"The Judgment Gate's been taken over?! Along with 100 hostages, including Koenma and Botan?!" Yusuke scratched his messy head of hair as he received the report from the new leader of the Underworld Special Defense Force. "What happened?

"A terrorist cell called the All Holy Warriors…" Shunjun answered.

"We demand that the barrier between Demon Plane and the Human World be restored! And all demons removed from the Human World! You have 24 hours to respond! After that, we'll kill one hostage every minute! If after one hour our demands aren't met, we'll unleash the Dimensional Cannon on the Human World!"

"Dimensional Cannon?" Yusuke tried to imagine such a weapon.

"A relic from ages ago, when we thought we knew everything," the blue-haired captain explained.

"Religious strife in the Underworld?" Atsuko walked into Yusuke's room with a tray of drinks and snacks for everyone.

"Oh yes," Shunjun answered as he accepted a mug. "We're meant to assist spirits that leave the body to reach the beyond, but some of us still believe we're handpicked adjudicators of afterlife justice."

"What does that mean?" Sayomi accepted her mug and a couple snacks.

"Those with that view regard demons as evil spawn, rather than simply as a different race," Shunjun explained. "They see it as their sacred mission to keep the Human World free of demonic taint. The All Holy Warriors comprise the most radical faction. In the old days this was a more mainstream belief, when every 1000 years we'd use the earth's chi to fuel the Dimensional Cannon. We'd also play up natural disasters as divine wrath to rein in spiritual decadence."

"So where did they keep something like that?" Yusuke asked, taking the last mug from his mom.

"Since it's no longer in use, they moved it underground beneath the gate."

"It was in a silo under the Judgment Gate?!" Yusuke nearly spilled his drink from shock.

"It was supposedly inoperative, but there were covert believers among the mechanics and supervisors." Shunjun's brows creased as he felt the weight of the situation bare down on his shoulders. "With King Yama deposed and things in upheaval, the radicals see this as their moment to act."

"Then we'll just need a good counter strike," said Yusuke with an eager smirk. He turned to his mom and asked, "Mind if we use the phone real quick? I need to make a long-distance call."

"Alright, just don't let it take too long." Atsuko left to retrieve the cordless house phone.

"Who are you calling?" Sayomi asked. She took a bite of her burned cookie and chased it down with the bland tea.

"Well, I figured since this concerns demons, it would be best to call the head honcho himself." Yusuke downed his drink in three large gulps. "We'll see what he thinks and depending on that, I might have an idea."

When Atsuko came back with the phone, Yusuke punched in a memorized number and held it up to his ear.

Sayomi tilted her head and asked, "How do you know his number? And since when could we make phone calls like this between the worlds?"

"Shhh!" Yusuke brought a finger to his lips to silence her as the line was picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey!" Yusuke grinned at the deep voice on the other end. "I heard the planet's chi is misaligned." He then explained the situation to Enki while the rest of the room waited anxiously.

"Twenty-four hours, eh? Then I see no choice but to order an emergency evacuation of all demons from the Human World," Enki said in defeat.

Sayomi frowned and Yusuke asked, "You sure? It could really set things back."

"I know, but saving those hostages and stabilizing the Underworld takes priority," Enki reasoned.

"I have an idea about that," Yusuke suggested, "but I'll need a favor."

"Name it, you got it," Enki obliged.

"I could probably tackle the 30 or so insurgents alone, but those hostages…"

"You'll need assistance," Enki concluded. "I'd step up myself, but my back's been killing me."

"Heh… You just sit tight, okay?" Yusuke's smirk widened to a grin. "I was thinking of getting the old gang together once more but I'm still missing one. I need you to use your presidential authority to send him over."

Sayomi grinned as she realized what was about to happen. After Yusuke hung up the phone, Sayomi asked, "Need me to go get anybody?"

"If you could go grab Kurama, I'll call up Kuwabara," Yusuke suggested. "Hiei should be here by the time you get back."

