Chapter 16
Water(less) World
Yusuke Urameshi is one of the hardest
person to awaken from sleep, especially after being exhausted. That's why it was
quite surprising both to him and his room mate when he was awakened by the loud
racket coming from downstairs.
The two looked at each other. They
dashed out the room, then downstairs pajamas and all. Odd, they didn't feel any
change in the environment. Still, they couldn't take the risk.
The boys traced the various clanging
and clashing of metallic objects. They stealthily crept to the kitchen but
instead of finding an invading a mob or at least a very careless spy, they came
upon a visibly frustrated Hiei. He was sprawled on the kitchen floor, pots and
pans scattered all around.
"Uh, Hiei," said Kurama.
"Are you all right?"
Hiei didn't reply. Yusuke helped him
up. "What are you doing?" he demanded.
"I was trying to get myself some
breakfast," he said huffily.
"I can see that," muttered
Yusuke, nearly slipping on the cracked eggs and flour mashed on the floor.
"Where is Ms. Aiea?" asked
Kurama. "You could have asked for help you know. I know how to cook."
"Probably still asleep in the
garden," Hiei answered.
"The garden?"
"Yeah, with her sister. They've
been there since four."
"Look, they're here."
Sure enough, the two girls appeared
from behind the screen door. They were a little wet from the water that
accumulated from the morning dew and the water dripped onto the tiled floor.
"Good Morning," said Ebony.
"Sorry about the floor. I'll clean it up. Wow, what happened here?"
"Hiei is trying to start a cooking
class," said Yusuke smirking.
"Hn," said Hiei. "I
slipped, nothing more."
"Admit it. You were trying to
cook. And you can't, even to save your life."
"Can you?"
"My mother does."<What? Kurama and
Mukuro cooks!>
"Well, my wife does."
"She can cook?"
"Yeah," said Kurama.
"Really good food."
"Ah, so you're practicing to cook
since she's not--"
"I managed to live for centuries
with out her!" said Hiei hotly. "I can get used to it again."
"Is that a retreat?"
"Urameshi, I think you're still
half asleep. Maybe my Koryuhha can wake you up totally!"
"Guys, stop it!" intervened
Kurama. "I think its hunger
that's making your tempers hot."
"Hey, I'm hungry, too," said
Aiea. "Listen. Why don't you guys get dressed up? I'll clean up this
mess."
"What about you?"
"I'll be here the whole day,
anyway."
The sunrays were fiercely beating down
on them almost vertically. It's been hours since they had started to work out
and noon had already arrived.
"Guys," yelled Kurama.
"Shouldn't we be get going now?"
"Just a little while, Kurama.
We'll just finish this," answered Yusuke. "Hey, Ebony! Try doing it
again. Just concentrate all the energy on your arms. Then try increasing the
velocity of the spinning. It'll build up more power bringing the attack to its
maximum level plus make you less susceptible to enemy's defense."
"I really am hungry," said
Kurama again.
"Really, Kurama," said Ebony
shaking her head and sending her wavy locks bouncing on her shoulders. Her
braids had gone untied a little while ago but her hair, though somewhat dirty
was as gorgeous as ever. "After that huge breakfast you're still hungry?!
Come on, Yusuke. Let's move a little farther away from them."
"It's getting hotter. You might
get sunstroke."
"We'll be fine."
"Hiei, maybe you can convince
them." Kurama turned to him.
"I haven't forgotten it was your
idea for her to go down that infernal hole," he said.
"Oh, bother."
An hour had already passed and still
they were burning away under the sun in the desert. Actually, Ebony had already
succeeded in doing Yusuke's advice. They had been, for the last 45 minutes,
trying to put on a new tactic.
"Guys, we really should be going
now, said Kurama for the nth time. "The sun is extremely hot and you will
get sunstroke."
"You're right," said Yusuke
finally. "It's kinda becoming unbearable. Plus, I'm hungry. What about you,
Hiei?"
"I don't mind," he answered.
"That's because you're a fire
youkou," muttered Yusuke wiping away the beads of sweat. "Come on. I
think my tan's dark enough."
"Ebony," called Kurama.
"Wait, OK?" she answered.
"I nearly have it."
"Like, you've been saying that for
the last hour. Look, we can just come back later at nine in the evening. By then
all heat the absorbed this day would have been released from the ground."
"I'm fine, OK. I feel great except
for the fact I'm having a bad hair day."
