DD: My, my! Hello! I'm back with a new fic, but fear not dear readers, because this authoress does not intend to forget any other fics! To everyone who read my other works, I'm updating them next week. Also, this fic is to my dear friend Manuel, whom I own all my RPG knowledge.
Etamin
By Dancing Doll
The One With...The Necromancer's Daughter"Another Mission?! The Hell I'm taking it! I'm not Koenma's slave and just finished another of those stupid things!"
Botan sighed and tried to be patient. Yes, patience is a good thing when dealing with the stubborn detective. Fighting back the urge to pull at her blue hair in frustration, Botan managed to say in a calm voice.
"Yusuke, this is just a routine mission. You go there, beat the demon up and go home! Everyone will be happy!"
"No! I refuse to do so!" Yusuke shouted, "I'm not in the mood to fight a lower class demon! I want the powerful bad guys like Toguro or Sensui!"
'All right, Botan, just count to ten...' The death deity thought to herself while Yusuke rambled on about how he shouldn't be bothered by the toddler after saving the world so many times.
'One...'
"...Besides, why should I care?! I never got any money out of it!"
'Two...'
"...I hate being ordered around by that brat!"
'Three...'
"...You go there and tell him I don't give a damn about the freaking mission!
'Four...'
"...And he better not start with the 'You-Own-Me-Your-Life' speech, or else I'll break his face into pieces!"
'Five...'
"...Because I could have died so many times at his stupid missions it don't even make a difference!"
'Six...'
"...Are you listening to me, blabber-mouth?! 'Cause you better be!"
'Seven...'
"Well?! What are you waiting for?! Go and tell pacifier-mouth I said a resounding 'No'!"
'Eight...'
"What's the matter with you?! Brain damage?!"
'Nine...'
"C'MON, DUMMY! JUST GO!"
'Te-' Botan's temper finally snapped and a wall of flames burned behind her while the usually pink eyes took an evil shade of red.
"YOU'RE ACCEPTING THE FRIGGING MISSION!" Botan shouted and Yusuke jumped back in surprise. It wasn't usual for her to be like that, all 'Dragon-of-Darkness-Flame' like.
Heck, she looked like Hiei!
e.t.a.m.i.n
I should know better by now...Once you're resurrected and accept the job of detective, you're doomed.
"Damn Koenma. One day he'll pay. Making me take these stupid missions..."
"Shut up, Urameshi! We're all together at this and it's YOUR fault!"
I sweat-dropped and stole a glance at my back. Sure enough, there were Kuwabara (with his ugly face twisted in anger), Hiei (looking extremely pissed and with his hand twitching at his sword's hilt) and Kurama (who was the only one saying his threats out-loud, although his displeased expression said enough).
"I..." My brain raced for a reason to have dragged them along, even though I had none.
"I didn't want to feel lonely."
Uh...Maybe not that.
"ARGH!" Kuwabara roared, "URAMESHI, I'LL KILL YOU!"
"Now you'll feel apart!" Hiei growled, unsheathing his sword. Kurama merely raised an eyebrow, but I didn't miss the quick automatic movement his hand almost made towards his hair.
...Man, if I want to survive, I better make Kurama bald.
"Hey, guys! C'mon! We're all wanting a good fight!" I said, putting my hands up.
"Exactly, detective. And there's no way we're finding it against a lower-class demon!" Hiei snarled menacingly.
"...Good point." I said. Hiei's eyes widened in rage.
Uh-oh, bad move.
"I mean...Hey, this demon has an ability, y'know! Maybe he isn't that bad!"
"Is that so, Yusuke-kun?" Kurama said, taking a step forward. I gulped. Man, I know I faced many dangers, but having Kurama and Hiei angry at me really can take my guts away.
Just don't tell anyone, okay?
"Y-yeah! He can create portals to unknown worlds!" I said. It was true. The demon could do that. In fact, none of his victims could be traced, even by their energies. When someone was transported to Makai, Reikai still could sense him or her by his or her energy, be it spiritual or demonic.
"Unknown?" Kurama's position relaxed a little, "Go on."
Hehe...Just give him new info, Urameshi, and then you're gold.
