Samurai Jack Saga

> "*Long ago in a distant land, I, Aku, the shape shifting master of darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil. But a foolish samurai warrior wielding a magic sword stepped forth to oppose me. Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time, and flung him into the future where my evil is law. Yet, he returned with help from a daughter of my very existence, and destroyed the future that was Aku. Now, a Syndicate of another dimension, each with their own mortal enemies, have come to warn me of my demise, and undo the story of the great Samurai Jack!*"
> ― Aku's Altered Intro Monologue
>
>

The Samurai Jack Saga is the third arc of the Toon Wars fan-series following the Nicktoons and Gumball Sagas. Occurring sometime after the last arc, the four Nicktoons (Jimmy Neutron, Danny Phantom, Tucker, and Invader Zim) enter the world of Samurai Jack after he had returned from defeating Aku by going back to the past at the end of his series. But after fighting against Vlad and the reserve Syndicate troops, it's revealed that the Syndicate had gone back to the past to warn Aku of his eventual demise and ended up creating an even worse future for both dimensions, leaving it up to the Nicktoons with Jack and Ashi to stop them. This saga was released around March 23rd of 2018 on both Fanfiction.net and Deviantart, and re-released on Wattpad on November of the same year. Later on, it would also be re-released on Archive of Our Own on January 2019 as part of the *Toon Wars: A Crossover Series* collection, serving as the trilogy finale until the Final Days, which had its own story post.

## Story

*Spoilers for Samurai Jack Season 5*

Taking place sometime after the Gumball Saga, the Jimmy Neutron summons Danny Fenton, Tucker Foley, and Invader Zim to help him help Samurai Jack retake his village from Vlad's remaining Syndicate forces. While there, the Nicktoons' abilities remind Jack of his friends from the future before he corrected it by going back to the past and killing the evil shapeshifting demon Aku. Since the Syndicate had lost Volcano Island and used up the Morphoid essence to overpower the Mawgu in the precious arc, they've run out of troops and Vlad is left with nothing but himself. However, after being defeated once again by Danny with Jack's help, Vlad confidently opens a Time Portal stating that he was merely distracting them. When going through the time portal, the Nicktoons along with Jack and his father travel to the past just before Jack could return and deliver the final blow to Aku thanks to Ashi. Calamitous had warned Aku of his inevitable demise, and as a result, Aku took back his blood from Ashi to prevent her from time jumping and took to the skies to destroy the entire human race, killing future Jack and the Emperor along with the planet. The Nicktoons escape through a portal from VOX, taking Jack and Ashi with them to try and go back to prevent this from happening. They also confirm that now that Jack and Ashi are in their universe, neither of them will disappear as a result of them leaving their own despite going back in time before a major change. But while with each other, they learn that rather than returning to Jimmy's lab, they've instead gone forward in time in a merged version of both their dimensions ruled by Aku and the Syndicate for over 30 years.

Meanwhile, back at the newly dubbed Toon Force H.Q in Retroville, the Toon Force are sent on a mission to Jump City to assist the Teen Titans to stop Gizmo's rampage with his giant mech robot. But sadly, they're left disappointed when they're annoyed by them, mistaking them for the originals. In the altered timeline, Ashi recovers from Aku's earlier attack, and though pissed that he got away with the villains of the Nicktoons, she is convinced by Jack to team up with them since they know more about time travel than the both of them do. Jimmy and Danny state that there's a number of ways they can all travel through time, but they need to find a working warp gate with the compatibility. Zim remembers that his home base has an Irken Device that can be used to install the necessary components needed for time travel.

