Large clangs rang through the metallic walls causing an intense ringing to echo and continue to the higher floors.
"Whoa! What's going on? Some sort of explosion or somethin'?" asked Kuwabara in alarm.
"It seems our little friends are trying to gain our attention." said Hiei picking up his speed down the hallway. After the 93rd floor the banging grew increasingly stronger.
"What the hell are they doing? Using the walls as a drum set!" complained Yusuke. Kuwabara leaned against the wall putting his ear to it.
"Hey guys, it's coming from the other side of this wall!" he said still listening to the banging. A fist broke through the metal plated wall coming in contact with his face. The fist pulled out and left a gaping hole the metal nicely melted.
"I told you already, Sai. I can't be stopped." came a female voice from the inside of the wall. A different voice tuned in counteracting the first.
"You've spent too much time out! You're going to die!" warned Sairi.
"What do you think I want to do?" attacked Tora. Kuwabara groaned in pain sitting up from the blow. Tora looked through the hole, a malicious smile taking over her face.
"Jackpot." She stated in a psychotic tone before completely melting down the wall. The boys armed themselves and backed away to avoid the molten steel.
"Oh, come now. I promise I'll play nice."
"Tora, you stop this madness now!" shouted Sairi sending a shower of rocks towards her. Puddles of lava decorated the floor.
"Go play with a ball of yarn you overgrown kitten." Sneered Tora.
"So this is the energy source Kuwabara was talking about. Let's see how powerful you are then! Spirit Gun!" Yusuke sent a ball of concentrated energy at Tora. Tora looked over at Yusuke and smirked. Making a fireball appear she countered the attack and sent another fireball towards Yusuke.
"Holy Shit!" Yusuke yelled dodging the blast. The rest of the group jumped out of the way just in time to escape the blast of heat when the fireball came in contact with the other wall.
"Hn, no underestimating this one." Hiei said teleporting from next to Kuwabara. He appeared behind Tora ready to slash but the girl turned around and slammed a fist full of fire into his chest throwing him back. A rose whip wrapped around her throat.
"Hmph." Tora said looking over her shoulder at Kurama. The whip burst into flame spreading down to his hands and burning them badly.
"Spirit Sword get longer!" Kuwabara yelled his weapon expanding towards Tora. She simply stepped out of the way and sent a couple blasts at him the debris knocking him out. A blast of energy hit her back. Turning around she saw Yusuke standing with his hands up in the shape of a gun. Another blast came from his fingers, this one bigger. Her attempt to dodge wasn't in time and it hit her head on. The blow caused her to fly back into the attack of Hiei causing her back to be opened up. Tora fell to her knees on the ground a complete mess. Hiei brought up his sword about to strike her down.
"Yes, finally." she mumbled an insane look pasted on her face, "Sweet release." Her eyes closed in preparation.
A burst of smoke and dust filled the room obscuring everyone's vision. Two hands grabbed the fire girl and dragged her out before Hiei could move. When the dust cleared there was no trace of the girls.
"Damn, they got away." groaned Yusuke.
Tora opened her eyes and groaned. She swam to the top of the tank to bring her head out of the water.
"Ahh, Sai, you bitch. He almost killed me. You just had to interfere." She complained looking at the tank at the other end of the room with the Earth sign on it.
"Quit being stupid! Think through your actions before you go through with them! You don't seem to realize what would happen if you died, do you?" scolded Sairi also coming to the top of her tank. Kyoko slept in the middle peacefully.
"Oh, I know what would happen. I would finally escape from this god damn place!" countered Tora.
"Idiot! Quit thinking of only yourself! You're giving up too fast. Open your eyes!"
"Why! What is there to see, a false hope! What's the damn point of it! We are never going to get out of here!"
Kyoko curled up in her tank clutching her knees to her chest. The arguing girls both looked at her in realization to the fact that she was awake the whole time.
"Shit." Tora cursed submerging back down into the water. Kyoko looked up from her curled position at Tora with blank blue eyes.
"Is there really no hope?" she sent.
"Course not, kid. We'll find a way out of here." replied Tora in her head. Kyoko smiled.
