//------------------------------// // The Other Jinchuriki // Story: Star Knight and the Nine-Tailed Fox // by Rakoon1 //------------------------------// Hawthorn had finally been able to get rid of the itch he had on the horns. While walking, he said: “Ah, finally I’m relieved!” “You surely took long enough!” Eight-Tails complained to Hawthorn. “Star Knight got way ahead of us now!” “Hey, you don’t know how it is to have an itch with antlers that are always growing and falling” Hawthorn replied. “But don’t worry, I’m all okay now.” “Instead of wasting time walking around, you should be catching up with Star” Eight-Tails told him. “Lord Hawthorn!” a voice called. Hawthorn turned and saw Blackthorn approaching. “I finally caught up with you” Blackthorn said, while arriving. “What are you doing here, Blackthorn?” Hawthorn asked. “King Asper ordered me to come here” Blackthorn replied. “I’m supposed to assist you in any way I can.” “Thank you, Blackthorn” Hawthorn thanked, bumping his hoof and Blackthorn’s. There was a pause and then Blackthorn asked: “Where is Prince Star Knight?” “While I was sharpening my horns, he went ahead” Hawthorn answered. “He must be very distant at this point.” “Yeah, you always had problems with the itch on your horns” Blackthorn commented. They started to walk away, but five clones where observing them at some distance. “That’s the Eight-Tails” one of them said. “Did him just come this far already? We must try to delay him.” The other clones nodded with their heads and then they went underground. At the villains’ hideout, Gentle Light said: “It looks like Prince Star Knight and Lord Hawthorn are getting closer. They told me to let Star alone, but with Hawthorn things are different.” She took a stone she hadn’t used yet and then said: “I’m sorry for what I’m about to do, Lord Hawthorn, but I can’t resist to my orders. I have the perfect reincarnated being.” Gentle Light placed the stone on the board and then added: “But I have to say that this shall be fun…” Hawthorn and Blackthorn were walking and the latter said: “Lord Hawthorn, I got a feeling that something bad is about to happen.” “Ah, you’re always saying things like that, but, in the end, you’re overreacting” Hawthorn replied. It was then that the ground started to shake. “Or not…” Hawthorn said. And a coffin of a reincarnated being, while making the five clones getting out of their hideout by force, what caused them to fall. “Damn it…” Blackthorn said. “It’s the enemy!” The five clones started to get up and, seeing the coffin, one of them said: “No way, could that be…” Everyone looked to the coffin, waiting to see who was in there. It was then that its cover fell and the one inside was revealed and he got out. “Wait, he’s…” Eight-Tails said. “You’re the Eight-Tails’ former jinchuriki!” Blackthorn exclaimed, while the coffin where Larch came out disappeared. “It certain has been a while, Hawthorn” he said to his cousin. “And you are… Blackthorn, right?” “Yes, but why are you here?” Blackthorn asked. “Because somepony casted the Reincarnation Curse on me” Larch replied. “Listen, Larch, that day twenty-five years ago… the day you died… we tried to stop Eight-Tails’ rampage and eight deer lost their lives” Blackthorn said. “Among them… was my father.” “I see…” Larch said. “I’m very sorry. But I know apologies won’t bring him back.” “He’s definitely Larch” Eight-Tails said to Hawthorn. “But why? No matter how hard I try, I can’t remember that much about the rampage on that day.” Larch turned to Hawthorn and asked: “Hawthorn, that energy I’m sensing from you… Ah, so you did become the jinchuriki.” He former jinchuriki then remembered the talk he had with Aspen at the time they and Hawthorn went to camp together. They had talk about the possibility of having Hawthorn becoming the jinchuriki after him and Larch said to Aspen what a jinchuriki should do to have control over their tailed beast. “Hawthorn, I can’t control my body anymore” Larch said. “So run!” “But if the Eight-Tails is no longer inside you, then you can’t fight like you did before” Hawthorn said. “You’re wrong!” Larch exclaimed. That confused Hawthorn and Blackthorn, as they didn’t know how could he still have Eight-Tails’ power when the tailed beast wasn’t in him anymore. “He’s right, you should run” Gentle Light said. “There’s something about Larch that you don’t know. Now, show them, Larch!” And he got in the first phase of transformation of a jinchuriki, exclaiming: “Hawthorn, Blackthorn, get away!” And immediately he get into the second phase, what really shocked the two other deer. “No way, he has the Tailed Beast’s cloak!” Blackthorn exclaimed. “This energy…” Eight-Tails said. “It’s unmistakably mine. When did he…” “What’s going on here?” Hawthorn asked. Even the clones couldn’t believe what they were seeing. “But how?” one asked. “Tailed beast energy on a reincarnated being?” “What you’re witnessing is nothing more than