SquidgeWorld Archive

A New Adventure
By Hope of Watch-Tower Keep J

"There is no reason for us to battle", said the girl.

"Oh but there is, little one. You have stolen something and are now making money off of it," was her opponent's reply.

"No I'm not!"

"If you are not, than say it," he replied.

"Must I?"

"If you want the battle to end," was the reply.

Hope glared at him but knew he was right.

"Okay, okay. You win." Taking a deep breath she said," The Yuu Yuu Hakusho doesn't belong to me and neither do the characters from Gatchaman. I'm not making any money off this. This story belongs to me. That's it. Nothing else, so get off my back."

The lawyer smiled and vanished.

"Jerk. Okay and now on with the story!"

A New Adventure

By Hope of Watch-Tower Keep J

Kurama's Home 8:00

The sun rose over the city, bathing it in reds and gold. It was the beginning of a new day, and many people were looking forward to an early start. Among those was the teen named Minamonom Shuuichi.

He was already dressed in his school uniform and was heading out his bedroom door to have breakfast with his mother. But as much as he loved mornings, something was wrong. He looked out the window one last time, wondering yet again, Where the hell is Hiei? before leaving his room and going down stairs.

Hiei was a Fire Demon of Koorami blood, and Minamonom Shuuichi was a Fox Spirit or Youko that some knew as Kurama. The two had known each other for a few years as humans measured time, and while Hiei did have a tendency to vanish for a days at a time, he had been gone to long for it to be normal.

Five days ago:

A wave of dizziness hit the little Koorami and he swayed. The spells are getting worse, he decided. And more frequent. When it had finally passed Hiei eased down beside the tree he had been leaning against and sighed.

"Hey you little shrimp."

Hiei turned to look at the source of the voice and saw Kazuma Kowabara walking towards him.

"K'so," he muttered. "What do you want?"

"I've been looking all over for you, ya little shrimp. Keonam has a new mission for us."

Shimata, Hiei thought. Why did this have to happen now? Out loud he said, "I don't care one way or another. But I'll meet you at Genkai's temple in a little while." With that he rose and vanished.

As the small Fire Demon moved away from the park a blinding flash of light hit him. He was falling then, when he heard a not-to-distant explosion and was hit by the shock wave of the explosion. The next thing the little Demon knew was darkness.

Abroad the God Phoenix:

Ken saw the bright flash of light and the figure of what appeared to be a child falling from it. If the fall doesn't kill him, Ken thought. The crossfire will. As if on cue a missile, fired by the Galactor Bat Mech,

exploded next to the falling boy and hurled him into the side of the God Phoenix.

"Shit!" Condor no Joe shouted. "Some kid just hit us!"

"Joe target and destroy that Mech. Jinpei, go get whoever that was NOW."

"You got it Aniki," Jinpei responded as he roes from his seat and left the ship.

Back at the ISO HQ:

"And you have no idea where he came from?" Dr. Nambu asked.

"No, Hakase. He had to have come from somewhere, but we have no idea how he got up there," Ken Washiro said.

"Is he awake yet?"

"Yes, Hakase. He hasn't said a word yet, though."

Nambu nodded and the two moved to the infirmary. The hallways were crowded, though no more than normal, with the bustle of an after mission work. Nambu saw medics arguing with the Condor. Trying to get him to the infirmary, Nambu thought. Other personal was moving with heavy equipment towards the hanger to exact repairs on the God Phoenix. And military personal were trying to conduct debriefings. All in all it was average chaos for after a mission.

They reached the infirmary and entered quietly. The boy was sitting with his back pressed against the headboard of the cot. He watched them wearily with tired eyes. Ken was still amazed at how small he really was. Dr. Nambu approached the boy and sat down on a bed-side chair.

"Hello," he said. "I'm Dr. Nambu. I'm here to see how you're doing."

Just then one of the doctors came in with a disgruntled Condor in tow. Hiei looked at him in surprise. Through his blurred and doubled vision he saw, "Kurama?"

