Hey, I'm back again. Sorry I haven't updated this one in a while. I had hoped to finish this first story in the VOD chronicles before school started, but that obviously didn't happen. In any case, let's get back on track and pick up where we left off. ON WITH THE FIC!!!
BTW: For this chapter you will need to know that 'Pochi' is Japanese for 'dog,' and 'wan-chan' means 'doggy.'
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Kairi was experiencing the most indescribable and just plan odd feeling she could ever have imagined. Submerged in the goo that used to be a mirror, she felt as if she was being pulled in a hundred directions at once. She couldn't seem to get her bearings at all. It was impossible to tell whether she was moving forwards or backwards or an entirely other wards all together, or even if she was upside-down or rightside-up or somewhere in between. The light around her was intense and nauseating, forcing her to close her eyes, and the air was freezing and unbearably hot at the same time. Even the texture of the goo around her was unsure to her. Sometimes it was smooth, sometimes bumpy, sometimes wet, sometimes dry, and other times she couldn't even describe what it felt like.
Just as she felt that she couldn't take the extremities of this place for another second, she felt herself lurch forward and was suddenly in open air, just before she crashed into the cold floor.
"Are you alright?" Botan's voice came from above her.
"Just peachy," Kairi muttered as she slowly pushed herself up, blinking rapidly and still fighting off nausea.
"You might want to move," Botan warned, extending a hand to help the disoriented girl on the ground. Kairi took her hand and stood just as Sazume appeared from the mirror with a cry of surprise, landing hard on the floor in the exact spot Kairi had occupied not moments before. It wasn't long after that Kurama and Shuichi joined them, Shuichi landing on his face as Kairi and Sazume had, and Kurama managing to maintain some dignity and land in an awkward crouch. Hiei and Akira both somehow managed to land perfectly on their feet, not showing any signs that the trip had been uncomfortable at all. Genkai and Yukina had chosen to remain at the temple.
"Good, now that we're all here, follow me!" Botan said, turning to leave.
"Where exactly are we?" Kairi asked before the blue-haired deity could take a step.
"In Spirit World of course," Botan answered.
"No, I mean who's room is this? It looks like Frankenstein's mansion or something," Kairi said, looking around. Indeed, the other end of the portal they had come through was in a large room filled with tables holding all kinds of things in bottles as well as scattered pieces of high-tech equipment. A computer with a huge monitor dominated the far war. Shuichi caught sight of an eye floating in a jar. He blinked at it in curiosity, and almost had a heart attack when it blinked back.
"This is Yume's lab, you'll meet her soon, now come on. Koenma doesn't like to be kept waiting," Botan explained, leading them out of the room and down a long hallway. She turned right at the end of the hall and they found themselves before a massive set of double doors. Botan through one opened and led them inside.
"Ah, there you are, Botan," Koenma said from behind his desk. He was in toddler form with Yusuke at his right and Kuwabara standing at his left.
"YOU'RE KOENMA?!" Kairi, Sazume, and Shuichi all exclaimed at the same time, staring in disbelief at the toddler in question. Akira didn't say anything, but surprise was still evident on her face.
Yusuke and Kuwabara burst out laughing while Koenma yelled something, but none of them could hear it over the now former Spirit Detective's hysterics. Once Yusuke and Kuwabara's laughter finally subsided, Koenma cleared his throat and was all business once more.
"I hope you're not too upset over my surprise test, but I had to see what you were capable of," Koenma explained, addressing Kairi.
"Yeah, well, I'd appreciate it if you warned me next time," Kairi said quietly, still slightly shocked that the ruler of Spirit World looked like a two-year-old.
"That wasn't bad for you're first fight, Rookie," Yusuke said with a smile, coming around the desk to pat Kairi on the back.
"I'm guessing you're Yusuke, my predecessor, right?" Kairi asked.
"The one and only," Yusuke said proudly, trying to make himself look important. "Don't try to hard to be as good as me, you might hurt yourself," Yusuke added, his cocky attitude getting the better of him as it had so many times in the past.
"I don't know, Urameshi," Kuwabara said, also coming to stand by Kairi. "It shouldn't be too hard for her. I'll just be happy if she doesn't die every time I turn around."
"Shut up!" Yusuke shot back, raising a fist.
"Make me!" Kuwabara returned, ready for the fight, and there would have indeed been a fight if someone hadn't come through the door behind them just then.
"What's all the commotion about in here?"
The group all turned, Yusuke and Kuwabara clutching each other's collars, to see the strangest girl any of them had ever set eyes on. She had short, light green hair and yellow eyes. She was wearing a plain white T-shirt and black overalls with thick gloves on her hands. On her face was a pair of goggles that magnified her eyes by at least ten times, making them look absurdly big. She blinked her disproportionate eyes at them.
"Excuse me," Sazume was the first to speak, "but who are you?"
