//------------------------------// // Aku // Story: The Samurai's End // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// A lone tower sat in the middle of an arid land, a tower that would instill fear into the heart of any that gazed upon it. The black walls oozed with evil, the spikes atop were adorned with the victims of the inhabitant’s wrath, and all across the land dreaded to even whisper the name of the demon that lived within. Aku, the shapeshifting master of darkness. And for any that were even remotely close to this tower, they say you could hear the ringing of evil bells that signaled your end. Yet inside the tower that was bathed in never ending flame and spikes, the only sound that could be heard was the ringing of Aku’s phone, which had been going off for about five minutes now. The shapeshifting master of darkness stalked out of one of his rooms, peeling the cucumbers off of his eyes while loathing the person that made him take time out of his spa day. “I swear some people just do not know how to be patient anymore. Hello, this is the tower of eternal suffering, Aku speaking,” Aku said as he picked the phone off of the receiver and held it to his…the side of his head. “What’s that? You’re looking for someone and wish to know if I have seen them? Fool, this is Aku, the shapeshifting…Ivana? What kind of name is Ivana.” “Blahblahblah.” “So you’re looking for a lady named Ivana? Well that is no help, do you know how many Ivana’s are in this universe?” Aku asked. “Give me a last name and maybe I will have heard of her. All you know is her last initial is P? Ivana P, eh. I do not recall any person coming to my tower with the name of…wait a moment. Ivana P. I wanna pee. THIS IS A PRANK CALL!” Click. “Insolent fool! First you prank call the mighty Aku, and then you dare to hang up on him!” Aku roared with a fury to shake his tower. “Whoever you are, mysterious caller, I will find you and send you into an eternal suffering! As soon as I finish my spa day. I swear, people have gotten so rude in this day and age.” Aku had just began to walk back to the room he had come from before a massive rainbow barrier cut him off from his room. A gasp of amazement escaped the demon’s lips as he spun around, finding the rainbow barrier everywhere and blocking off all of his exits. Could it be? Had the samurai somehow gotten in here undetected? He sensed a powerful magic and looked up to see six young women floating above him, each of them glowing with magical power. One looked like a cowboy and the other had confetti in her hair, but the others were mostly plain. But they were not who he had been expecting, so with a smile Aku calmed himself and regained his composure. “Ah, an attempt on my life. It has been a while since anyone aside from that samurai has tried to slay the great Aku,” Aku informed them. He then stretched his body until he stood above the ladies, gazing down at them with burning eyes. “You six poses a strange magic. Not one that can harm me, but a strange and powerful magic nonetheless. I must admit, it is nice to have would be assassins that are trying something new.” “Aku. The monster that has enslaved the entire world,” the lady with purple hair and a librarian’s outfit stated. “We have heard of you and your evil.” “I should hope so. If I enslaved an entire world and nobody heard of me, it would be disappointing. What’s the point in taking over a world if you don’t get a little recognition for it,” Aku asked with a laugh. “So let me guess. You are here to slay me to save the world, for the good of all mankind or perhaps to avenge someone that I have taken from you?” “You’re a monster of evil and darkness that cares nothing for the lives of others! Of course we’re here to stop you!” the rainbow haired lady yelled, but before she could move towards Aku the cowboy held out an army to stop her. “Yeah, we’d love nothing more than to stop ya ourselves. But we know our powers don’t work on ya,” the cowgirl admitted. “There’s only one thing in the world that can harm ya and none of us wield it.” “How intriguing. You know that your powers cannot stop me, but yet you come here to face me all the same,” Aku repeated, his eyes narrowing slightly. “Either you are the greatest fools in this world or you have a trick up your sleeves. Why are you here?” “Well, to stop ya, of course, but ah also wanted to see this world for mah honeymoon,” the cowgirl admitted with a shrug. “After all, it’s such a