File 61: Makai Tournament – Qualifications
In the end, 6 272 fighters registered for the tournament, far more than anyone ever planned for. Why? Because Yomi's subordinates suddenly began withdrawing their participation, with a number of them going into hiding. With more and more dropping out, the realization that Yomi had truly given up his country hit the populace and many entered thinking that with some luck and the right match-ups, the strong guys would take each other out early on, and they'd have a shot at winning. Obviously, there were far more entrants than Ruri marbles, so it was decided that those match-ups would be determined with plain old name cards. The final numbers shocked everyone. Even those convinced that 'everything will just come down to Mukuro and Yomi' couldn't take their eyes off the spectacle. After all, with this many participants, there was a good probability that there were some decently strong guys who could put up a good fight. And so the whole Demon World was charged with a strange mixture of excitement and anticipation, and the spectators numbered several hundreds of thousands.
This tournament would take place in Yomi's former territory and facilities had been built in Gandara so the spectators could come and watch the fights on giant screens. There was also an arena where the participants were waiting for the lottery to take place. They all had a number card on their chests. Koto had been called as a commentator again thanks to her great performance during the Dark Tournament. Yomi's former tactical advisor, Yoda, was going to help her. Koenma, Botan, and Georges had disguised themselves and were among the spectators. It would be bad if they were found out but they just couldn't miss an event like this. Koenma was still wondering what Yusuke had been thinking to decide the fate of the Demon World with a tournament. And why didn't Akari stop him? She should have known better! Botan reminded him that since it was Yusuke, he must not have thought about anything at all... and Akari only thought about having fun and didn't care about anything else. After all her motto was 'All's well that's well for ME'. And Koenma could only slump his shoulders and agree. Right, those two were those types of people. And to think that he had had no choice but to have those types of people play the all important role of Reikai Tantei and save mankind... They had still done well though...
Yusuke and Akari were down in the arena with everyone, currently stretching, the No 0001 on his chest, and the No 0002 on hers. They sometimes helped each other warm up. The youkais around were observing them... Urameshi Yusuke, the guy who convinced Yomi and Mukuro to give up their conquest... He was nothing compared to them so why did they go along with his idea? Why they did it didn't matter though, all that mattered was that they DID. And Katsuyama Akari... wasn't there this rumor that all three kings had headhunted her? Why a puny human girl like her? No, from the start a human shouldn't even be participating in this tournament to decide the ruler of the Demon World! Who the hell did that insolent twerp think she was?! Her place should be in their stomach! Such a tender-looking girl with high reiryoku... she was definitely a first-class treat. If they ate her their strength and longevity should grow exponentially. Her flesh looked so delicious too. But despite all that, no one dared come close to her... because each time a youkai tried to approach her, she'd grin back at them, like daring them to come, and in the same time gave them that overwhelming gut feeling that they'd be the ones eaten in a flash. Yes, let those in her block deal with her. And all of those demons had another thought, or hope... 'There's a chance that Mukuro and Yomi will knock each other out early on, I'll win my way through and RULE THE DEMON WORLD!'. Urameshi and Akari were disappointed that THIS many idiots had gathered here.
"It couldn't be helped. It's not like we could filter the entrants based on their wisdom. That would rule YOU out." Katsuyama sighed resignedly.
"HEY!"
"And we couldn't filter based on spectral power level either. Those of lower power level can have interesting abilities too and can win against stronger opponents if said abilities are a good match and well-utilized. Seeing some upsets would be nice."
"That's true..." Yusuke admitted. The two youngsters' mood lifted though when Chuu, Jin, Rinku, Touya, Suzuki and Shishiwakamaru came to find them. The vast majority of the contestants were apparently going to be eliminated in the preliminaries. The real shock was not this fact though, but that Yusuke, despite being the founder of this event, really didn't know anything, not even the proceedings. Only Akari wasn't surprised. When she said Yusuke would be ruled out if they filtered the participants by their wisdom, it wasn't a gibe, she was simply stating the truth. However, she did understand that the bottomless stupidity and carelessness he was displaying could be shocking to those who didn't know him as well as she did. It was just that she was used to it and had given up on expecting anything from him. Of course, he got angry at her for saying too much. She replied it was his own fault and asked him not to blame her for speaking the truth but himself for being this stupid. In order to defuse this conflict, their friends interrupted and detailed the elimination process for the ignorant event founder.
