"Are you sure that this is necessary?" Asked Rin, rubbing his sore foot.
"What exactly do you mean by "this"?" Danny raised an eyebrow, sipping from a cup of Nasty Burger coke, "The training or the fact that I hit you with a ruler?"
"The last thing!"
The flying teen approached his trainee with a non amused look on his face. Not that the former actually noticed it. It had been several days under the Ghost King's tutelage and vigorous trainings that left Rin dried up by the evening. The days off for the latter were filled to the brim with his somewhat kinsman's instructions. Under normal circumstances, Rin would have complained more, but Danny had already revealed his more demonic side. And if anything, he was sometimes really scary. Besides, he got what he wanted out of studying all along, namely putting his abilities, humble as they were, to use. And even still, the methods...
"And just what are you going to do about it? Resume the course, I need that line of fire to wrap around all those traffic cones."
At his words the thrashed objects resumed their position on the ground.
"But do you have to hit me?! Ouch!"
Rin grabbed his hand that now had a red marking on it.
"Maybe. Maybe not. Try again."
The tossed away ruler reassured the half demon a bit. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, released it. After this a thin sliver of blue flames the size of a wire went forward akin to a snake. The task seemed simple on paper, and Rin could already make a small flame, so the tools were all there. He had to direct the fire around as if putting a rope, as many times as possible. There was an obstacle, however. The trainer took out the straw from coke and then, suddenly, something tiny hit Rin. Then again. The concentration, the steady breathing broke, and the improvised rope flickered.
Another hit. Rin turned his eyes in direction of the trainer, who, like a grade schooler, seemed to enjoy firing balls of paper at him. Each time the ticking of the boy's eye grew stronger and stronger. Finally, he snapped.
"Knock it off!" Rin yelled and the fire burst wildly, knocking everything over. The plastic cones melted. This only added to his frustration, making the half demon to shout in frustration, falling on his back and on the solid ground.
"Oof, someone needs to learn stress-control," Danny commented, firing the last ball and approaching him.
"I was fine until you began messing with me like that! Seriously what gives?!"
"Shall the demons bring you tea and cookies, Your Highness?" Danny leaned to the eye level of the sitting trainee. "Sure, calm situations are always simpler for any trainee, the only problem is that no foe is going to go easy on you. You must hold yourself together. This applies to the enemies, too. If they are pissed, if they lose their heads, you gain control of the fight. Now, imagine this. You are in a tense situation, everyone's lives are on the line and the only way to save them is to use your fire. What makes you certain that "Burned to a crisp" won't be their epitaph, I repeat?"
"Well, I..." Rin considered his words, and the rage seemed to subside.
"Finally got it? Good. I am hearing none of this again, Rin. You are prepared when I say so, you think I want to stay here longer than needed? I am not going to perform a half-assed job. You will come out of this trained in handling your demonic heart."
"Then why do you even do this? You obviously don't want this."
"Mephisto forced me, in case you forgot."
"He didn't force you to be so hardworking, though."
Phantom sighed, "The sooner we do this, the better. That entails hard work. Speaking of which, we have a job at noon, so we better get down to it."
"What job?"
"Don't know, I wasn't listening," Danny shrugged, "But it sounded important. Let's begin already!"
By the time they were done, Rin hadn't reached much results, as he was quick to irritate by different means. Phantom had made sure that this day's training was not an easy one. His imagination allowed for a hundred and one ways of breaking concentration.
Just a day ago Mephisto had decided to ask about the progress. All he had received was a deadpan look. The Demon King of Time knew perfectly well that the results equaled zero at this early point. It probably was to pester him. Phantom held a grudge against Pheles for volunteering him into this 'extracurricular activity', but it didn't go further than the insults. The plan of ruining bonsais was surprisingly forgotten in this mess, and Sam was not keen on reminding him.
After the training was over, Phantom snapped his fingers, and the scorched ground turned back into a storage room. The two teens exited it, and Rin immediately stretched his muscles, basking in the light of the sun seeping through the windows. He was tired of the murky atmosphere the Gehenna lookalike had, and he understood the desire of many demons to crawl their way out of that desolate place. It didn't justify possession and the following chaos, but still, it was a reasonable wish.
