If you really need to read the disclaimer again, then refer back to the first ten chapters.
Ch.19
In truth Korran had not run out of tricks, not just yet, he had one left. Well, in reality it was not his trick. This was something his brother had developed all those years ago. He finally came to the room he was looking for; a small testing room that was cleared at the moment. It was, like so many other rooms in his lab, white. Korran had always found the sterile look to be comfortable though it tended to put others on edge. After a moment of rummaging through the rooms lone cabinet he produced what he was looking for. One of his brother's last finished creations.
It was a drastic measure he knew, but it was the only ace he had left. As soon as he had heard the explosion he had retreated. In was only to easy to guess what had happened and Korran knew he was running out of options. His test subjects had grown far stronger then he had ever dared to dream, ever though they could not see it yet. The abilities themselves would probably take years to refine, but the initial strength was there and it was becoming too much for him to handle. Slowly he raised the needle to his through. There was a sharp prick as the needle pierced his skin and then, nothing. He did not feel anything before his vision split and he crumpled to the ground. He was not dead far he immediately picked himself up but he felt the change, felt it inside of him. It had worked and now he stood a chance to put things back how they should be.
"Damn there are a lot of hallways!" Yusuke shouted when the group turned the corner to come face to face with a hallway identical to the one they had just left. It was taking the group quite awhile to meander their way to where they sensed Korran to be sense they were preceding with caution. It was impossible to predict what the demon was going to through at them next. Erik and Shaylan had disappeared when the barriers had come down so they could not even ask them about Korran's plans.
"Erika," Stephanie whispered to her sister. "If it comes right down to it we're going to be useless in a fight." Botan, who was walking next to the girls could not help but overhear the girl's conversation.
"Why is that?" she asked them.
"Well," Stephanie hesitantly answered her. "Our powers don't really give us much to fight with."
"Yes they do," Erika objected.
"What exactly do you two do anyway?" Kuwabara asked. He like everyone else had, by now, caught on to the conversation.
"My sister and I have a very strong psychic connection," Erika answered. "This does give us abilities to fight with. We are stronger, faster and smarter than normal." Stephanie turned to her sister, confused.
"I've been meaning to ask how that works," she stated.
"As far as I can tell our connection allows us to rely on each others strengths and cover for each others weaknesses. Like two people fighting as one," Erika answered.
"Well I guess this covers what most of you can do," Yusuke commented once the conversation seemed to die down.
Actually all but one Kurama thought as he stared at his lover who was once again beside him. She was the only one they did not know about and it was burning inside him to know, he was worried. He could not help it.
In the time it took to have that short conversation they had reached the room that they believed to hold Korran. Without a moments hesitation the group entered the room, eager to get this over with and go home. The room was about half the size as the one they had just been in and this one was entirely white.
As they expected Korran was there, but something seemed wrong. He was just standing there, in the middle of the room, with his head hanging so that his hair was hanging in front of his face. When the group entered he looked up but his eyes looked wrong and there was no other way to explain it. It was like the image of his eyes was superimposed over its self.
"Ah, I see they have arrived," he told to not particularly anyone. "The great destroyers of my great plans." His body seemed to sway and leave an after image of its self behind only this image did not go away and instead stayed visible and solid. There were now four Korrans facing them where a moment ago there had only been one.
"What the fuck," Yusuke gasped. All three of the Korrans began to laugh in an eerie tone that rang through the room. He did nothing else, just laughed, but that was more than enough to put everyone on edge.
"It's seems this insane fight finally draws to an end," Hiei murmured.
"Yeah," Yusuke agreed. "One for each of us, winner take all, literally.
So they faced off, Kurama facing the Korran on the far left, Hiei the one next to Kurama, Kuwabara the Korran second on the right and Yusuke the far right. Everyone else stated huddled in a group far behind the squared off pairs, they had had more than enough of this demon and did not wish for any more. A tense silence filled the air, not even the breathing of all the bodies in the room could be heard over the deafening quiet; each person waiting for the move of another and not willing to make the first move themselves. One could almost hear the crash as a taut line broke and the hypnotically tense atmosphere shattered to the ground. Korran charged, all of him; each coming in with an identical manor but each getting an entirely different response. Kurama dodged his opponent with ease and waited to see what his next move would be. Hiei also dodged but moved so that he was standing to his opponents back, giving him the advantage. Yusuke blocked his opponent easily and landed a solid punch right in his gut. Kuwabara, in usual brash fashion, forwent all forms of blocking or dodging and instantly brought out his spirit sword, cutting off his opponents oncoming attack.
For the two that had actually hit their opponent they were shocked to find that it had absolutely no effect. Both Yusuke and Kuwabara had made solid direct contact and the hit surly would have finished off a weaker opponent, but neither of the Korrans looked fazed. In fact they weren't.
