Samurai Jack and the Forest of Shadows
A fanfiction by Prairieghost
Chapter Two
The Cloaked Warrior
A full day
had passed since Jack had freed the dragon, and nothing spectacular had
happened. The forest continued to sing and shift and emenated a
sense of peace Jack hadn't felt since his childhood. All around
him was beauty--beauty that breathed and lived and grew as all good
things should, permeating his very soul with the purity of it.
It was good to know there was still some place in this world that Aku could not destroy.
Jack walked along a path mulched with the fallen leaves and twigs of the trees above, the dappled sunlight dancing across the forest floor like faerie lights, as though beckoning him onward, deeper into the forest. What secrets did this place hold, Jack wondered to himself, and would he ever have the opportunity to find out?
Suddenly, a shadow dropped from the trees above and landed on the ground in front of Jack, causing the Samurai to back away and draw his sword as he stared at the stranger before him.
A cloaked figure with a face hidden in shadows sat crouched before him. With all the stealth of a cat, it had dropped from above without a sound, the leaves scattering in the wind of his descent. His tattered cloak settled around his crouching form, his eyes hidden in the shadows of his hood.
"Who are
you? What do you want?" Jack
demanded, taking another step backwards as the
stranger stood and faced
him. Holding his gloved hands before him, he closed his fist
around empty air, a black sword materializing out nothingness, the
western-style blade morphing into a Samurai sword to match Jack's. The
Samurai's eyes widened as the strange warrior conjured the sword, but
he did not make any move as yet. "Please--perhaps this is a
misunderstanding? I do not wish to fight you."
The stranger did not answer him. All around them, the forest grew still, as though the trees themselves were breathlessly awaiting the next move. Suddenly the warrior leapt at Jack, a blur of movement as he brought the black blade down with a powerful swing toward's Jack's head. The Samurai blocked the blow easilly, the sound of singing metal breaking the silence of the forest. Jack pushed the warrior back before swinging his sword at the stranger's neck, the blade glinting in the sunlight as he sliced.
The warrior leaned back, gracefully dodging the slicing move by the Samurai, then turned around and imitated the exact move precisely, forcing Jack to dodge backwards. Stunned, Jack hesitated for a moment, trying to determine the nature of his assailant.
"Who are you!?" he demanded. "Why are you attacking me?"
The cloaked figure remained mute, leaping at Jack again with another slice of the black blade. Jack deflected it, but the warrior was swift, and sent him sprawling backwards with a kick to his middle. As Jack laid upon the ground, struggling to catch his breath again, the vision of his home suddenly flashed into his mind. He thought of all the people in his time and this one that were counting on him, depending on him to defeat Aku. Misunderstanding or not, he could not allow himself to be slain by this warrior. He would fight!
As the cloaked warrior descended on him, Jack yelled and leapt to his feet, slicing his sword at the stranger's middle. To his astonishment, the warrior leapt clear of the blade, launching himself straight into the canopy of tree branches above. Jack followed, his ability to "jump good" serving him well. He landed on a branch opposite the cloaked warrior, sword at the ready as he glared at his assailant.
"I will NOT let you win!"
The stoic mouth of the warrior curved upward slightly, but the eyes remained hidden in shadow and the smile quickly faded again. Launching from the branch, the warrior leapt at Jack, striking at him once more with the slicing action. Jack dodge back and swung his sword around, attempting to force the warrior off-balance, but the cloaked figure seemed more at home in the trees than on the ground, and he dodged the Samurai's efforts easilly.
The battle raged on for what seemed an eternity. Every move Jack made, the warrior duplicated with expert precision, as though he could learn Jack's techniques even as they were being used. The stranger moved with grace and certainty through the tree tops, barely shaking the branches of the arboreal arena as he deftly deflected Jack's efforts to disable him.
