Chapter 4: Dragon Road

The Great Hurricane...

"Checkmate." KOS-MOS said as she moved her piece over Lina's king. She, Lina, T-elos, Moka, Mizore and Yukari were relaxing in the rec room while they rest where watching TV or doing anything else they need to. KOS-MOS and Lina were playing a game of chess and apparently, KOS-MOS won.

"No way! Why didn't I see that coming?!" Lina gawked.

"Simple. I am a machine with the will of Mary Magdalene. I am also programmed with strategies of Chess." KOS-MOS smiled.

"She got you there, Lina." T-elos added. Lina fumed and pouted and crossed her arms.

Back at the ship bridge, Sonic was guiding the Great Hurricane to Chun-nan when he heard his foster mother's voice.

'Sonic. Can you hear me?' Trista asked in his thoughts.

"Trista… So did a black portal swallow you and your friends up too and winded back in my world?" Sonic asked out loud. No one was with him so he could speak freely.

'Yes. We're now in Chun-nan. Inuyasha and his party and Shu and his party are with us. We'll be waiting for you there.' Trista stated.

"What a coincidence. We were heading there ourselves! By the way, Moka mentioned something about the 8 Wonders of the World. The resurrected Manfred von Richthofen stole one of them. Know anything about them?"

"Well, I know a little about them, but not much. There may be some information that we can use about them. Until, then..." Trista signed out.

Sonic sighed as he returned to the visor before him. "Hope everyone else is doing OK... and what about Tails...? Eggman... if you've gone and burned at least a single fur from him I'm gonna..." His eyes turned eerie for a short moment before returning to normal. He had to keep his cool.

Chun-nan...

It was becoming dark in Chun-nan. Trista was sitting on a log, drinking some green tea. She sighed as she sensed Sonic's distress.

"I hope Tails is alright." she sighed to herself. Since Sonic was like an older brother to him, she saw Tails as a second son.

"Man, that was some dumplings they got there!" Inuyasha said as he walked out of a cabin as he rubbed his stomach.

"I always did wanted to visit China. Never thought it'd be in a different name though." Lita said as she, Kluke, Raye, Hotaru, Rini, Diana and Michele followed him.

"I wish the Starlights were here. They'd love a trip around the world." Raye smiled.

Trista smiled as she saw the rest approaching. She set down her cup and got up. "So, what would you like to do?"

"I think we should look around town a bit more." Michele said. "Maybe there's something we can find."

With that in mind, they met up they walked around and met up with Shu, Kagome, Shippo, Serena, Zola and Mina who were looking at some shops or something else. Before meeting up with everyone else, they came across a merchant who looked ready to try and sell them something.

And he was.

"My insignificant store is blessed a thousand times over by your wondrous presence! I have a selection of many fantastic and wonderful items for sale! My first item is the Magic Toothbrush!" He pulled out a toothbrush that looked like it was made of bamboo and metal. "It scrubs your teeth while you sleep, leaving your teeth bright, not just white!"

"Come again?" Amara asked skeptically.

"I can tell you want one! You NEED one!"

"Hey, can we get one?" Shippo asked with a huge smile. "It sounds kinda fun..."

"Shippo!" Kagome exclaimed, looking scandalized. "Are you too lazy to clean your own teeth now? No brush for you!"

With that said, Inyuasha just laughed out loud, nearly falling on his back. Shu, Serena, Mina and Rini weren't to far behind. The rest of them were quiet but had hard time keeping straight faces.

"I knew she'd say no." Shippo lamented sighed. "It'll be your fault when I contract gingivitis, Kagome!"

"Of course, of course!" the merchant boomed cheerfully. "You children have such wonderful hygiene, there is no need for my toothbrush!" He put it back underneath the counter, trying not to laugh himself. He loved kids!

"So, what else do you have?" Hotaru asked.

