Capítulo 131: The Moonlight Dragon
(London Night Time)
"So, one more time for clarification?" Uryu asked his companions; Bazzard 'Bazz-B' Black, Bambietta Basterbine, and his cousin Ichigo. Uryu was the only one among their group that even made contact with Reverse London or the members of the Wing Bind Agency. "In London, dragons ran rampart and were responsible for the majority of deaths that occurred. Like spiritual beings, they are mostly invisible to those lacking in ability. Dragons can't be touched by none witches and wizards because then they'd absorb the negative emotions and become 'Dark Dragons', their version of Hollows."
"And there are dragons for practically anything, right?" Ichigo asked, still finding it odd when he heard about dragons that were vases and pots.
"Indeed. I suspect that some kind of 'draconic energy' infected animals and objects, thus turning them into dragons." Uryu added as they turned to an alley. "And Wing Bind is headed by their equivalents to Gotei captains called the 'Tops of Horns', the leaders of the eight divisions of Wing Bind."
"Those are... Inks, Anthems, Sacreds, Pipers, Sabres, Patchworks, Billionaires, and Gallows. Right?" Bazz-B asked as they stopped and Uryu fished out a coin from his pocket.
"Yup." The lead Quincy confirmed as he took out his phone and scanned the coin, causing the shield emblem with the letters SSWB to light up with a bright blue light. The brick road before them light up as well with several stones falling into an abyss as the portal opened to the reverse side of London, Reverse London. "Good, my visitor's pass still works. Everyone, jump into the hole." Uryu said, taking the first plunge with the other three following soon after. "Uryu Ishida, reporting in with guests." He announced as they kept falling through a tunnel. "Each group tried to help me with my study in their own way, but I mainly dealt with the Sabers and Pipers. Even with that lunatic Sternritter that tried to unleash hellish monsters on London." The group emerged from the ground to... a London that wasn't that much different. It just had more and larger trees.
"Not sure what I was expecting, but it already beats Soul Society." Bambietta said as they all examined the city despite being night. "Is it too much for them to modernize?"
"Master Yamamoto was a staunch traditionalist, but yeah it needs an update." Ichigo admitted.
"Hey Uryu, is it normal for dragons to be in the city?" Bazz-B asked while looking up at a clock tower. "And how big are they on average?" The rest of the group followed his gaze to see a large white feather and fur dragon with a pointed beak and six talon claws on each of it's four feet, looking like it was wearing a gold five pointed crown with the wings resembling a white dress.
"Yes, but they're smaller than that." Uryu told him as the dragon spread its wings with what seemed like glittering dust spreading from the beast, causing the tops of dozens of towering buildings to become engulfed in explosions. "And definitely can't do that." Uryu added dryly as the group watched the explosions fade.
"It's clearly a threat, isn't it?" Ichigo asked, exposing his chest and lifting three limiters. "Let's at the very least help restrain it." He then disappeared in a burst of speed, Bazz-B and Bambietta shrugging before following after the hybrid. Uryu soon joined them, running his mind through the possibilities of what this dragon could be.
(Radio Tower, across from the dragon)
Five people watched as the dragon transformed into a majestic image of purity and grace, but for them it was a thing of terror. Noel Niihashi, a tall and curvaceous teen with long black hair with a horn hair accessory on her left side wearing a green suit and skirt with a white undershirt and knee high black leggings with a red bow tying a red and black plaid cape on her neck. Ninny Sprangcole, a more slim blonde girl with green eyes and spiked hair ties wearing a similar outfit. Both her and Noel were members of the Pipers; the shepherds of domesticated dragons that help in the harvesting and apprehending illegally reared dragons. Noel was more stoic while Ninny was rather brash.
