Chapter 80
No Holding Back
"It's really him" Maya said. "I thought he was dead and buried" Rogato said. "But he's standing right there" Crystal said. "I must be dreaming or something" Riku said.
"So he's that Kage guy Rogato told us about" Botan said. Rogato nodded. "This is an unexpected turn of events" Kurama said. "I wonder how he came back to life" Hiei said. "I bet Koenma had something to do with this" Nami said looking up at Koenma's box.
"That'll teach me for buying a mask on sale" Kage said. "So who are ya anyway?" Yusuke asked. "The name's Kage" the wolf replied. "Hey you're that dead friend of Riku's" Yusuke said. "I was dead but Koenma used the Reaper Orb you guys got back from Suzaku's brother to revive me. Unfortunately the orb had been damaged during the fight so it broke after I was revived" Kage replied. "Why did Koenma want to revive you?" Yusuke asked. "I'll tell you when we finish our fight" Kage said.
He got into a fighting stance. "I had to hold back since many of my attacks are one-of-a-kind but now that everyone knows who I am then there's no holding back now" Kage said with a smirk. ""Well then don't disappoint me" Yusuke replied. Kage raised his arm and pointed a finger at Yusuke. "SPIRIT GUN" Yusuke jumped to the side to avoid the blast.
Kage pointed both index fingers at Yusuke and started shooting more blasts from each finger. This guy's not half bad with the Spirit Gun Yusuke thought. He pointed his own index finger at Kage. "SPIRIT GUN" one of Kage's blasts collided with Yusuke's and the resulting explosion left a cloud of dust between them.
Kage smirked and charged. He fisted both hands as he ran into the cloud. Yusuke looked carefully at the cloud for any signs if Kage. "It's time I used one of my special techniques" Kage said as he ran out from the cloud his fists covered in yellow energy. "DOUBLE BARREL" he fired a shotgun from each hand at Yusuke. Yusuke crossed his arms in front of him and braced himself for the impact. When it hit he was blown back to the wall as the blasts continued to pummel him.
When Kage stopped firing his fists had smoke rising from them. With a smirk he blew on each fist getting rid of the smoke. Yusuke was against the wall with hundreds of holes in the wall around him from Kage's attack.
"Don't tell me that's it Urameshi" Kage said. Yusuke slowly raised his head and smirked. "It'll take a lot more than that to keep me down" Yusuke said. "Well as soon as you get out of the wall we can continued" Kage said. Yusuke nodded and started to push himself out of the hole he was in. After a few minutes he pried himself out and jumped back to the floor.
"That's a pretty sweet technique" Yusuke said. "Yea but it takes forever to master" Kage replied. "I heard you know a lot of spirit weapons" Yusuke said. "You heard right now I'll use another" Kage said as more yellow energy gather in his hand. "SPIRIT CANNON" he opened his palm and a yellow energy beam shot out of it. Yusuke jumped to the side and avoided it but the resulting explosion blew him away. "How bout another? SPIRIT CANNON" Yusuke had to keep running to avoid the attack. He jumped into the air in various directions to keep Kage from aiming properly. Kage's blasts hit the ceiling causing some iron beams to fall to the arena. Kage was forced to flit out of the way of one.
By the time Kage stopped blasting the arena was littered with debris. Yusuke hid behind a large chunk of concrete. "Come out, come out wherever you are" Kage said. "SPIRIT GUN" Yusuke fired over the chunk forcing Kage to duck behind an iron beam. "So that's how you want to play it, SPIRIT GUN" he fired back as Yusuke ducked behind the concrete. Yusuke raised his hand over his cover and fired back.
"This looks like one of those shot outs I see on TV" Kuwabara said. "It sure does" Keiko said. "Kage seems to have improved a lot since we last saw him" Damien said. "What'd you expect this is Kage we're talking about" Rogato said. Riku was still speechless.
"I've had enough of this" Kage said as he pointed all five of his right fingers at Yusuke's cover. "MINI GUN" a yellow blast shot out of each finger one after the other. First his middle finger, then his ring finger, his pinky, his thumb, his index finger, and finally back to his middle finger. The attack slowly blew away Yusuke's cover.
