Memories of the Dead, Souls of the Living
The wooden platform that Yusuke and the others were on was still rising. Kuwabara was still
crowing about his fight with Kenryu but the others had long since tuned him out. In the
mean time, Yusuke contacted Botan on his new Spirit Communcicator.
"Yusuke, how's it going?" Botan asked.
"All right I guess. We already defeated two of the Alliance Lords."
"Only two? Yusuke, that's not good enough."
"What do you mean not good enough? We've only been at this for a few hours."
"Spirit time runs at a slower pace than human time, Yusuke. You've been gone for about a
day."
"A day!" Yusuke smacked his forehead with his hand. "Darn it, I was suppose to be
studying for that test over the weekend. Keiko's probably upset at me."
"Again," Kuwabara, Hiei, Kurama, and Botan said at the same time. The joke was lost on Rad.
"Oh yeah, that reminds me," Botan said. "Ogre and I have been doing a little research and we
discovered a little information on the Alliance Lords."
"What's that?"
"Each of them is a master at an elemental force."
"Yeah, we know that already. We already defeated the masters of fire and metal."
"Well the other elements are earth, wind, and water."
"That helps a little."
"I better go, Koenma needs me to oversee the next wave."
"All right, see 'ya." Yusuke closed his spirit communicator as the platform stopped. They
were in another dark room, this one was covered in grass.
"Okay, this is strange," Yusuke commented. "It's like an indoor garden."
"Welcome, warriors." A single light shone down on an old man. He was dressed in a yellow shirt
and orange vest. His sweat pants were white and so were his shoes. He had shoulder-length white
hair and beady brown eyes. "Congratulations on defeating Kenryu. Of course, he was the weakest of
us."
"The weakest of us?" Everyone said at the same time.
"I am Satoshi, the master of water. You must defeat me to proceed."
"Kurama, you're up," Yusuke said. Kurama took out his rose.
"Um... how's Kurama expect to win with a rose?" Rad asked.
"Just watch," Hiei said.
"Rose Whip!" Kurama called. The rose extended into its weapon form.
"Whoa!"
"Ah, a rose whip. You must be an animal spirit," Satoshi guessed. "And the name... Kurama... I
expected as much. You are the legendary fox demon Yoko Kurama, are you not?"
"Once I was known by that name, now I am called simply Kurama. Now, are you here to talk, or are
you here to fight?"
"Yes, let us begin," Satoshi said taking a fighting stance. Kurama swung his whip but Satoshi
seemed to disappear.
A sharp kick knocked the rose whip from his hand.
"I move as silent and smooth as a river." He landed an elbow to Kurama's temple. "Yet I strike
with the ferocity of a tidal wave!"
Kurama scowled as he brushed Satoshi's punch off. "Rose Whip, to me!" The Rose Whip flew back
into Kurama's hand."
"I didn't know Kurama could Jedi his Rose Whip," Kuwabara commented.
"As an animal spirit, Kurama controls his Rose Whip the same way he would control a part of his
body."
"Impressive," Yusuke said.
"Rose Whip Lash!" Kurama made several lightning-quick slashes at Satoshi.
"Torrential Tribute!" A cyclone of water rose around satoshi blocking the attacks. A column of
water shot out and knocked Kurama back about twenty feet.
"You will find that I'm a lot more palpable with my attacks than Armex." He cast a side glance at
Yusuke and the others. "Nor am I easily tricked like Kenryu."
"I see," Kurama said. "Rose Thorn!" Several green spikes were fired at Satoshi who quickly
surrounded himself in a bubble.
"Not bad, boy. Water Dragon!" A large dragon-shape water blast blew Kurama into a wall and
didn't stop. "This is an intermediate attack I normally use against large-scale demons. I wish
I didn't have to use it against you, but I guess it can not be helped." Satoshi kept up the attack
for almost half a minute before subsiding. "Fortunately for you, that attack uses a lot of my spirit
energy."
Kurama used the wall to pull himself up to standing position. He was soaking wet and mad as hell.
