Here I go with the next chapter of this little adventure. I must say that it is longer than the previous one, but I didn't want to shorten it with a third chapter either. I must also say that from there I am going to pause a bit to continue with the other story. I hope you enjoy.
On reviews:
Angelvan105: I'm glad you liked the chapter as much as I did.
Hekkasi: Yes, it would be one of the funniest and funniest moments in my history. In fact, Kon and little Rin make a good duo.
Prometheus7987: I don't think I'll be back for a long time, but I'll continue to do the chapters when I have time.
Cinderfall20412: Well, to answer your first question, yes of course. She uses Ichigo's reiatsu in substitution for a magus's mana or od.
As for your second question, I don't think she's going to have Shinigami powers. The reiatsu she is receiving from him is from before he became a Shinigami. I may still have trouble combining elements from the Kuboverse and the Nasuverse, but I won't let that discourage me and will continue hybridization later as it will gain in importance in the future.
Guest-Questioner: Well, maybe I can use elements of the Fullbring Arc to base Ichigo's abilities on as a magus since they are so similar in some ways, including that of the Quincys.
Chapter 27: The little adventure of Rin and Kon part 2
07/06/2022
Ichigo grunted for the tenth time as he was forced to change direction due to his compass needle pointing crazily elsewhere and this was the fifth time it had happened.
'What the hell is wrong with this thing?'
If risking going in search of Caster and his deranged Master was a somewhat stressful task, this was without a doubt the most annoying thing he had to endure. About 15 minutes had passed since he had left the motel together with Saber, Ishida and Kon (the latter had gotten lost along the way) to venture into the dark neighborhoods of Shinto, and although from the beginning they had some difficulties due to the number of police prowling around, they had managed to avoid them, but that didn't solve the main problem they had to face.
"I already told you not to trust that stupid contraption, and you just had to trust my senses more." Saber admonished sounding almost sarcastic. A gesture that caused Ichigo's frown to deepen a bit.
The issue at hand was that blindly guided by Urahara's newly gifted contraption, Ichigo and company had gone where the compass indicated once they had almost reached the center of the city, penetrating every neighborhood and alley along the way, but without any result. They searched and tracked everything the compass indicated, but this only led to a dead end, and they didn't even find any trace of Caster and his Master, although luckily, they didn't meet another Master-Servant couple along the way, but that did not improve the situation for the team of the eighth Master.
And what is worse. For some reason, the needle kept going round and round as if it had gone crazy.
"It is broken?" Ichigo asked annoyed as he brought the object up to his eyes for a closer look.
"I do not think so." Ishida suddenly intervened who seemed unperturbed by the situation. "What happens is that here there is a lot of magical energy around us scattered throughout the city. Remember that Fuyuki is one of the key points where the highest concentration of magical energy in the world emanates, and therefore it is normal that the compass behaves like this because there are multiple signals everywhere."
Compression came to Ichigo immediately upon realizing the matter. He had forgotten that this city was almost an equal to Karakura, a giant reservoir of supernatural energy that not many know of its existence but could be used in different ways for different purposes either for good or for bad. However, that didn't bother him at all.
With so many signs of magical energy scattered everywhere, it was only natural that the compass would go haywire and point in all directions. That did represent a real setback, since in this way one could not go to the desired place without getting lost along the way.
"Great, so how do we find those bastards?"
This compass was supposed to be the key to finding Caster and his Master wherever they were, but it seemed that it didn't matter anymore.
"Pff, it's not like all is lost now." Saber commented nonchalantly. "You still have my great sense, which is 1000 times higher than that, even more than my parents."
Ichigo turned his head to look at his Servant uncertainly.
"And what makes you think your senses are superior to your parents'?" He asked her with some curiosity. He knew that his Servant was very proud and presumptuous, and sometimes cynical when she got angry. The point is that if she said that she was 'superior' to her parents in some respects, it was obvious to anyone that she would be bragging or something like that.
"Heh, it's obvious." She answered surprisingly without taking offense. "Because I was born with my father's draconic heritage and my mother's fairy essence, it goes without saying that I am superior to them."
Ichigo could only look at her confusedly as he registered those terms that she mentioned. Draconic? Fairy? What was she talking about?
Before he could ask any further questions, she continued.
"Besides, I'm sure that deranged will show up at any moment if he's still obsessed with me."
"I don't think this time will be the case." Uryū suddenly intervened. "After our last meeting with him, you will have already made it very clear to him that you are not interested in him."
Mordred nodded a little disappointed as she realized the Quincy was right. On the one hand, it was a real relief that that damn Frankish maniac was no longer obsessed with her being that damn Frankish saint of all things, but on the other, but irrelevant, the problem was that he would now avoid her like the coward that he was.
"It's going to be difficult for us to locate him."
"So what?" Saber spoke unconcerned. "He can hide anywhere he wants. But I'll find him. He can't stay hidden in a hole any longer."
As much as Uryū wanted to take this as encouraging, he couldn't, but Ichigo wasn't about to give up and had to keep trying to search for any possible clues, but it seemed like he couldn't trust this damn contraption given to him by Sandal-hat anymore.
The Eighth Master internally growled at this situation. Clearly this was like looking for a needle in a haystack. It would take hours or even a whole night to search this entire fucking district for any clues to the rogue Master's new hideout, and until they finally found it, who knows what they'd find there.
Ichigo growled again. He couldn't let this get to him again. He now possessed a new power more or less the same as when he was a Shinigami. Even if this was a newly discovered power, he was able to master one of the standard techniques in a single day, though he still has more to learn. Apart from Reinforcement and Projection (the latter he hadn't learned yet) he also had to learn that perception about magical energy as his Servant did.
Ichigo reflected with certain irony that the perception affair wasn't his main source, well, that was from the start. As a Shinigami with Rukia's powers, he was completely clumsy about sensing reiatsu as Ishida said earlier and had to rely on a basic high-level method known as Reiraku to locate other sources of reiryoku such as-
'Wait a minute. Could you use that again now?'
A new thought entered the eighth Master's head and he knew that it might be the key to finding his enemies. If there was one thing, he could do even without the Shinigami powers of either Rukia's or his own, it was that he could locate any entity with high spiritual potential by visualizing the reiryoku in the form of ribbons in the atmosphere.
The first time he used it was when he had to locate a plus kid's soul hidden inside a cockatiel, and later when he had to journey to his inner world in order to find his Shinigami powers, which were hidden in one box among millions.
