Towa no Mirai: Elemental Gemstones: #5-Inai Toride no Yousoyama! San Ikutoori Nokosu Okami
- Inside Yousoyama's Lair! Three Ways to Save a Wolf -
By: Reiko Aya (KitsuneMaya@koreanmail.com) and Towasei Norei (Mokuro29802@aol.com)
Official Webpage: http://towa-no-mirai.tk [http://freewebs.com/mayamukuro]
"Okay everyone, I'm landing now, so hang on tight!" Yurinoki announced, pointing the tip of her oar into a nosedive, "Sorry, I need to rush because of Kushiyè and maybe even Hiei!" she called to the others, hanging on tight as they sped down, racing like a missle. The wind whipped furiously at their sides as they seemingly plummeted to the rocky ground.
Just when it seemed as if they were about to crash, Yurinoki stopped short, causing everyone to jerk violently forward.
"Is everybody okay?" she asked.
"Yes!" they called, looking a little light headed. Yurinoki ignored their expressions, which didn't match at all with their positive verbal answers, and rushed to the mountain entrance.
They all followed, and paused to look inside. It was very dark, and it took a moment for their eyes to adjust. It also had the disguisting stench of rotting corpses, which was no surprise, after seeing Yousoyama and his...ways. The cold air seemed to push them inside, immediately setting off a trap. A flurry of powder was blown into their area from the walls.
"Watch out!" Kurama and Yurinoki warned in unison as they pushed everyone down to avoid the trap, covering their mouths and noses to not breathe in the substance, as well as their eyes. They got up as soon as the fine particles had settled and coated the stone floor.
"What is that?" Kuwabara asked.
Chunzhu knelt down and sniffed it delicately. "There is pepper, sand...and..." She held back a sneeze. "ash. I think there is something else in there too." She reached out to shuffle through the mixture.
"Pepper, sand, and ash..." Yusuke said thoughtfully, "It's blinding powder! I remember it being used in a ninja movie I once saw."
"I found something!" Chunzhu reported. Yurinoki, Yusuke, and Kuwabara eagarly looked over her shoulder. A moment later, she drew back her hand with a cry, and the three behind her all fell backward in surprise.
"What is it?" Kurama asked, kneeling down.
"Shards...of glass," Chunzhu said, holding up her hand, which now had a large but shallow cut across the palm.
"Looks like Yousoyama doesn't like playing fair," Kuwabara said with a scowl.
"We should be more careful," Yurinoki suggested.
Chunzhu nodded and got up, allowing Kurama to quickly clean off her cut with a handkerchief he had in his pocket.
Everyone was careful to avoid the mess left on the ground as they went deeper into the mountain, and the path sloped lower underground. After about a minute of running hastily, they came to a three tunnel parting.
"This is not good," Chunzhu mumbled, "Which way shall we go now?"
"I don't know...I an't even sense any youki at all," Kuwabara said.
Yurinoki felt the ground in front of each tunnel with her hand, and sighed in dissapointment, "No footprints either. Hiei must have been going so quickly, he didn't leave a trace of himself."
"Well, we'll just have to split up," Yusuke decided, "We can decide who goes where by...how about playing janken (Rock, Paper, Scissors)?"
Chunzhu smiled, "I like the sound of it...How do you play?"
"It's easy. You have to shape your hand into one of three choices. Rock..." Yusuke put his hand into a fist, "Paper..." he put his hand out flat, "and scissors," he drew up all of his fingers except for the middle and index, which he left up.
Kurama picked up, "I'll tell you the other rules some other time, but for now, we can make the first tunnel paper, the second scissors, and the third rock."
"On the count of three..." Yusuke began, "One...two..."
"Three!" Yurinoki called out as they all threw out their hands.
Yusuke and Kuwabara had chosen rock, Kurama had paper, and Yurinoki and Chunzhu's hands were in scissors shape.
"It's settled then!" Yusuke announced with a grin, "Hope none of you get lost," he said. He and Kuwabara then exited through the third tunnel.
"I guess I'll go now," Kurama said, turning towards the first.
"Are you going to be fine by yourself?" Chunzhu wondered if he would be able to get through whatever was there alone.
Kurama nodded, "I will. Good luck with finding Kushiyè, Hiei, and Yousoyama," he wished them.
"You too!" Yurinoki called as they went their seperate ways at the same time.
* * * *
Hiei looked at his surroundings. With the help of his exposed Jagan, he was able to see everything perfectly. Although he was a little scratched up from avoiding the constant traps and litteral hit-and-run attacks from Yousoyama, he hadn't lost a bit of energy or hope. He paused to call for the millionth time.
"Yousoyama! Come out here now, you coward!" He knit his eyebrows harder when he didn't recieve an answer, and began to once again run.
* * * *
"Urameshi...did you hear that?" Kuwabara asked quietly, trying to find the source of the slow creaking he had heard.
Yusuke rolled his eyes, "Not again! This is the millionth time you've said that! It just won't scare me, face it."
Kuwabara shook his head, "This time I'm serious..."
"Give me a break..." Yusuke muttered, listening for a sound. The slow creaking started again.
"I told you!!!" Kuwabara exclaimed.
Yusuke ignored him and pointed his finger ahead of them. "It's coming from there. Come on!" They both raced down the tunnel.
Just when they had gone a few feet, a shower of rocks and boulders crumbled down, blocking their path.
"Another one of Yousoyama's cheap diversions..." Yusuke muttered.
"Come on urameshi!" Kuwabara called while trying to move the biggest boulder, "Help clear the rocks away!"
