27: ROCK THE DRAGON (R.I.P.) - [A Jam Blues]

#"...A military school?"#

Ichigo strolled past a bench, taken up by a mushy student couple. He tried his best to ignore them, as his shoes crunched on the cobblestones. It was cloudy outside, with a nippy-cold tinge to the air, and it was growing darker by the minute. "Sort of. This place is way more cheerful. It's more like that wizard school in that one book, but with guns."

#"Hmph. That sounds like a poorly-disciplined environment to train combatants in."#

"They do have some pretty dumb policies, y'know. You can't pick your teams or partners, but it's not as if the school picks it for you, anyway, either. It's all randomised."

#"That is dumb. In fact, dumb is being soft. It's moronic. And this is supposed to be the best of these 'Huntsmen Academies' in the world?"#

"Yep. But enough about that." Ichigo changed the subject, "How're things with your dad?"

#"He's helping me with... well, practically everything, at the moment. He won't let me do it alone. It's annoying, but I can understand it. It's his job, after all."#

"You're not meant to think of family as a job, y'know." Ichigo frowned.

#"Don't lecture me, Ichigo. I know that. It's not as though I dislike him... anymore. He took me out to get ice cream last week, actually."#

Ichigo scoffed. "Pfft, really? At your age?"

#"Are you really going to laugh at that, compared to how your father treats you? I wanted to turn him down, and tell him I'm not five anymore... but I didn't. It was... pleasant."#

"What the heck? I thought you were in charge of the post-war negotiations? How did you have time for that? Do you even know what's going on?"

#"Do I know what's going on? Ichigo, I'm practically running the show. You know I'm in charge of the peace talks between the Wandenreich and the Soul Society, Urahara told you so. But it's also been months since the war ended. It's not as if it takes up every waking second of my life, you know."#

"So you know about...?"

#"The business with the Soul King? I spoke to Urahara about it. I also agree with him. If you come back now, it could ruin everything I'm trying to fix. So hold it off."#

"Ouch. You don't want to see me?"

#"You know what I mean, Ichigo. Miss me with the sarcasm. That being said... if it comes down to it, you can count on me. You deserve it, after what happened in the war."#

A small, subtle smile emerged on his face. "Don't get all sappy with me, Uryū. But I'll admit, that means a lot."

#"Of course it does. That's why I said it."#

Click.

"Smartass..."

Ichigo snapped his denreishinki shut, and pushed through a pair of ornate wooden double-doors.

- –—{}—– -

The lunch hall was sparsely sprinkled with a smattering of students planning for the impending Beacon dance, a low murmur of chatter filling the early evening air. Through the high-arched glass windows, the reddish-orange setting sun outside wobbled like a great jellyfish of light through the thick panes. The lights had been switched on early, giving the room an even glow, tinged with an ever-so-slight orange hue from the last of the day's light. Ichigo entered the room with a casual stride, pocketing his scroll as he did. Spotting the ones who'd called him here, he continued to a long table in the middle of the hall.

"Yo." he gave a small wave, sitting down onto the tabletop.

"Your tardiness is trying on my nerves, you know." Weiss grumbled.

"The only 'tard here is you." Ichigo shot back nonchalantly. "What do you need me here for, anyway?"

She gave him a flat look, one matched by the rest of the students at the table. A bored Ruby slumped over a table, dragged along by her partner, and she'd dragged along her sister Yang, who'd in turn dragged along her partner, Blake. It was a vicious cycle.

"You shot off into the sky after sending another student flying over the horizon. Obviously we'd want to see you once you came back." Blake replied.

"Eh, she's fine, you'll probably run into her tomorrow at some point." Ichigo reassured. "I didn't kill her, or anything." More or less.

"I can't even question what you do at this point, honestly." Blake rolled her eyes. "Of course it's like..." she waved with her hand vaguely. "...that." The gesture didn't make any sense, but then again, neither did Ichigo. "Now make yourself useful, and pay attention to Weiss so we don't have to."

"Hey!" Weiss scowled. "Fine, I hardly needed any input from uncultured ingrates like you lot in the first place. Ichigo, which of these should be the shade of the tablecloth?"

She held up two squares of cloth. Ichigo idly wondered whether she holding them the entire time.

"Aren't they both the same?" Ruby squinted at the pair.

"Yeah, I can't see a difference either. Does it really matter?" Yang asked.

"Argh!" Weiss let all her frustration out in one nuclear sigh. "I don't even know why I asked!

"Hold it," Ichigo looked closely, scrutinisingly, discerningly between the two squares of white fabric.

Weiss felt her heart leap in her chest. Could he... could he really tell the difference!?

Ichigo held up a hand, leaned over, and jabbed a finger into the square clutched in Weiss's right hand.

""That one.""

He wasn't the only one to speak. He turned his head, to find Neptune walking up to the table, with Sun in tow.

With a loud –bang–, Sun dumped a speaker the size of his torso on the tabletop, denting the wood and turning heads all across the hall. "What's going on? Oh damn– Ichigo, you're back, hey."

Weiss preened. "It's good to see I'm not the only one here who has functioning eyes."

Neptune raised an eyebrow. "I didn't take you for the kind of guy who was picky about this sort of fluff. No offense."

"I've run into more guys than I can count who wear full white outfits. At this point, I'd be disappointed in myself if I couldn't tell every damn shade apart." Ichigo brushed off.

"What? Full white? Who even does that?" Yang shook her head. "Even the Atlas students wear colours on top of their uniforms. Even if it's just grey. This is... well, Remnant, y'know? Everything's gotta have a splash, at least."

"Sure has..." Ichigo mused. That was one thing that was definitely different to back home. Everything was just so colourful here.

"Speaking of clothes, you picked any out yet?" Neptune asked.

"I've already got a suit. But I thought I'd still swing by town and grab some stuff tomorrow." Ichigo answered easily.

"If you've already got a suit, why else would you go to Vale?" Ruby cocked her head.

"It was for a funeral." he looked off to the side. "I should change it a little bit for a school dance, don't you think?."