something that the Lord of Chaos gave to me to put in Larch. I had no choice but to implant Eight-Tails’ cells that Queen Chrysalis got to him.” “That Gentle Light…” another clone said. “Just to think that she can revive something like this with the Reincarnation Curse… With that, why bother to capture Eight-Tails to put him inside the Demonic Statue?” “Dodge this, Hawthorn!” Larch exclaimed, while he started to execute the Tailed Beast Bomb. “Damn it!” Eight-Tails said. “Hawthorn, get away!” And both he and Blackthorn started to run away. Shortly after, Larch finalized the attack and then threw it in the form of a luminous ball. The attack caught the five clones who were immediately disintegrated. Fortunately, the attack just stopped and, when the dust settle down, it was revealed that Shark Skin, getting rid of the bandages, swallowed the attack all. “Good job, Shark Skin!” Hawthorn exclaimed. “Now that’s an apetite!” “Now it’s my turn to make an appearance” Eight-Tails’ said. And the cloak appeared around Hawthorn, making the eight tails appear. “You’re going to take him down in the Eight-Tails state?” Blackthorn asked. Hawthorn replied by getting into the second phase and making a bull skull and spine appear, something that was mimic by Larch. The two went against each other and, when they shocked, the energy bones were destroyed, starting a contest of strength, whose shockwave created a crater around them. It was so intense that Blackthorn had to hide behind a rock. “All this force with just one collision…” Blackthorn said. The two jinchuriki continue to measure their strengths. Meanwhile, a mental link was formed between the two jinchuriki. “Why do you still have my energy?” Eight-Tails asked to Larch, having the inner Hawthorn over his muzzle. “When you died, I extracted myself from you entirely.” “It’s been a while, Eight-Tails” Larch told him calmly. “To think we’ve been reunited in this situation…” “I’m disappointed too” Eight-Tails said. “I had very high hopes for you.” “The both of us were completely fooled back then” Larch said. “By whom?” Eight-Tails asked. There was a pause and then Larch told: “Twenty-five years ago…” In the past, in Thicket… At the castle of Thicket, Larch was looking to the full moon, at his room, with a tentacle of Eight-Tails exposed. When he heard a knock and the door opening, he quickly recalled the tentacle and turned to see his older cousin getting in. “Ah, Aspen, it’s you” Larch said, while Aspen approached. “You should be more careful when you approach me.” “What’s the matter?” Aspen asked. “I heard you have trouble sleeping.” “That’s right” Larch confirmed, looking again through the window. “Especially during the full moon. It’s like… the big hole in my heart.” “So you still haven’t found the something that you need to fill it then” Aspen noticed. “I doubt I ever will” Larch replied. “Even if I’m still physically here, my heart is dead. I wander the desert alone. Besides, if can’t even leave here, I’ll never find it.” A pause and then Aspen asked: “Is there anything I can do for you?” “My is completely immerged in the darkness right now” Larch replied. “When the time comes, I’m counting on you, Aspen.” Understanding what he meant, Aspen realized there was nothing he could say to his cousin to make him feel better, so he got out. After that, Larch saw something flying quickly out there, but he couldn’t see what it was. At the next day, Larch went to the infirmary, where the healer gave him some pills for him to take and help him sleep. “Here you have…” the healer said. “But these are not the usual ones” Larch noticed. “They’re new” the healer said. “I made them through a new mix of herbs with a very powerful sleeping capability. They’ll make you sleep even better.” “Oh okay” Larch said. “Thank you.” And he got out. When he did that, an evil smile appeared on the healer’s face. Later, Larch, after taking the pills, tried to take a nap in his bedroom. It was then that a voice said: “I will fill that hole in your heart.” The jinchuriki opened his eyes and a hoof covered his mouth, preventing from screaming. Chrysalis was over him. He tried to fight to release himself, but the Changeling Queen had held him tightly. “It’s useless” she said to him. “The medication that you took is a special illusion pill.” Larch wanted to ask what Chrysalis wanted, but his words were suffocated by her hoof. “Life is difficult for you, right?” she asked. “Well then, I shall take you out of the pain and misery that is being a jinchuriki and then make you go to the land of the dead.” And she charged her horn with magic and she proceeded to unseal the seal that contained Eight-Tails. The tailed beast was unleashed, what led to King Alder’s squad to intervene, including him, Aspen and Blackthorn’s father. After Aspen cut off Eight-Tails’ horn when he impaled Blackthorn’s father, Chrysalis, disguised as a deer warrior, approached the severed horn and took some