They told him the contestants would be divided in blocks of 49 people and only one person of each block could advance to the main tournament. Urameshi tried to calculate the number of fighters participating in this main tournament, so 6272 divided by 49... about 87, right? Touya corrected him, it was 128. In any case, they were all really hoping to fight Yusuke, and beat him this time. Suzuki and Shishiwakamaru though were more intent on fighting Akari. Shishi especially was hell-bent on defeating her this time... but as the humans pointed out, it all depended on their luck in the match-ups. Then the six left.
It was then that Mukuro and Yomi, along with his child, made their appearance, causing murmurs to rise in the crowd, and went to Yusuke and Akari. A circle formed around them.
"It's been a long time. Looks like you two have improved a lot since then." Mukuro greeted. "But I'll be taking this seriously as well." She removed the warded cloth covering her head and neck, revealing to everyone for the first time her face and gender, and shocking more than one. "There's no better training than real life-or-death battles. Try to get up to my level before we fight each other. At the very least, don't let HIM beat you." She was obviously referring to the other ex-king present here. And she left on those words.
"Papa, was that person Mukuro?" The kid inquired.
"Yes, it was."
"Hunh, I thought she'd look tougher."
"He's your son? Hey, kid, you're fighting too?" Yusuke questioned.
"My name's 'Shura', no 'kid'. Hey, papa, this guy's no big deal. He's only about as strong as me."
"You snot-nosed little-!" Urameshi started through gritted teeth.
"Don't stoop to his level." Akari placed a hand on Yusuke's shoulder. She was smiling like she was mocking him. What was he doing getting caught in a kid's pace? Even though she too had a vein on her temple...
"You're right, but you must not be overconfident. He's grown by leaps and bounds recently, and he'll improve as the tournament continues too. And that is the same for that woman next to him. They are more slippery and bothersome opponents than you think they are."
"Are you saying they're better fighters than me?!"
"Hahaha, no, no, of course not! You've grown really, really, really fast!" Yomi replied like a doting parent.
"Man, you changed." The two humans simultaneously commented, having a hard time believing the gap between the Yomi they were seeing and the ruthless Yomi they knew.
"Remember, you promised we're equals here." Shura reminded his father who didn't sound all too satisfied about it. "Even if we face off, you have to fight me full strength!" He insisted. The former king reiterated his promise, although he was most likely just humoring and had no intention of going all out... since if he did, he could kill his son in a second. But if Shura took it too far... "If you take it easy on me, I'll never talk to you again!" The brat pointed an accusatory finger at his parent and ran off somewhere. Yusuke called him a rude little shit.
"At first glance he seems to be overly simplistic as all kids are, but as your son, he must also be a master of underhanded tactics, no?" Katsuyama pondered, recalling what Kurama had told her about the former king's way of doing things. But even though she had been so naturally outspoken (fearlessly rude), just like with Yusuke, Yomi took no offense as he had sensed they meant none.
"I suppose you're right. But when I have a hard time in battle against my son everyday, I have to laugh at myself. How could an insignificant man like me have even thought about uniting the Demon Realm under his rule? That massive blast of youki was released by Raizen's old friends, correct? Thanks to them, both Shura and I opened our eyes for the first time. I'm here to fight each round with all I've got. No hidden agenda, no ulterior motive. You don't have to believe me, but it's the truth. I wish you luck. Oh, and while I may just sound like a parent bragging, I'll warn you now. Shura is an extremely capable fighter. Depending on how things play out, he may even make it further than me." And Yomi left too. Urameshi watched him, smiling. That ex-king had really changed... for the better.
"I guess we'll have to be careful too and step up our game. Things should really get interesting after all." The girl smiled. Her friend agreed.
Kurama and Hiei also found their way to Yusuke and Akari. If they got paired up, that would be Yusuke and Kurama's first fight. Hiei and Yusuke had already fought but long ago, and it would be good to see how much they had improved since then. Hiei told him to pray they wouldn't run into each other in the preliminaries. It wouldn't be funny if one of the tournament's superintendents was eliminated in the preliminaries.
"You're the same old bastard as ever, aren't you?! Have you eaten?!" Urameshi shot back.
"What does that have to do with anything right now?!"