"I have an easier way, you know," Yusuke said, blue energy appearing on his fist.
"Shouldn't we save our energy for fighting and stuff?" Kuwabara asked.
Yusuke reared back his hand, "Clearing this mess by hand will take up time we don't have. Besides, it's too late to stop me now. Shotgun!!!"
* * * *
I don't like the way this is turning out for me. Kurama thought to himself. There aren't any traps. Almost as if everything's being saved for last.
He froze when he came to a giant door. It was circular, and made uf a dull bronze metal. It was almsot as big as the Gates of Judgement themselves.
I guess this is the end...but how do I get in? Kurama wondered to himself.
Then, he saw a small panel next to the door, and walked over to it.
* * * *
Chunzhu and Yurinoki were kneeling down, panting, having narrowly missed an attack from one of Yousoyama's henchmen. The youkai's still body lay on the ground, battered, bloodied, and lifeless.
The two girls slowly got up, "This is harder than I thought!" Yurinoki commented.
"And Yousoyama is stronger than I thought," Chunzhu added.
"Come on..." Yurinoki urged, continuing hte walk. Her ears pricked up when she heard a sword being unsheathed.
"Shit!" she cried out as the sword was thrown, narrowly missing her and instead getting lodged deep into the wall.
Yurinoki looked at the sword. A ninja's sword, with a string tied on the hilt. On the string was a very small piece of paper. She squinted at the kanji characters. "Zhu! Come here! I can't read kanji!" she called to the shocked kitsune. Holding up a bit of energy for light, she showed the writing to Chunzhu, who read,
"Go under if you wish to see the mountain's core."
"What does that mean?" Yurinoki wondered, extinguishing her energy.
"I do not know," Chunzhu said, stepping away from the sword. Once she took a step, she fell over.
"What a ditz..." Yurinoki teased, trying to pry out the sword.
"Wait..." Chunzhu muttered, "I tripped over something." She felt around the area where she had fell, and came across something. It took her a second to figure out what it was. "A doorknob!" she exclaimed, turning itto open the door.
Yurinoki suceeded in releasing the sword, "So that's what it means."
Chunzhu eyed at the sword, looking sort of like a smaller version of a katana. "What is that for?" she asked as she set her feet on the first stair in what looked like a long set.
"I might need this," Yurinoki said with a shrug as she followed Chunzhu down the stairs.
* * * *
Forcefully bringing down the blade of his katana, Hiei successfully sliced through the neck of the last youkai in a group of weaklings Yousoyama had sent.
"Yousoyama...where are you hiding?" Hiei wondered, wiping some blood from his forehead. One of the demons had gotten to strike him, a lucky punch, narrowly missing his Jagan, "What do you want with KUshiyè?" he muttered. He had been unconscious during the revelation of the triforce.
Yousoyama was watching him from high up in a crevasse. He was approached by one of his subordinates, "The demons are ready to attack," his advisor reported.
Yousoyama glared, "You're too late. This little one has passed by the battle room already."
"We have word another youkai is approaching," he explained.
Yousoyama smirked, "Well? Are you going to welcome him"
The demon grinned and bowed, "Yessir!" he exclaimed, exiting.
Yousoyama turned his eyes to Hiei. "I think I'll have some fun with this little punching bag as well..."
* * * *
The rock barrier had been cleared away with a single shotgun, and Yusuke and Kuwabara were getting closer to the noise by the second.
With a final crank, they heard a gushing noise, which then erupted into a flooding sound. They rushed over and found a sea of liquid on their would-be path. It came out of an object in the ceiling, where the cranking noise had come from. The liquid was pouring out of a funnel, and also flowed out of the mouths of the eerie gargoyle statues that decked the walls of the tunnel.
"Does he really think he can fool us with some crappy watertrick?" Kuwabara said, stepping into the liquid. It was deeper than he thought, about five meters to be more precise. He sunk for a second, and then immediately climbed out.
"Kuwabara!" Yusuke called, lighting up his finger with reiki as a beacon. He went over to check on his friend and cringed, "God, Kuwabara! That's not water! It's blood!"
"I'm bleeding!" Kuwabara cried stupidly, falling over, then looking at the blood that he had stepped in, "Wait, no, I'm not."
They both looked at the ocean of blood that covered where they should have been running on by now.
They both sweatdropped, "Well I'm out of ideas," Yusuke said.
"Urameshi! You won't believe this!" Kuwabara screamed, pointing into the blood.
Yusuke looked over and jumped back in surprise. There were bodies. Pale, bony...dead. "Maybe if we get rid of the bodies, the blood will drain," Yusuke suggested, rolling up his sleeves and reluctantly reaching in. Then, the arms of the dead started to shoot up, grabbing Yusuke by the arms, trying to drag him in.
"Join...us..." they whispered, making more of an effort to pull him in. Yusuke tore free and hastily punched the corpses away, who shriveled into the bloody mass.
"This just isn't right..." Yusuke muttered in disbelief. But the remains of what were once humans were drenched in life-giving fresh blood. As their bodies feasted on it, they rapidly grew stronger.
* * * *
Kurama had eventually figured out that the panel was the way to open the door, and to get through you had to channel your energy into it, which sapped it away fairly quickly. After dodging a trap with several explosives, he stepped inside the massive door.
It was a giant stadium. It looked empty, and was a little to quiet for him to be comfortable with. He closed his eyes for a secon.
Hiei was here! He thought to himself, sensing his partner's energy closeby. No sooner had he opened his yes, when an army of demons were crowded onto platforms on the walls of the colluseum.