He had never used it since gaining his own Shinigami powers as his spiritual perception had increased to the point of no longer relying on the Reiraku anymore. But what now? He may not have his Shinigami powers now, but that couldn't stop him from using them again since apart from the Shinigamis other spiritually elevated beings like the Quincys can also do it. The problem would be that this technique only worked on reiryoku users from his world, and he didn't know if it also worked on od users like magi and Heroic Spirits.
The chances were remote. As she had reflected before, reiryoku and od are 2 different elements since they come from a different origin. But what does that matter? There was no time to continue pondering meaningless things and take action at once.
As such, he decided to try it now.
Uryū noticed how Ichigo stopped abruptly making him and Saber stop as well and see what the orange-haired boy was doing.
"Kurosaki?"
"What are you doing now?"
Ichigo had a moment of silence before deciding to speak. "I think I've got an idea." He responded by catching the curiosity of the Quincy and the blonde knight.
"I'm going to use the Reiraku and see if I can spot anyone around us."
While Ishida let out a small panting of surprise and widened his eyes, Mordred simply tilted her head slightly confused both by the statement and by the term 'Reiraku' since she had never heard it before.
"Hold on a second, are you going to use the Reiraku? We don't know if you can do it in a-
"We won't know unless I try it, okay?" Ichigo interrupted not wanting to hear any more pessimism from the Quincy and after a quiet moment, he proceeded to focus on his surroundings.
Emptying his mind, he expired and held his breath before activating his magic circuits and condensing his modified reiatsu around him. As Ishida silently and expectantly watched the process, Saber simply watched in amazement and confusion as her Master's body was bathed in a thin layer of semi-transparent bluish light that shone in the darkness of the night. Then out of nowhere, appeared around Ichigo, countless glowing ribbons flowing in different directions, all created from visualizing spirit auras in the atmosphere.
Both the Quincy and the Servant were visibly surprised by the result. For Ishida it was totally unexpected that it worked. The Reiraku was only supposed to work with beings whose auras were based on reiryoku and was unlikely to work with another otherworldly source like od. He didn't know if this type of Reiraku was somehow influenced by Kurosaki's magic circuits so that he would adapt well to this new source and be able to visualize the od or mana of magi and other related beings.
Either way, this seemed to be working for real.
Ishida looked at the ribbons circulating around Kurosaki and noted to his astonishment that indeed these spiritual ribbons were not made of reiryoku, but of od. The od of the magi that prowl some point in the city, and possibly also of the Heroic Spirits accompanying them.
"What the hell is this?" Saber asked still dazed looking at the phenomenon in front of her.
Uryū ignored her as he stared at Kurosaki and expected more results.
Ichigo smiled with satisfaction as the spirit ribbons appeared out of nowhere around him like the other times before and wasted no time examining them all to see which one could be Caster's. Then, after a short moment of searching, he stopped at a particular tape that seemed to be made from a different source than he expected, but quite familiar. In fact, he immediately recognized it as reiryoku and it didn't take him long to identify its owner.
'Kon? What the hell does that…? Oh crap, I had completely forgotten about him.' Ichigo scolded himself for carelessly abandoning his pet-companion.
With all the ruckus when they almost ran into that police car several minutes ago, Ichigo didn't have time to figure out if Kon was still holding onto his shoulder as they run to a stop somewhere safe. When he realized that the mischievous talking stuffed lion was missing, he wanted to go looking for him where they had passed before, but the presence of some police cars prevented him from starting his search.
It was thus that Ichigo had reluctantly decided to forget about Kon for the time being and continue searching on another route where there were no more police patrolling. Maybe sometimes Ichigo and Kon might get along badly and argue from time to time, but the orange-haired boy still considered the Mod soul a friend, although not so close, but well. Still, the fact of leaving it abandoned in the middle of the street left him with a bad taste in his mouth and he hoped to at least find him, albeit casually along the way.
Although with the Reiraku method it turned out to be very effective.
However, something that caught his attention next was that it seemed that the Mod soul did not go alone since his tape was together with another whose essence he could not recognize. It was very easy for Ichigo to know that it wasn't made up of reiryoku, and rather it was od.
'Who's with Kon now?' Ichigo asked as he tried to examine the tape running next to Kon's. He couldn't tell who it was, but he was able to deduce that he must be a magus and noted to his surprise and confusion that he was weak and immature.
For a moment he thought that it could be Waver's who somehow decided (probably forced by his Servant) to start his own search to find Caster and had met Kon by chance and decided to go together. However, he couldn't notice Rider's presence anywhere, so he was able to conclude that the owner of that tape probably isn't Waver, but someone else.
He couldn't tell for sure who that person might be, but it was likely one of the Masters who had also started their own search. Ichigo couldn't help but fret as he wondered who could be accompanying his little pet friend right now.
It was then that he came to a conclusion or worst-case scenario that it could be Caster's Master who could have found him, captured him, and who know what horrible things he could be doing to poor Kon. Ichigo clenched his teeth in anger and concern at the thought that one of his friends was in danger and couldn't help but imagine what that maniac was doing right now.
Such was his concern that he almost lost his concentration, and his anxiety was not unnoticed by Uryū and Saber who looked at him with concern.
"What's wrong?"
Ichigo ignored him as he tried to regain his composure and follow the only lead, he had left to find Kon and possibly those bastards once and for all.
"Let's go!" Ichigo exclaimed with renewed resolve before grabbing Kon's ribbon and running in his direction.
"Huh? Wait!" Ishida yelled in a daze without knowing what he came for with that sudden movement of running. Could he have found something? It doesn't matter, since he couldn't think any further when he and Saber were the next to reluctantly run to catch up with the orange-haired idiot.
As Ichigo hurriedly continued to run with the tape still in his hand, he felt that he couldn't be that far away from his target and Kon and just prayed that nothing bad had happened to the Mod soul yet.
'Hang on, Kon! Let's go right away.'
Far from Ichigo's expectation of Kon's unfortunate situation, our beloved Mod soul seemed rather pleased with his new situation. It wasn't exactly what he was expecting, but he felt somewhat comfortable mounting himself on top of this strange little magus girl that he had found by chance after getting lost in the middle of the dark streets of Shinto.