"Ugh, a monkey suit? I hate those things." Sun stuck his tongue out. When he noticed the rest staring, he didn't know what to make of it. "...What?"

"A-hem." Blake cleared her throat. "I think you'd look better in a tie."

Sun blinked, and switched back to facing Ichigo. "Y'know what? I'll join you in Vale."

"That was fast." Neptune jabbed with a smirk. "We can grab Jaune and Ren too. I'm sure they need stuff."

"If that's you boys sorted out, what about us? I know I'll be turning heads!" Yang bragged, a hand on her chest.

"Can someone tell me how to do... everything? I don't even know where to start." Ruby whined, drooping her chin down to the table. "Is there, like, a to-do list, or something?"

"What, are you trying to impress someone?" Yang needled. Half-jokingly, but with an edge of interrogating sincerity that only an older sibling could muster. Ichigo could recognise it. It took one to know one.

"Nope, I've got that part all sorted out."

"What!?" Yang choked on air.

"I'm... uh... already going with someone, I just need help sorting everything else out. I can already tell this is gonna be weird, so I think I'll ask Pyrrha." Ruby stood up abruptly, slamming her hands down on the table. "Bye!"

And with that, Ruby shot out the doors in a petalled blur that only Ichigo could have hoped to catch. And there was no way he was putting his finger in any of... that mess waiting to happen, so he just ignored it.

He shook his head. "Just saying, I don't know how to dance. I think I'll just be hanging on the side the whole night."

Neptune stiffened, and Sun spoke up. "Don't be such a spoilsport. Not as if anyone here's trained to dance." he paused, "Except for maybe Weiss, she seems to be the type."

"I am trained, actually." Weiss confirmed proudly, to zero surprise.

Blake's amber-yellow eyes trailed over to the massive speaker that Sun had very gently placed on the table. "If you don't want to dance... then why don't you play something? Pyrrha got you that guitar, didn't she? I'm sure you can learn something simple in the better part of a week. There should be a couple other guys who could play with you too."

"Like me!" Neptune jumped at the chance. Anything to get out of dancing. "I know my way around a keyboard."

"I..." Ichigo trailed off. He hadn't touched that thing at all. He'd practically be starting from scratch. Then again, how hard could it be? He'd learnt bankai in three days, so an instrument should be a cakewalk in comparison. "...Sure, I'm up for it. Nice idea."

"Hmm..." Weiss considered, "It's not a bad idea. It'd beat Sun's playlist, at least."

"Hey!"

Weiss ignored him. "I can sing. We'll have to re-arrange some things, but I'm sure we can pull this off. Ichigo, don't mess up."

"What shining encouragement. I can't say I'm jealous of whatever sap you're gonna bully into being your plus-one." Ichigo snarked.

As the table descended into a mess of bickering (minus Yang, who simply sat there quietly, contemplating life, death, and everything in-between), Blake slunk back, keeping herself out of it.

She could afford to take it easy, for one evening.

Bark crunched under the white boots of a masked man, as he surveyed the sea of flattened foliage atop a stripped, broken-over log.

A bright, stark spotlight swept past him, and he heard the thrum of a Manta passing overhead, pulling in low to drop off more troops and supplies, and carry away the collected evidence up into the darkening sky... not that they'd found any so far.

He let out a sigh, and clambered over the log. Looking all across, he could see the shining pinpricks of light from the hundreds of other surveyors and scouts here, armed with cold-tinted torches. After hours of searching, nothing had come of it. Now it was late in the evening, and the futility of the search was growing increasingly clear.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to rest here for a while...

"A-hem."

"Huh–?"

"Excuse me."

"–Specialist Schnee!"

A tall, statuesque young woman with a severe expression on her pale face stared the Atlas soldier down. Her ice-blue eyes were topped by slanted, narrow white eyebrows, matching the snow-white shade of her lengthy hair, tied up in a braided bun at the back of her head, leaving bangs to hang down the right side of her face along with a thin lock over her left ear.

She wore a military longcoat, white as the tundra of her homeland, hanging down to her ankles. The navy blue clasp at her waist was aided by a series of buttons over her pressing bosom, and the sleeves of the coat fed into a pair of grey gloves. Her red-jewelled brooch on the collar betrayed her wealth, and when she took a step, it revealed the pair of navy garters over white trousers tucked into high grey boots. At her waist, was strapped her meticulously polished, sharpened sabre.

"I believe this sector has already been surveyed. And, I have a call to answer. One above your rank. If you wish to neglect your duties, at least don't have the gall to do it in front of me."

"Understood! I'll be moving on!" the man gave a hasty, sloppy salute and scrambled away. Winter tutted at the display before she tapped at the built-in scroll on her wrist.

#"Specialist Schnee?"#

"General Ironwood. The operation here is proceeding as you predicted. We aren't finding anything."

#"Call it off. It was better to be safe than sorry, but now I've found a lead more fruitful for you to pursue."#

"Then is this about that briefing you sent concerning Mistral?"

Another manta dropship flew in low, the white noise of the engines drowning out all else for a moment, its lights raking a path though the darkness.

#"Mistral– and Haven. Leonardo's lofty position makes him too volatile to be brought in publicly, and the figure backing him is far too dangerous to take him in at all."#

"You want him... gone?" Winter spoke slowly. Not hesitantly, but contemplatively. Turning the thought over in her head slowly, like it was a pig over a fire.

#"It's more than just that. Mistral is shaping up to be the next great theatre of global events. We need to get a foothold in there early. On top of the trouble with Lionheart, I believe that we must locate the Spring Maiden ahead of anyone else as well. If we hold the key to Haven's vault, then that's one more card in our hands."#

"And where do you think we should start?"

#"That's up to you, Winter. I'm dispatching you to Mistral, seeing as how you're already prepared for a foreign excursion. I'll leave the entire operation, its planning and execution up to your judgement."#

"Hm. I see, you think you'll be too busy to play overseer?"

#"That, and... I trust you. That being said, we'll be delivering a special agent to accompany you."#

"Someone I know?"

