After I'd extracted myself from the ventilation system I'd summoned Houdini's shade for a few minutes, to ask if he knew anything about what his ghost had been up to, unfortunately, the illusionist had not kept an eye on his castoffs and had little interest in doing so. I also tried to use the Stone to summon the ghost directly, but as I had suspected, that didn't work. The stone could only summon the dead, and despite common misconceptions, ghosts in this universe weren't dead, I'd even hesitate to call them undead, since technically they had never been alive to begin with, despite having the memories of a person who had been.
I didn't bother to even consider trying to hunt the ghost down, trying to find that ghost in New York, I'd be here to the day I died, and beyond. Still, my bungling had still yielded a valuable lesson; don't open our mouth without thinking. A lesson I'd had to learn several times before and would probably need to learn at least a couple of times more before it really stuck with me.
Also, despite the setback, I had still discovered something new. I could feel the excitement bubbling in my stomach and made a note to start researching ghosts and other ethereal beings once I was back at Hogwarts and put a pin in it. I'd have to look up Myrtle as well and interview her, that was likely to be a chore and a half, considering her described disposition. But if Draco managed to charm her I didn't think I'd have any problems doing so as well, I'd just have to restrain my impulses to tease her, at least until she was used to me.
Alright, so that last part might pose a bit of a problem.
---
I ended up spending almost a week in the New York area before I felt ready to continue. After some deliberation, I decided to head south towards Atlantic City. There wasn't any real kind of Wizard presence there but I wanted to visit because I like the name and it tickled a memory that I couldn't quite bring to the fore. I figured that going there might jog my memory.
I was flying over the New Jersey Pine Barrens just west of Barnegat when my musings were interrupted by a bestial roar just before something slammed into me like a wrecking ball, flinging me bodily towards the forest below. I managed to slow my uncontrolled tumble before I hit the threes only to have whatever knocked me out of the sky slam into me again with crushing force, sending us both crashing trough the branches until we hit the ground.
Whatever it was it was, big, white and furry and smelled like rotten meat and it was big enough to cover me with its bulk. I gathered myself and released a blast of hurricane-force winds blasting the whatever off me with a roar. I quickly got to my feet and got my bearings as I head a dull thud as my attacker landed nearby and for the first time I got a good look at my enemy.
I'd never seen anything like it.
It was vaguely humanoid and very big, I guessed that it was at least as tall as Hagrid, covered in white-gray fur, and it had a pair of truly massive wings, which it could use to fly with, obviously. Its legs were triple joined and looked like someone had taken the hind legs of a big cat and mixed in some bird for the feet which looked like they might have belonged on some big bird of prey. Its five-fingered hands, which were black from what I guessed was dried blood, ended in three-inch wicked claws that looked more like thin knives then something that had grown naturally. Its head was the most disturbing though, it was as if someone had mixed the features of a lion and a goat, it had a great big mane like a lion, with large ram-like horns growing out of the side of its head.
Despite how ungainly it looked, it was on its feet in moments after it had hit the ground, moving with that fluidity that felines are so famed for.
"▅▅▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"
The roar was unlike anything I've heard before. It was almost like a physical force washed over me. I might have peed a little.
After roaring it charged, charm claws outstretched to rend me into pieces, and I froze like a deer in a headlight, seeing my death come at me, then a Polar Bear dropped down on it from the treetops, and landing on the Beast with devestating force, causing it to be knocked of course. The great bear clamped down its big jaws around the neck, or tried to, the fluffy mane seemd to give it some problems. I just stood there for a stoned moment, watching the two giant beasts wrestling with each other.
I laughed hysterically.
I was alive!
Rescued by a flying polar bear!
Wait. Wait, what?
Brain successfully rebooted only to crash again as the reality of the situation hit home. And it only got weirder from there. The Monster managed to get enough leverage to throw the polar bear of it, only for the bear to suddenly turn into a puma in a puff of gold shimmering mist. The now puma twisted through the air with inhuman grace to land on its feet and then charge back at the abomination against nature before transforming back into a bear just before it hit. The massive bulk of the bear slammed into the creature like a freight train, sending them both tumbling again. That was some good tactics, I thought absently even as as my brain screamed at me that such a thing wasn't supose to be possible.
The Beast was much faster in untangling itself from the bear this time and instead of reengaging, it took to the air, its powerful wings pumping strongly to let it gain altitude. The Bear immediately transformed into a falcon and followed it, but despite its apparent speed, its small form didn't allow it to actually hurt the now much bigger creature, managing only to annoy it as it started to preform sweeping dive attacks, focusing on its eyes.
