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Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any other fandom I manage to squeeze in this story.
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Lightning Dragon's Roar
A Harry Potter Fanfiction
By Zero Rewind
© 2015
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Chapter 62: Shimmer
Imagine a nice day. Blue sky, bereft of any clouds. Birds chirping. Squirrels running around, generally doing… whatever it is squirrels do. Families sitting down, having nice picnics and a good time.
A typical Sunday, by most people's reckoning.
Too bad I'm not most people.
Take away the people, the cute animals, but keep the nice day and add a big bloodthirsty monster to it, and you have my typical Sunday.
§Watch its snake head tail!§ Balthazar barked out as I sidestepped some foul looking spray of venom, before zapping the source with a low powered Lightning Bolt that seemed to irritate it, but not really damage it in any meaningful way.
I didn't even know what it was, to be brutally honest. Best description I could manage; it looked like a six foot tall lion with six legs, gigantic bat wings and a snake in place of where the tail should be.
The monster roared/hissed (strangely enough, the hiss was a jumble of incoherent babble that made no sense to me, despite my Parseltongue), and I shot back with a wordless challenge, avoiding its powerful swipes at the last moment, enraging it further and further the more and more attacks I dodged.
So what if it was pissed off? So what if it wasn't exactly the best move?
At this point, I couldn't care less.
The last few weeks had been spent aimlessly searching around for some unknown relic in an unknown location.
So when the SnaBaLion (Snake-Bat-Lion) decided to put everything it had into a last ditch lunge, I had no qualms about sidestepping it, before smashing a Breakdown Fist in its stomach. I felt its innards tear themselves apart as the impact carried enough energy to break through a steel pole.
The lion's momentum at that point completely changed, and it was sent flying to its right with surprising force. Even as it stumbled and broke even more bones, I took no risks, instead spraying the beast with Balthazar's venom when it ground to a halt.
The liquid splashed on its form, before eating through the flesh with a sizzle, followed by loud roars and hisses of pain. The noise began to lessen and lessen as the life left the monster's body.
It stopped moving.
I began to approach it, before stopping and reconsidering my decision.
I shook my head, backed away a few steps, before grabbing a small stone nearby and throwing it towards the great beast. The throw missed completely, hitting the floor behind the SnaBaLion.
Turns out it was all that was needed, as the monster flipped around suddenly, lunging at the spot where the rock was. Enraged at the lack of target, the beast snarled at me, its skin still decomposing from the toxic venom I had drenched it with before.
It was a sorry sight.
I sent a Lightning Blade flying to its skull, and walked away, hearing the sound of flesh being punctured. The beast's cries ended abruptly, and a loud thud followed.
It was finally dead.
I shook my head.
That was probably just the appetizer. I wasn't even sure who was sending these things after me.
The beast certainly looked Demonic enough. Was it a follower of Mundus? Was it just a random monster attack? Was it sent by a faerie?
I just didn't know.
I clenched my fist and thought to where all of this began.
That damned bitch and her machinations.
Leanansidhe.
It was supposed to be a quick thing. I would blast my power around, bully the faerie a bit and then take my father back from her clutches. I thought it would be easy.
And why wouldn't I have thought as much?
I had been continually winning my battles, as of late.
I got complacent.
She used him against me. Actually, she had almost killed him in front of my eyes— on a whim, at that.
It was an eye-opener.
I had gotten arrogant, again.
I was forced to swallow my pride, and agree to do the bitch two favors. Later, Erebus told me I got off easy. I had to agree.
She could have asked me to take his place.
Instead, I was in the middle of nowhere, looking for this item. The Leanansidhe told me a little about it, before she sent me off like I was her servant: it was a mirror, called Shimmer. Then, she directed me to this place; forest land deep within the Byankala Mountain range. That's in China, if you didn't know.
I patted the empty spot where Erebus used to be, and frowned slightly.
That was another thing.
There was some kind of encroaching incursion in the Nevernever. All of the realms I was aware of were being attacked by a race of creatures called the Fomor. I actually saw what the majority of them looked like, when Erebus and I were defending our own Realm of Darkness.
They were of medium-height. They had sallow skin, greasy hair which put Snape to shame— don't tell him I said that— extremely wide mouths. Their limbs were long, and scrawny, and their hands were very wide.