"I'll be back soon, then!" Sayomi opened the bedroom window and jumped out into the darkness. She melded with the shadows on the wall and didn't manifest again until she was outside Kurama's house.

She didn't have do wait long before her favorite red-head stepped out from the front door. He wore a simple pink long-sleeved sweatshirt and jeans. When he spotted Sayomi on the edge of his dark lawn, he approached her and said, "You don't often pay such late-night visits to my home. Is everything alright?"

Sayomi jerked her thumb over her shoulder and said, "Let's just say Yusuke needs everyone to meet up at his place. Hope you didn't have anything important to do tomorrow."

"I can afford to miss a day or two of class without falling too far behind. Just let me inform my family that I'll be away for a while." Kurama walked back inside and Sayomi passed the time by counting the few stars she could find in the night sky until he returned. When they started walking, he asked, "What is the situation?"

"Basically, a group of zealots calling themselves the All Holy Warriors have taken a hundred hostages in the Underworld, including Botan and Koenma," Sayomi explained. "They said they will give us twenty-four hours to remove all demons from the Human World and restore the barrier or they will kill one hostage every minute for an hour. If that doesn't work, they'll fire a weapon called the Dimensional Cannon at the Human World."

"That is quite the dilemma," Kurama said with a sigh. "Did Yusuke contact Enki?"

Sayomi nodded. "He said to comply with the demands, but Yusuke thought that would set us back on the progress we've made so far. He suggested getting the team back together to tackle the problem head on."

Kurama smiled and shook his head. "That sounds like a typical Yusuke tactic. I assume Kuwabara will be there, but how does he plan on recruiting Hiei for this mission?"

Sayomi smirked, mischief glinting in her stormy eyes. "He's got that covered already."

When they got to Yusuke's apartment, Kuwabara was already settled in Yusuke's room. Hiei glared at the wall from his place between the two teens. Sayomi smiled and settled between Yusuke and her mate while Kurama sat down beside the psychic.

"I'm pumped, man! Pumped!" Kuwabara clenched and pumped his fist in the air excitedly.

"I'd better win the next tournament," Hiei said with displeasure.

"You can't say you didn't miss everyone," Sayomi teased.

"All right, please prepare for astral projection," Shunjun instructed.

"Huh?" Yusuke gaped. "I don't know how!"

Kurama closed his eyes and slipped into deep meditation. As his soul slipped out of his body, he said, "It's like going to sleep while staying awake."

Hiei followed his example and concurred. "Nothing to it, so do it."

Sayomi smirked as her soul floated with the others. "You should be the most familiar with something like this, Yusuke."

"Sheesh!" Yusuke frowned.

"Just go to sleep," Shunjun encouraged. "I'll send you along."

"I'm too keyed up to sleep!" Yusuke protested. "And I just got up! Hm…?"

Atsuko stood behind him and Kuwabara with a wooden baseball bat in her hands. With two hard swings, Yusuke and Kuwabara were knocked unconscious and Shunjun guided their souls from their bodies.

As if he had been waiting, Puu cooed from outside the window. He let everyone climb onto his back, then flew away towards the Underworld. Yusuke turned back to glare at his apartment and shout "Couldn't just offer us a nice cup of tea, huh, Mom?!"

When they arrived outside the palace walls, they met up with the rest of the SDF as they stood on standby. Shunjun and Kurama kneeled on the ground and went over the palace blueprints. Shunjun pointed at a room and said, "As you can see, the only way in is by the main gate. Alarms will sound if you try to breach the wall or approach from the air."

"Ten hours left!" The announcement drew everyone's attention to the gate.

"So where, and how many?" Yusuke asked.

Hiei closed his eyes as he exposed his glowing Evil Eye. "Thirty-three terrorists total…"

"Three… their sacred number," Shunjun explained.