Well, I could fix that, I thought as I felt anger surge to the fore. That little bastard had tried to fuck me up. It was only right that I pay that back! I gathered myself and lashed out with a cutting curse, tagging the bastard just as it was taking another swipe at the divebombing falcon. To my dismay, the blast did little besides making the beast twitch and bring its attention back to me.
"Magic resistance!? Aw come on!" I complained loudly, before teleporting to avoid the Beast as it slammed into the ground where I had been standing. The Beast swirled around to face me only to be RAWRbombed by the bear again. Man, whoever, or whatever, that was, was really on point! I love that bear. I have no idea what was going on, but that bear was great!
The Beast tossed the bear again, and again it turned into a big kitty and charged back into the fray, and I took the opportunity to attack it with a blast of lightning.
"▅▅▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!" The Beast roared in pain as electricity arced over its form.
The bear took the opportunity to attack again, charging over before rearing up and delivering a devastating bash to its foe that sent it roaring in pain trough a pine tree. I took the opportunity to fly over and zap it again for good measure.
I didn't expect it to set me on fire!
I yelped and flew backward while casting an Aguamenti on myself to put out the fire. "How are you breathing fire, you bastard?!" I shrieked. "What the hell even are you!?"
"I will suck the marrow from your spine!" The massive beast howled savagely.
"You can talk too!?" I exclaimed in surprise before having to dodge another charge. I tried to zap it again but it was too fast and managed to grab me by the legs and toss me around like a ragdoll. Luckily I landed in a bush, unluckily the Beast was coming at me again! But Bear Bro to the rescue with another RAWRbomb only for it to turn into a RAWRsplat when the Beast jinked to the side, avoiding the attack. I summoned several small boulders and transfigured them into lances before sending it after the Beast, who dodged most them handily and slapped the rest out of the way with contemptuous ease.
The bear suddenly transformed into a wolf and darted in and sank its teeth into the Beast's flank causing it to roar in pain and swat at the wolf, who darted away nimbly before circling around, looking for another opening to strike. Seeing that the Beast was momentarily distracted, I took the opportunity to repay my earlier barbecue, by setting it on fire.
"▅▅▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"
It turns out fur is flammable, who would have thought!?
I flew up and looked around until I spotted a large boulder, with a gesture it riped itself out of the ground and with another it shot forward like a cannonball to slam into the Beast and send them both into the woods with a pained roar. Me and the Bear charged after only to be driven back when the Beast popped back up and released a truly huge blast of fire at us. The Bear broke off to the left while I countered by summoning hurricane-force winds to disperse the flame only for the Beast to use the powerful updraft to take to the air and disappear beyond the canopy. God damnit, I hate competent foes!
"Clever girl..." I muttered before taking off after it with the bear transforming into a falcon and following on my tail.
The Beast attacked pretty much as I broke the cover of the canopy, but in the air, I was far more maneuverable then it could ever be with a pair of wings, something I was quick to capitalize on by attacking it with a combination of fire and air, fire to hurt it and air to keep it off balance. The mystery transforming creature in its current form of a falcon was flapping around without doing anything useful. It apparently didn't like the situation because moments later it flew in over the Beast and transformed into a bear again, slamming into it and dragging it back towards the ground with me diving in after them.
I realized that this wasn't working, the Beast was too fast, and to durable, for it to be taken down quickly by just shooting it with lightning and fire. I didn't feel confident enough to try the death curse, it was even slower then blasting it with fire, the damn thing would likely dodge it. I might also hit my ally, and I really wanted to now what that thing was. It was doubtlessly intelligent, quite possibly a human, though I'd never heard of an animagi that could transform into multiple forms before. Unless it was using some form of self transfiguration that bypassed the whole "losing your mind " thing that usually resulted when using transfiguration in that way.
I looked around myself, hoping for some inspiration for what I could do. Then I spotted another boulder, this one much larger than any of the ones I'd used previously. I estimated that it likely weighed as much as a small truck. Heavy enough to ether crush it or at least pin it down long enough for me to kill the damn thing.
I cast a quick look to where the two beasts were duking it out, the bear seemed to be holding his own so far, it was shifting faster now, transforming rapidly between a bear, falcon, puma, and wolf to keep its opponent off balance. It seemed to be working quite well for the moment. I directed my attention to the boulder and started with casting a spell to reduce its weight before I pulled it out of the ground, then putting a disillusionment charm on it, and starting to move it over to the battlefield.
