Disclaimer: I don't own any Yu Yu Hakusho characters, I'm only borrowing them.
Thank you to my one and only reviewer so far – Yavie Aelinel! I'm hoping to update frequently.
CHAPTER 2: THE TOURNAMENT
"The tournament rules don't necessarily state that the loser has to die, Yusuke," chided Botan softly as Team Urameshi stood at the arena entrance before a roaring crowd. "It's up to the winner to determine if he wants to deliver a coup de grace once his opponent is down."
"Yeah, well if that pile of demon bodies outside is anything to go by, I still say it's another fight to the death. Hey, what's his problem?" Yusuke nodded to the Mist Master, who was standing in the middle of the arena accepting the crowd's ovation. The dwarfish grey humanoid figure was yelling and gesticulating at the judges' platform. One of the judges descended from the platform to confer with the irate troll.
"Well, it looks like there's a little difference of opinion going on, so let's go find a nice place to regroup." Suggested Botan brightly, as she led the way over to some benches set up against the arena edge. Shrugging, Yusuke shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and followed, Kuwabara next with Kurama and a silent Hiei bringing up the rear.
As the crowd noise died down, the hairy MC got back on the microphone as the black robed judge left the Mist Master team, which trailed back to the opposite side of the arena and settled on some benches there.
"Sorry for the delay, folks. We had a challenge to the judges' decision, but our ruling stands. The last round will be fought in single hand-to- hand combat, and to start things off with a bang, we've decided to let the two team leaders duke it out first. So let's have the Mist Master himself, and Yusuke Urameshi to the center of the arena."
Yusuke dropped his jacket on the ground and stepped confidently into the ring, pausing as Botan caught his sleeve. "Yusuke, wait! I haven't had a chance to brief you on your opponent."
Yusuke pulled away. "No problem, Botan. The guy looks like E.T. How hard can it be?" He grinned and sprinted toward the center ring where the squat, bewrinkled demon waited.
"Oh!" Botan stamped her foot. "Why won't he ever listen?"
"Don't worry," Kuwabara consoled. "Yusuke's tough. He won't let some ugly little punk like that get the best of him."
"Still," said Kurama, stepping forward to stand near Botan, eyes on the field, "It's always best to go into battle prepared. Wouldn't you agree, Hiei?" he asked politely.
Hiei made a harrumphing noise that Kurama took as agreement.
In the middle of the arena, Yusuke and the diminutive Mist Master squared off. The MC quickly recapped the rules (there weren't any besides he-who- pounds-his-opponent-into-the-ground-first-to-the-point-where-he-can't-get- up-anymore wins) and the fight began.
Yusuke stood still, arrogantly waiting for the little troll to come to him. The Mist Master narrowed his eyes and began circling around, but Yusuke merely pivoted, so he was always facing his opponent. Then Yusuke, impatient, sprang forward with his fist. The troll parried as best he could with his wooden staff, but ended up being knocked backward. He jumped back to his feet and spat out a curse.
"What did he say?" Asked Kuwabara.
"He's cursing in Demonish," Kurama informed him. "It's a dialect used by the lowest form of demon."
"Don't all demons speak Japanese?"
"Ah, no." Kurama explained patiently. "Demons have their own languages just as humans do, but when they interact with humans they speak human language."
Back in the ring, Yusuke attacked again, battering the troll until it rolled back intentionally and pointed its staff at Yusuke.
"What're you gonna do, hit me with your stick?" Yelled the younger fighter derisively. That was when half the arena went grey as a thick, dirty mist poured out of the staff and enveloped Yusuke and his surroundings.
"I was afraid of this." Sighed Botan.
"What? Where'd Yusuke go?" Kuwabara squinted at the clouds where his friend had just been.
"The files on this particular team are sketchy, but the Mist Master's tactics have been recorded. He likes to cover his fighting zone with mist then literally stab his opponent in the back."
"With what?" Asked Kuwabara. "I didn't see any weapons on him except for that little stick of his."
Botan shifted her weight uneasily. "That's just it, the records are unclear. No one's ever come out of the mist alive to tell the tale."
"Yusuke'll make it out." Kuwabara asserted defiantly.
Meanwhile, inside the mist, Yusuke was not as confident. "Oh man, I hate not being able to see." The watery air was like a live thing, billowing, constantly moving to keep him disoriented. There was a quick flash to the right, but as Yusuke pivoted to face it, it disappeared, and all the while an evil chuckling noise surrounded him.