"I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this so soon," Kurama said. He cuped his right hand over his left
and stuck his index and middle fingers up. He began chanting something but it was so low, that all
anybody else could hear was murmuring.
"Uh... Hiei, what's Kurama doing?" Yusuke asked.
"Truthfully, Yusuke, I'm not sure."
But Satoshi could see something. Over the many years he had been alive, he had been able to train his
eyes to detect many forms of energy. And right now, what he was seeing taking place was almost
impossible for someone like Kurama.
Then again, he was the legendary Yoko Kurama.
~How is this possible?~ Satoshi asked himself. ~It's like his very spirit energy is... changing
somehow.~
"SPIRIT REVELATION!" Kurama cried. A strange mist began encircling the room.
"What's happening?" Rad asked.
"I've only seen this once before," Hiei said. "At the Dark Tournament."
"Dark Tournament?" Yusuke asked. "Wait a second, you're not saying..."
"That's exactly what I'm saying, Yusuke. The Kurama we know is gone. Yoko... has returned."
In place of Kurama was a strange albino humanoid. A humanoid that everyone except Rad knew and
even feared. Yoko Kurama.
"At last, I have emerged," Yoko said.
"The legendary demon Yoko Kurama," Satoshi gasped. "It's an honor to meet you. It'll be an even
bigger honor when I destroy you."
Shadow watched this from the comfort of his throne room. He knew Yoko Kurama only too well. And
this was trouble. "Satoshi, get out of there now!"
But Satoshi couldn't hear him. There was no way of speaking to him. He broke into a run straight
forward. Yoko held out his hand and over a dozen tree roots sprang from the ground and attacked
Satoshi. Satoshi dodged them and fired needle-sharp water blasts at Yoko. Yoko moved his head to
dodge him and landed in perfect alignment with Satoshi's left hook. Despite his age, the Alliance
Lord was strong. Satoshi fired an immense water blast at Yoko's chest that propelled the old man
half-way across the room.
"Very ammusing," Yoko simply said. "Seed of Death." He shot a seed at Satoshi. Satoshi launched
another column of water which engulfed the seed. Moving his hands like a conductor, the column of
water did a u-turn at Satoshi and headed back at Yoko. When the water evaporated, the seed had
already sprouted. Yoko sliced the tree. "You turned my own attack back on me," he said
indifferently.
"That is correct," Satoshi said relaxing his guard. "Tell me something, Yoko Kurama, why do you
fight?"
That prompted a reaction: confusion. "What do you mean why do I fight? You attacked me."
"Yes, that is true, but do you have a reason to fight?" Yoko had no answer to that. "I see,
well unless you know why you fight, discover your purpose of fighting, you are not truly fighting,
you are simply throwing around attacks." Yoko noticed that Satoshi's wrist was bleeding. He
deduced that since his death tree needs blood to sprout, Satoshi purposely cut himself and sent
the blood through the water to sprout the tree prematurely. Clever. He must've been in a lot of
battles to fine his attacks to such an extent.
"Spirit Strike." Yoko transformed into a pure white fox. He was so white that it looked like he
was radiating energy at an incredible rate.
"What you are seeing is Kurama's true form," Hiei explained. "The form he was born in, before he
injected himself into a human body."
Satoshi turned into water and slipped under Yoko's pounce. He reformed himself behind Yoko and
before Yoko could turn for another attack, a column of water burst from the ground underneath the
demon fox. Yoko flew what was probably thirty feet in the air and landed with an unceremoniously
thud on the ground.
"Poor Yoko," Satoshi said. "I really wanted to find out why you fight. But, you apparently fight
with no purpose. How sad. If it makes you feel any better, I hold no pride in fighting such a
lost soul." He began shooting water at Yoko's head. "You know a human can die from intaking too
much water. Causes an imballance in the brain. I have a feeling the same is true in a demon's
case."
Rad had had enough. He ran out onto the battlefield. "Yoko, get up. You can't let him beat you."
