time, the instant things are going to change for the better."

The trees' expression did not change. Sympathy did not show through the faces of bark, nor did voices of reconsideration utter through their mouths. They stood straight and did not move from their spots.

"Please." said Jack. "I must get through to Emerald City." Still no reaction. Jack had no problem hiding his impatience. However, it was a case of now or never for him "It was not my intention to disrespect your authority. But if you will not let me through peacefully, then I will have to cut you down to continue my path." He took time going into a battle stance. He could tell that the Trees were just trying to be peaceful. It wasn't as if they were one of Aku's bounty hunters out to destroy Jack. He did not need to

"Cut... us... down?" asked the right Tree, with a little concern.

Jack nodded his head. "It's not what I want to do, but..."

"With that sword?" sarcastically asked the left Tree. "How many trees have you cut down with a sword?"

"I'm sorry?" said Jack, confused with the sudden change of tone.

"Oh, did we upset you?" asked the right Tree, now sounding much like the Tree on the left. "Oooh, I'm cwazy pajama man! The big bad Twees aren't going to wet me thwough. That suuuuure makes me mad! Feel the wath of my tiny sword! Don't make me laugh, mate!"

"Don't push it, brother." said the left Tree, still in a sarcastic voice. "He might throw that cantaloupe at us from his basket."

"That's not a cantaloupe in a basket. That's his head in a basket!" the Trees started to laugh, making fun of his hat.

Jack's face began to turn red, from both embarrassment and impatience. His brows began to slant down toward his face as the grip on his sword tightened. Gale's arm stopped Jack from doing something he might regret, even though Jack had barely budged. He looked at her and nodded. Her arm slowly backed away and left Jack alone. She knew that Jack could hold his temper now, unlike some people that she had known.

"Are you serious?!" exclaimed Scarecrow. "You start off guarding the forest, then you open it, then you turn around saying we can't go in for our own good, and now you're making fun of us?"

"Not you. Just Pajama Sam over here." replied the right Tree.

"But you should have seen the looks on your faces!" added in the left Tree. "You were like..." the left Tree started making mock-hesitation noises and roboticly flailed his limb-like branches.

"Yeah! And then you were all..." the right Tree was making the same motions as his left counterpart, but his noise were more like sighs of relief.

"Ha ha! And now, you're like..." both trees, moving their branches, start mumbling in play-anger. They both point and laugh at the three of them; much to their dismay, Jack, Gale, and Scarecrow stood still with arms folded and heads hunched over looking up.

"You guys are jerks." said Gale, quietly.

"If you are finished," began Jack. "we would like to continue through the forest."

"We really don't have time for this." said Scarecrow. "Let's just go."

Jack and Gale nodded in agreement. They all put their weapons away for a more drastic time to use them and continued to proceed through the jesting forest. Their laughter became louder and more obnoxious as the became closer to the entrance. They tried all they could to avoid eye contact with them.

"Hey!" the right Tree suddenly broke from the cackles. "What do ya think you're doing?"

"We're going to Emerald City." explained Scarecrow, peeved. "You're nonsense is merely slowing us down."

"Wait a minute!" said the left Tree, as if he had noticed something wrong. He paused and made sure they were all listening before he said anything else. "Did you just call us jerks?"

All three of them turned to their left with the most subtlest look of shock in their faces. Silence came over them again, making the situation a little awkward.

"Wow." uttered Gale. Even though her tone wasn't the most enthusiastic, she really did have a hint of surprise in her. Them being jerks was old news to her, as well as Jack and Scarecrow. They just assumed the Trees were as over it as they were.

"We..." Jack started, trying to make things less awkward once more. "We must be on our way."

"Finally." added in Scarecrow. And like that, they started their quest into the Black Forest with apathy towards the Trees.

"Wait a minute!" yelled the Tree on the right.

They kept walking.

"I said Wait a Minute!"

Still no response. By this point, the three of them had passed the Trees effortlessly by about ten feet into the forest.

"Oh, let them go, brother." said the Tree on the left, making sure the three doesn't hear them. "They'll be caught eventually. After all, don't we still have that woodsman still wandering around?"

"Oh, right!" replied the right Tree. "I forgot about that! It won't be long till they realize there's no way out!"

"Once you check in..."

"You'll never check out!"

The Trees cackled once more, while at the same time turning back into their previous positions. The roots began to come out of the ground slowly and form the wall that blocked passage through the forest. Now it had guarded access to the outside world.

Even though Gale and Waco (pronounced WAY-ko) are loosely based on characters created by L. Frank Baum, I still like to think of them as my own. However, the characters Samurai Jack, Aku, The Scotsman, and The Scotsman's Wife are all property of Genndy Tartakovsky.