"Now, now, Yusuke just means to say that you can't fight on a hungry stomach, right?"
"And being hungry makes you cranky too, right?" Akari added.
"Yeah!"
"And I'm warning you, if I get paired with either of you, I won't hold back here. This won't go like the sparring you're used to. Make sure I don't kill you unwittingly." The young woman grinned, aiming at them like she was about to fire reiguns.
Then it was time for the lottery. It evidently took quite some time because of the astonishingly huge number of participants. For the most part, since there were 128 blocks, everyone luckily got nicely split up... with a few exceptions like the four monks from Raizen's faction that all ended up in the same block... and Yomi and Shura too were in the same block. When Touou mentioned to Urameshi this was quite advantageous for them, the boy snapped and warned him not to spout that sort of rubbish again. Now that the drawing had been completed, Koto received news that many entrants had suddenly withdrawn their participation and turned to Yoda for explanations. The old former military advisor inferred that it was all those present in Contestant Mukuro's and Contestant Yomi's blocks who had given up, as well as those who came just as a publicity stunt, due to peer pressure, or as a prank, for the fun of it, and had no intention to risk themselves. Koto thanked him for his insight.
And now, it was time for the tournament to start. The contestants headed to their respective arenas, that is to say, ultra-gigantic fossilized plants called Okunen trees. Literally bigger than mountains, they were over a dozen kilometers tall and their canopy formed a round platform, a few kilometers in diameter. And on this platform were a lake, small mountains and normal sized forests.
The preliminaries began, following the battle royale system. The crowd was quite fond of those free-for-alls. Chuu started beating his opponents one by one, but his friends were smarter, or maybe their skills sets were simply better suited to dispatching several opponents simultaneously. Rinku had 16 yoyos at his disposal, twice the number he used in the Dark Tournament. Although, one yoyo wasn't always enough to deal with one opponent, by using two or three by demon, he could at least defeat five people in one attack. Touya almost instantly froze all the other contestants in his arena. Jin's power over the wind was practically perfect for this kind of situation, but he had some trouble with a gelatinous youkai. Given its lack of 'proper' substance, it couldn't be cut up or blasted away with just wind. But Jin had gotten stronger, and was now able to generate electricity within his tornadoes. The friction between the dust particles in his wind charged them electrically, and electricity weakened the water-based youkai, allowing the wind master to defeat him without too much difficulty. Suzuki was doing well thanks to his Rainbow Cyclone Extra Flash. Hokushin, Kirin, and Shigure also dominated their respective blocks. Mukuro had a victory by default as everyone in her block had forfeited, although she didn't seem too pleased about it.
Chuu was still fighting. Hiei and Kurama also advanced to the main competition. However, Shishiwakamaru was having it quite tough. Despite his improved sword, he just couldn't cut or pierce his enemy's shell. A good hit from the giant beetle-like youkai made him fly up. The shell on the back split, revealing a large sharp-teethed mouth, and Shishiwaka was gobbled down. Everyone thought things were settled, until the insect fell to pieces, having been cut apart from the inside, and Shishi came out, unharmed, in his tiny impish form. He recovered his handsome young man appearance and posed arrogantly, smirking, eliciting squeals from the female members of the audience. Chuu was still noisily clobbering his way through. Enki was sitting cross-legged and coolly smoking his kiseru pipe, his victims sprawled all around him. Kokou, Tetsuzan, Saizou, Denhou, Kujou, Shu and Souketsu, all quickly and easily won their pass to the next stage while hiding their abilities. Well, it was also that there had been no need to reveal their true strength here, due to the lack of worthy opponents. However, some, like Yomi and Mukuro, still noticed those people were MUCH more than what they appeared to be.
And then, in Chuu's block, only two people were FINALLY left: himself, and the beautiful woman he was facing, Natsume. He could discern her immense strength at a glance. Faster than he could react, she charged and thrust her palm in his chest, sending him skidding far back. He stopped himself but when he looked up, she had disappeared. He felt her frighteningly high youki right behind him and broke in cold sweat. She extended a hand towards the nape of his neck and asked if he wanted to continue. The mohawk guy surrendered and asked her name.
"Natsume."
"Natsume... when can I see you again?" The man inquired, blushing, as he stood up and faced her.
"I didn't mean to hit you that hard."
