Despite the intensity of events in Hollywood, it was some time before anything else major happened in the fight against the Demon Sorcerers. This gave the Chans time to get back to their own lives for a while, allowing for a few small adventures to happen, though not all were world shaking...or even noteworthy.
The larger size of the family had encouraged Jackie to acquire a larger vehicle for long family trips - such as driving Uncle to acquire new stock for the shop - which still managed to lead to an overcrowded trip back once all the artifacts Uncle bought were loaded into and tied down on the van. On an impulse, Jackie had stopped on the way back in an Old West ghost town where they found a book detailing the adventures of someone they believed to be Jackie's great-great grandfather. Jade and Uncle got more into the story than the fillies could, as the two human listeners found characters within the story that could easily be analogues for themselves. No such luck for the fillies.
Of more pertinent interest was the results of a search Uncle sent Jackie - and Jackie alone - on, to find an ancient Archive. The tome was apparently a book of dark magic spells written by the Demon Sorcerers themselves, but may yet contain information they could use against the Demons. Uncle was very firm about Jackie going alone, however. "Is very dangerous Dark Magic book!" he had insisted. "Might hurt fillies or Jade if they touch, now that Jade is learning magic! In dangerous place between ignorance and Mastery where most vulnerable! But Jackie has no magic of his own, not be hurt by magic book!"
"That's a relief," Jackie had groaned with a role of his eyes.
When Jackie had returned, he had the Archive with him and a tale of the Shadow Khan attacking him in an attempt to retrieve the Archive themselves. While the fillies rushed to assist Uncle with researching the tome, Jade had what she felt were more pressing concerns. In amongst numerous other questions and comments said very fast she asked Jackie, "Can I get a tattoo?"
"Why do you want one?" Jackie asked curiously.
"All the kids at school are getting them!" Jade insisted...admittedly a minor exaggeration.
"If all the kids at school were jumping off-" Jackie cut himself off. "You'd be first in line for that, wouldn't you?"
"You bet!" Jade responded eagerly. "Does that mean-"
"No," Jackie countered flatly.
"But Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle-"
"Those are Cutie Marks," Uncle interrupted. "Magical symbols of special talents!"
"Like the kids at school can tell the difference," Jade grumbled irritably.
"...our butts are trend setting?" Sweetie Belle asked in surprise.
"Tell you what Jade," Jackie offered in a conciliatory manner. "When a magical symbol of your destiny spontaneously appears on your butt, you can keep it and show it off. But until then, no tattoos."
Jade returned to grumbling irritably under her breath. She momentarily thought about copying the symbol off the front of the Archive as a 'fake tattoo' just to flaunt for a day or two at school, but quickly decided against it. With the training the other girls had given her, she could feel the evil in the symbol, and between that and what Uncle had said about her being especially magically vulnerable right now, she didn't want it anywhere on her body...especially not on her butt like Jackie suggested.
"Say girls?" Apple Bloom asked as they read through the book with Uncle. "Do the hanzi here look...off to you at all?"
"...kinda?" Sweetie Belle offered uncertainly.
"Honestly look more like kanji to me," Scootaloo observed idly.
"...when they're this old, is there really that much of a difference?" Apple Bloom asked uncertainly. "Ah know there's a lot more difference in modern Chinese and Japanese than people would think, even when it comes ta the use o' Chinese characters..."
"Something about the way these are arranged feels more Ancient Japanese than Ancient Chinese," Scootaloo pointed out. "But...the shape of the characters is more Ancient Chinese..."
Sweetie Belle's eyes widened. "You mean...like if someone from Ancient China had taken a book-worth of spells from Ancient Japan and recorded them in Chinese for the pronunciation?" she suggested.
"Yeah...yeah, that's it, Sweetie!" Scootaloo crowed as she pointed to a specific set of characters. "In fact, I'm pretty sure this phrase is talking about 'legions of Oni', not 'legions of shadows' like it's written. And the Oni-"
"O...oni?" Tohru gasped in abject terror, shivering violently. "Do...do we have enough onions?"
