Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Ghost Fighters ❯ Halloween Day ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 6: Halloween Day

 

As the days went by, the Reikai-tantei fell into a tight schedule, which mostly consisted of lots of ghost-busting and very little rest. With the exception of Kurama, Hiei never did tell the rest about his meeting with Shiryou. The fire-demon figured that Koenma had enough trouble than to worry about Shiryou being nearby and watching his every move. That fateful evening was the last time Hiei saw him though he did feel the ex-god's ki whenever he was out scouting.

 

The Ghostbusters had grown to like the newcomers. Heck, even Peter liked them, though his suspicion about them never withered. They got along well and always paired off during their missions; Yusuke with Winston, Kuwabara with Ray, Koenma with Egon and last but not least, Kurama with Peter. They joked and teased all the time but there was always tension hovering over them for they knew that the worst was yet to come.

 

 

The early morning light shone on Yusuke's face and he woke up drowsily. Kurama, feeling the stir of his ki, awoke from his slumber. They looked at each other silently and smiled their `good-mornings'. Kurama glanced out the window, watching the faint light of the rising sun.

 

“It's Halloween,” he said softly, not wanting to wake up Kuwabara and Koenma.

 

Yusuke nodded and stole a glance at the god. “Don't worry. We'll be ready for him when he shows up.”

 

A few minutes later while they were talking softly among themselves, Peter strolled into the room, a grin on his face.

 

“Better get ready, guys. Wake your friends up. Today is the day where we'll leave our mark in Ghostbusters' history. Maybe we'll even break last year record of 40 ghost-calls. In fact, I'm positively sure of it.”

 

 

Evening. 6.30 p.m.

 

Hours passed by, and still there were no calls. The phone was silent the whole day, never even uttered a peep. You could practically see the spider-webs being formed around it. Janine had to check the phone three times to make sure that it was plugged in and working.

 

The whole group was in the living room, suited up and ready to go; only problem was that there was no place to go. Peter paced up and down the front of Janine's desk with Slimer above his head, imitating him. Stopping with a loud sigh, he picked up the receiver to make sure it was working. When he heard the dial tone, he smashed down the receiver with an angry growl.

 

“Where is everyone?” he finally yelled, waving his hands around, liable to tear his hair out. “The phone hasn't even rang once. We usually get tons of calls. Don't tell me that there isn't even one ghost out there making trouble.” He stared around the group, obviously waiting for a reasonable explanation for this phenomenon.

 

“Erm… maybe they're on vacation?” Kuwabara shrugged.

 

Peter let out another loud sigh at what he thought was a stupid answer. “Ray, you're the expert on phenomenon and such. Don't you have any explanation? I mean, any at all?”

 

“Well… I dunno. I've never read or heard anything like this before. Maybe they just got tired of playing around New York. They could have gone to Las Vegas instead. There are a lot of people there this time of year.”

 

“If they did,” Peter said sarcastically, “Then the Las Vegas people would have called us.”

 

“Maybe we've busted so many ghosts, that there aren't anymore left,” Yusuke suggested.

 

“Nice try but there are always ghosts around. We will never catch all of them, not even in a thousand years,” Winston told him.

 

“Well, then, I guess we'll just have to sit back and wait for them to make their presence,” Egon looked up from his `The Lovable Fungus' book. “By the way, where's Koenma?”

 

“Well, he looked so tired that I sent him to bed a few hours ago,” Kurama explained. “He hadn't had much sleep these past few days. A long nap should do him good. I think I'll go see if he's up.”

 

Walking up the stairs, Kurama stopped at their room and knocked politely on the door. “Koenma, it's me, Kurama. Are you up?”

 

:Hmm. No answer. He must still be sleeping. Still, I think I better check on him: he thought silently.

 

Opening the door, he glanced towards Koenma's makeshift-bed and gasped.

 

 

“Yusuke, Koenma's gone,” Kurama told the teen as he slid gracefully down the pole.