From the beginning he didn't want to get involved with her and leave her alone even when she was going to be captured by those policemen for her protection, but then he realized that she also had that same magical compass that Ichigo had to track mana and search the kidnapper. Kon desperately needed the help of said compass to find Ichigo and his company, but the problem was that the little girl had the compass, and it was possible that those policemen would confiscate her. It was for this very reason that he decided to help her get rid of those policemen and later convince her to help him look for Ichigo in exchange for helping her find the kidnapper's lair.
And that was how the two ended up going together in their exploration of the place with Kon riding on top of her while the latter calmly checked her compass, although she couldn't help but feel some barely concealed discomfort at having a supposed talking familiar carrying her on her shoulders.
A few minutes had passed since they met, and she had decided to help him find his owner only in exchange for him helping her find the kidnapper's lair and save Kotone. To be honest she had never seen such a strange type of familiar, but leaving that aside, the only thing that worried her was if she did the right thing on help him find his owner.
She was still skeptical about the talking doll's intentions for wanting to help her find her friend without even knowing each other. According to what her parents always told her was to never trust strangers as they could be tricking her into doing very bad things. Well, they simply referred to 'people' and didn't mention a familiar, but it was the same. She still didn't know this strange creature that currently seemed to be making itself comfortable riding on her shoulders, but he had better tell her the truth, because otherwise-
*BBIBI*
Rin stopped abruptly when she heard the sound of her compass beeping filling the silence and saw the handle pointing to the left, towards an alley.
"Have you detected something yet?" Kon asked turning his attention to the flashing compass.
"It seems." Rin answered before running to where the compass indicated being that alley.
Once she was inside the mouth of the alley, the little magus girl kept running alone until she stopped suddenly when she finally found a big wall that obstructed her way. A dead end.
'Not again.'
This was the fifth time this had happened to her when she started her adventure in Shinto. Every time she followed the directions of this damn compass, she often directed her to go down some alleys that sometimes ended with dead ends and other times on inaccessible roads. She had no idea what was wrong with this damn compass, whether it was going crazy or it was because of the enormous presence of mana throughout the district, but either way this was stressing her out quite a bit and it greatly affected her quest.
"Hey, are you sure your compass works? It looks to me like it's broken." Kon asked looking confusedly at the young girl. "Is it broken or something?"
"Of course not, idiot!" Rin exclaimed looking at the talking doll with annoyance causing the latter to stagger and almost fall to the ground. "The thing is that as I said before, this city is flooded with a huge source of magical energy so it would be difficult for me to orient myself with this, do you understand?"
"Right, and If so, how did you think of finding your friend earlier with this problem on your hands?" Kon asked next.
Rin didn't say anything as she thought a bit about that question and the truth is that he was right. Since she arrived here one of the biggest problems, she had to deal with apart from the police was orientation in this place and her compass was not doing her a great favor. She tried not to show it, much less to this strange talking familiar, but this was getting very stressful.
"I think you should have thrown that crap compass in the trash and brought something much better." Kon said with a nonchalant sass. Which would turn out to be a mistake.
"Hey, what you are calling crap!?" Rin she yelled angrily before catching the stuffed lion's neck with her free hand, lifting it off her shoulder and holding it in the air in front of her looking up at him with her sharp eyes filled with anger.
This thing had just mocked one of the dearest gifts her father had given her, and she couldn't let such an insult go unpunished!
"Insult my father's gift again, and I swear I'll break your neck!"
Despite the threat and the handshake to further emphasize it, Kon would have truly feared for his existence if he had a real windpipe for her to clog it and suffocate to death. Still, he didn't want to deal with the wrath of a little girl who could probably tear him apart for an offense like the one he just said, so he quickly retract down.
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I won't say it again!" Kon exclaimed with fear and genuine regret as he violently waved her hands in a vain attempt to free himself from the little girl's grasp.
Rin looked at it for a moment considering the pleas of the talking familiar until she decided to release it and let it fall to the ground.
Once the matter is settled, the sternness in her eyes disappeared, though she gave him a look of warning for next time. Kon caught this immediately.
"Hey, don't look at me like that. I've already told you I'm sorry."
"Yeah, but I'm just doing it just in case. Keep in mind that this 'crap' is a special gift from my father, and anyone who says anything rude about it offends me a lot, is that clear to you?"
"Yes, yes, calm down. What I was telling you is that it seems that your compass is not helping us much." Kon argued.
"You say that, but it's rare that you need help from my compass to find your owner, don't you think?" Rin countered next. "Besides, aren't you a familiar? You're supposed to detect your owner's presence with your senses, right?"
"Huh, yeah, but…" Kon tried desperately to think of a convincing answer to his inability to detect spirit presences, and quickly came up with one.
"I just happen to be a fighting-type familiar. I was designed for close-quarters combat and smashing monsters."
This was not a joke or exaggeration. It had certainly been designed by the Soul Society Research and Development Institute as part of Project Spearhead and each modified soul was defined into different types. Kon is credited with enhancing the physical strength of his hosts especially in the legs, and this was shown whenever he took over Ichigo's body on several occasions doing what any normal human couldn't.
However, now...
"Oh yeah? I don't see you being very strong." Rin replied skeptically as she looked unconvincedly at the so-called fighting-type familiar.
Kon didn't like that answer when a check mark appeared in his head for the offense.
"Shut up!" Kon yelled angrily. "It's not my fault they put me inside a stupid stuffed lion of all things. This is all that damned Ichigo's fault."
At that statement, Rin raised an eyebrow upon hearing the name of the supposed name of the 'magus' who is chasing the kidnapper as well. Ichigo Kurosaki. She still couldn't talk about it.
"And who is that owner of yours? That Ichigo guy. You still haven't told me enough about him except that he's also after the kidnapper, right?"
"Yes, and?"
"Would you mind at least telling me a little about him. I don't usually trust people I barely know. What is he like?"
Kon fell silent while his anger quickly faded away. Of all the tough questions anyone could give him, why did it have to be one of these? Anyone who knew of the relationship between the former Substitute and the Mod soul would have seen it as complex since they don't have much interaction. Kon didn't hide his annoyance and contempt for Ichigo for stuffing him into this ridiculous comical looking cotton body like he was the mascot of some humorous manga/anime or something, which he didn't want to be. On the other hand, he also considered Ichigo a moron who could not see the approval of how beautiful sexy girls are, like Orihime's case, who despite the charm and beauty she showed, not to mention her huge breasts, he acted as if he did not see this last important detail and they got along like ordinary friends.
