2200+ Reviews, that's pretty awesome, guys!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any other fandom I manage to squeeze in this story.
ooooooooooooooo
Lightning Dragon's Roar
A Harry Potter Fanfiction
By Zero Rewind
© 2016
ooooooooooooooo
Chapter 65: Gaia Pit
Hours turned into days, as I practiced in front of the flames. Cologne had allowed me to stay at their restaurant, and my entire time there— if not eating or sleeping— was spent snatching chestnuts out of open flame.
It was a total blur of pain, heat, and bright fire, but I kept at it, feeling my entire body strengthen, as well as speed up.
Better yet, I could follow the heightened motion of my hands perfectly, without supercharging my nerves with my Lightning.
The practically blind boy had stopped by to apologize during all of it, and I had acknowledged it with a nod. He ended up watching me for a while, giving me tips and tricks he had gleaned from being subjected to attacks with those speeds.
Quite useful, as it sped up my training significantly.
I was worried I would be spending a few more weeks here, but I believed I was done.
On the fourth day, Cologne and I stood in the basement, in front of the— hopefully— last campfire I would have to plunge my hand in.
I knelt before the fire, watching the flames twist and writhe, an elegant dance of heated gas and bright, orange light.
I gazed at Cologne, who nodded and promptly threw the chestnuts in.
"Here goes nothing."
My hands were a whirl of speed and precision as I neatly grabbed each and every chestnut, setting it beside me before plunging my hands in the crackling flames once more.
A few seconds later, and a stack of chestnuts lay at my side.
I looked at my hands, and let a smile grace my features.
No burns whatsoever.
I had succeeded!
"Congratulations." Cologne gave me an appreciative gaze. "Few, if any, ever manage to grasp the concepts behind this training technique. Take pride in your achievement."
I felt my face flush in embarrassment at the old woman's praise, and bowed my head.
"Thank you for teaching me this." I said with feeling. "What I learned here may spell the difference between life and death."
"No need to be so formal, child." Cologne practically cackled. "Just keep my son in law challenged, the next time you see him."
"Hm." I nodded, standing up and Vanishing the burning logs and chestnuts with a wave of my wand.
"Scourgify." Another wave of my wand, and the ground was spotless.
"Maybe I will return, after I retrieve the mirror." I nodded, thinking of Ranma. I wanted to see what he was made of. I wanted to see what his limits were.
The atmosphere seemed to darken as the light dimmed. A quick glance to the basement's small windows showed that the sun was setting down.
"Yes." Cologne nodded, before moving upstairs; I followed, and we sat at the same table we sat at before. "As promised, I shall reveal to you the location of the monstrous creatures' hideout."
I gave a nod, and looked at her expectantly.
Finally, I was going to get some answers.
"The item you seek." Cologne began dramatically. "Is located in the depths of the Gaia Pit."
"The Gaia Pit?" I repeated with a frown. "I've never heard of it."
"Nor should you have." Cologne said with a wise nod. "It is located in Higo Forest, Ryugenzawa, deep in the wilderness of Japan. It is a truly ancient place, predating our tribe by at least three thousand years. We are unsure of its true origins, though there has been speculation on the matter."
"Any information you have would be helpful." I said immediately, lapping up every word that came out of her mouth.
She considered me for a long moment, as if weighing the pros and cons of giving me all of the pertinent information.
"Very well." Cologne acquiesced, and took a breath. "Please forgive this old woman if memory fails me. The scriptures on this subject were quite archaic and ancient."
Ancient by this wrinkled up prune's standards?
Wow. Okay then.
As if easily reading my inner monologue, she glared. I merely held up my hands in a show of surrender.
"Sorry."
"Hmph!" She said in slight irritation, before closing her eyes and doing that 'I put my hands in my sleeves so I look like a wise martial arts master' move. "The story went that, over the years, the people living near the Gaia Pit would disappear, never to be heard from again. Such occurrences increased as the time passed. The danger zone was also increasing at a constant rate. Farther and farther out, villagers and travelers were being taken. The attacks grew bolder, as people's homes were set aflame, the males killed; the women and female children disappearing without a trace."