At this point the four Korrans behaved on their own accord, or at least differently from their comrades, no doubt a reaction to the different ways they were responded to. Kurama's Korran proceeded to attack the fox with a flurry of punches and kicks that were at such a rapid pace that Kurama was hard pressed to avoid them all. Hiei's Korran turned to spiritual attacks as it sent a huge energy blast in the direction of the little fire demon. It did not hit its mark but it left a fairly impressive fiery hole where it did hit. Kuwabara's Korran brushed his sword away as if it were a feather, and literally tackling the bay and ramming him all the way into the wall. Yusuke's Korran grabbed the fist that was lodged in his stomach and used it to hold the boy still as he slammed his own fist into his jaw. The punch had more power than expected and sent the spirit detective ground sliding.
Kurama's situation was getting more and more desperate as time wore on. He had not tried a counter attack because truthfully there was no opportunity to do so. It was taking all his concentration to simply keep from being hit. He saw it before it ensued. He failed to step fast enough and landed himself right in the way of Korran's oncoming fist. With little time to react he tried to move as best he could but the attack still hit home. He was thrown from his feet with the force of the blow and slid almost the entire way to the wall.
At almost the exact same time the rest of his comrades fell. One of the energy blasts that Korran had been using against Hiei turned in its path once it had missed it's target and aimed for a second try. It hit him it the back just as a second blast collided with him from the front. The was a moment of struggle but Hiei was quickly overcome and the resulting explosion sent Hiei flying, only for him to land unceremoniously and the ground mere feet to Kurama's right.
Kuwabara, after being slammed into a wall was not too hard to over come. After being pealed from aforementioned wall it only took a few more solid punches to leave him struggling on the ground.
Yusuke was the last to be defeated, although only by mere seconds. The initial hit to the jaw left him stunned just long enough for Korran to take the advantage. Grabbing the boys already abused head and slamming it into his knee left Yusuke on his knees which put his head at perfect kicking height. By the time Yusuke stopped face sliding he was over by the rest of his teammates.
It was horrible to watch. To see your saviors, your proverbial white knights get injured and abused is enough to put anyone over the edge. Needless to say the humans were having a hard time watching the scene before them.
Am I really so completely useless, Jamie wondered as she stared in horror at their fallen heroes. What's worse is I'm going to lose Kurama, that…that just can't happen. Not now, not ever. I'm not completely useless, I do have abilities. A plan was forming itself in her head that just might work, but it was going to need some help. For that she looked to Yami.
"Hey Yami, I need you to help me," she told the girl next to her. It was not a question, simply a statement.
"Ok," Yami nodded. "What is it?"
"I need you to shoot me," she answered calmly. Yami just stared at her.
"You need me to what!" She could not have heard that right.
"I need you to shoot me," Jamie repeated. "There is no energy in this room; Korran must have stripped it or something, so I need you to provide me with something to work with. Shoot me with everything you have." Jamie spread her arms at this last statement completely presenting herself to attack. Yami just swallowed and nodded, hopping her friend knew what she was doing. Taking a few steeps back she aimed her index finger at Jamie and shot, putting everything into it. The blast, instead of making contact, stopped just in front of Jamie and she grasped the invisible energy in her hands. It began to glow a soft shade of gold as she kneaded it into the form she needed it to be. Mixing her own energy into it along with whatever scraps she could pull from the air around her it became tough enough for the job she needed of her creation.
The release of energy was beautiful. The energy blossomed from its center point in Jamie's grasp which she then quickly gathered control of it and formed it into a comforting gold veil that spread itself across the room, cutting Korran off from everyone else. It was a barrier and one that Korran could not break through though not for lack of trying. Punches, kicks, energy blasts, nothing worked to even dent the barrier. It slowly crept closer and closed in on the now helpless Korran. Once it was so close that that barrier was pressed against Korran's flesh, Jamie redistributed the energy. This time separating it and reforming it to create restraints around Korran's limbs, all of them on all four bodies, and pinned him to the ground. The Reiki Tantei did not hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity.
All four of them raised themselves from the ground and 'went for the kill.' Korran, who could see his executers as they came down on him, let forth a blood chilling scream of panic and pain just before the final blow was dealt. Kurama, using his Rosewhip which he summoned, neatly cut the head off one of the Korrans while Hiei went for the slightly messier job of dissecting another Korran's body into twenty-four minute pieces. Kuwabara went for the clean kill by sticking his sword through a Korrans through and Yusuke finished off the last Korran by punching a hole clean through his chest.
It was rather odd watching Korrans many bodies come back together into one being. He was broken, battered, and bruised. His chest was completely torn apart and his blood quickly flowed out of him, forming a red liquid halo around him.
"I'm sorry…brother," he whispered in a barely audible voice as his life drained away from him. "I tried to carry on your dream, now…I can…only hope I join you." With his dying words spoken Korran closed his eyes and drifted away, finally defeated.
With him dead the nightmare was over, as was the mission. Everyone could breathe a sigh of relief now that the chaos was over. The only problem looming in the future was how to return home.
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