Chapter One: In Want of a Fifth
"Can you believe this is the first time we've teamed up in forever?" Kazuma Kuwabara asked with a giant grin on his face from ear to ear. When his teammates didn't respond to his enthusiasm, Kuwabara looked at each of them in turn and frowned. "Is Koenma really going to bring us a fifth fighter?" he asked dubiously. "It better not be himself again," Kuwabara grumbled sourly recalling the first Dark Tournament when Koenma had "volunteered" himself as their alternate fighter even though the fragile young ruler had no means of actually fighting.
The foursome was waiting patiently at the registration booth for Koenma to (hopefully) appear before the last boat to Hanging Neck Island departed. Yusuke (not surprisingly) had waited until the very last minute before realizing they would need someone to replace the now long departed Genkai. All of Urameshi's human and youkai friends from the first tournament wanted to fight against the returning champions in this tournament, not with, so the list of available persons was rather limited to say the least.
Thankfully Koenma had kindly offered (after some "friendly" convincing from Yusuke) to supply someone to fill the vacancy so Team Urameshi wouldn't be disqualified before the first match even began.
"Look on the bright side, Kuwabara-kun," Kurama pointed out in his relaxed manner. "As guests and returning champions, we'll be treated to every courtesy the tournament officials can offer."
"It doesn't matter who Koenma brings." Hiei commented in a low serious tone. "Yusuke and I are all that we'll require to win this time around." He looked right at Kuwabara. "So, why don't you relax and read a book or something?"
"Hey, just 'cuz I ain't a youkai, doesn't mean I can't kick your short butt all over the arena!" Kuwabara growled back. It had been the first time in years that the two of them had seen each other and they were already fighting.
Kuwabara bent down so he could look Hiei in the third eye, "Ever since you went back to living in Makai I've enjoyed not hearing your snappy comments." Yusuke and Kurama covered fleeting grins. They had almost missed their teammates' childish banter. Hiei was about to retort when Yusuke broke in holding up his hands between them.
"Guys, guys," He said. "We're on the same side this time, remember?"
"Yeah, but I could still beat him," Kuwabara muttered while crossing his arms. "And when is Koenma going to get here? The boat's gonna to leave without us."
"If you don't mind my saying so," The youkai tending the registration booth said in a bored tone. "The tournament committee has offered to supply teams with one alternative member if they require it."
"Really?" Yusuke asked surprised by the unusual courtesy. "Why would they do that?"
"In order to qualify for the tournament," The youkai clerk explained. "At least three out of five members must have made a certain rank at a prequalifying tournament; meaning either one of the human realm pre-tournaments or the Makai King's Tournament."
"I see," Kurama caught on to where the line of conversation was going. Several of the human tournaments and the Makai grand tournament were individual based, not team based, meaning there would naturally be an odd number of skilled fighters without a team. To be fair as possible to everyone, it was only natural for the tournament committee to set up a team placement system.
"Correct," The youkai replied. "The tournament advisers are letting teams pick from a selection of qualified participants to be the sixth spare fighter."
"That also means Kuwabara doesn't qualify." Hiei gibed.
"Winners of the original Dark Tournament already qualify!" Kuwabara retorted and when the youkai clerk remained silent he added, "Well if they don't then they should!"
"If you all are just waiting on a fifth member," The youkai clerk seemed to be getting annoyed wanted to send all of them on their merry way. "It just so happens that there is one fighter remaining who has yet to find a team." The clerk pointed to a bench where a figure in black robes was quietly feeding the birds. "All the others gave up hope of being picked and left."
"Whoa, I couldn't even sense his energy over there like he was invisible." Kuwabara gasped. :He's not a ghost or something is he?" Kuwabara was looking the candidate over carefully. "Well, at least he's taller the Hiei."
"Is this supposed to be some kind of a joke?" Hiei asked irritably. "This fighter's defenses are pathetic and I'm not picking up on any special abilities."
"Well if Koenma doesn't get here in the next two seconds-" Just as Yusuke was about to say it, his cell-phone rang and on the other line was none other than the prince of tardiness himself.
"Koenma! You little jerk," Yusuke exclaimed. "Where are you and how the hell did you get my cell number?"
"Patience is a virtue, you know." Koenma retorted briskly over the line. It was almost impossible to hear the young ruler because of some sirens going off in the back ground. "Speaking of which, should you even be participating in this tournament Yusuke? I hear you going to be a daddy soon. Isn't all this a little unfair to Keiko?"