Yousoyama's advisor jumped down from a platform. "Yousoyama-sensei has allowed us all to have a little fun with our intruder. Although, I do feel sorry for the one that came before you. He's going against Yousoyama-sensei himself."
"Hiei! Where is he?" Kurama pulled a rose out of his hair.
The demon pointed to another large bronze door at the other end of the large stadium, "He went through there. He was lucky we didn't arrive on time. But we're prepared for you. We've rigged the exit so that only one key will open it. The key will appear as soon as you defeat us all," he smirked as the door from which Kurama came closed, and he motioned for all the youkai to jump from their platforms, "You should have brought someone to 'watch your back', if you don't mind me saying."
Kurama transformed the flower into his Rose Whip, but at that moment, a demon managed to come up behind him and, literally, stab his back, getting the idea from the advisor's last statement. Kurama stumbled forward, but quickly turned around to face the countless demons before him.
* * * *
Chunzhu and Yurinoki were going down the fifth flight of stairs, getting very tired of the dull, repetative, spiraling descent.
"I see a light!" Yurinoki cried, running toward a piercing a shimmering glow coming from behind a door.
"Are you sure we should go in?" Chunzhu questioned, cringiing as she eyed a statue of an injured, evil-looking angel pointing towards the door. It's rock was old and dark from age and weathering, and although its features were a little unclear, it was easy to see that it would have been seeking revenge, if alive.
One of Yousoyama's minions eyed the two, "Feeling unsure, little kitsune? Intimidated? Does the sculpture frighten you?" he asked softly in a mocking tone, "Maybe I'll reassure you!" He pounded the ground, at first making it quiver and then start to crack and crumble beneath them.
"This tremor isn't strong enough to be Yousoyama's," Yurinoki thought aloud, "He's passing his ways on to students then!" She began to open the door, its room's glaring illumination stinging her eyes, "Zhu! We have to get out of here!"
Chunzhu scurried through the door, almost getting hit by the cracked off uppersection of the statue, broken off by the attack of Yousoyama's scholar. As soon as both girls were inside the room behind the door, the earthquake immediately stopped.
* * * *
Hiei slowly got up, having just been hit by Yousoyama in the shoulder by his last attack. Another very strong one had used magma from the innermost parts of the mountain to attack him, leaving a shiny black burn on his arm. He ignored the injury, and blocked a shower of rocks with his katana. Hiei got into an offensive position, "Are you going to run away this time?" he demanded.
Silence. This was the seventh time Hiei had let Yousoyama get away. The seventh time he had failed KUshiyè...disappointed her.
Hiei was hurled out of this thought as a rock tumbled right in front of him. Scratched on it in angular characters, likely to be made by a dagger, read:
No need to lost your patience. When you get to the end of this path, there will be a room in which I will fight you in. You must hurry, however. I'm feeling a little restless today, and I might just take out my anger on your dear wolf friend.
"Yousoyama..." Hiei growled, reading the threat he left at the end of the message over and over, "Bastard!" he yelled, speeding off to the end of the tunnel in order to insure the saftey of Kushiyè.
* * * *
Yusuke and Kuwabara had agreed that, for a last resort, there was no choice but to swin through, which was what they were doing at that moment. The living dead were also after them, trying to drag them into their own little worlds of death and misery.
It seemed like they had been going forever, and their limbs felt irritatingly numb, having to move through the dark liquid while being viciously clawed at. After what seemed like a half hour at least, they reached the end of the blood sea, and the stone-bottomed tunnel was right ahead of them. As soon as the partially rejeuvenated carcasses stepped out of the blood, their life force taken away, they fell over like any ordinairy corpse would.
Having new hope installed in them, they started going down the tunnel. They felt better than before, when they were up to the chin in blood, dead bodies going after them like a pack of rats. Now, with just a few scratches, they continued. Seeing a number of statues pointing in the direction of which they were going, casting eerie looks, began to fill their minds with scary thoughts. But they were nearing Yousoyama, no question.
* * * *
Kurama had been fighting with everything he had. After doing a quick head cound, he discovered there were only fifteen demons left. Though they weren't S-class, they were the toughest ones, who let the ambush. Kurama, injured and tired, wasn't sure if he could fight much longer.
The demons attacked all at once, unlucky for Kurama, since they were the best in Yousoyama's 'army'.
I have to plan this carefully. Kurama thought, severing the arm of one demon and turning around to kill another, who was about to attack from the rear. They all started to crowd around him.
"Kagon Retsuzan Shi!" he called out, swinging his whip around and killing six demons. He jumped out of the demon 'circle' and onto a platform in the wall. As he had intended, the demons jumped onto different platforms as well.
Kurama, somewhat at ease that his plan was working, jumped onto one of the platforms that a demon stood upon. He swiftly cut the youkai in half, then went on to another, where he jumped on the back of the youkai and tightened the whip around the neck until it became decapitated.
Seven more... Kurama counted, going over to the demon with the missing arm. He slayed him as well, severing his other arm first, and after that was done, he jumped back down to the floor.
The remaining youkai also jumped from the platforms, and one hadn't even reached the ground when he also recieved a fatal hit from the Rose Whip.
Five more... Kurama started running around the stadium, in a circle. The youkai followed, assuming he did this out of fear.
As one caught up to him, Kurama brought down his whip, leaving four more demons. He turned to face them, and ran right past them, whip beared, killing two in a single swing.
"Foolish boy!" the last one called out, attacking Kurama with his long, sharp fangs. One burrowed into his shoulder, and blood burst from it.
Kurama spun his whip behind him, hitting the last youkai directly in the middle of the head. The sharp thorns allowed it to sink into it, splitting his face nearly in half.
