Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ THE WOLVES OF MUSHIYORI CITY ❯ Guerillas Straight From The Mist ( Chapter 17 )

 

CHAPTER 17: GUERILLAS STRAIGHT FROM THE MIST

 

 

 

Smiling and humming, Mitarai loudly slammed a pack of imported Indonesian cigarettes onto Kaito's kitchen counter when he entered his apartment.

"Tonight's the night. It's going to rain."

"Would this be your psychic connection to water or simply listening to the weather report that gave you this insight?"
"Combination. So, what did you do to celebrate tonight's apocalypse?"

Kaito paused and tried to shrug nonchalantly. "Surfed the net. I downloaded a song you might like." He slid a cd to Mitarai. "It's a collaboration of George Clinton and Ice Cube. I put some other songs on there you might like."

"....Oh...uh, thanks, Yu. I promise that I'll listen to it once all this craziness is over, okay? It's just...the timing, you know?"

"Yes. I know. Perhaps we should assemble our skeleton crew."

 

To his amazement Mitarai managed to assemble his team within an hour with no stragglers.

He took a deep breath to calm himself. Even amoung people he considered his friends he hated addressing groups larger than two people.

"I know this is a little late but tonight's the night and we need to work on our teamwork. So...uh, I'm going to the store to get some movies. As a team you have to decide on about three movies you want to watch."

 

"Rocky HorrorPicture Show."
"Seven Samurai."

"Puppet Master 3."

"Barely Legal 14."

"The Professional."

 

Mitarai tuned out the other shouts for movies and waited for his team to come together and make compromises. It seemed obvious that because they would soon be facing a multitude of demons that pornography and killer puppets were inappropriate choices for movies and would be stricken as potential choices.

Movie choices changed as they compromised and discussed and finally settled on three movies that they would find either inspiring or distracting enough.

 

"Come on, Kuwabara."

The second he closed the door to Kaito's apartment Kuwabara asked what his plan was.

"The movie thing? Hell, if they can't decide on a couple of movies they can't function as a team. It's important they spend these last few hours before the fight together."

Kuwabara grimaced for a second as he prepared his next question. "Are you sure about leaving such big gaps in our formation? I was for it at first because it'd protect us better but the city-"

"Screw 'em. Asato was crippled and Yana was tortured protecting Mushiyori City. Now it's time for the city to take one for the team."

 

The rest of the walk to get the movies Kuwabara silently reasessed his previous opinions of Mitarai as a friend and Spirit Detective.

As they looked through the racks of movies Kuwabara expressed his newly revised views. "I changed my mind. You're a good friend, Mitarai...but you're a crap detective."

"Yeah, yeah I've doomed the city with my personality flaws. You ever see 'Samurai Champloo'?"

Kuwabara was distracted since he shared Mitarai's love samurai movies and anime. "Nope. Rent it and we'll watch it at my place after Yojimbo. You know I can't fight without watching an Akira Kurosawa movie first."

 

After renting The Rocky Horror Picture Show and enough Hello Kitty and Hamtaro episodes to put his team into a killing frenzy Mitarai sent Kuwabara to deliver the movies as he roamed the city and made notes on how many fire hydrants were in the area he needed to protect.

 

"Nervous, Mitarai?"

Mitarai remained staring at the hydrant and only glanced up to see Sniper addressing him. "If it isn't my bad angel. You should be doing the time warp about now."

"You weren't there. I got concerned. Don't worry. If this head demon even scratches you I'm firing a tanker truck up his ass."

Sniper's stomach painfully churned.

"Yeah, yeah, I know if I don't protect Asato and Yana a water monster made of my bodily fluids will burst through my stomach. I'll do as you asked but protecting you is still my priority. By the way, you can't threaten a guy with a debt this big with death. As far as I'm concerned my life is secondary to my obligation."

 

Mitarai shrugged off one of the two backpacks he carried and pulled a large wrench from it and opened the valve of the hydrant releasing the water. He pulled his switchblade from the pocket of his jeans and dumped out a pile of plastic bladders filled with his blood and sliced them open to let his blood mix with the gushing water.

"Next hydrant"

 

Sniper acted as lookout for Mitarai as he went from hydrant to hydrant, opened them and added his blood to the water he released. When Mitarai ran out of blood he ordered Sniper to return to Kaito's for the next round of movies.

 

"Vandalism? That's your master plan?"
Mitarai didn't turn around to greet the leader of the psychics needed to maintain the city's ignorance of demons. "Hey, Andrea. Are your people ready?"

"Yes, but we can't distract the whole city. Sixty percent, maybe."

"That'll do. Spread out but get somewhere safe."

