Memories of the Dead, Souls of the Living
Yusuke, Kuwabara, Rad, and Kurama ran through the forest while Hiei hopped from tree to tree.
"I hope Botan's right about their headquarters being in this direction," Yusuke said.
"I think she is," Kurama commented. "I'm feeling some strong apparitions in this direction."
"Be careful," Hiei called out. "They might have..." Suddenly several vines with thorns on
them lashed out. Yusuke and the others fought back.
"They're tree spirits!" Kurama identified. "They're normally docile. The Alliance must've
put some sort of spell on them." He flipped and dodged them so that some of the vines ended up
tied together.
"How do we stop them?" Kuwabara asked.
"There must be someone controlling them nearby," Hiei said but he was too busy slicing up vines
to take a look.
Rad looked around and saw something with horns snickering in a bush not too far away. He snuck
up behind him.
The little imp was too busy laughing at Yusuke's and the other's predicament to notice Rad
until the boy trapped in a man's body said, "Lights out." And delivered a sharp kick to the
Imp's head. The imp fell over dazed. Rad picked the imp up by its legs and brought him back
to the others.
"Hey guys, I found this guy near by," Rad said. "Could he be behind some of this?"
"Good job, Rad," Kurama congratulated. "His type have the ability to manipulate other
apparitions."
"You can't prove that I did this!"
"Let me at him," Kuwabara said. "I'll make him tell us exactly what we need ot know." He
cracked his knuckles.
The imp screamed. "Aaaaahhhhh! All right, all right, I'll tell you anything, just don't hurt
me."
"Aww man, I wanted to pound something," Kuwabara complained.
"Did the Alliance of Darkling sent you?" Kurama asked.
"Yes, yes they did. They wanted me to stop any of Koenma's forces."
"Do you know where there base is?" Hiei said.
"Um... yes I do."
"Lead us there," Yusuke snapped.
The imp shivered, knowing what these humans and demons could do to him if he said no. "Fine."
"So our little diversionary tactic has failed."
"Do not worry, Kenryu. They will not get to us."
"And what makes you so sure, Armex?"
"Satoshi has a point, Shadow. They might be more powerful than they realize."
"I agree, Reina. Prepare the fortress. One way or another, they will be destroyed!"
The sounds of battle could be heard from all around them. Hiei scouted ahead and came back
with news. "The battle's begun. Each force is evenly-matched so we could mean the difference
between life and death for them."
Rad's face showed a shadow of a doubt. What if this Alliance destroys them. Not only would he
be responsible for someone's death (Oniko, who's body he's currently inhabiting), but he would
be unable to come back in his normal body. He didn't want to be responsible for somebody's death.
Suddenly the imp broke away from Rad's grasp and ran away.
"Hey, come back!" Rad called.
"Forget him," Hiei called back. "We're here." Yusuke and his allies came up to a large hexagonal-
shaped fortress that stretched up at least five stories.
"Man, this looks bigger than the Autobot base," Rad muttered.
An image of the cloaked figure that headed the first message appeared in front of them. "So these
are Koenma's great defenders," it said. "Two puny humans, two demons, and a possessed apparition?
How insulting."
"We aren't your garden variety humans, bub," Kuwabara commented.
"Yeah, we're the humans, demons, and apparition who are going to kick your ass, freak."
"I am called Shadow, human. And if you want to defeat me, you'll have to make it up the Shen-Lo
Fortress. Each of my top warriors are hidden within a level of the fortress. You must defeat them
to proceed."
"Sound familiar, guys?" Yusuke asked.
"It's like the Four Saint Beasts," Kurama said catching on.
Yusuke spoke to Shadow. "Fine, we'll play your game."
"Then enter... if you dare." The large oak double doors with five symbols on them parted.
"Hey guys, what if this is a trap?" Rad asked remembering the time Megatron caught him and his friends
and had the Autobots exchange their Minicons for them. If it wasn't for Fred and Laserbeak, he would...
well, he probably would've died a lot earlier than he originally did.
