"Hey!" Goku greeted with a laugh as they came out onto the platform where everyone else was already waiting on them.
"They're back!" Upa announced, sounding relieved.
"Where have you been all this time?" Bulma demanded.
"Eating!" the tailed boy stated simply, giving his lips a satisfactory lick.
"Goku, there's something called poison!" Krillin groaned. "I wouldn't eat anything in the present company! And anyway, didn't you already have like ten sandwiches outside?"
"Yeah, but this food was warm!" he laughed.
"Give me some credit," Baba scoffed. "Even I have standards! What do you think of your new surroundings?"
"It makes a cemetery look cozy," Bulma squeaked.
The fortuneteller cackled. "That will be the next stop for whoever falls into the pot!"
Krillin shuddered. "That's not good..."
"There is only one way that I can personally guarantee your safety," the mystic smirked.
"Yeah," the blue-haired girl scoffed, pushing aside her fear for a moment. "Let me guess! You want each of us to donate an organ?"
"That's tempting," the old woman huffed. "But no. I want Goku."
Kagome gave a low growl, placing a hand protectively on the boy's shoulder. For some reason, that made his face heat up just a bit.
"Not Goku!" Roshi accused.
"Righto," Baba smirked. "And Kagome, too, if I can get away with it."
The boy blinked up at her, surprised. "What's wrong? What do you want us for?"
"With your abilities, you would both be a prized addition to my team of fighters," the old woman admitted with a shrug.
"She's joking, right?" Bulma demanded, turning to the hermit. "Tell me your sister has a sense of humor!"
The old man sighed. "I'm sorry I brought you kids into this."
Krillin swallowed audibly. "Yamcha can win, trust me Master!"
Slowly, Roshi nodded in acceptance.
"Don't be a fool," Baba huffed. "This is a fight you cannot win!"
"Here comes Yamcha!" Pu'ar announced, dragging their attention back to the arena. All of them moved up to the railing to see better as the boy stood there, waiting expectantly.
"What is he doing!" Bulma wailed. "Is he nuts?!"
Goku frowned determinedly. "He won't fight alone!" he declared.
"Of course not," Kagome agreed, her hand still on his shoulder giving a light squeeze. "That's what we're here for."
He grinned up at her.
Baba moved out over the railing on her crystal ball, hovering there with a laugh.
"Ugh," Yamcha gagged, quickly covering his nose. "I think I can smell why they call this the Devil's Toilet! Ew..."
The old mystic snickered.
"Look on the bright side," Roshi spoke up. "These are great seats!"
"Would you grow up?!" Bulma yelled at him. "Yamcha's risking his life! If you can't control your sister, at least show some support!"
"I trust you will find this new venue a challenge worthy of your skill," the fortuneteller laughed. "The tongues are your boundary; the rest of the rules are the same, but the stakes are higher!" She pulled a piece of meat from her sleeve, dangling it out over the pit and dropping it in. "For should you fall into the toilet," she continued, the meat disappearing into the gook below in a small cloud of smoke and bubbles, "nothing can save you!"
"Uwaah!" the teen shuddered.
The old woman grinned. "One drop of that toxic soup on your skin means instant death!"
The others gave a short scream.
"And I thought my plumbing was bad," Roshi commented. "Brother!"
"Baba?" Yamcha called out. "No offense... but you've fallen off your crystal ball one too many times."
"Your fear is understandable," the fortuneteller stated, watching the panic with an almost satisfied look on her wrinkled face. "If you give up, I won't think any less of you than I already do!"
"Lady, I've never quit anything in my life and I'm not about to start now!" he growled. "Do your worst!"
Baba cackled. "Oh, that's the spirit!"
"Your sister is rude, inconsiderate, and shameful!" Bulma shot at the hermit with a glare. "I see the family resemblance!"
Roshi twitched, but didn't say anything aloud.
"Now, I present to you the third challenger!" the mystic announced, floating up a bit more into the air and bringing her hands up to the sides to draw a pair of little triangles in the air, then lacing her fingers together in front of her face. "Rise again and be restored once more," she called out commandingly.
Kagome started shaking. "Y-you bastard!" she shrieked accusingly at the hermit, her grip on Goku's shoulders tightening to a point where it was almost painful. "I thought that stupid outfit was just supposed to be for show! You said that she wasn't a witch!"
"Well not by trade, at least," the master defended himself.
"Rise again and be restored once more, rise again and be restored once more," the old woman continued to murmur, the priestess letting out a low whimper as the chant increased in volume with every repetition. Everyone else seemed to be too focussed on the fortuneteller's words to notice her distress.