"Rin! You are back!"
The high, but relatively quiet voice sounded somewhere at the feet level of the two teens. They turned around, seeing a small cat run up to them. One would take that little thing for a normal feline, if not for some curious oddities. The black cat with white paws had not one tail, but two, and his eyes were maybe too intelligent for an animal. Oh, and he also talked.
"Hey, Kuro. Sorry, we aren't here for long, gotta go...where are we going exactly?"
"The teach told us to meet by the...Mephyland, was it?" Danny reminded, rubbing the back of his neck. "That ego-stroking amusement park, yeah."
Kuro only tilted his small head. The demonic cat was a recent find of Rin's. An ancient spirit that used to hunt pests in exchange for goods humans provided. The being had been grown wilder as the time went by and humans slowly forgot about him. The neglect had turned it into demon crushing everything on its path, right until the intervention of Father Fujimoto and his sake. And a couple of days before, upon learning of the old man's passing, the cat had gone on a rampage again, calmed down again by Rin. Since then the small cat that could get to the size of a car had been the teen's familiar. Phantom had a sense of deja vu each time he saw the little guy.
"Oh. Alright, I'll wait!"
The boys left the dorm and hurried to the meeting spot. Danny was carrying a sport bag with something metal rattling inside. As they were running late, it was of little surprise that everyone had already been there, sitting on the marble stairs near a statue of one and only Headmaster of the True Cross Academy. Furthermore, Danny could see a giant balloon replica of the Demon King floating above the park at a distance. After exchanging the brief greetings, the two half-demons joined with others in waiting for the girls, the absence of which was befuddling and unexplained. Yukio stood by the side, occasionally looking around and throwing glances at Phantom. It didn't pass the half-ghost's attention, as he had got used to those.
Ever since the trainings started it was as though Yukio disliked him even more. The reason for that wasn't hard to discern, as he was fully against letting Rin to dive into the abyss of his own demonic power. But this objection didn't go further than the initial conversation, as it had been made perfectly clear by both Mephisto and Phantom that that wasn't up for debates. Of course, at some point Yukio was very tempted to just finish off the demon king, going as far as grabbing a batch of blood blossoms, but he stopped himself. After all, officially Danny was a student. Killing him won't do any good to his or somebody else's reputation. And who was to say that Phantom wouldn't have come back after reforming in Gehenna and decided to take revenge? The element of surprise in this case was a onetime occasion. Danny knew about being somewhat untouchable, so he was calm even about the strongly shown desire to kill him fully.
"So, guys. What did you do for your first missions as the exorcists?" Asked Rin.
"I had to clean out the Leaper's cage," mumbled Konekomaru.
"Had to take a sample of Bariyoshi to Tamagawa," added Bon.
"And I carried supplies to Yamaoku," Renzo finished, before sighing, "Those are odd jobs, not missions."
"We've just started as exorcists," Bon reassured, "This can't be helped that we are stuck with these. And what were you two doing?"
"Heh," Rin smirked proudly, "I got to beat a demon! I even got a familiar!"
"Oh, really now, let's see you summon it, then."
"Oh, I...left him at the dormitory."
"Oh, he 'left him'."
"Hey, you don't believe me?!"
"I don't say that I do. And what about Phantom?"
"Haven't got any. Honestly, I didn't have much time for anything these days," Danny sighed, rubbing his temples, "And I got plans, you know."
"I still don't understand how you are stuck with these extra points activities, and yet these two are exwires," Bon grumbled, looking at the two least sociable members of the class.
"Maybe they are putting the effort when we aren't watching?" Renzo suggested.
"I haven't seen them anywhere aside from the classes," Danny supported the viewpoint. "And I do stroll a lot."
"They are supposed to do it in front of us, damn it!"
"Forget about that for a second, where are the girls?" Rin asked, and as if on cue, Shiemi's voice reached them.
"Sorry, we are late!" She shouted, "We got delayed!"
