Yay! Another chapter but I got to say i'm sorry that this one isn't as long as the other ones, but trust me when i saw it's gonna get more interesting. I finally found some good names for the generals after some inspiration from a reviewer :3
I'm trying to rank up my grammar a little bit so updates may come a bit slower, not only that there are some other projects that i'm writing that, hopefully, i'll be able to work on soon so look after me please!
Naota looked around in her surroundings, feeling the familiar energy of demon world. Red clouds like blood cover the sky, lightening strikes out of nowhere, the stench of blood and rotting corpses permeate the air. She leaned against a tree, waiting for the other 3 to come down from the portal. Botan was surprised to see Yusuke and Kuwabara helping her but they kept her in the dark, if not, it would make matters worse in spirit world. Yusuke and Shuichi landed without a hitch, Kuwabara stumbled slightly but righted himself quickly, trying to play it cool.
"So where is this fortress you guys were talking about, I don't see it anywhere." Kuwabara said.
"We are outside in the forest, let's keep moving we'll see it soon." Naota said. All of them started to follow Naota and eventually were lead to a small cliff and was faced with the fortress itself. It was large like an old England castle with a moat and drawbridge. The walls were covered with vines and moss and when the lightening stroke, it seemed very menacing. Spikes adorned the walls and some corpses were still hanging on to them. Naota knelt down, looking over the cliff and spotted a carriage leaving the premises.
"There's the decoy, after they're out of eye sight, it's time to go in." Naota said.
"Remember, we do not know the enemy's strength other than he's an S-class demon. Naota has also stated that he does not seem to have demons that follow him, whether or not he'll be alone in the fortress is something we don't know." Shuichi explained again.
"Man, this reminds me of that whole test thing Genkai gave us a while back." Yusuke muttered.
"You said it, so are we just going through the front door or something?" Kuwabara said.
"You wanna try swimming through poisonous waters or jumping over the wall where you'll most likely get stabbed by 10 foot spikes?" Naota said.
"Yea good point." Kuwabara said. The carriage was out of sight, they all started to sprint towards the door. It opened on its own and they all walked into the foyer. It was empty and there was no sounds coming from anywhere.
"Well I guess we should start opening doors-" Suddenly the floor opened up and Naota was swallowed by a trap door.
"Naota!" Shuichi cried before Yusuke and Kuwabara was also taken. Shuichi was the only one left. He knelt down and touched the ground, trying to find the opening.
"You shouldn't do that fox, after all it would ruin the game." Shuichi looked up and was face to face with the Tactician. His robes were almost like a priest's, the colors of white and blood red. In his right hand a fan made of feathers.
"You must be the Tactician." Shuichi said, standing up.
"You are correct, let me formally introduce myself. My name is Yuu, strategist of the Revolutionaries." He said. "I bid you welcome to my humble abode. You will find it very accommodating." Shuichi took out his rose whip and Yuu put his fan to his face covering his mouth. His eyes opened in slits, clear and cool green met with dark emerald green. "You shouldn't do that, who knows what could happen to your dear friend." Shuichi lowered his weapon.
"Where are my companions?" Shuichi asked.
"They are not harmed, they are still here but scattered. Come with me, this is not the place to have a conversation." Shuichi started to follow him through a series of rooms and hallways. Yuu started to walk down stairs until they reached the bottom. It was a humongous room, capable to storing a commercial airplane from the human world, in the middle was two chairs facing each other and a chessboard in the center on a small table. Shuichi looked up and was surprised to see Hikaru, hanging from the ceiling over a river of lava. Shuichi started to run towards her until one of the ropes holding her snapped. Yuu tsked at him.
"Now now, it wouldn't be fun if you could easily save her now would it? What do you suppose we play a game Kurama?" Yuu said, seating himself in one of the chairs and motioning to Shuichi to sit in the other one.
'I have no choice but to follow his instructions. Any closer I get to Hikaru and those ropes will snap, causing her to burn to death. Not only that I cannot be sure that he's telling the truth of the others. I have to be very cautious.' Shuichi thought as he sat down. Figures started to appear in the chess board. On Yuu's side he has a full set of pawns, bishops, rooks and knights. On Shuichi's side there was less than half.
"Let's play a game to pass the time Shuichi. In my fortress there are many hidden dangers and many of my followers willing to fight every single one of you. They would overpower you and your companions if I were to unleash them all but I want to give you a fighting chance. All of my subjects are my chess pieces, pawns are the weakest with the king, that's me, being the strongest. Then there are your subjects, you are the king, protecting the single pawn that is Hikaru. There is your knight, the one with pure spirit energy, your rook, the ex detective and your queen, the new detective." Yuu said and the pieces appeared on Shuichi's side, they looked like them with Shuichi with a crown, Naota with a smaller crown, Kuwabara appearing as a knight and Yusuke looking like a wall. They are all moving out of their own accord from space to space but they are all scattered, not one of them close to each other besides Shuichi and Hikaru, being right next to each other.
"This isn't your ordinary game of chess." Shuichi said. Yuu chuckled.