Bruno Bangnyfe, a young man with clean shaven sides and spiky black hair with two short blue streaks and a single small bang hanging in front of his head with sharp eyes and jaw wearing a fur collared blue jacket over a dark blue shirt with an animal skull on it, gray pants with a sweater tied around his waist and black sneakers. He was the director of the Inks division of Wing Bind, a group that hunt and eliminate dark dragons, and was trying to eliminate what he though was a threat. Temperamental and quick to anger, he's unforgiving to those that threaten the peace of London. With him was his dragon partner, Rickenbacker, a large indigo dragon with four wings, muscular limbs, a spiked tail, an upturned narrow snout, and sharp horns jutting back on his head. One noticeable blemish on the beast was that one of his wings had six parallel cuts on it, disabling the flight limb.
Balgo Parks, a young man with dirty blonde hair wearing a light gray hoodie that had 'SLAVE' on it with a white shirt underneath it, dark pants with a thin belt and dark dress shoes, also wearing a Pipers' cape like Noel and Ninny and a collar. With him in his hoodie was a small white furred Pomeranian dog. Balgo wasn't a member of Wing Bind but rather a 'Dragon Clad', a normal human that was exposed to a dragon for an excess amount of time that enabled them to physically touch dragons and attract dark dragons.
And Macy Baljure, a tall and slim woman with chin length pink hair with a large cowlick on the right side of her head with soft looking eyes and nose. She wore a turtle neck with a tan trenchcoat with furred shoulders with lace at the cuffs and a pair of light colored boots. She was classified as a 'watcher', someone with power born on the side of the normal Front London that would eventually be recruited to Reverse London. She was a coworker of Ninny's in the band Cecile Die Twice before she quit due to feeling personally inadequate. Macy is an unfortunate girl that was used by Bruno for a scheme of his to frame Balgo as a danger, using the girl and her illegally reared dragon, Elly. Elly was originally a slender, fragile looking dragon that was like a newborn bird with pink skin and small tufts of feathers at her joints with a bird skull like helmet on her head. But now the group gazed on the dragon's true form, a giant and majestic white bird dragon.
"What is that?" Ninny asked, looking at the new form of the dragon as it changed with the moonlight. "It completely changed its shape and size. What's going on?"
"It's likely that it molted in the moonlight." Noel guessed, likewise keeping her focus on the dragon.
"What's up with that? It's almost like-"
"Not 'almost', it is." Bruno suddenly said, analyzing the white dragon. "Using Stealth Scale, molting in the moonlight, those six talons. There's no doubt about it, that is a Marchen."
"What's a Marchen?" Balgo asked, being one of the only two that were not as learned about dragons and their lore in Reverse London.
"Seven dragons named after fairy tales that have existed since before Reverse London was founded." Noel answered before naming off the Marchen. "Snow White, Red Dress, Golden Ax, Bubbles, Sugar House, Band of Animals, and the only one that becomes a full fledged dragon by molting in the moonlight, Cinderella."
"Cinderella?" Macy asked, having raised the dragon she called 'Elly' before it became the beast before them now.
"It got its name due to the fact that it only matures at night and because it scatters a dust called Star Ash when it gets agitated." The white dragon spread its wings and the group saw a thin cloud of glittering dust flying off the wings. "And everything the dust touches," Cinderella was then surrounded by explosions as the dust touched buildings, "is engulfed in light." Noel said dryly, attempting to add some levity to an otherwise horrifying scene. "At least, that's what the books say." The rest of the group were not amused.
"What's with the poetic speech?!" Ninny shouted as they braced against the rushing wind from the explosions. "They're clearly just bombs!" She then let out a sigh. "I'm still not really over that time with that freak Quincy. What was he called again? Sternritter Monster?"
"That was Gille de Rais, Sternritter M, the Monster." Bruno added, likewise remembering the last great danger London faced. Pipers and Sabers fought the main monster that the Vandenreich Quincy became while the Inks were the group that held the line containing all the other little offshoots. He wasn't happy about that either and wanted to tear into that Soul Society Quincy, Uryu Ishida, for bringing that trouble to London despite the evidence proving him innocent. "Speaking of Quincy," he said as he turned to find Uryu standing behind him, "what are you doing back here Uryu?"
