Night fell in the deep woods, and the only sound the people gathered here can hear were the rustling of the branches and leaves. But they were far more occupied by something else to care.

Large campfire burned as over a hundred people had gathered here, men and youkais alike. The blue haired centipede youkai watched with growing satisfaction as everything unfolded according to his plan. Of course he had gathered enough treasure and money to lure them to join, but he had to admit using Cho Gonou as his tool had proven to be one of his best decisions as well. The man was incredibly powerful and was an efficient killer, an extremely useful tool enough to "persuade" others to join.

The Sanzo Ikkou wouldn't even know what hit them when he launches attack. They had no way to know he was gathering armies.

He glanced at the green-eyed man standing motionlessly by his side like a silent body guard and couldn't help but sneer. It was such fitting for Cho Gonou to pay his price like this, and he was sure his people would have approved as well. A scum human dared to stand up against youkai, ravaging and killing his people just because a whore. He would correct the mistake and let his people rule once again.

It didn't matter that the other Cho Gonou somehow followed him here, there were only four of them, and there is no way they can deal with all of his armies.

A large sound of explosion interrupted his thoughts; their firearm warehouse had burst into flames.

"What the hell happened?!" One of the leaders of the mercenaries demanded angrily as the firearms and bombs inside continue to explode.

"Sorry, pal." A man with a big bandana and shouldering a *guandao grinned as he lit up another smoke, not so sounding sorry at the very least. "I was just smoking, didn't think something like this would've happened."

"Sha Gojyo!..." The centipede grated out as the man pulled off his bandana to reveal the curtain of smooth red hair. He couldn't understand why the hanyou was here, and he also couldn't believe he had let him infiltrate the army without noticing. "You're going to pay for this, you filthy half breed!" The centipede snarled and was about to signal Gonou to attack him when another voice stopped his movement.

"That wouldn't do. You really need to work on your hospitality since I was here before him." a man a few feet away from him took off his hat to reveal a face with vine marks and mismatched eyes, two of the silver ear clips was missing. "Though I'm surprise you didn't notice me a bit earlier.

"Cho Gonou…" He stared furiously at the converted youkai. He had totally missed his presence because he had assumed the energy came from his puppet.

"Kill these bastards!" He snarled at his troops who scrambled into actions. Cho lazily pulled off the remaining limiter to release his full power as Gojyo spun his guandao in anticipation. The others tried to encircle and gang on them, but a few surprised cries were heard when a bunch of people were sent flying.

"Come on, you guys aren't even trying your best! " A brown-haired boy shouted excitedly as he swiped a thick sturdy pole around with ease, sending more people flying. "Let's play, you evil baddies!"

The mob shouted angrily as they raised their weapons, but after a string of gun shots, six of the mobsters fell dead and the others froze in shock.

A golden-haired monk emerged from the woods, emptying bullet shells before idly reloading it. "What's wrong?" He asked coldly as he pointed his newly reloaded gun at the stunned crowd, purple eyes icy cold and promising death "Want the sutra? Come and get it, dickheads."

"KILL THEM!" The centipede youkai was beyond furious now. His didn't understand why, but all he knew now is that his plan had totally gone down the drain and he would be sure they all paid for it. Sutra be damned, he will rip each and everyone one of them apart, and he had a good helper this time around.

Gonou was already moving to attack when he stopped abruptly and clutched his head. White light of chi blazed and forced everyone to leap away, the blinding light disappeared to reveal Hakkai standing there in his true form. The two now identical youkai faced each other as strong flows of energies swirl around them like winds, ruffling their lengthened hair. One had a blank but almost confused expression, while the other was grim determination.

"What are you doing? Attack them!" Sensing something wrong, the centipede youkai yelled at Gonou again but almost got shot in the head.

"Shut up, you pathetic piece of shit." Sanzo's voice was filled with contempt "You're so weak it's almost disappointing."

The centipede youkai almost snarled in rage, calling commands as Gonou moved again, but vines had slithered across and wrapped the green-eyed youkai firmly and held him in place, while Sanzo fired another round of bullets at the centipede. Having no other options, the centipede youkai had to abandon Gonou and ordered his crowd to kill the other three intruders.

"You can stall all you want, but there's no way you could defeat all of us, and I'm be stepping over your rotten corpses." The youkai snarled at them as more mobs emerge from the woods to join the fight.

"Quit your big talk and bring it on, asshole." Slicing through the enemies while flinging the guandao to get the blood off, Gojyo still had the grin on his face as he taunt.

Hakkai gave his companions a thankful glance before turning his attention back to Gonou. He'll have to trust his companions for taking care of the rest of enemies, because he had only one job tonight, one that will demand his full attention and cannot afford to get distracted.

The struggling youkai had let out his vines and were now snaking towards him. He quickly withdrew his own vines and sent a chi blast at Gonou, who dodged away.

Focusing all his attention on the other man, Hakkai concentrated on his chi and raised a mental shield blocking the youkai's energy as Gonou's emotions that threaten to break through. Summoning his own will and emotions, Hakkai slammed them straight back at the mental link, causing Gonou to stagger and looked surprised and confused.

He was sure the youaki had no idea the true effect the mind controlling spell had caused. Though the centipede youkai failed to control him, he did break some barrier between "Hakkai" and "Gonou", causing emotions and memories to affect each other. Hakkai had always been on the receiving and defending end, but tonight he is determine to make the link work the other way. To drag Gonou out of the mess with his own will.

Sanzo had taught him the basics, but the rest was entirely up to him.

The mental and physical attacks will tax on his energy, so it'll be a matter of time to see who would last longer. Either he would deplete his energy first, or he could successfully get Gonou out of the youkai's control.

Or perhaps he can count on his companions to finish off the spell caster first.

"Kanan, please help us…" Hakkai looked into the dead golden eyes and sent a silent prayer to his beloved sister as he prepare for the battle.

He is not here for any bloodshed or revenge tonight, he is here to save.

-tbc-

*guandao: a Chinese pole weapon, similar to a glaive.

Goku's ploe is not his Nyoi Bo, Sanzo didn't change the past so Goku and Gojyo don't have their weapons yet. Since Shakujo is too unique, I'll just have to come up with something cool too.

sorry for the short update, I'm still working on the battle scene.