Once everyone stopped freaking out - and Audrey III stopped singing - Uncle brought everyone back to his lab so he could look into what happened and why. His research quickly provided an answer. "When the Talisman broke, Jackie's Yin was separated from his Yang."
"Whoa," Jade murmured softly. "Jackie Light...and Jackie Dark..."
"I am the dark side!" the weeping Jackie spoke up. "I murdered a bug!"
"Ugh!" the other Jackie growled out. "You can't really be that much of an idiot? Don't you ever listen to Uncle's lectures? That's your job!"
The crying Jackie blinked. "Well...Dark isn't necessarily evil...so I am the evil side!" He promptly went back to crying, making the other Jackie facepalm.
"You're the side who ate our candy?" Sweetie Belle whimpered, looking up at the angry Jackie. "Are...are you evil?"
"Not evil," Uncle corrected. "Just lacking sound judgement-"
"In your opinion," the gruff Jackie interrupted in an irritated growl, arms crossed and vibrating like a coiled spring.
Uncle frowned, not liking being interrupted. However, he decided to move on to the next point. "So, each of you has half of the Talisman?"
The two Jackies each pulled out their Talisman half.
"Good!" Uncle praised. "You must put them together, to unite into one Jackie."
"Not a chance!" The gruff Jackie growled, knocking the gentle Jackie's arm aside as he pocketed his Talisman half. "I will never be one with him again!"
Everyone pulled back in shock at the intensity. The gentle Jackie stood up. "Works for me! I don't want you inside me again, trying to make me a monster-"
"Make you a monster?" the gruff Jackie growled, slamming his fist into the wall. "You're already a monster, or I wouldn't exist! And I'm not going back into that cage!"
"Cage?" gentle Jackie demanded, stunned. "What are you talking about? You're the one always trying to hurt people!"
"You made me that way!" gruff Jackie snarled. "All these years, with the world tearing you apart inside and out...but you won't show that! No, you won't let it twist you into 'something you're not'. So instead, all that pain and misery-" He slammed his hand against his chest. "You bottle it up here, stick it into me! Who cares if the world is really awful, if nine times out of ten we're the punching bag! No, can't skew that happy perspective, so dump it on me! All that I'm left is the anger, the pain, the hate!" He crossed his arms, looking down on his counterpart. "And you call me the monster."
"You were going to kill that Nibbler guy!" gentle Jackie pointed out.
"He deserved it!" gruff Jackie snapped. "He was going to eat our girls! He left them with nightmares that still plague them! He deserved to be ripped apart and sent straight to hell!"
Gentle Jackie gasped in shock. "You...you said a bad word in front of the girls! You are evil!"
"You really think you can sanitize the world for them?" gruff Jackie snapped. "Someday they'll have to face the world without their pendants. Either their magic will need to be unleashed, or it will grow too strong to hide! And you know as well as I what the world will do to them then." He stomped forward angrily. "It will chew them up and spit them out, just like it did to us. If they aren't strong enough, they won't survive. And you'll let that happen, because you can't bear to hurt their 'innocence'."
"I don't want to hurt them!" gentle Jackie wailed. "And I don't want them hurt!"
"And no matter what, that is inevitable," gruff Jackie snapped. "The world hurts. You either deal with it, or you're left like us or worse. You want this for them?" Both fell silent for a time.
"This is what comes of being out of balance!" Uncle yelled, getting in the middle of them. "You must restore balance!" Reaching out, he struck both Jackie's on the temple.
"Ow!" gentle Jackie complained, rubbing his forehead.
Gruff Jackie struck back.
"Ow!" Uncle complained. "Oh...you want a piece of Uncle?"
The gruff Jackie and Uncle proceeded to exchange finger strikes to the temples as all others glanced back and forth between them. Jade stared wide eyed, shocked beyond belief at what her uncle had shouted at himself. Audrey was humming something to himself as he watched. Apple Bloom had curled up in Audrey's vines, covering her ears as she no longer wanted to hear any of it. Sweetie Belle had climbed into Jade's arms for comfort.
Scootaloo sat atop Cumulo, focusing on the aerial view...but her wings twitched, dragging her attention away. A familiar red-headed figure was approaching the shop, closely followed by a familiar white limo. "It's the Crow guy!" she called out, pointing. "And the Dark Hand!"
Gentle Jackie quickly seized the girls. "Run! This is no place for children!"
"Hide the Talismans!" Uncle warned.
Gentle Jackie pocketed his Talisman half as he pulled the girls into the back of the shop. Gruff Jackie pocketed his, then shifted himself. "I owe him some payback," he growled, spitting into a nearby teacup as he made his way to the front.
Hak Foo growled as he caught sight of him. "Chan! You will give me the Talisman or I-"
He was cut off as a spinning kick caught him in the solar plexus, sending him straight out the front door of the shop, across the street, and embedding him in the wall opposite. Gruff Jackie cricked his neck. "Next?"
damn Hak Foo got rekt
I really enjoyed the dichotomy of Jackie and your explanation of the root cause.
Looking forward to seeing what changes happen to his personality when he becomes whole again.
Aiyah! Dark Hand thugs should start running!
One More Thing! Echo has good feeling that adapting season finale will be done by Chinese New Year! This very good timing!
One side understands the reality of the world, but cannot recognize the importance of emotions. The other comprehends emotions, but cannot deal with reality's hurdles. Neither are bad, and both are needed to make the most of life.
There is no emotion. There is peace.
Peace is a lie. There is only passion!
It can only get more awesome from here.