"We have to enter anyway to defeat them," Kurama said. "We might as well do it by their rules."
"Besides, it's not as if we're not used to this," Yusuke added.
"Some of us aren't," Hiei pointed out at the same time gesturing to Rad.
Rad knew he had to swallow his fear, so he said, "Let's do this!"
"We should probably figure out who should go first," Yusuke said.
"I will," Hiei volunteered.
"No, I'll go first," Kuwabara countered.
"You could barely handle Byakko at Maze Castle," Hiei reminded.
"I can definitely handle these guys."
"If you two are going to argue like this, I might as well go first," Kurama spoke up.
"No way," Hiei and Kuwabara said at the same time.
"Uh... guys," Yusuke called. "I think I have a way to settle this."
"What, let you go first?" Hiei cracked sarcastically.
"No. We go through this in order of battle experience. Since Rad here has the least amount of battle
experience, he'll go first."
~Boy, if only he knew,~ Rad thought, then realized what Yusuke said. "Hey wait a minute!"
"Don't worry about it, Rad," Yusuke encouraged the temporary member of his team. "If experience is to
be our guide, the first guy is always the easiest. That way, you don't have to get apprehensive waiting
for your fight."
Rad nodded his head. Was he scared? Of course he was, he was about to go into real-life supernatural
battle against creatures with unknown powers and have nothing to lose but he has everything to lose.
But, he wasn't about to let his new friends down.
"Okay, so Rad's going first. Kuwabara, you'll go second. Kurama, you go third. Hiei will go fourth and
I'll take the last one."
"Hey, I'll take the last one."
"Okay, if you want to take the biggest, baddest, most evil of them all..."
"Well gee, since you put it that way..." Kuwabara said sarcastically.
Together, the group entered the fortress. As soon as they entered, the doors shut and they were encased
in darkness.
Rad noticed something odd. He put his hand on the ground. "Hey guys, this floor is metallic."
"What would a metallic floor be doing in an ancient fortress like this?" Yusuke asked.
"You're the detective, you tell us," Hiei cracked.
"Greetings, mortals!" The lights clicked on and by the time the group could adjust to the brightness,
their opponent was already standing before him.
It was a cyborg-type creature. Whatever parts of its body that wasn't mechanical (which was very
little) was white flesh. "I am Armex, one of the ring leaders of the Alliance of Darkling. I shall
be your opponent for Level One."
"Level One?" Everyone asked.
"There are five levels in this fortress. You must get through one to proceed," Armex explained. "We
are currently at Level One. But don't think that because this is the first level that it's going to be
the easiest. You will not get through this. So, who will be my first victim?"
Rad gulped then stepped forward. "I'll do it, I'll fight you."
"Don't make me laugh," Armex said. "Your spirit energy is pitiful! Why, even the humans have more
spirit energy than you."
"Zip it," Rad came back. "I'll be fighting you and that's that."
"Then prepare to die," Armex announced and charged Rad.
"Been there, done that," Rad said. Armex started off with a direct punch which Rad dodged. Armex
followed through with a round kick which connected with Rad's chest. Armex finished his three-hit
combo off with an upper cut to Rad's chin.
Rad felt all the wind in his body leave him due to the attacks. He fell onto his back.
"Come on, Rad, you have to get up!" Yusuke called.
"Don't forget, this was your idea," Kuwabara reminded his ally.
~Maybe this was a bad idea,~ Rad thought. He was unable to speak due to having the wind knocked
out of him. ~I'm no fighter, I don't have any special powers. And here I am going up against a
super-powered cyborg with orders to kill. I... I don't think I can do this. I'm sorry, my
friends... I'm sorry, Alexis.~
Alexis...
Her tears, he remembered her tears as he watched her sleep. He couldn't... he wanted to stop those
tears. He had to win, for her if noone else.
Rad's hand began to glow a blue, a blue glow that was familiar to the others.
