^_^ I found the hard part about working with other people's characters in the last chapter. Apparently I got Ki-Rokey right on the bat, but since I only gave a small hint of Rai and Sayona I didn't quite get all of it. It'll show up better in these next few chapters, during their teammate's bouts. And forget anything you've heard about Kuwabara not fighting girls. It makes this story way to hard to write.
As a note, if you know Japanese, your team name gives a hint to what field you'll be fighting on. For those of you who just hopped the bandwagon and don't know what a field is…well, you'll see. ^_^ Also, if you've forgotten what character you submitted…so have I. I just have the character bios printed out here, without the creator's names. Oops.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the official YYH characters, nor do I own Ki-Rokey, Rai or Sayona, whom belong to their various owners. And once again, I do not own Sad. Sad owns Sad. However, Misato, Luna, Kin and Anbu all belong to me, so please don't use them.
P.S. - You can really tell I'm from the south, can't you? My writing has such a kansai accent. -_-'…
The Tomuraigassen Tournament
Chapter 4: Fight in the Forest Begins
"Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for the delay! But now, without further ado, I'm proud to begin the first match of the Tomuraigassen Tournament!"
"Here we go." Misato sighed, standing from her chair.
She and the rest of the Urameshi Team were waiting in a small team room just inside the tournament stadium. Said stadium was over a mile long on each side, and they could hear the ugly clamor of the apparition's shouts and yells above and around them. But none of them had even caught a glimpse of the ring.
"Now for the first match-up of Round 1!" Sad's voice floated over the speakers. "Our first competitors are Team Sougen…" there was a round of applause as their opponents entered the stadium. "Versus Team Urameshi!"
"Here we go." Yusuke muttered as the door opened. The team entered in a very guard-like formation, then gasped at what they saw.
The ring, if you could call it that, was raised five feet off the ground just like the one at the Dark Tournament had been. But it was about twice as large, at least half a mile squared, and was covered with such a thick mess of trees that the only reason they could see their opposing team was on large screens over the middle of the ring, and each side of the seating areas. There was about fifty feet around the ring that was open for the team members who weren't fighting to wait.
"What the…?" Kuwabara gasped. His and his teammate's looks of surprise was multiplied on one half of the many screens around the stadium. The other half showed Team Sougen, most of whom had their mouths open in identical shock.
"I see you're all very surprised at the sate of our first ring." heads snapped around. Sad was sitting in a small announcer's booth positioned directly in the middle of the right side of the ring, far enough not to be hit by to much carnage but close enough to get all the action and ring-side commentary. Her microphone was mounted on a headphone set so she could easily hear everything directly from the tournament committee. "Well, if you'll just be patient a moment I'll be happy to explain."
Her calm, unemotional face appeared on screen, the crowd being relatively quiet to hear what she had to say. "You see…" the dark brown eyes opened. "The Tomuraigassen Tournament has its own special twist that puts it above all those other demonic tournament brackets. Each of the four rounds of battle will be fought on four different kinds of fields."
A diagram appeared on the screen, showing tournament lineup chart. This time each row of brackets was highlighted a different color. The first eight were green. Above them, the next four were a dark brown. Above that, the two semifinal matches were colored blue, and then the one final match bracket was gray. Neatly written white kanji listed each color separately as Sad started up again.
"As you can see, the first eight fights of Round 1 will be fought here on the Forest field!" she announced, eyes glowing once again in that annoying little twinkle. "Half a mile of nothing but dense trees, the first problem is to find your one-on-one opponent! Round 2 is based in the Labyrinth field. A battle royale in an almost endless maze, the last team standing wins! The semifinals are on the water field, and I'll just let you use your imagination for that one! And last but not least, the final round is based on a regular, no-tricks, straight fighting arena!"
"Hn." Hiei groaned. "What a waste of time."
"I think it's a rather interesting." Kurama muttered. "These different fields will make it more difficult to decide lineups. One fighter that has an advantage in a straight-forward match may be seriously disadvantaged on a less level playing field. We'll have to make our moves very carefully."