Condor looked at the boy for a moment, then said, "No, my name is Condor no Joe. And you are?"

"Hiei, " he said. "Where am I?"

"The ISO infirmary. You took a nasty hit to the head."

Hiei nodded and turned to look at the others in the room. Dr. Nambu watched him for a long moment before asking to see his right arm.

"Why"

"Because those bandages may need to be changed."

Hiei looked at the Wards on his right arm. "Hn. They're not 'bandages'. They're Wards."

Dr. Nambu looked as though he wanted to ask more, but was prevented by the rumble of a near-by explosion. He turned to the doorway as a Sargent entered.

"Dr. Nambu, sir. The Galactor are attacking!"

"Ken," Nambu said. "Get the Gatchaman together and deal with them."

"Yes Hakase."

They left the infirmary and Hiei was alone. Several minutes passed, then a figure entered the room. He was dressed in mostly green and had some kind of a mask on. Behind him came Condor no Joe.

"Hold it right there, Galactor scum."

"Not a chance," the Galactor said as he grabbed Hiei. "You won't risk hurting an innocent bystander."

Hiei looked up at the Galactor that was intent on using him as a shield and snarled, "I don't think so."

With a quick twist he broke free of the Galactor and spun around. Bringing his hand up. He thrust out his hand, palm out and ball of black fire flew out of his hand and incinerated the goon, leaving only a pile of ash on the floor.

"What in the Hell was that?"

Hiei looked at Joe and said, "Black Fire."

"Not to shabby kid," Joe said. "You stay here while we finish with the Galactors."

"No chance. I will not stay here while there is a battle to be fought. I am coming with you."

"Look kid " Joe began.

"I am not a kid," he all but growled.

Joe looked at him for a moment, then nodded. "Okay," he said. "You can come, even though Ken's gonna have my ass."

The two left the building and rounded a near by corner, only to come face-to-face with a Galactor Devil-Snake Mech.

"Shit!" Joe shouted as he dove for cover, taking Hiei with him. The Mech fired its laser canons and scorched the ground they had been standing on. Then it brought its cannons to bare on them. Joe gritted his teeth and prepared to jump again when Hiei suddenly vanished. Next Joe saw a blur of black behind the Mech.

Hiei looked at the giant robot and brought his right hand up. His arm burst into black fire and he shouted, "Joau Ensatsu Kokuryuuha!"

Joe frowned and wondered, What is he doing? Then the sky darkened and black fire sprang up around the boy. The bandages on his arm burst into flames, and three streams of red and black fire flowed off the black haired warrior's arm and took the form of dragons. They roared and shot toward the Mech.

Joe could only watch in horrified amazement as the dragons ripped the Mech apart and incinerated the remains. Then the dragons turned and flew back at Hiei. They vanished into the boy's body and were gone. Then the sound of running feet reached Joe's ears and he looked up to see the other members of the KNT running towards him.

After the battle they took Hiei back to the infirmary to see to any further wounds he may have suffered.

ISO infirmary:

"He did WHAT?!" Ken shouted.

"He got behind the Mech and said, 'Joau Ensatsu Kokuryuuha' and then those dragons showed up. When the Mech had been destroyed they went inside of him and vanished."

Ken turned to look at the now unconscious Hiei. If Joe was right, than he had not only won the battle for them, but had also saved a lot of lives. Asleep, Hiei looked very peaceful, almost angelic. Exhaustion had over taken the him, and he had collapsed soon after banishing the dragons. He hadn't even awakened when Dr. Nambu had examined him and had discovered the boy's concussion.

"I think we should let him rest," Jun said. "We can talk to him when he wakes up."

"Jun's right," Ken said. "Hiei needs his rest."

The team of Science Ninjas left the room with Dr. Nambu. Joe looked back at the sleeping boy and wondered where he had come from, and then he closed the door and left Hiei alone to recover.

Two days later:

"How do you feel, Hiei?"