"Rad must have tapped into his spirit energy," Hiei said clearly not impressed.
~I can't fail! I have to win. For the Autobots, for my friends, for... her.~
"I have to win!" Rad half whispered, half shouted.
Alexis was pulled from a mid-day snooze abruptly. She looked around. She was in her house. Highwire
and Sureshock were paying very close attention to a motorcycle that was parked across the street,
probably trying to ascertain if it's Sideways or not.
Alexis put a hand on her chest. ~What's this I'm feeling?~ She asked. ~It's like my heart just
started beeping again. What's going on?~ Alexis soon decided that she must've imagined it and went
to make herself a sandwich.
But she still couldn't shake that strange feeling, that feeling like she was coming alive again after
years, even decades, of sleep.
The blue energy that shot from his hand became a long arc-shaped about two feet. A small strand of
energy connected one end to another. Rad stared at the shape of energy that formed in his hand.
"It... looks like a bow," he commented.
"Hey, that guy can form spirit weapons too!" Kuwabara realized.
[All right, the Spirit Bow,] Rad heard Oniko's voice inside his head. He guessed that Oniko still had
consciousness even though Rad was in control of his body. [I guess being possessed raised my spirit
energy enough to keep it out for longer than a second.]
Rad turned his attention to Armex. The cyborg seemed to be just as shocked upon seeing the Spirit Bow
as Rad was.
"This is illogical," Armex said. "The level of spirit energy I detected shouldn't be high enough to
form weapons. How... how is it possible?"
Rad stared at Armex. "I've dealt with machines before, Armex, I can tell that what just happened took
you by surprise." He aimed the bow at Armex and drew back the string. An arrow-shaped shaft of energy
appeared and targeted Armex.
Rad let go.
The arrow shot through the air so fast that at first, Kuwabara thought Yusuke used his Spirit Gun.
Armex twisted and the arrow past by him but not without creating a little scar along his chest.
"That arrow would've definitely destroyed me if I hadn't moved in time," Armex said to himself. "I
can not allow this boy to get off another shot."
Suddenly Armex's metallic arms detached from his body. They flew straight at Rad. Rad dodged one
only to be hit by another. The arms arched around and attacked Rad again, this time each connecting with
a portion of Rad's borrowed body. Rad cocked his Spirit Bow and fired. The arrow struck the arm and
destroyed it. Rad dodged the attacks by the remaining arm.
Looking at Armex, Rad noticed the cyborg's red optic glowing. ~That's it,~ Rad thought. ~That's how
Armex's controlling his arms. He must target with that cybernetic eye of his the same way Hot Shot uses
his targeting visor when he powerlink with Jolt. If I could destroy that lens, he'll probably lose
control of his arm. It's a long shot, but at this point, what do I have to lose?~
Rad formed another spirit arrow and took aim at Armex's eye.
"I know you are trying to aim for my optic sensor," Armex said. "It will not work, the lens can withstand
hits from even energy-based weapons."
~Too late to back out now. Come on, gotta put everything I've got into this one shot!~ Rad actually saw
the arrow flash for a second before firing.
To everyone's surprise, the arrow not only penetrated Armex's optic, but came straight out the back of his
head and struck the wall behind him. Armex fell down, unmoving.
Rad gasped. "Oh my God! I didn't... I mean... I didn't know it would be that powerful."
"It's all right, Rad," Yusuke said. "Think about it this way, he wasn't alive to begin with, so technically,
you didn't kill him, you just shut him off. Anyway, that wasn't so bad for a beginner."
"Yeah, you totally kicked his cybernetic keester," Kuwabara agreed.
"I agree with Yusuke," Kurama said. "You did very well considering you don't have combat experience."
"Thanks, guys," Rad said as the Spirit Bow faded away.
"Yusuke, take a look at this," Hiei called from the hole in the wall that Rad's spirit arrow made. Behind
the wall was a staircase winding its way up in a spiral direction. "I'm guessing this is our way up."
"Then let's go," Yusuke said and lead his team up the stairs.
