More revising, yay!
Disclaimer: I don't own YYH, Sora or Sahara. I do own Kitsune (me) and Kaonashi, the human form of NoFace.
Chapter 4: The Fearsome Foursome
Yusuke looked through his emails, suddenly spotting Kurama's response to his question. Then he saw another Email. It was also signed from Kurama, so he opened it and read.
Yusuke,
I've been to Koenma, and he's telling me not to worry, but I am worrying because I have a huge problem. I had a dream, and it scared the freaking hell out of me, but anyways, I went to see Koenma and he told me not to worry about it, but then I got an Email from some Chelsey M. person and it didn't have a returning Email address, and it said that I'd gotten her vision and that we'll all die. I hope I'm not going insane. Anyways, I have to go. I need to think about all this, but I'm just telling you because I don't know who to tell. Thank you, Yusuke.
Kurama
Yusuke was confused. "Uh-huh..." Then he saw another Email...
With Kurama...
He paced back and forth in his bedroom. Suddenly, the phone rang. He answered. "Hello?"
"Kuraaaamaaaaaaa..." a voice hissed on the other end.
Kurama's heartbeat quickened. "Who is this..." He held the phone in a death-grip.
"You know who it is, youko..."
"What do you want from me!" he nearly yelled into the phone.
"Do you like games? I thought we could play a game together...just you and me..."
"What are you talking about? Who is this!"
"Dark and dank...water in a well...blood on the walls...The scent of death hangs in the air...A mother who loves a child wouldn't give her up, would she? But what if your father gave you up...to death..."
"Stop talking in riddles! Answer me, who are you!
"You have three weeks to figure it out. If you don't...you lose..."
"Lose what? What are you talking about! Three weeks for what! Tell me!"
"You're friends will dieeeeee..."
And the phone hung up.
He quickly logged onto his video player mail for the computer. He had to talk to Yusuke, now!
Yuske saw another mail and clicked it. He'd been freaked out with what he'd seen before, but this next one looked like it was from Kurama. He clicked on it and a screen popped up on the computer. It flickered to life and Kurama's head filled the image. "Yusuke, I just got a call from the girl!"
Kurama was clearly distressed. "Yeah, I got an Email, too. Probably some punk making prank calls, I wouldn't worry about it."
"No, Yusuke! The girl said you'd all die!"
Yusuke's phone rang. "I'll be right back, I should answer that."
"NO, Yusuke, don't! It's her! I swear it's her! Don't pick it up! She'll ask you to a game! I have three weeks to figure it out!"
Yusuke turned back to the computer. "Figure what out?"
"That's what I want to know! But she hung up before I could ask! Yusuke, for your sake and mine, don't answer the phone!"
"But I have to--"
"DON'T!"
There was a soft BEEP and the voice recorder turned on. "Hey, this is Yusuke. You've got some nerve callin' my house, so get yer message over with!" and that message was followed by another soft tone.
There was a sharp hiss. "Yusssuuukeeeeee...you'll dieeeeeee...and we'll all have fun here with me...I asked your friend a riddle, and the same applies to you. Three weeks, Yusuke. Three weeeeeeeeeekkksssssss..."
The message ended and another screen popped up on Yusuke's computer, with Koenma answering. "Yusuke, Kurama, you two need to round up Kuwabara and Hiei and four other people. You are going to another tournament."
"WHAAAT!" both teens replied, almost simultaneously.
"In fact, all four of you get here now. To my office. I'll need to explain this to you." And Koenma's head disappeared.
Kurama and Yusuke were silent for a while now. "I'll find Hiei, you get Kuwabara. We'll try to see if Koenma's found anything out about this Chelsey person." And Kurama's head disappeared as well.
Yusuke turned off his computer and bolted out the door.
In Koenma's office, the four boys of Team Urameshi sat down in the oh-so-comfy seats in front of Koenma's desk. Koenma himself, paced in front of them, in full adult form.
"This situation troubles me, boys." he told them. "You have some serious trouble here. You have been demanded--note: DEMANDED, not requested or simply asked for, DEMANDED--to appear in the next Four Worlds Tournament. You have no choice but to enter."
"Koenma, this doesn't make any sense! We just got back from the Makai Tournament (A/N: This story takes place about three years after the Dark Tournament, and I have no clue of what happens from then on because I don't get the anime channel anymore, so I'll just say they just came back from the Makai Tournament.), and we already have to go to another tournament?" Kurama asked.
"Yeah, binky-breath, and Kurama and I have a dilemma, too!" Yusuke said. "We both got phone calls saying we'd die! What was all that about?"
Koenma looked hard at the team. "Yes, I've looked into it, and I have bad news for the both of you." Koenma took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I've gotten Ogre to do research on this Chelsey girl. She was an eleven year old girl who lived in England about four years ago. She was found at the bottom of a well, beaten and drowned, and her father was charged with murder, though, somehow, he got away with twelve years in prison. Shortly after her death, her mother died. After that, her father died in prison, and here's the security tape of what had happened."
Koenma held up a tape and popped it into the VCR. The screen was divided into four parts. In the lower left corner was the jail cell where a man was being held. The rest were the different hallways leading to his cell. On one wall of the hall way was a door. Koenma pointed to it.