"Admirable, lad, but I'm afraid it's too late," Satoshi said.
"Satoshi says you need a reason to fight. Spirit World is on the verge of being destroyed. Think
of all the other demons like you, giving their lives to protect Spirit World."
"Other demons like him?" Kuwabara asked.
"Shh, he's on a role," Yusuke hushed.
"I used to know someone just like you. He never had a reason to fight, to believe in something.
But he looked deep down himself and realized that he could find a reason to fight! The reason was
right in front of him the whole time. And after he discovered that purpose, he was one of the most
powerful warriors to ever walk the Earth! You have a reason to fight, Yoko, fight for all of Spirit
World."
Satoshi blasted Rad back without letting up the pressure on Yoko. "A good try, lad, I would very
much enjoy meeting this human who has discovered himself." Rad wanted to tell him that it wasn't a
human but he was recovering from Satoshi's water blast. "But for now, it is time to put an end to
the legendary spirit fox Yoko Kurama."
~The boy is right. I must fight for Spirit World. I do have a reason to fight, to fight with all
my heart. And I must fight with all my heart.~
[We must fight with all our heart,] Yoko could hear a voice in his head. It was the voice of his
human counterpart, Kurama. [If you are willing to fight, I am willing to join you. Together, we can
destroy Satoshi.]
~Agreed,~ Yoko thought.
On the outside, curved wooden panels rose from the ground and enclosed Yoko like a caccoon.
"What's happening?" Satoshi asked. Even Hiei was surprised by this development. Inside the wooden
caccoon, a bright red light was flashing in a rhythmic pattern, almost like a heartbeat.
"What is this power?" Satoshi asked. He fired a blast of water at it but it seemed to absorb it.
The glow began to increase in tempo.
"I get it," Yusuke said. "Plants need water to grow. Satoshi's only speeding up the development
process of Yoko's pod!" Satoshi stopped but it seemed to be too late.
The caccoon burst apart with incredible energy and Yoko emerged. He seemed rejuvinated somehow.
"No, this can't be, how is this happening?" Satoshi was asking.
"I'm back," Yoko said sounding more like Kurama. "And this time, I have a reason to fight."
Satoshi was still bewildered at Yoko being healed and recharged so he didn't notice the roots
until it was too late. They wrapped around him and began squeezing the life out of him.
Even through all this, Satoshi smiled. "My congratulations, Yoko, you have finally found your
reason for fighting. I hope you never forget it. It's been... an honor... to fight you."
Then the vines snapped his neck and Satoshi died.
"That was incredible power, Yoko Kurama," Hiei commented. "You might be the most powerful spirit
animal in Spirit World."
Yoko didn't reply to that. Instead, he turned to Rad, "Thank you. I have always thought humans
savage and weak. Now I see that is not the case here."
"You're welcome," Rad replied.
"Hey, look," Kuwabara called out. A hole on the ceiling appeared. "That must be the exit."
"Great, how do we get up there?" Yusuke asked.
"I can carry us," Yoko Kurama said. A tree began to rise from the ground. Hiei leaped on and
perched at the top. Yusuke and Rad sat on a branch. A couple of branches elevated Yoko Kurama
(he was still too drained to stand up). Kuwabara was suspended by two branches underneath his
arms. His legs were dangling over in a comical fashion.
"Level Four, here we come!" Yusuke called out.
"Damn Satoshi," Shadow cursed. "If only he just destroyed him instead of dispensing advice."
"Excuse me, Lord Shadow."
"What is it, Reina?"
"Sir, I would like to battle them in another dimension. That way, they won't have to risk
destroying any more of the fortress."
"Very well. But you better destroy them or don't come back at all."
Reina gulped. She knew that Shadow was set on his death threat. She needed to destroy them.
She knew she couldn't handle all of them. She would have to defeat them one at a time. She
decided to start with Hiei.
Closing her eyes, she said, "Great spirits of the wind, please look upon me with favor. Give
me the strength needed to defeat them, or else... I will die."
