CH 8: Case the third, Zhulak and the Scimitar of the Undead

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"Yes… yes… finally, I have everything I need to take over spirit world, Koenma will regret ever having been born… and with you, I will be unstoppable… now, let's get to work… first target… Botan…"

"Yes… master……"

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"Are you serious?" said the screen of Setsuka's computer,

"Yea, he hasn't even said anything, are you sure he likes me?" she typed to the person on the other end.

"Yes, I talked to him and he told me that he liked you, I don't know why he's holding back but… maybe you should push him on a little, you know, flirt with him"

"Maybe… oh here he is, we're going to the football game bye Patty, thanks for the help" she typed and turned her computer off.

"Hi Setsuka, you ready to go to the football game?" Chris asked

"Yea! Let's go!" she said cheerily, running out the door with Chris

"Glad you were ready; we can get good seats if we get there quickly,"

"Yea, what do you have in mind?"

"I was thinking the top of the bleachers, where we always sit; it's the best place,"

"Yea, I love it up there, it's breezy and romantic" she said getting closer to Chris

"Umm yea…" he said a hint of awkwardness in his voice.

"I'm glad she's in such a good mood, it'll make it easier to tell her how I feel tonight" Chris thought

"Could Patty have been wrong? Why won't he say anything? Maybe I should make the first move… if he doesn't say anything tonight, I think I'll tell him when we walk home." Setsuka thought. They walked to the school as usual, their conversation was a little stiff with awkwardness, when they got to school they got out their tickets and walked up to the bleachers,

"Hey Setsuka! Whats up?" said Setsuka's friend, Meaghan who ran up with her date, Danny.

"Hi Meaghan! Ready for the big game?

"Yea! We're gunna whip those Nagano slackers!" she replied,

"Hey Danny, I haven't seen you since the winter formal!" Chris said to Meaghan's boyfriend

"Yea, that was one crazy dance," he replied

"Well, should we sit down?" Chris asked the group

"Yea one sec, I promised to meet Sam and Michelle here" Meaghan replied

"Oh, should we wait too Setsuka?" Chris asked her

"Sure why not, there's not to many people here, we can probably stall for another few minutes." She replied. They waited for a few minutes until two girls came running up to them.

"Hi Michelle, hi Sam, whats up?" Chris asked the two

"Oh nothing, we had a little trouble getting in, we didn't buy tickets early, so we had to pay a lot more than we should have." Michelle said to the four.

"Yea, twice as much as we should have!" Sam said slightly disgruntled,

"Are you gunna buy your tickets early now?" Meaghan asked

"Heck yes! I'm not paying this next time!" Sam said

"Ok, so are we waiting for anyone else, or can we go get our seats"

"Yea, I think this is everyone, lets go," Michelle said

"Heh, Danny, you don't know any of these people do you?" Chris asked

"No not really, just from the dance…" he said

"Here we are…" Meaghan said. They sat down and watched the first half of the game,

"Whew, intense game, 21, 20… glad we're winning though, if we win this we can go to the school playoffs. Well I'm gunna go get some snacks, what do you guys want?" Meaghan asked

"I'll go with you," Sam said,

"Me too," Michelle said

"Might as well come too" Danny said

"Lets see, I'll take a Gatorade and a three musketeers bar" Chris said,

"Make that two Gatorades" Setsuka said, "We'll stay here and save our seats"

"Ok, gotcha" Meaghan said with a sly grin on her face. They all left and Setsuka and Chris were left alone on the top of the bleachers.

"Wow this game is really amazing, I cant believe we're still in the lead, their defense is top-notch" Chris said

"Yea but our offence is better." Setsuka replied "ooh! That's cold!" she said as a chill wind blew across the field.

"here, I'm warm enough, you can have my jacket." Chris said, handing her his jacket.

"thanks." She said staring at Chris, they looked at each other for a while until the others came back

"hey guys I got the stuff, here you go." Meaghan said handing Chris and Setsuka their drinks

" okay, thanks." Chris said

"hey, why is everyone screaming? Is it some sort of halftime ritual here?" Danny asked

"Screaming? No… hey who's that!" Michelle said pointing into the middle of the field. For there on the fifty yard line was a short figure in a hood, and a taller one who stood strangely.

"I don't know…"

"Chris! Setsuka! This is an emergency. I need to talk with you!" a familiar voice said frantically

"Botan? What are you doing here?" Chris asked her as she ran up

"Who's this?" Sam asked

"Umm… a friend." Setsuka said simply "can you excuse us for a second?"