"That door led to a stairway. Watch." he explained.
The door didn't open, but a black substance seeped through the bottom crack, then rose and took on the shape of a person. Then there was a little girl walking down the hallway really slowly. She disappeared in the upper left corner and reappeared in the lower right corner, walking down the corridor away from the camera. Again, she disappeared and reappeared in the upper right corner, then disappeared again. In the man's jail cell, he began to freak out, then the girl appeared again. Then the man died and the girl turned to look at the camera. But a corpse's stare held them. Then the girl disappeared again. Then all the screens went black.
Team Urameshi stared in puzzlement at the screen, awaiting the next scene.
Suddenly, two large, white eyes appeared on the screen, making everyone else jump.
"Holy sh--!" Kuwabara began, but we're not gonna say what he said because you can probably figure it out.
Then there was a low growl, like an animal. And finally, the screen went blank. The TV turned off and the tape popped out.
"That was new..." Koenma said softly.
"What?" Yusuke asked. "What do you mean, 'that was new'?"
Koenma turned to them. "That last part never happened before. I've watched the tape about a million times, but that had never happened. Anyway, you're the only ones who could see what had really happened. The humans just thought father McCann had died of a heart attack. The girl was obvously a spirit."
"So, what about this tournament?" Hiei asked, abruptly changing the subject.
"Yes, the tournament starts in four weeks, so you have three weeks to figure that riddle out and then one week to train. Yusuke, Kurama, you two are cursed, I'm afraid. But, luckily, we've found some people who can help. They've dealt with Chelsey before. This curse has gone on for four years, and it's killed many people. Mostly just random victems." Koenma pressed a buzzer and the doors opened. There were four silhouettes standing there, and they began to approach the desk.
Three were girls, and the last was a man.
The first girl looked to be about 16 and had waist high black hair with silver ends and golden eyes. She had nine fox tails and pointed elfin ears and had long claw-like nails. She was very pretty, and wore dark camoflauge army pants, black and white Converse All-Star high tops, a black shirt with the words "Role Model" in silver print. She had about five piercings in each ear: two silver hoops on each ear, one pair of silver studs, a black feather dangling from a chain on her right ear, a dark blueish purple crystal hanging fron a chain in her left ear, and two, inch-long ear-cuffs. Two foot-long, silver chains dangled from her pants, and her wore a black wrist band with holes and silver chains criss-crossing through them on her right wrist. She also had a crystal clenched between a silver dragon's claw on a silver chain around her neck. She carried a katana with a gold-embroidered hilt strapped to her back, a couple of silver daggers, a pair of silver sais, two long battle knives (like the ones Legolas uses in Lord of the Rings) and a bow and quiver of arrows hanging at her sides, and carried a monk's staff.
The second girl looked about 19 and had long black hair with red bangs and red ends, and silver eyes. She had black angel wings protruding from her back. She was also very pretty. She wore jeans and a black shirt that read, "Don't Mess With A Pissed Off Cat" and black sneakers. She wore a black choker necklace with a deep purple crystal on it, a couple of earings in each ear, had three swords hanging by her side. She also had a pair of sais and a couple of daggers strapped to her sides and her gaze was cold and steely.
The last girl seemed about 16 also, and had middle-of-her-back length blonde hair with black bangs and ends. She had two black panda ears on her head and wore a white shirt with a monkey on it, saying "Monkey see, monkey do." and jeans as well. She didn't have any piercings or weapons other than a staff and seemed completely innocent. She was really pretty, but seemed really shy.
The man looked 17 and had dark brown hair to his shoulders and brown eyes. He wore jeans and an open, button-down, blue plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up to above his elbows, and his chest was bare. They couldn't see it, but on his right arm was a cross tatoo and on his left arm was a small skull in flames. He had two necklaces: one was a cross, the other was a simple black stone and a boy's high school ring with a black stone in the center. He wore navy blue and grey sneakers and had no weapons at all.
"Team Urameshi, meet Kitsune, Sahara, Sora, and Kaonashi. They were Spirit Detectives assigned the case of Chelsey McCann." Koenma introduced. They all shook hands, except for Hiei, who merely turned his head slightly, aknowlegding them.
The girl with the fox tails spoke first. "I'm Kitsune, I'm a fox demon, dog demon, dragon and human rolled into one. I'm about 5000 years old, and this is my half breed form. These are my best girlfriends, Sahara and Sora, and my boyfriend, Kaonashi."
The guy spoke up next. "I'm about 250...somewhere around there. What I am is a spirit...like a greed spirit, but she reformed me and I adopted this form. What I really was, was lonely, so she was kinda my first friend, after Chihiro, of course."
"Yeah, but some friend she turned out to be. She dumped you on Zeniba--that kind old woman, bless her soul--and left you there, didn't even say goodbye!" Kitsune said.
The girl with angel's wings said, "I'm Sahara, I'm 1/2 dark angel and 1/2 vampire. I'm 316 years old. I'm princess of the Southern Lands of Makai, and I turn half angel by day, vampire by night. See my eyes," she said, pointing to her eyes, "they are like a mood indicator, and silver is neutral."