It had been nearly two years since their wedding and the couple was already expecting their first child. Keiko had been really upset when Yusuke had fought in the Makai tournament and now, not even a year later, he was fighting again and she wouldn't be there to heckle him.
"It'll be fine." Yusuke said and turned the phone to speaker. "She's safely at home watching the televised version. Shizuru and Yukina are with her just in case." He was actually referring to his own safety. Pregnant or not Keiko still had a fierce slap.
"Yes!" Kuwabara announced passionately the moment he heard Yukina's name. "Even if we can't be together, the fact that Yukina is watching me and cheering me on is going to give me the strength to win!" The others ignored him and cut to the chase.
"I assume he is bringing us a fifth member." Hiei asked. Although by the sound of his voice, he probably didn't believe it.
"Well, about that," Koenma said over the speaker. "There's a reason I'm using Yusuke's unlimited calling plan to contact you rather than a face to face meeting." The four teammates frowned. "Need I remind you the list of available persons was rather limited? And even more so after the reiki drain by…uh," Koenma trailed off not wanting to reveal classified information.
"And?" Yusuke asked impatiently.
"I'm the mighty ruler of Reikai and don't have time for petty mortal tournaments." Koenma said in a grand fashion. "I was merely going to bring you a fifth member in person as a favor to old friends since you asked so nicely."
"AND?" The four demanded in unison.
"It just so happens that I don't have anybody to send you, sorry." Koenma said a little too cheerfully as another alarm sounded off in the back ground. "You see, a new case has come up and I don't have any man power to spare. That's all, you kids have fun now!" And with a 'beep!' Koenma, the mighty ruler of the spirit world, disconnected.
There was a moment of silence before Yusuke slammed his fist on the youkai's counter and said, "We'll take that fighter!"
"Hold up." Hiei said after Yusuke logged in his team and motioned their newest member over to join them. "I won't team up with some random human who thinks this is just a game for kids."
"I can assure you this is the most able bodied fighter, and the only fighter, you could find in time." The youkai clerk said and shooed them away from his counter.
The fighter stood up and dusted off his crumb covered robe before sauntering over. His or her form was completely concealed by layers upon layers of black cloth making it impossible to identify just who, or what for that matter, was concealed underneath. The figure nodded in greeting once, but made no other movement when his feet arrived at their destination.
"Seeing as your boat's about to leave, it's take it or leave it." The clerk said tartly before closing up shop for good. Team Urameshi exchanged glances.
"Well, there is one way to test his skills." Hiei said drawing his sword.
"Wait! That's not really a good idea Hiei!" Kurama warned, but before the others could stop him, Hiei was already charging ahead at speedily with his blade drawn and in hand.
Seemingly caught off guard the robed fighter shifted to the side just barely dodging Hiei's blade. Hiei turned his sword around and was about to slice the fighter in two, but stopped just before making contact.
Almost as if in slow motion the robed figure appeared to turn his shadowy gaze at Hiei with a face hidden under the multiple layers of black cloth. After that he sent a quick roundhouse kick to Hiei's back. Hiei deftly dodged the kick and came around with his sword again. The robed fighter leaned back to dodge by a paper's thin edge, but this time the fighter drove a solid punch straight up into the flat part of the blade. The sword sang out with a shriek and snapped in two. The tip just barely missed Hiei's nose as it flew by and embedded itself in a brick wall. After that everything got very, very quiet.
"Hmf, as I said, his defenses are pitiful." Hiei was looking intently at the hilt of his now shattered sword. "He barely dodged my slow strokes." The sword was nothing to mourn over. Hiei liked his swords cheap and went through them like popcorn.
"Barely is still a dodge, Hiei." Kurama told him as the voice of reason. "You yourself just said it didn't matter who joined and now we have this fighter to complete our number."
Just at that moment the ship sounded out its horn calling to the last of the stragglers to board and time was up for debate. Team Urameshi scrambled to get on with their new team member only a few beats behind.
"So what do you think Kurama?" Yusuke asked once they were aboard the ship. He jerked his head in the direction of their new "masked fighter" who silently ignored everyone and everything, including Kuwabara's numerous attempts to talk with him.
"Hiei's assault revealed something of our new friend's abilities." Kurama mused thoughtfully. "Clearly not as strong as Kuwabara or as fast as Hiei or you or me…" Kurama sent a sideways glance at their shortest teammate. "Hiei did go easy on him, but to identify a sword's weakest point and deliver such a precise blow…" Kurama was mildly impressed in spite of himself. "Fate did not stick us with an amateur. I think this fighter will yield many surprises in the near future."