"I'm here with a few other Quincy to begin the Dragon Sanctuary Project in Japan, but it seems like that meeting will have to wait." There was a loud caw like bellow as the group returned their attention to Cinderella, being shot at with Reishi arrows and a large red fireball which left it relatively unharmed. "Do you mind the assistance, director of Inks?" The wizard spared a glare at Uryu before returning his focus to the living legend.
"This can be a start to making up to us about letting your branch's war affect other people." Bruno said, jumping onto Rickenbacker's back. "You two, get the others somewhere safe!" He ordered the two Pipers before charging into battle.
"Just once I'd like to show up and not have to fight a monster." Uryu groaned before noticing a gem like object flying toward them, sniping it quickly and making the thing explode. "But I guess that might be asking for too much." He then noticed Noel, Ninny, Balgo, and someone new. "Hey you three, it's been a while. Random question, how old is Cinderella?"
"That's the first thing you say to us!?" Ninny roared, almost completely forgetting about the danger at hand. "Not 'How have you been?' or 'Looking good Ninny.' and what's with the surprise visit?! Didn't I tell you to tell us when you'd be returning?!"
"According to her," Noel answered while pointing at Macy, "she was an infant two months ago."
"Perfect. Thank you Noel." Uryu said before flying off with Hirenkyaku, with Noel and Ninny following after him on their dragon mounts with Balgo and Macy with them.
(Battling the Dragon)
'Man, are all dragons this durable?' Ichigo thought as he fired another Shakkaho at the dragon while Bazz and Bambi kept destroying the odd crystals that just kept coming and exploding. 'With my currant numbers of limiters lifted, I should be around a low captain's level of strength, but it doesn't seem to be enough.' The fireball struck the beak of the dragon, knocking the head over before it turned back to Ichigo and the hybrid saw its eyes turn red as the beak started glowing. "Reduce all creation to ash, Kagutsuchi!" Ichigo quickly said, releasing his fire Zanpakuto, just as a torrent of flames shot at him. With the element under his control, he absorbed the fire into the sword and waited until the dragon stopped. That came when he heard someone call out what he thought was a wizard spell.
"Release code #0575. Unlock! Come, Hunger Shadow!" Bruno, now wearing a face mask bandanna that looked like a skeletal jaw, shouted as he flew in on Rickenbacker, a large black primate jumping out of a seal that was spray painted on one of the wings. Cinderella was about to unleash another torrent of fire at the new beast when a ball of Reishi sank into her head before exploding, sending her head flying up with the primate latching onto her neck and biting away. Unfortunately the fangs didn't seem able to pierce through her fur despite the ferocity and Cinderella eventually made one of the Star Ash crystals hit the monkey thing and blow it up, causing Bruno to scoff in frustration before turning his attention to Ichigo. "You're Ichigo Kurosaki, aren't you?" He said with the jaw design moving with every word. "Heard that you're strong. So far-" He was about to continue when Uryu flashed over.
"Ichigo, this dragon is a Marchen. Think of them as Vasto Lordes. Let's capture her for Squad 12." He quickly said, making the wizard glare at the Quincy.
"Are you crazy?" He all but growled. "This is a Marchen, enemies of humanity! We're lucky if we manage to simply kill it!"
"Plus transporting something this big would be difficult." Ichigo said, thinking about releasing another three limiters while Bazz-B, Bambi, Noel, and Ninny kept distracting the dragon. "Getting it into the Squad 12 facility would be even-"
"She's two months old." Uryu interrupted. "Hachi taught you those spells didn't he?" Ichigo paused before looking at Cinderella again.
"Let's see if that'll work." The hybrid returned as he bolted skyward.
"Yes Bruno, what you were seeing before wasn't that impressive." The Quincy continued as the pair watched Ichigo ascend as a sudden pressure fell on everything, even Cinderella seemed to have felt the new weight on her being. "That's because my cousin has to wear limiters to restrain his power. Otherwise he'd kill everything around him by accident." The pressure disappeared and Cinderella tried to take flight before she was enveloped in a glowing white box. She tried to use her Star Ash and fire breath to break free, but the Kido barrier held despite her efforts and surprising everyone in Wing Bind. What shocked them more was when Cinderella began shrinking and her plumage receded into her body, like she was reverting back to before her molting. She went from a giant majestic being, to resembling a large newborn chick the size of a horse, and further shrank until she was just a pudgy being the size a house cat that was a whitish pink.