 

“Gone? What do you mean `gone'?”

 

“That's just it. He's disappeared and all that was left was this note.” He handed the note to Yusuke.

 

“It's a riddle from Shiryou,” Yusuke read. “To save Koenma from an eternal slumber; you have to find him before things turn sour; come to the ghosts' haunt with their favourite number; be sure to reach before the witching hour.”

 

“What the heck does that mean?” Ray asked. “Ghosts' favorite number? I didn't even know they could count.”

 

“Hold it, hold it. Hold everything,” Peter shouted above the chatter. “What's going on here? Who's Shiryou? Why would he want to kidnap Koenma? And most important of all, since we're asking questions, who exactly are you guys? I've been getting weird vibes from you ever since you set foot in here, and I am not letting you guys go anywhere until I get an explanation.”

 

All was silent. The Japanese teens looked awkwardly at each other, wondering how they were going to answer those questions. Finally, Kurama spoke.

 

“I think it's time we told the truth,” Kurama began, looking at his teammates for agreement. They nodded and Kurama proceeded. “We are spirit detectives, whose job is almost like yours. Only we capture demons, not ghosts. We needed your technology to help us defeat Shiryou, a ghost-controlling ex-god who wants to kill Koenma, and so we asked to become Ghostbusters.”

 

Soon, all the explanations came rushing out while the Ghostbusters listened on, dumbfounded. As Kurama came to the end, the Reikai-tantei looked expectantly at them, waiting for their reaction.

 

“Wow,” Ray whistled.

 

“I knew it, I knew it. I knew there was something strange about you guys. Hah, and who said that I was getting paranoid, huh?” Peter exclaimed, poking a finger at Egon's nose.

 

“Whew!” Yusuke breathed in relief. “I thought you guys wouldn't believe us.”

 

“Yusuke,” Winston began, putting a hand around his shoulder. “With all the things we've seen and heard, there's nothing we don't believe in. Now let's stop the chatter and let's get busy. Koenma needs our help.”

 

“Alright. The riddle mentioned something about a ghost haunt and a number,” Egon reread the riddle.

 

“Hmmm… a haunt?” Winston mused. “Do you think he meant the grave-yard?”

 

“Could be. But what's this about a number?” Yusuke asked.

 

“I dunno,” Ray said. “But I do know that we're wasting time sitting here. I suggest we cruise around the city while trying to figure it out. Maybe we'll find the place by luck.”

 

 

Evening. 10.00 p.m.

 

They've been cruising around the whole city but nothing matches the riddle. They went to all the places that even have the slight connection with ghosts; grave-yards, haunted houses, the sewers, you name it, they've been there.

 

“Luck sure isn't with us tonight. We still haven't found that stupid place and there's only two hours left,” Yusuke cried in frustration as they paused at a traffic light.

 

“Calm down. Let's go through the riddle and answers again,” Winston suggested. “We know that the witching hour is twelve o'clock so in order to save Koenma, we have to find the place before that time. Next is the place. We know that ghosts are usually found in haunts….”

 

“But we've been to every haunt in the city,” Peter interrupted.

 

“Maybe we missed something,” Ray mused. He glanced out the window and realized that they were in front of the Swank Hotel that they busted last week. He grinned as he remembered Winston's indignant snort when they were given the assignment. His grin turned into a frown as a thought came into his mind.

 

“Wait,” Ray shouted, startling the whole group. “A ghost's number…. How stupid of me. A ghost's number is 13, of course. It's considered as a haunted number, isn't it? So, the place, which is haunted and has the number 13, must be…” Ray snapped his fingers as the answer came to him. “I think I've got it. Fasten your seat-belts, everyone.”

 

“Where are we going?” Kuwabara asked, buckling up his seat belt.

 

“To Warehouse 13. It's at the outskirts of the city. A rich businessman used to store illegal explosives in there until he was murdered by a street gang. That place has been empty since then and was haunted by ghosts all these years. They even hold their New Year's reunions there. We've given up on trying to flush that place out so we decided that as long as they don't cause too much trouble, we leave it alone.”