"You live where Yomi rules, don't you?" Kurama asked. Sahara nodded.
"Yeah, but I live in a secluded group of royals. It wasn't until 200 years ago that Yomi took over my lands."
"I'm Sora," the last girl said, "I'ma panda demon and I'm 300 years old. Kitsune and Sahara were my first real friends, we've been together for 200 years. They're my best friends!"
Team Urameshi noticed certain characteristics about each person. Sahara was kind of cold and ruthless on the outside, but they noticed inside, she was a caring person. Kitsune had a real mood swing problem, and was mostly hyper. Sora was really shy, but spoke her mind with confidence. And Kaonashi did seem like a bit of a drifter and lonely, but he was working on fixing that now that he'd had his friends with him.
"So," Sahara said, "McCann girl cursed you both, eh?"
Yusuke and Kurama nodded. "She said some kind of riddle, and it didn't make sense to me." Kurama said, then recited the riddle.
Kitsune nodded, "We'd better get to work." She turned and left the room. The others were silent for a moment, then there was a short, "Are you coming, or what?" from the other side of the door, and they all followed her out.
"Where are we going?" Kuwabara asked.
"To England. That's where the McCann girl lived, after all." Sora said. They turned down another hallway and made their way to a portal. They stepped through and came out on the other side to see a pasture. Green fields and hills and trees were everywhere.
"This place looks like farmland," Kuwabara said. They began walking.
"That's what it was, before Chelsey died and cursed the land," Sahara responded. "Since Chelsey died, things began to go strange. The people suffered from strange illnesses, cattle and livestock began to die off."
"Then her mother died, and then her father," Sora continued, "The few people remaining found they couldn't leave this land. Chelsey had made a barrier around the village, similar to kekkai barriers, but much stronger,"
"The people had found out about the demon world and began to pray for a way to stop the madness." Kaonashi said, "Finally, they called us."
"We did what we could to help them, but when we'd thought we'd cured this curse, we found out it'd gotten stronger. The entire village is destroyed and all the people are dead. We're warning you, we know where Chelsey's spirit is. It's in the heart of the destroyed village, but she's protected by unholy forces. These forces are the likes of which you've never faced. It'll be tricky, and we have a limited amount of time. But we'll have to do it," Kitsune finished.
"How long did it take you to help those people?" Yusuke asked.
"Two years, but even then it wasn't enough. We'd had a tough time fighting off the evil in the city, but we'd found out it only grew stronger," Kaonashi told them. "After we'd left, we had to train harder, fight harder, discipline ourselves severely, and that took two more years. We'd just gotten out of training when we were summoned by Koenma."
"So," Kuwabara asked, "Just what exactly is this Chelsey's plans?"
"Oh, she'll wipe out the world," Kitsune said.
"Oh, the old 'wipe out the world' ploy," Kuwabara grumbled.
They made their way through the pasture to a hill overlooking the village. It was wrecked, dull and grey. It was as if someone had dropped an atomic bomb on it.
"That's it," Kitsune said, pointing to the village, "That's where Chelsey's spirit resides. She's protected by the dead, the villagers and victems she killed. And, by coming into this unholy place, we all are apparently cursed."
"What!" everyone but Kitsune shouted. She covered her ears.
"Jeez, not so loud! My ears are sensitive!" she said.
"Kitsune, why didn't you tell us we were all gonna be cursed when we came back?" Sahara asked.
"Because I didn't find out until now, Sahara," Kitsune responded, "You know I have a strong sixth sense, but this place is so...yik! The air...smells of rotting corpses and blood...death...You know how sensitive I am to death."
"Can you provide us with protection?" Sora asked.
"What? With one of my spells? I guess I could, but it won't be as strong in this place. There are so many church temples and such, my powers won't be as strong. If we encounter the living body of a priest, I'll be of no use to you with magic." the she-fox replied.
"What are you talking about?" Hiei asked. Kitsune turned to the others.
"That's a kitsune's weakness. Religion. Even though as a human, I'm catholic, if I were to go to church as a demon, my powers would be useless. Priests and monks and the like are able to cancel out a kitsune's illusions." she explained.
"Well," Yusuke said, "we'd better get down there and find our way to...um...what are we looking for again?"
"YUSUKE, LOOK OUT!"
Yusuke turned in time to see...
Me turning off the computer! lol, just kidding. That last part's a CLIFFHANGER! What's going to happen when the eight travelers go deep into the city and fight the living dead? Only I know! REVIEW PLEASE! I'd like to know what you thought. You can even be anonymous or not logged in! Please review. So here's the spoiler. SPOILER GO!
Team Urameshi has just met the Spirit Detectives Kitsune, Sahara, Sora, and Kaonashi, who were apparently assigned the task of defeating the curse of Chelsey McCann four years ago. Now they travel deep within the city, seeking the secrets of the riddle given to them. But when they come face-to-face with a troop of zombie warriors, the eightsome find themselves in a tighter pickle than intended. Don't miss out on the next episode of...
Yu-Yu-Hakusho: Chain Letter!