The eyes of the boys caught a change of her attire. The kimono wearing girl had discarded the outfit in favour of a normal uniform. As far as a shirt along with a maybe too short skirt went. Kamiki, meanwhile, was right near the other female member of the class.
"Sh-shiemi, what happened? No kimono?" Asked Rin.
"Oh, I figured that kimono is not suitable for a mission, so the Headmaster provided me with everything."
"This explains a lot," Danny commented, glancing below her belt and dodging a smack from Yukio's journal be moving his head.
"We're late because Kamiki-san and Paku-san were teaching me how to wear it! It...looks weird, doesn't it?"
"I-it's fine! You look cute, Moriyama-san!"
"What the hell?" Rin whispered, "Her skirt is too short, right, Yukio?"
"What do you ask me for?" The teacher asked quietly.
"It's not like you weren't staring at her boobs, teach," Danny smirked, now getting the blow.
Sighing, Yukio stood in front of everyone, while Phantom quietly rubbed the place. And albeit the pain was minimal, the younger Okumura couldn't ignore the satisfaction it brought him.
"Anyways, now that everyone has gathered, I shall divide you into groups of two. Miwa and Takara. Yamada and Suguro. Okumura and Moriyama. Kamiki and Shima..."
Danny suddenly perked up, and the blue vapour escaped his mouth, which didn't escape his classmates' attention. He stopped listening to the teacher for a moment, his eyes scanning the surroundings.
"This time we're at the True Cross Academy Amusement Park," Yukio explained, "Or Mephyland. We are here to deal with the reports and witnesses of..."
"There is a ghost here," Danny interrupted, "No doubt about that."
"That sense of yours again. Then do tell us what we are up against."
Phantom looked in direction of the park, "Hm...the power is abysmal. I think each one of us can handle it alone."
"Where exactly is he?"
"Hm...I can't tell exactly, which is odd."
"As far as we know, the ghost has an appearance of a little boy. Phantom is correct about his power, so far everything he did was yank on people's arms and legs. However, if we don't stop him now, the demon might become too dangerous and openly malevolent. Once you've divided into the groups I've listed, I want you to scatter and find him until nightfall. If you find him, don't engage, call either mine or Tsubaki-sensei's phone. If you have any questions, raise your hands."
What Danny didn't tell, however, was the fact that there was a reason behind such interference with his senses. Usually it meant that there was an exceptional demon of another type roaming somewhere nearby. Someone really strong. Mephisto always went under the radar, he wasn't a sneaky bastard for nothing. So it must have been something, or, rather, someone else. Phantom didn't tell about it because it was most probably another scheme of Pheles. No demon this powerful would enter without his permission. So, it was better to play dumb and wait until the perpetrator had shown themselves.
Danny would rather stay near Rin, an obvious target of the uninvited guest, but staying near Yukio worked just fine. As everyone separated, the half ghost followed the younger Okumura. At first he was in two minds about telling Yukio about the predicament, but ultimately decided against it. He would have decided to abort the mission and the chance to catch the perpetrator would be lost. The latter thought that he had an element of surprise, let him believe it to the end.
However, there was one thing that buggered the teen, and it wasn't exactly connected to the powerful demon. It concerned weakling ghost in particular. After all, the weakling was his subject, so it was bound to make him think. Not as much about the odds of the kids beating the demon, more like how they were going to do so. Ghosts had a unique way to be exorcised — they could reach the goal that had made them stay behind. And whether or not the young exorcist trainees decide to do so would probably show the King if he could trust them to a bigger extent. It was more difficult to help fulfil the obsession, but certainly more humane. The ghosts often cooperated with people willing to help. And it was also a guaranteed way to ensure that the ghost would never be back. Yet, few people opted for this solution, for many reasons. It could possibly be the dislike of demons in general, maybe the unwillingness to bother. It was always simpler to shoot things.
His parents were the same way. At this thought Danny shook his head, not wishing to remember the nastiest episodes related to them.
Then, all of a sudden, he felt it. An enormous power surge that could only mean one thing.
"There they are," Danny said calmly.
