[Author's Note: And the moment you have all been waiting for has arrived! You'll see some illusions to Yusuke's fight, but that's okay because. . . Well you'll see.]
Toguro launched the first attack, running at me swiftly, as he always did. To my dismay, he still had me beat with speed, but I could do this. I had prepared for it. Just before Toguro threw his punch, I speedily made my way behind him, leaving him with only an illusion of me that faded away after a few short seconds. Just as he realized he wasted his punch, leaving nothing more than a giant crater in the ring, I leapt up and struck him in the head with my foot, sending him sliding a few feet across the ring.
The first blow belonged to me.
Toguro quickly charged me again, this time, I was to slow to block and he got me right in the stomach, but I returned the blow right to his face before we separated. I charged him, this time, but Toguro was quick and blocked my attacked and got me in the face sending me tumbling across the ring. I didn't stay down for long though. I bounced up on my feet and flew at him, going faster and faster.
The horrible thing about flying is that it's incredibly difficult to dodge quickly. So when I saw him throwing a fist at me that would surely send me flying into the side of the ring with no hope of blocking it, I did the only thing I knew could save me in this pinch.
I brought my hands up in front of my face, and squeezed my eyes shut tightly.
"Solar flare!"
When I opened my eyes Toguro had stopped mid-punch because of the blinding light and I was able to send a barrage of powerful punches into his unguarded stomach before he recovered. He went to hit me again and I quickly retreated in time for him to send another punch into the ring, creating yet another crater.
"You're tricky, Kairi," Toguro said, shaking the cement from his fist. "I didn't expect you to be able to compensate for your lack of speed so well. I would be impressed, but. . ."
"But what?" I asked.
"You're holding something back. I thought you might take this more seriously," he said. "I find your lack of effort disappointing."
"I think my lack of effort is directly related to yours. After all, I know for a fact that you're holding something back," I said.
"If you want to see my full power, you'll have to prove that you're worth it," he said.
I smirked. "Then I guess you'd better make me, huh?"
"It would be my pleasure!" Toguro shouted, running at me. I returned the favor, running at him as well. His punch hit me in the face, and mine hit him in the stomach. He quickly delivered a swift kick to my face and sent me flying into the stands.
I felt my body slide through the concrete stands like butter until I hit the back wall slightly dazed. A felt a trickle blood slide down my neck and twinge of pain flashed across my cheek. Now I was pissed. I flew back into the ring and glared at him.
"I bet you think you're real clever doing that, making me look like nothing but a massive shit talker, huh?" I asked. I pointed at my cheek. "But you see this? You made me bleed. Next time you make me bleed you'd better make damn sure that you kill me because this is unacceptable!"
I launched myself at Toguro and he threw down a punch at me; I leapt into the air as he made contact with the ring, sending a flurry of debris into the sky after me. But I was pissed, and I had to teach him a lesson.
I brought my hands to my side and quickly charged up my energy in one massive attack.
"Kame. . ." I began, "hame. . ." Toguro looked up at me and realized what I was doing. He was wide open and it was going to come to fast for him to block. "Ha!"
I launched the Kamehameha wave at him, making a direct hit, the light was blinding and the blast was massive. It engulfed the ring and sent Toguro flying out of the stadium, burning through the forest as he went.
I brought the attack to an end and landed on the ground. Toguro was still going through the hole I'd put in the side of the stadium. He would be back, and hopefully he would be hurting. That was for making me bleed.
"It's absolutely incredible! Kairi Son, alternate and Spirit Detective has sent Toguro flying through the side of the stadium obliterating part of the forest and the entire ring," Koto announced. "Now that's what I call girl power."
"Goku-Kairi," I heard Yusuke say as he joined me by the hole I'd just blown Toguro through, "what the hell was that?"
"That was my daddy's Kamehameha Wave," I said.
"Do you think you got him?" Yusuke asked.
"Did you see that? Of course she got him!" Kuwabara said. "That was awesome! I didn't know you had that kind of energy."
"You are full of surprises," Kurama said.
"He's definitely not dead. Hopefully he's hurting though," I said.
