A Team's Determination

At long last, the battle against Kurow Kirishima, the mastermind behind the recent attacks on many students, has begun. Determine to save her brother, Akira Kazama, along with her friends Zaki and Yurika, the sister of Kurow, fights to free Daigo from Kurow's brainwashing. Kuwabara, who tried and failed to defeat Daigo earlier that day, also joins in on the fight to avenge his friends. However, Kuwabara is unable to summon his most powerful weapon, the Spirit Sword. What is preventing him from doing it?

"What's going on?" asked Kuwabara to himself. "Why is it not coming out?"

As he tries to summon his power, he is knocked down by a powerful punch from Daigo.

"Kuwabara!" yelled Yusuke.

"Why did he just stand there and got himself hit like that?" asked Batsu. "He had to have seen that coming."

"Something must be wrong," said Kyosuke. "He seems like he's distracted by something."

"I don't like how this looks," said Hinata. "He probably shouldn't be fighting."

"His Spirit Sword…is not being used," said Kurama.

"Huh?" said Botan. "But why isn't he using his Spirit Sword? I'm sure he would have used it by now."

Everyone watches as Kuwabara stands up. Although he appears ready to fight back, his inability to summon his Spirit Sword causes doubts in his chances to win. Kurow looks in amusement as he believes Kuwabara doesn't stand a chance against Daigo.

Just as Daigo prepares to attack again, Akira interrupts him with a flying kick to the face, knocking him away. She is joined by Zaki and Yurika.

"This is fight might be too tough for you," said Akira. "We'll handle it from here."

"No, I can fight," said Kuwabara. "It's just that I can't use my power."

"Then you're just a hindrance in our battle," said Zaki. "Step aside and us take care of it!"

"No matter what, I'm not backing down from anybody!" said Kuwabara. "I'm going to fight even without my powers."

Yurika looks worried at Kuwabara, wondering what kind of power he's unable to use and why he can't use it.

At that point, Daigo comes charging forward at the group. They evade his powerful punch, which leaves a dent in the ground.

Zaki uses her chain to catch Daigo's arm. However, his great strength allows him to pull Zaki toward him, in which he lands a powerful punch to her face, knocking her down. Akira interrupts to prevent him from continue his attack. She tries landing different punches and kicks but Daigo effortlessly dodges them and, in a sweeping motion, lands a punch on Akira, knocking her down. Undeterred, she gets up and assume fighting stance. She tries again but is hit with an uppercut and a round kick, knocking her down again.

Everyone looks in horror, not sure about Akira's chances of winning.

"Man, this isn't good," said Edge. "He's just too strong."

Kuwabara and Yurika quickly rush to her aid.

"Akira!" said Kuwabara.

However, Akira, much everyone surprise, stand up. Despite breathing heavily, she still has enough strength to continue to fight.

"We don't have to keep doing this," said Yurika. "We have other people here who can free Daigo."

"No!" said Akira. "I have to do this. He's my brother and I have to be the one to stop him." She gets into her fighting stance again. "Let's do this, Kuwabara! You won't give up and neither will I."

"Right!" said Kuwabara. "Come on! Let's do this!"

Kurow shakes his head at what he considers a hopeless fight but is no doubt pleased in what he sees.

Just as Daigo prepares to attack, Zaki uses her chain whip to hit Daigo in the back of the head.

This gives Kuwabara and Akira an opportunity to land a powerful team attack, with combinations of punches and kicks on Daigo, knocking him down.

Everyone looks with a sense of hope, while Kurow looks in disappointment.

"We can still win this," said Akira.

"Hehe! Yeah! Teamwork!" said Kuwabara.

"Let's do it!" said Zaki.

As Daigo stands up, he charges at the four, attempting to land powerful punch. However, Kuwabara dodges and lands powerful punches of his own to Daigo's body. Before he can retaliate, Zaki catches Daigo's arm with her chain, leaving him open for Akira's Destructive Heaven's Kick, in which Akira launches herself leg-first towards her opponent. This is attack is enough to knock Daigo out.

The fight is over.

"He's…out!" said Yusuke.

"Daigo!" yelled Akira, as she worries about her brother possibly not surviving after withstand such powerful blows.

She, along with Edge and Gan, run to Daigo's aide and lays her head on his chest to listen to his heart, as everyone else look in suspense.

"He's still alive!" said Akira. "Guys, he's still alive."

Edge and Gan sigh in relief.

"We just have to get him to a safe place to recover," said Akira. "Hopefully, he can hang on long enough for us to get there."

"Don't worry, Akira," said Gan as he picks up Daigo. "We're on it right away. I know the nearest place to him."

"Hey, your brother is strong guy," said Edge. "He'll probably recover in no time

"Thank you, Edge and Gan," said Akira.

"Yeah, you take care of your brother," said Kuwabara. "I'll stay and make sure this guy pays for he's done everybody."

"Thank you, Kuwabara," said Akira.

"And thank you, Akira," said Kuwabara.

"Me? Why?"

"Because with your help, I was finally able to redeem myself after I lost to Daigo. There was no better way to do it than to fight along with you. So that's why…I thank you for that."

"Anytime," said Akira as she smiles.

"Hey, Kuwabara!" said Edge. "While we're at it, maybe we should take your friends with us as. They've been beaten up pretty badly and they've been unconscious this whole time but they're still alive, so maybe they can be treated too." Kuwabara sees the Gan and Edge picking up his friends.

"Right!" said Okubo as he runs up to the two teens. "I'll go with you guys. I can help you take them to the hospital."

"Okay, Okubo," said "Be careful out there."

"You too, Kuwabara," said Okubo. "See you later, man."

Kurow looks in disappointment as the four leave with the unconscious boys. With Daigo now defeated, this makes his plan slightly more difficult. Nevertheless, Kurow still believes that he's more than capable of pulling it off.

"Wow!" said Momo. "They're so strong. I guess we underestimated them, huh Kurow?"

"They may have defeated Daigo but they're still no match for me," says a smirking Kurow as unleashes his claws. "Fine. I'll handle this myself Which one of you would like to be my next victim."

He looks at all the fighters to see who would be willing to face him first.

"Alright! You and me, Kurow!" said Batsu. "Let's finish this now!"

"Again, Batsu?" said Kurow. "I should warn you that this fight will not be like our previous one. You may not even survive this time."

"We'll see about that!" said Batsu.

At that moment, Yusuke steps forward. This quickly catches the attention of both Batsu and Kurow.

"Hold on! Not so fast" he said. "Batsu, you already got a piece of this guy. Now it's my turn."

"This guy impersonated me and attacked my school," said Batsu. "That makes this very personal for me. So now I have to make him pay for that"

"Yeah, but the reason I got involved in this in the first place is because Keiko was attacked by this guy," said Yusuke. "So, this is personal for me too. And now ow that I've finally seen his face, I'm not passing up this opportunity to bash it in."

"Okay," said Batsu. "Go get him, Yusuke."

"Be careful," said Hinata.

Kyosuke thinks back on Yusuke's fight. He believes Yusuke to be a strong fighter since that he gave Batsu a tough fight but still doubts that he has anymore of a chance against Kurow than Batsu does.

Kuwabara hasn't seen Yusuke fight since the Dark Tournament, so he's curious about what he'll be like now.

Kurama looks in caution, as he's not familiar with what kind of tactics Kurow may use in his fight.

"Yusuke Urameshi at last," said Kurow. "Very well. You'll feel the real power of Kurow Kirishima!"

To Be Continued.