Smirking, Audrey lifted his roots out of his pot, dangling several onions where Tohru could see them. The gentle giant breathed a huge sigh of relief even as the youngsters who saw it giggled.
"Hmm...interesting theory," Uncle observed. "Had not thought Demon Sorcerers would steal magic...but makes sense." He traced over the page for a time. "If that is the case...this research waste of time for now!" Closing the book, he placed a parchment seal upon it before locking it up in a secret compartment of the library. "Not help deal with Chinese Demon Portals if book of Japanese Dark Magic." Smiling, he pet all three girls on the head to praise them. "Is good thing you did that project on ancient Japanese mythology and make effort to study it in original, untranslated language. Uncle only knows hanzi, and Tohru only knows kanji. We would not have spotted difference like you did!"
All three girls beamed with pride.
now that's some real fore-shadowing
8132330 That's not foreshadowing... it's too bright a bacon (get on the MLPunage peeps) to be a shadow wing
It's been quite awhile since I saw the show, but I vaguely remember the episode where Jade copied that symbol & gained control of the Shadow Khan. So, not this time.
Phew... no evil Queen Jade. I'm glad she listened to Uncle this time. I can't wait to see how the next attempt to free a demon sorcerer goes!!!!
Guess Jackie doesn't have that magic touch and that's a good thing apparently.
Jade's excitement at getting a mark is practically tatooed all over her face.
Seems there's more layers underneath these Dark magic acts after all.
8132356
Okay good ones. But Viper would say otherwise in the future that Jackie has a "SPECIAL" kind of magic touch.
Sweetie Belle! Language!
Huzzah, they averted disaster. And they hinted at things yet to come.
...now if you'll excuse me, I need to go weep for Miguel Ferrer again...
Tats I love the chapter but I really wish you could have done something to make Jade Queen of the Shadowkhan, that was my favorite episode. Other than that it was a cute chapter that cheered me up after the bad weekend I had.
8132430
It's one of my favorite plot points in the original series as well. Wanted to make it work, but the way the story has evolved simply rendered it impossible.
8132435
What if either Shendu or one of the other Demon Sorcerers tried to use the Archives to try to corrupt Jade and the CMC due to how well the quartet work together magically.
8132449
Wouldn't work.
8132449
Wouldn't they have to HAVE the archives to do that? Because they certainly can't coerce or trick her, she's too stable right now.
Oh! Tats! Any thoughts on maybe referencing Overwatch's Japanese brothers? Ryuu ga waka teki wo kurau (Let the dragon consume you) and Ryujin no ken wo kurae (The dragon becomes me)?
8132449 8132435
You need to do something like that anyway because the fact that Jade becoming the queen of Shadowkhan became a key factor in the defeat of that mask villain (I can never remember his name)
8132485
Assuming the method of said defeat remains the same.
It's coming Dark Jade? Or is not going to happen?
8132493
Prediction: Jade does eventually get a cutie mark (accidentally/on purpose gets turned into a pony for a day?) and Jackie has to eat his words about her showing the other kids her butt
Too bad they didn't take a closer look. They probably could have learned about how to shut down Shendu's access to the Shadowkhan.
WHOO, I'm just not even gonna touch that one!
...and Jackie should not have gone THERE. Like, AT ALL. X_X;;
Some good foreshadowing in this chapter, and a hilarious call-back to the mask demon's silly weakness to onions. I do consider that part of the show to be the weakest, since the villain is basically Shendu without any of the comedy or charm, and his generals were all pretty generic compared to the unique designs and personalities of Shendu's siblings.
Still, with the way this story is going so far, it should be interesting to see what might come of it. Disappointed we didn't get to see Valmont and company this chapter, but hearing about how the CMC's cutie marks are starting a trend at Jade's school had me rolling. Any other story would be having a completely chaotic tone with this sort of crossover, but so far, you manage to balance the seriousness and silliness of the subject matter in a way that makes it fun and engaging. Keep up the good work!
