The Samurai Called Jack

by MetalJrock

XIII: Jack's Reflection

After he was done gazing at the temple, the samurai took a brief sprint towards it, until he was able to make it to the entrance.

Jack stepped into the dark temple as fast as he could, panting. The samurai held his knees and reached into his bag again, taking a sip of his water. He noticed he was finally running out again and planned to refill once he exited. He put his water back.

Deciding it was better to not carry too much weight, and to not anything get damaged while he was inside, Jack discarded his bag and put it at the entrance of the ancient locale.

'It is too quiet in here...' the samurai noticed. His hand was once more placed firmly upon the hilt of his magic sword. 'I must exercise caution while I am here as well.'

Taking a small step forward, Jack checked the tiled flooring of the dimly-lit hallway, and then turned his attention to the holes on the wall. He could tell that it must be an arrow trap, just like ones he had encountered before. Unfortunately, just like the others, he couldn’t tell which tile would set it off. Deciding to keep going, he held out his sword in front of him and continued walking, hoping that he wouldn't set off the trap.

Another step. Jack inhaled. He wasn't scared. He had done this plenty of times before. It was only a matter of dodging the trap just right without sustaining injury.

This time, when Jack's foot touched the stone floor, the tile pressed down upon contact. The samurai's eyes narrowed, knowing what was about to happen. An arrow came out from one of the holes and he leaned back, dodging it. A few more and he ducked underneath them. They barely grazed his hair. More came and this time, Jack took the time to slice them before they reached him.

Then, Jack rolled away from the arrows, perfectly avoiding any projectile that was thrown at him, and even managed to cut any remaining arrows before they hit him. Somersaulting to a knee, the human samurai sighed and placed his sword back into its sheath, where he knew it would be taken out again should he need it.

He made it past the trap.

After taking his time to recuperate, the samurai saw a dark hallway with a set of stairs leading down into the underground. Grabbing a torch that was on the wall to light the way, Jack proceeded to follow where they would lead.
****
In the hallway, as he continued downwards, he saw hieroglyphics on the wall that seemed to detail how this temple came to be and what it was for. It seems that unlike the other places he had been in Equestria, where everything was made by ponies, this temple was made by creatures that appeared to be part eagle and part lion. He assumed that they must have been griffons.

From what he could see, this temple must have been made by the griffons as a place to worship whatever gods they had, but was abandoned after the first piece of the Chronos Compass came. Especially after several unsuccessful attempts to take it for themselves.

It took little time to reach the bottom, where he saw a flimsy wooden door. The samurai used his magic blade to break it into pieces.

'What awaits me in here?' thought Jack, standing upright from a hunched position.

It looked to be a simple hallway, like the entrance. The samurai closed his eyes and then went back to making his way through the temple. After a few moments, Jack made his way through a stone entrance, and found himself in a large square room. There was a small crack on the ceiling, being the only source of light for him.

Looking around, Jack saw something on the floor in the center of the room. There was a message inscribed in stone. And next to the message was what appeared to be glass. The samurai saw his own reflection looking at him.

‘Why is there a mirror placed here?’ he wondered.

Choosing to figure things out, Jack knelt down and read the message aloud.

“The trial of reflection...The key lies within this panel. To obtain it, you must face your dark inner self. Peace requires balance, and balance requires understanding of your limits. Should you succeed in facing your dark self, the treasure is yours."

Jack rubbed a finger on his chin. "What does it mean? My dark self?" he repeated to himself.

He stood up, seeing his reflection and the glass shake. Strangely, the samurai's reflection gave him a look of disgust, which suprised Jack when he witnessed this. The glass panel continued to shake as something began to materialize itself into existence.

The samurai jumped back, seeing a figure in his stature form across from him. The dark light faded, and Jack was taken aback. This stranger looked like him, but his eyes were blood-shot, his kimono was black with red trimmings, his hair was unkempt and down to his shoulders and a nasty sinister smirk was seen on his features. Again, there was a sword strapped to him and electricity flared on his body as he formed.

Instantly, Jack revealed his magic sword. "You! I thought I got rid of you for good!"

The evil Jack smirked, "You fool! You cannot rid me from yourself. It is who you are." he gestured a hand to his chest, "I exist because you allow me to. I am your rage. Aku has tormented you time and time again, and now you're putting an innocent world in his crossfires! You cannot live with yourself, idiot!"

Jack glared at Mad Jack, "I am running out of options. Time and time again, Aku has averted my chances in returning to my home and original period. I will do what it takes to end his tyranny. You do not represent who I am."

Mad Jack chuckled darkly, "A defiant fool till the end. You should know by now, my loathsome copy, that such behavior will do you no good. I told you once before I was born from Aku's magic based from your hidden rage that you keep within,” he pointed his own dark blade in Jack's direction, “It seems the magic of this world is great as well!"

The good samurai clenched his fists, "No! You are nothing like me!"

Growling, Mad Jack leaped in the air, raising his sword over Jack's head. Jack raised his own blade to deflect the attack.

CLANG!

The dark samurai hopped back to the floor. With a scream he swung his sword horizontally, where Jack blocked it again, moving his arm down slightly so that the middle of the blade faced the tip of his counterpart's. White sparks flashed with each strike and Jack gritted his teeth as Mad Jack laughed, halting the fight as he hopped.