Yusuke, Kuwabara, Rad, and Kurama ran through the forest while Hiei hopped from tree to tree.
"I hope Botan's right about their headquarters being in this direction," Yusuke said.
"I think she is," Kurama commented. "I'm feeling some strong apparitions in this direction."
"Be careful," Hiei called out. "They might have..." Suddenly several vines with thorns on
them lashed out. Yusuke and the others fought back.
"They're tree spirits!" Kurama identified. "They're normally docile. The Alliance must've
put some sort of spell on them." He flipped and dodged them so that some of the vines ended up
tied together.
"How do we stop them?" Kuwabara asked.
"There must be someone controlling them nearby," Hiei said but he was too busy slicing up vines
to take a look.
Rad looked around and saw something with horns snickering in a bush not too far away. He snuck
up behind him.
The little imp was too busy laughing at Yusuke's and the other's predicament to notice Rad
until the boy trapped in a man's body said, "Lights out." And delivered a sharp kick to the
Imp's head. The imp fell over dazed. Rad picked the imp up by its legs and brought him back
to the others.
"Hey guys, I found this guy near by," Rad said. "Could he be behind some of this?"
"Good job, Rad," Kurama congratulated. "His type have the ability to manipulate other
apparitions."
"You can't prove that I did this!"
"Let me at him," Kuwabara said. "I'll make him tell us exactly what we need ot know." He
cracked his knuckles.
The imp screamed. "Aaaaahhhhh! All right, all right, I'll tell you anything, just don't hurt
me."
"Aww man, I wanted to pound something," Kuwabara complained.
"Did the Alliance of Darkling sent you?" Kurama asked.
"Yes, yes they did. They wanted me to stop any of Koenma's forces."
"Do you know where there base is?" Hiei said.
"Um... yes I do."
"Lead us there," Yusuke snapped.
The imp shivered, knowing what these humans and demons could do to him if he said no. "Fine."
"So our little diversionary tactic has failed."
"Do not worry, Kenryu. They will not get to us."
"And what makes you so sure, Armex?"
"Satoshi has a point, Shadow. They might be more powerful than they realize."
"I agree, Reina. Prepare the fortress. One way or another, they will be destroyed!"
The sounds of battle could be heard from all around them. Hiei scouted ahead and came back
with news. "The battle's begun. Each force is evenly-matched so we could mean the difference
between life and death for them."
Rad's face showed a shadow of a doubt. What if this Alliance destroys them. Not only would he
be responsible for someone's death (Oniko, who's body he's currently inhabiting), but he would
be unable to come back in his normal body. He didn't want to be responsible for somebody's death.
Suddenly the imp broke away from Rad's grasp and ran away.
"Hey, come back!" Rad called.
"Forget him," Hiei called back. "We're here." Yusuke and his allies came up to a large hexagonal-
shaped fortress that stretched up at least five stories.
"Man, this looks bigger than the Autobot base," Rad muttered.
An image of the cloaked figure that headed the first message appeared in front of them. "So these
are Koenma's great defenders," it said. "Two puny humans, two demons, and a possessed apparition?
How insulting."
"We aren't your garden variety humans, bub," Kuwabara commented.
"Yeah, we're the humans, demons, and apparition who are going to kick your ass, freak."
"I am called Shadow, human. And if you want to defeat me, you'll have to make it up the Shen-Lo
Fortress. Each of my top warriors are hidden within a level of the fortress. You must defeat them
to proceed."
"Sound familiar, guys?" Yusuke asked.
"It's like the Four Saint Beasts," Kurama said catching on.
Yusuke spoke to Shadow. "Fine, we'll play your game."
"Then enter... if you dare." The large oak double doors with five symbols on them parted.
"Hey guys, what if this is a trap?" Rad asked remembering the time Megatron caught him and his friends
and had the Autobots exchange their Minicons for them. If it wasn't for Fred and Laserbeak, he would...
well, he probably would've died a lot earlier than he originally did.