"No, no! I'm in my right mind!"
"Sorry, but I have no interest in weak men."
"Two years! No, give me just one year! I'll become even stronger than you! Once I do, would you be my woman?" He requested. He's found such a good woman, he wasn't about to just let her go. It was going to take a lot more than just those words to seduce her though. However, their conversation had naturally been followed, and his confession had been heard by the public, and by Koto.
"He's hitting on her?! You bastard! If you're a man, you'll die fighting!" The commentator snapped angrily. Of course, his behavior was unbecoming in this sacred hall of battle, but more than that, it bothered her that one of her most die hard fans had suddenly turned over like this. Her pride had taken a blow. Yoda tried to calm her down and tell her not to get so emotional. Rinku too was disappointed in him, that disgrace to them battle maniacs. They had trained so hard in order to beat Urameshi and Akari this time for sure, right?! He turned to Jin and Suzuki who said nothing. Kids could not understand. But Shishiwakamaru perfectly understood Chuu since the same had happened to him. During the Dark Tournament, he had been defeated by a beautiful girl much stronger than him and sworn to himself to become strong enough to defeat her so she would acknowledge him… and more… although in his case, that girl had already fallen prey to a fox. And while they were lost in these considerations and Rinku was still swearing, a pretty, and young demon girl (younger than most participants, and also winner of her block) approached him.
"You're Rinku, right? The one who won in block 8? That was amazing, defeating 16 people at once! I'm Sasuga, I fought in Block 9, right next to yours, nice to meet you! I entered together with my friends but I'm the only one who made it through. I have a hunch I'll be running into you in the main tournament. If that happens, let's both make sure we do our best! Oh, and if you could, go easy on me, 'kay?" She winked after making one seductive pose after another. It couldn't be more obvious that she was trying to win through her womanly charms rather than fighting skills, but Rinku still completely fell for it…. and for her. So it was up to Suzuki, Jin, and Touya to fight seriously.
Then it was Akari's turn. She was contorting and stretching like a cat after a good nap when the battle began. All the youkais, dissatisfied that a human girl was trying to stand above them and intent on sinking their fangs into her meat, jumped on her at the same time. She looked and counted. All 48 of them were here, good. Well, she had also lured them into doing that by letting her guard down big time. She wanted to end this quickly as there was no interesting opponent this time. Too fast for them, she appeared behind each one and struck them all down towards the same place, resulting in a literal mountain of broken bodies. She coolly landed at the top of the pile and made a victory pose. This was over in an instant, so fast the audience was stunned into silence, mouths agape. Even though there had been some really strong-looking ones in that group...
In his own block, Yusuke was stretching too. And just like in Akari's case, all his 48 opponents intended to gang up on him right off the bat. The match started. He punched them all, sending them flying far away… out of the Okunen tree. They were all eliminated for being out of bounds, and Yusuke won, much to the spectators' shock since they had never imagined he'd be this strong. The fact that they couldn't properly assess someone's strength proved they were no good. And so, the qualifications were proceeding quite smoothly…. except for one block. Yomi and Shura had yet to settle things. And even though it was JUST the preliminaries, this promised to be one of the best fights in the tournament.
Father and son were facing each other when suddenly Shura jumped and sent a volley of energy balls. Yomi disappeared in the explosions of light... and reappeared (without a scratch) behind his child who had already started rejoicing, startling him. The boy screamed and ran away, though no matter how much he increased his speed, his parent easily kept up with him. That said, he still had some impressive speed for a few weeks old kid. The chase went on in the forest, although the contestants were too fast for the cameras.
Kurama was frowning as he was watching the fight. What did this fight mean to Yomi? If he just wanted to grab victory, there was no need to trouble himself fighting his son and risk reducing his faction's firepower with this infighting. Mukuro was just as suspicious. Did Yomi truly abandon his nation to come here just for the sheer pleasure of battle? For those two who knew him well, it was a bit hard to believe. However, the truth should be made clear with this.