"Promise you won't die?" she asked.
"I can't tell the future so promises like that can't be made, but I'll try." reassured Tora. Kyoko nodded in acceptance.
"Please, try hard." She sent before closing her eyes and falling "asleep".
"Have to…it's part of my programming." Tora mumbled in her head.
Yusuke dragged Kuwabara's limp body over to the wall and set him up. Kurama sat against the wall treating his hands the best he could with Makai herbs. He had harsh third degree burns which would put him out of fighting with his rose whip for a while.
"You sure you don't want to head back to the surface? Those burns are pretty nasty." offered Yusuke. Kurama shook his head.
"I'll be fine, just out of commission for a while. The herbs should help. Though my rose whip is no longer an option, I still have seeds." the fox reassured. Hiei had been quiet for the past hour, usually a normal thing but the blankness of his expression was questioning on what he was feeling. Finally he looked up and got to his feet. With out a word he started walking down the hallway.
"Hey, Hiei, where you going?" asked Yusuke.
"Hn, the mutants are both weak and preoccupied. I don't know about you but I'm using this to my advantage." He stated before speeding off. Kurama stood up and followed after the fire demon at a hasty speed.
"What? Hey! Don't leave me here!" Yusuke shouted after them. Looking down at Kuwabara he groaned.
"Ah, crap, can't leave you here. For all I know something might try to eat you." complained Yusuke picking up his friends body, and heading after the other two. Two red eyes shone through the darkness watching and pondering the same thing. A hollow laugh erupted from the darkness as the other six eyes opened up.
"What the hell? Ah damnit! Come on you giant vegetable! Wake up already!" demanded Yusuke shaking his friend as he tried to drag him further down the hallway. The laughing grew louder as if it was amused.
"You make me laugh, for that I'll eat you faster." teased a deep voice from over Yusuke's head. Yusuke looked up glaring but soon he was scared. Above him was something between a cross of a spider, lion, and a scorpion. The head had eight eyes and mandibles at the front of the face. A mane of course hair framed the ugly head. Eight spider legs sprouted from the side of the creature's body joined by two back legs of a lion. A tail belonging to a scorpion twitched menacingly in attack mode. Yusuke backed away a bit not taking his eyes off the thing. The monster used this and leaped towards the unconscious Kuwabara. Yusuke brought up his fingers and shot a spirit gun hitting the monster away from his injured friend. Running over Yusuke picked him up again and took off running. The monster got up and laughed again.
"Ah, yes, go ahead and run. It just makes it more fun."
A yell echoed through the antechamber. Both demons halted for a moment. Looking at each other they had a quick understanding; Hiei continued on while Kurama headed back.
Kyoko opened her eyes harshly and immediately started relaying information to the other girls in their tanks sending images into their dreams. The other girls abruptly woke up. Tora swam to the top of her tank and practically ripped off the top and all the wires attached to her. Sairi jumped out of her tank once the wires detached themselves.
"Reizo! He escaped! He escaped!" she sent.
"How long has he been out?" asked Sairi.
"I'm not sure. Hurry! He's hungry!" Kyoko stressed.
"That bastard better not kill any of my grim reapers!" Tora shouted running out the sliding door.
"We'll be back before you know." assured Sairi going after Tora. Kyoko relayed more images of Reizo giving them details on where he was located and the fact that he was after two of the intruders. This fact made them rush even more.
"Great, your boyfriend is going all super psycho! How the hell did he get out anyway? He's not supposed to leave the bottom floor!" raved Tora.
"You sound like you're blaming this on me. He's not my boyfriend. Not anymore." stated Sairi a sad look on her face. Tora looked back at her while she ran.
"Whatever, let's just kill the damn bastard. Nobody eats the people that are supposed to kill me!"
A blur passed by the girls causing Sairi to stop suddenly. It was heading toward the Womb. Tora stopped too and looked at her. Being 75 blind she hadn't noticed the blur.
"What's with the stopping?" she asked. Sairi looked back down the foyer of which they came.
"You go ahead. I have to do something." she shouted going back. Tora shrugged and went on her way.