"What...hey! Where the hell are you running?!" Yukio shouted after the teen who bulleted away from the teacher and disappeared behind the fare stands.
That surge meant that Kurikara had been taken out of the sheath. Phantom had had plenty of time to get used to the feeling of the unleashed power of Satan's son, and if his senses tingled now, it meant that Rin had engaged in combat serious enough to put his secret at risk. A sudden earthquake stopped Danny at his tracks, as he tried not to lose balance. He decided to continue by air. Every stand and attraction around either collapsed or was at the very edge, the entire structures bent over and broke, and the gigantic signs went straight down for the ground, never making it, because of the obliteration caused by nothing but the azure flames.
Danny made it in time to see Shiemi hugging the little ghost, shielding him from the rubble that never landed.
"Shiemi!" Phantom shouted, landing on his feet unbeknownst to her. The girl winced and turned to him, while the little ghost in her arms had a whole different reaction.
"Woah! It's you!" He exclaimed, flying out of the girl's arms and right to him.
Apparently, the ghost boy they had targeted was knowledgeable enough.
"Yes, kid. I need you to do something for me, are you up for it?"
Phantom had figured that this child could be persuaded the way human kids were susceptible to.
"Yes, boss, I am on it."
"Get the girl away to safety. You know the layout of the place better than her."
"Gotcha!"
"Danny-san, how did you, woah!" Shiemi was pulled by her hand in the opposite direction.
Her presence here was unwanted. Rin had barely kept his power a secret, who knew what else was going to happen.
Meanwhile, the half demon was not having a good time. Beaten, humiliated, bleeding and on his knees. His sword, released along with his power, was held by the one who had incited the whole mess. His appearance was that of a teenage boy. He had a spike of hair of a swampy colour, with the shade becoming lighter closer to the centre. His fashion sense ended on a ripped leather jacket, green arm warmers and a black and pink short sleeved shirt under his jacket, also ripped.
"Are you done already?" The Demon King of Earth said, examining the newest burning toy in his hands, "How boring...You know, big brother told me not to, but as you are in no position to argue...shall we break your sword?"
"Wh-what? N-no!" Rin desperately tried to reach for the demon, but the strength had long since left him. His opponent, however, had plenty when he started pressing on the piece of metal.
However, the demon was interrupted by a burst of green light hitting him with tremendous force. It launched him a good distance away, making him land in one of the stands, surrounded by stuffed animals.
"Now that I got close enough, I recognise the stench," Danny appeared near Rin, sparing him a glance, but then turning the trespasser, "Amaimon, was it?"
"Danny, be careful," the half demon groaned.
"Oh, you are the one that killed big brother Azazel," Amaimon jumped on his feet, abandoning the thought of fighting Rin as a spoiled brat forgot about his older toy. If his job was to fight only his half-brother, he did a poor job at that. The burn that the blast had left was steadily healing already. "You don't look so tough. Perhaps you will make a better playmate."
Danny's eyes glowed green, before a ring of shining pearly light emerged from nowhere, surrounding his torso, splitting in two and travelling up and down, changing the form of the teen into his demonic self. Danny's hair turned stark white, his ears became slightly pointier, and yet the changes didn't make him look more out of this world than Rin with his weapon out. His uniform remained the same, which, judging by the expression of the teen, surprised even him. Mephisto had been providing the uniforms, figures. However, the colours inverted, and, just like his hair, the black pants and white shirt swapped them. Rin stared wide eyed at his friend revealing his second half.
"Want to test your theory?" Phantom asked, his voice loud, echoing and angry.
"Yep!"
Without warning Amaimon lunged forward, swinging the stolen weapon. Phantom didn't move before the very last second, dodging the blade and then smacking the enemy at his neck. Amaimon was launched away, flying a good distance again and leaving a track on the ground. Laughing, the demon jumped back to his legs. He was obviously enjoying it too much.
"Now we are talking!"
"Toying with someone twice as strong is a sure way to perish, Amaimon."
"Sure. But are you really stronger?"