#"You wouldn't know her just yet. But soon."# A pause. #"Remember, your home is counting on you."#

Click.

She pulled away the wrist-scroll from her face, and closed her eyes for a moment. A quick exhale, and Winter turned to make her way towards the blinding white floodlights at the centre of the basecamp.

"Thank you for your purchase, sir!"

Ichigo gave a wave over his shoulder to the bubbly cashier lady as he strolled across the high-end boutique shop floor, and out through the sliding glass doors.

It was a cloudy noon in Vale, and the silvery sky dulled the otherwise warm backdrop of the rustic architectural cityscape. The navy-blue slate rooftops seemed more grey in the muted light, and the light-grey cobblestones seemed more blue. It was as though the standout poles of the visual world had been squeezed together, and stretched out into a dreamlike equator of colour.

Outside, he found a gloomy Jaune Arc hanging his head in a small group with Ren, Sun, and Neptune, and he caught the tail-end of a wuthering conversation.

"...I just don't know, guys..." he raised his head just enough to see, and greeted Ichigo with a half-nod. "...Did you get it?"

"Yep." he nodded with a satisfied face. "Fully tailored, too. Not bad at all." Being rich felt so freeing. He'd never really fantasised about it before, but he knew what it felt like to seek cash out. He'd had a part-time job with Ms. Ikumi, after all.

"...So we're done?" He pointed a finger at the floppy mess that was Jaune. Floppier-than-usual, even. "What's got him all depressed?"

"Ichigo... you seem like the bad-boy type." Jaune gave him a desperate side-eye. "You got any idea about women?"

"Oh boy, here we go..." Ren facepalmed.

"Easy for you to brush off, mophead!" Jaune snapped, "Nobody else here's got a tomboy childhood friend! I didn't even think those were real outside of Mistralian comics!"

Ren just blinked. Slowly. "I don't even know what to say to that. I don't think I want to say anything to that."

"Hah... do we really have to do this? And what do you mean 'I seem the bad-boy type?' " Ichigo grumbled, crossing his arms. "Just, shoot your shot, or something. It's not as if you can make them suddenly like you right before the dance. Don't stress it. Me? I don't really care, either way."

And that was the truth. Ichigo wasn't looking for anyone, and he certainly wasn't too occupied with romance here when it was hardly on his mind back home. It mattered even less when he'd be leaving Remnant behind eventually.

"C'mon, really?" Neptune nudged him in the side with his elbow, and waggled his brow. "Nothing? No one? Nobody comes to mind?"

Ichigo furrowed his brows with mild annoyance. "Knock it off, I'm telling you, there's nobody—"

"—Ichigo!"

The huntsmen span on their feet with practised ease, to see a woman drop out of the sky into the middle of the street. All around, onlookers and pedestrian shoppers stopped and stared, both at the strange brown-haired woman in a red dress, and at the silver, shifting sky above, craning their necks up to check if there was anything else that was about to fall.

"Amber?"

She jogged up to the group, huffing and puffing as she did. "There's something I need to tell you!"

"She can fly!?" Jaune gaped.

"There's nobody~, huh?" Neptune shook his head, then re-inspected the woman with a hand on his chin. "You've got good taste though. She can even fly. Not a bad choice." he nodded.

"Can it, Casanova." Ichigo didn't look back at Neptune, instead stepping forwards to meet the Autumn Maiden. "What's going on?"

"So, it's been taking me a while to sort out my head." she lowered her voice slightly, just for his ears. "I've been trying to go through more of Cinder's memories, and I just realised something very bad." she tapped two ends of her fingers together anxiously.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes. "How bad?"

"There's a giant dragon just outside the city, that'll attack Beacon as soon as it wakes up."

"Okay." Ichigo nodded. "Where is it?"

"It's inside a—" she paused, "–you're not even panicking? No, hold on, that figures. It's you, after all."

"This isn't the craziest thing I've been told out of the blue."

Jaune stepped in, frantically waving his hands in the air. "Wait, wait, wait, there's a what?"

"A dragon. Wanna come watch me fight it?" Ichigo asked calmly. Resolutely, seriously, but without a hint of any visible stress in his body.

"A Wyvern, specifically." Amber held up a raised finger. "Not quite big enough to be classified as a Leviathan, but it's still pretty big. Taller than most buildings, actually."

"Aren't you that girl that fought Ichigo the other day? Cinder, wasn't it? Did you dye your hair?" Ren observed.

"Does that really matter now?" Jaune fretted, hands tugging at his hair.

"Calm yourself. The beast is lying dormant, for now. We can take care of it when we please. –And by we, I mean Ichigo." she clarified.

...That was uncharacteristically formal. Ichigo considered whether Amber was adopting some of Cinder's speech patterns. It'd make sense...

Sun stepped back into view, pocketing his scroll. "There. I just called Blake. She'll tell Yang, and Yang'll tell everybody!" he announced.

"You didn't really need to do that, but eh, the more the merrier." Ichigo shrugged. "Where're we heading?"

#"This is Lisa Lavender of the Vale News Network, reporting live from a bullhead just North over New-Mountain Glenn. Beacon Academy appears to be mobilising in order to tackle what purportedly may be a Wyvern, the species of Grimm so rare that many consider them a myth. However, the huntsmen teams are still en route, so a public safety alert has been issued to the city, advising an evacuation of the Northern reaches of the Glenn. This is the first potential Grimm attack after the reclamation of the settlement, but the captain of the city huntsmen has stated— Hold on, look closer at the foot of the mountains, there– are some huntsmen here early...?"#

The steady hum of a white-blue, small, thin news chopper... no, bullhead, overhead filled the air. The mountainous air had a slight fog to it, the mist thin enough that the aircraft could still be seen, but still thick enough that the air dampened their clothes and hair, and refracted the twinkling lights of the city in the distance. Moving through it felt as though a shower of rain had been paused and left suspended, and the air was thick and swirly.