The wooden platform that Yusuke and the others were on was still rising. Kuwabara was still
crowing about his fight with Kenryu but the others had long since tuned him out. In the
mean time, Yusuke contacted Botan on his new Spirit Communcicator.
"Yusuke, how's it going?" Botan asked.
"All right I guess. We already defeated two of the Alliance Lords."
"Only two? Yusuke, that's not good enough."
"What do you mean not good enough? We've only been at this for a few hours."
"Spirit time runs at a slower pace than human time, Yusuke. You've been gone for about a
day."
"A day!" Yusuke smacked his forehead with his hand. "Darn it, I was suppose to be
studying for that test over the weekend. Keiko's probably upset at me."
"Again," Kuwabara, Hiei, Kurama, and Botan said at the same time. The joke was lost on Rad.
"Oh yeah, that reminds me," Botan said. "Ogre and I have been doing a little research and we
discovered a little information on the Alliance Lords."
"What's that?"
"Each of them is a master at an elemental force."
"Yeah, we know that already. We already defeated the masters of fire and metal."
"Well the other elements are earth, wind, and water."
"That helps a little."
"I better go, Koenma needs me to oversee the next wave."
"All right, see 'ya." Yusuke closed his spirit communicator as the platform stopped. They
were in another dark room, this one was covered in grass.
"Okay, this is strange," Yusuke commented. "It's like an indoor garden."
"Welcome, warriors." A single light shone down on an old man. He was dressed in a yellow shirt
and orange vest. His sweat pants were white and so were his shoes. He had shoulder-length white
hair and beady brown eyes. "Congratulations on defeating Kenryu. Of course, he was the weakest of
us."
"The weakest of us?" Everyone said at the same time.
"I am Satoshi, the master of water. You must defeat me to proceed."
"Kurama, you're up," Yusuke said. Kurama took out his rose.
"Um... how's Kurama expect to win with a rose?" Rad asked.
"Just watch," Hiei said.
"Rose Whip!" Kurama called. The rose extended into its weapon form.
"Whoa!"
"Ah, a rose whip. You must be an animal spirit," Satoshi guessed. "And the name... Kurama... I
expected as much. You are the legendary fox demon Yoko Kurama, are you not?"
"Once I was known by that name, now I am called simply Kurama. Now, are you here to talk, or are
you here to fight?"
"Yes, let us begin," Satoshi said taking a fighting stance. Kurama swung his whip but Satoshi
seemed to disappear.
A sharp kick knocked the rose whip from his hand.
"I move as silent and smooth as a river." He landed an elbow to Kurama's temple. "Yet I strike
with the ferocity of a tidal wave!"
Kurama scowled as he brushed Satoshi's punch off. "Rose Whip, to me!" The Rose Whip flew back
into Kurama's hand."
"I didn't know Kurama could Jedi his Rose Whip," Kuwabara commented.
"As an animal spirit, Kurama controls his Rose Whip the same way he would control a part of his
body."
"Impressive," Yusuke said.
"Rose Whip Lash!" Kurama made several lightning-quick slashes at Satoshi.
"Torrential Tribute!" A cyclone of water rose around satoshi blocking the attacks. A column of
water shot out and knocked Kurama back about twenty feet.
"You will find that I'm a lot more palpable with my attacks than Armex." He cast a side glance at
Yusuke and the others. "Nor am I easily tricked like Kenryu."
"I see," Kurama said. "Rose Thorn!" Several green spikes were fired at Satoshi who quickly
surrounded himself in a bubble.
"Not bad, boy. Water Dragon!" A large dragon-shape water blast blew Kurama into a wall and
didn't stop. "This is an intermediate attack I normally use against large-scale demons. I wish
I didn't have to use it against you, but I guess it can not be helped." Satoshi kept up the attack
for almost half a minute before subsiding. "Fortunately for you, that attack uses a lot of my spirit
energy."
Kurama used the wall to pull himself up to standing position. He was soaking wet and mad as hell.