Holy crap.
She paused for a moment, taking a breath.
"The villagers gathered their gold together, and enlisted the help of a small army of mercenaries, to rid them of this threat. The mercenaries mustered at the Pit's entrance, to the sound of cheering villagers." Cologne said. "To this day, we are not sure as to what exactly occurred that day, as the records of the battle which took place never spoke of events; rather, it merely stated that it was a massacre the likes of which has never been seen by the eyes of humans."
I frowned thoughtfully, as she continued.
"Only one man had survived, very briefly." Cologne said. "He kept repeating the same words, over and over." She stopped dramatically.
"What?" I said, feeling a mix of apprehension and impatience.
A long moment passed.
"Xǔduō tóu lóng." Cologne finally said in Chinese. "Many headed dragon."
"… The Orochi?" I said, eyes widening.
And suddenly, the pieces of the puzzle began to click and snap. Of course it had to be Orochi. My luck would accept nothing less. It made sense, really; the Orochi was known to prey on maidens in the myths depicting it— before it was killed by the Japanese God, Susanoo.
The details were iffy, but the fact that it saw humans as a source of food and magical sacrifice basically told me all I needed to know about it. Of course, the fact that Erebus had told me that it used to be in cahoots with the Demon Emperor Mundus didn't help matters any.
"That is the name the Japanese have given it." Cologne frowned. "The Gaia Pit was suspected to be the Orochi's domain. However, that creature has long since left our realm, the traces of its power gone, scattered to the four winds."
"You're wrong." I said vehemently. "I have seen its power, firsthand."
Cologne pinned me with an almost frantic gaze, at that.
"What do you mean?" She asked warily.
"I know a man wielding its purple flames." I said slowly, thinking of the blonde haired man who came with me to Temen Ni Gru; Daphne's brother, Tristan.
Just his name brought up conflicting feelings. He helped me in Temen Ni Gru, but he was also mixed up in the Demon world, and had killed a member of the Order of the Phoenix in a fit of pure rage. I knew that he had been under the influence of the Orochi Blood Riot, but still…
I ran a hand through my hair.
Were they mixed up in all of this?
My mind whirled with the possibilities, but I didn't rush out of my seat. The last time I did something like that, I was forced to acquiesce to the demands of the Leanansidhe, who held a blade at my father's throat.
I took a deep breath, and began to take stock of the situation and the new information presented to me.
I absolutely had to retrieve the mirror. The mirror was in this 'Gaia Pit'. It was most likely safe to assume that it was crawling with Demons and the like; remnants of Mundus' armies, possibly enemies of both Mundus and humans, etc.
Then, if that itself was not enough, there was the possibility of the deity Orochi itself being there, and that most likely meant that Tristan and Daphne were there, as well.
I had no way of knowing. Hedwig had not been able to find Daphne or Tristan— the same went for my Patronus. Using the 'Point Me' spell yielded no results, either. Sometimes, I wondered if it was because they were already dead, somewhere.
I shook off these dark thoughts, and pulled out a generous sum of money, putting a stack of ten hundreds on the table.
"This is for any further treatment that Mousse may need, and for letting me stay here for my training." I said, and the boy in question shouted a greeting from downstairs. I showed her the other three thousand.
"And that?" She questioned, gazing at the second set of bills.
"I need to go to the Gaia Pit. I will need someone to guide me there." I said as much. "Whoever leads me to it doesn't have to fight alongside me, or anything. They just need to get me there."
"Ah." Cologne sighed. "I'm afraid I cannot aid you in this fashion, as I have responsibilities here." She refused.
I absorbed her words, nodded in understanding, and pocketed my money, before readying to leave. "It was worth a shot."
I gave her a final, respectful bow.
"Thank you again, for the training you've given me." I said once more. "I won't forget it."
"Think nothing of it." The Elder Amazon said in return, seeing me to the door.
And then, I left the Cat Café, walking for a while in the streets of Nerima; some of the passerby's gave me glances of recognition. Must be students from Furinkan High, I thought.
"Lost in thought?" A female voice came from my left.