"...When you told us Yang would tell everybody, I didn't think you meant everybody..." Amber muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"We're famous!" Nora cheered.

"Aren't we on a time limit now? I think you might've put all of Vale in a panic." Blake pointed out.

"Blame Weiss for tattling." Ruby huffed.

"What else was I supposed to do?" Weiss put her hands on her hips sternly. "It's not as though there's any proof of a nigh-mythical species of Grimm here anyway. Not to mention you still dragged me along, in the end."

"Relax, we got here ahead of everyone else, didn't we? You even told us where to meet you!" Yang stretched her arms across her body. She was still pale and clammy, but she was getting better. The promise of seeing a dragon had certainly taken her mind off of Ruby's mystery dance partner. "...But what are they doing here?"

"What's it to ya?" Cardin growled. He and his team were standing a little ways away from the rest. Neither side made any effort to approach the other.

"I sent 'em a message when I was bored waiting. It was up to them whether they came or not." Ichigo explained. When the rest of his friends pulled a face, he returned a shrug. "What? Don't tell me you're so unprofessional you can't handle putting aside a little grudge? I've fought alongside guys I can't stand– I just had to make do."

"Who were they?" Ruby asked curiously.

"A bunch of guys. I just told you. The latest was someone called Aizen, and he's a real smart-ass piece of work. But when our backs were against the wall, we knew what we had to do."

"W-who could possibly push you that far? Aren't you... well, you?" Jaune trembled.

Ichigo considered how best to describe the Father of the Quincy.

"...Some big old guy with a moustache."

"A... moustache?" Pyrrha repeated slowly.

"Muttonchops, too." Ichigo held a hand to his chin. "I think it grew bigger over time, actually. I wouldn't worry about him though, he's gone for good."

The entire cohort of students Ichigo had come to know– including even DRCL– were gathered at the foot of a mountain, having taken the newly-re-opened train system between Mountain Glenn and Vale to get there. Except for Ichigo of course, who arrived instantly. But he didn't know which specific peak in the range of hills it was, and Amber had insisted on waiting for everyone else, to be polite. She was soft like that.

"We're going to get in so much trouble for this..." Jaune sweat, a mess of cloying fear and worry.

Pyrrha laid a hand on his shoulder. "That may be true... but it will be worth it, to protect the city."

"Eh, I don't show up on camera, anyway." Ichigo had flashed into his shinigami robes, the shining length of Zangetsu laid upon his back. "Besides, you're here to watch. I'll take care of it, you can trust me."

"You're gonna have to crack open the mountain itself to get at it." Amber informed, pointing up at the very summit of the distant mountaintop. It was snow-capped, powdery and white, unlike the stony bed of dark grey slate they were all standing on. "As for everyone else, brace yourselves."

"What, why can't I try? I'm strong enough!" Nora whined.

"Not enough for this. You'd have to smash half the mountain. Plus, it'll spout other Grimm too. That's why I've brought all of you here– to clean up after it."

"At least we still get to do something..." Ruby tapped her feet, clutching Crescent Rose close.

"Wait a minute... how do you know all of this?" Weiss frowned suspiciously.

"Is that really important right now?" Amber brushed off.

"Yes! Yes it is!" Weiss stomped.

"Then it's a secret. One between me, and Headteacher Ozpin. I'll tell you later... maybe."

"Why am I even surprised anymore..." the heiress groaned. "I won't let this end here, you hear me?"

"Enough already! Let's rock this dragon!" Ichigo declared as he reached over his shoulder, pulling Zangetsu in front of him.

Whirr.

Like a candle wick in a hurricane, he flickered up the mountain, in an invisible blur of unimaginable speed. Faster than anyone could blink, he was hovering over the niveous mountaintop, standing high in the overcast sky. Zangetsu's sealed state was whipped into a blurring spiral of silver, the bandage taut in his hand before Ichigo caught it, pointed it down, and dropped, leaving a hypersonic boom in his wake. He impacted the frozen peak sword-first, followed by one knee, just like how he'd destroyed the execution scaffold on Sōkyoku Hill years ago.

First came the shockwave, which wiped away the snow in an rapidly-expanding circle of gale-force winds. The mountain cracked inwards like an egg, crumbling and imploding into chunks of jagged rubble bigger than cars. They tumbled down the steep slope at high speed, and the huntresses flinched before Amber swept her arms wide. The boulders suddenly changed course, parting around the readied group like the red sea.

Obscured by the streaming fog, and too far away, only Ichigo could hear his own voice as he uttered...

"Bleach... Zangetsu!"

The dust and smoke peeled back in great rings of even, radial grey, revealing Ichigo standing on a large boulder with his twin shikai swords drawn. His white Ōken armour stood out against the darkness of the summit and sky, as well as the inky-black scales of the monstrous Grimm before him.

Six blood-red eyes opened one by one, an orange, feral glow shining within them, and the Wyvern reared its head.

Wings, red as raw flesh, supported by elongated black, bat-like spindly finger-rods, tipped with white spikes at each end and a bone-clawed hand at the head of the wings, spread wide, wider than most buildings. It stood on bone-spiked knees, and rose on clawed, three-toed, reptilian feet. A gale of wind was kicked up as if flapped once, twice, then took off, up into the grey sky. There was a dark tinge to the air around it, as though the monster before him cast shadows in all directions, and not just one. It opened its mouth, and roared.

The Wyvern's mouth was not a normal mouth. Even among the creatures of Grimm, it was something nightmarish. The mouth opened far, far further along than its mask, than it should have opened. When it roared, half its neck opened with it, revealing a mess of teeth and sinews holding it all together. And the roar it let out was not one that was heard, but felt. It was so deep that even a mountaintop away, even down in the retaken, rebuilt city of Mountain Glenn, the citizens could feel its reverberating, dark, grasping timbre travel up through their bodies like a squeeze on their hearts.