Yusuke was finally forced to jump away from the boulder before Kage's attack broke through. "SHOTGUN" Kage flitted out of the way of Yusuke's blasts and appeared behind him. He threw a punch at Yusuke but he dodged it and swung back. Kage ducked Yusuke's punch and they continued throwing punches at each other.
Yusuke landed a punch on Kage's stomach and Kage retaliated with a right hook to Yusuke's face. They both stumbled back to regain their breath. "Not bad Urameshi, not bad at all" Kage said. "I could say the same for you Kage, you know your stuff" Yusuke said. They smirked at each other and got into fighting stances.
Yusuke' body was surrounded by blue energy while Kage's was surrounded by yellow. "SPIRIT WAVE" Yusuke fired his attack at Kage. "DOUBLE BARREL" the two attacks collided and continued to push against the other. Yusuke added more energy and so did Kage. The energy they created was becoming unstable and the audience braced for a big explosion. Some even ran out of the stadium.
Kage shot a few blasts at the ceiling right above Yusuke's head. Debris came falling down on Yusuke. When one landed on Yusuke, he lost his concentration and Kage's blasts plowed through his. Luckily the debris took most of the hits from Kage's attack and blocked Yusuke. But a huge piece landed on top of him and pinned him on the ground. "Damit" Yusuke said as he struggled to push it off.
Now's my chance Kage thought. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Just stay down for forty-five seconds he thought. Yusuke continued to try and push the piece of ceiling off of him. "What's this stuff made of?" he said as he continued to push. Kage's right arm was now surrounded by yellow energy.
"Is Kage doing what I think he's doing?" Rogato said. "No way, he hates using that technique" Maya said. "Well it sure looks like he's about to use it" Damien said. "Use what?" Yukina asked. "His Spirit Bomb" Muraku replied. "Spirit Bomb?" Keiko said. "Yes, it's his most powerful attack and the most powerful of the spirit weapons" Muraku said. "I heard it's a unique technique that mixes life and spirit energy" Botan said. "Whatever it is Kage needs time to gather the energy, that's why he pinned Yusuke under that boulder" Kurama said. "He only has a few more seconds left" Riku finally said.
Kage was obviously struggling to gather the energy. Focus Kage, focus. He won't get out in time he thought. "SPIRIT WAVE" the boulder over Yusuke was incinerated by Yusuke's attack. Not now Kage thought. Yusuke was dusting himself off.
"I've had enough of this, SPIRIT GUN" Yusuke fired at Kage knowing Kage had no way of guarding. Here goes nothing Kage thought. He leapt into the air and avoided Yusuke's blast. He opened his palm to the side. He flew toward Yusuke as the energy around his arm intensified. "SPIRIT BOMB" he raised his hand over his head and the energy formed into a huge ball. With a yell he threw it at Yusuke. Yusuke had no time to dodge and crossed his arms in front of him.
The attack almost filled the arena as it neared the ground. When it landed a huge explosion caused the whole island to shake. A pillar of yellow energy completely filled the arena and blew through the roof.
After nearly five minutes the pillar finally died down. The whole stadium was covered in a cloud of dust. "Is everyone all right?" Kairi asked. "We're just fine" Riku said as he helped Yukina recover. "He's never used one this powerful" Rogato said. "I think he was caught in the pillar" Maya said. "You okay Nami?" Hiei asked. "Yea, I'm fine" Nami replied. "That was some serious power" Botan said.
After fifteen tense minutes the dust finally settle. A huge crater was in the arena. Kage lay not to far from it. "Kage!!!" Riku said. Kage groaned and lifted his hand and gave them a victory sign. "Where's Yusuke?" Keiko said. "Up there" Yugi said pointing. The gang followed his finger. Yusuke was hanging by his pants on a cable that was sticking out of the ceiling. "Did someone get the number of that train?" he said.