With each strike that missed its mark, each blow that was deflected, Jack grew more and more determined to win. His topknot had long since worked its way loose, his black hair flying free in the wind as he and the cloaked warrior dueled in the canopy. Despite the situation, Jack could not help but admire the skill of this enigmatic warrior. For every move he made, it seemed the warrior was ready for it, and not only that, but learned from it as well. Jack was almost certain the cloaked one had been completely unfamiliar with his fighting style until today--the warrior had yet to use a single move typical of the style without Jack using it first. With the ability to learn his moves as he fought, Jack knew he would have to defeat this warrior quickly. Making up his mind at last, he feinted a strike at the warrior's neck but instead shifted into a disarming move. Caught off his guard, the warrior lost his grip on the black blade. The dark sword spun away into empty space as Jack dove in to strike the final blow.
The warrior dodged and kicked at Jack's middle, nearly knocking him from the branch. It seemed that even without a sword, this would be a formbidable foe. Jacked regained his balance and then struck out relentlessly, the cloaked warrior scurrying backwards across the branch as Jack swung at him. Jack swung the sword with a fierce shout just as the warrior backflipped away from him, the blade making contact. Jack could hear the sound of ripping fabric as the cloak fell away, temporarilly blocking the warrior from his view. Jack charged forward, ready to attack again, but as the cloak vanished into the forest below, Jack found he couldn't move.
The warrior before him was tall and lean, wearing clothing as worn and tattered as the cloak that now lay abandoned on the forest floor. But for all the sorry state of the clothing, the warrior was beautiful.
She was lean and strong, looking no older perhaps than her late teens, but her hair was as silver as moonlight and her skin as pale as a lilly. Her cheeks were flushed slightly from the fight, her intensely green eyes shining in the afternoon sun. For a moment, she just stood there, her face stoic as she regarded the Samurai.
"Well done, Samurai Jack," she said at last, her voice dulcet and sweet as birdsong as she bowed her head slightly. "You are everything your legend said you would be and more."
Her words snapped Jack from his trance, his bemused expression vanishing instantly to be replaced with a furious glare of determination.
"Who are you?" he demanded again. "I demand to know why you attacked me!"
The woman's gaze lowered slightly, and though there was no real shift in her expression, Jack sensed the most genuine remorse in her eyes.
"And you have a right to," she replied, her voice apologetic and her words deflating Jack's fury almost instantly. "I apologize for assaulting you, but it was necessary. I could not risk revealing myself to you until I knew for sure you were not an agent of Aku."
"You are also an enemy of Aku?" Jack said, stunned.
"Do you need more proof than this?" The woman's gloved hand brushed at a cut in her tunic near her neck, precicesly where Jack's sword had made contact. Though by the looks of her tunic, the blow had been deep enough to cause a mortal wound, there was no mark on her pale skin. "Your sword does not cut me."
Jack considered her words for a moment before lowering his eyes and sheathing his sword.
"My sword cannot harm the pure of heart--your words must be truthful."
The strange woman nodded once before continuing, her voice soothing and musical as she spoke.
"My name is Lora, and I am the Guardian of this forest. Aku has tried many times to take my forest for himself, sometimes by force--sometimes by trickery. I knew it would not be beneath him to impersonate you in order to capture me, so I could not risk approaching you openly."
"Why does Aku want your forest so badly?" Jack asked, looking about at the pristine wilderness surrounding him.
"Surely you must know the nature of my forest, or you would not be here yourself," the Guardian replied, sighing at Jack's blank expression. "My forest is a Nexus point--a crossroad of space and time. If Aku posessed control of my forest, he would be able to poison countless worlds with his evil. As the Guardian of this realm, it is my duty to protect the passageways here from creatures like Aku, and though he has tried many methods to capture me and my forest, he has always failed. I have thwarted him by remaining two steps ahead at all times. This is why I attacked you, Samurai--I couldn't be sure you were genuine until I saw your strength for myself."
"So this fight...was all just a test?"
"This fight was one of three tests," Lora replied, emerald eyes staring intently at him.
"The bridge!" Jack exclaimed. "And the dragon?"
"Yes," she replied. "There are three things, Samurai, which you are most renowned for above all else--your courage, your compassion, and your strength. The first two were easy enough to test--I needed only to place pre-existing obstacles in your path. The third, however, was more tricky. I had to confront you personally to test your strength, and I couldn't have you softening your blows for concern of my safety. I needed to test your pure, righteous fury, and that is what I did. You are a tremendous warrior."