Four horns slanted back, and a mask covered the top half of its face, bloody red markings running down the mask, down its osseous back, up the oblique dorsal spines sticking out, pallid white contrasting against ebony black, up to its bizarre, grasping tail, shaped like a clawed hand. Grimm did not make for aesthetic creatures. The Wyvern was ugly, beastly, and lacked all nobility, all the majesty one could hope to imagine in a dragon. It was a monster. Above it, the clouds had hollowed into an enormous, twisting cauldron, and the sun was pouring its silver fire through the slanted lines of the sky above.

A tar-like, smoky ichor dripped from its skin, and a cloud of sooty, polluting brume and pitch-dark fumes erupted from its throat instead of fire, like a coal-burning chimney. It fell, the heatless smoke being heavier than air, and rolled down the rocky slopes of the mountain.

In the crater of the summit, a lake of oil-black, viscous sludge had been revealed, and it frothed and bubbled into a roiling loch of liquid darkness.

The news bullhead pulled back, alarmed at what vile, fearsome thing the land had revealed beneath its surface, like the ooze of a pustule.

#"It's real! The Wyvern, a Wyvern has been confirmed over Mountain Glenn. The Vale News Network warns all citizens to evacuate from the Northern district of the city of Mountain Glenn immediately, Brothers help us all..."#

Ichigo stood where he was, under the dragon, the belly of the beast, and took a good, long, look. It stared back.

"...Shame. I thought you'd be bigger."

It happened faster than anyone could process. To any mortal onlooker, it would seem as though it was over all at once, but to Ichigo...

First, came the longer, white half of Zangetsu, leaving visible ripples in its wake like a speedboat over an airy lake. The swing was short, from high to low, a vertical slice. The right wing was severed as though it wasn't even there. It peeled away, the cut clean and perfectly straight, right at the base of the wing. A gout of noxious black sludge spurted from the stump.

Second, came the black shortsword, removing the left wing with a single, unseeable movement. From left to right, the wing was clipped, leaving a thin, spindly tube that leaked globs of a tar-like muck.

Ichigo had not taken a step. The pressure of his swings alone had done away with the wings of the Wyvern. The metal had moved, and the wind had sheared. The Wyvern was still in the air, flailing like a puppet with its strings cut. Before it could even begin to fall, he spoke.

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

He brought both swords up at once, a swift, decisive movement that created a tidal wave of golden, blinding reiatsu. Taller than a skyscraper, it engulfed the Wyvern, splattering it up into the stratosphere like a giant electric fly-swatter. It was liquefied entirely by the blast of ethereal spiritual power, in an instant. Gone with a flash.

Ichigo turned his gaze up at the sky above, finding the thin dark mist that he'd turned the shadowy beast into. Satisfied, he disappeared with the harsh buzz of sonído, returning to the base of the ridge. What he found there was surprising. Amber had told them the Wyvern could make other Grimm– but he hadn't expected so many.

A dark horde of Beowolves, Creeps, Ursai and a few of what looked to be sabre-toothed cats charged out of the dark dragon's breath, already engaging the student huntsmen and huntresses.

"I've never seen these ones before!" Jaune quailed from behind his shield, trying to hold off one of the black-furred, skull-faced felines. Jutting dorsal spines and exposed ribs were standard fare for Grimm, but it was so much louder, stronger, and faster than anything he'd faced that all he could do was guard.

"A Sabyr! Hold it there, Jaune!" Pyrrha yelled, as she hurled her bronze lance into the left side of the beast hard enough to send it crumpling over. "Blake, Yang!"

The two partners nodded at their leader, and sprang into action. Gambol Shroud's chain-sickle wrapped around the impaled spear, and before the Sabyr could rise back up, Yang grabbed the black ribbon-chain and pulled, hard. The spear was wrenched out in a sticky mess of visceral ink-like ichor, tearing right through the Grimm's flank.

"Hah!" taking his chance, Jaune pounced, stabbing the grounded Sabyr one last time with Crocea Mors. Gambol Shroud sailed back through the air, still wrapped around Miló, and Pyrrha magnetically separated the two with a flick of her wrist.

"Here." she tossed the sickle back to Blake, and smiled, even as her mecha-shift spear clicked and whirred in her hand. "Good work, but–"

Pyrrha lifted up her newly-transformed rifle and fired. The sharp, hard bang from the muzzle sounded distinct to the other gunfire already going off from the other trainee huntsmen's guns. Her team knew it wasn't a dust bullet, but instead one she could control.

The thick metal slug curled through the air at a normally-impossible angle, through the head of a crouched Beowolf.

"–We've got a whole lot more work cut out for us." she continued speaking easily, even as her eyes were down the sights. Bang. "At least there won't be any more Grimm coming after this, since Ichigo already cut off the source."

"How the hell is he so freakin' strong!?" Sun whacked the business-end of his bright red shotgun-nunchucks into an Ursa's head, blowing it off in an icky spray with a squeeze of a trigger. "I was actually worried there for a second, y'know!"

"I'm still pretty freaked out, honestly. I've never seen anything that big before, and he just..." Neptune trailed off, lunging forwards and spearing a Creep with his gunmetal-grey trident. He twisted the grip, and azure-blue sparks of electricity turned his target to dissolving dust.

"Well, it's a good thing that Ichigo's on our side, then!" Nora brought her chrome hammer down, crushing an Ursa into the ground, leaving a spiderweb of cracks in the rock. Ren peppered it with gunfire from Stormflower, and it stopped moving.

"So, I'm presuming that we're all in agreement now that Ichigo is not human, or faunus, or really, anything normal in the slightest?" Weiss prompted, stabbing Myrtenaster into the ground. A wide, pale-blue glyph emanated from her feet, encompassing a quartet of Beowolves. Frost crept up their legs, holding them in place until the four lupine monsters were completely encased in shimmering crystals of translucent ice. "Ruby!"

"Here!" Ruby blurred into action, carving a petal-trailed half-moon slice right through the frozen Grimm. "Also, absolutely. It's pretty obvious, y'know. But he never says anything!"

"Y'know, I think he knows we know and he just doesn't care." Cardin suggested, battering a Sabyr down with his mace. It squirmed and struggled against his pressure, but he didn't let up.