"He can teleport people to others worlds, beside the Makai, Meikai, Reikai and Ningenkai. Koenma said he doesn't even know which world is. It's besides Reikai's powers to find out."
"So the mission isn't that simple. There's always the risk that we'll get teleported." Kurama said.
Eh...I haven't thought about that.
"Maybe, but Koenma said this demon is extremely weak and slow. I can shoot him from the distance."
"Still, we should be careful." Kurama said. Hiei sheathed his sword and Kuwabara relaxed. Well, it seems I'll live again.
e.t.a.m.i.n
"Eh...So you think it's that easy? You'll be surprised, Yusuke-chan!"
Hiding in the shadows, the hooded figure smiled to itself. Looking at a broken piece of mirror, it could clearly see the four tanteis walking into the carefully prepared trap.
It listened silently at the four young men talking, deciding to which world it would teleport them to. Maybe they were going to be it last try before the goal was accomplished.
"Hey, Kuwabara, why don't you summon your Rei Ken so we can have some light on this hole?" It heard Urameshi saying.
"You idiot! Just because my spirit sword shines doesn't mean I'll use it as a light for us!" Came the taller boy answer on a loud shout.
"Quiet! The demon may hear us!" A redheaded scolded the two of them.
"Yeah, you listen to Kurama! He was a thief and knows how to go unnoticed!" Yusuke scolded. Kuwabara opened his mouth to protest but the shorter boy of them all glared his way, diverging his attention.
"And why are you glaring at me, you shrimpy excuse for a fire demon?!"
The figure paid no heed to the conversation anymore, musing at all the worlds it could send them.
'Well, let's see what I got...Yusuke Urameshi-chan, Reikai detective; Human with enough spiritual power to blast Yakumo, former king of Meikai. Shuuichi Minamino or Youko Kura-chan, also a Reikai detective; Demon trapped in a human body. Power to boot, especially when back at his youko form, the legendary thief of Makai.'
The figure turned it's gaze to Hiei 'My, my...Look at what we got here! Hi-chan, forbidden child of the Koorime. Fire demon with an implanted Jagan eye; Master of the Kokuryuuha, that's enough to resume his powers. And then...Huh, that guy is...Is...' The figure tried its hardest to recall any information about the taller boy, but found none. 'Oh, well...He can summon a Rei Ken. At least he has some power...'
Smiling playfully, the figure decided where it would send its hunters.
'I wonder how Etamin is doing with tourism?'
e.t.a.m.i.n
"This is strange..." Kurama whispered.
"I know." Kuwabara whispered back, "I haven't eat anything rotten, but this stinking farts keep coming..."
The rest of them wrinkled their noses in disgust and Yusuke had to fight the urge to punch his dumb friend.
"It isn't that, although I would be thankful if you stopped releasing those." Kurama said in exasperation, "It's just I can't sense any energy here..."
"Yeah...I haven't felt anything, too."
"Hn. Maybe it left."
"You think?" Yusuke asked, "Well, then this was a complete waste of time!"
"Why, of course not, Yusuke-chan!"
All the boys' head snapped in the direction of the sound. There, floating above the ground, was a small figure with a purple robe four times bigger than it. It was looking curiously at them with bright lavender eyes that stood out against the shadows that covered it's face.
"Who the heck are you, demon?" Yusuke shouted, preparing his rei gun.
"Mou, I'm not a youkai and I would appreciate if you would stop calling me that!" The figure complained. It had a childish voice and not even Kurama could tell which gender it belonged.
"What are you then?" Kurama asked, running his hand through his hair and taking a rose out.
"Wow, cool! I'll tell you if you teach me that neat trick!"
Kurama narrowed his eyes and Kuwabara sweat-dropped.
"I'm afraid it's nothing something you can learn. Now answer my question." The former thief glared at the...Well, at whatever the creature was.
"I'm..." The creature paused for dramatic effect. They waited impatiently for it to continue. "I'm...I'm a...Huh..."
"Well?" Kuwabara urged, "What are you?"