"Kagome?" Goku worried, turning around to give her his full attention.
She shuddered and shook her head. "R-remember... Urasue? From my story?" she murmured quietly. "Or Tsubaki?"
"Rise again and be restored once more, rise again and be restored once more..."
His eyes widened in understanding and he took her hands. "It's okay," he assured.
"Rise again and be restored once more, rise again and be restored once more..."
Slowly, her shoulders stopped shaking so much and she gave him a weak smile.
He grinned back.
"Rise again and be restored once more, rise again and be restored once more, rise again and be restored once more!" Baba kept up, an explosion of smoke coming from the mouth opposite of Yamcha's. She repeated it a few more times, the smoke finally fading away to show...
"What is that?" Goku questioned, letting Kagome go again and both of them returning their gazes fully to the arena in the center.
"That's a sarcophagus," Bulma explained, shivering.
"A what?" he wondered, not understanding.
"A coffin," Kagome answered, still not having gotten back up yet.
"Why?" he blurted out. "Does he have a cold?"
The priestess sighed. "It's a box where you put dead people."
"Arise, my mummified warrior!" Baba shouted, both of her hands outstretched at her sides. "Come forth, I beseech you!"
There was a collective gasp, and the lid of the sarco-thingy got pushed open.
Slowly, a man wrapped in bandages opened his eyes, blue face turning tan, and stood up with a laugh.
"Is he hurt?" Goku asked. "Why's he covered in bandages?"
"It's a mummy!" Krillin barked at him impatiently. "You dummy, that's what it's supposed to look like!"
Baba cackled, and the guy kicked his box away inside the devil's mouth that made up his side of the platform.
"Come on!" Yamcha groaned. "Just once, I'd like to fight someone who's not a freak!"
The man laughed even louder. "This little whelp is why I've been awoken?" he snickered. "Pain and suffering are all you have to look forward to now!"
The teen smirked. "Whatever! Anyone ever tell you your mummy dresses you funny?"
"That's enough chitchat!" the old mystic called down at them. "Save it for the fight! The battle will continue until one of you gives up or is destroyed. Let the match begin!"
Yamcha quickly ducked into a defensive stance.
"Seems awfully confident, doesn't he?" Kagome murmured.
"Which one?" Upa wondered quietly.
The priestess just glanced down at the smallest boy with a wry snort. "Both."
"You can do it, Yamcha!" Pu'ar shouted. "Be careful!"
"Don't you worry about him, Pu'ar," Krillin assured. "He's toast! That mummy doesn't stand a chance against Yamcha!"
"Oh, I'm afraid this monster is different from the last two," Roshi spoke up, grabbing their attention. "Throughout the years, there have been many visitors that have made it past the first two matches - but never the third. No one has ever faced this mummy and lived to tell about it!"
"Wah," Goku breathed. "That means he must be super strong..."
The teen rushed forward at the monster, instigating a fistfight that quickly turned into him struggling to dodge out of the way of a rain of punches.
"He's too fast!" the hermit announced.
Krillin, Bulma, Pu'ar, and Upa all screamed.
"I don't think so," Goku argued.
"Tear him apart, Yamcha!" the blue-haired girl shrieked.
"He's going to fall!" Kagome hissed, all of them watching as it seemed like the teen was about to fall into the soup below - only to grab the ledge at the last second. "Pull yourself up, you idiot!" she shouted, the mummy coming to stand above the eldest boy and raise his foot to step on the hand that was keeping him hanging there.
"Leave him alone!" Bulma yelled.
For some reason, the man stopped before stepping on Yamcha's fingers and took a step back. "Get up! We're not finished!" he demanded. "I have slept too long to give this up so soon... let's play."
The mummy and Baba both just laughed, and the teen finally pulled himself back up onto the bridge.
"Now," the man grinned, "stand up and face me, boy! I want to see your expression as you die..."
"Come on, Yamcha!" the blue-haired girl screamed down at them, one fist coming up over her head in what was probably meant to be a show of support. "Finish him already! Let's get this over with!"
"Hang in there, Yamcha!" Pu'ar joined in. "Just stay alive!"
The teen leapt back, giving himself some space, and shifted into a familiar stance. "Wolf Fang Fist!" he announced loudly, charging right back in with a battle cry.
"Yay!" Krillin cheered as the older boy swung a flurry of attacks. "He's doing it!"
"No," Roshi corrected quietly, all of them watching to see that not one of the hits was actually landing.
Finally, the teen took a heavy knee to the stomach that had him pinned.
"Oh, no!" Pu'ar shouted. "Yamcha!"