"Yeah, but does he know that we know that he knows?" Sky tacked on, decapitating it from the side with his halberd.

"Who asked you two! Stop talking to us like we know each other!" Blake snapped.

"Jeez, who pissed in your cereal? Cardin's the only one who messed around with you guys, anyway, and that was months ago." Dove huffed. It was hard to tell visually, but he sounded like he was rolling his eyes.

"How the hell are you people able to hold up a conversation at a time like this!?" Jaune's head was spinning. He had to keep his utmost attention on the battle to keep up at all, but he felt a warmth in his chest at the fact that he was keeping up with them in the first place. Or the warmth was because he was close to exhaustion, already. He really hoped it wasn't that.

Amber cleaved through the Grimm with hardly any trouble, her strength enhanced by her new, Arrancar spirit. Her scimitar carried the force of a greatsword behind every one of its strikes, and by channelling the magic of the seasons through its blade, even the slightest nick would burn, freeze, bury or explode, or some combination of the four.

Even then, internally, she was panicking. Where was he? She grit her teeth as she bisected an Ursa, looking up at the darkening, silvery, overcast sky. It was going to rain soon. "Ichigo!"

"What's up?"

"Ahh!" She jumped at the voice behind her, swinging her sword over her shoulder on instinct. It was blocked with brush of his hand, and Ichigo frowned at her. "Don't spook me like that! We're on a battlefield!"

"It doesn't look so bad..." Ichigo assessed, erasing a pouncing Beowolf with a flick of his re-sealed greatsword. "...Really, what's got you so stressed out? I just slayed a goddamn dragon."

"Look!"

A single, tar-black droplet splattered upon the ridged stone ground in front of them, only a few meters away. It burbled and popped, before a beaked head broke free from its surface. Wings followed, then clawed legs, then a long-feathered tail.

A small Nevermore. A Creature of Grimm that hadn't been spawned by the dead Wyvern's breath.

"Where did that just come from?"

"The Wyvern's mountain is full of that Grimm-spawn muck– it's like a volcano! It's going to erupt into the atmosphere, mixing with the clouds in the sky, and it'll rain Grimm all over the city you just re-populated!"

"Oh... oh crap." Ichigo suddenly brought his full attention back up to the sky, and found a black stain spreading, mingling with the rest of the aerosphere like filthy mould on bathroom tiles. He should have used a Cero. "So I should get rid of the smoke?"

"It's not the smoke that's the problem; it's the mountain. I can't stop the rainfall, but I can redirect it. I can't grab that stuff directly and pull it back down– it's not water, but I think, if you throw me up at the clouds, I can gather the water vapour around it in one place, add some wind, and push it all back into the mountain, then you can wipe it all away at once." Amber proposed.

"So I've just got to take out that mountain?" Otherwise, someone could die. It wasn't as if he could sense the soulless Creatures of Grimm, so them spreading all over isolated back-alleys wouldn't let him find them in time.

"Do you think it's possible?" Amber wavered. "Nobody else on Remnant can do it."

Ichigo closed his eyes, and tightened his grip on Zangetsu. Time to stop holding back. "Yeah, yeah. Hell, I've done this sort of stuff without even meaning to before. I've got a lot more up my sleeve you don't know about."

A lot more she didn't know about? So the monstrous transformation that killed Cinder wasn't even his limit... Amber didn't even know how to take it, beyond an newfound reverence. It was hard to even imagine.

He lowered his giant sword, beckoning Amber to... stand on it? She took the hint, and balanced on the shining black-and-silver metal.

"Then let's go right ahead. It's already started, so we need to act now." the Autumn Maiden readied her stance, and shared a nod with Ichigo. He swung up with both hands, boosting the Maiden's flight with his Soul Reaper strength.

Amber was launched fast enough that her eyes almost watered, feeling the wind rushing over her face and mask, whipping the tails of the scarf around her neck behind her. Higher and higher, the world spread out beneath her and the sky opened up. A combination of magic and spiritual control allowed her to catch herself, and levitate on the thin, cold air. She spread her arms wide. The clouds around her were pulled in, in thin, wispy strands at first, but they soon grew thicker, streaming in a mix of silver with black furrows, visible even from the surface far below. The spread of Grimm-vapour had stopped, but it still hung threateningly over the northern reaches of the city of Mountain Glenn like a great dark avalanche, primed to fall.

Slowly, tendrils of the brim cloud seeped down and wrapped together, coalescing into an elongated cyclone, funnelling back into the mouth of the broken mountain. The popping, bubbling surface of the exposed lake of Grimm-fluid was growing more and more intense, until it was a great squall, about to blow. The return of even more fluid pushed even greater pressure into the soon-to-be volcano. From above, Amber saw this, and was gripped by fear.

Ichigo... it's all up to you now...

- –—{}—– -

"What's she doing up there?" Sun wondered aloud, his hand held flat over his brow like a sailor as he looked up at the whirling welkin of the upper atmosphere.

"–And where the heck did all these Nevermores come from?" Ruby grunted, catching one of the dark birds with the tip of her scythe. "And that tornado!?"

Like a spectre, Ichigo appeared in front of her. She yelped, and skidded back in a flurry of petals. "You're back? You're back! That was so cool!"

"That fight was pretty anticlimactic, y'know!" Yang hollered. She was a ways away, and still fighting.

"It's not over yet. When that mountain blows, it's going to blast an avalanche of new grimm and swarm the city."

"W-what?" Yang paled, and turned. She felt like her heart may have just stopped. "You– you can't be serious. What?"

"Well what the hell are we supposed to do now!?" Sun sweat.

"Just one thing." Ichigo requested, "Stand back."

"Stand back? What're you going to do?" Ruby asked, a finger on her chin as she leaned forwards curiously.

"I think I'll flex a little." Ichigo sheathed the short, black blade of Zangetsu to his side, and the white bandage wrapped around it without his touch. "I'll get rid of the problem. No volcano, no eruption."