"The next item is the mythical Magic Plate!" This time, the man behind the counter out a gold plate. "Any meal you can think of, no matter how luxurious, will instantly appear for your delectable pleasure!"

"Really?" Diana smiled wildly, thinking of hundreds of fish before her.

"For real?" Inuyasha gawked as he thought of an endless meal. If he thought like a dog when it came to food, it'd be bacon.

"Absolutely! And the best thing is that this item has never been more affordable! You cannot afford to NOT to buy it!"

"Sugoi!" Serena squealed as her eyes shined in bright aquamarine. "Where'd I put that money pouch? Do you pay in yen?"

"I don't think we should buy it. If food keeps appearing, how are we going to wash it?" Raye frowned thoughtfully.

"You don't have to clean it, Raye!" Serena reasoned. "You just keep eating all of the food!"

"By which time we'll all look like Mighty Joe Young." Michele pointed out. "I agree with Raye, I don't think we should have it."

"How unfortunate! I would think that active children would need to consume vast quantities of food!" With a dramatic sigh, he put the plate back in the display case, then pulled out one last item. "Surely, you children will require this next popular item!" He set it on the counter. "I call it the Magic Duster!"

"Magic Duster?" Kluke asked with bright eyes. Now she was all ears.

"Yes! Simply wave it at any object and watch the dust particles fly away!"

"That makes clean a breeze!" Kluke exclaimed as she turned to Shu. "Can we get it, Shu? Pretty PLEEEEEESE?"

Shu grimaced as she used the Puppy Dog Eye on him. There was no way he could withstand such cuteness.

"We're tiring to stop some mad man here!" Inuyasha said gruffly. "When are we gonna have time to clean?"

"Why when we go back to our home worlds, stupid!" Kluke snapped at him.

"Sorry, Kluke. Maybe next time." Zola said.

"Ah, that's alright." the merchant smiled as he put it away. "I'll have plenty more items at my disposal so if you get that chance, come again and maybe you'll find what you like!"

"Thank you for your kindness, sir." Diana smiled, though still disappointed that she couldn't get that Magic Plate.

As they left the strange shop, the met up with everyone else who where watching Jiro playing Chinese Checkers with a bar owner.

"Look's like I win." Jiro smiled as took the last piece.

"Eh?" the owner gawked. "Wow, you're quite good at this kid."

"He's a natural." Darien chuckled.

"Oh Darien!" he heard his girlfriend call. They turned and saw the other half of the group walking up to them.

"So, how's China so far?" Artemis asked.

"It's call Chun-nun here, Artemis." Lita corrected.

"And it's pretty cool." Mina smiled.

"Hey, there's something on the news." Sango said as she noticed it on the TV. "Excuse me sir, can you turn the sound up?"

The bar owner nodded and turned the volume higher for all to here.

"...Spagonia as suffered major damage to the invasion of mysterious airplanes that appeared moments ago. Also, another number of people have been found missing. The leaders of the world as declared a state of emergency which as not been sent out since the events of 9/11. People are being urged to stay in doors..." the broadcast was cut off and static appeared on the TV.

"Hey! What the hell is going on?!" one customer complained.

The owner banged on the TV a bit, trying to get the static out. Seconds later, a shadowed figure appeared on the screen with glowing purple eyes. There was a symbol behind him.

"Greetings people of the world. If you already know who I am, then the reports of my demise have been exaggerated... greatly exaggerated. I know that you all have things to do so I will be brief. The disappearances of people around the world is my doing. To get them back, I must ask you to pay the fine of 20,000,000,000,000 American dollars."

"20 billion American dollars!?" Mina gasped. "That's a lot of money!"

"Even Bill Gates didn't make that much in such a short time!" Ami added.

"You have five weeks. Send me the money within that time and you will be rewarded. Fail to do so and the consequences will be... regrettable." the figure waved his arm out and the TV returned to its normal broadcast.

"So he's kidnapping people all over the world... this guy sound insane." Amara frowned.