But Ebony was not feeling fine. Her
head was aching quite unbearably and her throat was parched. She shook her head
determinedly, ignoring the fact that her hair was dry and unkempt that would
ordinarily horrify her. "I won't stop till I get it right," she said
through her clenched teeth.
It's like this. Ebony had more or less
learned how to release her energy. Actually, her usable powers were at least
150% of Yusuke's and her birthmark wasn't a bit dimmed at that. The figure was
still sharply etched on her left arm. But then they realized they can't release
more of her energy. The destruction would be too massive.. Even now, the desert
was quite, well um... more or less like before. That's the reason why they chose
the spot. It was literally uninhabited by any living thing.
However, they'd have to fight in
Kentrona. Who knows how massive an energy they have to release to defeat Azrael.
It may lay waste the whole of Lethe or even unseal the much-coveted powers
because of Drynwyn stimuli and send it rampaging through out the worlds. So they
devised a way to prevent such a
thing from happening.
The concept is like a boomerang or a
whip. The energy is released to the enemy and its remnants, instead of being
dispersed into the environment, it shall be sucked back into Ebony. It may also
be compared to a whip. Power lashes out then returns to the owner.
The danger there is that the body may
not be able to handle such tremendous amount of energy to be absorbed. See, the
energy used to attack is really drawn from the potential energy of the person.
Therefore, energy that backfires is like an attack from the opponent. So it's
crucial to be able to predict your
enemy's movement well. If the energy you release is too small, it won't do harm
to your opponent. However, if the energy is too big. You won't be able to absorb
it without being hurt yourself. The timing should be perfect, the powers
involved just so, just enough to dispatch the enemy.
"Are you tired already?"
demanded Ebony of Yusuke.
"Maybe yes!" he answered
crossly. "Come on!"
"One last, please!"
"All right. Remember, try to
foresee how much energy I'll release."
Both started to gather energy again. A
while ago, the other two also fought her a few times each fight with increasing
intensity. Until now, the powers she released had been too small. But at least,
once she succeeded in weeding out Kurama's plants. Or nearly did. After she
reabsorbed her powers, the plants grew again. But then they weren't strictly
plants but fungi. She neglected the mycelia (?) underground.
The winds rose, gathering dust and
forming a sandstorm. Energy was also being collected, concentrated, right about
ready to be released. The intensity grew. So does the tension. It builds up and
builds and builds and..
Boom!
An explosion rocked the desert. Yusuke
releases the small concentrated ball of white energy. But tiny as it is, it is
not to be underestimated for a white dwarf star is hotter and more powerful than
a red giant one. He had yelled something but it was drowned down. Almost
simultaneously, Ebony released her counter attack. Her energy lashes out, the
twin cyclones of pure energy moving in a crescent path at unintelligible
velocity. The two powers of opposing directions meet, just before colliding with
Yusuke's Big Bang, a variant form of the rei gun. The powers clashed, reacting
with each other for a mere hundredth of a second. Then, the two whirlwinds of
Ebony became separate again and in that same crescent path retaliated back to
the owner. Yusuke's energy had disappeared! It was utterly canceled out by hers.
But something was wrong. The tornadoes
were accelerating too sharply. Ebony can't seem to control their velocity. No,
she's completely lost control! She won't be able to take that tremendous impact.
Then, the two spinning masses of energy
hit her full force. She screams and the others strove to help her but were blown
away by the force released by the impact. Her screams were muffled by the din
and the others can't see a single thing. The clouds of suspended particles
marred their view.
After a while, the others picked
themselves up. They managed to find each other, Hiei cursing to himself. If
anything happened to that girl, it will be my neck,
he thought. International (interwordal?) interests are at stake. They
waited for the air to clear up.
Finally, they found her lying in a
heap, unconscious. Is she alive? Breathing? No. A pulse, yes, but growing faint
by the second. CPR, somebody
perform CPR!
Good heavens, it wasn't necessary. The
moment Kurama cleared the air with one of his plants and they were able to clear
her air passageway, she started
breathing again. But it was labored, very labored.
"Good," said Kurama.
"The heart beat's getting stronger."
"Once again, we nearly killed one
of our own," said Hiei.
"Stop talking like that. Its not
as if Mukuro's dead," said Yusuke.
"Let's just take her back to the
house. OK?" interrupted the weary Kurama.