"I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this so soon," Kurama said. He cuped his right hand over his left
and stuck his index and middle fingers up. He began chanting something but it was so low, that all
anybody else could hear was murmuring.
"Uh... Hiei, what's Kurama doing?" Yusuke asked.
"Truthfully, Yusuke, I'm not sure."
But Satoshi could see something. Over the many years he had been alive, he had been able to train his
eyes to detect many forms of energy. And right now, what he was seeing taking place was almost
impossible for someone like Kurama.
Then again, he was the legendary Yoko Kurama.
~How is this possible?~ Satoshi asked himself. ~It's like his very spirit energy is... changing
somehow.~
"SPIRIT REVELATION!" Kurama cried. A strange mist began encircling the room.
"What's happening?" Rad asked.
"I've only seen this once before," Hiei said. "At the Dark Tournament."
"Dark Tournament?" Yusuke asked. "Wait a second, you're not saying..."
"That's exactly what I'm saying, Yusuke. The Kurama we know is gone. Yoko... has returned."
In place of Kurama was a strange albino humanoid. A humanoid that everyone except Rad knew and
even feared. Yoko Kurama.
"At last, I have emerged," Yoko said.
"The legendary demon Yoko Kurama," Satoshi gasped. "It's an honor to meet you. It'll be an even
bigger honor when I destroy you."
Shadow watched this from the comfort of his throne room. He knew Yoko Kurama only too well. And
this was trouble. "Satoshi, get out of there now!"
But Satoshi couldn't hear him. There was no way of speaking to him. He broke into a run straight
forward. Yoko held out his hand and over a dozen tree roots sprang from the ground and attacked
Satoshi. Satoshi dodged them and fired needle-sharp water blasts at Yoko. Yoko moved his head to
dodge him and landed in perfect alignment with Satoshi's left hook. Despite his age, the Alliance
Lord was strong. Satoshi fired an immense water blast at Yoko's chest that propelled the old man
half-way across the room.
"Very ammusing," Yoko simply said. "Seed of Death." He shot a seed at Satoshi. Satoshi launched
another column of water which engulfed the seed. Moving his hands like a conductor, the column of
water did a u-turn at Satoshi and headed back at Yoko. When the water evaporated, the seed had
already sprouted. Yoko sliced the tree. "You turned my own attack back on me," he said
indifferently.
"That is correct," Satoshi said relaxing his guard. "Tell me something, Yoko Kurama, why do you
fight?"
That prompted a reaction: confusion. "What do you mean why do I fight? You attacked me."
"Yes, that is true, but do you have a reason to fight?" Yoko had no answer to that. "I see,
well unless you know why you fight, discover your purpose of fighting, you are not truly fighting,
you are simply throwing around attacks." Yoko noticed that Satoshi's wrist was bleeding. He
deduced that since his death tree needs blood to sprout, Satoshi purposely cut himself and sent
the blood through the water to sprout the tree prematurely. Clever. He must've been in a lot of
battles to fine his attacks to such an extent.
"Spirit Strike." Yoko transformed into a pure white fox. He was so white that it looked like he
was radiating energy at an incredible rate.
"What you are seeing is Kurama's true form," Hiei explained. "The form he was born in, before he
injected himself into a human body."
Satoshi turned into water and slipped under Yoko's pounce. He reformed himself behind Yoko and
before Yoko could turn for another attack, a column of water burst from the ground underneath the
demon fox. Yoko flew what was probably thirty feet in the air and landed with an unceremoniously
thud on the ground.
"Poor Yoko," Satoshi said. "I really wanted to find out why you fight. But, you apparently fight
with no purpose. How sad. If it makes you feel any better, I hold no pride in fighting such a
lost soul." He began shooting water at Yoko's head. "You know a human can die from intaking too
much water. Causes an imballance in the brain. I have a feeling the same is true in a demon's
case."
Rad had had enough. He ran out onto the battlefield. "Yoko, get up. You can't let him beat you."