 

The tone of Mitarai's voice took Andrea off guard. "Are you actually concerned?"

"...I may personally loathe you but for now you're part of the team. Stay safe and don't take any stupid chances."

She was only capable of a nod and turning her back due to shock before turning back. "Kuwabara wanted me to pass on a message. That he was great."

 

Mitarai laughed and groaned simultaneously. "That jerk." He took a deep breath and checked if anyone were around him before saying: "Kuwabara's great" and unbinding himself from the spirit cuffs that Kuwabara strapped to his ankles and wrists.

With the weight of the cuffs off of his spirit energy Mitarai felt physically better than he had in a month even despite his beatings.

He idly wondered if his psychic powers had grown at all as he knelt down and touched the water gushing at his feet with his index finger.

Instead of using his blood as a catalyst to gain control of the water it responded to his touch and formed a small grinning monster made of water.

"Well, hello, little guy! What's your name? Drippy, you say? Let's make you some friends."

 

After another half hour of water monster creation Mitarai took out his communication mirror and asked Kuwabara about his whereabouts.

"Nothing good is on tv and Kei's turning in early so Urameshi and Kurama are free"

"I guess I can find something for them to do. Just make sure you guys don't get in our way. Get here fast, it's going to rain. And by the way you are not great, Kuwabara."

"That's not what I hear. I'll be there in time to watch a few minutes of Yojimbo, Mitarai."

 

.....

 

 

"I'm so sick of cute cartoon animals I could puke blood," Hannah said after the last of Mitarai's Hamtaro and Hello Kitty rentals were done with.

"I feel so...unclean," Yana said. "That guy's got some weird ways to inspire us."

Asato couldn't stop smiling. "Mitarai always said that ultra-cute cartoons always put him in the mood to kill, but I thought he was just joking."

 

Kaito checked his watch and craned his neck to look out his window to see storm clouds forming. "We should probably go meet Kiyoshi before it rains."

 

"This is just plain eerie," Hannah noted when she noticed the city almost empty.

"Yeah," Yana agreed. "Like suddenly everyone thinks they'll melt when it rains. Hey, where are we supposed to meet Mitarai anyway?"
Hannah smirked and pointed to swirling mass of water towering over the nearby buildings. "Gee, Yana, think that could be him?"

 

Just before stepping into Yana's van Hannah pulled Asato back by his shirt. "What's with the cd Kaito was going to give Mitarai?"

"Isn't it obvious? It's a song by George Clinton and Ice Cube. Kaito's a big Clinton fan and Mitarai's a big Cube fan. Do I have to draw a picture?"

"...Just when I think I have all your little rituals figured out you guys manage to reach new heights of weirdness."

 

When they reached Mitarai they instantly noticed that despite the massive amount of water Mitarai had collected the air around him was painfully dry as he managed to absorb most of the ambient moisture in his immediate atmosphere.

Mitarai's tornado fell to the street with a hard thud instead of a splash.

"I get the feeling I should say something inspiring."

"You could recite the Saint Crispin's day speech," Kaito suggested.

"Just don't get killed," Mitarai said. "I don't feel like making new friends. When the rain starts to get heavy be ready. See you guys later. And before I forget..." He rifled through his second backpack and tossed each of his teammates a small compact mirror. "I managed to get us some more communication mirrors."

 

Amanuma opened his mirror and Yana's mirror beeped. "You there, Yana? It's Amanuma."

"Cool, they work! I'm going to try to get Asato on the other line. Asato!"

Asato opened his communication mirror. "Yes? Dammit, Yana I told you not to burn up all my minutes. Hold on I have a call on the other line."

"Asato Kido?" Hannah asked from three feet away. "Hannah Shepherd. Are you happy with your long distance carrier?"

 

Kuwabara, along with Yusuke and Kurama watched the city's first line of defense talk to one another through their communication mirrors while still within earshot.

"And you were worried, Kuwabara," Yusuke said.

"I'm sure they'll get to work when they're done playing."

 

"If it isn't Kuwabara and the domestic duo," Mitarai said pulling out three of Kaito's hand-drawn maps of the city.

Yusuke settled for giving Mitarai the finger instead of a verbal assault as his son was awake and strapped to his chest.

"What would you like us to do, Mitarai?" Kurama asked.

Mitarai handed out the maps with three different locations marked for each of them to preside over. "Just stand around and be powerful. With two A-Class and an S-Class fighter around they'll know to avoid those areas just by instinct. But first I need you to slice open all the dimensional weak spots so demons can get through easier, Kuwabara."