Still, he also couldn't help but feel jealous of him seeing how he got well with the bubbly girl.
On the other hand, despite his tense relationship with him, inside he couldn't help but feel respect for him since he was the first to understand his difficult situation of wanting to live freely without anyone dictating when he had to cease to exist when the Research and Development Institute decreed the extermination of the Modified Souls, and he was the only survivor. He was also grateful that it prevented a certain shopkeeper from taking over him to destroy him and then give him a home and a purpose to live, although of course, the fact of living inside a strange stuffed animal as a host was not in his plans so it would be the only part that will never thank him. Regardless, he at least was able to take over Ichigo's body while the latter was out hunting hollows.
Apart from that, he witnessed about the feats he performed when they traveled to Soul Society for the first time to save Rukia. He saw how determined and determined Ichigo was to save the little Shinigami no matter what obstacles and difficulties stood in his way like the Shinigami captains or the entire Gotei 13 itself. The courage that this punk had in risking everything in order to achieve his goals was really admirable, so much so that he couldn't help but feel envy for him although he did well to hide it. But above all, he continued to consider the orange-haired punk as a dumbass who did not take advantage of his great popularity to flirt with sexy girls.
Anyway, the young magus girl didn't seem to be interested in the last detail and just wanted to know if she could trust him, nothing more. As such, he prepared to answer her as honestly as he could.
"You see, Ichigo is an idiotic, reckless and impulsive, but above all brave, good-hearted punk boy who likes to play the hero and also spends his time kicking a lot of bad guys like thugs and nasty people." Kon responded by giving as good a description of Ichigo (his version of him) as he could. "In fact, when he saw the latest kidnappings on TV, he wasted no time leaving the house to go hunt it down at once."
Rin listened carefully to the description about this Ichigo guy and didn't know what to say about it. With the first description of him, it came to his mind that this guy seemed to be some kind of bully or something, but according to Kon also he had a good heart and the fact that he also tried to save the children in such a way selfless seemed to be someone who would take justice into her own hands as some kind of Ally of Justice.
Rin was also so selflessly risking her life to try and save her classmates from that kidnapper, but not because she's altruistic or an ally of justice or anything. Her best friend was just among them, and she couldn't sit idly by while she was God knows what the poor girl was going through. As such, there was no kinship between the 2, but neither would that be necessary.
"Is he really like that?" She asked with curiously.
"Sure. You'll see that despite what it may seem, he's a good guy. Hell, I bet he must have even found that kidnapper's lair by now and he must be pounding him right now." Kon replied confidently.
The little magus girl still didn't know what to say, but it seemed that he could be trusted to stop the kidnapper and save her friend, and he also didn't look so much like that suspicious-looking priest who she couldn't trust her father's life because he couldn't or wouldn't promise to keep her father safe. If it were true that by now, he had already discovered the kidnapper's lair and was dealing with the latter, she might be relieved that her friend was in good hands. She wouldn't have to feel so stressed all night for fear of never finding Kotone, but for having disobeyed her mother, venturing alone in the middle of the city with the risk of being captured by some kidnapper or the police, like the one from a while ago. This would be something she would take a long time to get over.
However, despite this encouraging thought, Rin was not carried away by the illusion since all that was just a guess, and she did not know what state that boy was in or if Kotone's safety was assured. As such, she couldn't trust that Ichigo to arrive before her.
"Well, you don't have to worry. You'll see that Ichigo can-
"I can't believe that."
"¿Eh?"
"How can you be so sure that your owner found the kidnapper before I did."
"Well… turns out he also has a compass identical to yours." Kon replied.
Rin blinked in surprise at the revelation. "What? Does he also have a magic compass like mine?"
"Sure, with that he can find the lair of those guys."
"Yeah, and how can you be so sure about that?" she asked him uncertainly. "You have already seen that there are many signs of mana everywhere, and that is why we are lost here. How can you be so sure that he will find it that way?"
Again, Kon no longer seemed so sure how the orange haired boy was going to deal with this problem on his hands.
"Well, I-
Suddenly, the sudden beeping of the compass interrupted what Kon was going to say, causing both of them to turn their attention to the magical artifact. Rin held it for a moment and watched the needle was pointing and blinking to the east. The little girl saw this change somewhat surprised. Until now, the needle just uncontrollably pointed in all directions around her, and this was the first time that she pointed in only one direction.
"What happens now?" Kon asked curious to know what new direction the needle was taking although he suspected that perhaps they were heading for a new dead end.
Rin didn't think so and decided without hesitation to take the new course that the compass indicated. With that in mind, she headed towards the alley exit, the way she had entered, leaving a confused Kon behind.
"Hey, wait for me!" The Mod soul yelled before running off to catch up with the little girl.
Once they were both out of the alley, Rin was now heading east and Kon reached for her by staying under her legs.
"Do you think it's a good idea to follow that? What if it leads us to another dead end?"
"I don't think so." She answered without paying attention to him.
"What do you mean 'I don't think so'? How can you be so sure of that?"
Rin frowned slightly at the talking familiar's annoying questions and turned her attention to him as they walked.
"Look, I don't know what I'm doing either, okay? I just know that I have to follow this sign to lead me to where they have Kotone locked up and I can't sit idly by now. I also can't wait for your friend to find her sooner since he will surely have the same problem as me."
Just as Kon was about to retort further, he suddenly heard the little girl gasp and stop abruptly on her feet, surprising him.
"What's up? Whoa-
He didn't have time to question further when the girl grabbed him by the head, and she dove to the right to hide behind some dumpsters.
"Hey, what are we hiding from?"
"Shh." Was what the girl replied before shock her head out of the hiding place and she saw a person walking quietly to the right. It was a young man with orange hair, a creepy smile, a dark blue dress shirt over a T-shirt and some blue pants. Though those weren't as important as what was on his wrist.
It was a glowing purple bracelet, it looked like it was made out of crystal and an enchantment had been placed on it.
However, the next thing that caught her attention was that he had 2 children leading them by the hand.
"What's that guy doing taking those kids out at this time of night?" Kon asked in a whisper also sticking his head out to look at this scene with intrigue.
Rin didn't say anything as she also pondered this fact. She continued to watch the children carefully and noticed that they all moved in unison with blank eyes as if they were zombies. None of them seemed to question or care why they were being dragged out at this time of night in the darkness, it almost gave him the feeling that they were hypnotized or something.
