(Ponyville)

“So why did you come back? You didn’t leave anything after Shiro chased you out like a dog.” Zeko got a slap against the head after his bold statement

“You’re not funny and there’s a problem that Shiro told me about and it’s about you.” Kotetsu looked at his cousin and sighed before laying a hand on his shoulder

“What the-“ Before he could finish his sentence Zeko was taken into the Kamui dimension along with Kotetsu. He looked around and saw the familiar black ground. “Damn it why’d you bring me back in here?!”

“That’s because you have something I need back...” The cousins turned and saw four masculine figures with blue clothing and silver masks behind a single man with black hair clad in a silver and blue kimono. “Hello Kusanabe Zeko...”

Zeko was taken back but changed his expression from shock to a cocky smirk. “Well if it isn’t Onanome Ritsuyo himself, what can I do for you this time since it’s been around two years since we last met?”

One of the fighters behind Ritsuyo pulled out a katana, “How dare you disrespect lord Seventh?” Before he could act any further an arm blocked him from attacking

“Calm down you’re apart of the Mizukage’s entourage so act like it, and as for you Zeko I think you can imagine why I asked Kotetsu to bring me to you...” Zeko shifted his eyes to glance over his shoulder. “That’s right, we need Samehada back for the new swordsmen. You had your fun but it belongs to the Hidden Mist so kindly return it.” The bodyguards tensed and rested their hands on their swords but before any action could take place Zeko raised a hand to calm them.

His smirk was gone at this point and a sheepish smile remained on his face, “Not necessary guys, here take it back.” He levitated Samehada to Ritsuyo who caught it in a sphere of water. “No need to make a big deal over nothing.”

Ritsuyo signaled his guards to stand down right as Kotetsu walked back to them. “There, that’s all you needed from me so where’s-“ Kotetsu was cut off by a bodyguard handing him a stack of ryō which made his eyes shine. “Well then let’s get back and Zeko there’s a door that leads back to where we were.” Kotetsu held onto the Mizukage and his entourage then vanished in a spiral with them, leaving Zeko alone.

The red haired shinobi looked around and saw a simple silver door standing out of the ground without any other structures in sight and once decided to open it he was pulled into a body of water. “How the?” He swam to the surface and found that he was in what used to be the mirror pool.

“Hello Zeko, how’ve you been?” The shinobi turned and saw Ano standing by the water

“You aren’t stuck down here are you? Last time we spoke you were here and again you’re here.” He pulled himself out of the water and shook his hair, lamenting the fact that his clothes would stay wet

Ano chuckled at the statement and proceeded to turn into a whirlwind of leaves and amber dust. “I am the matron of this forest, I can move through it as I please.” She exited through the tunnel with Zeko following but he didn’t want to talk, no, he had to be somewhere important.

“What does Fortis have for me?” He thought, going through the air on a cloud of sand, leaving Ano disappointed.

“And here I thought he could spare some conversation, perhaps Mist would be able to talk.” The whirlwind traveled towards Zeko’s house in search of social activity in the opposite direction from the cloud of sand.

==============================
(Minutes later)

“Hunter you haven’t seen Zeko around have you?” Diamond asked the stallion who firing arrows at a target on a rock face from inside.

“Haven’t heard from him in a few days, I just know he went to the Gala so-“ A door opened fiercely revealing Zeko, upon seeing him Diamond ran over with her arms outstretched but only found air when she tried to hug him.

Zeko walked directly to Hunter, avoiding Diamond entirely to her displeasure. “Most dangerous mission you have... give it now...” Hunter nearly flinched from the obvious restraint in his partner’s voice while Diamond came over with a visible pout

“Hey! You never turn down a hug from me and what happened to your-“ He shot her a glare that made her stop talking almost instantly while Hunter pointed to a piece of paper on a support beam with a knife through it.

“Apparently some teenage dragons started hanging around a town and are scaring away travelers but I don’t think you can handle that with one-“ Before Hunter could finish his sentence Zeko had already grabbed the note and started for the door, nearly knocking others over in his departure. “What’s wrong with him?”

“We’re following him.” Diamond said, seeming to have heard Hunter’s mind. “Let’s go!” She grabbed an axe and went towards the door.

“He’s never acted this way before, what happened?”

==============================

On a plateau with rocks serving as the terrain making it jagged and uneven a group of about a dozen dragons sat around a large pile of gems. “Look at this gem hoard! These dumb ponies didn’t know what hit them.” A reddish gray scaled teenage dragon said with the others surrounding him. “We’d never get this many working alone.”

“Starting to sound like a pony Ash. I hope you didn’t pick up any pony books to read.” A female with black scales said, dragging a claw over Ash’s chest. “Cause then you wouldn’t be the toughest dragon we know.”

“Whatever Onyx, hey Gard we got any sapphires left? I’m getting kinda hungry.” A rounder blue dragon looked around and didn’t see any of the gems in question but before he could tell his leader a small rock made its way into his back

“OW! Who did that?!” They all looked around and only saw the rocky terrain around them. “Quit being a cow-“ Another rock crashed straight into his head, sending him to the ground with a dent in his skull.