 

After everyone took their positions Mitarai gathered all the water monsters he had created and merged them into one solid wall of water. He concentrated on the wall of water and separated it into smaller and smaller parts until it formed a mist which he spread as far as he could while still leaving no room to move in between his water monsters.

"Stick your hand in there, Kuwabara."

Intense training had taught Kuwabara to trust his spirit awareness when it told him of danger. Experience told him not to trust Mitarai when he had trouble getting out sentences because he was laughing.
"No, I don't think so."

Kuwabara picked up one of Mitarai's backpacks and swung it into the mist shredding it.

 

"Billions and billions of razor sharp water monsters. Once it starts raining it'll be even bigger. Once you cut through the dimensional barriers demons will be rushing here like lemmings off a cliff. It all depends on how disciplined their troops are. Personally, I don't think many will be able to resist a quick route to their food supply."

The first drops of rain fell and Mitarai grinned and pulled the hood of his black Wu Tang Clan sweatshirt up.

 

The rain increased as did his wall of razor sharp mist when his communication mirror beeped.

"What is it, Yana?"
"Is your refrigerator running?"

Mitarai sighed. "Yes," he droned as he rolled his eyes.

"Then you better go catch it."

 

When his wall of mist had enough volume to cover every weak spot in the dimensional barrier Mitarai ordered Kuwabara through his blunted water creatures to slice open the barriers.

"The rest is up to me and their stupidity. Go get a coffee or something."

 

The first wave of low level demons charged through the newly formed holes in the dimensional wall only to find themselves cut by tiny blades of water. Mitarai walked up and down his mist wall to find many of the less intelligent demons had tried to force their way through only to end up finely shredded. Even the smarter and more powerful of the cannon fodder tried to make it through only to meet the same fate but slower and with more pain.

With the rain adding more and more mass to his demon ward Mitarai felt comfortable walking to the area he previously intended to leave unprotected.

 

.....

 

"Scared?" Amanuma asked.

"Totally," Yana answered.

 

Amanuma handed two light guns to Yana and showed him the game console and cartridge of Zombie Apocalypse inside his backpack. "I won't let you die. You're going to get as many continues as you want. You brought the mod chip I gave you, right?"
Yana nodded.

"Just think of the word 'Blast' then fire."

Amanuma opened his psychic territory and Yana gingerly pointed his light guns and concentrated on not being afraid and fired as he thought of word 'Blast' and created a smoking crater twenty feet ahead of him.

"Don't overuse it. You could kill us both if you fire it off too close and if I die there are no more continues."

 

.....

 

Asato Kido broke every street light in his immediate vicinity. All logic told him that he could instantly kill or at least paralyze anything that entered his territory as long as it was dark and his shadow encompassed everything, but visions of demons strolling through his territory and killing him wouldn't leave his head.

 

"Come on, Asato....fear is the mind killer. Johnny Cash wouldn't be afraid. Eastwood either. You can do this. I mean, you've done it before and you've gotten stronger since. Nothing to worry about, right? Yeah. Yeah, I can do this."

 

He reached into his leather trench coat for his communication mirror and spoke Mitarai's name.

"Mitarai? I know this is a bad time but you weren't trying to get on my good side by saying I was a good fighter, right?"

The visual from Asato's mirror worried him as Mitarai's mirror fell to the ground and he noticed demons in the background. He closed his mirror and felt around his territory and noticed a horde of demons he had trapped by stepping on their collective shadows.

"Oh."

 

Asato wrapped the darkness around the demons and and squeezed until they either died or passed out depending on their strength.

He opened an umbrella and waited for the next wave to foolishly rush into his territory.

 

.....

 

 

With the rain obscuring her vision through her glasses Hannah had to throw down one of her katanas and used the other to keep the demons at bay as she took off her glasses and put them in the pocket of her raincoat.

She formed another katana from her spirit energy with an extra two inches of blade length to make up for her astigmatism and poor depth perception.

 

Many of her katanas ended up stuck in the ribcages of the larger demons and forced her to abandon them and create new ones which quickly depleted her spirit energy.

Need help?

Hannah smiled at Kuwabara's mental voice in her head. "No, I'm fine. How about you?"

Bored. No one's attacking.

"My condolences," she said dryly.

 

.....

 

 

"Man, this has got to be the most boring demon invasion ever," Yusuke said while leaning his head back as he smoked so as not get ash or smoke near his son.

"'Just stand around be powerful', Mitarai says. What a dick!"

Bitch, bitch, bitch, came Kuwabara's voice in Yusuke's head. I just got a brainflash from Mitarai. He said that things are tapering off which means that the first wave is almost over. He wants us to regroup by his apartment. I may be crazy but I think things might turn out okay.

"No maybe about it. You are crazy."