"That was pretty eas- Ugh!" Kurama held his shoulder in pain, trying to keep the blood from flowing from it. The blood had now slowed to a trickle, but it kept going all the same. The golden key then appeared in the marble center of the stadium.
"The key! Yes!" He paused to see if he could sense Hiei's energy, "What the?! Hiei's energy is going up. He's using too much! Wait Hiei, don't!" He raced to thrust open the door and find Hiei.
* * * *
Chunzhu and Yurinoki shielded their eyes for a moment as the sudden beaming light flowed over the darkness. After their eyes adjusted, they saw they were in a quite small room, and there were two doors, one on each side of the room. In the center, a dark figure was facing backwards. It was the one that had created the earthquake before, Yousoyama's pupil.
"Good evening," he said, trying to hide his intentions behind politeness, "I've been watching you both work your way though the hideaway for quite some time. Welcome to the Test of Wisdom."
"Test?" Yurinoki snorted, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Your other friends are taking their own tests as well. The Test of Strength and the Test of the Dead."
"These tests sound a bit scary and dangerous..." Chunzhu said. She somehow felt they had gotten the easiest of the tests. She feared for herself though, no one else, and felt happy about it. She had a smile frozen on her face as seh looked at the doors behind him. The one at the left was painted white, and the one at the right was blue.
"You SHOULD be concerned, but only for yourselves. Here's how it works:" he streched his hand to the side.
A female youkai with a haunted feeling to her crept from the shadow she had been hiding in, "There are two doors," her rich voice began to explain, picking up from were he had left off, "There are too demons. One of us will tell only lies, and the other tells the truth. One door leads to certain painful death, and the other leads to your friends. You are only allowed to ask one question in order to get out, and if you try anything..." She pulled a chain and sickle out of what seemed like nowhere. "You won't live to finish off your funny business."
The male demon raised his hand. "To make sure our guests don't get too wild, let's do this." Yurinoki and Chunzhu were bound up by chains as he lowered his hand.
"They look so helpless," the female muttered in her cold voice, "Why not just slaughter them right now?" She drew her finger against the blade of her weapon with a murderous look in her garnet colored eyes.
"Give them a chance," he replied calmly, "Ask your question quickly, or I'll personally request Yousoyama to kill off all of your teammates one by one, slowly, painfully, and guresomely," he threatened.
While Yurinoki was panicking, emotions and mind clashing together, she was unable to htink of something. It made the room feel smaller, the chains tighter, and the fate of the wrong door seem even worse.
Chunzhu remained calm however. So what if she died? Who would care? As she fell into a depressing flood of memories, the answer hit her light a bullet.
I know this! She thought, "Yurinoki, trust me with our question privilege. I know what to do."
"Good. I'm out of ideas, thought this damn riddle thing is completely old," Yurinoki remarked, "But if you want my opinion, I'd ask the boy demon," she suggested.
"Okay," Chunzhu agreed, "Yousoyama's scholar! I have the question. If I asked that girl which door to take, which one would she tell me to go through?"
"White door," he answered, pointing to the one on Chunzhu's left.
"Then our choice is the right," Chunzhu answered confidently.
"You say so..." He released them from the chains.
The female demon smirked, "Are you sure?" She playfully tossed her sickle towards them, only to have it blocked by Yurinoki's newly found sword.
She swung the blad back and forth with a flourish, "You bet we are, bitch," she taunted, sheathing her weapon. The motion of the blade combined with her wind powers created a gust that demolished the whole room. Yurinoki smirked as she and Chunzhu went through the door. If Chunzhu had been wrong, it was too late to turn back.
The path was a dark tunnel, like before. "Are you sure this is the right way?" Yurinoki inquired.
Chunzhu grinned, "Positive. You see, I had a sensei who exercised our minds by solving riddles. This one was simple. If I asked the liar, they would have lied about which door to go through. The truth teller would have told the truth. Therefore, it would have been thesame answer for either. You just have to go through the opposite of what they say."
Yurinoki looked confused, "You'll have to explain that a little better some time," she observed ahead and gasped, "Look! We're getting near the end!"
They both saw a flicker of light, probably from a torch, at the very end of the tunnel. Yousoyama must be there.
* * * *
"Ewwww ewwww ewwww!"
"Would you stop complaining, Kuwabara?" Yusuke growled in a frustrated tone as Kuwabara tried to wipe the blood off of himself.
Yusuke sighed and diverted his attention tothe tunnel ahead,and noticed someone else there. He eyed the figure closely, "Hey, it's Kurama! Oi, Kurama!"
Kurama looked over, "Huh?" He recognised who had called him, "Yusuke," he ran over.
"Are you okay, Kurama?" Kuwabara asked, sensing Kurama's energy lower thanit had been when they had entered.
Kurama nodded, "Listen, Hiei is in trouble."
Yusuke's eyes widened, "What?"
"His energy is going down," Kurama continued, "We have to find him-"
"HELP US!" cried Yurinoki as she and Chunzhu were running from the living dead, attracted to them when they had slayed several demons and let their blood pool onto the ground. Yurinoki flung her hand back as a gust of wind temporarily knocked them over, and Chunzhu tried her best to chop them apart with her elbow blades.
"Zhu! Yurinoki! Over here!" Yusuke called.
They ran up to them, and Kurama twirled his Rose Whip around his head as thorns flew from it, killing them all in one blow. Chunzhu and Yurinoki sighed in relief.
"You look a little hurt," Yurinoki laid a hand on his shoulder, "Will you be fine?"