Unwilling to use up spirit gun bullets, Yusuke shifted this way and that, uneasily, until Slash! A blade, quivering with spirit energy, sliced by his side, narrowly missing his arm. Yusuke jumped, then jumped again as another blade slid through his sleeve and left a three inch long scratch along his bicep.
'So that's it,' thought Yusuke. 'You slice your opponent down to size, slowly weakening him until you can get the drop on him. Well, that's not going to happen to me.' Pivoting quickly, he pointed his finger to where the last attack had occurred, and blasted away, but the chuckling, if anything, grew louder. He'd missed.
The attacks came quicker then, more furious in their timing and depth of cuts. By the end of ten minutes Yusuke was beginning to think that the screams he'd heard from the Mist Master's last opponent had been ones of frustration. Though the cuts were annoying, they weren't fatal. It was the anticipation of more to come and not being able to see where they were coming from that made Yusuke want to scream too.
Then came the near fatal stab that almost ended it. Yusuke decided to stand completely still, even when his instincts told him to move aside, hoping that he'd be able to get a bead on where the troll was. The knife got him in the lower back, along the bottom rib cage, and only a quick twisting away saved him as the knife quested for the soft tissue between the ribs.
Yusuke clapped his hand to the wound and sat down. 'Any more like that and I'm done.' He couldn't believe after all he'd gone through in the dark tournament, that he was about to be beaten by a fog machine with a knife. 'Genkai would have my hide for this.' He thought to himself, remembering his trainer with the usual mixture of loss, admiration, and exasperation that the thought of her always created. His training time with her had been sheer torture, but it had worked.
'Get up, you lazy moron' That's what she'd say. Yusuke forced himself to his feet, and thought about what she'd say next. 'Do something useful.' But what? 'Concentrate.' It was her favorite admonition. So that's what he did. Yusuke stood stalk still, shut his eyes, and reached out with his mind, and just like that, he found the troll. The little demon was creeping up from behind. Yusuke remained absolutely still, but when the troll lunged at his back he folded over at the waist, pointed his spirit gun, and shot, aiming upside down between his legs.
The troll, an expression of disbelief, caught the spirit energy at point blank range right in the chest, and fell over, dead.
Yusuke had just enough time to straighten up as the mist dissipated.
"Yusuke!" Botan yelled, attracting his attention.
Realizing that in the battle he'd ended up facing the opposing team's side of the arena, Yusuke turned toward her voice, but not before he'd seen the shock on the face of the two male demons left on the Mist Master's team. As for the small female, who could tell what she was feeling with those bangs coming down past her nose? Yusuke waved at Botan and jogged over to his teammates as the MC announced his win.
"And Yusuke Urameshi wins! That's one point for Team Urameshi and zero points for the Mist Master's team."
A cacophony of cheers, boos, and catcalls met this announcement.
"Yusuke, you're hurt!" Exclaimed Botan.
"It's nothing." Yusuke lied, every step of his jog sending splinters of pain through his back.
"Even so, you should let Botan look at it," Kurama's green eyes missed nothing, and Yusuke nodded, reluctantly allowing Botan to lead him to a bench, scolding him.
"You should have let me warn you about that one, Yusuke! The Mist Master team is known for its dirty tricks. They like to use team work to soften up their opponents with small cuts to tire them out, then they move in for the kill with either brute force or slashing."
"Ah, leave him alone, Botan." Kuwabara addressed Yusuke next. "I knew you'd make it." He said, strutting up and down before the benches. "Team Urameshi always wins, because we're the roughest, toughest, bestest..."
"They're calling your name, you idiot." Hiei observed sourly.
"Huh?"
"Last call for Kuwabara of Team Urameshi" The MC's voice bellowed. "It's Kuwabara verses Hammer Hands."
Kuwabara whirled and ran out to the field. "Coming! I'm coming!" He stopped just before running into the mountain of muscle standing impassively in the center field. The demon was twice as tall as Kuwabara, who could have fit quite easily into one leg of his trousers. Over the trousers was a barrel of a chest barely covered by an animal skin vest, topped by a round head, shaved except for a small patch of lank pale hair, just enough for a rat tail of a pony tale hanging down to the demon's neck. Its eyes were small, close-set, and curiously expressionless.
Kuwabara swallowed. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall, I always say." He joked, but the giant before him showed no reaction.
