Chapter 88

The Spirit Bomb

"That was such a great movie wasn't it Yusuke?" Keiko said as she and Yusuke exited the cinema. "It was funny but to mushy at some parts" Yusuke replied. They had just watched '50 First Dates'. "I remember our first date. You left me at that restaurant" Keiko said as little to sweetly. "I've said I was sorry" Yusuke replied nervously. "And I had to pay the bill" Keiko added smiling slightly.

"Uh Keiko?" Yusuke said. "That cost me 400 dollars!!!" Keiko yelled. Yusuke was backing away laughing nervously. "Now calm down Keiko. The doctor said losing your temper raises your blood pressure" Yusuke said.

Keiko seemed to calm down and let out a sigh. "I'll forgive you, but only because you didn't run from this date" Keiko said. Yusuke nodded. "I got to go. My dad's sick so my mom needs help at the shop" Keiko said. "I'll be waiting for you" Yusuke said. She smiled and kissed him on the lips before heading back home.

"She has you whipped" a voice said from the crowd. "Just wait till you get a girl Kage" Yusuke replied turning to the wolf. Kage was leaning against the wall of the cinema, arms crossed over his chest. "I'll keep that in mind" Kage replied knowing Yusuke was talking about Maya.

"So what are you doing here?" Yusuke asked. "I've come to pick you up. We've got more training to do" Kage replied. "My car's not to far" Yusuke said. "Then let's go" Kage said. The two headed for Yusuke's pickup truck. They got in and were soon off.

"So where to?" Yusuke asked. "The usual. One of the mountains near Genkai's" Kage replied. Yusuke nodded and continued driving. Since Kage had arrived, he'd become Yusuke's new teacher. So far Yusuke had only mastered two new techniques. One was the Spirit Grenade that he learned by watching Nami use it. The other was the Mini Gun. It was pretty much just a Spirit Gun from each finger fired one after the other. Yusuke didn't take long to master it. He'd only managed to fire one Double Barrel and was nowhere close to mastering the Flamethrower. Kage flatly refused to teach him the Spirit Bomb yet.

They arrived at Genkai's and started up the steps. "Any word from Riku?" Yusuke asked. "He's been sending letters. Mostly to Yukina" Kage replied. "And Hiei?" Yusuke asked. "What do you think?" Kage replied. Yusuke decided to leave it at that.

When they reached the top they stopped in their tracks. Yugi and Mimiru were tied to a tree by a rope while Nami slept on a branch above them. "Nami what are you doing?" Kage asked. "Babysitting, what does it look like?" Nami replied. "You tied them to a tree?" Yusuke said. "Shut up and listen carefully" Nami said pointing to the twins. "Let us out the chickens are coming" Yugi said. "They want out ears" Mimiru said. Yusuke and Kage looked back up to Nami. "They're sugar high again" Nami said. Yusuke and Kage sweatdropped.

"Where are the others?" Kage asked. "I think they've gone for a picnic in the park. "I'm supposed to join them as soon as these two calm down" Nami said. "Well, good luck" Yusuke said before the two walked off.

Nami was left to her thoughts as she ignored the twins' yells of evil chickens coming to get them. Yusuke and Kage had woken her from a dream that involved herself, Hiei, and a whole lot of mini Hieis and Namis. There were even a few mini Rikus and Yukinas as well. She sighed and went back to sleep.

"Nami's gonna make one heck of a mother" Kage said. "I'd hate to be her kids" Yusuke said. "It'd be bad enough having her for a mother but what about Hiei for a dad" Kage said. The two shuddered. They continued walking for a few minutes before stopping in a clearing. "This looks good enough" Kage said. "Then what are we waiting for?" Yusuke asked.

He swung a punch at Kage but the wolf ducked and jumped back. Yusuke continued his assault with a barrage of punches. Kage blocked each on of them and countered with an uppercut. Yusuke sidestepped the punch and threw another punch. It his Kage's chest but had no effect on him. Kage counted with a knee to the stomach followed by an elbow to the back of the neck. Yusuke powered up and blasted him back.

"SPIRIT GUN" Kage tilted his head to the side and the blast whizzed by his head. Yusuke fired a few more shots but Kage dodged each one. "Come on show me what you've learned" Kage said. "You ask for it. MINI GUN" Kage had to pick up speed to avoid the attack but Yusuke kept it up and managed to hit Kage a few times.

Kage smirked after one hit him and pointed a finger at Yusuke. "SPIRIT GUN" one of Yusuke's blast hit him at the exact same Yusuke was hit with Kage's. The two fell back to the ground and lay panting. "Not…bad" Kage said between breaths. "Thanks…I try…my best" Yusuke replied. After lying for a few more seconds Kage jumped to his feet and walked to Yusuke. "Good warm-up" Kage said holding out a hand. Yusuke grabbed his hand and Kage pulled him to his feet. "Now the real training begins" Kage said.