The six of them use the gate in the mining shafts they've warped to from Jimmy's portal to get to Zim's version of Earth while at a tower in the city far from the station, the emoji alien named Hali hastily makes her way to an adult Anais Watterson to give her a valuable diamond. Anais rewards her with a dog biscuit to her annoyance and steps back in her throne room for a meeting with the Syndicate, getting congratulated by them for her years of service with them in finding precious resources for their new Time Drive. Though she expresses she's not the one who found the gem and credits Hali, she continues on with the Syndicate's next plan to go to Zim's version of Earth to copy her operations there. The Nicktoons along with Ashi and Jack warp there and trek through the landfill of XJ Units and other inert machines, eventually making their way to Zim's abandoned base and finding his Warp Drive. Anais, in the meanwhile, locates Hali to accompany her to the landfill for finding the diamond. Both of them teleport to it and encounter the heroes trying to activate Zim's device. But the fact that there was no working portal to begin with on the planet makes Anais realize she's been played by the Syndicate and was going to be left to rot had she not found the Nicktoons. Despite her associates' betrayal, Anais still plans to take ownership of the planet and battles the Nicktoons to assert her dominance in her territory. But Jimmy manages to freeze her with his freeze ray and Jack and Ashi interrogate her to learn about the Syndicate's ultimate goal. With all of time and space now in jeopardy, the Nicktoons prepare to make their move to their enemies' home base at Aku's Tower, and Anais teams up with them to get back at her former associates with Hali by her side.

Back at Jump City, Timmy, Jenny, and Gumball help the Titans take on Gizmo when they're interrupted by Control Freak, who lures the Titans other than Starfire over to him. Starfire is left almost beaten by Gizmo forcing the Toon Force to act. After defeating him, the Toon Force check on Starfire and back with the other titans, who are being retold the events of past episodes of their series (Particularly "The Fourth Wall") and convinced that the Toon Force are only around to destroy them when their enemy reminds them that they're from worlds that are respected and well followed while this version of the titans are hated for the sake of it. Suddenly, Control Freak is shot dead and Starfire is injured by a stray missile from Tuesday X, whose come with numbers of rogue members of other worlds who assault both Jump City and Retroville as ordered by the Syndicate before their departure. Rudy Tabootie catches the heroes and the rogue characters threaten to kill them but are immediately saved by the rest of the Toon Force, who're taking the fight to both worlds. During the battle, many characters start acting strange as though they're being manipulated and corrupted at once, showing odd supernatural abilities, while in Retroville's end, they escalate the fight; only ending when Nicole takes on the last remaining characters in the base and annihilates them. In Jump City, Rudy and Tuesday are incapacitated and the other rogue fighters are killed when Jazz bombshells the empty war-torn streets with the Fenton Rocket. However, after Rudy is heavily wounded by Timmy with his wand, he instantly forgets why he's fighting and comes back to his original personality as though he was under some sort of mind control. Timmy and the others bring them back to base along with the injured Starfire for repairs. But in the process, they lose the coordinates to return to Jump City due to incredible damage done to the Universe Portal Machine and the Dimensional Monitor from the battle.

In the altered timeline, the Nicktoons start modifying the mining shaft's portal with Zim's device, but are almost interrupted when Calamitous sends this timeline's version of Wulf after them. The Nicktoons use minimal force to defend themselves outside the cave until Tucker convinces him they're his friends and Jimmy uses his freeze ray to break the shock collar around his neck placed on him by the Syndicate. However, the collar was implanted with an explosive that completely destroys the mining shafts. Luckily, the others inside had teleported away with the Irken Device and are not far from Aku's Tower. The Nicktoons, now including Wulf, travel through the cities of the oppressed Retroville and Watterson Tower, learning more about its culture and what Anais does in this timeline for a living. Jack's team get lost when traveling through the autumn forests, but are briefly guided by a familiar White Wolf who points to the right direction when he considers Hali as a friend before he disappears.

Angered by their progress, the Syndicate send Scotsman out to kill Jack in the autumn forests. But after some convincing from him since he technically hasn't met him in this timeline, Scotsman agrees to help and Jack removes the explosive shock collar off his old friend. Tired, the group rest for a while on their journey and Ashi removes the stains of Aku's blood from her clothes and learns about Anais past when she converses with her, explaining that 30 years ago, the Disasteroid made its way to Elmore and Nicole sacrificed herself to destroy it before it could collide. However, the remains crashed onto the planet in smaller pieces, forcing Anais to work with Vlad Masters to restore the world. However, as the years went on, she became more greedy and self-righteous, treating others like a snobby dictator and focusing more on wealth and her intellect without any regard for the lives of others. All except Hali, whom she found stranded and in need of a home after losing her family and her village to a swarm of Beetle Drones since Jack was never around to stop them. In the meantime, Jack tells Hali the story of Momotaro and names her after the legend.