Kurama nodded, "Come on, we have to save Hiei!" he said as they all continued to run.
- Inside Yousoyama's Lair! Three Ways to Save a Wolf -
By: Reiko Aya (KitsuneMaya@koreanmail.com) and Towasei Norei (Mokuro29802@aol.com)
Official Webpage: http://towa-no-mirai.tk [http://freewebs.com/mayamukuro]
"Okay everyone, I'm landing now, so hang on tight!" Yurinoki announced, pointing the tip of her oar into a nosedive, "Sorry, I need to rush because of Kushiyè and maybe even Hiei!" she called to the others, hanging on tight as they sped down, racing like a missle. The wind whipped furiously at their sides as they seemingly plummeted to the rocky ground.
Just when it seemed as if they were about to crash, Yurinoki stopped short, causing everyone to jerk violently forward.
"Is everybody okay?" she asked.
"Yes!" they called, looking a little light headed. Yurinoki ignored their expressions, which didn't match at all with their positive verbal answers, and rushed to the mountain entrance.
They all followed, and paused to look inside. It was very dark, and it took a moment for their eyes to adjust. It also had the disguisting stench of rotting corpses, which was no surprise, after seeing Yousoyama and his...ways. The cold air seemed to push them inside, immediately setting off a trap. A flurry of powder was blown into their area from the walls.
"Watch out!" Kurama and Yurinoki warned in unison as they pushed everyone down to avoid the trap, covering their mouths and noses to not breathe in the substance, as well as their eyes. They got up as soon as the fine particles had settled and coated the stone floor.
"What is that?" Kuwabara asked.
Chunzhu knelt down and sniffed it delicately. "There is pepper, sand...and..." She held back a sneeze. "ash. I think there is something else in there too." She reached out to shuffle through the mixture.
"Pepper, sand, and ash..." Yusuke said thoughtfully, "It's blinding powder! I remember it being used in a ninja movie I once saw."
"I found something!" Chunzhu reported. Yurinoki, Yusuke, and Kuwabara eagarly looked over her shoulder. A moment later, she drew back her hand with a cry, and the three behind her all fell backward in surprise.
"What is it?" Kurama asked, kneeling down.
"Shards...of glass," Chunzhu said, holding up her hand, which now had a large but shallow cut across the palm.
"Looks like Yousoyama doesn't like playing fair," Kuwabara said with a scowl.
"We should be more careful," Yurinoki suggested.
Chunzhu nodded and got up, allowing Kurama to quickly clean off her cut with a handkerchief he had in his pocket.
Everyone was careful to avoid the mess left on the ground as they went deeper into the mountain, and the path sloped lower underground. After about a minute of running hastily, they came to a three tunnel parting.
"This is not good," Chunzhu mumbled, "Which way shall we go now?"
"I don't know...I an't even sense any youki at all," Kuwabara said.
Yurinoki felt the ground in front of each tunnel with her hand, and sighed in dissapointment, "No footprints either. Hiei must have been going so quickly, he didn't leave a trace of himself."
"Well, we'll just have to split up," Yusuke decided, "We can decide who goes where by...how about playing janken (Rock, Paper, Scissors)?"
Chunzhu smiled, "I like the sound of it...How do you play?"
"It's easy. You have to shape your hand into one of three choices. Rock..." Yusuke put his hand into a fist, "Paper..." he put his hand out flat, "and scissors," he drew up all of his fingers except for the middle and index, which he left up.
Kurama picked up, "I'll tell you the other rules some other time, but for now, we can make the first tunnel paper, the second scissors, and the third rock."
"On the count of three..." Yusuke began, "One...two..."
"Three!" Yurinoki called out as they all threw out their hands.
Yusuke and Kuwabara had chosen rock, Kurama had paper, and Yurinoki and Chunzhu's hands were in scissors shape.
"It's settled then!" Yusuke announced with a grin, "Hope none of you get lost," he said. He and Kuwabara then exited through the third tunnel.
"I guess I'll go now," Kurama said, turning towards the first.
"Are you going to be fine by yourself?" Chunzhu wondered if he would be able to get through whatever was there alone.
Kurama nodded, "I will. Good luck with finding Kushiyè, Hiei, and Yousoyama," he wished them.
"You too!" Yurinoki called as they went their seperate ways at the same time.
* * * *
Hiei looked at his surroundings. With the help of his exposed Jagan, he was able to see everything perfectly. Although he was a little scratched up from avoiding the constant traps and litteral hit-and-run attacks from Yousoyama, he hadn't lost a bit of energy or hope. He paused to call for the millionth time.
"Yousoyama! Come out here now, you coward!" He knit his eyebrows harder when he didn't recieve an answer, and began to once again run.
* * * *
"Urameshi...did you hear that?" Kuwabara asked quietly, trying to find the source of the slow creaking he had heard.
Yusuke rolled his eyes, "Not again! This is the millionth time you've said that! It just won't scare me, face it."
Kuwabara shook his head, "This time I'm serious..."
"Give me a break..." Yusuke muttered, listening for a sound. The slow creaking started again.
"I told you!!!" Kuwabara exclaimed.
Yusuke ignored him and pointed his finger ahead of them. "It's coming from there. Come on!" They both raced down the tunnel.
Just when they had gone a few feet, a shower of rocks and boulders crumbled down, blocking their path.
"Another one of Yousoyama's cheap diversions..." Yusuke muttered.
"Come on urameshi!" Kuwabara called while trying to move the biggest boulder, "Help clear the rocks away!"
"I have an easier way, you know," Yusuke said, blue energy appearing on his fist.