"Admirable, lad, but I'm afraid it's too late," Satoshi said.
"Satoshi says you need a reason to fight. Spirit World is on the verge of being destroyed. Think
of all the other demons like you, giving their lives to protect Spirit World."
"Other demons like him?" Kuwabara asked.
"Shh, he's on a role," Yusuke hushed.
"I used to know someone just like you. He never had a reason to fight, to believe in something.
But he looked deep down himself and realized that he could find a reason to fight! The reason was
right in front of him the whole time. And after he discovered that purpose, he was one of the most
powerful warriors to ever walk the Earth! You have a reason to fight, Yoko, fight for all of Spirit
World."
Satoshi blasted Rad back without letting up the pressure on Yoko. "A good try, lad, I would very
much enjoy meeting this human who has discovered himself." Rad wanted to tell him that it wasn't a
human but he was recovering from Satoshi's water blast. "But for now, it is time to put an end to
the legendary spirit fox Yoko Kurama."
~The boy is right. I must fight for Spirit World. I do have a reason to fight, to fight with all
my heart. And I must fight with all my heart.~
[We must fight with all our heart,] Yoko could hear a voice in his head. It was the voice of his
human counterpart, Kurama. [If you are willing to fight, I am willing to join you. Together, we can
destroy Satoshi.]
~Agreed,~ Yoko thought.
On the outside, curved wooden panels rose from the ground and enclosed Yoko like a caccoon.
"What's happening?" Satoshi asked. Even Hiei was surprised by this development. Inside the wooden
caccoon, a bright red light was flashing in a rhythmic pattern, almost like a heartbeat.
"What is this power?" Satoshi asked. He fired a blast of water at it but it seemed to absorb it.
The glow began to increase in tempo.
"I get it," Yusuke said. "Plants need water to grow. Satoshi's only speeding up the development
process of Yoko's pod!" Satoshi stopped but it seemed to be too late.
The caccoon burst apart with incredible energy and Yoko emerged. He seemed rejuvinated somehow.
"No, this can't be, how is this happening?" Satoshi was asking.
"I'm back," Yoko said sounding more like Kurama. "And this time, I have a reason to fight."
Satoshi was still bewildered at Yoko being healed and recharged so he didn't notice the roots
until it was too late. They wrapped around him and began squeezing the life out of him.
Even through all this, Satoshi smiled. "My congratulations, Yoko, you have finally found your
reason for fighting. I hope you never forget it. It's been... an honor... to fight you."
Then the vines snapped his neck and Satoshi died.
"That was incredible power, Yoko Kurama," Hiei commented. "You might be the most powerful spirit
animal in Spirit World."
Yoko didn't reply to that. Instead, he turned to Rad, "Thank you. I have always thought humans
savage and weak. Now I see that is not the case here."
"You're welcome," Rad replied.
"Hey, look," Kuwabara called out. A hole on the ceiling appeared. "That must be the exit."
"Great, how do we get up there?" Yusuke asked.
"I can carry us," Yoko Kurama said. A tree began to rise from the ground. Hiei leaped on and
perched at the top. Yusuke and Rad sat on a branch. A couple of branches elevated Yoko Kurama
(he was still too drained to stand up). Kuwabara was suspended by two branches underneath his
arms. His legs were dangling over in a comical fashion.
"Level Four, here we come!" Yusuke called out.
"Damn Satoshi," Shadow cursed. "If only he just destroyed him instead of dispensing advice."
"Excuse me, Lord Shadow."
"What is it, Reina?"
"Sir, I would like to battle them in another dimension. That way, they won't have to risk
destroying any more of the fortress."
"Very well. But you better destroy them or don't come back at all."
Reina gulped. She knew that Shadow was set on his death threat. She needed to destroy them.
She knew she couldn't handle all of them. She would have to defeat them one at a time. She
decided to start with Hiei.
Closing her eyes, she said, "Great spirits of the wind, please look upon me with favor. Give
me the strength needed to defeat them, or else... I will die."