'Hypnotized? Could be...?'
She didn't have time to reflect further when she noticed the compass flickering again and she turned to see the needle point wildly at the group, thus confirming her suspicions.
'It's him!'
She had found it. At last, after she arrived here and began her search that seemed destined to be fruitless, she had found the child abductor, and Kotone may be among them. Now she just had to follow them stealthily.
When the man and the children behind him disappeared by submerging around the corner of the alley, Rin allowed herself to come out of hiding and prepared to follow them stealthily.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Asked Kon also leaving the hiding place disconcerted by the girl's action.
She turned to him with a frown. "What do you think? That guy we saw pass by is the kidnapper that me and your friend have been looking for. He's the one who kidnapped my friend."
The Mod soul's mind registered this and immediately came to an even more disturbing conclusion.
'So that guy is the Caster's Master?'
If that were true, then that would mean they were now closer to danger, more correctly, that madman of Caster and his pack of demons.
'We need to find Ichigo and Saber as soon as possible-
Before she knew it, the little girl hurried to walk quietly by the alley trying to catch up with the killer, and Kon followed her shortly after. When Rin emerged from the other side of the alley, she knocked over a stack of objects by accident that caused a loud ruckus, forcing her to hide lest he saw her.
Fortunately, no one heard the mess it caused, but her hesitance caused her to lose sight of the man and the kids, but the compass still seemed to be picking up a heavy mana signature, keeping her hopes up.
"I think you should-
However, the persistent little girl didn't listen to him when she started ran again and Kon was reluctantly forced to follow her. Just as Rin was about to emerge from another alley that led to another road, she stopped and ducked behind a corner upon seeing a patrol car, which slowly passed by without stopping. Once he was gone, she relaxed again. 'I can't let them catch me again.'
Suddenly, the next glance made her gasp: there was the creepy man was again! She ducked back out of sight while he chuckled. "Come on, keep walking, kid." The man walked past her hiding place. "I wish Mr. Bluebeard was here to carry these brats…" He murmured happily as he led the children.
Kon heard what he said and knew that 'Mr. Bluebeard' must have been referring to Caster. Wait, if what that maniac said that he wished his Servant was with him, does that mean he isn't by his side now? Where is he? Was he running some errand like kidnapping more children or was he still obsessing over the tomboyish knight thinking she's that French Saint? If that were true, then his Master is alone, but that didn't mean that he wasn't a threat now.
Once they'd all passed them, Rin tried to relax again. She failed. "He got another kid…" She cradled her compass with one hand. "Why?" The situation kept getting scarier. The little magus girl wasn't sure anymore if she could do anything. If she'd ever been sure from the beginning.
Then she remembered the dull glaze of those poor boys' eyes, followed by an image of Kotone smiling shyly at her. And then an image of… her sister.
'No. That isn't right.' Rin's expression hardened alongside her resolve. She glared at the detector, its needle swinging about after the man. 'If I just sit here, I can't help any of them at all. And that guy will just take more kids away!' The heir of the Tohsaka line jumped to her feet. The needle had settled on pointing straight ahead, so that's where she ran followed by a confused Kon.
Rin and Kon passed about five different places with flashing neon signs before they came panting to a stop in front of some stairs leading down to an entrance. The sign above the door was for some bar while the walls by the stairs had papers glued all over, among them advertisements for beer mostly. But most importantly, the needle began to spin counterclockwise. It always slowed a bit when pointing at the steps.
Then the device exuded a sudden flash of mana akin to red lightning, drawing a surprised yelp from her and shocking Kon as well by her reaction. She took a step back in her shock, panting at what this likely meant: whatever was down there, had a lot of magical power. Definitely more than she did.
"What was that?" Kon asked concerned, not understanding what her sudden reaction was.
Rin didn't answer the talking stuffed lion's question as her mind flashed back to only a little while ago, where she had gone down into her family manor's workshop, determined to learn more about magecraft and aid Father in the War. That memory ended with a very scary book, a lesson from Father, and her receiving the compass she now held. But one part stood out in particular now: her father's warning while holding the device to the book. "Be careful, Rin. Anything that triggers that kind of reaction is beyond your abilities."
Rin remembered that very well and understood what she was facing now.
"Is there." She said barely in a whisper.
"Eh?"
"That's the kidnapper's lair." She declared as she looked up the stairs that led up to the lair. "I'm sure Kotone will be there too."
Kon heard that before inspecting the stairs that led down to the presumed hiding place of the killer. He felt a little relief knowing that after an undetermined amount of time they had finally found the lair of the renegade Master-Servant pair, but he also felt a great uneasiness as they were also in very dangerous territory with those 2 dangerous psychopaths doing who knows what they're doing now, and he hadn't the slightest desire to find out.
Well, it seemed like he and the little magus girl were the first to get here anyway, and now all they had to do was wait for the orange-haired magus, the bespectacled Quincy, and the wild blonde to do the job.
"Well, now we only have-
He couldn't finish the sentence when at the moment he turned his head towards the little girl, suddenly she was no longer in sight, and then he turned his head in another direction seeing the magus girl now going down the stairs that led to the lair of the kidnapper. He couldn't help but gasp in surprise at what she was doing.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Kon yelled as he started to follow her halfway down the stairs where he reached her.
"What do you think? I'm sure Kotone will be locked up in there." She snapped to him. "I have to get her out of there now."
"But you can't. Have you gone crazy? What if that maniac is there and catches you?" Kon continued urgently. "You cannot do anything."
At this point, Rin barely had the strength to retort as she realized the situation. Yes, she was now right in front of the kidnapper's lair, and she could use her chance to sneak in and try to find only Kotone (whether she liked it or not, she couldn't say the same for the other children) and get her out of there. However, that didn't mean she didn't have to deal with the biggest obstacle in her way in the form of that dangerous, creepy-looking kidnapper who would surely be waiting for her in there. Maybe Rin have looked herself like a confident little girl with herself and could deal with any difficulties, but with a creepy guy it was something else entirely.
Besides the fact that his compass detected a huge abnormal magical force emanating from here that surpassed Rin's, it made things a lot worse. Whether she liked it or not, little heiress Tohsaka knew very well that no matter what kind of hypothetical scenario she would face that monster in, it was clear that she wouldn't stand a chance against him and would probably end up just like the other missing children, just like Kotone.