"The whole mountain!?" Yang looked over her shoulder incredulously.

"Just give me some space!" Ichigo snapped back, placing both hands on the hilt of Zangetsu's longer white half.

Raw reiatsu, mighty and pure, channelled down his arms, and he stomped his left foot forwards.

"Ichigo!?"

The movement was quick and simple.

An unrestrained slash, with both hands on his longsword. The pure-white blade slipped through the air from right to left, horizontally at chest height. His black robes flowed with the smooth movement, the white waistcloth swishing with him. Standing at the foot, the rest of the rocky, cracked-in mountain-turned-volcano loomed over him, blotting out the low sun. He'd made sure none of his allies were in front of him, only a mass of clawing Grimm and broken boulders.

The mountain went.

Enveloped in a mile-high tornado of dust and debris, it was all whipped up in an instant– but it wasn't just dust now, it was boulders and Grimm and the entire mountain being ripped apart and erased from existence with a single swing of his sword.

Gale-force winds criss-crossed and fought over the vacuum of missing matter, an ear-busting clap filling the sky as it all rushed in. His target had been more than just the mountain; it was the very space that the mountain itself existed in. Like peeling the skin from an apple to remove a blemish. The sound was catastrophic, colossal, and fast. Like all the sounds of hurricane, every last roar of the wind, every rattle of the rain, collected, boosted, sped up and distilled into a few short seconds of sheer transcendent power.

There was nothing left. Zangetsu's True Shikai made it child's play to rewrite the landscape with a single swing. Considering it put Ichigo at the same level as when he'd returned from the Dangai, wiping mountains from the face of Earth and Remnant alike was no big deal.

"Ichigo...?"

Ichigo's amber eyes shifted to Ruby, and she gulped. Then, he was gone.

So were all the Grimm surrounding them.

"H-huh?" Ruby gasped, searchingly. Behind her, in front of her, to the left and right her head turned. The rest of the huntsmen and huntresses were similarly at a loss.

All that was left of the Grimm they had been fighting were a few piles of dust, disappearing in the smooth breeze. They hadn't even made a whisper. As for Ichigo...

He was back where he started.

He gazed out at the city in the distance. The dark, brooding sky above was contrasted by a lowering sun's light over the mountain range, flooding the mid-range air with liquid gold. The light touched the cloud cover in such a way that it highlighted the inverted valleys and troughs in the overcast bed of fluffy vapour, and created striped shadows of black against warm orange-yellow on the flat-edged buildings of the city. The lights had started to switch on in the houses and streets, giving everything a faint, buzzing urban glow.

- –—{}—– -

#"This is Lisa Lavender reporting, the Wyvern— the Wyvern identified in the ranges North of Mountain Glenn was miraculously slain on-camera only moments after it emerged. As you saw, the mountain itself has been destroyed in the short battle. The brave huntsman responsible wasn't visible from our altitude, and remains unidentified, but it is reasonable to assume he was with the Beacon squad already present at the foot of the mountain. Mountain Glenn is safe once more. We will be interviewing the Beacon staff tonight, so stay tuned to the Vale News Network for..."#

Amber was carefully descending, but when an entire mountain was blown from existence, and the howling winds consumed the entire sky in front of her, she blew herself back in shock.

Suddenly she was falling, falling and spinning uncontrollably, the grey urban sprawl expanding beneath her—

"—Wah!"

She was back at the foot of the mountain, surrounded by the student huntsmen and huntresses. She didn't even feel the inertia, nor was she dizzy, but she did need a little time to recollect herself. Why was she lying down?

Then it dawned on her that she was in Ichigo's arms. Her legs over his right arm, her shoulders over his left, at chest height. Her elbows were held close to her body, wrists daintily touching her cheeks.

A princess carry.

"Hawawa—wa—what!?" She flushed. "Ichigooo?" she kicked her feet.

"Told you I'd make it quick." he looked down at her, meeting her gaze even as she embarrassedly put her hands over her face.

"Nice catch." Neptune gave a thumbs up, "This is my kind of rain— ow!" he was cut off by an elbow in the arm, courtesy of Sun.

"Ichigo! You're back!" Nora pumped her fist into the air. "We won!"

"We've slain all the Grimm here, and there doesn't seem to be any more." Ren added on.

"...A whole mountain, huh?" Yang put her fists on her hips, and shook her head. The sky was completely open to see now, and they were standing on what looked like a depression in a newly-broken mountain range. It was a more open space, but it would have to be replaced eventually, given that it was a breach in the natural barriers around Mountain Glenn. "They say seeing is believing, but I still can't believe it. How did you even..."

"This?" Ichigo took on a thoughtful look. "I just used my full arm strength." In this form, anyway. "Don't worry about it."

"That's it!" Weiss exploded. "I've had it with you! You're not faunus, and you're not human either! I'm not letting you handwave it this time!" she stomped over to him, and craned her neck up. Damn it all, why does he have to be so tall?

Ichigo craned his neck down at her, and frowned. If he kept looking at her like this, his neck was going to cramp. Damn it, why does she have to be so short?

He rolled Weiss's thoughts around his mind, mulling it over for a few seconds. Nobody else was stepping in, but he could see the interest, the eagerness to know in their colourful eyes. He didn't sigh, but he almost did.

"...Fine."

Might as well get it over with.

"Hah! Finally! After all this time..." Weiss put her fists on her hips, and created the most self-satisfied smile on Remnant. Seriously, she was giving Mayuri a run for his money when it came to smugness right now. She was even bobbing on her feet, ever so slightly. "Sweet victory."

"Don't push it, short stuff." Ichigo muttered, rolling his eyes. "Why do you care so much, anyway?"

"...Really?" Cardin stared. "You one-hundred-percent understand why, dumbass. Quit playing the fool."

"Are you kidding me?" Weiss exclaimed, and she furrowed her snow-white brows. "You can destroy bullheads and slay deathstalkers and erase mountains without even touching them! Do you even realise how you're not even dusty, even after what you just pulled off!? I remember how that Penny girl told us you were neither human nor faunus!"