7811578 Come to the Dark Side we have cookies, for the cake is a lie.
Dark Jackie is gonna get a kick out of their uninvited guests.
Dark Jackie and Uncle really should stop with the head banging, it's not good for either of them. Probably better for them to hit up some temples to relax.
I wonder if Tohru is going to try to keep Dark Jackie on the right path when they capture him.
Ain't nobody gonna hit harder than life. It's not about how hard you can hit, but how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.
Now this could go a lot of ways... but I have feeling you're gonna pull a Naruto here. Or just have Jackie curb-stomp everyone and proceed to suplex his other half into reason. Which Jackie I'm talking about... well, that would be spoilers... and frankly hilarious to contemplate.
7811699 perfect use of rocky there.... and it is so true
7811597
Yin!Jackie is the peaceful, thoughtful, and Dark!Jackie.
Yang!Jackie is the aggressive, impulsive, and Light!Jackie.
Yin is of ice, so sheds no light.
Yang is of fire, so sheds light.
Perhaps you should've used Fire!Jackie instead?
No insult was meant, merely enlightenment.
Wait... Uncle yelled at himself?
7811790 Nah, it's just semantics at this point but I just use it to fit the puns as I go along.
well, let's look the good side, they are not "Dark CMC" I wonder how could they be... Even so, sometimes it's a surprise the level they are, as sometimes they seems like young kids, other time pre-adolescent
7811924 So, imPUNvrising?
Dark Jackie laying down some reality, though...
I foresee a lot of pain for the Dark Hand...only question is: How much the hospital bill is going to cost this time?
O_O this....... will end in high bills for the dark hand & such. ( gets some popcorn ) this is gonna get good.
So dark Jackie in this is pretty much Id from Xenogears
Sir, I applaud you for giving these character this kind of deepness
Ugh. *eye roll*
I hate the whole "hell is a bad word" thing. It is a place (that may or not exist) where people endure long suffering.
If hell is a bad word then so is DMV.
7811650
I didn't mean to offend you. I was just curious. It's been a long time since I've seen the show. You had some interesting cameos and references in previous chapters, so I thought it was a valid question. This work, after all, is fan fiction. I don't know how you want to integrate existing mythology into the story! For all I know George the Dragon Slayer could team up with Anantsi to help Uncle fight Sun Wukong. Maybe you decide to have a chapter where Uncle helps Asclepius fight Xipe Totec. Maybe Konshu and Tsukiomi start vying after Selene and she seems asylum at the secret base that pops up later in the show. Maybe Merlin shows up because he needs to borrow a talisman from Uncle. Roland could drop by to buy Durandal a new sheath. Look, I just started imagining possible scenarios and got excited. I wanted to get a better idea of what exactly might fit into the story. If I wasn't interested in hearing your answer, I would never have asked you in the first place. If anything, be proud of the fact that you managed to create a story that piqued my interest to the point where I was excited to learn more about the world in which it takes place.
7812247
I'm glad someone caught the reference. Figures you would with your username.
7812612
Sorry for the hostility of my answer. It's generally not a good idea to ask about religious figures, though. It tends to cause heated emotions.
7812247 Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time.
Chapter Seventy Three
"Aiyah!"
Chapter Count: 0
Total Count: 39
"One More Thing!"
Chapter Count: 0
Total Count: 70
7812772
I know. I get it, sort of. Personally, I tend to think of religions and their mythology as separate, so I often forget about the reactions such inquiries can incur. I probably should have waited to ask questions until I finished binging the story. Sorry if I distressed you.
Ok serious let down with the warf on the merc bad guy
7813319
Apology accepted.
7813342
You realize I've actually treated him with more respect than the original source material so far, right?
7813389 Not that its just I never thought you'd pull a warf in any of your stuff I mean by making him seem tough against jakie then having he's flank kicked just seems a let down
7813591
It's almost exactly what happened to him in the series.
7813649 Loved that scene! So glad you added it!
7811795 Jackie is Jade's uncle (relationship title)
EDIT: Though it would seem that the use of uncle in the aforementioned sense was improperly capitalized. No doubt due to Uncle being used so often as a name. Tatsurou might want to fix that.
7813649 oh then I'm disappointed in the series makers for it even I its Jackie's pure rage half doing it I mean the big guy doing it to him I get he's huge and stuff but after the beating he gave Jackie it seems lame to pull
Here's where things get fun! Looking forward to more.
Keep up the great work. Deus tecum.
The three look at Hak Foo, then at Jackie, then Hak Foo, then Jackie, and then Ratso speaks up.
"You're having one of those days, aren't you?"
"Little bit, yes," Jackie gruffly replied.
"Right...NOT IT!"
Well there's the second part of the butt kicking I predicted for Hak Foo.
Good thing for Hak Foo showing up, that finger strike competition might have ended badly.
7817052
That...actually I see that happening...bad day.
7811583
no, come to the light side. we have fillies (holds up Flurry Heart who proceeds to get a troll face (she gets it from her aunt ) before vaporizing everything cute and cuddly within a twenty mile radius). Hmm, perhaps not the best example (chucks out window into portal back to crystal empire).
7814252
you forget. Jackie is stronger than all of them (with a possible exception of Tohru). Looping Trixie put it nicely to Nightmare Moon. good guys might be weaker, they might be stronger, the difference is bad guys don't hold back. they throw their full weight behind everything. good guys pull their punches out of concern for life and collateral damage. pit them against a robot in the middle of a wasteland and even some of the weakest good guys would surprise you with what they can manage.