"Eh...You know what?" When Kuwabara made a negative motion with his head, the small creature continued, "I can't remember."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...You can't remember what you are?" Asked the tall boy, "Not even I am that dumb!"
The creature covered it's hooded face with gloved hands, "Forgive me...I'm such a nuisance."
"Damn right! Now, let me blast you back to where you came from! REI GUN!"
The blue light started it's way towards the mysterious creature. Instead of trying to dodge, however, it only smiled and made a circle motion with its hands.
To all the tanteis surprise, Yusuke's rei gun disappeared mysteriously as the small creature laughed mischievously.
"Thank you, Yusuke-chan!"
Then, as suddenly as it had disappeared, the spiritual blast showed up.
Only it was coming on their direction, too quick and close to even Hiei to dodge.
"Fuck!"
e.t.a.m.i.n
Kurama was the first to wake. His eyes took a while to adjust because of the violent light the sun was giving.
'Completely different from the abandoned warehouse we were in...'
Then, it all came back. Yusuke's rei gun coming towards them, a purple light blinding him, but no pain. Instead, he had felt a known sensation.
That's when he noticed the first wrong thing about the entire situation.
His hands were paler and his outfit had changed...Pulling a strand of hair in front of his face, he saw it was silver.
"But why did I revert?" The youko mused while looking at his surroundings.
And then he noticed wrong thing number two.
They were no longer in Japan.
Nor in Earth, as far as he knew.
Carefully standing up, he studied the busy city. Small stands where sellers announced all kind of weird stuff and people dressed in odd clothes he would only see in Makai (and only on the most different demons) walked around the busy streets, he could see the clear blue sky and smell no pollution.
In fact, he noticed while his ears twitched at the new sounds, he could see no sign of the former human world although he knew those people were just as humans as Kuwabara.
"Ugh..."
Kurama looked at the moving form of Hiei. He waited patiently as Hiei went through the same process as he did before the shorter demon turned to him.
"Why did you change?"
"I don't know." Kurama mused, "Maybe a side-effect from the teleport."
"Where are we?"
"I have no idea. Obviously, not on Ningenkai."
"This isn't Makai, either. I can't smell death." Hiei said, "But I do smell demons, although they're somewhat different."
Kurama nodded again, "We're just taking the long way to say it: We are not in any world we know. See how those humans don't even spare a glance at us, even thought I'm on my true form and your Jagan is open."
"Maybe they can't see us." Hiei tried.
Kurama raised an eyebrow and turned to the busy street, "Hey! You, girl!" He called to a petite girl with blonde hair. She looked in his direction and walked to him.
"Yes? Can I help you?"
Kurama rolled his eyes at Hiei and turned back to the girl, "What is the name of this place?"
"You mean you don't know where you are?" The girl snorted. Kurama glared at her and the girl shook her head, "You're on Graffias, sir. One of the biggest cities of Etamin. Do you not know what Etamin is, too?"
Fighting the urge to scare the girl, Kurama reasoned this would bring unwanted attention. Mastering his anger, he answered her question, "Indeed, I don't. But I believe you can explain it to me."
"You must be joking! How can you not know what Etamin is? Have you lived your whole life underground with kobolds?!" She gasped. Kurama and Hiei raised eyebrows at her, "I mean, I was only picking on you about Graffias, but not knowing Etamin! You must be really dumb!"
"What?" Kurama snarled, outraged. Never on his life had someone who barely reached his knee called him dumb!
"C'mon!" The girl said, laughing, "Please, don't fool around like that."
"I'm not fooling around, dear." He said sweetly, although his voice had a dangerous edge, "I merely am new to this...Etamin you speak of."
"New?" The girl frowned, "How can that be?"
"We have been teleported here, if you even know what this means."
The three of them turned to see a grumpy-looking Yusuke and a confused Kuwabara.
"We were listening." Yusuke explained. Then, realization dawned on him, "Dude! You changed back into your old form!"
"So I have noticed." Kurama said.
"Teleported, huh? Well, this isn't unusual."
All eyes turned to the small girl.
"What? Any sorcerer can do that! Oh, wait..." She sighed, "Maybe you don't know what a sorcerer is, too."