It was like looking at some kind of freak show, to be brutally honest; the stuff of a child's horrid nightmares. They were weak against iron, as they had some faerie blood in their veins before they were cast out of the known reaches of Nevernever.
I had to leave Erebus to deal with the defense of our Realm, as I worked on freeing my father. Sirius, at my request, was with the Leanansidhe and my father. Luckily, I had extorted a thrice-bound promise from the faerie seductress that no harm would come to my father and my Godfather as I was accomplishing this task— and until I came back to collect them, of course.
A rustle in the nearby bush snapped me out of my reverie.
Lightning curled and writhed within my being once more. I was ready for another fight.
"Show yourself." I simply said.
There was a long silence, before a male voice called out in Chinese.
§He's saying he's coming out.§ Balthazar supplied.
I nodded and motioned for the man to come forward. A few more rustles followed.
"Can you speak English?" I asked the approaching man. He was of short stature, had somewhat big lips, and was wearing a brown Mao suit, as well as a black cap with a yellow star at the front.
"English?" He repeated with a thick accent. "Little. I am Jusenkyo Guide. Am looking for lion monster. You see?"
I didn't know what the hell a Jusenkyo Guide was, but it sounded important. I could faintly remember Hermione making some kind of reference to that word. It had to be of a magical nature, then.
I nodded, and pointed to where the dead monster was. The guide followed the direction I was pointing at, before widening his eyes and looking at me.
"You kill him?" The guide said in astonishment, giving me a once over, as if he didn't believe someone of my stature could do anything of that level.
"Him?" I looked a little confused. "That thing's not human. Look at it. It came out of nowhere and tried to kill me, so I killed it instead."
The guide shook his head.
"Watch." He said, and we walked back to the now-dead body of the SnaBaLion. The guide pulled a thermos out of his backpack, and drenched the beast in hot water. Almost immediately, the body morphed into that of a young, black haired man.
Well, a mangled, half dissolved body, anyway.
I felt a little sick at the sight.
"I didn't know." I took a few steps back. "I didn't know."
"Is all right."
"What do you— but—" I shook my head. "Did he have a family?"
The guide looked at me for a long moment.
"No. Was criminal who used curse to attacking villages." The guide finally said.
Most of the dread drained out of me in that moment, replaced by relief and a considerable bit of curiosity.
"Curse?" I repeated. "He cursed himself?"
The guide nodded gravely. "Yes. Yes. Man fall into spring of drowned bat atop a lion with snake eating tail."
I absorbed that tidbit of information. I prompted the guide to say that again.
He did, and then followed up by explaining: "I oversee springs of Jusenkyo. Many springs with many curses, fall in one, and become cursed to take form of whatever drowned there when splash with cold water. Hot water turn back to normal."
I nodded warily. "I see. Thank you for this information."
"Is no problem." The guide replied before beginning to walk back into the woods.
"Wait!" I called out.
The man stopped, and turned to me again.
"Yes?"
"Do you know anything of a magic mirror?"
Another week later, and I was disembarking a ship, headed from a port in Shanghai to Shizuoka, Japan. Hopefully, my trip here would yield better results than the weeks aimlessly searching the Byankala mountain range. The whole ordeal just irritated me.
I began to ask for directions to Tokyo. The locals were helpful enough, though they gave me quite the cold shoulder. Surely enough, they gave me the required information, but not without a few angry mutters.
As a frequent user of 4chan, I was obviously aware of what a few Japanese words meant. One of which, was "gaijin", which meant foreigner; used pejoratively when talking about someone who wasn't of Japanese descent.
The racism was subtle; they smiled to your face, made polite overtures, but as soon as your back was turned the whispers came.
The only reason I knew was due to my enhanced sense of hearing.
Not that I cared, all that much. Petty people needed their petty little victories.
Anyway, I followed their directions and found myself in front of a train station which said:
"SHIZUOKA STATION
静岡駅"
§Well at least they didn't give me wrong directions.§ I amiably hissed to Balthazar, who gave a hiss of acknowledgement right back. I made sure to stop by an exchange shop beforehand, turning ten thousand dollars into about one point one million yen.
Excessive, but I liked to cover my bases. The money was safely put in my mokeskin pouch.
I went in, found a clerk, and listened to her yammer some greeting in Japanese for me, before I began to speak in clear, concise English.
"I would like a ticket to Tokyo Station, please." I said, and even gave her the charming Potter smile.