"And now, let the fight begin. Remember, boys, the last one standing, wins!" The MC bellowed.
Hammer Hands shifted his head, focused on Kuwabara, and transforming his hands into barrel-like masses of solid flesh, attempted to flatten him.
Kuwabara leapt out of the way and drew his spirit sword. Pound! came down the hands, over and over, as Kuwabara kept retreating. He managed to land a few blows with the spirit sword, and even danced around the back of the demon to catch him on the rear, trying to enrage him into making a mistake, but the demon seemed incapable of rage or any other emotion. It was like trying to fight a factory machine that just kept pounding down with monotonous regularity.
Eventually, Kuwabara grew tired. The spirit sword disappeared as one of the hammers of flesh caught him in the shoulder. He managed to last another few rounds, but eventually tripped and went down under a series of punishing blows.
Botan gave a little shriek and clutched a worried Yusuke's arm while Kurama and Hiei watched silently.
The massive demon raised a meaty fist high above his head, his pony tail lifting slightly in the breeze, and prepared to bring the hammer down on Kuwabara's unconscious form when he paused, as if distracted, and looked toward his team mates. The thin demon in black and purple gestured at him impatiently to finish it, while the girl stood impassive save for one finger twitching nervously at her side. As the demon hesitated, the MC came on the microphone.
"And I'd say that's a definite win for the late Mist Master's team. That's one point for the Mist Masters and zero for Team Urameshi, bringing the score to a one to one tie. Let's hear it for the demon side!"
As the crowd of demons screamed, shrieked, and growled their approval, the huge demon glanced around, distracted from his prey, and ambled back to his team.
"That was curious." Muttered Kurama as Botan and Yusuke, his wound forgotten, ran out to drag Kuwabara back to their side.
"You saw it too, then?" Hiei stood, arms crossed, next to Kurama.
"Yes, though I'm not entirely sure what it means. Still, Kuwabara will live, and that should please Yusuke."
"Hrmph." Was Hiei's only response.
TO BE CONTINUED
Please review! I'd especially like to know if the fight scenes sounded believable. Were the moves easy to picture? Was there too much detail or not enough? It's difficult to know how much detail/description to go into without losing the momentum of the action. I'd appreciate reader feedback on this!
Thank you to my one and only reviewer so far – Yavie Aelinel! I'm hoping to update frequently.
CHAPTER 2: THE TOURNAMENT
"The tournament rules don't necessarily state that the loser has to die, Yusuke," chided Botan softly as Team Urameshi stood at the arena entrance before a roaring crowd. "It's up to the winner to determine if he wants to deliver a coup de grace once his opponent is down."
"Yeah, well if that pile of demon bodies outside is anything to go by, I still say it's another fight to the death. Hey, what's his problem?" Yusuke nodded to the Mist Master, who was standing in the middle of the arena accepting the crowd's ovation. The dwarfish grey humanoid figure was yelling and gesticulating at the judges' platform. One of the judges descended from the platform to confer with the irate troll.
"Well, it looks like there's a little difference of opinion going on, so let's go find a nice place to regroup." Suggested Botan brightly, as she led the way over to some benches set up against the arena edge. Shrugging, Yusuke shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and followed, Kuwabara next with Kurama and a silent Hiei bringing up the rear.
As the crowd noise died down, the hairy MC got back on the microphone as the black robed judge left the Mist Master team, which trailed back to the opposite side of the arena and settled on some benches there.
"Sorry for the delay, folks. We had a challenge to the judges' decision, but our ruling stands. The last round will be fought in single hand-to- hand combat, and to start things off with a bang, we've decided to let the two team leaders duke it out first. So let's have the Mist Master himself, and Yusuke Urameshi to the center of the arena."
Yusuke dropped his jacket on the ground and stepped confidently into the ring, pausing as Botan caught his sleeve. "Yusuke, wait! I haven't had a chance to brief you on your opponent."
Yusuke pulled away. "No problem, Botan. The guy looks like E.T. How hard can it be?" He grinned and sprinted toward the center ring where the squat, bewrinkled demon waited.
"Oh!" Botan stamped her foot. "Why won't he ever listen?"
"Don't worry," Kuwabara consoled. "Yusuke's tough. He won't let some ugly little punk like that get the best of him."
"Still," said Kurama, stepping forward to stand near Botan, eyes on the field, "It's always best to go into battle prepared. Wouldn't you agree, Hiei?" he asked politely.