Jack felt warmth creep into his cheeks as he smiled. "You are a very good warrior as well," he replied. "I have never battled anyone who posesses the grace and intellect you have."
The Guardian blinked in apparent surprise, and the corners of her mouth turned upward slightly in a subtle smile as a faint, rosey hue touched her pale cheeks.
"Thank you," she replied, looking down at the ground. "You are most generous in your words, but I fear I posess no real talent with the sword--I can only imitate what I see, and as you found, it left me vulnerable."
Before Jack could respond to that, she leapt from the branch and landed neatly in a crouch on the ground below, picking up the torn remains of her cloak. As Jack joined her on the ground, he winced and bowed apologeticly.
"I am sorry for the damage I have done to your property. I will see that it is mended," he said, and Lora smiled gently in response.
"No worries, Samurai--it was coming time for a new one anyway. It will do as it is until I find another."
There was a silence as Lora gathered up her sword and sheathed it into empty space, the hilt vanishing as it had appeared.
"I was told," Jack said at last, his tone reluctant, "that this forest could take me home."
Lora nodded, draping the torn cloak over her shoulders. "Indeed it can. Ever since legend of your quest first reached my ears I have been searching for the proper road to take you back to your own time. I believe I have found it and now need only show you the way."
Jack's heart stopped for a moment, his breath catching in his throat. Was it possible? Was he really going home at long last? After all the struggle and the fighting and the disappointments, dare he hope this time he will finally find success?
All at once, Jack suddenly saw in his mind the beautiful forest around him being ravaged by Aku, the demon's laughter echoing across a scorched and desolate landscape that once held such beauty. If he left this place to return to his own time, what would happen to the forest in his absence?
Closing his eyes, Jack sighed.
"I am deeply sorry," Jack said, his voice full of remorse, "but I cannot accept your offer."
"What?" Lora's stoic features yielded slightly as she turned startled eyes to Jack. "Why not?"
"I cannot leave your forest defenseless," he answered, bowing deeply. "I cannot leave you at the mercy of Aku."
There was a pause, and for a moment he feared the Guardian would be angry with him, but instead, she laughed. A bright, musical sound that seemed to startle even her for a moment. Clearing her throat, Lora spoke again.
"Dear Samurai," she said, clearly amused. "I had been defending this forest for centuries before you came along, and I will defend it for centuries more. No, the best thing you can do for my forest, for this world, and for every world that has reason to fear Aku is do as you have planned all along. Go back to the past and destroy Aku, before his evil has time to fester in this world!"
Her voice held such vindictive intensity towards the end that Jack was momentarilly stunned. Ashamed, he bowed his head more deeply than ever, daring not meet the Guardian's eyes for a full five minutes.
"I deeply apologize for my foolishness," he told her, and the Guardian bowed her head slightly in return.
"No worries, Samurai. Come, we best get started on our way."
As Jack rose to follow, he looked once more at the splendor of the forest world around him, the sense of peace filling him again.
"Truly your forest is amazing to behold," the Samurai said reverantly, watching butterflies dance through the air between shifting sunbeams. "I wish I could have had a greater opportunity to experience it."
Lora cast him a look over her shoulder, studying him a moment before looking ahead again. "I imagine you'll have plenty of time to experience it in the days ahead."
Jack stopped, staring at her in confusion. "Days?" he asked.
"Well, yes," the Guardian replied, turning to face him. "Unlike Aku, I lack the ability to simply open a portal that will send you back in time. We will need to follow the proper road, and that will take days at the very least--more likely weeks."
Jack stared at her in wonder for a moment, this world surprising him yet again. Bowing his head slightly to her, he uttered an apology for his ignorance which Lora brushed aside.
"We are all ignorant," she told him. "That is the one great law of life--nobody is perfect and everyone is ignorant. You needn't apologize to me for existing, Samurai."
"Please," he replied with a smile, "call me Jack."