Following a brief chase through Anais' Tower, the Nicktoons travel across the red desert on a Hovercraft to reach Aku's Tower at the same time Jack's team arrive. Together, they storm the base and are cornered by hordes of new Syndicate Toybots and a controlled Flora and Bobert accompanied by Scaramouche. Scaramouche attacks Jack after being told by Aku that he killed him in the future while Jimmy and Anais fight Bobert and restore his original programming. Scotsman helps to free his daughter from the villains' shock collar and Jack tells Scaramouche the truth that Aku killed him when he got his sword back. Convinced, Scaramouche teams up with the samurai and the heroes make their way up to the top of the tower, only to get ambushed by the Daughters of Aku and the High Priestess, now under more of the influence of Aku's blood. Along with them, Mad Jack makes his return, revealing he was the Jack who was sent to the future prior to Aku altering it once Calamitous told him he would return. The High Priestess breaks the Irken Device needed to convert one of the base's portals into a Time Portal, forcing Zim to try and repair it with help from Momo. The other fighters defend them from the villains until all of them are eventually killed. Anais tells Momo to stay behind by the portal with the fixed device in case of an emergency, hoping she'd go through the warp tunnel.

Exhausted more than ever, the heroes make their way to the roof of the tower where Crocker and Calamitous have completed the Time Drive after gathering the resources needed for it. They along with Vlad explain how since the Nicktoons Saga, they've been saving Fairy World's magic to make the Toybots and new Morphoids before eventually using it to power the Time Drive, and used Anais to gather resources from other worlds, including Homeworld by killing all of its people and transferring their gems to the Syndicate's device. It was also Aku who sent the Disasteroid to Elmore and destroyed Amity Park with it, keeping the Ghost Zone safe to allow his servant Demongo to enslave it. Angered, the heroes battle the villains; Danny even managing to injure and capture Vlad with his Fenton Thermos after falling through multiple time portals opened by the Time Drive and accidentally overshadowing a dragon from one of them. Unfortunately, since the Time Drive is fully operational, the Syndicate use it to incapacitate everyone in the vicinity. Scotsman seizes the opportunity to slice open the compartment of the cannon containing Fairy World's essence, causing all its magic to be dispersed. Annoyed, Aku shoots a beam that paralyzes Scotsman from the waist down and prepares to deliver the final blow to everyone. Luckily, Momo discovers Jack's sword after he dropped it during the fight, and gets Bobert's help to bring it back. This, however, leads to Bobert being pinned down by the demon, and just before Aku could kill Momo with a heat beam, Anais pushes her out of the way and takes the shot through her breasts, killing her instantly. Enraged and driven by the Samurai Spirit, Momotaro wields Jack's sword and uses it to slice through Aku while he's sidetracked. After finally killing him, Momo and Bobert slice open the components of the Time Drive, shutting it down and freeing Rose Quartz' gem that reforms her body. She along with Jimmy and Danny corner Calamitous and Crocker and suck them in the Fenton Thermos with Vlad. However, Calamitous reminds them that although they're defeated, the Toon Wars still wage on.

Following the long fight, Jimmy remembers from conversations with Timmy that fairies could grant wishes to those who are miserable and deserve it most. Since Momo was incredibly sad for much of her childhood without her family and had lost the one who secretly did care for her and lost her life for, she makes a wish with the sound of her own voice that Anais would be resurrected. Restored to life, Anais hugs Momo, not realizing she had just died when she mistakenly thought jumping in the way would only inflict minimal damage. With all of time and space rescued, the heroes use the Irken Time Portal to go back to the past just before the Syndicate could arrive to warn Aku. They're all sucked into Danny's Fenton Thermos and Aku is slain when Jack and Ashi return from the original timeline (the show's final episode). The events of *Samurai Jack's* ending play out while the heroes tell Future Jack and Future Emperor what happened, giving Future Jack one last look at Ashi and his past self, finding comfort that Ashi is still alive. Before everyone can disappear from the change in history, Zim warps everyone back to their respective homes, taking the Samurai Team along with them to the Toon Force H.Q. where Timmy and the others explain all that went down in their absence. Though the Toon Force are left upset and unsure of things to come, Jimmy assures them, now more confident than ever, that they'll find a way to end the war. And thanks to Jack and the others from the altered timeline, he found new ideas of expansion.