"Sure…" Meaghan said

"What is it Botan?" Chris asked when they were sure the others were out of earshot.

"This is horrible guys, that little guy in the hood down there is a demon named Zhulak. He's weak by himself but he's always finding big guys to take care of his work, and this time he found the biggest guy possible…"

"who is it? I'm sure he's not that tough"

"oh yes, yes he is, he's your predecessor, Yusuke Urameshi"

"What! I thought he was dead?"

"he is, but Zhulak is using a scimitar that can raise people from the dead to control him, and the problem is, that since Yusuke's soul is already in heaven, his body is free to control, with all the power that he had when he was alive, so its like fighting a Yusuke without feelings or remorse."

"that, is bad." Chris said

"there's no way you two can fight him, he's too strong"

"we have to. Or else everyone here will get hurt, why are they there in the first place?"

"me, Zhulak is trying to take over the spirit world, and his first target is me, i tried luring him away then finding you but… he found me before I could find you, I'm sorry, I led him here,

"it's ok, I've got an idea, we'll go stall him, and you evacuate everyone from here then come back, so he doesn't chase after you," Setsuka said

"ok, I'll evacuate everyone, you get down there, I'm not asking you to win, I just want you to stall, after we get everyone out, I'll get Koenma to collect all the spirit detectives to help take down Zhulak and Urameshi, I spoke with Yusuke, he wants his body destroyed so it cant be used for evil, so don't hold back on him. Okay?"

"Yea, thanks, come on Chris lets go." Setsuka said

"Setsuka, if we don't make it out I just wanted to tell you…"

"Later, we'll make it out, come on" she said. They ran down the bleachers into the field.

"what are they doing down there? Do you think they know those two?" Sam asked

"I dunno Sam, they might." Michelle said

"You four, get out of here, its very dangerous here" Botan said running up to them.

"What? You're Chris and Setsuka's friend. who are you and what is going on here?" Meaghan asked, much different from her cheery demeanor

"I can't tell you, but you need to trust me, YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Botan said frantically

"What do you mea…?" Danny started when an explosion came from the field, it looked like Chris and Setsuka were fighting the two other figures. Screams erupted from the bleachers and people frantically ran away.

"You see? Now get out of here!" Botan said

"right! Come on guys" Sam said and ran, pulling the others by the hand off the bleachers… or so Botan thought.

"ok guys, I don't know what's happening here, but I want to find out, it seems that Setsuka and Chris are a part of this, and they may need our help so lets go." She said and pulled them behind the stands.

"Hey Shrimp! What are you doing here? Why are you pullin' corpses around?" Chris yelled at Zhulak from across the field.

"Who are you? Why don't you go home before you get hurt?" he said in a high voice.

"Spirit detectives, now hand over the Scimitar and put Yusuke's body to rest!" Setsuka said

"How about no?" Zhulak said, "slave, go and take care of those rabble whilst I find Botan."

"yes master…" the expressionless face of Yusuke said and he held back his fist and it glowed.

"Watch it Setsuka, I think he's charging his spirit gun up." Chris said, not knowing what to expect. His guess proved right as Yusuke unleashed a huge blast of pure energy at Chris and Setsuka. They dodged it by jumping out of the way, but it made a huge crater near the end zone of the field. Screams erupted from the stands.

"well that's one way to evacuate a place." Setsuka said

"you will die…" Yusuke said blankly, charging up another blast.

"This is so weird, I thought it was bad when the demons were big and nasty but being against someone who is so emotionless is really creepy." Chris said. Yusuke shot anothers rei gun at the two detectives which they dodged again, but this one didn't explode like Chris expected it… "Its coming back… SETSUKA WATCH OUT! IT'S A HOMING BLAST!" Chris yelled

"Got it! Maybe I can smash it back at him." She said pulling out her racket.

"NO! SETSUKA ITS TOO RISKY!" he yelled, but to no avail. She smashed the blast, which worked… momentarily. It seemed to change course. But instead it… split up and flew through the holes in the racket...

"SETSUKA! NOOOOO! PLEASE SPEAK TO ME! SETSUKA! SEETSUKA!"

"Did that guy… just shoot a beam of light out of his hands?" Meaghan asked in disbelief.