"The hostages are in the fifth-floor conference room. Thirteen guards there, with pairs of lookouts in ten other locations, all equipped with gas masks and night-vision scopes. They maintain contact by radio, while security cams are keeping track of everyone. Adding it up, my advice is…" Hiei closed and covered his Evil Eye with a white headband. "Order coffins for the hostages."

Sayomi scowled and smacked his arm. "You're not funny, Hiei."

Yusuke looked to the strategist of the group. "Any ideas, Kurama?"

"Saving lives precludes the use of force," Kurama cautioned. "We need to manipulate the security cams."

"Control room's guarded," Yusuke added.

Kurama looked at Shunjun and asked, "Where else can we access the wiring?"

"Well, the cables are internal," Shunjun informed them. "Touching them will set off the alarms. The alarm switch is also in the control room."

"Could this security design make things any easier for these guys and harder for us?" Sayomi asked with a sigh.

Kuwabara cupped his chin in thought. "So we need to get into the building… in order to get into the building?"

"As I said, it's hopeless," Hiei said resolutely.

"Hiei!" Kuwabara snarled in the swordsman's face. "You chickening out?!"

"Say what?" Hiei shot the human an irritated glare.

"Shut up, you morons!" Yusuke said, sounding like a tired parent scolding a couple of toddlers.

"Nine more hours!" the massive speakers broadcasted.

Kurama sketched a diagram of circles with arrows pointing counterclockwise between them. Each circle was labeled with a letter and each arrow was labeled with 0.5. "The monitor in the conference room cycles through the ten security cams in half-second increments. It takes five seconds for the screen to return to a view of Point A. That's all the time we'll have to switch with the lookouts stationed by the control room."

"We'll only have a second to take 'em out, but how do we get to them in the first place?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama smiled and said, "Kuwabara will handle that."

The young psychic pointed at himself and blinked. "Y'mean with my Dimensional Sword?" He ground his teeth anxiously as he clarified his limits. "It's not a stable portal key, y'know! I have no way of cutting into a precise location! And it doesn't always appear when I want it to…"

Sayomi nudged Hiei's ribs with her elbow and met his gaze. Any way you can give him a little motivation?

Hiei turned to face the palace and used his Evil Eye to peek in on the terrorists inside. "Hold on, I hear them… Saying they'll aim the cannon at Sarayashiki…"

"What?! Our town?!" Kuwabara blanched at the news.

"Yes," Hiei confirmed. "By their reasoning, Yusuke is the root of all evil. They see him as the reason the barrier came down, so he's their prime target. The Dimensional Cannon will obliterate anything within a 50-kilometer radius of the aim point."

Kuwabara broke into a cold sweat as he realized what, or rather who, was there. Then, without hesitation, he summoned his Dimension Sword and shouted, "Let's go get 'em!"

"Wow…" Yusuke said, impressed.

"Heh heh, too easy." Sayomi clasped her hands behind her head and grinned.

Kurama turned to Hiei and lowered his voice. "You heard them? How?"

The swordsman smirked. "I didn't. Heh… My bad."

"Wait!" Shunjun raised a hand to stop them. "We have two sets of disguises for you."

Yusuke and Kuwabara accepted the outfits but stared at them with confusion and curiosity. As they pulled the garments over their own clothes, Sayomi asked, "How did you get those uniforms?"

Shunjun turned to her and answered with a straight face, "Underworld Cosplay."

"Even the Underworld has cosplayers?" Kuwabara asked.

"It's become popular in recent years since humans started the trend," the SDF captain elaborated.

"Everyone ready?" Kurama asked. When everyone nodded, he turned to Hiei. "Okay, focus on the guards and we'll go on your signal."

Hiei concentrated for a couple seconds before saying, "Now."

Kuwabara immediately cut the space before him, and they all jumped into action. Once through the portal, Sayomi manifested two orbs of darkness around the heads of the guards. Yusuke and Kuwabara easily knocked them out while Kurama slipped into the room nearby. Then, Hiei and Sayomi dragged the guards around a corner, out of sight from the cams, and tied them up. Then they sat next to each other to wait things out.

