Dragon Tales: Recovering Journey

by: Dragonite

The
pain, it was hard to bear. Just lying there, unable to do anything.
I couldn't stay there forever otherwise I would die. Having no other
choice, I tried to contact Therias mentally.

 Draco:
“Therias… Can you hear me…?”

 Therias:
“Draco? Is that you?!”

 Draco:
“Yes, it's me.”

 Therias:
“Are you okay?”

 Draco:
“No, I feel weak. Please… Separate my spirit from by body.”

 Therias:
“What?”

 Draco:
“Please Therias. If you don't, I may not live to see another say.”

 Therias:
“Okay, I'll do it.”

 Draco:
“Thanks” With his help, I was able to separate my spirit from my
body. I opened a portal using spirit magic.

 Draco:
“Thank you Therias. I shall return after a while.”

 Therias:
“Wait! What are you talking about? What are you doing?”

 Draco:
“I'm going to go on a journey while my body heals. Please watch
over it for me.”

 Therias:
“Are you sure about this?”

 Draco:
“I'm certain.”

 Therias:
“Very well, I shall guard your body.”

 Draco:
“Thank you.” And with that, I floated into the portal, unsure of
where it would take me.

 As
I traveled through the portal, I felt a power deep within me surface.
 Before I could figure out what is was, I exited the portal and found
myself in a familiar place. I was in Gensokyo, a land I had traveled
to a long time ago. Taking in the familiar surroundings, I saw that
I was at the Hakurei Shrine. Knowing this, I started searching for
the shrine's maiden.

 “Reimu?
 Are you around?” I called as I floated around. I spotted Reimu
sweeping the entry area to the shrine, not paying attention to what
was around her. The donations box laid empty. I decided to drop a
donation in the box, somehow having some coins in spirit form. The
coins clinking caused Reimu to look up from her sweeping.

 ???:
“Oh! A donation! Wait… don't I know you…?”

 Draco:
“Long time no see Reimu. Still solving incidents and cleaning up
after unwanted parties?”

 Reimu:
“Um… How do you know that?”

 Draco:
“I was here a long time ago, nice to see you're still around.”

 Reimu:
“Wait a second, were you the one who helped out with Flandre
Scarlet?”

 Draco:
“That's correct.”

 Reimu:
“You look… different from last time...”

 Draco:
“Long story. I guess you could consider me a youkai now. And no,
that doesn't mean I want to be exterminated. I figured I stop by,
say “Greetings”, and leave a donation.

 Reimu:
“Well thank you… Umm… What was your name again?”

 Draco:
“Draco.”

 “Oh
yea, nice to see you again.” Shortly after Reimu finished her
sentence, someone came flying down on a broom.

 ???:
“Hey ya Reimu!”

 Reimu:
“Oh, Hi Marisa.”

 Marisa:
“Who's your friend there?”

 Reimu:
“He helped with Flandre remember?”

 Marisa:
“Oh yea, nice to see you again! Are you a youkai now?”

 Draco:
“I'm not sure, but I'm going to say that I am.”

 Marisa:
“Cool, what did you come here for?

 Draco:
“I decided to visit and see if anything was new.”

 Marisa:
“Well you came at a good time.”

 Reimu:
“What are you talking about Marisa?”

 Marisa:
“Didn't you hear? Misty Lake is frozen.”

 Reimu:
“It's winter Marisa, of course it'll freeze a bit.”

 Marisa:
“I mean frozen solid.”

 Reimu:
“Sigh… It's probably Letty again.”

 Draco:
“Since you're busy here, why don't Marisa and I check it out.”

 Marisa:
“Yea! I want to see what you can do as a youkai.”

 Reimu:
“Fine...” And with that, Reimu went back to sweeping and Marisa
and I flew off towards Misty Lake.

 On
the way to Misty Lake, Marisa and I had a chat about this incident.

 Draco:
“I don't live here but I can tell that's Misty Lake freezing solid
isn't right.”

 Marisa:
“Yea, I wonder who did this.”

 Draco:
“Reimu thinks it's Letty but I'm not so sure.”

 Marisa:
“Why do you say that?”

 Draco:
“Well firstly, haven't you notice that we're not there yet?”

 Marisa:
“Hey, now that you mention it, we're still above the forest.”

 Draco:
“And who likes to misdirect travelers?”

 Marisa:
“Sunny Milk and her two friends...”

 Draco:
“And who are friends with?”

 Marisa:
“Whoa whoa whoa! You think Cirno is behind all this?!”

 Draco:
“Yes. I'll point things out that prove this as we go, this
included.”

 Marisa:
Okay, but how are we going to get past Sunny, Luna, and Star?”

 Draco:
“Here, grab my claws and hold on.”

 Marisa:
“Okay...” Marisa grabs my claws and holds on somewhat confused.
I tapped into my power and warped us to the edge of Misty Lake.

 Marisa:
“Whoa! And I thought I was fast.”

 Draco:
“You'll have time to wonder later. Right now we need to find who's
behind this.” I said pointing to the completely frozen lake.

 Marisa:
Right. Let's move.” We started flying slowly over the lake
searching the mist to find who was behind it being frozen. Soon, we
couldn't see the edges of the lake through all the mist.

 Draco:
“Wow, Misty Lake really is big isn't it.”

 ???:
“You bet it is!”

