Once the portal had closed, they were there…in the Makai. The Demon World had seemed to have changed not only by appearance, but there was a strange and unnerving aura engulfing everything in sight. Sure the Makai had always been unsettling and dangerous, but this odd feeling seemed so wrong, so unnatural even for the Demon World. In the visual aspect it seemed normal for the mating season, from the changing of the leaves to lingering musky smell of death, sex, and just plain demon funk in the air. Bright canary yellow leaves covered nearly every tree in sight save a few that was donned with a burnt orange color. There was an odd silence to the world. No sounds of demons in the near or far distance, not even the rustling of leaves or water was even heard.
"It is pretty quiet," mused Kurama, mostly to himself. He knelt towards the ground in order to examine a nearby plant as he spoke. Placing his slender fingers on one of the leaves he rubbed it gently, before moving his hand down towards the stem of the plant. It appeared healthy, but still it felt as if something was off. It felt as if its life energy was beginning to wane perhaps. Maybe if was beginning to feel the effects of the pheromone. He wondered for a moment of what that could possibly mean. Would it simply die, or would the pheromone alter it, perhaps a mutation of sorts. Koemma didn't mention that this toxin could affect other forms of life besides demons, maybe he doesn't know much more about this than he informed them.
"Yeah, I kinda expected to be ambushed by a bunch of sex-crazed demons, or in the least watched Kuwabara trip over a random corpse by now…" Yusuke joked half-heartedly, breaking the fox's thoughts and in the background Kuwabara could be hear mumbling something about how the only person that would be doing any sort of tripping would be Yusuke falling face first on his fist. He merely ignored him instead he looked down at the plant that Kurama had touched, eyeing the other boy curiously.
"We should be careful; it appears this toxin is affecting the local plant life as well…though I am unsure of which way it is affecting it." The red head added as he stood up from his kneeling position to face the other boy. He moved towards another plant to examine it as well. To his dismay it was the same as the last, but one thing he was beginning to understand or at least for a theory about was that this toxin appeared to expose its nature in stages. "These plants must be in an early stage still, it looks as if the pheromone was released a bit more recently in this area, perhaps the urn is close by…"
"hn" was the only reply that little koorime gave in response as he began to unwrap his Jagan. As he removed the final bandage, the third eye came to life, its large purple iris opening wide. Searching as far and wide as it could. He was hoping he could locate a few high leveled demons nearby at least that would give them some leads on where to maybe go next or preferably the urn. Unfortunately even with the Jagan he could not find anything, except a few low level demons in the Far East. "I sense nothing of real value….only a few weaklings in the east," Hiei frowned slightly as he closed his third eye and began to rewrap the bandages around his forhead.
"Well then, I suggest we head to the east, there is a good chance that these weaker demons are seeking out the urn as well." Kurama suggested looking back and forth between each of his fellow teammates.
"It's not like we have any other leads anyways," Yusuke shrugged in agreement, he really wasn't up for this mission to begin with and quite frankly he just wanted to hurry up and get it over with….not to mention, Keiko was going to strangle him for not only missing school again, but he was going to have to blow off their date tonight too. He didn't even get the chance to tell her that he was leaving again, she was going to worry on top of being pissed off at him. He got the bad feeling that they were going to be gone for a good while with this mission. "I'm so gonna get it when I get back…" he quietly mused to himself, pushing a few strands of black hair out of his eyes. Mentally he kept visualizing all of the ways that his little bundle of fury would possibly greet him with when he finally did return and to that thought he shuddered.
The leaves and twigs crackled slightly beneath their shoes as they journeyed eastward though the massive forest. The wind felt oddly warm, it was a strange breeze that did not feel natural nor calming in the least. It rustled through the leaves and branches of the trees carrying with it an odd but sweet smell. The deeper into the forest that they went, the stranger things around them became. The plants seemed to be looking weirder and weirder. More and more signs that they were infected as well were beginning to be obvious in the odd appearances. Some had odd liquids, deep purple in color, oozing out from their pores with a sweet scent emitting from the odd ooze. The scent was sweet, but semi-musky at the same time and it was quite nauseating, but not unbearable.
"I'm not sure, but I believe this purple gunk is possibly a solidified form of the plant's life energy." The fox looked saddened as he said this. He had a soft spot and respect for plants; he didn't like this at all. H e wasn't quite sure what to make of it either. It could be slowly dying from the toxin…or worse it could be mutating, it was still hard to tell at this point what was exactly happening to the plant. He decided it could be wise to have a sample to examine later once they made camp so he picked up a fallen leaf that he found on the ground nearby. He scraped at the ooze and pulling a vial out from the pocket of his pants leg he dripped a bit of the vile gunk into the little container.
As they adventured a bit further into the forest, the four detectives decided that they should perhaps take a short break. It had already been half a day since they had begun their journey towards the east. Still along the way they had not seen not a hide nor hair of a demon, instead they had only found what was appearing to be an empty forest and more questions, especially with the odd plants.
"We should make camp guys, it's getting late, and to be honest I'm beat."Yusuke stated as he stretched his arms outward and yawned. The others nodded in agreement. Kuwabar moved to start a fire, Kurama was sitting down next to one of the trees examining the vial, and Hiei had volunteered to take first watch. The raven haired boy decided to just stretch out on the ground and finally get some sleep. They would have to work extra hard tomorrow to make up any lost time they were about to lose.
Somewhere in the woods ahead, a loud cry of pain could be heard followed by the sound of something being violently ripped apart. The scream echoed through the woods it seemed and a lanky odd form emerged from a what seemed to be a motionless shell lying on the ground.