It was good to know there was still some place in this world that Aku could not destroy.
Jack walked along a path mulched with the fallen leaves and twigs of the trees above, the dappled sunlight dancing across the forest floor like faerie lights, as though beckoning him onward, deeper into the forest. What secrets did this place hold, Jack wondered to himself, and would he ever have the opportunity to find out?
Suddenly, a shadow dropped from the trees above and landed on the ground in front of Jack, causing the Samurai to back away and draw his sword as he stared at the stranger before him.
A cloaked figure with a face hidden in shadows sat crouched before him. With all the stealth of a cat, it had dropped from above without a sound, the leaves scattering in the wind of his descent. His tattered cloak settled around his crouching form, his eyes hidden in the shadows of his hood.
"Who are
you? What do you want?" Jack
demanded, taking another step backwards as the
stranger stood and faced
him. Holding his gloved hands before him, he closed his fist
around empty air, a black sword materializing out nothingness, the
western-style blade morphing into a Samurai sword to match Jack's. The
Samurai's eyes widened as the strange warrior conjured the sword, but
he did not make any move as yet. "Please--perhaps this is a
misunderstanding? I do not wish to fight you."The stranger did not answer him. All around them, the forest grew still, as though the trees themselves were breathlessly awaiting the next move. Suddenly the warrior leapt at Jack, a blur of movement as he brought the black blade down with a powerful swing toward's Jack's head. The Samurai blocked the blow easilly, the sound of singing metal breaking the silence of the forest. Jack pushed the warrior back before swinging his sword at the stranger's neck, the blade glinting in the sunlight as he sliced.
The warrior leaned back, gracefully dodging the slicing move by the Samurai, then turned around and imitated the exact move precisely, forcing Jack to dodge backwards. Stunned, Jack hesitated for a moment, trying to determine the nature of his assailant.
"Who are you!?" he demanded. "Why are you attacking me?"
The cloaked figure remained mute, leaping at Jack again with another slice of the black blade. Jack deflected it, but the warrior was swift, and sent him sprawling backwards with a kick to his middle. As Jack laid upon the ground, struggling to catch his breath again, the vision of his home suddenly flashed into his mind. He thought of all the people in his time and this one that were counting on him, depending on him to defeat Aku. Misunderstanding or not, he could not allow himself to be slain by this warrior. He would fight!
As the cloaked warrior descended on him, Jack yelled and leapt to his feet, slicing his sword at the stranger's middle. To his astonishment, the warrior leapt clear of the blade, launching himself straight into the canopy of tree branches above. Jack followed, his ability to "jump good" serving him well. He landed on a branch opposite the cloaked warrior, sword at the ready as he glared at his assailant.
"I will NOT let you win!"
The stoic mouth of the warrior curved upward slightly, but the eyes remained hidden in shadow and the smile quickly faded again. Launching from the branch, the warrior leapt at Jack, striking at him once more with the slicing action. Jack dodge back and swung his sword around, attempting to force the warrior off-balance, but the cloaked figure seemed more at home in the trees than on the ground, and he dodged the Samurai's efforts easilly.
The battle raged on for what seemed an eternity. Every move Jack made, the warrior duplicated with expert precision, as though he could learn Jack's techniques even as they were being used. The stranger moved with grace and certainty through the tree tops, barely shaking the branches of the arboreal arena as he deftly deflected Jack's efforts to disable him.
With each strike that missed its mark, each blow that was deflected, Jack grew more and more determined to win. His topknot had long since worked its way loose, his black hair flying free in the wind as he and the cloaked warrior dueled in the canopy. Despite the situation, Jack could not help but admire the skill of this enigmatic warrior. For every move he made, it seemed the warrior was ready for it, and not only that, but learned from it as well. Jack was almost certain the cloaked one had been completely unfamiliar with his fighting style until today--the warrior had yet to use a single move typical of the style without Jack using it first. With the ability to learn his moves as he fought, Jack knew he would have to defeat this warrior quickly. Making up his mind at last, he feinted a strike at the warrior's neck but instead shifted into a disarming move. Caught off his guard, the warrior lost his grip on the black blade. The dark sword spun away into empty space as Jack dove in to strike the final blow.