"If Toguro comes back unscathed you're going to have some issues," Hiei said.
"Maybe so," I said with a shrug. "But don't worry; I'm sure I'll think of something."
Hiei scoffed.
"Oh, come on, Hiei. Have some faith in me. After all, I thought you were nothing more than a little shit talker too when Zeru set you on fire, but when you came back and turned him into ash I decided that maybe I needed to shut the fuck up. You might do me the same courtesy," I said
"You should be so lucky," Hiei said.
I turned back to the hole in the wall. I could feel it. He was coming back.
"You guys might want to get out of the way. He's coming I suspect he's not too happy with me," I said.
The boys retreated as Toguro emerged.
I grimaced. He was fine. Perfectly fine. The only thing he was missing were those damn sunglasses. That was problematic, but I couldn't show it.
"I bet you think that was incredibly clever," Toguro said.
"Awe, are you mad I broke your sunglasses?" I asked, bending down to untie my boots. It was time for desperate measures. I had to get him to show his full power and I had to take him out. This wasn't going to be easy with the amount of energy I had left.
"I think I'm just going to kill you now. If you're not going to take this seriously than neither am I," he said.
I shrugged. "Have it your way then. Come at me, bro."
And come at me he did. He charged at me quickly, and I almost didn't have time to dodge, but I leapt out of my shoes into the air behind him and kicked him in the back of the head, sending him face first into the ground. I landed on the ground behind him. I was just screwing around at this point, only to hide that I was getting anxious.
Toguro got to his feet and leered at me.
"Weighted, training clothes. I should've known you would do something foolish like that," Toguro said. "You're slow enough as it is and you think you can handle me with that on?"
"That was the hope, yes," I said. "Don't call it arrogance. Think of it as me being a lady and trying not to be immodest by disrobing in public. My father is watching after all."
"I think you had better start taking this more seriously," he said.
"Me thinks someone needs to learn the fine art of patience," I said.
I pulled the orange top shirt of my gi over my head and tossed it to the ground. Next came my long sleeved blue shirt leaving me in nothing but a sports bra.
"For some reason, Kairi has decided to start disrobing in the middle of the fight! Now that's what I call fan service," Koto said.
I pulled off my pants to reveal a pair of black yoga shorts. Now I was ready.
"Does this please you?" I asked.
"Pull a stunt like that again and I will kill you," he said.
I rolled my eyes. "Enough talk. Let's work."
I ran at Toguro fast as I could carry myself, he went to get me straight on, but I leapt into the air and delivered another one of my signature kicks to the side of his face, knocking him to the ground. Even I was startled at how fast I was moving. I hadn't taken the weights off in months.
I wasted no time delivering a crippling blow to his stomach, sinking him into the ground. I had him now and didn't stop. I kept hitting him and hitting with everything I had.
But he was doing nothing to stop me. He was just laying there.
I had to stop. I leapt out of the crater and stared at him.
Now I was feeling something else. The excitement and challenge that I felt before was starting give way to anxiety and just a hint of fear. Toguro was not out of this match yet, but I was the one in control, and yet he wasn't even bothering to fight me off. Something was wrong. I could feel it in my bones.
Toguro rose up from the crater in the ground, his appearance completely changed. He was lanky and scrawny, as if all of his muscles had deflated. Even his head seemed smaller. This was like the quiet before the storm.
"You said you wouldn't make this easy for me, and you did not disappoint," Toguro said. "I had been saving this for your partner, but it seems you'll do just fine for it as well. Let me introduce you to my full power."
The fear started fade away and anticipation grew within me. This is what I had been working towards, getting him to bring this out. Now it was time to see if I'd been right. If I could at least get close to matching Toguro's power, I could beat him down enough to make sure Yusuke had no chance of losing, but I knew Toguro was powerful and that I still had to expect the worst.
I felt his energy start to rise and his muscles began to expand grotesquely. The stadium floor shook beneath my feet. I thought back to how many times my dad and Vegeta and my brother made the Earth shake with the just the use of their energy. This was going to be a fierce battle. I could already tell. His demon energy sprayed out in all directions massacring the audience.