"Wolf Fang Fist!" Krillin blubbered. "It didn't work!"
"He's gonna kill him!" Bulma wailed worriedly.
"What?" the mummy smirked, standing back up and resting a foot on the teen's side. "Speak up, little man, I can't hear you...! When you're crying."
"Yamcha!" Pu'ar screamed. "You can beat him! Please get up!"
"Leave him alone, you big bully!" Goku yelled unhappily.
The teen slowly opened his eyes back up. "I... I can't..." he coughed.
Baba laughed. "So what do you think of old Bandages now?" she prodded.
"Not much," Yamcha admitted, swinging around and knocking the man's feet out from under him to send him into the toilet.
They started to cheer, only to stop when the mummy swung one of his bandages up to wrap around the bridge and pulled himself right back up. Even Kagome gave a wince, grabbing the tailed boy's shoulder. Each and every one of them wanted to step in and help, but they knew that they couldn't. Yamcha still refused to give up, no matter how beat-up he got. Eventually, Pu'ar couldn't take it anymore and flew out to help, but she was brought down with a single hit and the teen was dangling from the air once more, still refusing to give in.
He was tossed right off the edge once more, and this time it was pretty obvious that he wouldn't be able to pull himself back up. Without another thought, Goku acted.
"Power Pole, extend!" he directed, managing to catch him.
"Your life has been spared," Baba announced. "But you are still very much defeated!"
Yamcha looked crushed.
"Two words!" Bulma growled. "I. Quit. I suggest you look them up sometime."
"I thought Yamcha did an exceptional job!" Krillin defended the older boy, who had joined them up in the box. "Except for the almost dying part."
"He's unstoppable," the eldest boy murmured "Nothing I did had any effect, not even my Wolf Fang Fist!"
"Don't beat yourself up, kid," Roshi scolded. "That's my sister's job!"
Baba approached, laughing. "So are you discussing your next fighter, or your retreat? No shame in losing; everyone knows my warriors are the best in the world!"
"... Well, then," Kagome spoke up before Goku could, her expression completely serious. "I guess it's my turn again."
"It's okay," the tailed boy argued. "I can go!"
The priestess shook her head at him. "Just trust me."
"P-please don't fight!" Upa stuttered. "It's too dangerous! I don't want anyone else to get hurt because of me!"
Kagome smiled down at the smallest boy. "Hey, I was made for this kind of battle."
The fortuneteller huffed. "From that display with Fangs, I would believe it - but your level of strength still isn't enough to take down Bandages!"
The priestess smiled up at her innocently. "Oh? You see, there's a big difference here. I wasn't actually interested," she hummed, face shifting with something much colder than Goku had become used to in her and her eyes sparking silver, "in killing the vampire."
They all shivered at those words, together with the feeling that she meant every last one of them. Slowly, the girl turned around and headed for the stairs.
"It's been a long time since I ran a little rampant..."
Goku swallowed hard, having trouble believing that this was the same Kagome he'd come to know over the last month and a half. She seemed... dangerous.
His face felt hot.
xxxx
The priestess made her way quickly down the stairs and through the door that Yamcha had been directed towards on the way in, and walked back out on the bridge a moment later. The Shikon was closer to the surface than it had been since they'd reached their truce on Korin's Tower, and it was eager for blood.
Moreover, this blood was of the undead. They had a certain grudge against the undead, thanks to issues with Kikyou.
No, that wasn't quite right - she needed to stop thinking of them as separate beings. She and the jewel were one, whether they each still had their own thoughts or not. It was like Sesshoumaru had explained with a demon's Beast once, as far as she could tell; two somewhat different personalities being driven by different things, but still one person in the end.
She had a grudge.
'Bandages' laughed disbelievingly upon seeing her.
The priestess smiled at him. "We can start whenever you're ready."
The undead laughed harder. "Is that so? And who are you supposed to be, the halftime entertainment?"
She cracked her neck, not gracing that with an answer.
"Ready!" Baba shouted. "You may begin!"
The enemy seemed to hesitate a moment.
"Well?" she offered. "I'll let you go first."
"What's the matter with you?" Baba blurted out ofter another minute of waiting. "Go after her!"
"She's right," Kagome smirked, eyes sparking with amusement. "Should I start?"
The mummy growled and charged at her, and she couldn't quite fight down the rush of sadistic humor she got as she jumped up out of his reach, cracking a kick to the back of his head on her way back down to the platform.
Huh. This was the first time she was really fighting alongside the jewel since that assault on the Red Ribbon Army, wasn't it? It felt... closer, than before. Like it was running freer.