"Shouldn't we save our energy for fighting and stuff?" Kuwabara asked.
Yusuke reared back his hand, "Clearing this mess by hand will take up time we don't have. Besides, it's too late to stop me now. Shotgun!!!"
* * * *
I don't like the way this is turning out for me. Kurama thought to himself. There aren't any traps. Almost as if everything's being saved for last.
He froze when he came to a giant door. It was circular, and made uf a dull bronze metal. It was almsot as big as the Gates of Judgement themselves.
I guess this is the end...but how do I get in? Kurama wondered to himself.
Then, he saw a small panel next to the door, and walked over to it.
* * * *
Chunzhu and Yurinoki were kneeling down, panting, having narrowly missed an attack from one of Yousoyama's henchmen. The youkai's still body lay on the ground, battered, bloodied, and lifeless.
The two girls slowly got up, "This is harder than I thought!" Yurinoki commented.
"And Yousoyama is stronger than I thought," Chunzhu added.
"Come on..." Yurinoki urged, continuing hte walk. Her ears pricked up when she heard a sword being unsheathed.
"Shit!" she cried out as the sword was thrown, narrowly missing her and instead getting lodged deep into the wall.
Yurinoki looked at the sword. A ninja's sword, with a string tied on the hilt. On the string was a very small piece of paper. She squinted at the kanji characters. "Zhu! Come here! I can't read kanji!" she called to the shocked kitsune. Holding up a bit of energy for light, she showed the writing to Chunzhu, who read,
"Go under if you wish to see the mountain's core."
"What does that mean?" Yurinoki wondered, extinguishing her energy.
"I do not know," Chunzhu said, stepping away from the sword. Once she took a step, she fell over.
"What a ditz..." Yurinoki teased, trying to pry out the sword.
"Wait..." Chunzhu muttered, "I tripped over something." She felt around the area where she had fell, and came across something. It took her a second to figure out what it was. "A doorknob!" she exclaimed, turning itto open the door.
Yurinoki suceeded in releasing the sword, "So that's what it means."
Chunzhu eyed at the sword, looking sort of like a smaller version of a katana. "What is that for?" she asked as she set her feet on the first stair in what looked like a long set.
"I might need this," Yurinoki said with a shrug as she followed Chunzhu down the stairs.
* * * *
Forcefully bringing down the blade of his katana, Hiei successfully sliced through the neck of the last youkai in a group of weaklings Yousoyama had sent.
"Yousoyama...where are you hiding?" Hiei wondered, wiping some blood from his forehead. One of the demons had gotten to strike him, a lucky punch, narrowly missing his Jagan, "What do you want with KUshiyè?" he muttered. He had been unconscious during the revelation of the triforce.
Yousoyama was watching him from high up in a crevasse. He was approached by one of his subordinates, "The demons are ready to attack," his advisor reported.
Yousoyama glared, "You're too late. This little one has passed by the battle room already."
"We have word another youkai is approaching," he explained.
Yousoyama smirked, "Well? Are you going to welcome him"
The demon grinned and bowed, "Yessir!" he exclaimed, exiting.
Yousoyama turned his eyes to Hiei. "I think I'll have some fun with this little punching bag as well..."
* * * *
The rock barrier had been cleared away with a single shotgun, and Yusuke and Kuwabara were getting closer to the noise by the second.
With a final crank, they heard a gushing noise, which then erupted into a flooding sound. They rushed over and found a sea of liquid on their would-be path. It came out of an object in the ceiling, where the cranking noise had come from. The liquid was pouring out of a funnel, and also flowed out of the mouths of the eerie gargoyle statues that decked the walls of the tunnel.
"Does he really think he can fool us with some crappy watertrick?" Kuwabara said, stepping into the liquid. It was deeper than he thought, about five meters to be more precise. He sunk for a second, and then immediately climbed out.
"Kuwabara!" Yusuke called, lighting up his finger with reiki as a beacon. He went over to check on his friend and cringed, "God, Kuwabara! That's not water! It's blood!"
"I'm bleeding!" Kuwabara cried stupidly, falling over, then looking at the blood that he had stepped in, "Wait, no, I'm not."
They both looked at the ocean of blood that covered where they should have been running on by now.
They both sweatdropped, "Well I'm out of ideas," Yusuke said.
"Urameshi! You won't believe this!" Kuwabara screamed, pointing into the blood.
Yusuke looked over and jumped back in surprise. There were bodies. Pale, bony...dead. "Maybe if we get rid of the bodies, the blood will drain," Yusuke suggested, rolling up his sleeves and reluctantly reaching in. Then, the arms of the dead started to shoot up, grabbing Yusuke by the arms, trying to drag him in.
"Join...us..." they whispered, making more of an effort to pull him in. Yusuke tore free and hastily punched the corpses away, who shriveled into the bloody mass.
"This just isn't right..." Yusuke muttered in disbelief. But the remains of what were once humans were drenched in life-giving fresh blood. As their bodies feasted on it, they rapidly grew stronger.
* * * *
Kurama had eventually figured out that the panel was the way to open the door, and to get through you had to channel your energy into it, which sapped it away fairly quickly. After dodging a trap with several explosives, he stepped inside the massive door.
It was a giant stadium. It looked empty, and was a little to quiet for him to be comfortable with. He closed his eyes for a secon.
Hiei was here! He thought to himself, sensing his partner's energy closeby. No sooner had he opened his yes, when an army of demons were crowded onto platforms on the walls of the colluseum.
Yousoyama's advisor jumped down from a platform. "Yousoyama-sensei has allowed us all to have a little fun with our intruder. Although, I do feel sorry for the one that came before you. He's going against Yousoyama-sensei himself."