"You think yourself a hero? You're only wandering around for your own purpose, to get back to your time!"

"I will do what is right to ensure Aku's end once and for all,” Jack yelled back, "You cannot cloud my mind with doubt now, false me!"

Mad Jack cackled, driving his sword forward, where Jack moved his body away from it.

"Such an idiotic hero. You turned your back on the only people capable of helping you in this world," another clang echoed across the large room as their swords slashed again, "To come here alone was a mistake!"

"This does not concern them! I wish to leave little impact here for good reason! If Aku were to find out I'm here..." Jack started to say, kicking his counterpart back slightly.

Putting a finger to his head, Mad Jack smirked, "That is the doubt within you, weak samurai!"

Jack yelled, slashing Mad Jack. In response, the dark samurai slashed vertically, tearing Jack's robes slightly, leaving a small hole.

The good samurai scowled, "They and the rest of this land would be targets! I cannot take that risk!"

"Not taking that risk will be your undoing!" Mad Jack cackled, hoping to land a strike on his opposite. But the good samurai saw the attack coming and elbowed his dark counterpart in the face, making him flinch in pain. "You--!"

The good samurai exhaled, and focused upon where Mad Jack would strike. Another vertical strike came from Mad Jack. Jack knew that he had to stop his counterpart on his own, like he had done so before.

CLANG!
****
"Hey! I found Jack's bag. Why would he leave it here?" Spike wondered. The Equestrians had finally arrived at the temple they knew Jack was at.

"Perhaps it would be a lighter weight to carry." Rarity suggested.

Carefully trotting down the hallways, Applejack observed the stepped on tile and the arrows lying about on the floor. "Looks to me, he's already been here. And made it too.”

"Yep. Definitely one of those ancient temple junk traps." Rainbow quipped.

Twilight nodded, "Then he must be close by." she closed her eyes, focusing her magic so that light particles of energy lit up her horn, allowing them to see easier.

Fluttershy shuddered, not knowing what lied ahead.

“It's okay, Fluttershy. From the looks of it, Jack already made his way near the end." Twilight assured.

"Who knows what he's up to by now.” Starlight hummed.

The Equestrian heroes by then moved on, knowing that they weren’t going to be having a problem with traps. After a few minutes, they came across the dark hallway with the set of stairs inside. They knew that Jack had obviously gone down.
****
The ponies and dragon wandered down the stairs when they spotted splinters of wood from the door.

"Looks like Jackie was definitely here!" Pinkie deduced, wearing a detective's hat and holding a magnifying glass.

"Yeah, I can tell." Rainbow muttered with a roll of her eyes.

The group continued on through the seemingly empty hallway, and heard the echo of a strange metal sound.

“What is that?" the yellow pegasus gulped in fear.

"Must be Jack." Twilight realized. The group got into a sprint and found themselves in the large barely lit room.

CLANG!

Spike raised a claw, "That's the sound!"

"But where's Jack?" Rarity wondered.

Turning their heads, the Equestrians saw their new samurai friend. But what shocked them to the point of a gasp was that across from him, there was a dark-clothed human that looked like him. They were in the middle of a sword fight. Obviously, the group of friends were taken aback by this sudden development and watched the duel for only a moment.

"Woah! Double trouble!" Pinkie gasped. "Is there another Mirror Pool here?"

When Jack heard Pinkie’s sudden exclamation, he immediately turned his head to find the source of the voice. He was shocked to find that his new friends followed him here, along with a couple of new ponies he had not yet met. He came out of his shocked state quickly when he turned to find Mad Jack once again attacking him. He jumped out of the way to dodge his opponent.

Comments

[Booster Spice]

A perfect cup of tea. It tastes terrible.

[PileOfTrailMix]

Gotta get back, back to the past, Samurai jack!

~2017

[FleetlordAvatar]

I loved Jack V Mad Jack, this chapter brings back memories.

[Boltstrike58]

Mad Jack? Oh, boy, here we go again.

[Silent Echo]

finally arrived at the temple they knew Jaxk was at.

jack.

[Rictor Yagami]

I just read the newest chapter and this was great. I remember that episode of Jack facing his evil self from when Aku created him from all the rage he had. I hope Jack can beat his evil counterpart again because I know this will not be easy. Plus I hope Twilight and the others don't get involve with the battle because they could get hurt and I know for sure Mad Jack won't hesitate to attack them.

I wonder if Jack will meet with Daring Do in future chapters? But no Quibble Pants please, sorry that guy was annoying as hell and I honestly wanted to punch him. But he did become okay in the end but I still don't like him.

This is getting good and I hope to see the next update soon.

Good Luck MetalJrock2299.

[MetalJrock]

8136182 That's fortune cookie nonsense!

8136248 Wa-Cha!

8136274
8136293 Jack vs. Mad Jack is one of my favorite early episodes. And I like the fact that they technically brought him back as Jack's conscience.

8137002 Yeah, Mad Jack will have no qualms with killing them, after all, he may have been the conscience talking to Jack when he killed the Daughters of Aku to remove his doubt.

And I can't say much about any future characters, but I'm not putting in Quibble Pants (I somewhat like the character, but he has no place here). But I can't wait till after this arc to introduce a certain fan-favorite to the mix.

[Rictor Yagami]

8142721 Can't wait to see who that fan favorite is.