Sweetie Belle's question, though
8132543 Not gonna happen
Wait so If Chinese demons stole Japanese demon magic would that mean Japanese demons or ones that fight them want to join in the fight against them.as payback or counter spells if needed
Well, so much for that adventure. Still, might be useful in the future, especially since the book is still intact. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the great work. Deus tecum.
8132783 Booo, Dark Jade was one of the best things, and it could be good to see how Velmont and the demons relation with her.
8132830 Very true. That episode was good
8132435 What if something happened in the story that would require Jade to put that tattoo on in order to gain that power to protect her friends and family as a last resort or something cause she's been separated from everyone, on her own and unable to use any good magic cause an enemy made it either unavailable, impossible to concentrate long enough to fire a spell off and/or was somehow invulnerable to good magic but vulnerable to dark magic that she'd be desperate in survival instinct? You could then have her struggle with her dark queen side becoming her dark side and find a balance within her like Light & Dark Jackie did to protect their loved ones from Shendu.
Wait wait wait! Jackie doesn't have magic? I call foul! If he doesn't have magic, how, then, does he use the Talismans?
Other than that... I called it! I knew somehow Jade would avoid the tattoo thing due to some kind of training with the girls.
8132435 Or you could have Jade try and do it for a last minute power boost against some unimaginable evil that pops out to save her family and friends who in turn save her from the influence.
But the ordeal leaves its influences on her which include dark whispers of temptation and having an entire army of shadow ninja butlers at her command. Which counts as a win in her book when she just summons ninjas to clean up her room.
Does this mean we're going to get Godzilla showing up in this fic?
Kinda long reach there, but Japan Dark Magic...
Meh.
Can't blame a guy for trying.
Chapter One Hundred Ten
"Aiyah!"
Chapter Count: 0
Total Count: 46
"One More Thing!"
Chapter Count: 0
Total Count: 80
Why do I have the sinking feeling that Jackie just tempted fate in the most hilarious possible way...?
8133090
8133311
You're both reaching way too far. The worst thing one can do to a story is try and twist it around just to include one particular detail you like once it's no longer a viable usage naturally.
8133225
Anyone can use the Talismans.
All that Uncle said was that Jackie lacks the capacity to cast his own spells.
8133415 Fair enough.
8133325 Wait, really? This is chapter 110? *Checks.* Huh... still feels like he just started this story.
8132381 #DatAss (or something, I dunno)
(Edit: actually, that's perfect. Knowing them: they would end up using that.)
8132716
Considering she wants to grow up to be able to fill Viper's catsuits....
8133415 Oh well. I just thought it'd be cool.
So does this mean Shadowkhan Jade? Too bad that was actually one of my top favorite episodes.
Skipping over certain fillers:
s2.quickmeme.com/img/be/bea685ace6558735f6e2cb2478286fdc96ad4981375834ad29021318aab9462b.jpg
8133225 A Magical Talisman by it's very definition holds magic within it. Any time Jackie has used magic, it has always been from outside sources. For instance, an Enchanted Sword, Talismans which are themselves magical, and his magical tattoos. Jackie has been Empowered ONLY by OUTSIDE magic and NOT Internal Magic.
need more
8134717 I thought Tatsurou said the Talisman's, in his story, utilized the user's magic to execute their effects?
Gimme a minute to go hunt down that comment.
8134717 I stand corrected. The Talisman's do have magic. I got confused by the explanation in a later chapter over the balance of cause and effect.
8135550 What you might be thinking of is Chi, which is just Life Force, a totally different source of power.
well you know, oni can be reasoned with, well they are ugly they arn't actualy demonic in nature by default, and i imagine shendu losing the shadow kahn would be a pretty big hit.
8136089
One, at this point they don't know the Archive is connected to the Shadow Khan, because no one did the tattoo thing.
Two, even if they did know, it's the Mask, not the Archive, that gives Shendu that power.
And three, Tarakudo can't be reasoned with. His goal is 'plunge the world in shadow and rule it', and his Generals are dedicated to his conquest.
8133326 I call Yin-Yang symbol!
8136129
What is with villains wanting eternal night? Don't they realize living things tend to die without sunlight?