However, that did not mean that she turned around.
"I have to at least try…" She said in a small whisper as she hesitantly turned her attention to the entrance of the lair that would be considered a point of no return.
"What?"
The little girl turned her attention to the annoying talking familiar with a determined expression. "Listen, I've been all over this place risking almost getting caught by the police, and I can't turn around now. I have to do this for Kotone!" She blurted out the last sentence before turning to the entrance below.
"It's not that! I meant that we should wait here for Ichigo and the others to come. I'm sure-"
"Oh yeah? And can you tell me where the hell is your friend now, huh?" Rin asked sarcastically as she turned her attention back to the little talking stuffed lion making the latter stop in his tracks. "We haven't seen anyone since we got here, and I'm not going to wait for him to come. I'm sorry, but I don't want to risk anything happening to Kotone."
And with that, she resumed her march going down the stairs, leaving only a confused Kon and perplexed by the little magus girl's bravery of wanting to risk going down there to rescue her kidnapped friend, knowing very well that a ruthless psycho killer would await her. Seriously, who raised this little girl this way? Her aggressive and impulsive attitude quite reminded him of a certain orange-haired dumbass.
And speaking of the orange-haired dumbass.
'Where the hell are you and why are you taking so long?'
The darkness dimly lit by the few lights from the streetlights was not a problem at all for Ichigo as he kept running ahead of his friends to reach his goal. It had been a while since he was able to detect Kon's reiryoku through Reiraku, but to his dismay, he wasn't alone as he was accompanied by a source of od, presumably a magus, and he wasn't sure who it was, but at worst it could be the Caster's Master.
He still couldn't know for sure, but he didn't want to risk leaving poor Mod soul in the hands of that maniac, so he didn't hesitate to immediately go to his aid. Anyway, he felt that he was closer to coming face to face with those cynical bastards and ending their reign of terror once and for all.
Meanwhile, Ishida and Saber tried to catch up with Kurosaki behind him. The last one did not understand what was happening with her Master. Until a while ago he stopped to perform some kind of magical or spiritual trick by making numerous glowing ribbons appear out of nowhere surrounding Ichigo, and after inspecting one of these, he suddenly said that he had found that strange talking stuffed animal together with the presence of a magus or something, and so he started running towards the direction that tape came from.
He still didn't understand what the hell all that was, but if it was true that this trick could lead them to where those bastards were, she decided not to waste time asking and to follow them without question. She just hoped to slaughter that disgusting cockroach once and for all.
"Are you sure we're on the right track?" Uryū asked with some doubt about where they were going now. Actually, he didn't doubt that Kurosaki had been wrong about him locating Kon's reiryoku next to a magus's od, but he worried that they might take a detour along the way, and it would make their search difficult.
Ichigo half turned his head towards his friend/rival as they ran. "Of course. I still feel Kon's reyrioku, and I think we're getting close."
However, Ishida did not seem to be very convinced of it. If they were really approaching the supposed location of Kon and his supposed captor, whoever he was, he and Saber would have sensed it earlier. He still couldn't conclude who that magus was with the Mod soul, much less if it was the renegade, but if it was, and if they were really getting closer, then they should have been intercepted by his Servant, although he supposed there should be a logical explanation for why he wouldn't be seen.
The Quincy had destroyed his magic book that was the source of his power from an arrow shot 2 nights ago. He couldn't tell if he was able to recover after that or will need more time to recover, but if that was the case-
His train of thought was interrupted when he suddenly heard a strange beep that caused him and the gang to stop dead. Ichigo was the first to realize what that sound was and pulled the compass out of his pocket to see what was blinking uncontrollably and the needle spinning uncontrollably.
'What the hell is up with this now?'
Suddenly, the device exhaled a small flash of red energy (much like what happened with Rin) that surprised Ichigo and Uryū, and as for Saber...
"Heh, looks like your compass worked."
At first neither of them could understand what she meant, but it didn't take them long to find out when suddenly the silence of the night was cut when they heard a disturbing and familiar laughter that filled the air making the 3 on alert.
"So you guys are trying to mess with our business again, huh?" The voice spoke with amusement in its tone that sounded like the echo around it.
Both Ichigo's and Saber's blood boiled with rage upon hearing that twisted and insane mocking voice while Uryū's expression remained neutral as if he was completely unperturbed and remained on guard awaiting any kind of attack.
"However, you have fallen into my trap!"
Upon this statement, the 3 of them were surrounded by a dozen amphibious demonic monsters that appeared out of nowhere. The 3 of them could instantly recognize those forest of teeth and tentacles.
Caster's familiars.
"Those things again." Ichigo growled disdain.
"Clearly it looks like we're closing in on Caster and the latter must have recovered from the other night." Ishida deduced as he readied his Ginrei Kojaku bow and went on guard.
"Heh, better this way. Then I can work hard to finish off that worm." He declared Saber with her usual bravado and confidence before materializing all of her armor including her Clarent great sword ready for another bug kill.
For Ichigo there should be no problem in the Quincy and his Servant facing that wave of monsters, but the bad thing is that he will not be able to join them yet since his training is not yet complete so he would have to content himself with just watching, which is not to your liking.
The other problem was that while the 3 of them are being held here, he wondered how Kon was handling it along with the magus that accompanied him, already being one of the Masters or Caster's. He couldn't help but feel too worried about him and a part of him wanted to get out of here and keep going until he found him and confronted this fiend's Master.
He just needed to find a opening.
The door to the abandoned bar swung quietly inward allowing Rin access inside. For a moment she was hesitant to see how dark the place was and was barely lit by a few dim lights on the ceiling. In fact, it was darker than night.
She almost felt the need to back up, turn around and leave the place, but she had told herself not to run. Why had she gone so far to get to this place? She knew very well that Kotone might be here somewhere waiting to be rescued at once. She was very close to her now and as such she couldn't give up so easily just like that. She told herself that all she had to do was sneak around the dark room and look for any clues that might lead to her friend.
With that encouraging thought, the little girl steeled herself and took a few steps into the darkness until-
"Ouch!"
Rin almost startled when she felt something squishy bump behind her foot, so she immediately turned her head back and saw that it was the strange talking familiar recovering from the bump with her foot.
"Wh-what do you think you're doing?" She asked, half surprised and annoyed at the familiar's meddling. "If you're trying to stop me, you'd better-
"It's not that, idiot! I'm here to help you find your friend and get us out of this place." Kon clarified after getting up. "I hope you do not mind."