"We do, thanks for caring." Yusuke glared, "You're strange."
"So are you." The girl sighed, "This is going nowhere. What are your names?"
"Why should we tell you, human?" Hiei glared. The girl seemed unfazed by him.
"So what? Just because you aren't doesn't make you invincible."
"Ooooh, she answered back!" Yusuke teased as Hiei growled.
"You brat!"
"In fact, I am one, so I won't be offended." The small girl before smiling brightly and blinking big, sparkly gray eyes at them, "I'm Petra Tremenor, seven years old and daughter of the Necromancer Angus Tremenor."
The four of them just looked at the girl, wondering where she was getting to.
"And...?" Asked Kuwabara. Petra looked at him and blinked.
"Ops! I forgot you weren't from here!" She smiled and bonked her head, "Sorry! Anyway, the thing is that my dad knows a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff, so maybe he could help you finding your way back! If you wanna go back, that is."
"We do." Said Yusuke, "But tell me...What's a necro-something?"
Petra glared at him "Necromancer. It's someone who can bring dead people back to life. Sort of."
"What do you mean?" Asked Yusuke frowning. This shouldn't be something people could do.
"Y'know, like zombies."
"Wha-?" Yusuke gaped, "Is your father human?"
"Eh, of course, silly! Do I look like anything else to you?" Petra asked, settling her hands on her hips.
Yusuke pondered either or not to tell the truth, but one look from Kurama told him to shut up. The silver youko turned to Petra and nodded.
"Take us to your father."
e.t.a.m.i.n
"Interesting, indeed." Said Petra's father while examining them. Angus was a tall man and wore a long black robe with golden ornaments. His blonde beard stood out from the contrast with the dark clothing and his eyes were of a deep black.
"I understand your situation, young men." Angus said, unaware that at least one of them was actually very old (although that someone would never say so. 'Youkais age slower than humans, therefore I'm young.'), "But there's nothing I can do besides giving you advice."
"Why?" Yusuke asked, frowning. This place gave him the creepier feeling. Kuwabara, however, was far more ahead than that. Being able to feel the vibes around, he could make out a lot.
"Must my grave be so close to the kitchen?! Every now and then, some servant will throw a left-over at it!"
"Why the hell are you complaining?! MY grave is next to the bathroom! I can smell AND hear all the nasty stuff going on inside!"
"Could you guys shut up?! I really want to rest in peace, but you two talk to much for dead people!"
"Hey! Who's making that much noise?"
"Shush!"
"Oh, man...Why me?!" Kuwabara mumbled, turning a little blue. Just knowing that those corpses could suddenly run around by Angus's orders made him scared to death.
"So, why can't you help?" Yusuke asked again, after witnessing to his friend talking to himself.
"Because I can only go so far when it comes to magic. My knowledge is vast, but my skills aren't so. You said you came from anotherworld. Not village, city or country...World. This kind of teleport requires a lot of magical power that has nothing to do with necromancy."
"So you mean we're stuck here?!" Kuwabara squeaked on a high voice. Yusuke sweat-dropped as the others raised eyebrows.
"No. As I said, I can advise you. So, here is my advice: Go after a powerful sorcerer or sorceress. Those are the kind of people who can help you. Magic in general is their ability and they'll know a way to take you all back."
"Thank you." Said Kurama.
"You're welcome. Can I help you with anything else?"
"In fact, you can." Hiei suddenly spoke. Angus looked at him.
"Do you know of any powerful sorcerer to help us?"
"In fact, I know." Angus sweat-dropped, "But I don't know if you'll feel comfortable around...Her."
To be continued...
The One With...The Worst Sorceress: In search for a way back home, an annoyed Yusuke, scared Kuwabara, grumpy Hiei and indifferent Kurama try to find "Her" while taking care of a seven-years-old nuisance. Will they be able to go back home?
Petra Tremenor: A way too happy girl who's way to cute and annoying. 'Blunt honesty' is how she calls her attitude. Others say she's just plain rude.
DD: Now, dear reader, review! Or else, how is this poor writer keep the work going? Flames will be used to warm the cold hearts of bad people. Manuel, I hope you're liking this so far!