lovely planet and ah probably won’t get to see it a second time. So ah figured we’d swing by, help kill you and then spend some time looking around.” “Aw, how sweet, you came here for your honeymoon? Well, let it never be said that Aku cannot be nice when he feels like it,” Aku laughed. “There are so many places for you to see. The never-ending fires of suffering. The pit of eternal agony. The spiked cavern that never stops poking you. Which of those would you like to see first?” “Hmm, they all sound so interesting. Let me ask mah spouse. What do you think…Jack?” Aku knew it was impossible for him to go pale, yet he was certain his body had gone completely white as he turned around. There, standing behind him with sword in his hand and smile on his face was Jack. His eternal enemy. “Samurai Jack!” Aku roared before hurling a fist towards Jack. The samurai’s blade flashed and Aku roared in pain, his shadow fist having been cut to ribbons. “Aku. It has been quite some time,” Jack said as he walked towards the demon. “You look well, for a demon that is on his last day.” “Come now samurai, we have done this song and dance before,” Aku replied, but Jack could hear a nervous edge in his voice. “You say how you’ll slay me, I promise to kill you, we fight, you sometimes win, I fly away and we do it all again tomorrow. The only difference this time is that you brought along six hostages for me to use against you!” Aku whipped around and lashed out towards the cowgirl, knowing she was Jack’s weakness. Yet as his hand approached her a smaller rainbow barrier formed around her, disintegrating his hand and causing Aku to yelp with surprise. “You are slipping Aku. Did you truly believe I would bring my wife and her friends here unless I was certain that they would be able to handle you?” Jack asked. Aku glared down at Jack before he shifted into a massive monster and hurled himself at the rainbow barrier. He stuck it with all of his might, but the barrier held perfectly. He then shrunk to the size of a bug and started to look for any crack, but there was no way out. Once he was done looking Aku returned to his regular, giant form and gazed down and Jack, who had patently waited the whole time for him to finish. “So this is truly it, then?” Aku asked. “You have finally trapped me and forced my hand. Very well, samurai. You and me. One last time. To the death.” “As you say, Aku,” Jack replied. Aku snarled before his body shifted into a giant scorpion and he scuttled across the ground towards Jack, claws pinching and stinger raised high. Jack slid a foot back and held out his blade before him, a look of calm on his face. Aku snapped at Jack with his pincers, but the samurai’s blade swatted them away, staggering Aku. The demon snarled before h whipped his tail down at Jack, trying to pierce through his chest. Jack’s blade flashed once more and Aku howled in pain as his tail dropped to the floor. Aku’s form shifted once again, this time to a colossal beast with four arms. Aku bellowed as his swung all four arms in rapid succession at Jack, hoping to pummel the samurai to death. Yet with speed and precision that Aku could not match, Jack either deflected or dodged the strikes, the calm look in his face never leaving him. One of Aku’s strikes went wide and in a single leap Jack leapt onto Aku’s arm. The samurai dashed up the limb and aimed his blade for Aku’s head. The demon barely had time to shapeshift into a smaller form, just avoiding the lethal edge of Jack’s blade. Hundreds of tentacles erupted out of Aku and with a desperate roar he started to fling his limbs at Jack. A sea of darkness surrounded Jack as the number of tentacles blocked him from sight, yet the sound of his blade striking Aku’s limbs told everyone that he had yet to fall. After having hundreds of his limbs sliced off, Aku ceased his attack with a cry of pain, revealing the samurai who had yet to so much as change expression. “How? You were not this skilled the last time we battled,” Aku snarled. “You have changed, samurai. Something has changed you.” “Correct. I have no more doubts in me. I no longer have the burden that my father unintentionally placed upon my soul to hold me back. I know I will prevail,” Jack replied, before a thin smile crossed his face. “And of course, I have to look good in front of my wife.” A noise caught Jack’s attention and he turned to see a tentacle erupt from the ground. The limb stabbed itself at Jack’s heart and he