"Well we're not really sure who he is, so there isn't much we can do until later." Luna added.

At that moment, the ground below them shook. A microsecond later, a not too clean Astro popped out, groaning and shaking his head. He looked up and saw his friends.

"Guys?"

"Astro! Oh you poor dear! What happened to you?" Kagome gasped as she got him out of the pit.

"Well, I heard about the people disappearing around the world so I decided to investigate. When I reached Chun-nan, I was ambushed by robot planes!"

"Um… You mean those?!" Shu pointed at the robot planes coming into view.

"This must be the work of Manfred von Richthofen." Trista frowned.

"You mean the Red Baron?" Ami gasped. "But isn't he dead?"

"Well, it looks like he's not." Astro frowned. "The robots here are after a legendary treasure called the Jade Buddha."

"Jade Buddha, Maru?" Marumaro asked.

"It's a mystical idol that's hidden in a shrine here. We have to beat them to it! We can use the Dragon Road to get there!"

"Right! Let's go!" Serena nodded as she brought out her golden brooch.

The Scouts transformed and everyone went to the Dragon Road. As they ran across the red road, they encounter some Strafes and Magnum Loaders.

"Get out of our way!" Sango yelled as she threw out the Hiraikotsu, destroying some of them.

"Here!" Mars shouted as she used her Flame Sniper move to burn a line of them.

"There's still a long ways to go!" Astro said. "Keep going!"

The team continued their way to the shrine as they encountered more Magnum Loaders, Sideliners and Gunslingers. It was no problem for them. As they reached the Great Wall, they fought against the robot planes that was coming down on them. They ended up on a pond surrounded by bamboo trees, jumped across some platforms and used firecrackers to reached the next portion of the Great Wall. That was when they came across some new enemies.

"Wah! Giant bugs!" Sailor Moon screeched as she hid behind Tuxedo Mask.

"What are those things?" Shu gasped.

"They're Saimyoushou." Miroku frowned. "Demon bugs from Hell. The poison they carry is enough to drop a vampire."

"Moka, Kokoa and Evangeline wouldn't be to happy to see one then." Jiro frowned.

"But what are they doing here? They couldn't have followed us into this world. Unless..." Kagome's eyes widened.

"Unless what?" Neptune asked.

"I just hope I'm wrong!" Kagome said as she fired her arrows at them, destroying them instantly.

Pluto also frowned. 'Could it be that Nazo's defeat also brought him back?' She thought to herself as they continued.

The Mercenaries pressed on, they fought more robots and Saimyoushou that got in their way. They finally reached the shrine, but when they did they were confronted by a purple phoenix.

"A phoenix?!" Kluke gasped.

"Sonic told me that she's the guardian of the shrine!" Astro explained. "But she's gone wild!"

"Then we have to snap her out of it!" Mars said.

BERSERK PHOENIX (Theme: Masters of the Desert from Sonic Adventure 2)

The phoenix shrieked as she fired flaming feathers at them. Inuyasha slashed his sword out at them, making them disappear. Tuxedo Mask threw some seeds out and huge vines sprung out, banging on the phoenix. "I didn't know you could do that, Maru." Marumaro blinked. "Well, I didn't just think that all I do was throw roses around, did you?" Tuxedo Mask smiled. "If that was all I did, I'd be a pretty crappy guardian." "Hey now," the Phoenix Shadow began as she looked at her living copy. 'Let's just talk about this, phoenix to phoenix, all right?" The other phoenix responded by blowing out a fire breath, which the Phoenix Shadow shielded. "Humph, guess not!" she said as she used a flare attack. The phoenix flew up to the air and did a somersault before she came back down and slid her right wing on the ground, making sparks come out. Everyone got away. "Take this!" Astro shouted as he fired his arm cannon. "Shine Aqua Illusion!" Mercury yelled as she threw out ice water on the phoenix. She screeched in pain before flying up again and unleashing a huge fireball at them. "Get back! Backlash Wave!" Inuyasha yelled as he summoned tornadoes to blow the fireball away. "Jupiter Thunder Dragon!" Jupiter shouted as she summoned a dragon of lighting. It rushed forward and bit down on the phoenix, making it screech. "Sailor Moon, ready?" Pluto asked. "Every time!" she nodded as she brought out her weapon. "Silver Honeymoon Tharpy Kiss!" she fired a beam of holy energy and hit the phoenix, making it glow brightly. As it stopped, the phoenix was now in pink color. She gave Sailor Moon a wet lick before flying away.