Shura stopped running. Using his momentum and a branch, he suddenly rocketed back towards his father and engaged him in close combat. Yomi was forced back but blocked all of his son's blows before catching on of his fists and punching his cheek hard, sending him flying. The kid recovered, jumped on a tree and once more zoomed towards his dad, trying to kick him. This time, Yomi caught his leg and kicked him far away. Shura crashed, and took longer to recover, even just to get on his knees. As he was cursing, he sensed his father's presence behind him and turned to face him. Yomi advised him to admit defeat as he should see the gap in their powers. The child hesitated and hung his head. Things had apparently been settled. The man approached his son and knelt before him, extending his hand and praising his performance. However, the devious and wicked little brat grinned evilly and used this chance to shoot his father at point blank range, engulfing the area in a sea of flames. What a ruthless brat, sucker-punching his dad like it was nothing... Yomi was a given, but that brat too would be a formidable opponent if he won. Akari didn't dislike that resourceful relentlessness though, on the contrary, that seemed to amuse her. After all, although Shura was strong, he was still incredibly weak compared to his father, so of course he couldn't afford to be picky about the methods. She just loved those who persistently went for the win, who clung and did whatever to grab victory, without letting on... that was also surely one of the reasons why Kurama had been able to win her over. Shura was savoring his victory when he felt his father's youki grow, spread, and fill the place. And he saw his father coolly walk up to him... unscathed, to his shock.
"Shura, don't get ahead of yourself. There are limits to what I will put up with." The former king warned, though that was exactly his child's goal. After all, the promise was to fight without pulling any punches. Yomi smirked and snuffed out the flames.
Hokushin chuckled. When Urameshi asked what was funny, the monk replied that he had been astonished by Yusuke's and Raizen's father/son fights, but when it came to Yomi and Shura... Yusuke agreed he had never gone that far to make his old man snap. Akari had done it though, with every person/demon stronger than her. She hated when people were standing above her and would try every trick in the book to knock them down. Not like they would work. It often resulted in her being owned. She always acted cool but was actually one of the sorest losers there were. Kind people would say her pride was just that great, but those who didn't bother sugarcoating their words would call it extreme pettiness.
So again, Shura sent a volley of energy balls. However, Yomi had sensed it coming and erected a barrier that absorbed his opponent's youki. And from then on, he kept beating his son, completely dominating him. But the boy still wouldn't give up and desperately searched for a weakness. He couldn't find it, but he remembered his lessons: if you don't see weaknesses, then you must try and create one. So he punched the ground, making rocks fly upward, thus masking his presence with the explosion and impairing his father's hearing. It worked at first, but was instantly detected again as soon as he prepared for his youki-based attack, and his energy projectiles were once more absorbed. Realizing that all his attacks were being read and he had no hand to play, Shura ran away. And to teach him a lesson, his father beat him relentlessly. After a time, Yomi told him to surrender, and his son refused again. This was a serious fight, so he should just kill him.
"Know your place! A rookie like you has no right to demand a serious fight with me! Are you saying you can't even tell how hard I'm trying to suppress my power?!" The father snapped, causing his child to instinctively recoil in fear and start sobbing. "If you wish to choose an easy death, you may. That's probably all you're capable of. This is the last time I'm asking you: Shura, admit your defeat." He warned. And so, the sniffling kid gave up. With this, the preliminaries were now over.
After that, the survivors gathered in the arena. Koto had come down on the stage where the lottery had taken place and was calling for quiet.
"Now then, before we begin the main competition, we will hear a word of welcome from Contestant Urameshi, representing the tournament promoters!" She announced. Yusuke climbed the stairs and took the mike from her.
"To the contestants who are entering the main competition, since you're the sort who could have made it this far, there are probably some among who are fighting while prepared to die. But to be honest, if possible, I don't want any of you dying. After all, it leaves a nasty aftertaste and everything. More than anything, you all have that look on your face like you want to take on many challenges, and I want to fight a bunch of times as well. To be frank, I don't think I'll be able to win it all this time." Urameshi admitted causing the crowd to erupt in laughter. "But in two years, I'm pretty sure I could get quite far. Of course that's up to whoever wins to decide. If he says that's the only time, then that's the end of it. But I think it would be great if everyone ganged up like this every few years and choose the leader like this, like some presidential election. Well, I have a hunch that we can relax no matter who wins. And so, for now, LET'S GET THIS STARTED!" He punched the air. Everyone cheered.
Author's note: yeah, I know, one a year isn't much... But the main story is finished so it SHOULD get faster. I'll still try to do the other YYH OAV(s?) thingy(ies?) and the end of the manga since I had some funny ideas.