"Hiei! Where is he?" Kurama pulled a rose out of his hair.
The demon pointed to another large bronze door at the other end of the large stadium, "He went through there. He was lucky we didn't arrive on time. But we're prepared for you. We've rigged the exit so that only one key will open it. The key will appear as soon as you defeat us all," he smirked as the door from which Kurama came closed, and he motioned for all the youkai to jump from their platforms, "You should have brought someone to 'watch your back', if you don't mind me saying."
Kurama transformed the flower into his Rose Whip, but at that moment, a demon managed to come up behind him and, literally, stab his back, getting the idea from the advisor's last statement. Kurama stumbled forward, but quickly turned around to face the countless demons before him.
* * * *
Chunzhu and Yurinoki were going down the fifth flight of stairs, getting very tired of the dull, repetative, spiraling descent.
"I see a light!" Yurinoki cried, running toward a piercing a shimmering glow coming from behind a door.
"Are you sure we should go in?" Chunzhu questioned, cringiing as she eyed a statue of an injured, evil-looking angel pointing towards the door. It's rock was old and dark from age and weathering, and although its features were a little unclear, it was easy to see that it would have been seeking revenge, if alive.
One of Yousoyama's minions eyed the two, "Feeling unsure, little kitsune? Intimidated? Does the sculpture frighten you?" he asked softly in a mocking tone, "Maybe I'll reassure you!" He pounded the ground, at first making it quiver and then start to crack and crumble beneath them.
"This tremor isn't strong enough to be Yousoyama's," Yurinoki thought aloud, "He's passing his ways on to students then!" She began to open the door, its room's glaring illumination stinging her eyes, "Zhu! We have to get out of here!"
Chunzhu scurried through the door, almost getting hit by the cracked off uppersection of the statue, broken off by the attack of Yousoyama's scholar. As soon as both girls were inside the room behind the door, the earthquake immediately stopped.
* * * *
Hiei slowly got up, having just been hit by Yousoyama in the shoulder by his last attack. Another very strong one had used magma from the innermost parts of the mountain to attack him, leaving a shiny black burn on his arm. He ignored the injury, and blocked a shower of rocks with his katana. Hiei got into an offensive position, "Are you going to run away this time?" he demanded.
Silence. This was the seventh time Hiei had let Yousoyama get away. The seventh time he had failed KUshiyè...disappointed her.
Hiei was hurled out of this thought as a rock tumbled right in front of him. Scratched on it in angular characters, likely to be made by a dagger, read:
No need to lost your patience. When you get to the end of this path, there will be a room in which I will fight you in. You must hurry, however. I'm feeling a little restless today, and I might just take out my anger on your dear wolf friend.
"Yousoyama..." Hiei growled, reading the threat he left at the end of the message over and over, "Bastard!" he yelled, speeding off to the end of the tunnel in order to insure the saftey of Kushiyè.
* * * *
Yusuke and Kuwabara had agreed that, for a last resort, there was no choice but to swin through, which was what they were doing at that moment. The living dead were also after them, trying to drag them into their own little worlds of death and misery.
It seemed like they had been going forever, and their limbs felt irritatingly numb, having to move through the dark liquid while being viciously clawed at. After what seemed like a half hour at least, they reached the end of the blood sea, and the stone-bottomed tunnel was right ahead of them. As soon as the partially rejeuvenated carcasses stepped out of the blood, their life force taken away, they fell over like any ordinairy corpse would.
Having new hope installed in them, they started going down the tunnel. They felt better than before, when they were up to the chin in blood, dead bodies going after them like a pack of rats. Now, with just a few scratches, they continued. Seeing a number of statues pointing in the direction of which they were going, casting eerie looks, began to fill their minds with scary thoughts. But they were nearing Yousoyama, no question.
* * * *
Kurama had been fighting with everything he had. After doing a quick head cound, he discovered there were only fifteen demons left. Though they weren't S-class, they were the toughest ones, who let the ambush. Kurama, injured and tired, wasn't sure if he could fight much longer.
The demons attacked all at once, unlucky for Kurama, since they were the best in Yousoyama's 'army'.
I have to plan this carefully. Kurama thought, severing the arm of one demon and turning around to kill another, who was about to attack from the rear. They all started to crowd around him.
"Kagon Retsuzan Shi!" he called out, swinging his whip around and killing six demons. He jumped out of the demon 'circle' and onto a platform in the wall. As he had intended, the demons jumped onto different platforms as well.
Kurama, somewhat at ease that his plan was working, jumped onto one of the platforms that a demon stood upon. He swiftly cut the youkai in half, then went on to another, where he jumped on the back of the youkai and tightened the whip around the neck until it became decapitated.
Seven more... Kurama counted, going over to the demon with the missing arm. He slayed him as well, severing his other arm first, and after that was done, he jumped back down to the floor.
The remaining youkai also jumped from the platforms, and one hadn't even reached the ground when he also recieved a fatal hit from the Rose Whip.
Five more... Kurama started running around the stadium, in a circle. The youkai followed, assuming he did this out of fear.
As one caught up to him, Kurama brought down his whip, leaving four more demons. He turned to face them, and ran right past them, whip beared, killing two in a single swing.
"Foolish boy!" the last one called out, attacking Kurama with his long, sharp fangs. One burrowed into his shoulder, and blood burst from it.
Kurama spun his whip behind him, hitting the last youkai directly in the middle of the head. The sharp thorns allowed it to sink into it, splitting his face nearly in half.