"What would be the fun in that Kurama? Your pieces move of their own accord in my fortress which symbolizes the chess board, the more of my pawns that I move to their spot, the more they will fight them. They will fight over the space of the chessboard, leading them to us. Of course if one of them should perish their chess piece also vanishes." Yuu explained. Shuichi looked down at the board; Hikaru is placed on his side, on the last row with Shuichi in front of her and Yuu in front of him.
'I have no choice but to play by his game.' Shuichi thought.
"There is a way to save all of you without having your companions harmed or killed. We could let all of you go with your lives intact." Yuu said. Shuichi didn't believe him. "Your gaze betrays you Kurama, don't you believe me?"
"There must be a reason why you would present me with that choice." Shuichi said and Yuu chuckled again.
"Of course, if you agree to join our side then we will let your friends go." Yuu said and Shuichi scowled. "You don't have to agree right at this moment, let us play and we shall see how grand your desire is to save your friends."
00000
Naota groaned and rubbed her butt, feeling it sore after her long fall. She looked around her surroundings, it was dark with small torches here and there and sludge seems to be moving slowly next to her. 'I must be in the sewers.' She got up and started to walk. She took the torch from the wall and looked around for an opening. She found a set of stairs and started to go up. She opened a door above her and climbed out. She's out of the sewers but finds herself wandering hallways after hallways with no demons in sight.
'How big is this place? It didn't look that big from the outside and there's no one here either.' Naota thought.
First pawn is set.
Naota heard a rumbling coming toward her. She squinted her eyes, trying to see and then saw a gigantic boulder coming her way. She started to scramble away from it.
"You have got to be joking me!" Naota shouted, the boulder closing in on her, she looked frantically for an opening and saw ahead a wall littered with spikes. 'If I run into that I'm done for, if I stop I'm gonna be squished!' She tripped on a loose stone and heard something fall. 'I'm gonna die by a large rock, what a life!' She covered her head and waited for the impact, but didn't feel anything. She opened her eyes and looked behind her. A portion of ceiling caved in and stopped the boulder. She let out a breath and laid on her back for a bit, allowing her heart to calm down.
"What kind of place is this?"
Kuwabara kept opening door after door after door and couldn't really find any changes in the rooms he found. Most were luxurious with big beds, chandeliers, tables, dressers, and the like. He himself landed on a bed so his fall wasn't that bad.
"Where is everyone? There are so many rooms but no one to fill them, kinda creepy if you ask me." Kuwabara thought out loud. The hallway he walked through was adorned with various painting, vases and rugs. He felt out of place with all the expensive items.
'Hey wait a minute, why am I walking around? I can just sense where everyone is duh!' Kuwabara focused and started to read the energies. 'Alright, well there's Urameshi's energy, Naota is pretty far, Kurama is kinda close to her and that one girl, Hikaru, but that's it? There's no one else, that's strange.'
Bishop set.
Kuwabara heard a few footsteps behind him before having to dodge a punch. Kuwabara looked at the arm before it snapped back to its body. 'Ok that's weird, I couldn't even sense that guy coming behind me.' The footsteps grew louder and a troll looking creature came into view, its body almost as wide as the hallway, and it had to hunch over to avoid the ceiling. Drool came from its mouth and when it touched the floor, it would burn right through it. It had a low menacing growl as it came closer to Kuwabara, and then it started to sprint towards him. Kuwabara took out his spirit sword, a large grin plastered on his face.
"Alright big guy, come at me!"
"Ok so after falling for god knows how long through a tunnel that seemed to only go down, how the hell did I get up here!" Yusuke shouted, somehow finding himself right on the rooftop. 'Not only that there are no stairs to go down, and all the doors just keep leading me to towers. If I try to jump my way down I'd probably get skewered by those damn spikes.' Yusuke thought, wondering how to get out of this predicament.
"Well I'm not like Kurama, I don't think, so best way to get down, blast your way down." Yusuke said. He pointed his finger downwards from where he was standing.
"Spirit gun!" A shot of demon energy cracked through the ground and he fell with the rubble. It shook most of the fortress all the way down to where Yuu and Shuichi were. One of Yuu's pawns was gone; his bishop in front of Kuwabara and Yusuke's position is almost right next to Kuwabara's.
"That ex spirit detective is remarkable, his spirit gun coincidentally saved your queen and put him in a closer position to your knight. Some should wonder if he's doing it on purpose or if he's really an idiot." Yuu said and Shuichi chuckled.
"Yusuke is like that, I thought the same thing too when I first met him." Shuichi said.
"But of course the game shouldn't be so easily won, let's make this more interesting. As you know pawns are the weakest in chess, so my subjects that are pawns can be easily defeated, but as you go higher their levels in power grow stronger. Right now your knight is going against a bishop, an A-class demon, one of his level. If he plays his cards right, then he should live. Your queen however is of B-class, I wonder, if she would fare just as well." Yuu said and Shuichi put on a dark look. "Your eyes can be very terrifying Kurama. Knight set, attack his queen."
What will happen to Naota when faced with an enemy stronger than she is? Will Kuwabara be eaten? What is the deal with Yusuke blowing things up? Find out all this and more on the next exciting chapter of Someone I can Love!
(keep an eye out for another YYH story from me :3 )