Hiei made a harrumphing noise that Kurama took as agreement.
In the middle of the arena, Yusuke and the diminutive Mist Master squared off. The MC quickly recapped the rules (there weren't any besides he-who- pounds-his-opponent-into-the-ground-first-to-the-point-where-he-can't-get- up-anymore wins) and the fight began.
Yusuke stood still, arrogantly waiting for the little troll to come to him. The Mist Master narrowed his eyes and began circling around, but Yusuke merely pivoted, so he was always facing his opponent. Then Yusuke, impatient, sprang forward with his fist. The troll parried as best he could with his wooden staff, but ended up being knocked backward. He jumped back to his feet and spat out a curse.
"What did he say?" Asked Kuwabara.
"He's cursing in Demonish," Kurama informed him. "It's a dialect used by the lowest form of demon."
"Don't all demons speak Japanese?"
"Ah, no." Kurama explained patiently. "Demons have their own languages just as humans do, but when they interact with humans they speak human language."
Back in the ring, Yusuke attacked again, battering the troll until it rolled back intentionally and pointed its staff at Yusuke.
"What're you gonna do, hit me with your stick?" Yelled the younger fighter derisively. That was when half the arena went grey as a thick, dirty mist poured out of the staff and enveloped Yusuke and his surroundings.
"I was afraid of this." Sighed Botan.
"What? Where'd Yusuke go?" Kuwabara squinted at the clouds where his friend had just been.
"The files on this particular team are sketchy, but the Mist Master's tactics have been recorded. He likes to cover his fighting zone with mist then literally stab his opponent in the back."
"With what?" Asked Kuwabara. "I didn't see any weapons on him except for that little stick of his."
Botan shifted her weight uneasily. "That's just it, the records are unclear. No one's ever come out of the mist alive to tell the tale."
"Yusuke'll make it out." Kuwabara asserted defiantly.
Meanwhile, inside the mist, Yusuke was not as confident. "Oh man, I hate not being able to see." The watery air was like a live thing, billowing, constantly moving to keep him disoriented. There was a quick flash to the right, but as Yusuke pivoted to face it, it disappeared, and all the while an evil chuckling noise surrounded him.
Unwilling to use up spirit gun bullets, Yusuke shifted this way and that, uneasily, until Slash! A blade, quivering with spirit energy, sliced by his side, narrowly missing his arm. Yusuke jumped, then jumped again as another blade slid through his sleeve and left a three inch long scratch along his bicep.
'So that's it,' thought Yusuke. 'You slice your opponent down to size, slowly weakening him until you can get the drop on him. Well, that's not going to happen to me.' Pivoting quickly, he pointed his finger to where the last attack had occurred, and blasted away, but the chuckling, if anything, grew louder. He'd missed.
The attacks came quicker then, more furious in their timing and depth of cuts. By the end of ten minutes Yusuke was beginning to think that the screams he'd heard from the Mist Master's last opponent had been ones of frustration. Though the cuts were annoying, they weren't fatal. It was the anticipation of more to come and not being able to see where they were coming from that made Yusuke want to scream too.
Then came the near fatal stab that almost ended it. Yusuke decided to stand completely still, even when his instincts told him to move aside, hoping that he'd be able to get a bead on where the troll was. The knife got him in the lower back, along the bottom rib cage, and only a quick twisting away saved him as the knife quested for the soft tissue between the ribs.
Yusuke clapped his hand to the wound and sat down. 'Any more like that and I'm done.' He couldn't believe after all he'd gone through in the dark tournament, that he was about to be beaten by a fog machine with a knife. 'Genkai would have my hide for this.' He thought to himself, remembering his trainer with the usual mixture of loss, admiration, and exasperation that the thought of her always created. His training time with her had been sheer torture, but it had worked.
'Get up, you lazy moron' That's what she'd say. Yusuke forced himself to his feet, and thought about what she'd say next. 'Do something useful.' But what? 'Concentrate.' It was her favorite admonition. So that's what he did. Yusuke stood stalk still, shut his eyes, and reached out with his mind, and just like that, he found the troll. The little demon was creeping up from behind. Yusuke remained absolutely still, but when the troll lunged at his back he folded over at the waist, pointed his spirit gun, and shot, aiming upside down between his legs.
The troll, an expression of disbelief, caught the spirit energy at point blank range right in the chest, and fell over, dead.