Danny summoned a blade from the air that blocked the upcoming strike. The King of Earth kept swinging the stolen weapon, and the sparks from the metal kept flying around. Phantom knew that Kurikara could handle two Demon Kings for a time, but it couldn't last forever. All of a sudden he pushed the opponent back, creating some space for manoeuvre. Amaimon expectedly lunged again, but this time, the sword went right inside the half ghost's body. Rin gasped in shock, even the King of Earth made a surprised expression at how easy it was. However, that face soon changed into that of further shock when Phantom's hands grabbed his. The smirk of his was as bright as the eyes that had been shining even brighter. But now the light was as blue as ice.
Amaimon found his hands frozen and unable to move away from the blade still stuck in his opponent's body. However, Phantom's hands remained free. Free to pummel the lights out. The first strike made the demon stumble, and the sword went out, cutting the ghost in half, but Danny seemed calm about being severed from his legs. In fact, two halves immediately grew together, if you discounted the torn clothes. Amaimon puled his hands away with all his strength and succeeded at shattering the ice, but the dropped sword immediately flew right into Phantom's hand. Distracted by the flying weapon, Amaimon barely dodged a blast.
"My body is quite durable," Danny smirked, tossing it to Rin. "Put it back before anyone comes!"
The half demon caught the blade put it inside the sheath. "What about you?"
Phantom created an ice barrier, not letting the King of Earth approach. His eyes did not divert from his enemy as he pounded on the wall.
"I'll take him away from..."
Amaimon broke through and, without stopping, punched the teen hard, and now Danny flew right into the metal pillar of the rollercoaster.
"Tag! You are it!" The Demon King said excitedly, but then turned thoughtful. "Why did you bring up all your power, though? You don't even use it..." he said.
"What?" Rin asked, but remained unheard.
"You think I am out of tricks, huh, little guy?" Danny smirked, wiping his mouth from the green liquid.
"Who are you calling little? I am taller than you."
"Ludicrous haircuts don't count towards height, King of Dirt."
Rin suddenly realised what Danny was doing. Throwing the opponent off balance for the purpose only he knew, just like Phantom had taught him. But it couldn't work, surely the Demon King over a thousand years old would not...
"What did you just call me?" Amaimon asked coldly.
He WAS falling for it! In the meantime Rin decided to continue.
"Or maybe it is King of Worms? Better than the substance every animal shits on!"
"Shut up, Okumura! I wasn't talking to you!"
Danny put something green and sticky on the pillar.
"Really? You started all of this because of me! Has Mephisto sent you?"
"Yes, he has. And I wondered about you two myself. So far you both are unimpressive."
"Hey, you are far from winning, Amaimon!"
And another pillar.
"First," the demon raised a long-nailed finger, "No thanks to you. Second, Phantom hasn't been very successful, has he?"
Aside from his clothes and hair being all over the place, there weren't many signs of battle.
He then realised that the latter was being awfully quiet. Turning around, he saw that Danny had vanished from that spot.
"Where is he?"
All of a sudden two hands emerged from the ground, striking the legs of the opponent. Amaimon winced in pain and bended a bit. Rin knew what was needed to be done next, he had to get the demon back where Danny had been standing. Taking his sword again, he released the power again, and lunged forward, swung the weapon and released the fire that launched the demon forward. Phantom appeared near his companion, smiling wickedly. Snapping his fingers, Danny turned around and faced Amaimon. An explosion followed, many pillars were halved by them, and the entire rollercoaster began to collapse. The Demon King let out a yell, before being buried by the tons and tons of rubble.
"Hell yeah!" Rin exclaimed and threw his hand in the air, wincing in pain, as some of his injuries were yet to heal.
"Good job," Danny commented curtly. "But you don't actually think we've beaten him? This merely slowed him down."
"What? Are all of you so tough?" Rin asked.
"Nah. If we both were actually serious, it would draw too much attention. And level this entire park. See any injuries on me?"
The teen looked at him more attentively, and it was actually correct.
"Why the hell am I the only one bleeding all over?" Rin exclaimed.
