Explanatory notes
(PLEASE READ — I know it's too long, but you'll need to know this to understand some things about the story)
-Semi AU
-This is a translation of my original fic in Spanish, I'm not super good at English, therefore I'll appreciate any correction on my mistakes.
- You'll have to bear with me because I wrote this based on the Spanish dub. Johnny's phrases may not be the same that he uses on the English version, but I don't really have the time to watch the episodes in English to compare.
-Located after finishing the 5th season of Samurai Jack
-Johnny's time is on 2010's because I don't feel capable of write something on the time of the show (as per Wikipedia it's on the 50's -rlly?-)
-In this fic, Suzy is a teenager, not a little girl anymore. To be honest I don't like her and as a child is very annoying also I needed her to be more mature for this story.
Disclaimer: Johnny Bravo belongs to Van Partible, Samurai Jack to Genndy Tartakovsky y and the pairing "SamuraiBravo" was created for the amazing c2ndy2c1d who you can find on Tumblr.
I've been following this artist for several years since she created the pairing Kevedd (Kevin x Edd from Ed, Edd & Eddy' show). She created SamuraiBravo because of a very old animated short from Cartoon Network where they met at a laundry.
I fell in love with this pairing right away, they are so beautiful together and their personalities fit perfectly. However, what it motivated me to write this fic was one Spanish fanfic writer called LoretoW and her fanfic "Destinos Encontrados" as I saw the true love she has for this pairing, she inspired me to write my own story about them.
When I was a child I didn't really like Samurai Jack, so I watched it about a year ago or so, and I was astonished. This show is a real master piece of art! Anyway, since in the show Jack didn't have a 'cliché happy ending' as some expected, —although from my perspective he didn't need it— I decided to take advantage of that and give one to him.
Additionally, is the first time I use cartoon characters, this gave me the chance to not worry about being extremely realistic on the plot and I didn't have to make sure that everything was logic. So at the end it was a tremendous experience for me as a writer.
Just to finalize, I'd like to add that this story has short chapters and in general won't be long. The plot is simple and the characters sometimes are a little bit OoC but not enough to be bothersome.
Hope you like it! :)
Jack's last journey
Chapter 1: The other future
It was again that time of year: spring. Time in which the trees shown its cheerful pink color, in which people seemed to overflow with joy, in which everything was prosperous and hopeful. A year had passed since the brave prince of the nation, had managed to get rid of Aku's evil presence, freeing the world of the terrifying future that awaited them. Thanks to his heroic act, the terrible events that he witnessed for more than fifty years, never happened. Humanity never became enslaved; therefore, they never knew the horrors or the despair of living under the cruel command of that millennial demon.
When he was just a child, spring meant joy and fun for the prince. He loved to go out to the countryside, full of that colorful pink, with the animals playing, the birds singing beautiful melodies; all brimming with vitality. However, that spring had brought back the dreadful memories of his reality.
For more than fifty years, the prince suffered the vilest tortures, had to go through the cruelest situations and the hardest tests. Not a single person in the whole world, was or will be, more brave and powerful than him. He became a legend in that future that never happened in his present. The samurai witnessed countless suffering and the loss of thousands of innocent lives, at the hands of that demon. And because of this, in his new reality, the memories and nightmares of that horrible fate constantly haunted him.
Jack, —as he called himself after so many decades of using that name— managed to triumph over the wicked Aku; but that great victory was not enough to bring peace neither to his mind, nor to his heart. Even though he was able to free his parents and the people of the world, from that terrible fate that awaited them. Jack only continued suffering until the end of his journey. When he thought he could live happily, by the side of the only person he had ever loved in his life, Aku's misfortune fell upon him once more:
"Without Aku, I could never have existed."
Those were Ashi's last words, right before disappearing from his arms. At that moment, Jack could not help but think that, in one way or another, Aku had only brought misfortune to his life, and at the end he had got away with it.
Ashi helped him to get back on track and without her, he probably would never have been able to defeat Aku. For Jack the cruel irony was too much: precisely the entity that he despised the most, was who gave him his first and only love, and the one who snatched her from him as well.
From that day, even though the world could live in peace without Aku's threat; his heart could never heal. Although he had been able to accept his fate, he could not help feeling loneliness and bitterness. And precisely, that time of the year, was the one that brought more painful memories.
Jack was sitting by the shadow of one of those magnificent cherry blossoms as he had done so many times before; enjoying the fresh breeze and the tranquility that could be breathed there. But the memories of everything that life had taken from him, continued tormenting him even in a state of consciousness.
A small ladybug flew to rest on his hand and although simple, this was the trigger for those sad memories to occupy his mind. Those sympathetic insects, always made him remember her and therefore; realize the unhappiness in which he lived. Jack looked at the bug with melancholy and he allowed himself to shed a few tears, while evoking in his mind again and again, that fateful day he lost Ashi.
"Will you ever allow me to be happy, Aku?" The samurai asked loudly, then released a sigh from the depths of his soul.
But destiny had something more prepared for the prince. His journey was not yet over and he realized that, at the moment when, out of nowhere, a shining light hovered in front of him, blinding him.
"What is this? Aku ?!" The samurai shouted in his confusion. He stood up and tried to open his eyes so that he could confirm the source of that strange light that he feared, was once again the presence of the devil, who had returned to torment him.