“And here I thought you guys were tougher.” A figure jumped from above, left arm in a sling, “Guess we’ve all gotta be wrong sometimes.”

“Hey... I remember you! You did this to me!” Ash pointed to a scar on his side.

Zeko stood still for a moment before chuckling, “Oh I remember you, how’s Selonus been?” The comment made Ash clench his claws in anger

“I got this Ash.” A red dragon said and flew towards Zeko with his claws ready to rend flesh but was stopped by a knee to the stomach. “Urk!” He was sent to the ground by an elbow to the neck and remained motionless.

Two silver dragons decided to run to hit Zeko but missed once he jumped back. “Trying to run away? Makes sense since nothing could beat this many dragons.” The taller of the two noticed that Zeko was holding a hand up with his index and middle finger aimed upwards. “What’s He up to?”

“Fire Style: Fireball jutsu.” Zeko thought as a ball of fire left his mouth and swallowed the scaled group. But once the smoke cleared they were all fine visibly.

Ash smiled and showed off his sharp teeth, “You thought fire could hurt a dragon? You’d be better off using that stupid club you had!” A chill nearly ran down Ash’s spine once he felt a change in the air. He looked and saw Zeko gain an orange aura around his body and that it even formed a kind of tail. The silver dragons breathed their own fire to try to roast their attacker but were stopped when a stream of air came at them and blasted them both away.

“What was that Ash?” Zeko walked closer inviting the other dragons, excluding Ash and Onyx, to rush him. A pair came to swing but the first wound up with a knee into the elbow, breaking their arm, and being thrown into two others while the other was kicked in the stomach and wound up on the ground. One dragon managed to claw Zeko’s cheek and leave a cut that slowly began to bleed but once he looked at the offending dragon it was clear what was to happen.

“Uh oh.” She said with sweat coming down her face, she suddenly crumpled to the ground like a puppet with cut strings and only Zeko saw that he used his soul to strike her stomach with a great deal of force.

“Well you managed to cut me so not bad.” The sling was cast off allowing Zeko use of both his arms. “Now you get to lose faster.” Zeko looked at Ash and if looks could kill Ash could tell he’d have set on fire right there, even if it wouldn’t affect him. Zeko vanished from sight to Onyx’s fear.

“A-Ash I don’t know how to fight, what should we-huh?” She was pushed into an oncoming hand...that went straight through her chest. “W-Why?” She looked at the hand that gored her and blacked out, the action made Zeko’s eyes glimmer for a second until she fell to the ground.

Ash started to back away, “Sorry toots but I’m not dying today.” He took to the air while Zeko stared at Onyx’s body.

“What the hell happened?”

“You gave into rage but for the wrong reason, when something bad happened to Celona it was right but you losing something that didn’t belong to you wasn’t an excuse to kill something.” Zeko clutched the side of his head once he heard his own voice.

“Great, I’m dealing with you again... why’d you come back?” The shinobi muttered almost rhetorically since he knew the answer but the headache he was getting was limiting his common sense

“You knew the risks of having a tailed beast’s chakra, something had to take form and you let your negative emotions be your source so sit back and let me handle that dragon.” Zeko’s iris’ went from their typical black color to yellow and his sclera were black now. “Now let me in on this.” He clasped his hands together and encased himself in sand, creating a tornado in the immediate area, this made a certain dragon focus on him.

“Huh, what’s that guy doing?!” Ash looked back and saw something step from the tornado on all fours. He saw that it was covered in sand and its face was a haunting shade of red with large claw like teeth that didn’t look sharp but he didn’t want to test that, a tail and there were some black marks along its arms which were now almost as long as it’s legs, “This kid’s crazy but I’m in the air so I should be ok.” No sooner than those words were uttered the creature sucked in air and looked at Ash directly.

“Wind style: Air bullets.” The being spoke in a deeper, gravelly voice, and spat out a volley of air cones that headed towards Ash and made him shoot fire in retaliation, creating small explosions in the sky.

“That all you got? I could do this all day. I could even fight you claw to claw!” Ash descended from his higher position to canopy level but this made the sand being smirk. “What’s so funny? Don’t you know that sand turns to glass when it’s burnt? I’m gonna make you pay for killing my crew by torching you then shattering the sculpture!” He only got a chuckle in response.

“Heh, the only one dead is the one you sacrificed to save yourself and I’m going to win this with my arms behind my back so I can humiliate you.” True to his word the being stood up straight and put his hands behind his back.

Another gout of flames was shot by Ash while the creature stood there, and once the smoke cleared Ash saw he was unharmed. “How’d- Why- Aah!” His nostrils started to steam. “If that’s not hot enough then how’s this?!” He fired a continuous stream of fire that turned the air red, the sand creature inhaled and fired a series of air bullets back. The explosions filled the sky and turned the air as dry as a desert, forcing Ash to stop. “Thought you said you didn’t need arms?”