This last part would be tricky, I needed to get the bear away from the Beast long enough to to drop the boulder on top of it. It was moving around damn fast though, it would be impossible to banish it and hold up the stone. Any attempt to attract its notice to me would likely also focus the Beast's attention on me as well. I cursed inwardly at the realization that I could do little but wait until the two were far enough apart to safely drop the stone and hope that I had the stone positioned correctly when it happened, not the easiest task considering how they were dashing about.
I grunted and shifted the stone through the air when the Beast ironically grabbed the bear in an actual bearhug and ramed the both of them through a pine tree. That might have been the end stroke if the bear hadn't become a falcon before the Beast had a chance to pin him to the ground with its claws and fly away. Seeing my chance I let the stone go and watched as it came crashing down on the unsuspecting Beast.
"▅▅▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!" The giant boulder bounced and trembled as the Beast struggled under it but remained in place.
"Still alive, damn that's one tough fucker!" I muttered to myself as I landed.
The falcon gave a triumphant sounding shriek as it wheeled around before transforming into a god's honest Indian warrior, who proceeded to pull a knife out as he fell and aimed it downwards as he fell behind the giant boulder. The angry roar abruptly turned into a loud wet gurgle before quieting.
I waited for a few moments before I carefully moved around the boulder to see what was going on, and to get a better look at my rescuer, and rescuee, because I'd damn well returned the favor. As I circled the boulder I could definitely say that it was a guy. He was dressed mostly in hides, wore a headdress fashioned from the head of a wolf, he had what I think was a bearskin over his shoulders. He was entirely bare-chested save for a pair of crossed hide strips, and I saw several tattoos below his ribcage in the form of lines with triangular markings that pointed downwards along them. He had a red embroidered sash around his waist that held up more wolf pelt and his hide pants. His footwear was also made of some sort of hide. His arms were covered by elaborate armguards and he had more hide strip tied around his biceps. Around his neck, he had a necklace that contained a mismatched collection of claws and teeth as well as a single feather.
He was in the process of cutting the head of our opponent, covering himself in the arterial spray as he worked. I made a face and cleared my throat just as the Indian managed to cut through the spine, causing the head to come off. His head snapped around and a pair of piercing amber eyes met mine from under his wolf headdress.
For a moment everything was still and then a giant smile broke out on my rescuer's face and he let out a booming laugh and stood up, causing me to take an involuntary step back. I hadn't realized how big he was when he was couching down, now I'm not a small guy, I stand at a respectable six feet two inches and I'm very satisfied with that. But this guy was nearly seven feet—if not precisely that—tall by my estimate. And made of pure muscle by the looks of it; his arms were almost as thick as my thighs.
"HAHA, MY FELLOW WARRIOR!" he boomed happily and came at me with open arms.
"Woah!" I yelped and stumbled backward a few steps to get away from the blood-soaked giant before I fired off a quick cleaning spell that removed most of the blood. The large Indian stopped abruptly and patted himself down before laughing loudly again.
"MY PARDONS, FRIND! I FORGOT IN MY HASTE TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE!" He shouted enthusiastically before he charged me again.
In an effort to prevent the coming hug I instead put out my hand for a handshake, hoping he would go for that instead. It was partially successful as he reached out to grab my forearm in one of those warrior greetings you saw on film now and again, forcing me to do the same, before he pulled me into a half-hug and gave me a slap on the back that numbed my shoulder.
God, it was like Mini-Hagrid, only louder.
"THANK YOU, MY FRIEND! HAD YOU NOT COME TO MY AID THE BEAST MIGHT HAVE GOTTEN ME! HAHAHAH!" He roared right into my poor ear.
"Indoor voice please, I'm right here, no need to shout," I complained weakly.
The giant Indian released me with another booming laugh. "I'm sorry, my friend. My father has always told me that I sometimes get loud when I'm excited, and our great battle is cause for great excitement!" He told me at a slightly more manageable volume. It still made my ears ring though.
I had a feeling that loud might just be this one's only setting.
"But I'm being rude. I have yet to introduce myself. I am called Takoda, of the Niitsitapi. And I am pleased to meet you!" He told me enthusiastically.
"Eh... Hey. Names Drew, and, eh, likewise?" I hazard.