I was starting to think I didn't stand a chance, but even if I didn't this was one fight I had no intention of backing down from. I was either going to win or go down in a blaze of glory.
His energy enveloped the entire stadium in darkness. I couldn't see anything, but I could feel him growing stronger and stronger.
When his energy finally peaked and the darkness gave way to light, there he stood. A titan. He was a hulking beast of a man now, completely gray all over with more muscles that I thought was possible.
"So this is it then," I said.
"You sound unimpressed," he said.
"Sorry, I am very impressed, really, I am. I was just thinking that you're even stronger than I anticipated," I said.
"Oh, really?" he asked.
I nodded. "I'm not sure I can win." That's when I readied myself. "But if I can't, I'm sure as hell going to enjoy this."
"You only think that because you're not working to your potential," Toguro shouted. He barely moved his arm before sending a wave of his energy at me. I tried to hold it back, but it eventually overtook me, knocking me to the ground.
This was much worse than I'd anticipated.
"Get up, Kairi. You're still screwing around," Toguro said.
"Who says I'm screwing around? Do you think I would have wasted my energy trying to block you if I thought I could?" I asked.
"It's your own fault that you can't," Toguro said, throwing another blast at me and knocking me to the ground. I could feel cuts and stinging all over my legs, arms, and abdomen. He was going to chop me into fish food with just his energy.
I couldn't just stand there and let him mince me up. I had to go on the defensive.
I charged up for a Destructo disk and launched it at him.
He caught with his bare hand and tossed it into the crowd, sending dozens of audience members to their deaths.
"Shit," I said.
"Don't curse me. It's your own fault that you're in this position after all. You're the one denying your basic instincts," Toguro said.
"What do you know about it?" I asked.
"I know that you're just as arrogant and cocky as your partner over there except for whatever reason you're arrogant enough to believe that you can be the best without working hard at it," he said. "You were born a strong and gifted warrior and so you foolishly decided to remain as you thinking that you were unstoppable. Look where your foolishness has gotten you."
"That's where you're wrong, Toguro," I said. "I know I was born powerful, but I also know that no matter what I wanted to do, or what I wanted to accomplish I had to work for it. I know that there's a part of me that could defeat you without a second thought, but the reason I didn't push myself to that level wasn't out of foolishness. It was because I want to feel challenged. I don't want to be some undefeatable monster like you. It was because I want to defeat you as a human. I want to show you how powerful the humanity you gave up really is."
"And what if your humanity fails you?" Toguro asked.
I scoffed. "Even if you kill me I'll still have proven my point. I'm not going to run from death like you did."
"You're still fighting your basic instinct to become stronger! You are a warrior! You always have been! You can't fight instinct for very long," Toguro said. That's when two spouts popped up on Toguro's shoulders. Then astonishingly, the souls of the audience member's started being sucked into them. "This is instinct! When I'm at my full power my body has a need to consume souls in order sustain itself. Of course, this only starts to happen when I will it to do so. I'd say there's about 20 minutes left until I've consumed the souls of everyone here. Are you going to continue to deny yourself your true abilities or are you going to let them all die."
I glared at him. "You're a monster. I doubt if you were ever human at all."
"Good," he said.
That's when I noticed that the audience member's were starting to make a run for it from the stadium. Suddenly, 20 foot high concrete walls sprang up all around it. Only the winners were making it out of here alive.
The crowd didn't take to kindly to this and started to charge Toguro. He easily dispatched them by barely flexing his muscles and sending most of them to oblivion.
"If you're done interrupting, the detective and I have some unfinished business to attend to," Toguro said. "Now, Kairi, what have you decided to do."
I ran at Toguro with everything I had, but he was now much faster than me, even with my weighted clothes gone and I couldn't close the gap.
He sent me flying into the stadium wall, and I could feel it. I was starting to run low on energy. This was not looking so good.
I fell down to the ground out of the wall and stumbled to my feet.
"Is that the best you can do, Kairi?" he asked me. That's when he made a move and sent a blast of energy flying into the stands. It hit only feet away from my family and the girls.