"Yuck!" she frowned as she looked at her sticky self.

"Why is she flying away?" Mini Moon wondered.

"The phoenix must want us to take the Jade Buddha." Uranus guessed. "She must know that we'll protect it."

"I'll go get it." Astro said as he went to the shrine. He pushed opened the doors opened and stepped inside. He looked into the room and saw before him a platform with a green idol that looked like a fat, baled monk suspended in a force field above a pedestal.

"It's here!" Astro said as he ran to the Jade Buddha. "The treasure's still here!"

"Great! Now we have one piece of the puzzle!" Sango yelled from outside. "Be careful!"

He reached out, grabbed the idol, and pulled. With a slight buzzing noise, it came loose from the force field. He sighed in relief and jumped off. But then, the pedestal began to slowly lower itself into the floor.

"It's a trap!" Kagome gasped. "Run for it, Astro!"

He leaped off the platform, just as three eerie designs jutted out from the red wall. He glanced at the ceiling and saw to his alarm that several walls were closing down on him. And he ran, the walls slamming down behind him. The door was starting to close but everyone else was trying to keep it open. Using his afterburners, he blasted himself through the door, just as they lost their grips.

"Should have known that these kind of treasures were booby trapped." Zola sighed as Astro got up.

Mini Moon walked up to Astro and looked at the idol curiously. "It really is a Jade Buddha!"

"What does it do?" Saturn asked.

"I don't know, but we'll find out soon enough."

"You mean I will find out soon enough."

"Wait… That voice! It's…!" Inuyasha got out his Tetsusaiga as a swam of bugs flew down in front of them. The bugs dispatched and a man with long dark hair wearing a kimono appeared.

"Naraku!" Pluto yelled as she pointed her staff at him.

"Inuyasha… I see you're still with the same company…" Naraku smirked.

"Yeah, what's it to you?" Inuyasha frowned.

"Nothing, I'm just here to collect that idol you have."

"To hell with that!" Inuyasha yelled as she threw out three Wind Scars. Naraku just used a barrier to block them. A huge gust of wind appeared and the Jade Buddha flew out of Astro's hands. It tumbled into the air until it was caught by Kagura and Kanna, who stood on a cliff away from them.

"You're here too?!" Kagome gasped in shock.

"Kagura, Kanna, we have what we came for. Let us search this world for more clues." Naraku told his minions.

"Yes, Lord Naraku." Kagura nodded as she and Kanna vanished in a haze of wind.

"Not so fast!" Inuyasha yelled as he charged forward.

"I'll be seeing you soon enough. Count on it!" Naraku grinned as he disappeared. It was just as Inyuasha jumped into the air and smashed his Tetsusaiga to were Naruku once was. The dust cleared out as Inuyasha breathed out long and hard, fangs clenched and eyes flashing blood red.

"Inuyasha...?" Sailor Moon asked timidly.

"You bastard! Come back and face me!!"

30 minutes later...

"Naraku huh?" Sonic asked with interested. The Great Hurricane reached Chun-nun after the encounter with Naraku. Everyone was set and comfortable as the auto-pilot went for the next destination.

"If you remember, Naraku was one of the many victims killed by Nazo." Trista explained. "After Nazo's defeat, everyone that he erased from existence came back to life."

"Everyone including Naraku." Miroku frowned.