At first Rin looked at him somewhat surprised to hear that now he wanted to help her find her friend, but then it turned into doubts. However, she did not want to waste time and thought that there was nothing wrong with receiving help from another. The more, the merrier.
"Okay. You can help me if you want." She responded with no problem making Kon's smile widen.
Wasting no more time, Rin and Kon began to carefully venture into the dark parlor, trying to make as little noise as possible. Dust and cobwebs caked most of her surroundings save for the main part of the floor. Empty bottles and trash bags littered the place. This bar hadn't seen patrons in a while.
"Hey, how is your friend Kotone?" Kon asked as she surveyed the dark place carefully.
"Why?"
"I say this because I will need a detailed description of her. Can you give it to me?"
"Kotone is a girl my age with brown hair and eyes. Does that work for you-
She couldn't finish the sentence because while she was walking she suddenly felt something brush her foot causing her to stop abruptly and yell in surprise. Kon was also startled and looked his around frantically waiting for that maniacal psychopath or her equally psychopathic Servant to appear. Seeing that there was no one around him, he turned his attention to Rin to find out the reason for her surprise.
"What was that?"
Rin didn't say anything as she looked down and saw that what had brushed her was a human hand. She then knelt down to get a better look at who it was and to her surprise discovered that it was a girl her age lying on the floor dressed in her school uniform.
"It's a little girl." Kon exclaimed surprised.
The girl seemed to be motionless on the floor face down so Rin could not see her face and therefore recognize her. She turned her unconscious body on her back to see it a better.
"Hey, are you ok-
When she got a better look at her face, she felt her heart stop as she recognized her.
"Kotone!" Even with the empty look in her eyes, Rin would recognize her best friend anywhere. She quickly pulled the girl up, trying to reach her. "Kotone! Kotone!" But it was no use; Kotone showed no reaction.
Rin couldn't help but worry a lot about her friend's state. She couldn't tell if she was dead or unconscious, but she looked limp like a doll or something. Despair began to affect his mind and he found himself unable to do anything. Fortunately, Kon tried to reassure her.
"I'm sure she'll be fine." Kon said trying to sound encouraging. "Maybe she's under some kind of hypnosis or something."
His words seemed to reassure the desperate little magus girl when she thought that perhaps her friend was under a spell that kept her in a vegetative state, so it is possible to get her out of the trance, but the problem was that she did not know how. She still hadn't been trained to use hypnosis spells let alone nullify it.
'Maybe if I take her to my mother, she can do something.'
Maybe as soon as she returned her home with Kotone, her mother would probably be very furious with her and would punish her for who knows how long, but she didn't care as long as she was willing to save Kotone from the spell that kept her trapped in her mind. With that in mind, the only thing that Rin had to do would be to take out the unconscious body of her friend, get out and get away from this dark place and find some safe place like a police station to hide until her mother picked them up.
However, before she could implement her plan, she felt someone walking right behind her. "Huh?" She slowly turned around to see the creepy man from earlier lead another dull-eyed kids. He glanced down to give her chilling smile. "Who do we have here? Are you lost?"
"No…" Rin stuttered trying to control her fear. "Um..."
"You've come at the right time." The man continued before tossed the kids to the side and began to pull back the sleeve on his left arm. "We're just about to start a party." He stepped around the girl (who was frozen in fear as she stared at the unconscious children) until he stopped just behind her. "But we still don't have enough people."
The man knelt behind her with a deranged grin. "Wanna help us too?"
Rin turned her head to the right and an instant later she screamed in horror at what she saw. Bodies, bodies she didn't see before littered the entire bar. Kids she knew, people she had talked to days before were here, and every one of them had that same lifeless look on their face.
"Come on. The more, the merrier, right?" The man continued unperturbed by the terror that the poor little girl felt and seemed to amuse him.
Rin barely dared to look back at the maniac who kept looking at her with that crazy look that went with his sick smile. She barely registered as he raised a hand to try to catch her.
"Why not- Ouch!"
However, before he got to touch her delicate skin, he suddenly felt intense pain as something heavy hit his head. The man stood up immediately as he put a hand on the place where he had hit him above the head and looked around vigorously to see who it was that hit him.
"Who's there!?"
The man couldn't see anyone else due to the darkness of the place, but Rin was the only one who noticed Kon holding some crystal glasses and had thrown one at the kidnapper's head earlier. He looked at her immediately.
"Run! Hurry!"
Luckily, Rin regained her senses and wasted no time getting to her feet and grabbed Kotone's hand, making her get up from the ground and run as fast as possible towards the back of the bar and Kon followed behind.
"Don't you run away! Come here!" The man yelled with a crazy look in his eyes, but then an idea occurred to him and instead of chasing them first, he decided to lock the door so they wouldn't escape. Once this was done, Ryūnosuke began his pursuit of the intruder and his first victim.
Rin ran as fast as possible taking a vegetative Kotone by the hand trying to find any place to hide from the maniac, unfortunately she didn't even find a door to access another room, so they ended up cornered in the back of the room and the kidnapper was not long in coming and blocking their way from behind them.
"Heh, end of the line." Ryūnosuke laughed as he stopped in front of the cornered girls and enjoyed the despair etched on her faces. "Now why don't you be good girls and come with me?"
Rin could only look at a something fearful as she put an arm in front of Kotone protectively.
The killer let out another laugh before walking towards them again, confident that this time they would not escape.
"Stop there!"
Ryūnosuke stopped walking immediately when he heard a new voice that didn't seem to be anything childish and turned around his head to the right to see a... walking stuffed lion?
"I won't let you harm those poor little girls, do you hear me?" Kon snapped bravely as he pointed defiantly at him.
And it talks?
Rin could only stare a little bewildered at the talking familiar's strange attempt to challenge the creepy maniac this head-on considering the difference in height and that the former is just a stuffed body. What do he intend to do?
Taking advantage of the killer maniac's daze at the sight of a talking stuffed lion, Kon let out his fight cry as he ran as fast as his legs would carry him and then made a powerful leap, so high that he reached the height of the man's chest and drew a karate-style kick to hit him. However, it didn't go as planned as when his paw hit the chest, it bounced harmlessly off the target and Kon fell in a ridiculous fall to the ground.