His inquiry was soon resolved. That well-known light enveloped him and in the twinkling of an eye, Jack found himself traveling once more, in what looked like a time portal. For the samurai, the only logical explanation was that, in effect, the malevolent Aku had managed to survive and after a year of recovering from the damage he had done to him, he had returned to take revenge.
"Not again!" He begged desperately, fearing to reach once again that fearsome and dark future, ruled by the greatest enemy of mankind.
Not long after, the light faded, and Jack landed on the lawn. He wondered how far in the future he was sent this time? And at the same time, he regretted having to undertake that exasperating journey again from the beginning. Was destiny so cruel that he had to repeat that torture a second time? And if so, for how long on this occasion?
"I cannot believe it! I had it in reverse mode, but, it worked anyway!" A shrill man's voice was heard, which caused the samurai to become alert, unsheathing his katana and pointing directly at whoever had uttered those words.
"Who are you?" Jack seriously questioned, to who seemed to be a young man with a particular hairstyle and glasses.
"Heavens! Please wait! Let me explain!" The young man with brown hair begged. "I can't believe it! Are you a real samurai?" Weirdly, as if his life were not at risk, the boy interrogated with curiosity and emotion.
"I am afraid that at this moment, I am not in the mood to answer any interrogation. On the contrary, I suggest you proceed with your explanation." Jack asked, still threatening him with the tip of his sword, pointing directly at the neck of the strange boy.
"Calm down, calm down! Will you?" Asked the boy, while thick drops of sweat ran down his forehead in such a dangerous situation. "My name is Carl and I'm a scientist"
After Carl's introduction, Jack decided to let his guard down for now, so he pulled his sword away, keeping it in its scabbard.
"Are you one of Aku's scientists"
"Aku? Who is he"
"It is not this world ruled by the evil Aku?" The situation became increasingly odd and confusing for the samurai.
"Well, I don't know who that Aku may be, but we have a president who is quite evil." Carl joked, but when he realized that the man was not going to be able to understand his joke, he cleared his throat to begin with his explanation. "Look, I'm just a kid boy who likes science and invent things. My most recent invention is this..." Carl pointed to the ground, near Jack, where he had placed a strange device.
"What is that peculiar artifact"
"This, my friend, is a time machine!" He prideful assured.
"A time machine? So, I am indeed in the future!"
"Certainly" Carl confirmed "I wanted to use the machine to travel to the past myself, however I just noticed that I configured it wrongly and instead of taking me, it brought to the future a person from the past, I mean you"
"Are you sure that this world is not ruled by Aku in any way?" The samurai was totally perplexed, but it was his duty to make sure everything went well in the new future.
"I don't really know any Aku... wait just a second…" Carl took out his cell phone and after making a quick search on the internet, he showed the screen to Jack. "Can you see it? Except for a couple of video game characters, there is no one called Aku" He assured smiling.
"So, the world was definitely freed from the evil of Aku..." The samurai reflected, more for himself than for his interlocutor. "Those are excellent news, my friend!" With a wide smile, Jack took both of Carl's hands, shaking amicably.
"I'm not sure exactly it means, but I'm glad I helped!"
"I would like to humbly offer my apologies, for having pointed my sword towards you my friend, and at the same time, to thank you for having given me such valuable information" Jack bowed deeply to Carl and when he stood up, he showed him a warm smile of genuine happiness, a feeling that he had not fully experienced for a long time.
"Oh! It was nothing, colleague!" Carl quite didn't understand how valuable his search on the internet had been, but he decided to go along with that peculiar man, after all, he must be very overwhelmed by his time travel.
"If it is not too much trouble, my friend, could you please use your machine one more time to send me back to my own time? I want to share the good news with my parents as soon as possible"
"Sure, there's no problem!" The young man exclaimed, totally confident. He went to his machine, adjusting it one more time for its use. "I just have to press this button and…"
As mentioned, Carl tried to operate the mechanism, but this instead of working as expected, began to generate a strange electricity, followed by a curtain of smoke that came from inside.
"Is that normal?" The samurai questioned.
"It isn't! And I suggest you to take cover!" Carl had not finished giving his warning, when he began to run like as a deranged, several meters far from the machine.
Jack obeyed the warning immediately and quickly caught up with Carl. The two of them threw themselves to the ground and covered their heads, just at the moment when Carl's machine exploded in thousands of pieces.
"Oh no! It was not supposed to do that. With the work that cost me to build it!" Carl lamented.
"This is bad. Carl, can you build another machine, so I can go back to the past?" Questioned the samurai with concern, while taking him by the shoulders, staring at him totally serious
"I could, but…"
"But what?!" Jack shook him slightly.
"It took me a long time to gather the money to buy the materials to build it, and it is quite difficult to get some of them. I can try to replicate it but for that, I need to get a lot of money. Sorry, man, this is going to take me a long time" Carl explained feeling quite guilty.
With each word that came from Carl's mouth, Jack was plunged into the deepest disappointment. There could be no Aku in that world, but once again, he was doomed to wander in the future until that boy managed to send him back to the past.
"Once again, cruel destiny drives me away from everything I love" He lamented to himself, with all hope lost and a great sadness that gnawed him. However, Jack had no idea that this unusual event, was the one that would soon end his melancholy and would repair the wounds of his soul and his heart…
To be continued…
Thanks for giving this story a chance and I hope you liked this little introduction. I would also apologies about all my mistakes and as mentioned above, please feel free to correct me, so I can learn.
Also, if you liked it, please leave a comment, I'll truly appreciate it :D