Oh, yeah. Because this idiot had tried killing one of her pseudo-friends.
The jewel was made of demons as much as holy energy. Demons were more than just a little protective of their packs. Ironic, she supposed - it didn't actually feel... impure. She didn't feel as though she was tainted. It just felt as though her purity was running two different tracks: holy purity like she was used to, and an almost demonic purity thrown in beside it. It was a rush unlike anything she'd ever felt before.
She threw her head back and laughed, long and loud, as she planted a swift kick into the mummy's back. "You'll have to do better than that! This game's getting boring!"
"I don't play games," he snarled, regaining his balance. "I destroy!"
She darted back in under his guard, slamming an elbow into his stomach. "Could have fooled me!" she smirked, flooding the whole area around her with reiki.
The mummy screamed, the smell of burning cloth and flesh filling the arena.
"Let's see how you like it, shall we!" she roared, slamming into him again and again and filling every hit with ki. If he had been a demon, he would've already been purified a few times over - as it was, he had to be in a world of pain regardless.
Finally, he was limp on the bridge and she was staring down at him blankly.
"P-please," the mummy choked. "Don't... kill me!"
She blinked. "Can you give me a good reason not to? You were meant to pass on years ago and face your sentence in the afterlife. You've spent your extra time on this plane not to try and redeem yourself, but torturing others." Her head tilted to one side, her entire vision overlaid by a heavy cloud of silver. "You even almost killed the idiot. Judgement must be faced sooner or later, 'Bandages'. You must have realized this by now."
"I-I'm sorry," he choked. "I'm sorry! I forfeit!"
The priestess blinked down at him again, the haze over her vision clearing a bit as she took a step away form him. "I see. Too bad, then; your debt continues to grow. Now get out of the way for the next fighter."
The mummy shook uncontrollably for a moment, got up, and ran.
She tilted her head to one side a bit curiously and reached up, running a hand over her face. That had been... strange.
Her sight finally went normal again to the sound of Goku's exuberant cheers, paired with the somewhat more hesitant ones of the others and Roshi's squawking demands of 'What just happened?!'
"... Damn," she murmured to herself. "I guess I've still got a lot more to learn about this arrangement after all."
"Let the next match begin!" Baba called. "Spike, come forth!"
She just raised an eyebrow as the next man walked out, with horns on his head and bat wings on his back. Her head hurt a bit, but even so she still found a bit of humor in the fact that this guy seemed to be trying so hard to appear 'demonic'. Even his aura was shaded with an almost forced darkness, as if he was overly concerned with looking ominous.
"Ready!" the fortuneteller shouted. "Set! Go!"
The enemy immediately jumped up into the air, his wings beating to keep him aloft.
"I always give my opponents the chance to surrender," he offered with a smirk. "What do you say?"
She smiled up at him sweetly. "No, thank you."
His smirk widened. "You're going down!" he announced, diving at her.
Taking a page out of Goku's book, she leapt up and slammed a kick into his gut that had him flying back towards the ceiling.
"Get him!" Yamcha shouted, surprising her a bit.
Even the moron was cheering for her? Maybe she had actually done something right.
The 'devil' landed back on the bridge, cringing just a bit. "Lucky shot!" he accused.
"Oh?" she snorted. "Not going to brag about how you were going easy on me?"
He snarled at her. "You little-! You dare mock me?! I'll have you know-"
"What are you doing?!" Baba shrieked, interrupting his tirade. "This isn't your break, I don't pay you for your conversation! Now get out there and fight!"
The man gave a short growl and charged Kagome again, swiping at her with filed claws.
"Really?" she choked out a laugh as she dodged. "Pink nail polish?"
"I'll kill you!" he screamed, picking up his pace. She kicked him back off the edge, only for him to fly his way back to the platform out of breath. "You foolish wench! Do you think you can defeat me?! I'm invincible!"
The priestess had gone stiff the moment he said 'wench'.
"I don't mean to pressure you," the fortuneteller hissed at the man, getting closer, "but you'd better win!"
"That's unfortunate," he swallowed awkwardly. "Well, her luck is about to run out! No one can survive the power of my Devilmite Beams!"
His wings snapped out around him, pulling her back from memories of the past.
"The most destructive force in the world," he bragged, slapping his hands together in front of his face and forming a triangle with his fingers, "is negativity! It is true power. Negative energy exists in all living things; it's created from emotions such as fear, anger, hatred, jealousy, and depression..."
She clenched her jaw. "I already know this speech," she stated simply.