## Chapters

1. Chapter 1: Back to the Past - March 23, 2018
2. Chapter 2: Lost in Time - March 24, 2018
3. Chapter 3: Deep Impact - March 30, 2018
4. Chapter 4: Toon Force GO - April 6, 2018
5. Chapter 5: Battle of the Ghosts - April 7, 2018
6. Chapter 6: Battle of the Blades - April 8, 2018
7. Chapter 7: Battle of Intelligence - April 15, 2018
8. Chapter 8: Daughters of Aku/Mad Jack - April 24, 2018
9. Chapter 9: Endgame - April 25, 2018
10. Chapter 10 Ending - April 25, 2018

## Characters

### Main Characters

* Jimmy Neutron
* Danny Phantom
* Samurai Jack
* Ashi
* Alt. Anais Watterson
* Hali/Momotaro
* Tucker Foley
* Invader Zim

### Toon Force

* Timmy Turner
* Gumball Watterson
* Jenny Wakeman
* Sam Manson
* Nicole Watterson
* Yuki Yoshida
* Penny Fitzgerald
* VOX
* Karen
* Plankton
* Maddie Fenton
* Jack Fenton
* El Tigre/Manny Rivera
* Goddard

### Altered Timeline

* Scotsman
* Flora
* Scaramouche
* Wulf
* Invader Spleen
* White Wolf

### Others

* Robin
* Raven
* Cyborg
* Starfire
* Beastboy

### Villains

* Aku
* Vlad Masters/Plasmius
* Denzel Crocker
* Professor Calamitous
* Control Freak
* Gizmo

### Corrupted Worlds

* Tuesday X
* Rudy Tabootie
* Johnny Test
* Dukey
* Alvin
* Theodore
* Simon
* Winx Fairies
* Ren
* Stimpy
* Hero 108

## Settings

### Main Timeline

* Retroville (Toon Force H.Q.)
* Jump City
* Titans Tower

### Altered Timeline

* Mining Shafts
* Oppressed Retroville/Aku's City
* Watterson Tower
* Aku's Tower/Syndicate Base
* Red Desert
* Autumn Forests
* Elmore (Altered Past)

## Events

* Battle of Jump City
* Syndicate Timeline

## Time Placement

The Samurai Jack Saga is special in that it occurs after numerous events within two different timelines. However, in the Toon Wars Timeline, it occurs months after the Gumball Saga and the ending of *Samurai Jack Season 5*. Following the end of the crossover, certain stories of Toon Wars: Shorts occur,as well as Magiswords: Echoes 2 years after the fact. 3 years from then, Toon Wars: The Final Days begins, and is the conclusion of the Toon Wars as a whole.

## Reception

Being the third entry in Toon Wars and the continuation of Samurai Jack Season 5, the Samurai Jack Saga became far more successful with its art and literature than the past two arcs, including the steadily developing Magiswords Trilogy series. The biggest challenges faced during production that greatly worried Frozarburst were including Teen Titans GO while staying neutral and including much of Jack's allies from the series without changing the overall ending of it despite fans hoping for a better version. Luckily, many of these concerns were met with praise from audiences, feeling that Frozar's decision to make an alternate timeline and his attempt at remaining unbiased with TTG were for the better. Many have especially enjoyed the character of Hali, who would later become Momotaro, as Frozar was continuing to develop minor characters into more primary roles.

Being the longest arc at the time of release, followers have felt it could have been potentially shortened at times or some scenes could have been altered for better pacing as certain ones such as the Nicktoons' journey through Aku's city were included for time. Some have even felt that the Battle of Jump City was handled to be much darker than battles prior, which was the intent, but not bound by the limits of the shows included. This caused some characters to die or be beaten more brutally than they would in a normal scenario. Still, the battles also proved to benefit the tone of the arc, as it showcased the Toon Force at their worst and the true nature of the war as a whole. Fans were also expecting Teen Titans GO to become Teen Titans Gone like most creators would attempt to fulfill. But Frozarburst, staying true to his neutral side in the argument, kept the show alive but developed a new character arc centered around the Titans and Starfire. This was most unique for many, as most creators would either prefer to kill off the Titans of the spinoff, or simply not include them.