"How... how in the...?" Bruno asked as Ninny and Noel floated back up to him and Uryu, staring in shock as Ichigo dropped back down, sweating from exertion.
"That... was harder than I thought."
(Meeting Hall of the Top of Horns)
"So... once more," an elderly man started, "the four of you are the members of the Japanese Soul Society here to begin the process of creating a dragon sanctuary within the Silbern and Soul Society itself. You arrived in Reverse London around the same time that Cinderella began her rampage and decided to aid in defeating her." The man pointed to Ichigo. "You used a Kido spell that could reverse time in a selected space, thus reducing the Marchen to an infant state. And you want us to release her into your custody?" This man was Wolfgang Slashhaut, head of the Gallows division of Wing Bind. He was an old man with long gray shaggy hair, eyebrows, and walrus mustache, wearing a purple suit and white dress shirt with a black and gray plaid mantle on his back with violet glasses. Ichigo and his group were in a room called the 'Crown Council', a round table conference room where the Top of Horns meet. "Absolutely not!" Wolfgang growled. "As grateful as we are for the assistance, we can not allow any of the Marchen to live. Especially if we consider the risk that comes with her being in inexperienced hands. I mean no insult but we are unsure of how being in Reishi rich environments might alter even a normal mild dragon, let alone a Marchen. The end results could be beyond catastrophic. The risks are too great." Around the table, Bruno and five other members of the Top of Horns remained silent as the director of the internal affairs made his point.
"Wolfgang, I understand your stance," Uryu said as he tried to make his counterpoint, "but this is why we're here first. To plan accordingly for the actual project itself." Uryu was the only one standing at the table while Bambi, Bazz-B, and Ichigo stood to the side of the room with the hybrid holding the Kido box that contained the infant Cinderella. "Myself and my Quincy are here to establish ourselves and set up a Sun Gate to allow transport between here and Silbern, where more Quincy and Shinigami will come by. We can work together and learn how to manage what might come and-" Ichigo stopped paying attention once he heard a voice echoing in his mind.
"I know you're close. I'm getting impatient." The voice was that of a woman, young in tone but heavy with age and experience. One of the hybrid's hand reached into his pocket, where he kept a stone tablet that had a rune carved into its surface. A stone tablet he was given at the end of the Quincy War by an old ally of his mentor that agreed to take him on as her student, and a woman he'd kept waiting for over a year.
'Well, guess I have to get moving now.' Ichigo thought, believing that creepy and threatening telepathic messages were more than a little concerning. "Sorry about this, but I have to go." He said, shoving Cinderella's box into Bazz-B's hands as he bolted out of the window. Everyone just watched in surprise and confusion as Ichigo abruptly left the building, and likely Reverse London itself as the Quincy remembered why Ichigo was here in the first place.
"Sorry about that. My cousin has business in Dun Scaith." Uryu answered, shocking the top witches and wizards of Wing Bind.
(Scotland)
The scenery passed by in a green blur as Ichigo continued to use his Shunpo and Hirenkyaku to fly through the celtic country. In his hands was the rune tablet, shining with magic power and changing in brightness depending on where it was pointed at. For the most part, he was heading toward the North Western coast of Scotland on the opposite side of the UK from London. The trip took him a few minutes before he came upon the ruins of a castle resting on a cliff side, covered in moss and ivy as the years made their effect known on the remains of the building. The rune tablet was now pulsating with light as Ichigo wondered what the next step was.
"Toss it on the ground." He heard the voice from earlier say, prompting Ichigo to drop the tablet. The moment the stone touched the ground it exploded and revealed a towering mountain before him and a beautiful woman with crimson red eyes and long purple hair wearing a tight purple bodysuit showing off her curves and wielding a blood red spear. "It's about time you got here. Are you prepared boy?" The hybrid stepped forward and bowed.
"Yes. Thank you for taking me under your wing, lady Scathach."
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