"Because you regenerate like shit compared to us. Me especially, I can go around with severed head in this form."
"Why?"
"I am already dead."
There was a noise beneath the rubble. With the laughter Amaimon slowly crawled out from beneath the created mess, albeit now he was bruised so much that he couldn't heal them that quickly. His hands now seemed somewhat more muscular, and the horns protruded from his green-haired head. He looked pissed.
"Now you are pushing it," Amaimon growled, as the teens took the fighting stances.
"Devour the seven princesses. Slay the serpent!"
Amaimon looked to the side and saw Yamada, the guy in a hoodie, jump from one of the stands. Taking a purple sword from inside his clothes, he slashed it right at the Demon King, who jumped away.
"And you are?" He tilted his head.
"You are the Demon King, Amaimon," Yamada left his question unanswered, "How did a big-shot like you ended up in academy? Were you guided here by Mephisto?"
"He was!" Danny shouted.
"You are being a hinderance."
"Yer the hinderance," Yamada retorted.
"Hmm..."
Amaimon looked around, knowing that soon the rest of the exorcists would come. Phantom raised his hand, and suddenly a metallic object flew into his hand. Rin looked at it closer and saw...a thermos.
"Are you going to eat soup now?" He whispered.
"Watch me," Danny smirked.
"I guess the playtime is over. Another time perhaps..."
Amaimon was about to jump away, but then Phantom pointed the thermos at him and opened the lid. The blinding beam of light made everyone present cover their eyes for a moment, before they heard a yell of the Demon King. Both Yamada and Rin saw that Amaimon was actually being pulled inside the thing, screaming and pulling on everything he could get his hands on, but to no avail. And then, finally, he disappeared inside the thermos, with the lid closed.
"You got what was coming to you," Danny said, before the object in his hands began to violently shake. "Struggle all you might, I've tested it on the most powerful beings, they only left dents on it."
"That's...so...where did you get this thing?"
"My little modification of an old tool to make it tougher," Danny was jerked to the side by the force Amaimon put. "But holding this shit is another job entirely."
"Oi, you two, you want everyone to see you like this? Everyone is coming right here!"
Danny shrugged as Rin sheathed his sword. Only then Phantom turned human again, still holding the thermos.
He may have appeared calm on the outside, but Danny was not diverting his eyes from the person that happened to learn too much in a couple of minutes. And Yamada noticed it. Rin, however, was positively amazed.
"Can it trap every demon?"
"As long as they manifest here enough," Danny mumbled. "That's why I can't use it outright."
"What the hell is going on here?"
Yukio's shouts had become a staple in each interaction, it seemed.
"Care to elaborate, teach?" Danny asked with an innocent smile.
"Mr. Phantom," Yukio began slowly, "Everything around is in ruins, you ran off who knows where and I find Rin all beaten up. Answer!"
"Nah, I am not Mephisto, our methods differ a lot. But look, I caught my very own Demon King," Phantom grinned like a little kid as the thermos shook violently, "Oh, if you stay still, Amaimon, I will return you to your brother. If not, I'll just keep you."
"Amaimon?"
"Satisfied, you, four-eyed scaredy-cat?" Yamada suddenly asked. "If you were here faster, you would have seen everything. And I wouldn't have to intervene."
"Hey, we were handling it all just fine!" Rin exclaimed, wincing in pain again.
"Uh-huh. It's been a long time, hasn't it?"
"It...can't be."
"Well, whatever, I'm tired of looking like this anyways."
The next seconds, as the mysterious student took off the hoodie and the bandages below proved several things. That Yamada was in fact a woman with long, red hair that ended with blond highlights, that women with the chests that big actually existed, making Rin and Danny ogle, and finally, that magic tattoos could be put in the most inappropriate of places.
"I'm Senior Exorcist First Class, Shura Kirigakure," she said with a smug look in her brown eyes as she tossed the hoodie aside, "I was dispatched here by the Vatican Headquarters to investigate the existence of a Japanese branch's "risk factor". I am, in fact, a Senior Inspector."
"How does she walk with those?" Was the first question Danny voiced.