 ???:
“Thought you could get away could you?”

 ???:
“You two are in for it now!” Three fairies emerged from the mist
and began swirling around myself and Marisa.

 Marisa:
Oh look, it's the three mischievous fairies. Sunny Milk, Luna Child,
and Star Sapphire.”

 Sunny:
“You got it!”

 Luna:
“You're not going anywhere this time.”

 Star:
“We're going to take you down!”

 Draco:
“I don't think you know what you're getting into, also this
confirms my suspicions.”

 Marisa:
“I think you may be right. All right you three, where's your
leader?”

 Sunny:
“Hah, you think you're getting to our leader? Fat chance!”

 Luna:
“Yea! You're not getting to Cirno!”

 Star:
“Luna… you just revealed who our leader is...”

 Luna:
“Oh.”

 Marisa:
“Looks like you were right all along. Now to stop whatever she's
up to.”

 Draco:
“Want me to take care of this?”

 Marisa:
“Sure.” I quickly unleashed a hail of danmaku at the three
fairies. They were shocked and trying to follow up with danmaku of
their own, but it was too late. All three were quickly defeated.

 Draco:
Okay, now let's find Cirno.

 Marisa:
“Right.” We continued to the center of the lake, leaving the
three fairies dazed on the ice. Eventually we found Cirno. She was
chasing frogs on the ice. Letty was in a cage nearby, looking
dispirited.

 Marisa:
“Wow. She even captured Letty.”

 Draco:
“Quite the bold move she's made, capturing Letty and taking over
all of Misty Lake.” Shortly after saying that, Cirno saw us and
flew over to us with an angry look.

 Cirno:
What are you two doing here?!”

 Marisa:
“We're here to stop you.”

 Cirno:
“Ha! As if! This time, I really am the strongest! I destroy you
both!

 Draco:
“Let's do this Marisa. We'll take this fairy down.” And with
that, the battle began.

 Marisa
and I fought Cirno as best as we could, but she just seemed too
powerful. We were bombarding her with everything we could and she
didn't seem to be weakening at all.

 Marisa:
“This isn't right. Not even Meiling could take this much punishment.”

 Draco: “I think I know what's going on.  You distract her.”

Marisa: “Okay.  Hey Baka, over here!!!”  While Marisa distracted Cirno, I went over to where Letty was.  The cage she was in was some sort of electrified ice, and it seemed to be draining her.

Draco: “This must be how Cirno is so powerful, she taking Letty's power and combining it with her own.  Hold on Letty, I'll get you out of there.”  I unleashed several claw swipes, turning the cage into ice cubes.  The unconscious Letty awoke.

Letty: “Ugh… my head.”

Draco: “Are you okay Letty?”

Letty: “I think so.”

Draco: “Just rest, Marisa and I will take care of Cirno.”  And with that, I flew off to regroup with Marisa.

I found Marisa still attacking Cirno, but it was obvious she was wearing out.

Marisa: “There you are!  Did you figure it out?”

Draco: “Yea, remember the cage Letty was in?  I think it was siphoning her power and giving it to Cirno.  The cage is gone so we should be able to finish this.  I have one last trick up my sleeve.  When I say 'now', use your master spark.”

Marisa: “Right.”  And with that we flew back up to Cirno.

Cirno: “You don't know when to quit do you?”

Draco: The tables have turned.  Letty is out of her cage now.

Cirno: “Oh…  Um… Can we talk about this?”

Draco: “Nope. Marisa!  Now!”  Marisa fired her Master Spark and I unleashed a Hyper Beam, hitting Cirno simultaneously.

Cirno: “Not again!!!” She yelled as she was blown away.

Draco: “It's… finally over.”

Marisa: “Thank goodness.  Let's go check on Letty.”  We flew over to where I left Letty and saw her standing.

Draco: “Greetings Letty.  Are you feeling better now?”

Letty: “Yes, thank you for stopping her.”

Marisa: “No problem.  Wait until Reimu hears this!”

After saying goodbye to Letty, We left the no longer frozen lake and flew back to Hakurei Shrine.  We found Reimu relaxing in the shrine.

Marisa: “Reimu!  We're back!”

Reimu: “Oh.  Did you stop Letty?”

Marisa: “It wasn't Letty.  It was Cirno.”

Reimu: “Nice try Marisa.”

Draco: “She's not lying, it was Cirno.”

Reimu: “You can't be serious!  Cirno held you up for that long?”

Draco: “In our defense, she was draining Letty.”  I proceeded to tell her the whole story.

Reimu: “Oh my.  Maybe I should have tagged along.”

Marisa: “It would have helped.”

Draco: “I'm just glad I could help I could help resolve this issue.”

Marisa: “You're quite strong!  Even stronger that last time!”

Draco: “Thanks Marisa.  I wish I could stay but I have to get back to where I belong.”  I went outside the shrine and opened a portal. “Good bye you two.”  And with that, I floated into the portal.  What I didn't know at the time was that before the portal closed, something followed me through.

I exited the portal next to my body and Therias waiting close by.

Draco: “I've returned.”

Therias: “Glad to see you're back.  Your body is almost recovered”

Draco: “Thank you for looking after it.  I'm ready to return.  You can go through my memories of my journey to know what happened.”

Therias: “Thank you.”  And with that I returned to my dormant body to await my awakening.