"That was pretty eas- Ugh!" Kurama held his shoulder in pain, trying to keep the blood from flowing from it. The blood had now slowed to a trickle, but it kept going all the same. The golden key then appeared in the marble center of the stadium.
"The key! Yes!" He paused to see if he could sense Hiei's energy, "What the?! Hiei's energy is going up. He's using too much! Wait Hiei, don't!" He raced to thrust open the door and find Hiei.
* * * *
Chunzhu and Yurinoki shielded their eyes for a moment as the sudden beaming light flowed over the darkness. After their eyes adjusted, they saw they were in a quite small room, and there were two doors, one on each side of the room. In the center, a dark figure was facing backwards. It was the one that had created the earthquake before, Yousoyama's pupil.
"Good evening," he said, trying to hide his intentions behind politeness, "I've been watching you both work your way though the hideaway for quite some time. Welcome to the Test of Wisdom."
"Test?" Yurinoki snorted, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Your other friends are taking their own tests as well. The Test of Strength and the Test of the Dead."
"These tests sound a bit scary and dangerous..." Chunzhu said. She somehow felt they had gotten the easiest of the tests. She feared for herself though, no one else, and felt happy about it. She had a smile frozen on her face as seh looked at the doors behind him. The one at the left was painted white, and the one at the right was blue.
"You SHOULD be concerned, but only for yourselves. Here's how it works:" he streched his hand to the side.
A female youkai with a haunted feeling to her crept from the shadow she had been hiding in, "There are two doors," her rich voice began to explain, picking up from were he had left off, "There are too demons. One of us will tell only lies, and the other tells the truth. One door leads to certain painful death, and the other leads to your friends. You are only allowed to ask one question in order to get out, and if you try anything..." She pulled a chain and sickle out of what seemed like nowhere. "You won't live to finish off your funny business."
The male demon raised his hand. "To make sure our guests don't get too wild, let's do this." Yurinoki and Chunzhu were bound up by chains as he lowered his hand.
"They look so helpless," the female muttered in her cold voice, "Why not just slaughter them right now?" She drew her finger against the blade of her weapon with a murderous look in her garnet colored eyes.
"Give them a chance," he replied calmly, "Ask your question quickly, or I'll personally request Yousoyama to kill off all of your teammates one by one, slowly, painfully, and guresomely," he threatened.
While Yurinoki was panicking, emotions and mind clashing together, she was unable to htink of something. It made the room feel smaller, the chains tighter, and the fate of the wrong door seem even worse.
Chunzhu remained calm however. So what if she died? Who would care? As she fell into a depressing flood of memories, the answer hit her light a bullet.
I know this! She thought, "Yurinoki, trust me with our question privilege. I know what to do."
"Good. I'm out of ideas, thought this damn riddle thing is completely old," Yurinoki remarked, "But if you want my opinion, I'd ask the boy demon," she suggested.
"Okay," Chunzhu agreed, "Yousoyama's scholar! I have the question. If I asked that girl which door to take, which one would she tell me to go through?"
"White door," he answered, pointing to the one on Chunzhu's left.
"Then our choice is the right," Chunzhu answered confidently.
"You say so..." He released them from the chains.
The female demon smirked, "Are you sure?" She playfully tossed her sickle towards them, only to have it blocked by Yurinoki's newly found sword.
She swung the blad back and forth with a flourish, "You bet we are, bitch," she taunted, sheathing her weapon. The motion of the blade combined with her wind powers created a gust that demolished the whole room. Yurinoki smirked as she and Chunzhu went through the door. If Chunzhu had been wrong, it was too late to turn back.
The path was a dark tunnel, like before. "Are you sure this is the right way?" Yurinoki inquired.
Chunzhu grinned, "Positive. You see, I had a sensei who exercised our minds by solving riddles. This one was simple. If I asked the liar, they would have lied about which door to go through. The truth teller would have told the truth. Therefore, it would have been thesame answer for either. You just have to go through the opposite of what they say."
Yurinoki looked confused, "You'll have to explain that a little better some time," she observed ahead and gasped, "Look! We're getting near the end!"
They both saw a flicker of light, probably from a torch, at the very end of the tunnel. Yousoyama must be there.
* * * *
"Ewwww ewwww ewwww!"
"Would you stop complaining, Kuwabara?" Yusuke growled in a frustrated tone as Kuwabara tried to wipe the blood off of himself.
Yusuke sighed and diverted his attention tothe tunnel ahead,and noticed someone else there. He eyed the figure closely, "Hey, it's Kurama! Oi, Kurama!"
Kurama looked over, "Huh?" He recognised who had called him, "Yusuke," he ran over.
"Are you okay, Kurama?" Kuwabara asked, sensing Kurama's energy lower thanit had been when they had entered.
Kurama nodded, "Listen, Hiei is in trouble."
Yusuke's eyes widened, "What?"
"His energy is going down," Kurama continued, "We have to find him-"
"HELP US!" cried Yurinoki as she and Chunzhu were running from the living dead, attracted to them when they had slayed several demons and let their blood pool onto the ground. Yurinoki flung her hand back as a gust of wind temporarily knocked them over, and Chunzhu tried her best to chop them apart with her elbow blades.
"Zhu! Yurinoki! Over here!" Yusuke called.
They ran up to them, and Kurama twirled his Rose Whip around his head as thorns flew from it, killing them all in one blow. Chunzhu and Yurinoki sighed in relief.
"You look a little hurt," Yurinoki laid a hand on his shoulder, "Will you be fine?"
Kurama nodded, "Come on, we have to save Hiei!" he said as they all continued to run.