Yusuke had just enough time to straighten up as the mist dissipated.
"Yusuke!" Botan yelled, attracting his attention.
Realizing that in the battle he'd ended up facing the opposing team's side of the arena, Yusuke turned toward her voice, but not before he'd seen the shock on the face of the two male demons left on the Mist Master's team. As for the small female, who could tell what she was feeling with those bangs coming down past her nose? Yusuke waved at Botan and jogged over to his teammates as the MC announced his win.
"And Yusuke Urameshi wins! That's one point for Team Urameshi and zero points for the Mist Master's team."
A cacophony of cheers, boos, and catcalls met this announcement.
"Yusuke, you're hurt!" Exclaimed Botan.
"It's nothing." Yusuke lied, every step of his jog sending splinters of pain through his back.
"Even so, you should let Botan look at it," Kurama's green eyes missed nothing, and Yusuke nodded, reluctantly allowing Botan to lead him to a bench, scolding him.
"You should have let me warn you about that one, Yusuke! The Mist Master team is known for its dirty tricks. They like to use team work to soften up their opponents with small cuts to tire them out, then they move in for the kill with either brute force or slashing."
"Ah, leave him alone, Botan." Kuwabara addressed Yusuke next. "I knew you'd make it." He said, strutting up and down before the benches. "Team Urameshi always wins, because we're the roughest, toughest, bestest..."
"They're calling your name, you idiot." Hiei observed sourly.
"Huh?"
"Last call for Kuwabara of Team Urameshi" The MC's voice bellowed. "It's Kuwabara verses Hammer Hands."
Kuwabara whirled and ran out to the field. "Coming! I'm coming!" He stopped just before running into the mountain of muscle standing impassively in the center field. The demon was twice as tall as Kuwabara, who could have fit quite easily into one leg of his trousers. Over the trousers was a barrel of a chest barely covered by an animal skin vest, topped by a round head, shaved except for a small patch of lank pale hair, just enough for a rat tail of a pony tale hanging down to the demon's neck. Its eyes were small, close-set, and curiously expressionless.
Kuwabara swallowed. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall, I always say." He joked, but the giant before him showed no reaction.
"And now, let the fight begin. Remember, boys, the last one standing, wins!" The MC bellowed.
Hammer Hands shifted his head, focused on Kuwabara, and transforming his hands into barrel-like masses of solid flesh, attempted to flatten him.
Kuwabara leapt out of the way and drew his spirit sword. Pound! came down the hands, over and over, as Kuwabara kept retreating. He managed to land a few blows with the spirit sword, and even danced around the back of the demon to catch him on the rear, trying to enrage him into making a mistake, but the demon seemed incapable of rage or any other emotion. It was like trying to fight a factory machine that just kept pounding down with monotonous regularity.
Eventually, Kuwabara grew tired. The spirit sword disappeared as one of the hammers of flesh caught him in the shoulder. He managed to last another few rounds, but eventually tripped and went down under a series of punishing blows.
Botan gave a little shriek and clutched a worried Yusuke's arm while Kurama and Hiei watched silently.
The massive demon raised a meaty fist high above his head, his pony tail lifting slightly in the breeze, and prepared to bring the hammer down on Kuwabara's unconscious form when he paused, as if distracted, and looked toward his team mates. The thin demon in black and purple gestured at him impatiently to finish it, while the girl stood impassive save for one finger twitching nervously at her side. As the demon hesitated, the MC came on the microphone.
"And I'd say that's a definite win for the late Mist Master's team. That's one point for the Mist Masters and zero for Team Urameshi, bringing the score to a one to one tie. Let's hear it for the demon side!"
As the crowd of demons screamed, shrieked, and growled their approval, the huge demon glanced around, distracted from his prey, and ambled back to his team.
"That was curious." Muttered Kurama as Botan and Yusuke, his wound forgotten, ran out to drag Kuwabara back to their side.
"You saw it too, then?" Hiei stood, arms crossed, next to Kurama.
"Yes, though I'm not entirely sure what it means. Still, Kuwabara will live, and that should please Yusuke."
"Hrmph." Was Hiei's only response.
TO BE CONTINUED
Please review! I'd especially like to know if the fight scenes sounded believable. Were the moves easy to picture? Was there too much detail or not enough? It's difficult to know how much detail/description to go into without losing the momentum of the action. I'd appreciate reader feedback on this!