"Now without further ado, let the first match begin!" Sad exclaimed. The screen cleared and two names appeared at the top. "Round 1, one-on-one fighting! A fighter stays in the ring through multiple opponents until they are struck down. Last team with a member able to fight is the winner! Since trees tend to block the fighting view, we'll be watching this round mostly on these screens conveniently set up around the stadium.
"First match up, Team Sougen versus Team Urameshi! Teams, send out your first fighters!"
From somewhere cameras zoomed in on the two teams, showing their conferencing on either side of the huge screens. Before the Urameshi Team could even react Ki-Rokey stepped up.
"I'm going first!" she insisted, tossing her hair back. The rest of her team seamed to have no complaints and the stadium burst into applause.
"Looks likes that's decided." Yusuke muttered. "So what about us?"
"I'll take that little twerp!" Kuwabara insisted, heading for the arena. "This fight is mine!"
"Wait, Kuwabara!" Misato exclaimed. "Let's think about this a…"
Too late. Kuwabara had already scrambled up the side and was already in the ring. The rest of his team sighed. "He's stubborn." Luna noted.
"He's a fool." Hiei sniffed.
"I thought you said Ki-Rokey wasn't a good fighter." Yusuke glanced at the three-eyed fire demon.
"Even she is better than Kuwabara." Hiei growled. "I'd give him five minutes. Tops."
Kurama gave the girls an awkward smile. "He never gives Kuwabara much credit. I'm sure he'll last longer than that. He might even win."
"Even if he does win this round, he will loose eventually." Luna's eyes were trained on the images on-screen, thinking quietly. "And when he does I suggest we use this forest field to our advantage."
"Whattya mean?" Yusuke asked.
"Think about it." Luna put a hand on her hip. "This field is made of trees, good for hiding but not for a straight-forward fighter. But we've got one fighter on this team that'll have a distinct advantage here that could give us a lead."
"Only one?" Hiei asked as Misato's eyes lit up.
"Oh!" she gasped. "That's right! Kurama!"
The fox demon looked rather confused at the thought. Luna just nodded sagely and gave him a sideways glance. "Your specialty is plant weapons, isn't it?" she asked calmly. "They'd get a great power up from the greenery in this forest field. That would be our biggest advantage."
"Before we start planning, why don't we just see how Kuwabara does first." Yusuke nodded up towards the ring. The group very grudgingly turned to look up at it.
The orange-haired fighter was standing just outside of the mass of trees, tense in his usual fighting position. They could see Ki-Rokey on the other side of the screen, hands in the pockets of her sweatshirt and rocking impatiently back and forth, waiting for the ref to start.
"Then it's decided!" Sad announced as two names appeared temporarily on-screen with the fighter's pictures. "The first fight will be Kuwabara versus Ki-Rokey! Fighters ready…Begin!"
Ki-Rokey jumped right in, ready and rarin' to fight. Kuwabara cracked his knuckles. "Stupid trees…" he muttered to himself. "I'll just have to take care of 'em."
He held both hands in front of him, concentrating all his energy. With a shout of "Spirit…Sword!" the orange fire-blade appeared between his fists.
"Ooh." Misato muttered. "He's more than he looks."
"But not much more." Luna growled.
"Go for it, Kuwabara!" Botan cheered from the crowd.
"Don't get killed, bro." Shizuru called down. "Remember that last little kid and don't let your guard down."
Kuwabara charged into the trees, knocking his shoulders and arms and legs against the branches and closed-in trunks. There was barely two feet of space between each plant, not a good thing for the bulky Kuwabara. Ki-Rokey, on the other hand, was using her advantage wonderfully, leaping from branch to branch in the trees as they followed each other's energy.
Kuwabara slid to a stop in more or less the center of the ring, looking wildly around. "That's twerp's here…I know it!" he growled. "Where…where?"
"Up here." came a giggle from behind, and next thing he knew he was flat against a tree, winded as his opponent took to the air again, laughing wildly.