"Yea, and it looks like Chris and Setsuka are the targets. But why?" Michelle replied

"I don't know… but it looks dangerous. They're dodging what he's throwing at them but how long will it last?" Sam said

"oh no, she's trying to hit it back… but… can you hit a beam of light with a tennis racket?" Danny said

"I don't know… but… yes! It's working!" Sam said

"No… its not… look it's going through the racket… oh no… Setsuka… she looks hurt… we need to get out there!" Meaghan said

"Chris! What just happened?" Michelle asked while they ran up to him, they found him crying with Setsuka in his arms… she was drenched in blood.

"I… couldn't save her… I didn't help at all… no… no…. SETSUKA!" he yelled in agony. He felt as if his heart had just been ripped apart fiber by fiber.

"Chris! We need to get her to a hospital! She'll die if we don't." Sam said.

"Setsuka… please… don't die… I… need you… please..."

"He can't hear us… he's in too much pain, come on, we need to call 911."

"No you don't… you will all die…" Yusuke said

"SLAVE! COME! Botan is back in spirit world, we must strike while the iron is hot!" Zhulak yelled at Yusuke who jumped effortlessly over to his master. They flew into the sky and disappeared.

"What just happened?" Danny asked

"I can explain but first we have to get Setsuka to a hospital. Come with me" Botan said beside them. She led them to an ambulance she magicked into existence. "Get in, you four. Chris, put Setsuka onto the stretcher in the back, you can sit with her if you want. I'll drive us to the hospital." Chris who barely heard her picked up Setsuka and put her into the back of the ambulance, still crying. Chris didn't even notice when they arrived at the hospital and got into the ER. The door closed behind Chris and Setsuka.

"What's going on? What did you make them do, Setsuka is almost dead because of you, and do you know how that is going to affect Chris!" Sam asked angrily

"Yes, I had no intention of them to fight him, you see. He's dead."

"You mean, he's a zombie!" Meaghan asked

"Sort of, now don't interrupt me, if you really want to know what's happening you have to promise not to tell anyone."

"We promise," they all said together.

"Ok, well first of all. My name is Botan; I'm what you humans call the grim reaper, and no questions. I'll get to that later" she said as they opened their mouths. "Chris and Setsuka have abilities to see demons for what they are and have powers beyond the normal human being, they were perfect candidates for the job of Spirit Detective, which is kinda like the police who hunt down evil demons, now this demon their fighting. His name is Zhulak he has a sword that can awake the dead and make them his slave. But since their souls have already moved on their bodies have no remorse but have all of the power they had when they were alive. With a normal human it wouldn't be too hard to deal with, but this person that he awoke… he is Chris and Setsuka's predecessor he was the greatest spirit detective of his time, and possibly ever. We never thought that this could happen, and we knew that Chris and Setsuka couldn't fight him, but it was their choice. They wanted to protect the people there, including you. You four took a big risk running into the battlefield like that. I told you to run away but you stayed, you could have been killed. But it was lucky that Zhulak took my bait, I made a decoy and set her up in spirit world so… we're safe... for now… wha?" she finished looking at her arm which started beeping.

"Oh no…. oh no oh no oh no…. I… have to take this… stay out here…"

"Will Setsuka be okay?" Michelle asked

"I…. don't think so… I was just alerted that her soul is ready to leave…"

"No… poor Chris… he's going to die of sadness…" Meaghan said.

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"Get a life support system in here stat!"

"They look like bullet holes but I can't find the ballistics!"

"If we can't stop the bleeding she'll die!"

Doctors ran everywhere in the bright ER, a young girl lay dying on the stretcher from an ambulance.

"Please doctor can you do anything to help her? I can't stand to lose her!"

A teenage boy sat crying next to the stretcher.

It doesn't look like she'll make it; the alarm went off in my office." Said a woman in traditional Japanese garb, she held a large paddle in her arms and her hair was a radiant blue.

"YOU! BOTAN! THIS WOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED IF I HAD NEVER ASSOCIATED MYSELF WITH YOU!" the young boy roared.

"I'm sorry Chris, I never expected him to be there."

Ignoring her Chris turned to the doctor. "Please doctor; tell me you can save her."

"I'm sorry, we're doing all we can, this is a very mysterious wound, it looks like any other gunshot, but there's no bullet, and no matter what we do, we can't stop the bleeding."

"No… NO! YOU HAVE TO SAVE HER!"

"Chris, you have to understand, once the alarm goes off in my office, I have to come and take the person to heaven or hell, in this case it will be heaven, so you should be happy for her." Botan said quietly.

"No, I won't accept it, they have to save her." He said, more to himself than anyone.

A long flat beep told them all that it was too late.