Their radio crackled and they heard a voice say, "Control Room to Front Hall, report."

Yusuke raised his radio and pressed the button to speak. "Front Hall here. All clear."

The security cams in the control room focused on them in uniform and Ohtake said, "Monitors confirm."

Yusuke took the next second to crack the door open and whisper, "How's it going, Kurama?"

"Getting there…" Kurama whispered back. He pressed a few more keys and said, "Okay, all monitors are on a playback loop. That gives us two hours at most."

Yusuke and Kuwabara stripped themselves free of their disguises. "Then let's split up and take out the rest of the sentries!"

"Sweet! We each get four guards!" Sayomi grinned as she accepted two potted parrot plants from Kurama as he explained the next step in the plan.

"Aim the plant towards the guards as they make their report, then take them out. Once the guards are incapacitated, attach a radio to the plant's vines. The plant's head would have recorded the report and will mimic the words when spoken to, thus fooling the rest of the terrorists."

Sayomi and the boys nodded and parted ways. They proceeded with knocking out each pair of guards and binding them with rope. They'd then set a plant next to them with a radio and run to the next pair of sentries.

"Front Hall, report."

"All clear," the plants answered automatically.

When they all made it to the room with the cannon, they took out the last two guards and Sayomi couldn't help looking around the room. Surrounding them were a series of giant faces gazing up at the sky with cannons pointing upward from their gaping mouths. She wasn't certain, but the faces looked a little too real for her comfort. This place is creepy…

"We're in!" Kurama exclaimed. "Professor Kuwabara, will you kindly disable the cannon?"

"Hmm…" Kuwabara knelt before the podium and stared down at the three buttons: one red, one yellow, and one blue. "There's a label stating it'll self-destruct if anyone tries to do that. Cute… Three buttons… one will shut it down, but there's no way to tell which one."

"Then we'd better ask their boss," Yusuke proposed.

"The only terrorists left are with the hostages," Kurama informed them. "Thirteen… just under three for each of us, though they have guns and the hostages… There's just one entrance, so we must take them by surprise to ensure the hostages' safety. We'll need to sneak in, hide, and wait for an opportunity."

"Hide? Where?" Yusuke asked. "There's only empty space and hostages in there!"

Kurama smiled slyly. "'Like trees in a forest…'"

In the control room, the terrorists stood guard around the bound hostages of Underworld ogres and messengers.

"Eight more hours!"

"No answer yet?!"

Botan sat in the center of the crowd. Her eyes widened when she felt a tap on her lower back. She shifted as best as she could to look behind her. She looked down and spotted a grinning Yusuke in a round hole in the floor that wasn't there before.

He quietly climbed out and stayed low as he was followed by Kuwabara and the rest of the team. They silently crawled through the crowd of hostages, untying or cutting the ropes that bound their hands behind their backs.

"Seven more hours!"

Ohtake watched the monitor in front of him as the screen blurred to static white noise. "Eh?" Then his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as the image changed. The pairs of guards were all bound and unconscious with parrot plants next to them and wooden signs held up between their backs that read 'Morons.'"

He turned to his leader and yelled, "We have intruders!"

"What?!"

"Now!" Yusuke shouted.

They all jumped out of hiding from within the hostages and unleashed their attacks. Kuwabara summoned his Aura Sword and Sayomi shrouded her sickle in shadows, releasing black crescents of aura with each swing. Kurama manifested his Rose Whip while Hiei unleashed his Black Dragon. Then, a bright blue light illuminated the room as Yusuke charged and fired his Reigun.

"That's all of 'em!" Kuwabara shouted. "Tie 'em up!"

Yusuke grabbed the head terrorist by his shirt and growled, "The right button! What color is it?! Red, Blue, or yellow? Answer me!"