The entire hall fell silent after watching... the Mod soul's futile and comical attempt to play the hero. Just as Kon recovered from his daze, a hand grabbed his head and lifted him up to the curious face of the killer who began to scrutinize him closely.
"What the hell is this thing?"
Kon did not like the position and he felt like a strange bug being scrutinized by a bug collector so instead of getting carried away in despair, he chose to continue fighting.
"Take this, take this, take this, you bastard!" He screamed as he frantically slapped his little cotton arms at his captor's face, to no avail. Ryūnosuke just continued to stare a little confused and not at all fazed by the insignificant little hits this strange little chatty thing that looked like it came out of a children's anime show or something. It was then that he suddenly had a twisted idea to put an end to this little game and the bravado of this thing. This is going to be fun.
"What? Do you give up? Do you give up? I'm going to shatter that pig face of yours!"
"Hey buddy."
Suddenly Kon stopped and froze in his place as he heard the man speak to him and then noticed that he was now looking at him with a sick smile that sent shivers down the Mod soul's spine.
"I have no idea who you are, but I like those little balls you use like eyes." He told him in a deranged tone. "Do you mind if I rip them off?"
Now knowing what he intends to do with it, Kon couldn't help but tremble in terror. Kon may not have organic anatomy like the rest of the living beings and therefore could not suffer any kind of pain if a part of his body like a limb were torn off, but even so, he could not help feeling a primordial fear of self-preservation and, so he really feared that his little balls would be ripped off as if a human's eyes were gouged out.
'Help me!'
Just as the psycho was going to lay a hand on one of the little dark balls, Rin ran out still holding Kotone's hand, though she let go of her halfway, towards him. distracted kidnapper who had no time to react as she closed the distance and delivered a hard kick to his shin that made him scream in pain and drop the stuffed lion to the ground.
"Let's go!" Rin yelled as she grabbed Kotone's hand again and ran back the way they had come earlier towards the only exit they had entered from earlier. Kon immediately followed her.
"Wait!" Ryūnosuke yelled as he limped a little watching his dams rum away again.
Rin (along with trailing Kotone) and Kon continued to run without looking back until they reached the closed exit they had entered from earlier. Rin quickly tried to open the door but found that it was locked.
"I can't open it!" Rin exclaimed in despair.
Not long after, the maniac arrived and cornered them again.
"Game over this time." He declared with a vicious smile on his as he looked at his once again cornered prey.
Rin and Kon could only be forced to look fearfully at their executioner in front of them with no chance of escape. The latter kept wearing that crazy smile on his face and filled his head with wicked thoughts on how to deal with these 2 intruders.
"You little girl, so you wanted to play the COOL heroin to save these kids, right?" He said as he looked at Rin who flinched a bit. His smile widened a bit. "You chose wrong, heroin! No one is going to save these kids, and less to you! I'll have you join them right now!"
Rin could no longer prevent despair from taking over her entire soul knowing that this would be her and Kotone's end. All the effort to get here and save her best friend ended in resounding failure and now she was going to pay for it with her life just like Kotone and the rest of the children.
If only she had been much stronger...
But it didn't matter anymore. She will soon know nothing and will never see her parents again.
'I'm sorry, father, mother... Sakura.'
It was then that a miracle happened.
"Hey, there's someone in there!"
Everyone in the bar froze at the sound of a male voice coming from outside. It was totally unknown to most, but very familiar to Kon.
"Are you sure?" Another voice sounded from outside, this time female, and also familiar to Kon.
The next thing that happened was that someone tried to open the door with the handle but couldn't, so he settled for ramming his body into the door a few times, but to no avail as well.
Meanwhile, Ryūnosuke grunted as he put his guard up against anyone who dared to interrupt his fun.
"Shit, I can't open it." The male voice sounded with frustration.
"Step aside, I'm going to take it down."
Kon then realized what was going to happen next and quickly alerted the magus girl.
"Get down! Come on!" He screamed at the top of her lungs as he dove to the ground out of the door's trajectory as if there was going to be an explosion from the other side. Rin did very well to follow his example by dragging Kotone with her, because not long after that the door flew inward as if it had been hit by a powerful hurricane like it was made of paper.
The kidnapper managed to dodge aside the door before it crashed and crushed his bones and he stared in bewilderment at those responsible who did not take long to rebel being first a young blonde girl dressed in a large silver Western-style armor and carrying a huge sword in hand. It didn't take long for him to identify her as the girl Mr. Bluebeard was so obsessed calling her 'Jeanne'.
Then another person entered, presumably her Master, being a young man almost his age, orange hair like his, but with a slightly punk style and wearing a red shirt, black jacket that matched his pants.
After the crazy entrance of both, Kon was surprised to recognize them immediately.
"Ichigo!"
Rin could only blink in puzzlement and confusion as she looked at the newcomers, though her attention was only focused on the orange haired boy newly named by the talking familiar as Ichigo, the owner of this familiar and the magus who is supposed to have also been searching for the kidnapper's lair to save the kids here. 'So it's him.'
Meanwhile, Ichigo just stared with a hardened look at the supposed Master of that fiend who instead stared at him with the same deranged smile as if he had completely gotten over the unexpected entrance.
Ichigo finally comes face to face with Caster's Master Uryū Ryūnosuke. What will happen next and how will this outcome unfold? Will it be the end of the renegade Master-Servant couple? See it in the next chapter.
I must say that I also enjoyed writing the chapter, especially with Rin and Kon in the lead, but I had only one difficulty in writing.
One was the matter of the Reiraku in the world of the Nasuverse. In the canon, not many details were given except that apparently other beings with a high spiritual level (besides the Shinigamis and Quincys) can do it, but the problem was if it also worked in another environment. The truth is that it is quite difficult to combine elements of the Kuboverse with the Nasuverse. Anyway, as it is my fanfic, I decided to do it and so I did.
Another part that I must explain for those who have been surprised is how I exposed the relationship between Ichigo and Kon in my fanfic too. In my version, as said before, the relationship is pretty much the same as canon; Kon harbors some animosity towards Ichigo for putting him in a ridiculous lion doll and sees him as an idiot who doesn't take advantage of his popularity to flirt with sexy girls like Orihime and Rangiku.
Although of course, despite his tense relationship, he also feels a certain respect for him, although he would never admit it, of course, but yes envy of him for gaining the attention of the girls.
Anyway, I hope you liked it.
Ja ne!