"No…no this... this can't be happening… no… NO! I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU BOTAN! IF I HADN'T MET YOU SHE WOULD STILL BE ALIVE!"

"I'm sorry Chris; I have to escort her now,"

"NO! I WONT LET YOU! YOU CAN'T TAKE HER FROM ME! I WON'T LET YOU! Please… Botan… I need to speak to her… one more time at least… I didn't even get a chance to tell her…. how really felt about her…"

"I'm sorry Chris, I can't let you… it's against regulations, and... I'm sorry, you'll meet her again when you die…"

"no…. no… NO!" he cried... "wait… Botan… can you heal the wounds? Just the wounds? I have an idea."

"yes… I think I can if the energy from the reigun had died out but why? It would be fruitless."

"just trust me."

"ok. Here we go…" her palms glowed and the wounds just disappeared,

"Yusuke's reigun is very powerful. The energy he puts into it is amazing, its unbelievable that she made it here. I couldn't heal it before because the power was too strong. But now that it died down… I can heal her, but… its too late now.

"no its not… I can help her," he didn't know how he did it but… his palms… no his entire body glowed green… and the green light transferred from him to her. the light subsided, and it looked like his attempt failed… but then… BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP. Her heart rate restored. And yes! Her breathing regulated and now she just looked as she were sleeping

"Chris! What did you do to her!" Botan asked in disbelief, "did you just… did you give her your life force!"

"Yes, I think I did." He panted "I just acted… and now I feel like I could sleep a week"

"that shouldn't have worked… it doesn't make sense, it's like you two have the same life force, that's not possible though, her body should have rejected your life force."

"Let's call it the power of love shall we?" Chris panted and then fell asleep on the chair next to Setsuka's bed.

"Good show Chris… good show… doctor! The girl is better, bring her and the boy into a room so they can rest, life support won't be necessary two beds please. He needs as much rest as she does."

"But how?"

"Don't ask, just do it."

"Ok…"

"Kids! Wonderful news! Setsuka is going to be fine!"

"Really? How?" Michelle asked

"I don't really know, but Chris called it the power of love." Botan said

"So its true, well a blind man could see it coming." Meaghan

"yea, we all knew it was going to happen some time… what room are they being moved into, we'll visit" Sam asked

"I don't know yet, the doctor is arranging it. I'll tell you when I find out. Oh here he comes."

"Ok ma'am the children are on the third floor, room 328"

"Thank you, come on kids we'll go check up on them." Botan said. They walked over to an elevator and went up to their room. Chris and Setsuka were both sleeping soundly. Setsuka looked as if she had nothing wrong with her, but Chris was still covered with bruises and cuts.

"Let's let them sleep, they really need it, I'll take you four home. If you want, we can come by tomorrow.

"Yea, lets come by tomorrow, maybe they'll be better then" Sam said, speaking for all of them. They left and closed the door behind them.

"Setsuka? Are you awake?"

"Yes, I cant thank you enough for what you did for me Chris… you gave me part of your life… I don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything, not yet… listen to what I need to say first. Setsuka, I've been thinking… I really, really like you… I… I want to be with you for a long time… I love you Setsuka, short and simple. I'm in love with you you're smart, witty, very beautiful, and caring. I care so much for you… I was devastated when you almost died,"

"I saw… I wasn't in my body; my spirit was hovering around my body when I was unconscious"

"Well nevertheless, I love you, and I hope you love me too."

"Yes… Chris, I love you too. You cared so much for me that you almost died saving me. No one else I can think of would ever do that for me. I've loved you since first met you, you've been like an older brother to me, and I always hoped that it would someday be more than that." She said crying, she tried getting up but couldn't.

"No, Setsuka, don't get up, you need your rest, so please, stay down, sleep, we have to go hunt down Zhulak soon, so please just rest, for me…"

"Ok Chris. You know I was kinda wondering when you would tell me you liked me; Patty told me that you liked me"

"Patty told you? She told me that it would be confidential."

"heh, well are you really that sad that she told me?"

"Well no, but still…"

"Excuse me, I have orders to make sure you sleep, so go to bed!" a nurse said walking into the room

"sorry ma'am, we'll go to sleep" Setsuka said, they laid down and started to get to sleep. As the gentle embrace of sleep overcame them, they both drifted blissfully into each other's dreams.

END OF CHAPTER 8 yes, finally we see why the story came in like that, WERENT EXPECTING THAT WERE YOU? No, no I know you weren't. O well, read and review please, this is probably one of my longest chapters ever.