"Heh…" The terrorist smirked at him, despite his bleeding mouth. "Our most exalted precept is, 'a third party shall choose.' The fate of your town shall be decided by that third party, not by a believer." His eyes glazed over with mad glee as he said, "Divine Will is immutable and absolute. It may appear as though someone, of his own free will, decided on a course of action, but even that is all part of the Divine Plan…"

"These people are nuts…" Sayomi muttered under her breath.

"Three things may occur—" the terrorist leader continued, "The cannon fires towards Sarayashiki, the cannon self-destructs, or nothing happens at all. Oh, there is a fourth—time runs out and the cannon fires automatically. The choice is yours… but that's Divine Will… forever… and ever…" He spat up blood and died as it gurgled in his throat.

"Poison…" Kurama noted. "They don't even fear death of the spirit."

"Argh!" Kuwabara ground his teeth and broke into a cold sweat. "The target is Sarayashiki! Hiei was joking, but it's for real!"

"Huh?" Sayomi turned to him and blinked. "You knew he was lying?"

"You guys clear out, get as far away as you can," Yusuke said with finality. "In fact, return to the Human World and evacuate your friends, family… as many people as possible."

"What?!" Kuwabara yelled in disbelief. "We can't run off and leave you here! I'll stay!"

"No," Yusuke denied, "everyone clear out."

"You want us to just turn tail and scurry off?!" Kuwabara argued. "What happens if you don't—"

"Quiet!" Yusuke snapped. "There's no time to argue! If I fail, I'll apologize ten thousand times to everyone who dies as a result!"

Kurama placed a hand on Kuwabara's arm to gain his attention. "If we want to save anyone, we'd better go…"

Kuwabara growled in frustration and defeat. Yusuke smirked and said, "Don't worry, Kuwabara. As you know, I've always relied on my mastery of multiple-choice questions."

Kuwabara begrudgingly turned to leave but stopped short when he saw all the ogres clinging to or riding the oars of the Underworld messengers. "Geez…"

Once back in their physical bodies, Kuwabara wasted no time gathering family and friends with Kurama. They also stopped to collect Keiko and her parents along with Atsuko and everyone's bodies.

As the hostages evacuated, Yusuke returned to the room with the buttons. He sat cross-legged in front of the small podium and crossed his arms in thought. He glared down at his choices in deep concentration until he heard a soft coo. "Pu."

He snapped his attention to the large blue Spirit Beast behind him. "Pu?! What the blazes are you doing here?! Go with the others! Now!"

The giant bird met Yusuke's gaze with large pleading eyes. Yusuke stared back until he smiled with understanding, then turned to the buttons and said, "You're right, I'm freaking out. At the moment I'm stumped… completely stumped…"

"Feh! So you're back to being a whining little wuss, eh? So much for Mr. Ultimate-Macho-Fighter! Not such a tough guy in the crunch!"

Yusuke's eyes widened with shocked recognition. "Genkai? Is that you?!"

"Heh." Pu's face stared down at Yusuke with Genkai's smug eyes. "Don't think, idiot… Just pick one. If it's wrong, I'll add my apologies to yours."

Yusuke stared down at the buttons for a long silent moment. "All right."

Sayomi stood next to Hiei behind a large pillar in the room. Beside him sat Koenma in his toddler form. As they waited for Yusuke to make his choice, Sayomi gently leaned against Hiei's side as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"It's do or die. I'll press… this one."

Back in the Human World, Keiko held onto Yusuke's body as they escaped the city with Kuwabara and everyone else cramped inside a large van driven by Mr. Kuwabara. Then she had a thought and turned to the young carrot top. "Wait a minute! Yusuke's spirit is still in the Underworld, right? If he presses the self-destruct button, his spirit will never return to his body!"

"Ulp…" Kuwabara swallowed a nervous lump in his throat as he realized she was right.

As Yusuke pressed the button, Keiko shouted, "Yusuke!"

And then…