I turned my head.
It was Nabiki, the girl who was taking bets on the fight between Ranma and I.
I did a double take.
Instead of her frumpy school uniform, she was wearing a white tank top and shorts which hugged her curves quite well.
Don't get me wrong, I greatly enjoy being with Daphne, maybe even… love? I don't know, but that doesn't stop me from admiring anyone from the fairer sex. I was a guy, I had a dick. She was hot.
Simple equation, there.
She raised an eyebrow at my obvious staring, but didn't offer any rebukes.
"Yeah." I confirmed once I got my wits together. "I'm just figuring out some things. How are you, Nabiki-san?"
"Can't complain." Her eyes glittered. "I made a killing off of Ranma's loss."
I half smiled and frowned, my mind briefly going through the events of that short-lived battle.
"I hope he didn't take it badly that I didn't want a rematch." I said honestly. "I have business in uh…"
I took a moment. "Ryu… zawa? Something like that."
For the shortest moment, she tensed, but to me, it seemed like an eternity. Her muscles went taut, her back became rigid— she had a nice set of melons, by the way— and she breathed in a little more sharply than normal.
Wow, this speed training did a lot more than just make me stronger and faster, huh.
"Higo Forest, in Ryugenzawa, you mean?" She tried.
Well, was that a lucky guess, or what?
"…Yes." I said after a moment, eyes narrowing. "Were you spying on me?"
"Oh, no, no." She denied. "This morning, we found out that Akane— that's my little sister— left us a note saying that she's going there."
Well, that was certainly strange.
"Any idea why?" I asked, a bit of urgency in my tone.
"Something about going there because someone asked the Tendo Dojo to defeat monsters." Nabiki said, moving a few steps forward. "You sound worried."
"That place is home to Demons." I said gravely. "She won't last five seconds without the proper strength level."
Fuck, even Orochi might be there. Most people balked at low level vanilla Demons; what about higher officers? Erebus was a Centurion, Lilith was a Lieutenant, Sparda was the General; a Dark Knight in Mundus' massive legions.
"You see, Ranma?" She looked up with a grin.
I followed her gaze, to see the boy in question looking down at me, impassively.
"I told you if we headed to the Cat Café we'd get answers. Granted, it's not Cologne, but…" She continued.
"You know how to get there?" I asked the two. They nodded.
"Then, there's no time to waste." I said, giving Nabiki a nod, before leaping to the rooftop Ranma was currently standing on. "Lead the way."
We gave the girl in question a wave, and Ranma did as I asked, leaping from roof to roof with an almost unnatural grace, definitely better than Shampoo's hops, though I haven't really seen that many people to accurately judge the pigtailed boy's balance.
I could feel he wanted to tell me something, judging by all of the looks he kept sneaking in my direction, but he wisely kept his mouth shut, instead focusing his attention on moving even faster.
I increased my pace as well, matching his, until we finally reached a familiar looking station.
Ikebukuro Station, one of my previous stops before heading to Nerima.
I let Ranma do all of the talking, handing him enough money for the fares— I gave him about five times the amount, since I didn't really know how much it would cost.
Ranma, took about twenty percent of it, before handing me the rest back, saying that it wouldn't take that much, which won him a great deal of points in my book.
Maybe he wasn't such an immature little brat, I thought as we boarded a train on the Yamanote Line, which would lead us to Tokyo.
It took about twenty minutes, with him still glancing at me, opening his mouth in order to start some kind of conversation, before shutting it back up.
Was he nervous? Simply awkward? Or so angry at me he couldn't form the syllables?
We disembarked at the familiar Tokyo Station; after a brief period of confusion in the station, Ranma finally found the next train we were supposed to be boarding— on the Tokaido-Sanyo Shinkansen line, another lengthy name which just looked like gibberish to me.
All I knew was that it was going to take us to Nagoya Station, and that it would take almost two hours to get there.
As expected, this particular train that we boarded had its own compartments, large enough to comfortably seat four people.
We picked out one at random, before taking our respective seats— that is to say, each of us occupied two seats at once, with Ranma placing his large backpack on the seat next to his, and with me extending my feet on the one next to me.