"And Kuwabara is down!" Sad announced over a cheering crowd. "Ki-Rokey's flying kick from the back of the head really knocked him for a loop, but he's stumbling back to his feet as I speak!"
"Can't catch me. Can't catch me." Ki-Rokey taunted, making herself just barely visible to the stumbling Kuwabara. She seamed to be almost as fast as Hiei, or at least Rinku. "How do you expect to win if you can hardly move?"
"Damn this brat…" the fighter cursed. "Damn these trees…"
"Kuwabara's completely overwhelmed!" Sad announced. "With Ki-Rokey's speed and agility through the trees, she's running rings around the larger competitor!"
"Get back here, brat!" Kuwabara suddenly roared, swinging his sword down. Ki-Rokey leapt out of the way, but he kept going and slashed down again and again.
It took a few moments for it to register with everyone at what he was doing. "Amazing!" Sad exclaimed. "It seams that Kuwabara is using his Spirit Sword to cut down the trees around him! Maybe now he'll actually be able to move!"
Already three trees had fallen from their roots around the angered human and he was still working on each one Ki-Rokey jumped too. Luna's eyes narrowed and Misato looked completely confused. "Is he…a genius or an idiot?" she asked pointedly.
"The later." Hiei growled.
"What're you, nuts?!" Ki-Rokey exclaimed. She jumped backwards as the tree she had been in seconds before fell. "This idiot…what is he thinking?!"
"Gotacha!"
Ki-Rokey looked up, just in time to see Kuwabara's two fists, still tight around the Spirit Sword, as they came down together just at the back of her neck. The girl hit the bare ground, bounced once, then crashed into a tree, groaning in pain.
"Now Ki-Rokey's the one who's down!" Sad announced. "Did Kuwabara actually plan to push her back into his range, or is it just a stroke of luck?"
Ki-Rokey stumbled up to her feet. Kuwabara barely gave her a chance to get up before knocking her back again with a kick to the stomach. Ki-Rokey dropped to her knees, groaning in a bit of pain.
"I don't wanna hurt ya too much." Kuwabara muttered down to her. "Now that you're out of the trees, you don't stand a chance. Just stay on the ground, kid, and let someone else take over."
Ki-Rokey stared at the ground a moment, then closed her eyes. "Might as well." she chuckled to herself.
"Hm?" Kuwabara was confused. "That mean you give up?"
"Not a chance, ape." Ki-Rokey stood. "I wasn't planning to use this weapon in the tournament, just 'cause I wanted to be serious. But you're not worth wasting my real special technique, so…"
She reached into the pocket of her sweatshirt and pulled out a something that looked like a little rubber mallet. Hiei raised an eyebrow. "She's still using that thing?"
"You must be kidding!" Kuwabara laughed. "You think that little thing can help you against my Spirit Sword?!"
Ki-Rokey gave a good-natured smirk, then the mallet suddenly flashed with spirit energy. When you could see it again she was holding it in two hands, the wood handle was about two feet long and an inch thick, while the head was almost cartoonishly large, with a diameter of about eight inches.
Sad was as taken aback as the rest of the audience, then regained her composure and started up again. "It seams Ki-Rokey has revealed some kind of…huge mallet…This is like some Saturday morning cartoon!"
Kurama, Yusuke, Misato and Luna blinked in confusion, turning to Hiei for some kind of explanation. "The smaller size is only an illusion." the demon muttered grumpily. "It's so she can carry it with her. There's a switch on the side that removes the spell for the full-sized version."
On the other side of the stadium Rai grinned. "This should be interesting." he laughed good-naturedly. "Once she pulls that out it's hard for anyone to take her seriously…A mistake they'll soon regret."
Ki-Rokey leapt forward before Kuwabara could react and knocked the taller fighter up the side of the head. Kuwabara stumbled back, recomposing himself just before it came down again. This time it was blocked by the glowing Spirit Sword before it could connect.
"And Ki-Rokey continues to swing with her unusual weapon, countering each of Kuwabara's swipes with his sword!" the announcer exclaimed. "This is getting either exciting or ridiculous, I can't tell which!"