"We have to enter anyway to defeat them," Kurama said. "We might as well do it by their rules."
"Besides, it's not as if we're not used to this," Yusuke added.
"Some of us aren't," Hiei pointed out at the same time gesturing to Rad.
Rad knew he had to swallow his fear, so he said, "Let's do this!"
"We should probably figure out who should go first," Yusuke said.
"I will," Hiei volunteered.
"No, I'll go first," Kuwabara countered.
"You could barely handle Byakko at Maze Castle," Hiei reminded.
"I can definitely handle these guys."
"If you two are going to argue like this, I might as well go first," Kurama spoke up.
"No way," Hiei and Kuwabara said at the same time.
"Uh... guys," Yusuke called. "I think I have a way to settle this."
"What, let you go first?" Hiei cracked sarcastically.
"No. We go through this in order of battle experience. Since Rad here has the least amount of battle
experience, he'll go first."
~Boy, if only he knew,~ Rad thought, then realized what Yusuke said. "Hey wait a minute!"
"Don't worry about it, Rad," Yusuke encouraged the temporary member of his team. "If experience is to
be our guide, the first guy is always the easiest. That way, you don't have to get apprehensive waiting
for your fight."
Rad nodded his head. Was he scared? Of course he was, he was about to go into real-life supernatural
battle against creatures with unknown powers and have nothing to lose but he has everything to lose.
But, he wasn't about to let his new friends down.
"Okay, so Rad's going first. Kuwabara, you'll go second. Kurama, you go third. Hiei will go fourth and
I'll take the last one."
"Hey, I'll take the last one."
"Okay, if you want to take the biggest, baddest, most evil of them all..."
"Well gee, since you put it that way..." Kuwabara said sarcastically.
Together, the group entered the fortress. As soon as they entered, the doors shut and they were encased
in darkness.
Rad noticed something odd. He put his hand on the ground. "Hey guys, this floor is metallic."
"What would a metallic floor be doing in an ancient fortress like this?" Yusuke asked.
"You're the detective, you tell us," Hiei cracked.
"Greetings, mortals!" The lights clicked on and by the time the group could adjust to the brightness,
their opponent was already standing before him.
It was a cyborg-type creature. Whatever parts of its body that wasn't mechanical (which was very
little) was white flesh. "I am Armex, one of the ring leaders of the Alliance of Darkling. I shall
be your opponent for Level One."
"Level One?" Everyone asked.
"There are five levels in this fortress. You must get through one to proceed," Armex explained. "We
are currently at Level One. But don't think that because this is the first level that it's going to be
the easiest. You will not get through this. So, who will be my first victim?"
Rad gulped then stepped forward. "I'll do it, I'll fight you."
"Don't make me laugh," Armex said. "Your spirit energy is pitiful! Why, even the humans have more
spirit energy than you."
"Zip it," Rad came back. "I'll be fighting you and that's that."
"Then prepare to die," Armex announced and charged Rad.
"Been there, done that," Rad said. Armex started off with a direct punch which Rad dodged. Armex
followed through with a round kick which connected with Rad's chest. Armex finished his three-hit
combo off with an upper cut to Rad's chin.
Rad felt all the wind in his body leave him due to the attacks. He fell onto his back.
"Come on, Rad, you have to get up!" Yusuke called.
"Don't forget, this was your idea," Kuwabara reminded his ally.
~Maybe this was a bad idea,~ Rad thought. He was unable to speak due to having the wind knocked
out of him. ~I'm no fighter, I don't have any special powers. And here I am going up against a
super-powered cyborg with orders to kill. I... I don't think I can do this. I'm sorry, my
friends... I'm sorry, Alexis.~
Alexis...
Her tears, he remembered her tears as he watched her sleep. He couldn't... he wanted to stop those
tears. He had to win, for her if noone else.
Rad's hand began to glow a blue, a blue glow that was familiar to the others.
"Rad must have tapped into his spirit energy," Hiei said clearly not impressed.