The warrior dodged and kicked at Jack's middle, nearly knocking him from the branch. It seemed that even without a sword, this would be a formbidable foe. Jacked regained his balance and then struck out relentlessly, the cloaked warrior scurrying backwards across the branch as Jack swung at him. Jack swung the sword with a fierce shout just as the warrior backflipped away from him, the blade making contact. Jack could hear the sound of ripping fabric as the cloak fell away, temporarilly blocking the warrior from his view. Jack charged forward, ready to attack again, but as the cloak vanished into the forest below, Jack found he couldn't move.
The warrior before him was tall and lean, wearing clothing as worn and tattered as the cloak that now lay abandoned on the forest floor. But for all the sorry state of the clothing, the warrior was beautiful.
She was lean and strong, looking no older perhaps than her late teens, but her hair was as silver as moonlight and her skin as pale as a lilly. Her cheeks were flushed slightly from the fight, her intensely green eyes shining in the afternoon sun. For a moment, she just stood there, her face stoic as she regarded the Samurai.
"Well done, Samurai Jack," she said at last, her voice dulcet and sweet as birdsong as she bowed her head slightly. "You are everything your legend said you would be and more."
Her words snapped Jack from his trance, his bemused expression vanishing instantly to be replaced with a furious glare of determination.
"Who are you?" he demanded again. "I demand to know why you attacked me!"
The woman's gaze lowered slightly, and though there was no real shift in her expression, Jack sensed the most genuine remorse in her eyes.
"And you have a right to," she replied, her voice apologetic and her words deflating Jack's fury almost instantly. "I apologize for assaulting you, but it was necessary. I could not risk revealing myself to you until I knew for sure you were not an agent of Aku."
"You are also an enemy of Aku?" Jack said, stunned.
"Do you need more proof than this?" The woman's gloved hand brushed at a cut in her tunic near her neck, precicesly where Jack's sword had made contact. Though by the looks of her tunic, the blow had been deep enough to cause a mortal wound, there was no mark on her pale skin. "Your sword does not cut me."
Jack considered her words for a moment before lowering his eyes and sheathing his sword.
"My sword cannot harm the pure of heart--your words must be truthful."
The strange woman nodded once before continuing, her voice soothing and musical as she spoke.
"My name is Lora, and I am the Guardian of this forest. Aku has tried many times to take my forest for himself, sometimes by force--sometimes by trickery. I knew it would not be beneath him to impersonate you in order to capture me, so I could not risk approaching you openly."
"Why does Aku want your forest so badly?" Jack asked, looking about at the pristine wilderness surrounding him.
"Surely you must know the nature of my forest, or you would not be here yourself," the Guardian replied, sighing at Jack's blank expression. "My forest is a Nexus point--a crossroad of space and time. If Aku posessed control of my forest, he would be able to poison countless worlds with his evil. As the Guardian of this realm, it is my duty to protect the passageways here from creatures like Aku, and though he has tried many methods to capture me and my forest, he has always failed. I have thwarted him by remaining two steps ahead at all times. This is why I attacked you, Samurai--I couldn't be sure you were genuine until I saw your strength for myself."
"So this fight...was all just a test?"
"This fight was one of three tests," Lora replied, emerald eyes staring intently at him.
"The bridge!" Jack exclaimed. "And the dragon?"
"Yes," she replied. "There are three things, Samurai, which you are most renowned for above all else--your courage, your compassion, and your strength. The first two were easy enough to test--I needed only to place pre-existing obstacles in your path. The third, however, was more tricky. I had to confront you personally to test your strength, and I couldn't have you softening your blows for concern of my safety. I needed to test your pure, righteous fury, and that is what I did. You are a tremendous warrior."
Jack felt warmth creep into his cheeks as he smiled. "You are a very good warrior as well," he replied. "I have never battled anyone who posesses the grace and intellect you have."
The Guardian blinked in apparent surprise, and the corners of her mouth turned upward slightly in a subtle smile as a faint, rosey hue touched her pale cheeks.