Ichigo realised then that he really was totally dust-free. It must have been a subconscious flare of reiatsu repulsing all the dirt.

"...Not to mention that no one in your family has horns." Blake joined in. "I thought at first that all of theirs had just fallen out, since it's not as if you have them all the time, either... but then I thought about how they didn't recognise your horns at all..."

"Alright, alright." Ichigo grumbled. "Why're you acting as if you're uncovering some major revelation? It's not as if I tried to hide any of this from you at all. I just didn't wanna talk about it."

"So what are you, then?" Jaune asked, hesitantly.

"I'm—"

"A shinigami. He's from another dimension." Amber interrupted.

"A shini-what?"

Ichigo frowned, and glanced down to his arms. "Damn. I forgot you were even there. Have I been holding you all this time?"

Amber's big, golden eyes flicked to the side awkwardly. One behind a partial mask. "I– uhm, I don't mind. I think I'll stay here."

"Gah! You can't just drop something like that and slide into the sweetheart routine!" Jaune threw his hands in the air. "Now I've been left hanging and jealous!"

"If you're that hung up over it, I'll tell you all more at the dance." Ichigo decided. "Whatever you want to know. Mostly."

"Oh! The dance! Uhm, that reminds me, Jaune, if you want..." Pyrrha jostled. As she got to talking, Ichigo's attention was brought back by Amber poking his broad chest.

Amber blinked, "Huh, you reminding Pyrrha reminded me of something..." she blushed slightly, "Ichigo, you know how there's a dance..."

"Sorry, I'll be up on stage. With a guitar."

"Oh really?" she didn't miss a beat, "That's not a problem, I can drum!"

"Sweet. That works out just fine, then." he smiled. "It's all coming together."

NEXT: 28 - LIFE IS LIKE A BOAT - [Life is Like a Boat]

Author's notes:

I'm back! That's right, technically I've upheld my promise of not letting this fic die, just six months late. I don't even have an excuse, I really could've put more time into this, lol. Even with all the studying/music/sports stuff I'm doing, I still have the time to write if I really want to. I promise I'll actually do stuff for this site, and not waste my free time on yewtube or whatever random imageboards. I enjoy this hobby more, after all.

I re-read my story, and there's some things I'd change about it, (I won't name them) but I won't be doing that so far in. I've seen other guy's profiles, and rewrites are always hated by the audience, so I'd never do that to mine. Instead, I'll continue to autistically edit every chapter after I post it like I usually do. I've been reading The Grapes of Wrath, so I hope to try and emulate some of Steinbeck's incredible descriptive abilities. My new resolution is to intensify the whole "something important happens every single chapter" rule, now I know how important progressing a story is when you can't always update it. So from now on I'm gonna make sure the plot itself progresses with every single chapter, too.

You can see it here with Ichigo finally deciding to spill the beans on what he is. The thing is, I made it purposefully vague enough that he can still surprise everyone with his antics, but they at least know he's not from Remnant now. After all, everyone loves how the 'native' characters bug out when the OP crossover character shows off. I've decided after reading the comments to just full-on embrace the 'OPM/Ichisweep' vibes, with a little more nitty-gritty fighting here and there with justified restrictions. There's a reason I chose TYBW Ichigo, and not Fullbring Ichigo.

Also, I've gotten reviews (yes I read all 950+) that tell me Ichigo's an asshole in this fic. To which I say, Yes. (...Kinda?) I hate stories that make everyone act artificially polite & sanitised. Ichigo having some grit to him is what makes me like him. He's basically a male tsundere. This goes for the other characters too, for example, Weiss is better when she still has that spoiled snootiness to her. Being 'good' doesn't mean you have to be a cringey Deku-tier goody-two-shoes. (I loathe MHA btw, just saying it now, 'cause someone DM'ed me requesting a fic about it. If I ever did one, it'd be something like a parody/trollfic with Saiyan Saga Nappa and Vegeta showing up to blow up the planet. Sorry not sorry lol).

I know I said this final Beacon arc would be the "calm before the storm", and this chapter isn't calm at all, but I decided to have something big happen to give you people after six months of nothing. Plus, this'll be one of the last times they'll all be together for a long time. I hope you preferred this battle-shounen method of having a couple characters pair up before the dance more than the usual teen-romance way these dance-chapters go. Pyrrha being the team leader altered some things in their team dynamic, but they're not the focus, so I didn't show it. Ruby's got someone/something funny for her, too. The next chapter will open up WITH the dance. I swear. (See? That guitar I introduced ages ago will come in handy after all).

Thank you so much for still reading my story after I've spent so much time away, and thank you (yes, You in particular) for over 2,500 follows and 2000 favourites. I know those numbers aren't the most important, but I can't help but like it when they go up. I'll make this story worthy of those numbers, and more. Please, review, and give me suggestions for what you want to happen in Mistral, put some twists on the canon events and stuff. Raven SOON. 'Till next time.

- –—{}—– -

R.I.P. Akira Toriyama.

One of the greatest mangakas of all time, possibly if not THE greatest.

Seriously, read DBZ and you'll get what I'm talking about. Wide, establishing shots, god-tier panelling, blistering choreography, immaculate art, those perfect character designs, that iconic art style, he truly was the GOAT. Simple, tight-knit incredibly memorable plots where the goals and motivations are all clear and unmuddied, good is pure and evil is dark. People gave him flack for his writing, but think of how perfect the character moments and interactions are, that's where the focus was. Well, that and some of the biggest fights in fiction and pioneering concepts like the transformations that are ubiquitous today. Multiple countries have put out statements, you know? This man is one of the most influential artists to have ever lived. Every guy I know IRL was cratered by the news, man. Millions, billions even, all remember him. Deservedly so. I think I'll try my hand at a DBZ story at some point, probably a gag fic, in the near future. It's the least I can try. Yes, the name of this chapter is on purpose btw. Goku unironically made me work out and get shredded, lmao. Dragonball straight up improved my life.

Rest in Peace. Go even further beyond.