"Yume," the girl said with a smile, "Spirit World engineer!"
"So you're Yume," Kairi muttered to herself, looking over the girl again.
"What exactly does a 'Spirit World engineer' do?" Shuichi asked.
"I make all the cool little gadgets Botan is always losing," Yume answered simply.
"I didn't lose them! Yusuke did!" Botan cried in her defense, but Yume didn't seem to notice.
"And you," Yume said, turning to look at Kairi, "must be our new Spirit Detective." Kairi only nodded as Yume began to circle her, surveying her critically.
"I have to hand it to Nightmare," Yume said, more to herself then to anyone else. "They may be completely out of their minds, but they do a hell of a job. Very impressive. Oh, and here, take this," Yume added as she took a bottle of blue liquid from a pocket in her overalls and handed it to Kairi.
"What is it?" Kairi asked.
"My Normality Potion. It will make you seem like your old human self to anyone without high spirit awareness. Just take a spoon-full every morning and you should be fine. The effects last for 24 hours. A word of warning though, I haven't worked out all the bugs in it yet and your shadow might still have ears and tail, just so you know," Yume explained.
"Um...thanks," Kairi said, trying to remember everything she had just been told.
"Are you finished?" Koenma's irritated voice came from behind them.
"Yes, go ahead, sir," Yume answered as she and Botan moved to stand on either side of Koenma's desk.
"Now then," Koenma said, folding his hands in front of him, "Kairi is not the only one who's services I am recruiting."
"Let me remind you that my sentence has been served," Hiei spoke up, glaring at Koenma. "Besides that, I have other obligations now."
"I am well aware of your duties under Mukuro's supervision, Hiei," Koenma answered solemnly. "In any case, you were not the one I was talking to." Now he turned back to stare at Kairi, Sazume, and Shuichi, who were standing in the middle of the group.
"Sazume--" Koenma began, but she cut him off.
"Don't worry, I would never dream of letting Kairi do this alone," Sazume said with a smile.
"Well that makes things easier," Koenma replied. "And you, Shuichi. Genkai says that you have all the potential to become very powerful indeed. I've learned not to doubt Genkai, after all, she was the one who first put faith in Kuwabara's abilities."
Shuichi stared at the floor for a moment, unsure of what to say. He had been expecting Koenma to say something like that for the last several minutes, but now that the toddler had said it, the confused boy didn't have an answer. Finally, he came to a decision and looked up with resolution and determination in his eyes.
"I'm in too," was all he managed to say, but Koenma could tell that he meant it will all his heart.
"Very good, now as for you," now Koenma turned to Akira.
"Thanks, but I have better things to do with my time then baby-sit those three," Akira snorted, folding her arms.
"Well actually," Koenma said, taking a file from the stack on his desk and opening it, "I've had some research done on you. You have a short criminal record, very short, but a record all the same. Now, I'll give you the same deal I gave Kurama and Hiei all those years ago. You can either serve out your sentence in a cell, or confined to Tokyo in the Human World as part of Kairi's team. The choice is yours."
Akira turned to look at Kairi, Sazume, and Shuichi, who all smiled back. Slowly, she turned back to Koenma and said "You're joking, right?"
"I've never been more serious," Koenma answered, despite the fact that a smile had grown on his face.
Akira was silent, before turning to Koenma once more and asking "How long?"
"One year or Five missions, whichever comes first," Koenma answered, now visibly trying not to laugh. Akira stared at him for another moment before dropping her gaze and shaking her head.
"This is going to be a long year," she muttered as Kairi, Sazume, and Shuichi let out a cheer.
"Alright Pochi!" Kairi cried. Akira's head snapped up, her tail swishing dangerously behind her.
"What did you say?!" she growled.
"Awe come on. I let you call me 'Sparky,'" Kairi said, apparently not afraid of Akira's glare.
"I'm a wolf, not some common mutt!" Akira cried indignantly.
"Wan-chan! Wan-chan! Wan-chan!" Kairi began to chant, laughing as Akira became even more infuriated.
"SHUT UP!!!" Akira almost screamed, a vein in her forehead sticking out so far it looked like it might burst. But Kairi only continued to chant, Sazume and Shuichi joining in.
"WAN-CHAN! WAN-CHAN! WAN-CHAN!" the three of them cried.
"I'LL KILL YOU!!!" Akira shrieked as her black glove morphed into a black katana. The three new Spirit Detectives raced to the other end of the room to put Koenma's desk between them and Akira, while Koenma, Botan, and Yume abandoned the desk to seek safety with Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei.
"I think it's a good match," Koenma commented after a moment as they watched Kairi, Sazume, and Shuichi run circles around his desk, still chanting, with Akira trying desperately to land an attack on one of them. They all three stopped and elapsed into laughing fits when Akira, in her blind rage, tripped over Koenma's chair and fell face-first to the floor.