Thanks to the choices made during the saga, Toon Wars garnered an overwhelming number of views and praise, which would later help to benefit the previous two sagas and Magiswords: Echoes. Each of which would eventually be surpassed by Toon Wars: The Final Days, which was the conclusion of the series as a whole.

## Trivia

●    The theme color of the saga is red in homage to Samurai Jack

* The Samurai Jack saga would’ve been short and drastically toned down, seemingly breaking the fourth wall and showing the Cartoon Network dimension in a highly distorted state, with Samurai Jack and a few new characters for Season 5 trying to complete the series elsewhere with the Toon Force’s help. Eventually, Jack would return to let the Toon Force know that he had successfully defeated Aku. The idea was later scrapped and remade entirely from scratch.
* Like the Nicktoons Saga, this arc ends on a rather sour note, stating that despite the Syndicate's defeat for the last time, Jack reunited with Ashi and his friends, Momo getting a family again, and the Toon Force now having new recruits, the war still continues and more worlds are likely to turn away from them more than ever. Though bittersweet in the end, Jimmy still keeps a sign of hope with his expansion project, which would later prove to have been successful in Toon Wars Shorts and the Final Days Saga for a span of 5 years.

●    The concept used in this part of Toon Wars was based on a pre-existing one made prior for an earlier version of the series. It would've been named Ghost War and center around the return of Dan Phantom, introducing the concept of time travel and Adult Anais and Wulf. Like the other draft above, this one was scrapped.

●    Chronologically, this arc takes place sometime after the events of Samurai Jack Season 5, where peace had finally been restored after Aku’s defeat. But when the Toon Force as well as Jack and the Emperor go back in time to ensure Aku’s defeat at the hands of
past Jack and Ashi, it takes place in the first and last episode of the series
just after Aku sends Jack to the future and just before Aku dies when Jack returns.

○    Ashi, the Scotsman, and anyone else from Aku’s future throughout Samurai Jack would’ve returned to the Toon Force in the last saga due to the corruption of the worlds in both dimensions instead of this saga like in the early draft. Alternatively, some of the cast of Samurai Jack return in this saga as part of an alternate timeline; with the exception of Ashi, who is really the same one from the series restored due to the Toon Force’s interference.

●    In the saga, it is expressed
multiple times how the ending of Samurai Jack could’ve been better as a
dialectic representation of the fanbase’s divided reception. When it came down
to Ashi and some of Jack’s friends returning for the Toon Wars, the choice was
to make it so that they can return without affecting the timeline and overall
canon of the concluded series. To do this, the Jack and Ashi throughout the arc
are the same characters from the ending of Samurai Jack just before they can
defeat Aku, merely taken out of their timeline along with the four Nicktoons
and are thus unaffected by the change in history and the ending of the series.
For Jack’s friends in the alternate future, they are also saved when they leave
with the Nicktoons to the Toon Force base and their timeline. Once the saga
reaches its end, Jack and Ashi do manage to defeat Aku (albeit with a little
help from their alternate counterparts and the Nicktoons) like in the series,
and the duo with the Nicktoons return with them to their dimension, thus
keeping the events of Samurai Jack in check while still saving Ashi and Jack.

●
According to Genndy, in Samurai
Jack, the emoji alien's name is Hali. But in Toon Wars, her name is Momo. The
reason for the change is because at the time, it was unknown whether it was a
fan name or an official name not heard on the show. So in Toon Wars, she says
she didnt have one before Jack named her after Momotaro, and in Toon Wars
Shorts, Momo reveals that it was the result of amnesia from being alone in the
harsh desert before she met Anais.

●
In one of the flashback scenes,
Rob would’ve returned for the arc to confront Anais about her actions but was
instead replaced with Larry; meaning that Rob was mostly used as a placeholder
name.

●
In one timeline, Ashi tricked Jack
into thinking she changed and killed both he and Aku so she could take over as
Empress. This would’ve been mentioned in the last chapter, but was cut out for
time. The idea of it, however, was inspired by a friend of mine.