of his cells. In the present… “Queen Chrysalis?!” Hawthorn asked, after hearing the story. “So that’s what happened” Eight-Tails said. “It’s no wonder that I don’t remember. I was trapped inside an illusion spell.” Blackthorn, that had been able to hear the talk, said: “Then my true enemy is Queen Chrysalis.” “Hawthorn, just run!” Larch exclaimed. “His power right now isn’t the problem” Eight-Tails said to Hawthorn. “We can handle him, Hawthorn.” “Yes, he may be a reincarnated being, but we can defeat him” Hawthorn said. And they then proceeded to use the Tailed Beast Bomb and then they fired it against Larch, who was thrown away, while it exploded. “Did it work?” Blackthorn asked, watching the battle. When the smoke cleared, they saw that, although they were able to obliterate the body, it quickly regenerated. “What?!” Hawthorn asked. “He revived?!” Eight-Tails asked. “Run!” Larch exclaimed. “The only way to stop a reincarnated being is to seal it.” “Hawthorn, let’s prepare to seal him” Eight-Tails said. “Retreat for now.” Listening to his tailed beast’s advice, Hawthorn started to move away. But Larch continued to fire Tailed Beast Bombs that Hawthorn was able to dodge, although barely. That battle was able to caught Star Knight’s attention, who turned around at the direction where Hawthorn was. “What is that?” he asked. “I’m sensing two energies that both belong to Eight-Tails. Don’t tell me there’s another one.” He prepared to go help Lord Hawthorn when King Aspen’s voice said inside his head: “Don’t go back, Star Knight!” “King Aspen?” Star asked. Aspen was connecting to Star through Diamond Glow at HQ, something he did after learning through the sensing warriors about the appearance of his dead cousin. “Just let Hawthorn handle this” Aspen said. “But…” “Hawthorn won’t lose. Besides, even if you go, you can’t bring down what Larch has become. Only Hawthorn can fill the hole that is in Larch’s heart.” “What do you mean with that?” Star asked, realizing then what he was talking about. “You got it, Your Majesty. I’ll put all my faith in Lord Hawthorn.” And, after saying that, Star continued his way. The fight continued, with Hawthorn still moving away and Larch tailing him and launching more attacks. “This is not good!” Eight-Tails exclaimed, seeing how close Larch was. “It’s in times like this that I would lie to jump into a hole.” “A hole…” Hawthorn said, with a thinking look. “A hole in the heart…” Blackthorn was following them, noticing the intensity of the fight. “My father always courageously stood out against guys like them” Blackthorn said. “What am I waiting for.” And he puts himself in Larch’s way and told to Hawthorn: “I’ll hold him off. Make a run for it, Hawthorn!” “Blackthorn!” Hawthorn called. Blackthorn stomped his hooves and then said: “Spider Web Spell!” And light forming a web around Blackthorn appeared and, when Larch stepped on it, he became paralyzed by it. “No, stop!” Hawthorn exclaimed, fearing for his great friend’s safety. And Larch extended some of his tails and hit the ground close to Blackthorn who, due to the shockwave, was thrown against the ground violently. “Blackthorn!” Hawthorn called. Larch was about to attack Blackthorn, when Hawthorn tackled him and made him go back some hooves. “I told you to get away!” Larch exclaimed, preparing to punch. Hawthorn did the same and the two hooves hit each other, resulting in a hoof bump. “I’m not gonna lose here!” Hawthorn exclaimed. Larch couldn’t believe how much he could endure the his power. “You know, I was able to find it” Hawthorn told Larch. “The thing to fill my heart.” That really caught Larch’s attention and Hawthorn continued: “Do you want to know how? I surrounded myself with the ones that support me no matter what happens.” “I see…” Larch said. “So you were able to find it. For you, was the bonds of friendship. That was the something you needed to fill your heart.” “And you are one of those who are special to me” Hawthorn said. “So I’m going to fill your heart completely.” “You know, I wanted that I was able to find what I needed back then too” Larch confessed. It was then that, like happened with Armored Forge and Sand Threads, the curse on Larch’s body started to dissipate. While that happened, Larch said: “Hawthorn, stop this war…” And he disappeared completely. After returning to his normal form and get Shark Skin back to his back, Hawthorn approached Blackthorn and tried to wake him up. “Are you okay, Blackthorn?” He opened his eyes and then replied, with a smile: “Yeah… I’m fine. Tell me, did I fight as courageously as my father used to?” “You can bet your antlers on that” Hawthorn replied. “I’ll take you to the medical core right know.” “No, I’ll be alright” Blackthorn replied. “Just carry on Larch’s wishes and end this war.” “You got it, brother” Hawthorn replied. And so Hawthorn continued his way to catch up with Star Knight, decided to end that war like Larch told him to.