"What first?" Yusuke asked. "Double Barrel" Kage replied. Yusuke nodded and looked around for a target. He settled on a boulder and fisted his hands. "Remember, start by building up one then work on the other" Kage said. Yusuke nodded and gathered the necessary energy in his right hand. "Good, now the left" Kage said. Yusuke closed his eyes and concentrated. "Keep it up. I can feel the energy" Kage said. Yusuke gritted his teeth and struggled to gather the energy in his hand while keeping the energy already gathered in his right.

"DOUBLE BARREL" Yusuke thrust his fists forward and the energy flew a few feet forward before dispersing. "Damit!!!" Yusuke yelled. "Calm down Yusuke. You almost had it. Don't lose your concentration at the end" Kage said. Yusuke cursed under his breath but got into stance again. He once again gathered energy in his right hand and struggled with the left.

He finally gathered the energy in both. "Concentrate" Kage said. "DOUBLE BARREL" this time the attack reached its target. The boulder was slowly chipped away until nothing was left except a few pebbles. "Your second Double Barrel, not bad" Kage said. Yusuke stood up and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Now do three more and we'll start work on the Flamethrower" Kage said. Yusuke groaned but got in position. He'd learned not to argue with Kage. Kage kept a stun gun at his side and he used it every time Yusuke talked back.

After four hours, Yusuke had managed three more Double Barrels. "Take five and then we'll continue" Kage said taking a seat on a nearby log. Yusuke grabbed a canteen Kage had brought during the four hours and poured the contents on his head. He smiled as he felt the cool water run down his face and shoulders. He looked over to Kage as the wolf pushed one of his long bangs from his eye.

"So, been enjoying granny's place?" Yusuke asked. "She's really not that bad if you stay on her good side" Kage replied. "She has a good side?" Yusuke asked sarcastically. "Now that's no way to talk about your former teacher" Kage said. The two laughed before Kage took a sip from his canteen.

"So how was the movie?" Kage asked. "Not to bad actually. I learned something new about walruses" Yusuke said. "And what might that be?" Kage asked. "Let's just say they'd make a horse jealous" Yusuke replied smirking. Kage chuckled. "My favorite part was when the guy got his ass beaten by a bat" Yusuke said. "I should go see it" Kage said. They sat in silence for a few seconds.

"Yusuke, can I ask you something?" Kage said. "Ask away" Yusuke replied. "How'd you and Keiko hook up?" Kage asked. "Well, we've known each other since grade school. Me and Kuwabara pulled a prank on her and she was on my case ever since. But she eventually gave into my natural charm and fell head over heals for me. Though she can be worse than my grandma sometimes" Yusuke said. "She'd kill you if she knew you just said that" Kage said. "Keiko or my grandma?" Yusuke asked. The two chuckled.

"Now let me ask you something. Same question but with you and Maya" Yusuke said. Kage gulped. "Well at first I wasn't at all interested in her. She's three years younger than me. I heard Riku and Rogato talking about her little crush on me and that sort of sparked by interest.  But she was twelve at the time and I was fifteen so I left it there. I was seventeen when I died and that would make her fourteen. I guess she tilted her interest to Murakai after that, even though he'd fallen for Lila. Though I have to say, she's really sparked my interest now" Kage replied smirking slyly.  "Chicks" they both said at the same time.

"Well that was a long enough break, on with training" Kage said standing up. Yusuke sighed and did the same. "Now as you know, the Flamethrower is very difficult to master. It's the second hardest next to the Spirit Bomb. What you have to remember it acts like real fire. You can't handle it, you get burned" Kage said. Yusuke nodded. "I'll show what to do" Kage said walking to the middle of the clearing.

"Pay attention" he said. He closed his eyes and raised his right hand. Yellow energy surrounded his body as he concentrated. "Just think about what a flame looks like and mold the energy into that shape" he said. The energy around him intensified and he prepared to fire. "FLAMETHROWER" Flames of yellow spirit energy shot out of his hand and toward a tree. The attack hit and the tree was surrounded by yellow energy. "The Flamethrower slowly destroys the target, much like real fire" Kage replied as he let his hand fall to his side. The tree gradually burned down to ashes. "Now you try" he said turning to Yusuke.

Yusuke cracked his neck a few times and loosened his body up. "Okay here I go" he said getting into the proper stance. He concentrated and blue energy flames surrounded his body. "Remember think of what real fire looks like" Kage said as he watched on. Yusuke yelled and the flames intensified. "FLAMETHROW…" he stopped when the energy died down. "Damit!!! Fuck!!! Shit!!!" he said as he pounded a nearby tree. Kage listened on as Yusuke yelled out profanities. Is he cussing out the tree in French? He thought. He pulled out his stun gun and fired at Yusuke. Yusuke yelped as a small surge of electricity went through his body.

"Hey!!!" he yelled. "Good to see your back in the real world. Now stop talking to the tree and try again" Kage said. "Why don't we just skip this stupid technique and get started on the Spirit Bomb?" Yusuke said. This earned him another zap. "What was that for?" Yusuke said rubbing the place he was zapped.