The girl seemed a little irritated at having to speak something other than her native tongue, but like most customer support workers, they soon folded and answered back.
"Four Thousand Yen. Please." She answered slowly, sounding it out.
She got it right, at least. My smile seemed to cheer her up a tad, this time. She sounded a little cute, actually.
I shook my head in slight amusement as I thanked the clerk, before following the signs, Balthazar translating and telling me where I needed to go.
The sun was setting as I got off at Tokyo Station. The place was positively packed with workers heading home, or to work. Simply looking around the station, I could tell the city would be as busy at night as it was during the day.
"City that never sleeps, huh." I said to myself as the train began to leave.
It was a short walk to the next station.
It was a different train line, much slower than the high-speed train I had previously boarded; designed to traverse inside of the city itself, so it most likely had to make sharper turns than a high-speed train.
And it was cheaper; a thousand yen.
I found myself a place to sit, next to a young boy reading some manga off of the latest edition of Shounen Jump, a manga anthology for kids and young teenagers. The kid was flipping through the pages like a mad-man. A chapter of Fairy Tail caught my eye.
The boy was staring at the pages as if they were holy.
I smiled.
I could make this kid's day if I showed him my Lightning Dragonslayer Magic.
Half an hour later, I disembarked the train, and looked for the particular bus line needed to get to Nerima Station; the Seibu-Ikebukuro Line. I had no idea what that meant.
I missed the bus as it was leaving, so I waited.
Sure, I could have taken to the air and followed the bus to its destination, but I was tired. It had been a long week, and all I wanted to do was get to Nerima, find some temporary lodging, and regroup.
Besides, it wasn't a hurried situation, by any means. A promise thrice-bound from a faerie is for real. My father and Sirius would be fine. There was no sense in causing up a stir by hurrying around.
A few minutes later, another bus turned a corner, and stopped at the station I was waiting at. I smiled, boarded the vehicle and paid the man; I asked him if he could tell me when we reached Nerima Station. The driver was a bit on the old side, but seemed well at ease with his job.
He even smiled at me and said "You got it!" in a perfect rendition of an American accent.
I smiled back.
The next forty minutes passed by quickly, as I gravitated towards the bus driver as he kept chatting with me, asking about the west. It seemed he wanted to go to the United States, again. He had been there when he was in his thirties, and it was one of the interesting experiences of his life.
I smiled, nodded, and even gave him my own inputs on random subjects we chatted about.
Eventually, the bus came to a stop.
"Nerima Station, my friend." The bus driver said with a smile.
"Thank you, Takeru-san." I said the last bit slowly. The man gave a nod, signifying I did it correctly.
I began to disembark.
"Take care in these parts." The man said as I got off. "Strange things, here."
Strange things?
"What do you mean?" I asked for clarification.
"Many weirdoes." He said. "Crazy people who cause a lot of property damage."
I nodded. "I'll keep an eye out. Thanks again!"
He nodded back. The bus' door closed, and he drove away. I watched the vehicle go and go, until it was out of sight. The street was dark, with a few of the lamp posts malfunctioning, flickering in and out. It had hit night time as I was on my way here, it seemed.
I heard some footsteps.
"Oi, oi!" A male voice accompanied those footsteps.
I tensed up. It was some guy with spiky, gel-ed hair, wearing some mockery of a biker's outfit. I would have laughed at him, if I didn't also see him carry a knife.
I smirked, instead.
Not even ten seconds here, and there was a mugger, already waiting for me.
He said something in Japanese, but it all sounded like gibberish to me. The way he brandished his knife at me, though, screamed of aggressive threats.
"English?" I said, pretending I'm dumb.
He looked constipated for a second before speaking in the most broken English I had heard all day. "Give all your money and nothing will happen."
I took a boxer's stance as a reply.
The man spit to the side, before lunging at me with knife.
Slow as molasses. I didn't even have to charge my nerves with Lightning as I grabbed hold of the knife with my right, scaled hand, snatching it away from his grasp. He held on pretty tightly, which was why it caused him to trip forward, right into my left hook, which sent him into la-la land.
I eyed the knife with distaste, before crushing it with my increased strength; some flimsy knockoff. I woke the guy up with a quick "Ennervate!" and asked him where the nearest hotel was.
He was scared, until I told him I was going to let him go after.