"Geeze, is the new guy a robot or what?" A disappointed Kuwabara came up to join the conversation. "He doesn't say anything and just stands there." Kuwabara shrugged indifferently not sure what else to do about it.
"Maybe he just doesn't want to be brought down to your level of stupidity." Hiei suggested as he leaned on the rail of the ship. He had been listening to Kurama while keeping a mistrustful eye on their new teammate.
"Listen shorty, I didn't come all this way just to be insulted by you." Kuwabara growled.
"Then where do you usually go to be insulted?" Hiei asked innocently.
"It seems Hiei actually missed Kuwabara," Kurama chucked quietly to Yusuke.
"Now he's making up for lost time." Yusuke grinned back. "I can't wait to see the look on their faces when they end up brothers-in-law."
"Well here's a couple of familiar faces you don't soon forget," Declared a booming voice.
"Aye, once a fella knocks your brains about once you have a hard time recalling anything else." Agreed another more chipper voice as a few members from the other tournament teams came up to greet Team Urameshi.
"Chu! Jin! How are you guys doing?" Yusuke greeted them warmly. Chu, a tall youkai sporting a mohawk, and Jin, a wind master youkai, waltzed up to greet their friends with Rinku, Toya, Shishiwakamaru, and Suzuki (all previous combatants from the first Dark Tournament) not far behind.
"Good thing you're awake this time, Urameshi." Kuwabara elbowed his friend as everyone did a round of hellos. When they had all assembled off to the side and all formalities were out of the way, Kuwabara asked, "Are you all on the same team?"
"Nah, we all got a bunch of other strong blokes as fillers" Chu told him. "If we were all on the same team only one of us would get a crack at Yusuke and everyone else would have to sit out."
"If one of our teams beats Yusuke's, then we still only have one chance to fight him." Toya, an ice using youkai shinobi, pointed out coolly. "Still, I'd rather have a rematch with you, Kurama," He said turning to his friend and rival.
"I look forward to it." Kurama replied with a challenging smile.
"Chu's already called dibs on Yusuke, but you're more than welcome to take me on in a rematch, Kuwabara." The little youkai, Rinku, said with a bigger than life grin. "But this time don't expect me to go easy on ya."
"Ha!" Kuwabara retorted showing off the muscles of his right arm. "I've got some new tricks that'll blow your mind."
"We're sorry about the loss of Genkai." Toya added quietly putting an end to the macho posing. Everyone shared the same level respect for the old fighter and was instantly saddened by the memory of her passing.
"It's not fair that the old bitty gets away while remaining undefeated." Suzuki (the vainest youkai Team Urameshi had ever met) said as he and his comrade nicknamed "Shishi" (the imp-like pretty boy idol yokai) sighed remembering their losses at the hands of Genkai. "I hope you got someone worthy to replace her."
"We have someone, but we're not sure how good they are yet… Hey where'd he go?" Yusuke pointed to where the new masked fighter had been standing only to notice that their new teammate had slipped off secretly. Apparently their new friend was shy in front of a crowd.
"I still think he's either a ghost or a robot." Kuwabara whispered as he glanced around paranoid.
"Oh, yeah. You guys haven't heard the strange rumors going around, have you?" Suzuki asked changing the subject. The masked fighter would have to wait until later.
"What rumors?" Yusuke asked with his detective senses now on alert.
"Apparently there have been alterations in the tournament rules." Toya explained. "Only teams with members from the last tournament are allowed as regular participants including our four teams and five others. Aside from that there were supposed to be three other 'guest teams' that were decided during pre-tournament match ups."
"But here's the strange part," Chu added. "Out of the dozens of fellas that participated, human and youkai, only two teams made it to the island alive."
Jin nodded. "With no bodies or evidence to convince them otherwise the officials agreed to let them participate." Being a shinobi himself, Jin suspected that that at least one or possibly both guest teams were actually decoys and the real culprits might actually hidden among the regular teams. However, Toya, his fellow shinobi, had a different theory.
"There are a lot of other odd things going on, so it seems." Toya said. "Despite the change of hands the Dark Tournament hasn't lost its original charm." He sent a quick glance in the direction of the ship's TV cameras. "It could just be propaganda to boost interest for the tournament, but we'll have to wait and see."
"Attention, Attention" A voice over the ship's PA system called out to the passengers. "The boat will be arriving at port in ten minutes. All passengers please gather your possessions and prepare for departure. Repeat, would all passengers…"
"See you in the ring!" Their youkai friends bid farewell and all tournament participants prepared to set foot on dry land wondering what excitement lay just ahead.