Several hours passed since the boys had set up camp for the night, Yusuke was curled near the fire snoring soundly with Kuwabara sleeping on the opposite side of the same fire. Kurama had dozed off next to a nearby tree while researching the ooze, Hiei sat next to him keeping watch, but he himself was beginning to slowly doze off. The little demon was more worn out than he had initially thought when he volunteered to be the watchman for the night. He lightly smacked the sides of his face a few times in order to wake himself up a bit. 'This will be a long night…' he mused to himself stretching his arms out, but still careful not to whack his partner in the face by mistake. What seemed to be another long hour passed in relative silence. The little fire demon was just about to give in to sleep when a rather annoying and obnoxiously loud screech echoed through the forest.
"What the hell was that?!" Yusuke yelled as he shot up from his makeshift bed followed by Kuwabara whom decided to refuge behind the other boy, apparently he thought he was going to protect him from whatever made that noise….
"A scream you moron…." Hiei replied sarcastically, the fox demon was up as well now, standing beside his friend and looking in the direction of the scream. Hiei wouldn't admit this, but he was a little nervous…especially with all the strange signs he had been seeing throughout the forest. Sure screams were a normal thing to hear in the Makai, but something about the screech was off…like it came from something unnatural…something that should not be. Crimson eyes narrowed and he listened more intently trying to sort out what the source could be. He didn't like the idea of the unknown and being blind to what was coming their way.
"Hey guys, I'm feeling something strange coming from that way…" Kuwabara pointed towards the far east. Blinking in a confused manner he double checked his senses. Surely that couldn't be right…"It kinda feels like a plant's aura….."
"A plant?" Yusuke blinked then narrowed his eyes at the taller boy slightly mocking him." Are you sure you aren't losing your touch with that spirit awareness of yours buddy? Last I checked plants don't screech…" He laced his fingers together in front of him, cracking his knuckles together. He was ready for a fight, this little stroll of theirs through the forest just wasn't his thing, he was itchin for some action and hopefully he was about to get just that. In the distance that lied ahead, strange sounds could be heard through the rustling of the trees, and there it was a again, that odd musky scent penetrating their noses again. The scent continued to grow stronger and stronger with each passing moment.
"I'm afraid Kuwabara just might be right, Yusuke." The fox stated calmly, sniffing the air slightly and weighing the possibility in his head. So his initial thoughts on mutation were right, something was definitely up with the plants…. "We should be wary….it appears we will have unwanted company soon." The redhead readied his rose whip just to be safe and the other boys readied their own weapons as well. The forest suddenly grew silent, the noises had disappeared and the trees were still once more. A soft barely audible swishing sound could be heard, but within seconds that sound had ceased too. Kurama eyed their surroundings, an uneasy feeling settling in the pit of his stomach. The fox's eyes widened before he yelled to his comrades, "I suggest we move quickly!" No sooner than the words left his lips, the Urameshi team leapt quickly in for opposite directions. The ground ripped apart as several strange looking creatures tore through the ground with what looked like thorny claws, the area had become difficult to see in due to the dirt and debris currently in the air. Kuwabara could be heard coughing from the dust somewhere in the mix and if Kurama strained his eyes he could see Hiei and Yusuke both standing up from where they had hit the ground.
"What the hell are those?" Yusuke spouted out looking at the strange beings as the dust and debris cleared away giving them all a pretty good view of their attackers now. The creatures were each quite large in height, easily taller than Toguro had been, but instead of being a hulking mass of muscles these creatures were quite slender and lanky. Their skin was a light greenish tint and seemed to be made from leaves. The calves of their legs and the lower parts of their arms were unproportioned to the rest of their bodies, they seemed unnaturally long in comparison to the rest. What seemed to be exposed bones, were sticking out from each lower arm and each calf, and the bones were covered by odd twisting vines that stretched all the way down to their long thorny claws. The claws looked razor sharp and with no skin covering them, but instead they were covered by a brownish shell like husk. Their eyes were glazed over and lifeless and their jaws were slightly jutting outward. Their long bodies were very lean, with sunken in ribcages and tiny little veins protruding slightly from underneath their leafy skin.
"Guess we have some gardening on our hands guys." He smirked and before he could even finish Hiei had already ran towards one of the beast with his sword in hand. His katana slicing through its ribcage and down towards its pelvis before the thing reached out with its claws and grabbed it by the blade itself. Purple ooze dripped towards the ground pooling near the beast's feet, it yanked the sword out from its body and before the fire demon could react he found himself being flung across straight into a tree.
"Hiei!" The boy yelled for his friend as the other boy flew past him, "Now you're gonna get it you stupid overgrown weed…!" Yusuke yelled, his attention back on the plant in front of him. Hiei was okay standing up behind the other readying his hand back on his katana. Yusuke already had his hand in its trademark position and fired off his spirit gun shooting it from through one of the creature's right eye. It shrieked in pain and thrashed one of its claws towards him, but he quickly dodged it. Another one of the beasts tried to get him from behind but was sideswiped by Kuwabara's spirit sword and Kurama's whip flew between Kuwabara and Yusuke striking down a third beast. This battle was surprisingly becoming hectic quite fast and several more of these strange Plant demons had shown up to join the battle. More than once the four detectives nearly hit one of each other in all the confusion.
"We need to get out of this forest, there's too many of them!" Kurama yelled to the others as he dodged attacks from two of the demons, barely missing the second one's claw. More of the demons began to pour into the fray and realizing the odds were against them the other boys came to an agreement and decided that fleeing was their best option for now. They broke from fighting and the four of them headed for the small gap at the end of the mass before a giant version of the demons stepped in their path. Yusuke and Kuwabara managed to slide between its huge legs and continued running their other two comrades not far behind they assumed.
They ran as fast as their legs could go before they finally made it to edge of the forest. Once they made it to the clearing Yusuke and Kuwabara stopped resting their hands on the knees and breathing heavily. Yusuke looked back towards the forest worried he was so sure that Kurama and Hiei had been right behind them. "Where's Kurama and the shrimp?" The taller boy asked in between breaths." They were right behind us…"
"We have to go back…they must…" before Yusuke could even finish his sentence a mass of long red hair came into view, its owner looking tattered and exhausted. He barely managed to reach the other two boys before he collapsed at their feet, his hand clutching at a rather deep would on his side that was bleeding.
"Kurama!" both boys yelled and reached out to their friend catching him by the shoulders before he could hit the ground all the way. Other than the wound on his side he seemed to only have a few minor scratches and bruises, but nothing fatal.
"Where's the shr….."Kuwabara went to ask before being suddenly interrupted by a desperate plea from Kurama, "They…they took him… they have Hiei.." coughing a few times the fox demon tried to stand, but was hit by a wave of dizziness. He sat there a few moments longer and tried to stand up again this time succeeding.
"We have to go back." Yusuke stated as he looked at the other two boys and they nodded in agreement. The three boys turned to retrace their steps through the forest in hopes of finding their other teammate alive.
Author notes: I appreciate all that have viewed my story so far, and I would really like some suggestions or feedback, anyone had some, if you do not like the story I am open to criticism, but please do not bash or flame it. I think criticism and suggestion can both benefit a person's writing for the better.