He ended up complying rather quickly. My lips twitched in amusement as I watched him flee the premises as fast as he could manage. I shook my head.
Sure enough, the mugger's directions were correct, as I found myself in front of a dingy looking motel.
I sniffed in distaste, but went in to rent. The owner was a fat, old lady who breathed more smoke than air. With my enhanced sense of smell, her "office" was pure hell.
"Seventeen thousand Yen." She said.
"Twelve thousand." I shot back.
"Sixteen thousand." She tried.
I shook my head, and began to walk out.
"Fourteen thousand!" She all but yelled out. I suppressed a smile, and took her offer quickly. She handed me a set of keys and pointed at the aforementioned room. I gave her a nod, and hurried to my designated room.
It was about as disgusting as I had expected it to be.
I guessed the "Japanese work ethic" myth was false. You know, the one that says that all Japanese people are hard workers. Looking around me, I realized that it just was not true.
A few waves of my wand, and it made the place temporarily livable.
I lied down on the clean, comfortable bed I had created, and almost immediately began to drift asleep.
That night, I dreamt of luscious, poisonous redheads, magical mirrors, and a stag.
Seven to eight hours later, I woke from a restful sleep, the first I've had in quite some time. The past few weeks had been spent hiking through China's wilderness, killing Demons, searching for a needle in a haystack, and sleeping in a tent.
Sure, the tent was great, and provided a great deal of protection from the elements. The ration bars also kept me full and energetic, but there was something about a warm, comfortable bed, and a home cooked meal that gave me infinitely more satisfaction than a ration bar ever could.
I would have preferred to be home, relaxing in front of a fire with my girlfriend.
Except, my girlfriend was off somewhere searching for her brother, and I was here, looking for leads on an object that would get me my father back.
"No rest for the wicked." I said as I quickly scarfed down a beef flavored ration bar, before cracking open a pepsi and downing a third of it in one go, letting out a loud belch.
I took a much more conservative sip, afterwards, thinking on what to do.
The bus driver, Takeru, had hinted at weird things occurring within the confines of this ward. Property damage.
A half remembered story of a martial arts fight destroying a mountain top came to mind. Was this linked to it?
My instincts told me yes, and that I should follow the weirdness.
And so, I would.
I undid the transfigurations on the bed, exited the motel, and gave the old lady her key back with a quick thank you.
"Say, would you know anything about weird things happening here?" I asked, and quickly added. "Takeru-san, the bus driver told me that I should be careful, here."
The old woman stared at me for a long moment, before giving a curt nod.
"Yes. That no-good family." She almost spat. "Saotome."
"Sa-o-to-me." I sounded out. She nodded, making a displeased sort of grunt.
"Where are they? You know— so I know where not to go." I said quickly as soon as her face was beginning to turn angry.
The added bit seemed to mollify her slightly.
"They live at the Tendo Dojo." The woman said, and gave general directions. "Avoid that part, and the school the son goes to— Furinkan High— and you should be fine."
I smiled, thanked the woman, and left the premises, the smell of cigarettes finally getting to me.
"Saotome." I said as I walked aimlessly for a while. "Tendo Dojo. Furinkan High."
Minutes passed. I continued to walk. The smell of grilled food wafted in my nose. I perked up, smiled, and moved towards the source, my mouth watering. It was one of those street stands, but instead of selling junk food like hot dogs and burgers, this seemed to be selling some kind of… pizza?
It definitely looked like pizza.
"Irasshaimase!" She greeted me almost boisterously as she was flipping, cutting up, and serving the food to waiting customers like a pro. She was even juggling her spatulas around as she was doing it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a positively gigantic spatula, and briefly wondered what the heck that one was for.
The girl, herself, was quite pretty. She had long, black hair, secured with a bow. She wore some kind of blue outfit, I assumed it was a chef's outfit, though I had never seen its like before, and form fitting black pants that left nothing to the imagination when gazing upon her legs— though most of that was hidden behind the stand.
"Hello." I greeted her in English. She frowned slightly, in concentration.
"Hello." She answered. "What would you like?"
I smiled and complimented her. "Your English is pretty good!"
Her eyes lit up slightly at the remark.
"Thank you!" She went a little red, before asking what I wanted again.
"I don't know, really." I said sheepishly. "I've never seen this food before."
With that admission, it was like a fire was lit in her eyes.