●
The timeline where Vlad and Danny
fight in briefly is the setting of the battle on the Outcast Island in How to train your Hero by Frozarburst 2 years prior to Toon Wars. During the scene, the opening battle during Volume 3 between Berk and Android
118’s cyborg army plays out normally, with Vlad and Danny overshadowing a
Screaming Death and a Monstrous Nightmare, who would later become Firefly

○
After the battle, the Monstrous
Nightmare befriends the Toon Force and becomes Momo’s personal dragon. He goes
under two nicknames: Spark Byte and Firefly

●
The “In Your Face Dance,” as seen
in *Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 2*, was
going to make a comeback when the Syndicate are finally defeated, with Jack,
Ashi, Danny, and Zim performing the dance with Jimmy and replace the already
established scene of them being sucked into Danny’s Fenton thermos. But the
idea was rejected in favor of keeping the chapter consistent with its tone.

●
In one timeline, the events of
Mayozilla’s *Return of the Toybots* comic
begins, as referenced at the start of Chapter 25.

●
Rose Quartz, in this saga, is her
as soon as she reaches the Earth for the first time and fakes her death as Pink
Diamond, meaning that she hasn’t met Greg Universe yet. Strangely enough, when
interacting with the Toon Force and the alternate characters, she doesn’t
express much curiosity like she does in the main series.

●
The alternate Anais and Wulf hint
at a future relationship in the form of a makeshift version of the Wattersons,
though the clues are left in a vague humorous tone.

●
When working with the 20th chapter
of Toon Wars, *Toon Force GO,* the
intention was to make it so that the opinions about the show from the audience
would not affect how the events play out. As a result, however, rather than
blatantly calling them bad, the Toon force are merely annoyed by them but still
express that they do care for them and go to help, making it so that both sides
of the show (fans and haters) would be satisfied without being heavily
opinionated.

●
The episode “The Fourth Wall” of
Teen Titans Go is mentioned and used as part of the plot.

○
It is also shown in the 200th
episode of Teen Titans GO that the Titans have broken past the fourth wall, but
in this saga, it is stated that it wasn’t really a fourth wall break as they
are still animated within their own world and are scripted to do so regardless
whether or not they interacted with their creators. In other words, because
this is an episode, they haven’t breached their own reality yet. This is
especially implied when Control Freak says in the saga “If you had broke the
fourth wall like you said you did, you wouldn't be standing here,” or “You
claim you met your creators, but it didn't matter. You haven't changed.”

●
Anais was originally not supposed
to die and instead simply pretend she was limp until after Momo saves the day;
earlier versions even suggesting that this scene was not produced as a result
of Momo’s quick attack on Aku. In the final version, while she initially
intended to fake her own death while taking a shot for Momo like in the earlier
drafts, she actually does die but is revived thanks to the last of Fairy
World’s magic as a result of Momo’s wish.

●
Momo’s slaying of Aku was at first
much shorter than it is in this saga and was extended to give the characters
more of a challenge and depth. In it, she sliced Aku in half like in the final
draft, but was able to kill him then and there.

●
Momo was also chosen for the arc to
experiment with minor/background characters and make them into a major
character in a story. The first time this has happened was in Mighty Magiswords: Fusion Wars, which put more focus on the side characters of the
main show.

●
Originally, the Daughters of Aku,
the White Wolf, and Mad Jack were not characters scripted for the arc, but were
added in after the initial release of the first chapter.

○
In addition, the White Wolf’s
reaction to Momo is a reference to the story of Momotaro (Peach Boy). Though in
the end, he leaves to parts unknown. It is later revealed in the Final Days
saga that once the Time Drive began opening holes to other timelines, he was
sucked into one of them and was sent to Channel chaser Timmy’s world.

* Interestingly, Jimmy Neutron uses the same Fenton Thermos he had from Nicktoons Unite when Danny duplicated one
* The epilogue of the saga marks the debut of the Virus Entity heavily involved in Toon Wars: The Final Days
* Tucker notably is in his 10-year design made by Butch Hartman while Danny is still in the same default appearance until Magiswords: Echoes.