"You guys seem to really hate him. How bad is he?" Kumuru asked.

"Yeah, I think it's time you told as about him." Zelgadis nodded with arms crossed. "Why is this Naraku person doing whatever he's doing? Is it for fun, for spite, revenge? I don't see a motive."

"It's because of Kikyo." Kagome answered.

"Who?" Gin arched an eyebrow.

"She was a priestess who could purify the souls of demons." she said humbly. "...She was also Inuyasha's first love."

"Wow." Moka blinked.

"Anyway, she once cared for a badly injured man named Onigumo. He must have been jealous of Inuyasha for being in love with her. Onigumo resolved to sell his body to demons and became the lowly demon we all came to hate. He then orchestrated this huge betrayel where Kikyo and Inuyasha would fight each other over the Shikon Jewel."

"That's cruel!" Shion cried, anger rising.

"And he didn't stop there..." Miroku continued. "You know how I got the Wind Tunnel? My grandfather was a monk like myself. He was pretty much like me-"

"A lecher!" Sango interrupted, sounding disgusted.

"Yes, he was." he continued. "Anyway, Naraku tricked my grandfather, and lured him into a trap. Naraku disguised himself as a beautiful woman to get close to my grandfather, and then cursed his right hand. My grandfather started the wind tunnel, which in time, destroyed him. As you grow older, the hole of the wind tunnel grows larger and larger. And in time, destroys the person as well. My father died when I was still pretty young, and I'm really the last..."

"So that's why you're like that with women." Renee frowned. "You don't want you're family line to die."

"That's still no reason to be a pervert though!" Zoey remarked.

"So what about you three?" Elliot asked, turning to Kagome, Sango and Shippo. "What did Naraku do to you?"

"Nothing to me." Shippo said quickly. "My father was killed by the Thunder Brothers. Inuyasha and the others help me avenge him and now I'm sorta paying my debt."

Sango, however, had a tear run down her cheek. "I have a younger brother named Kohaku. He was really kind and gentle, but he tried his best at being a demon slayer nonetheless. One day, we were sent on a mission to exterminate some demons at a castle. It was a trap set by Naraku and Kohaku was controlled by by him. Then... he.." She couldn't finish as she broke down in tears. Miroku took her in his arms and held her close, while NOT rubbing her butt.

"No..." Blaze gasped as she was on the verge of crying herself.

"And you?" Knuckles asked Kagome.

She looked down a little. "Kikyo... was my ancestor."

Everyone was silent. "But your friends come from the past in your world, right?" Michele stated. "You speak of Kikyo as if she was-"

"Dead? She is. Naraku killed her. He is not the same man who lusted after her anymore."

"This guy is lower than we though." Lina growled. "There was no one in my world who was as heartless as he was!"

"He's like a humanoid Mephiles." Silver snarled as he clenched his fist.

"Even Queen Baryl wouldn't do that." Darien growled.

"We don't have a choice then." Serena frowned. "We have to help you stop Naraku."

Sonic nodded as his eyes flashed dangerously, he was cleared upset and that was rare. "Anyone like Naraku should be taught a lesson."

"You sure?" Inuyasha said gruffly. "Naraku is a master of madness. Even though we outnumber him, we had trouble trying to kill him. Half the time, he used a puppet on us!"

"Don't doubt us." Amara spoke. "We've had our set of painful battles too."

"And you forget that we fought against two enemies who were much stronger than him!" Kokoa declared. "Let's teach him a lesson!"

"Yeah!" Everyone cheered.

"Before I forget!" Marine said as she stood up. "Moka, I have your planes ready."

"Really?" Yukari beamed. "What can they do?"

"You'll see." Marine smiled cheerfully.

TBC

Next Time: Jungle Joyride

A/N: Alright, Next chapter is Naruto, Magic Knight Rayearth, Koi Koi 7, Nurse Angel Ririka and Wedding Peach. So stay tune!