"Thank you," she replied, looking down at the ground. "You are most generous in your words, but I fear I posess no real talent with the sword--I can only imitate what I see, and as you found, it left me vulnerable."
Before Jack could respond to that, she leapt from the branch and landed neatly in a crouch on the ground below, picking up the torn remains of her cloak. As Jack joined her on the ground, he winced and bowed apologeticly.
"I am sorry for the damage I have done to your property. I will see that it is mended," he said, and Lora smiled gently in response.
"No worries, Samurai--it was coming time for a new one anyway. It will do as it is until I find another."
There was a silence as Lora gathered up her sword and sheathed it into empty space, the hilt vanishing as it had appeared.
"I was told," Jack said at last, his tone reluctant, "that this forest could take me home."
Lora nodded, draping the torn cloak over her shoulders. "Indeed it can. Ever since legend of your quest first reached my ears I have been searching for the proper road to take you back to your own time. I believe I have found it and now need only show you the way."
Jack's heart stopped for a moment, his breath catching in his throat. Was it possible? Was he really going home at long last? After all the struggle and the fighting and the disappointments, dare he hope this time he will finally find success?
All at once, Jack suddenly saw in his mind the beautiful forest around him being ravaged by Aku, the demon's laughter echoing across a scorched and desolate landscape that once held such beauty. If he left this place to return to his own time, what would happen to the forest in his absence?
Closing his eyes, Jack sighed.
"I am deeply sorry," Jack said, his voice full of remorse, "but I cannot accept your offer."
"What?" Lora's stoic features yielded slightly as she turned startled eyes to Jack. "Why not?"
"I cannot leave your forest defenseless," he answered, bowing deeply. "I cannot leave you at the mercy of Aku."
There was a pause, and for a moment he feared the Guardian would be angry with him, but instead, she laughed. A bright, musical sound that seemed to startle even her for a moment. Clearing her throat, Lora spoke again.
"Dear Samurai," she said, clearly amused. "I had been defending this forest for centuries before you came along, and I will defend it for centuries more. No, the best thing you can do for my forest, for this world, and for every world that has reason to fear Aku is do as you have planned all along. Go back to the past and destroy Aku, before his evil has time to fester in this world!"
Her voice held such vindictive intensity towards the end that Jack was momentarilly stunned. Ashamed, he bowed his head more deeply than ever, daring not meet the Guardian's eyes for a full five minutes.
"I deeply apologize for my foolishness," he told her, and the Guardian bowed her head slightly in return.
"No worries, Samurai. Come, we best get started on our way."
As Jack rose to follow, he looked once more at the splendor of the forest world around him, the sense of peace filling him again.
"Truly your forest is amazing to behold," the Samurai said reverantly, watching butterflies dance through the air between shifting sunbeams. "I wish I could have had a greater opportunity to experience it."
Lora cast him a look over her shoulder, studying him a moment before looking ahead again. "I imagine you'll have plenty of time to experience it in the days ahead."
Jack stopped, staring at her in confusion. "Days?" he asked.
"Well, yes," the Guardian replied, turning to face him. "Unlike Aku, I lack the ability to simply open a portal that will send you back in time. We will need to follow the proper road, and that will take days at the very least--more likely weeks."
Jack stared at her in wonder for a moment, this world surprising him yet again. Bowing his head slightly to her, he uttered an apology for his ignorance which Lora brushed aside.
"We are all ignorant," she told him. "That is the one great law of life--nobody is perfect and everyone is ignorant. You needn't apologize to me for existing, Samurai."
"Please," he replied with a smile, "call me Jack."
Samurai
Jack, Aku, and all
related characters and story lines
are copyright Cartoon Network.
Lora the Forest Guardian, the Forest of Shadows, Fonnie, Lenmana, and all other related stories and characters are copyright Prairieghost a.k.a. Lydia A. C. Jacobs.
Lora the Forest Guardian, the Forest of Shadows, Fonnie, Lenmana, and all other related stories and characters are copyright Prairieghost a.k.a. Lydia A. C. Jacobs.