~I can't fail! I have to win. For the Autobots, for my friends, for... her.~
"I have to win!" Rad half whispered, half shouted.
Alexis was pulled from a mid-day snooze abruptly. She looked around. She was in her house. Highwire
and Sureshock were paying very close attention to a motorcycle that was parked across the street,
probably trying to ascertain if it's Sideways or not.
Alexis put a hand on her chest. ~What's this I'm feeling?~ She asked. ~It's like my heart just
started beeping again. What's going on?~ Alexis soon decided that she must've imagined it and went
to make herself a sandwich.
But she still couldn't shake that strange feeling, that feeling like she was coming alive again after
years, even decades, of sleep.
The blue energy that shot from his hand became a long arc-shaped about two feet. A small strand of
energy connected one end to another. Rad stared at the shape of energy that formed in his hand.
"It... looks like a bow," he commented.
"Hey, that guy can form spirit weapons too!" Kuwabara realized.
[All right, the Spirit Bow,] Rad heard Oniko's voice inside his head. He guessed that Oniko still had
consciousness even though Rad was in control of his body. [I guess being possessed raised my spirit
energy enough to keep it out for longer than a second.]
Rad turned his attention to Armex. The cyborg seemed to be just as shocked upon seeing the Spirit Bow
as Rad was.
"This is illogical," Armex said. "The level of spirit energy I detected shouldn't be high enough to
form weapons. How... how is it possible?"
Rad stared at Armex. "I've dealt with machines before, Armex, I can tell that what just happened took
you by surprise." He aimed the bow at Armex and drew back the string. An arrow-shaped shaft of energy
appeared and targeted Armex.
Rad let go.
The arrow shot through the air so fast that at first, Kuwabara thought Yusuke used his Spirit Gun.
Armex twisted and the arrow past by him but not without creating a little scar along his chest.
"That arrow would've definitely destroyed me if I hadn't moved in time," Armex said to himself. "I
can not allow this boy to get off another shot."
Suddenly Armex's metallic arms detached from his body. They flew straight at Rad. Rad dodged one
only to be hit by another. The arms arched around and attacked Rad again, this time each connecting with
a portion of Rad's borrowed body. Rad cocked his Spirit Bow and fired. The arrow struck the arm and
destroyed it. Rad dodged the attacks by the remaining arm.
Looking at Armex, Rad noticed the cyborg's red optic glowing. ~That's it,~ Rad thought. ~That's how
Armex's controlling his arms. He must target with that cybernetic eye of his the same way Hot Shot uses
his targeting visor when he powerlink with Jolt. If I could destroy that lens, he'll probably lose
control of his arm. It's a long shot, but at this point, what do I have to lose?~
Rad formed another spirit arrow and took aim at Armex's eye.
"I know you are trying to aim for my optic sensor," Armex said. "It will not work, the lens can withstand
hits from even energy-based weapons."
~Too late to back out now. Come on, gotta put everything I've got into this one shot!~ Rad actually saw
the arrow flash for a second before firing.
To everyone's surprise, the arrow not only penetrated Armex's optic, but came straight out the back of his
head and struck the wall behind him. Armex fell down, unmoving.
Rad gasped. "Oh my God! I didn't... I mean... I didn't know it would be that powerful."
"It's all right, Rad," Yusuke said. "Think about it this way, he wasn't alive to begin with, so technically,
you didn't kill him, you just shut him off. Anyway, that wasn't so bad for a beginner."
"Yeah, you totally kicked his cybernetic keester," Kuwabara agreed.
"I agree with Yusuke," Kurama said. "You did very well considering you don't have combat experience."
"Thanks, guys," Rad said as the Spirit Bow faded away.
"Yusuke, take a look at this," Hiei called from the hole in the wall that Rad's spirit arrow made. Behind
the wall was a staircase winding its way up in a spiral direction. "I'm guessing this is our way up."
"Then let's go," Yusuke said and lead his team up the stairs.