began to lift his blade to deflect it, only to smile with a blast of rainbow magic disintegrated the limb. “Nice try, jackass, but none of yer sneak attack or trick are gonna work here,” the cowgirl called down to Aku. “Ah might be staying out of this fight because Jack asked me to, but don’t think fer a moment ah won’t rain magic hellfire down upon ya if ya try to cheat in any way. Ah have no qualms about kicking yer ass across this planet myself.” “Isn’t she wonderful?” Jack asked Aku, who was breathing heavily and was now barely taller than Jack. “And to think, I wouldn’t have met her had you not sent me into the future all of those years ago. In fact there are many people who I would have not had the honor of knowing if not for you.” “What are you trying to say?” Aku asked Jack. “You took my home from me. Took my family and history from me. Banished me to a future that I could never have foreseen and tormented me on a daily basis,” Jack said, before smiling up at the cowgirl. “But because of that I learned who I really am. I learned that even a future under your evil still has good people. But most of all, because of you, I met her. The pony…person, who healed me. And for that, I thank you, Aku.” In a blur Jack lunged at Aku, who lifted his hands to defend himself. Yet when Aku blinked he found the samurai no longer standing before him. Aku turned around to see Jack behind him, sword sheathed and eyes closed. Aku smirked and prepared to strike him down…until his vision was split in half. “But it is time I moved past you,” Jack finished. Aku let out a howl of agony before his body was diced into dozens of parts, with his limbs and body fading away into nothingness. Only a part of his head remained, from which he grew wings and started to flap away. Yet he had barely started to move before one last sword strike cleaved his head in two, absorbing his darkness into the sword. Jack then let out a yell before he plunged his blade into the ground, blasting apart Aku’s darkness for the last time. For a moment Jack stood there, sword in the ground, just waiting. Waiting for the sound of Aku’s mocking laughter, of how he had failed and Aku would escape for another day. But there was only silence. Silence and the feeling of a weight leaving his chest that he thought he would never feel. “Ya did it!” Jack opened his eyes just in time to be tackled by Applejack, who let out a whoop before she pressed her lips against Jack’s. Jack wrapped his arms around Applejack and returned the kiss, unable to hold back the smile on his face as he did so. AJ eventually broke the kiss and rested her head on Jack’s chest, beaming up at him with a smile of pride on her face. “Ya did it. It’s over.” “You know…I think you’re right,” Jack said as the others landed around him. “I truly believe that Aku is gone.” “He is Jack. My magic can detect no traces of his evil. You did it. You won,” Twilight beamed. “Not bad Jack, that was a pretty impressive fight,” Rainbow smirked. “Of course, I probably could have finished him quicker, but you might have put on a better show. Maybe.” “I’m just glad that we finally get to leave this awful planet,” Rarity said with a gag. “The air smell retched and the darkness has seeped into the land. This is a miserable place and I do not know how you managed to live here, Jack.” Applejack punched Rarity in the arm to get her to stop talking. Hard. As Rarity tried to see if her arm could still move, Fluttershy looked up at Jack with wide eyes. “Seeing you like this, you do look like a prince,” Fluttershy said. “Indeed, compared to all of the other humans Twilight has shown me, you look way more…handsome,” Rarity said. AJ punched her in the other arm this time. “Thank you my friends, for having my back during that battle,” Jack said with as much of a bow as he could pull off with AJ still holding him. “I have no doubt Aku had some tricks to escape, but with you there he was unable to. My demon is finally gone.” “Does that mean we can go home? Because I want to throw you the greatest party Equestria has ever seen!” Pinkie exclaimed. Jack opened his mouth to reply, before he looked around at the castle and all of the evil that it still represented. For a moment a frown crossed his face. Then an idea came to him and a smile crossed his face, knowing how he could change this world for the better. “Jack?” AJ asked. “Ya okay?” “Of course, my beloved. There is just one last thing I have to do before we go home.”