The creature used its arms to block the flames that were headed for him and a look showed that they were now glass. “Before you move I have something to ask, did you know that when a predator thinks it’s won it will not be aware of its surroundings?” Ash’s face shifted from smug to confused at the odd question but a sound from behind brought him back to his senses.

“Wha-“

*Thud*

A massive tail made of sand slammed into Ash and brought him into the ground. “The moment I stood up I began to turn rocks around us into sand so I could do that, you were caught up in your own overconfidence that you didn’t manage to hear the sounds.” Once he thought about it Ash realized that he heard loud scraping from underground but ignored it. He struggled to move from under the tail and was relieved when it retreated into the ground but it was short lived once he saw the sand coated feet in front of him.

“Wai- Hang on... we can talk this out...” Ash rolled over and dragged himself backwards but was stopped when his already injured wing had a foot placed on it.

“How do you think that dragoness felt when you shoved her into his hand?”

*Crash*

“AAAH!” Ash’s chest was being cut and impaled by small glass shards, and the sand creature was reforming a new arm.

“I think that was along the lines of the physical pain but I think she felt betrayed, maybe she felt she lost a friend...”

*Crash*

“DAMN IT!” Now shards were embedded into Ash’s stomach but before he could voice any more pain a hand wrapped around his throat.

“I’m not going to kill you but this will definitely hurt.” The being pulled a hand back and prepared a punch to the face. Ash quivered and raised a claw but didn’t make it to eye level in time

*Thud*

The first hit pressed Ash against the ground

*Thud*

The next made a crater underneath the dragon’s head, his eyes were still open and blood gushed from his nose.

*Thud*

The last hit was much softer than the previous two and was the tipping point that sent Ash into unconsciousness. The sand creature stood up but clenched its head in anger more than pain. “You had your fun now go back where you belong.” Zeko said as his eyes returned to their normal color and the sand encasing him fell off, fixing his bodily proportions.

The inner demon was less than pleased that its fun was cut so short but it didn’t part without a warning, “Just know that the next time you need help... I’ll be there so watch your back.” The sand was off and Zeko walked over to Onyx.

“Damn it, I shouldn’t have had a tantrum like that but... it’s just a job in the end I guess.” He reached down and closed the dragoness’ eyes, fighting the tear that wanted to leave his eye

“ZEKO!” Zeko turned and saw Diamond with Hunter right behind her. “What was that thing? You just shot air like a bolt of magic then your tail-“

“That wasn’t me.” He interrupted calmly but his statement made Hunter walk closer.

“Is that the ‘inner evil’ that you deal with? And before you ask Princess Luna told me, she said I’d be able to help you somehow.”

Zeko sighed before explaining, “That’s a form of my negative emotions, he shows up when I’m in a bad situation or just could use help and I’m in a bad mindset. Remember that sword I had?”

“The one you treated like it was somepony else? Kinda hard to forget.” Hunter replied.

“Well I had to return it and something else happened earlier that helped push me over so he took over just then. But that’s not important, let’s just go turn in the mission.” He jumped off leaving Hunter who turned and saw Diamond examining the dragons.

“They’re all alive except for her... she didn’t deserve what that guy did.” She looked from Onyx to Ash but registered the crater he was in and figured he had a fair punishment.

“So I need to help him tame his own emotions? That’s not the weirdest one yet.” Hunter thought as he and Diamond walked away from the plateau, leaving the dragons behind.

===================================

Once again Zeko was meditating in his dream world but the difference this time was that his left half was covered in sand rather than orange chakra. “Zeko!” He opened his eyes and saw Luna. “There were two disturbances earlier today, would thou know anything about it?”

“You say that like I should know what you mean, what kind of disturbances?”

Luna crossed her arms in thought, “There was an incredibly high power midday and an even higher one mere minutes later and- What’s that on thine body?” She pointed to the sand covering his left half.

Zeko closed his eyes before deciding on his response. “Well that first power you detected was the seventh leader of the Hidden Mist Village and I’m guessing Kotetsu left kamui open for too long so you noticed. The second was me and... I lost something important so I got carried away with something.” He rubbed the back of his head but Luna’s gaze was stern.

“Then the only issue is that same energy thine showed before has gotten worse.” She turned to leave and flew towards a door in the air. “Be careful, dark energy can be very tempting but if one falls into it, they may not be able to return.” She left, the door vanished and Zeko was alone again.

He resumed his meditative position but this time he had chakra rods in his hands. “That’s the exact reason why I’ll control it.”

“Or you could fall into-“ The demon tried but a vacuum sound cut it off and sent it into the deeper recess of Zeko’s mind.

“Shut up because once I figure this out, you won’t exist anymore.” He stabbed the rods through his palms and the sand fell off and revealed the orange chakra underneath. “One step closer to getting this down....”

Author's Notes:

Zeko’s sand demon form resembled this but with one tail and of course he was covered in sand. And yes... Samehada is no longer in his arsenal

We’ll see you next time