"Listen, if you want to learn the Spirit Bomb then you first have to master this attack" he said. "Stupid wolf" Yusuke mumbled. He'd apparently forgot about Kage's keen hearing. "Will you stop that?!" he yelled. Kage zapped him again. "I didn't even do anything!!!" Yusuke said. "I know, but it's just so fun to zap you" Kage replied before pulling the trigger.

One week later

"FLAMETHROWER" Yusuke thrust his hand forward and the tree in front of him was engulfed in blue spirit energy. "Bingo" he said turning to Kage. "Good work, you've mastered it" Kage said. Yusuke beamed with pride. "Now can I learn the Spirit Bomb" he said looking like a kid who saw his favorite candy. "Alright, but first we eat" Kage said before walking toward the temple. "Damn wolves" Yusuke muttered as he followed. "I said stop doing that!!!" he yelled after getting zapped.

"Wonder how Hiei and Riku are doing" Yusuke said. "Relax, Riku can take care of himself and from what I've seen of Hiei, he's just fine to" Kage said. "I'm more worried about how Nami will act if Hiei's away any longer" Yusuke said. "So what do you think Yukina's cooking up?" Kage asked. "I hope it's pizza" Yusuke replied.

After lunch they returned to the clearing. "Now we begin the toughest part of your training, the Spirit Bomb" Kage said. Yusuke was seated on a log and watched anxiously. "What makes it so powerful is what it's made up of. As you know there are two energies in everyone's bodies, life and spirit energy. The Spirit Bomb is made up of both. First, you concentrate both to your arm. Now here's the tricky part. For the attack to work there must be equilibrium between the two energies. To much life energy will make it to weak to do any damage but to much spirit energy and your arm gets blown off" Kage said. Yusuke gulped.

"Now, this attack takes time to build up. Fastest I've ever done is forty-five seconds" Kage replied. "But at the tournament you seemed to use it pretty quickly" Yusuke replied. "It wasn't at full power or else you wouldn't be standing here learning it" Kage replied. "That's some attack" Yusuke said. Kage smirked. "It's my attack, what'd you expect?" he said.

"Watch carefully" Kage said. He turned away from Yusuke and raised his hand above his head. Yellow sparks appeared on his body and a yellow glow surrounded his raised arm. "Remember, equilibrium" Kage said as he concentrated. His arm was engulfed in yellow energy. "Now form it into a ball" Kage said.

The energy worked its way to his palm and slowly levitated into the air. It spun around and slowly took the shape of a ball. Kage opened his eyes and the ball expanded till it was twenty feet in diameter. "SPIRIT BOMB" Kage threw the ball toward a mountain. It plowed through the forest as Yusuke and Kage watched on. "Don't take your eyes off the target. If you do the bomb will steer off coarse" Kage said.  

The bomb slammed into the side of the mountain and Yusuke had to shield his eyes from the intense light the explosion gave off. The ground shook violently and shockwaves were sent through the area. The light died down and Yusuke looked at the damage. The mountain now had a huge hole in it side. It started near the base and continued, stopping a few hundred feet from the summit.

Yusuke looked like a goldfish from the shock of the site. "And it was made by me" Kage said wiping a tear from his eye. "I need that attack" Yusuke said. "Then try for yourself" Kage said.

Yusuke nodded and got into the same stance Kage did. He closed his eyes and brought out his spirit and life energy. "You're to tense, loosen up. I can't believe I'm telling you this but use your mind to gather it up" Kage said. Yusuke relaxed his muscles and felt the energy work its way to his arm. "You have to much spirit energy. Add some more life energy before your arm gets blown off" Kage said. Yusuke hurriedly added a little life energy.

"Good, now work it into a ball" Kage said. Yusuke concentrated even harder and gathered the energy to his palm. He pictured a ball in his head and the energy took that shape above his hand. "Hey I did…" he couldn't finish his sentence because the ball fell out of his hand and headed for the ground in front of him. "TAKE COVER!!!" Kage yelled as he grabbed Yusuke and pulled him into a small ravine.

They ducked down as an explosion nearly a quarter the size of Kage's rose from the landing area. When it died down the two pecked over the ravine edge to survey the damage. The clearing was now a very big crater. "You dropped it. We could have been killed!!!" Kage yelled. "Whoops" Yusuke said. Kage growled and pulled out his stun gun. "Oh shit" Yusuke said before bolting for the woods. "Get back here!!!" Kage yelled giving chase.

Run Yusuke. That was a close one wasn't it? I had some trouble writing this one since I can't get my latest favorite anime out of my head. I picked up a copy of  'Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust' and the only way to describe it is awesome. It may not be for the kids but it more than makes up for it. I love D's attitude, his outfit, and that sword of his. It has great graphics, voice acting, music, and awesome fight scenes that make me drool. I'd recommend it to anyone who's a fan of anime even though it's rated R. It's a cross between Blade, Trigun, and a little of Yu Yu Hakusho cause of the demons and monsters. I guess that's enough of that. Expect the next chapter next Sunday. Now I'm going to watch D kick vampire ass.

Next chapter, Riku and Hiei return for the last few days before the final battle. Review please.