"I can manipulate this energy," he continued, talking over her, "converge it into beams of destructive power! It will annihilate anything in its path. And right now, my little fool, I have you square in my sights," he grinned.
He brought his hands up to his forehead, two fingers out to join at the center.
"Kagome, get out of there!" Roshi screamed at her. "He's going to use your thoughts to destroy you!"
The priestess just blinked.
"Stop!" Baba shrilled. "What are you doing?! You're going too far!"
Kagome wasn't really worried. She just waited there patiently for the idiot to give it his best shot.
"Kagome!" Goku yelled worriedly. "Get out of there!"
The beam came at her, slamming her in the chest.
"Darkness swells and fills her heart!" the man chanted. "Now, rise! Rise and tear this girl apart!" He laughed loudly. "Now you die!"
"KAGOME!" the tailed boy shouted again.
"Think positive thoughts!" the old hermit tried to coach her.
"Darkness!" her opponent roared. "EXPLODE!"
She just blinked and waited for the lights to fade. No wonder he'd gone for pink nails; he must have thought that they matched his powers. Sadly, they actually did.
"D-darkness, explode!" the man tried again. "Darkness, explode! Darkness, explode! Darkness...!"
The light finally faded. "You know, there was once this little demon named Akago..."
She felt their collective gapes, and darted forward to land a reiki-charged fist in 'Spike's face, flinging him back into the wall.
"You could've learned a thing or two from the creep!" she called over at him.
"Way to go, Kagome, you really showed him!" Yamcha cheered.
"WE WON!" Krillin laughed loudly.
"I knew you could do it, Kagome!" Upa shouted.
She glanced up, giving the spectators a smile.
"This... doesn't make any sense!" her opponent coughed, forcing himself back up to his unsteady feet. "The Devilmite Beam works on everyone! For you to be immune to its power...! Means you don't carry a single negative thought!"
The priestess rolled her eyes. "Not quite," she admitted. "Maybe if it had been Goku down here, that really would have been the case - but I'm just not exactly... the same as the people you've used that thing against. I've been dealing with this kind of attack and learning how to deal with it since I was fifteen. I know how to work out my negativity when it shows up, and I don't try to deny its existence."
He twitched. "Y-you... are not normal..."
She sighed. "Yeah. I know."
"Beware," he growled. "The Devilmite Beam isn't my only weapon!" He raised his hand, a pitchfork appearing in his clenched fist. "If you get my point..."
She scoffed and slammed a barrier down around him, locking him in.
He stared disbelievingly at the sudden silvery bubble and tried smacking it, only to get bounced back. "What...!"
Her eyes narrowed. "I've been wondering about something lately..."
The man quaked. "W-what is that...?"
She concentrated, making her reiki as solid as she could, and lifted her hands above her head. The barrier followed, rising up off the platform with her opponent still inside of it. "Well, I guess that answers that question. Apparently I can move them after they're already formed so long as I focus hard enough."
To illustrate her point, she flung him straight into the ceiling. Her barrier didn't quite hold up the whole way, and she stumbled with exhaustion as it came down, but the man still ended up buried head-first in the stone.
Her friends (and Roshi and Yamcha, though she was starting to think that the teen just might be able to be given a chance after all) cheered.
She rolled her shoulders. "So who's next?"
Baba huffed. "Save your accolades for later! You haven't won anything yet!"
"Just two more matches and we can get the dragon ball!" Goku shouted happily.
The fortuneteller floated in front of the box. "Your boastful antics won't get you anywhere in this arena, and they're giving me a splitting headache!" she shrilled at them. "You'll do better to watch your tongues and be silent! I can't wait until you witness my next fighters... They're out of this world!"
Okay, so that laughter made Kagome a bit nervous.
"Number five!" Baba announced. "Your match is at hand!"
A familiar figure walked out, dressed in a red fire rat robe and a traditional dog mask.
The priestess's knees shook, and she stumbled a step backwards.
"What's the matter, wench?" a gruff voice huffed. "Not happy to see me?"
She swallowed thickly. "I-I... can't..." she choked out. "I can't... do this...!"
Turning around, she ran back into the tunnel and down the stairs, not stopping until she was back outside under the sun. She panted heavily, her entire body quaking and a cold sweat breaking out across her face. It was impossible.
"... Inuyasha..."
xxxx
A/N: Kagome gets a chance to flex her claws a bit! After 'training' with Korin, she would be a good bit closer to Goku's power level and, like she said, she was kind of made for these sorts of fights... Except for when there's mental trauma working against her. She's only human, after all.
Thanks as always for reading!
Edit: 8/27/16