"Why"

Joe sighed. "Because we're all worried about you. Two days ago you took out a Golactor Mech and then you passed out for the next seven hours. So how do you feel?"

"Tired. I feel tired."

"How so?"

"As if someone or something were draining my strength."

Joe looked at the small Demon and said, "Maybe someone is. Have you tried to trace it to its source?"

"No."

"Then why don't you?"

After he had awakened, Hiei had explained about his powers, his origin, and his arrival here. The others had been very shocked to learn that Hiei was a Fire Demon and that he was over one hundred years old. He had also told them about his Jagon, and the powers it gave him.

Hiei looked at Joe and nodded. "It's worth a try."

He reached up and pulled off the Ward around his head. The Jagon opened and Hiei 'looked' through it. He was startled to see a band of light attached to his left arm. That is where my power is being drained from, he realized. He told Joe and the two went to get the rest of the team.

Later the team followed the band of light to its source. It was a glowing disk of red fire. Hiei told this to the others, as they couldn't see it. It was also in the exact spot he had appeared from.

"From the readings I took earlier," Jun said. "I'd have to say it's a dimensional gateway, specifically keyed to you power."

Hiei looked at her in shock. "Is it a natural occurrence? Or did someone do this to weaken me?"

"I don't know," Jun said. "But I do know that this gateway leads to the dimension you came from."

They then returned to ISO HQ and started to run some tests. Hiei discovered that he could control the gateway and bring it to him. He also learned to open and close it.

"So I can go back home and come here whenever I want."

"Yes," Dr. Nambu said. "Just be careful. It takes a lot of energy."

Hiei nodded and turned to Ken and Joe. Joe smiled and said, "Looks like you're going home."

"Yes."

Jun smiled and said, "Than let's through you a going away party!"

"That's a great idea, Onichan," Jinpei said.

The next day:

Hiei was having a blast. Jun was going to treat him and the whole team to dinner and ice cream later. And earlier Jinpei had shared several large bags of Skittles with him (Hiei liked Tropical best). Joe even taught him to drive the Condor Machine.

After he had gotten the hang of the clutch and shifting it had been easy. Joe had taught him to do 180s at 200mph and how to regain control of a car when you were going 300mph. He let Hiei drive all over the city and they ducked the cops with surprising ease. It was great.

"Joe?"

"Yeah, Hiei?"

"There's a cop car behind us. Should I blow it up?"

"Nah. Hang on while I change the car into the Condor Machine. We'll give the cops a real shock."

"Cool."

Joe transformed and so did his car. The cocpit of the car was now smaller and Joe found himself behind Hiei. Hiei gunned the engine end off they went at 300mph. The cops were so shocked that they failed to steer properly and crashed.

That night they celebrated at the Snack J. Jinpei cooked and they had as much as they wanted to drink. Hiei, however, stuck to non-alcoholic drinks.

When Joe asked him about it, Hiei explained, "I'm a mean drunk. I get very violent."

"Oh. I didn't know that."

"Not very many people do."

Jun stood, forestalling further conversation. She looked at the Fire Demon and said, "Hiei, we have a present for you."

"You didn't have to."

"We wanted to." She brought out a package and handed it to Hiei. "We all pitched in for it."

Hiei slowly unwrapped present and opened the small box. Inside was a medallion on a silver chain. It was a black dragon wrapped around a flat gold disk. On the disk were both the Gatchman team emblem and an

inscription. It read:

May your sword arm be ever strong,

May your enemies be vanquished,

May your friends be many.

And may we be counted among them.

"Thank you," Hiei whispered.

The next day Hiei prepared to leave. Good-bye was said and hugs given. Then Hiei opened the gateway and went home.

Today, Karama's bedroom, 8:01 a.m.:

As Kurama moved down the hallway, he though he heard something. He went back to his room and opened the door. There, sitting on the bed, was Hiei. He looked tired and drawn.

"Hiei?"

"Yes?"

"Where have you..."

"It's a long story."

Fin