"I wonder if I'll miss next time," he said.
I charged him and hit him square in the face.
"How dare you? This is between me and you! Leave them out of it!" I said. I then leapt into the air and kicked him square in the jaw, but he reversed it, hitting me in the stomach sending me sliding across the stadium floor on my face.
"You're not trying hard enough," he said.
"No, you're not trying hard enough at all."
The voice was familiar, but it was impossible. Toguro must've hit me much harder than I thought because it sounded like-.
"All right, Kairi, listen up because I'm not going to repeat myself you understand?"
I looked to the side and saw Puu floating there, grimacing at me. But he was talking to me and he sounded like. . .
"Genkai?" I asked.
"Yes, please be all surprised as if stranger things haven't happened to you. now I haven't got much time left so you'd better listen good," she said.
I quickly accepted that I was not hallucinating and that this was indeed Genkai possessing Puu's body while trying to deliver a message to me.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I thought that I'd have to give the dimwit over there a stern talking to, but I expected better from you. What did I tell you to do before I died?" she asked.
"You told me to win," I said. "To make sure that everyone made it home."
"And at the rate you're going everyone is going to end up dead. Congratulations," she said.
"I'm doing the best I can, okay," I said. "I just. . ."
"Didn't work hard enough, didn't go to your potential, you half assed it, just like your dimwit partner over there," she said. "And it's not as if I don't understand your reasoning or if Toguro doesn't understand, but now you've got to suffer the consequences of taking the higher moral ground."
My eyes flickered over to Yusuke, standing not too far away from me. We had a plan. I was supposed to get Toguro to show his full power so that Yusuke knew what he was up against. I had to go at Toguro with all that I had to make sure that Yusuke got the win. But I knew something was wrong with all this. If Toguro overcame me now, I knew that Yusuke still wouldn't have what it took to defeat him.
"Toguro told me that it would be my fault Yusuke couldn't beat him," I said. "And he's right. If I were just that much stronger, if I had a little more energy I could defeat Toguro myself, but he's just that much more powerful than me and I can't close the gap. And so is Yusuke, but I can't get to my power. . . But I can get Yusuke to."
"You already know what you have to do, Kairi," Genkai said. "Don't make me come back here," she warned.
"No we wouldn't want that," I said.
Genkai flew away and I was left to let the truth of the matter settle into my brain.
I looked over at Yusuke again and I flashed him the peace sign.
"Kairi, what are you doing?" he asked.
I winked at him. "Just don't let me down, okay, Yusuke? We're Team Spirit Detective now." Then I turned to Toguro. "You may think I was just a little pawn in your chess game, but I promise you're going to regret this."
"No, Kairi, I don't think I will," Toguro said.
I was going to make sure this was ended now, but I wasn't going to go down without a fight. I had to seal this win for Yusuke.
I powered up for the Kaio-ken and then powered up for the greatest Kamehameha Wave I would ever use in my lifetime.
It was ten times more massive than the last one I'd fired at him, but inside I knew that it just wasn't enough to take him down. Still, I had to knock him down a few pegs and then bring Yusuke up to his level.
I fired the blast at him and it engulfed him. There was a flash of light and slowly, my body started to drain of energy and my last ditch effort drew to a close. I brought my arms down to my sides, no longer able to hold them up. All the energy I had left was keeping me alive.
Toguro was down for longer than I had expected, but when he got to his feet he seemed too pleased.
"That was quite an attack detective. Maybe if you were just a little stronger you would've killed me, but alas, that is not the case," Toguro said.
I chuckled. I could hear Yusuke calling out to me, but I tuned him out. He was going to hate me for this, but I knew he'd understand soon.
"I don't have the energy to dodge, so why don't you just finish me quick," I said.
"With pleasure," he said.
Toguro brought his hand straight forward and pierced through my naked abdomen like a knife. The first thing I felt was the pain, then I could taste the blood starting to pool in my throat. My body became weak and I fell to my knees. I wrapped my hands around my gaping wound and prepared.