"So…" Ranma said, after a few minutes of silence. "Why… uh… Why do you want to go to Ryugenzawa?"
Not quite what I expected him to say, but I supposed he could just be building up to it.
"I'm looking for something, and it might be there." I explained.
"Something?" Ranma repeated in confusion.
"It's a powerful magical mirror." I clarified. "It is somewhere down the Gaia Pit. Home of Demons and possibly the Orochi."
"…Orochi!?" Ranma blurted out. "Densetsu no Yamata no Orochi?"
"Huh?" I said dumbly.
"Sorry." The pigtail haired boy looked sheepish. "I meant, uh: Legendary Eight Headed Orochi. There's no way."
"Ah… Yes. There's a possibility that creature is there." I confirmed. "Along with a considerable amount of Demons."
"Demons… What do you mean Demons?" Ranma repeated, a bit of a worried frown on his face.
"You know." I said, waving my arms and mimicking the general behavior and demeanor of a monster. "Big, monstrous creatures that want to kill you and take your eternal soul."
Ranma gave me a look, before palming his face, muttering darkly about the weird occurrences in his life.
"Orochi and Demons, and Akane is there..?" He realized.
"Right in the middle of it, yes." I confirmed gravely.
I supposed he was fully grasping the danger of this situation.
"I don't know how strong Akane is." I said honestly, gaining his attention. "But Demons are much stronger than regular humans, though most are mindless and bloodthirsty, which makes them prone to making many mistakes. Hopefully she's lucky enough to have only dealt with the lower level ones."
"…And the higher level?" Ranma asked, a hint of curiosity and apprehension in his tone.
"Around my strength level, possibly higher." I said, looking down. "I'm not sure. Orochi will definitely be as strong as me, if not even stronger."
Without Erebus, I didn't know whether I was on their level, or not. I had a feeling the training I had received was going to come in handy in this little excursion.
"I see." Ranma said, before going silent for a while.
"I will help you find Akane." I promised. "I can find the mirror, afterwards."
That seemed to perk the guy up.
"Heh." Ranma said. "You're not all that bad."
We shared a look, before we both grinned, the ice finally broken between us.
"So, what's your story?" Ranma asked, relaxing in his seat with a sigh.
I smiled, and began my tale, glade to have made a new ally— possibly even a friend. The next hour was spent, each of us speaking about our respective lives.
Apparently, as Cologne had told me, Ranma was affected by a curse from the Jusenkyo springs— he turned into a woman when splashed with cold water, and back into a man with hot water.
So, I figured I'd try my hand at it.
I conjured up a glass of water, and upended its contents on the top of his head. As expected, the transformation was triggered, and he shrank in size, becoming a sexy, busty redhead.
He/She squawked in protest, but I gave it no mind.
"Hm." I focused, and a tendril of Lightning exited my body, latching onto his/her/whatever presence. I could feel the ambient, writhing energy which could only be described as 'confident life force', as well the dark undercurrents of magic latched onto his own powers.
I frowned, and tugged at the darkness, before getting a flash of pain and a dire warning.
"What the hell." I blurted out.
"I felt that." Ranma said unsurely. "What are you doing?"
"Trying to get rid of your curse." I said tersely, feeling a little perturbed at what I had seen. "This is nothing like I've ever seen before. It looks like a Dark self-sustaining Transfiguration curse, likely powered by whatever was sacrificed in the spring from which you got your curse from."
It was quite the disconcerting experience, come to think of it.
Still, all magic could be unmade with the right amount of effort.
I pulled my wand out of my pants pocket, pointing at the compartment door, and incanted "Colloportus." The door locked with an audible click.
I followed up with a quick "Silencio!" And tried my hand at an Imperturbable charm, though that particular spell only half worked.
I turned back to the boy in question, and pointed my wand at him.
"I'm going to try and dispel your curse." I said quickly, not letting him get excited. "It might fail, but I figure I might as well give it a shot. Just don't get your hopes up."
"I won't." The boy— now girl— promised, but her demeanor betrayed her cool tone.