You could see an odd glint in Ki-Rokey's eyes as she jumped back, this time farther back into the trees. "Don't think you're getting away that easily!!" Kuwabara raged, plunging after her with the same technique as before.
"He is a buffoon." Luna growled.
"Hn." Hiei glanced over at her. "Finally, someone I can agree with."
"It seams Kuwabara is cutting his way through the trees once again!" Sad announced. "But Ki-Rokey doesn't seam to be bothered at all, she just keeps moving! They're almost at the edge of the ring!"
That seamed to be just what Ki-Rokey wanted to hear. She slid to a stop just before the last tree, then lunged at Kuwabara with her mallet. "Is that the best you can do?!" he roared, blocking with his sword.
Ki-Rokey grinned, pressing her mallet forward into the sword. Using it as leverage, she jumped off the trunk of the tree behind her to position herself just above her opponent, thrusting the palm of her hand into his face.
"Left yourself wide open." she laughed. "Spirit Shot!"
Kuwabara's senses were suddenly thrown for a loop with a blast of light and spirit energy. "And Ki-Rokey knocks Kuwabara away with some kind of…energy blast!"
"Ah, I see." Kurama nodded. "A blast similar to Yusuke's Spirit Gun. Just a little less power, from the looks of it."
But that little power was all Ki-Rokey needed. In a couple of seconds she landed behind the reeling Kuwabara, pulled her mallet back behind her head and struck the fighter in the back with all her might. The boy went flying out, past the last tree, out of the ring and into the stadium wall fifty feet away.
"Ki-Rokey has knocked Kuwabara out of the ring!" Sad announced. "In accordance to tournament rules, I'll begin the count! One…Two…"
"Get up, Kuwabara!" Yusuke yelled. "What the hell are you doing?! Get back in the ring!"
"No good." Luna sighed calmly. "He's out cold."
"Three…Four…Five…"
On the other side of the stadium, Sayona laughed quietly. "Do you still think she's such an offset?" she asked sweetly, looking back at Anbu.
The demon was sitting against the wall, calmly reading a book. She looked up at the team leader's voice. "I suppose." she sneered. "But it really doesn't take much to take down a human, especially a stupid one."
"I suppose you'd know, wouldn't you?" Rai said, turning his eyes to the sky as Kin glared daggers at him.
"Six…Seven…Eight…"
"Kuwabara!" Yusuke was now right next to the other boy. He hoisted him up by his collar and slapped him a few times. "This isn't the time, you idiot, wake up!"
"Nine…" Sad took a deep breath before swinging her arm down for the final count. "Ten! Ki-Rokey wins the match by a ring-out!"
The board flashed to a chart. Kuwabara's picture darkened, an X appeared under the Team Urameshi name, while and O popped up under the Team Sougen label, still displaying a smiling Ki-Rokey.
"Well, he lasted longer than you thought, Hiei." Misato shrugged, then glanced at the red-haired demon next to her. "…Guess you better get ready for the fight, then, huh, Kurama?"
"I suppose I must." he shrugged. "It does seam best to press our advantage in this field…"
"Ki-Rokey, please return to the position you began in outside of the trees." Sad announced. "Will the next fighter from Team Urameshi please step up?"
"Good luck." Luna sighed, patting Kurama on the back as he stepped up for the fight. "From the looks of things…You're gonna need it."
So. Team Urameshi's lost their first fight against Team Sougen, now Kurama's gonna take his chances against the playfully little Ki-Rokey, who still has a special move yet to unvail. I swear, the mallet may just be how I interpreted her form, but that's what I got out of it. And that was easily the hardest fight I've ever written. (I hate writing for Kuwabara. This was just an excuse to get him out of the next fight.) Ch. 5 should show up very soon.
Shameless self-promotion. I'm trying to think up and draw spirit beasts for each of the different YYH characters, posting them on my website. (www.geocities.com/gssigns) But so far I've only thought of Kurama's. A little help, please? Just click on Tsukassa-kitty to find it, and please help me out…please? Ch. 5 will be up ASAP!