Chapter Four: The Masked Fighter's Turn to Brawl
A quiet murmur rose up from the crowd.
"Who's this masked fighter?" they asked. What famous bounty hunter, fighter, or hero had team Urameshi called to their side this time?
The audience fondly remembered the previous tournament and the surprise Team Urameshi had unleashed. The famous Genkai had been their secret ally then. Spectators and commentators theorized that this time would be just as exciting, but the truth of that assumption had yet to be seen. Team Gyakufuu, on the other hand, was less than impressed by the mound of cloth standing in the ring.
Nue stared down at his opponent with clear disappointment. "I came here to face the legendary hero," he said. "Not some sideshow who's only filling in their team's missing slot."
The masked fighter looked unperturbed by the round of insults. He relaxed his guard and waved a hand at Nue in a manner that clearly said, come on tough guy.
"I guess the masked fighter was tired of sitting out." The referee narrated as she paced nervously. "With both teams' captains saying 'no'….I-I don't know what to do. I guess we'll have to switch fighters or…"
In a grandstanding display the masked fighter raised his arms to the audience calling on them to decide. There was a moment's pause and then a slow chant rose from the crowd.
"Mask…..mask…mask…mask mask mask mask-" they chanted quietly.
The fighter raised his arms high and the crowd broke into wild cheers. They were out for blood and now had a willing sacrifice. Blood thirsty youkai and humans alike called out to Nue to rip the little fighter apart, scatter his bones, and a great many other unpleasant things that had to be censored from the TV broadcast. The masked fighter turned back to Nue and bowed.
The floor is yours, the little fighter seemed to say and Nue's expression visibly changed colors.
"That was…unexpected." Kurama murmured. "Our new friend knows how to play the crowd."
"Yeah," Yusuke agreed. "Just a little spooky."
"I just got word from…" The rabbit referee swallowed and placed a hand on her ear piece. "Um, King Araku says if neither team can decide on their next fight, then both teams will be instantly disqualified."
"Alright, alright," Yusuke grumbled. "The little guy can fight, but he better not make us look bad!" The masked fighter gave his team captain a two finger salute before returning to a guarded position.
"I'm not fighting some unknown-" Nue started to say.
"Well if you're so chicken then go ahead and sit out" Yusuke replied nonchalantly. "Last time was the famous Genkai," he pointed out. "Who knows who we got on our team this time, right? You won't know unless you try." Yusuke shrugged and went to join his other waiting team members.
"I'm no coward, but I'm no fool either." Nue replied as he cracked his neck. "I can tell you have absolutely no spirit powers, masked fighter." His tone oozed the nickname with mockery. "This will end quickly."
"Fighters ready," the referee said as Nue accepted the inevitable. "And begi-" but before she could finish the mask fighter whipped out 8 round objects from his robes and slammed them into the ground creating a series of small explosions.
"What the-" Both Nue and the referee started coughing on the smoke screen that arose from the bombs.
"Doesn't waste any time, does he?" Yusuke observed and backed away from the smoke. Kurama rushed to shield his own pretty face and Hiei leaped back to observe from a safer distance.
"It's not poison is it?" Kuwabara asked worriedly when he saw his friends retreat.
"No." Kurama replied still shielding his tender nose from the vapors. "It's…an onion based smoke bomb."
"Damn!" Nue coughed. His eyes were watering from the intensely strong onion vapors. "Stupid…making a fool out of me!" He summoned an energy ax blade to his bare hands the size of a lumberjack's.
"Impressive," Hiei said in a bored tone. "But useless in close quarters." When he said this the masked fighter could be seen standing on Nue's shoulders looking down at the blade with what appeared to be an expression of mock interest.
"Why you!" Nue tried to grab at the little fighter and met with fist full of teeny tiny (and it should be well noted) very sharp needles.
"PARLOR TRICKS!" Nue roared wrathfully. A joke of a fighter was getting the best of him with sleight of hand and smoke screens? Such a thing was unheard of. It was a disgrace. A fighter like that wasn't even worth the mud on the boots that kicked him. The tricks would eventually run out and once Nue cooled his temper, the youkai would quickly snatch up an assured victory. Nue would enjoy every minute as he pulled the little fighter limb from limb.
At least that was the deception.
"What the-?" Suddenly Nue's legs gave out from beneath him and a giant plume of blue smoke clouded out the entire ring.
The referee coughed madly and had to retreat to the side lines leaving the two fighters alone in the gloom. Nue tried to wipe his eyes, but his limbs felt heavy like they each carried a ton and the smoke stung his eyes to the point of nearly blinding him. Through watery eyes Nue could barely make out the tiny figure of the masked fighter walking towards him step by step in such a predatory manner that made the youkai's hair stand on end.
"N-no, st-stay away…" Nue tried to back up in a panic and failed. His horrified scream was cut short and the crowd shivered in response. They couldn't see what was happening, but they could think of a few creative ideas.
Before the audience could complain about the lack of view the wind had cleared smoke away. Standing in the ring was the masked fighter poking a passed out Nue with his foot. The large youkai was on his back in a most embarrassing position with his eyes rolled back in terror. Nue was breathing, but his mouth was open and drooling. Death would have been a much more aesthetic fate. Apparently the masked fighter was not one for mercy or style, so Nue was just flat out of luck.
"I-I don't think a ten count is needed" the referee said nervously as she backed away from the incapacitated fighter.
Taking the cue the masked fighter returned to his place on the side lines and the crowd maintained an air of awkward silence until the scoreboard was updated and then they provided the masked fighter with a polite round of applause.
"That's right people," The referee called over the microphone for the last time. "They are the team that can't be beat. Team Urameshi proceeds to the next round!"