 

“Stop talking and start driving. There's no time to lose,” Peter shouted. “I'm itching to bust some ghosts.”

 

 

Koenma groaned and groggily cracked his eyes open. His whole body ached as if he has been sleeping on a cold, hard floor. A severe headache attacked him as he struggled to stand. He glanced around for Kurama or the rest of the gang and let out a gasp as he realized that he wasn't in his bed nor his room anymore.

 

“Ah, you're finally awake,” a smooth, frighteningly familiar voice greeted him from behind. A voice he hasn't heard for years.

 

Koenma swirled around, panicking, and tripped in his haste. A pair of strong but slender arms quickly caught him.

 

“Whoops,” Shiryou muttered into his ears. “Getting a little bit clumsy, aren't we?”

 

Koenma tore away from his grip. “Where am I?” he asked with gritted teeth.

 

Shiryou gave a slight chuckle, “I figured that was the first thing you'd ask.”

 

He walked around Koenma slowly, scrutinizing him from head to toe, seeming to forget that he was just asked a question. Stopping in front of him, Shiryou lifted his chin with a finger, quietly observing Koenma with expressionless blue eyes. Koenma stood stock-still, looking defiantly into Shiryou's eyes.

 

“You haven't changed a bit,” Shiryou observed. “Still the same ol' independent and bold son of Enma Daiou. A loyal son but a traitorous friend.”

 

“And you haven't changed from that demon that was banned into an empty plane for five hundred years.”

 

“Ooh, touchy, touchy. Seems you're still as hot-tempered as your father.”

 

“You still haven't answered my question. Where am I? And how did I get here?”

 

Smiling coldly, Shiryou floated a few feet from the ground, crossing his legs as though he was sitting on a chair. Dozens of ghosts floated around the warehouse and every once in a while, a few ghosts touched Shiryou, only to evaporate. It seemed that the ghosts were giving Shiryou all of their powers, draining themselves to nothingness. That explained why there were no calls. Shiryou had been gathering powers from all the ghosts in the city.

 

“Come, come now,” Shiryou replied. “Surely you still remember my powers. I simply conjured up a ghost and had it slip through your windows to scoop you out from your cozy, little bed. Of course, I had to keep you unconscious should you suddenly wake up, so I used chloroform. Caused a little bit of a headache, didn't it? Then it was only a small matter to open and re-lock the windows to get you out and show no signs of disturbance. And as for where you are…. well, let's just say a place that's suitable enough for my revenge.”

 

“I should have known you'll do something like this. Why? Are you afraid to face all of us at once? Why don't you just kill me now? Or am I the bait to get everyone here?”

 

Shiryou merely laughed. “It's so easy to get you all riled-up. Fun, too. It'll make the waiting easier.”

 

“Waiting? For what?”

 

“For your death, of course. At the stroke of midnight, I'll kill you. I swore to do it, remember? I can't go back on my vow. Not when I'm this close.”

 

Koenma shook his head. “Shiryou, listen to yourself. You don't know what you're saying. Why can't we go back to the old days? When we were best friends. You know deep in your soul that this is not you. Change back to that old Shiryou that I used to know and love like my own brother.”

 

They say the eyes are the windows to your soul and Koenma could practically see the old Shiryou coming back, trying to vanquish the evil side, which stood in front of him. His body shivered slightly, as though struggling for control. All those years of living in that empty plane must have strengthened the old Shiryou, which was trapped inside. Before the banishment, he hardly twitched when Koenma tried to coax him back.

 

CRASSSHHH!!

 

The Ecto-1 came crashing through the wooden entrance into the warehouse. The emotions in Shiryou's eyes disappeared abruptly, replaced by a cold, hard stare.

 

“Nice try, Koenma, but it won't work. Now that your friends are here, the fun has begun.”