I pointed my wand at her. "Here goes. Finite!"
My energy slammed into the dark curse, but it merely wavered slightly before slamming back against me, pushing my energy off and latching itself onto Ranma's energy once more. As this occurred, Ranma's shape shifted into that of his original form for a short period of time, before becoming a woman again.
"Wow." Was all Ranma said to me.
I cast the same spell twice more, achieving similar results, but with a longer period.
Still, this wasn't enough, and I knew just the way to get around this problem.
I gave a nod, rehashing this plan several times in my head, making sure that no mistakes will be made and that it was safe.
"Give me a moment." I said as he opened his mouth to speak.
Another silent minute passed.
"All right." I said. "I'm going to throw my whole weight against this thing and see if it submits."
"What should I do?" Ranma asked, eagerly.
"Try to suppress your own power. " I said, and then added. "Oh, and don't die either, I guess. This will definitely hurt."
I pulled a potion out of my mokeskin pouch, surprising the boy with that neat trick. I supposed he has never had the luxury of great amounts of space in just a small pouch. I downed the Pepper Up quickly; feeling the effects take hold almost immediately.
My Lightning collected at the tip of wand, as well as Balthazar's poisonous power; a glowing, violet blue light shining in the locked compartment.
"…Finite Maxima!" And my magic surged forth, latching onto his energy, immediately seeking out the curse which bound itself to him. The curse reacted appropriately, lashing at my own energy with savage glee, feeding off of his life force to power its resistance.
"You feel that pull on your reserves?" I asked, increasing the flow of my own power.
"Yes." Ranma answered, his body tense.
"Relax, and withdraw your power. Don't let it feed off of you." I said, injecting more of Balthazar's poison into the curse, weakening its hold on him. The curse fought back, lashing at my own power with razor sharp tendrils, as black as sin. Anywhere it touched me felt like I was being burned.
I snarled, before putting all of Balthazar's energy into it. "You're nothing but a remnant of a bygone age of darkness."
Ranma morphed back into a male as a shrieking blackness seeped out of his pores, coalescing in the middle of the compartment to form the shape of his cursed form. We stared at its snarling, black visage.
"That was in me?" Ranma looked at the creature with wide eyes.
"Yes." I tensed up and slammed my power against it. "Ranma, this side, now!"
The boy obeyed without hesitation, grabbing his backpack and coming to me as I held the monstrous curse-thing back. It simply kept shrieking, snarling, and biting at my Lightning, trying to find any kind of purchase.
"You will not deny me, my prey, human!" It roared in impotent fury as it uselessly batted against my power. "You. Will. Not! He's mine!"
I felt myself cringe, every time I clashed with the thing. It was abominable, the product of evil magic, meant to stain the souls of whomever it touched, whether they were innocent or not. I could suddenly hear the cries of all of its victims.
Cries of anger, rage, anguish, sadness, hatred, and an all-encompassing loneliness that tugged harshly at my heart strings. Was this how Ranma felt? Or were these the feelings of its victims? Maybe it was both?
There was one thing I knew for sure.
I wasn't going to suffer this abomination to live.
I let up on my power, and the thing practically gave a whoop of joy as it sailed through one of the gaps, aiming for my throat; but it found itself drenched in Balthazar's venom, courtesy of the small hole in my palm.
It screeched out it agony, trying to move to my position but finding that its arm fell off; and then its other arm, followed by its legs. It wasn't long until the whole creature was completely dissolved by Balthazar's acidic venom. A powerful stench hit our noses as the venom began to eat through the floor.
I quickly Vanished any traces of the venom, before casting a quick Mending Charm on the floor, feeling very drained.
Still, I had to see this through to the end.
Another wave of my wand, and a glass of cold water was in my hand.
Ranma stared at it in apprehension, as I splashed him with it.
He did not change.
A second passed. Another. And another. And another. And ano—
"I'M STILL A GUY! YES!"
§I think you just made this kid's day.§ Balthazar hissed out.
Way to state the obvious, Balthazar.
Still couldn't help the grin tugging at my lips, of course.