By this time the referee was covered in sweat and ready for the day to be over and the crowd was feeling much of the same. Although the rest of the matches were fairly "normal" by Dark Tournament standards, the crowd was still left drained and bewildered.
Most of the crowd anyway, there were exceptions.
In the VIP seats Itsuki's guest giggled and Itsuki groaned. "That little show off is going to blow our cover," He sighed.
"It's a shame to all spies revealing one's tricks." The lady frowned. "That fox will have seen it and the three eyes too. A lesson I shall need to teach them. Them and this ill-trained spy."
"What?" Itsuki didn't catch the last part as the lady mumbled it in her own tongue.
"Nothing for you to worry about, deary. Just leave everything to me," The lady assured him. "I'm going to rest for a while, but there should be a beautiful moon tonight." With a final girlish giggle the lady vanished as she had come.
Itsuki put his head in his hands and felt anxiousness begin to overwhelm his confidence. "I hope I was not a fool to enlist her. Drat that woman," He growled. "She can't be trusted. I need to hurry things along before any advantage is lost."
[hr]
Yusuke collapsed into a chair in the team's break room on the verge of exhaustion. "Jeeeze, who knew they were saving their strongest player for last?"
"You sound like an old man, Urameshi." Kuwabara commented.
Yusuke shot his friend a look, "Well I am all grown up."
"That's not what Keiko says," Kuwabara mumbled shrewdly.
"What was that?" Yusuke grabbed his "friend" by the collar. "What the hell, the hell what Keiko says! And when has she ever told you anything?"
"We should have known the loud mouth was just a showman." Kurama said out loud bringing the conversation back to its original form. Both Yusuke and Kuwabara shot him a look of, 'And what's that subtext supposed to mean?'
Yusuke's opponent had been a very skilled character that certainly gave Yusuke a good work out. It was a very exciting match that nearly doubled Team Urameshi's fanbase and made them the blood target of every other team. Once again it seemed that despite the best efforts of human and youkai, the Dark Tournament hadn't lost some of its original charm.
"One of us knew," Hiei finally spoke up. Next to him the team's masked fighter was staring down a cup of tea.
The tea was an ingenious plot devised by Kuwabara to see who was under the robes and it was apparently working. The masked fighter couldn't decide between wasting the hot cup of brew and untangling the maze of his outfit. The stalemate was somewhat comical as the fighter (who had proven able enough to take on a youkai) couldn't quite seem to outwit the steaming cup.
Yusuke sighed, "Well I guess now's a good as time as any."
Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama all stood up and walked over to were the masked fighter was having his staring contest. They loomed over the fighter and raised their battle auras to full terror mode. Kuwabara stood at the ready covering the only possible exit by the door.
"We know you're a spy for someone" Yusuke glared down the masked fighter who didn't so much as twitch.
"Tell us who you're working for and I might just take only one of your limbs," Hiei chimed in.
"That's hardly the effective way to interrogate someone, Hiei." Kurama scolded his demonically inclined friend. Kurama himself was already thinking of more "effective" methods of negotiation. A dark aura surrounded him making the two humans (well, half human in Yusuke's case) scoot away.
Hiei drew his sword, "So? I find it the most enjoyable way."
The masked fighter didn't even blink (or so they thought) and continued looking at the steamy cup dreamily without moving. Kuwabara walked over and held his finger just before the masked fighter's robe as if he was about to poke him.
"I think he's asleep." Kuwabara told them. The loud booming of somebody slamming the door open prevented the others from replying. Chu had forced open the door breathing heavily with liquor and bad news on his breath.
"You guys better come to the infirmary," He said. "You're never going to believe this." The Urameshi team didn't waste any time asking unnecessary questions questions and followed Chu at full speed leaving their fifth man to continue his staring contest with the cooling cup.
In the tournament infirmary team Urameshi found their friends, Jin and Toya, beaten and bedridden, but worst of all their pride was shaken. The rest of their team was in even worse shape with nearly all of them in some sort of body cast. One guy looked like he wasn't going to make it and the medical staff was franticly rushing about in a state of utter madness.
"We're shinobi and yet our team was taken by surprise," Toya groaned. "At least Chu and Rinku had the privilege of losing in a match" The duo winced when Toya mentioned a severe blow to their pride.
"Our weaker teammates were wiped out early on and by the end of our rounds we were just too tired to carry on." Rinku painfully explained. He and Chu had to fight double time. They lost their last round to a group of "human nobodies".
This underhanded turn of events made King Araku furious and the tournament committee was scrambling trying find who was responsible. The yokai king suspected a plot to usurp his authority, but so far the tournament committee could find no evidence to support this.
"King Araku's even got his own personal agents running around like mad March hares." Jin added with a wince. "The audience knows something's up, but they haven't made a ruckus about it yet."
"At first we thought it was some former youkai slayers," Toya confessed. "But the human teams are dropping out even faster than the youkai ones." Team Urameshi did the math in their heads and Kurama confirmed that with this new development they only had two more rounds before the finals.
"If you guys were attacked…" Yusuke mused. His team sudden felt uneasy. Since their friends were already made targets, then that meant Team Urameshi could be next. "But so far we haven't had any problems…"
There was a sudden silence as a realization hit them.
"Your fifth man," Toya asked. "Where is he?"
"He's either the cause or he's in trouble." Yusuke told him.
"We better check the waiting room first and then split up to search if he's not there." Kurama suggested. "Signal if you find something, but don't approach him alone."
"We were taken by surprise." Toya warned them. "You all should be careful, too."
"Right, I doubt if they had the power to take the two of use head on-" Jin agreed. "They wouldn't have gotten the drop on us like they did."
"Chu and I will help you look." Riku offered and Chu nodded in agreement. With that the fighters set out to confront the mysterious masked fighter.