Kage stumbled to his feet. He closed his eyes and opened a telepathic link between him and Yusuke. 'Urameshi, you all right?' he asked. 'Yea' Yusuke replied. 'You fought well but you lack diversity in your techniques' Kage said. 'So what about it?' Yusuke asked. 'I was testing you and I now know you've got what it takes. Genkai suggested I teach you some new spirit weapon techniques' Kage said. 'Really?' Yusuke asked. 'Yep, but I first had to make sure you were tough enough to train, I'm glad to say you passed' Kage said. 'So what now?' Yusuke asked. 'Give up and I'll shot you down' Kage said. 'No way!!!' Yusuke said. 'Tell you what; if you can make it through my training I'll give you a rematch. Besides don't you want to learn the Double Barrel, Mini Gun, and other techniques?" Kage said. Yusuke thought about it for a moment. 'Alright but on one condition' Yusuke said. 'And that is?' Kage asked. 'You teach me the Spirit Bomb' Yusuke said. Kage sighed. 'I was afraid you were going to say that but a deals a deal. I will' Kage replied. 'Good' Yusuke said. Kage closed the link.
"I give up!!!" Yusuke yelled. "What?!" Kuwabara said. "Did he actually say that?" Botan said.
Kage smirked and fired at the cable Yusuke was hanging by. Yusuke flipped a few times and landed on his behind. "Ow!!!" he said. Kage held his hand to him. "Need help?" he asked. Yusuke grabbed his hand and Kage helped pull him up. "Thanks man" Yusuke said. "I can see why Genkai spoke so highly of you" Kage said. "So when do we start?" Yusuke said. "After the tournament" Kage replied.
"YUSUKE URAMESHI HAS GIVEN UP AND X, WELL KAGE, ADVANCES TO THE FINALS!!!"
The gang jumped over into the arena and ran to the two fighters. Riku stopped in front of Kage. "Hey Riku" Kage said with a smirk. Riku was still shocked so all he could do was hug Kage. Kage was surprised but returned the hug. "I missed you to Riku" he said. "I still can't believe you're back" Riku said. "Believe it" Kage said. "Kage!!!" Maya, Crystal, and Lila said as they ran to him and hugged him. "You guys have grown since I last saw you" Kage said. Kuwabara glared at Kage as Crystal hugged him.
"We thought we'd lost you" Rogato said as he and Damien gave Kage hive fives. "Can't get rid of me that easily" Kage said. The others watched on as old friends greeted each other. Kage next turned his attention to Yukina. "So your Riku's mate" he said. "How did you tell?" Yukina asked. "Well his scent's all over you" Kage said causing Riku and Yukina to blush. "WELL AS SOON AS THE ARENA IS FIXED UP WE CAN BEGIN THE NEXT MATCH!!!" "Come on, we've got some catching up to do" Riku said as they headed back to their seats.
They continued talking, well except Muraku and Hiei, while the officials cleaned the arena. Muraku was the first to notice when they had finished. "Riku cut your mindless blabbering. We have a match to fight" Muraku said as he stood up. Yugi and Mimiru hugged his legs. "Be careful papa" Mimiru said. Muraku waited till they let go to head for the arena. "This is it" Riku said as he followed.
"Ah, Muraku is up again. Aren't you going to open the vile?" the women next to the mysterious warrior asked. "No, this is the kind of fight that no one must interfere in" he replied.
The two walked to the center of the arena and stared each other down. The rest of the world seemed to disappear at Riku's golden eyes stared at Muraku's blue one. "I've waited for this day for to long" Muraku said. "Don't hold back on me" Riku said. "Oh, I won't" Muraku said. "I won't transform but I've increased my own power substantially" Riku said.
Muraku smirked and took his sheath off. He clutched it in his left hand while he positioned his right hand to unsheathe it. Riku gripped the handle of the Crescent Edge. "BEGIN!!!"
At last Riku and Muraku will fight once again. They've spent two years preparing for this moment. Who will win? Find out Sunday.
Next chapter, Riku vs. Muraku. Review please.