"Then I'll make you a mixed dish, to see what you like?" She suggested.
"Sure, go right ahead. How much for it?" I asked. She rattled off a price. I nodded, paid her the money and off she went, juggling spatulas with edges as sharp as knife points around like it was the easiest thing in the world.
"You're pretty good at that." I said, admiring her skill. "Where did you learn?"
She stopped for a moment, giving me a bit of a forced smile, before going back to work. "I learned from family."
'I think I hit a bit of a sore subject.' I thought to myself.
"Tell me about this food." I changed the subject. "It looks an awful lot like pizza."
"Well." Looks like she was getting a little fire up again. "They're called Okonomiyaki."
I repeated that word, took a few times to get it right. "What does it mean?"
"It literally means 'grilled as you like it'." She explained. "You choose what you want, and I grill it."
"Ah, I understand." I nodded. "And since I have no idea what's what, you're making me everything in a single one?"
"Yes!" She gave a bit of a smile as she cut up the pizza-like food with almost inhuman grace, before placing it on a plate, and nudging it slightly to me.
"Thank you, Miss..." I trailed off.
"Kuonji Uk— I mean, Ukyo Kuonji." She said.
"Ah, yes, the Japanese say their last name first." I nodded as I fiddled around with my plate. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Ukyo. I'm Harry Potter."
She mouthed the name, and smiled cheerfully. "Nice to meet you too, Harry-san!"
Her eye flitted to my right. I followed her gaze; it was a blue haired girl riding a bike, carrying around what looked to be take-out food. Her style of clothing just screamed Chinese as she dodged and weaved through cars, people, and jumped over ten feet.
All on her bicycle.
"Huh. You don't see that every day." I turned back to my food and began to eat, not noticing the chef—Ukyo's— gaze upon me.
My stomach gave the happiest gurgle it had in weeks.
"This is —munch— so good." I said, not even trying to show manners as I devoured the whole thing as quick as I could. The flavors on each piece were different, but I enjoyed it all the same.
I looked up to see the woman's astonished face, and felt a little embarrassed. I grabbed for a tissue, and wiped a bit of the sauce off of my cheek.
"That was really, really good." I said again.
Ukyo beamed.
Then a woman screamed in the distance. And another, and another. It seemed as if the screams were getting closer and closer, so that meant whatever was causing them was almost here.
I heard the sound of loud metallic clasp, and saw Ukyo the chef, leaving her stand, walking towards the source of the screaming. The large spatula was hooked to her back, like it was some kind of giant sword.
A brown blur was jumping all over the place, mostly going underneath girls and doing something to cause them to scream. He stopped for a moment, noticing Ukyo brandishing her large spatula at him.
It was a diminutive old man, carrying a large sack of what seemed to be lots of underwear. A panty thief? A girl holding a giant spatula facing off against an old panty thief who could somehow undress girls in a split second without actually ruining their outer clothes.
"Happosai!" Ukyo swung her spatula at the man, flat side first, hoping to give him a good smacking. It looked as if the weapon was going to connect, except he simply parried it with a pipe— where did he get that from?— before flicking the spatula with it, sending her flying back a few meters.
I caught her in mid-air and set her down gently.
"You okay?"
"Y-yes." Ukyo answered. "How did you..?"
I smiled at her, but gave no answer and walked towards the old man.
Then I turned to the panty thief, who was eying me curiously.
My Lightning surged within my body, suffusing into my muscles and nerves.
"I am not interested in you, boy." The old man said in perfect English. That's when I felt it. This insane, powerful feeling of fear permeated the air around me.
In the past, something like this would have stopped me cold. I might have even given up. But things were different, now. I conquered Fear. I fought the Emperor of Demons.
I wasn't going to cower from this.
"You think a cheap trick like this will stop me?" I said, taking a few steps forward, my own aura of bluish white Lightning exiting through my pores, filling the street up with a loud crackling.
Neither of us said anything for the longest time. We were both sizing each other up, trying to find some kind of weakness.
Then, a group of girls in volleyball outfits ran right in the middle of our standoff, hiding him from view. When they were gone, so was he. I was there, alone, wondering what the hell just happened.
"How are you doing that?" Ukyo's voice broke whatever stupefied silence I was holding.
I reined in my power, and began to explain.
Takeru, the bus driver, was right, though.
This place was a bag of cats.
And a half.