1) I have absolutely NO intention what-so-ever of cutting Jyou out of the story.
I have my...plans. Wha-ha-ha!
2) The Japanese Pokemon names:
Satoshi = Ash
Kasumi = Misty
Tekeshi ( I think) = Brock
Kojiro = James
Musashi = Jesse
Pikachu = Pikachu (okay, so I'm a smart *ss)
Author's notice:
Because I don't feel like writing 'chan' and 'kun' after various characters names all the time, this is a list of the following 'nicknames' I've derived from each character's name:
Hikari- Hi
Jyou- (none)
Koushiro- Kou
Mimi- Mi
Taichi- Tai
Takeru- Take
Sora- (none)
Yamato- Yama
Oh, and Jyou's brother Jim- since I don't know Jim's Japanese name, his new name is "Jimu".
~Thanks
Chapter III
"There's something about this map..." Koushiro studied the map, flipping up his eye patch so he could see better.
"Wow, this place is so big they have two Ferris wheels." Sora exclaimed. "But why are they on opposite ends of the park? That's weird."
"Sure, is." Taichi agreed without looking at her. "What do you think, Kou?"
No reply.
"Kou?"
Koushiro was no longer with them.
Taichi looked around. Koushiro stood back at the cauldron, his attention completely lost to the map as he ran his finger over its tan surface. Taichi went to him.
"Prodigious!" the pirate exclaimed. "Hey, Tai, look at this."
Taichi peered at the map. "So?"
"So...what does this map LOOK LIKE to you?"
The Satoshi wanna-be shrugged. "Umm. A map?"
"It looks like a jack-o-lantern to me." Mimi said as if it was plain as day.
Koushiro nodded. "Exactly! Isn't that cool?"
Oh, it did! That was pretty cool. Taichi nodded.
"Tai, I'm hungry," Hikari held her growling stomach.
"Me too." Takeru concurred.
"Well, okay. Where should we eat? Let's see..." Taichi said, looking at the map. "Up ahead there's a food court called 'Frankenweenie'."
"Frankenweenie? Wasn't that a movie?" Mimi wondered.
The Dark Master's meditation was interrupted by a stir of the darkness. "Who is it?"
"It is only I, my liege." The other informed. "I have come to report."
The Dark Master waved his hand. "Continue."
The darkness stirred as the other bowed. "All is going to plan. Hundreds are turning out. Should we commence..?"
Silence, then, "No. Give them a while yet. Just do what I've already told you; what your ...subordinate has been told to do. There's no hurry, after all. We have all night and then some."
The other bowed again. "Then, by your leave..."
Hikari and Takeru ate their...slop, as Taichi would call it - at one of the many tables and chairs set outside. It was a little chilly, though, so most people crowded in the sit down restaurants. One restaurant was called "Vampire's Blood" and the other sit-down was titled "Witch's Brew". Because none of them wanted to wait in the incredible lines from either place, Hikari got some teriyaki look-alike thing from "Wizard Sticks", and Takeru had some pink, runny soup with some kind of white curd from a stand called "Eyeball Slushy". Major gross, although Taichi realized he sounded like Mimi thinking like that.
He looked out over the crowd heading down the main street of the park, "Pumpkin Main". So many people. And every single one of them in some sort of disguise or another. One girl he noticed had on a pink ballerina outfit. She must've been freezing in that. The guy behind her was dressed like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh. Taichi also saw plenty of Pikachus and even a couple that looked like Musashi and Kojiro from Pokemon, and there was also a Kasumi, too. Taichi looked down the length of the food court. Taichi saw cats, dogs, even birds. Weaving through the crowd Taichi saw a very familiar face...
"Hey, look, everybody!" Taichi said, watching the figure move through the crowd. "It's Wizardmon!"
"What, where?" They peered into the crowd, but it was too late. Wizardmon was gone. "We don't see anything."
"It must've just be your imagination, Tai," Yamato concluded. "Maybe someone saw him last year and thought it was a good costume idea, that's all."
Taichi wasn't so sure, but Yamato was probably right.
"So," Hikari changed the subject. "Where are we going to meet up again?"
"Meet up again?" Taichi hadn't realized they were going to split up.
"Well, sure." Mimi explained while Hikari went to throw her trash away. "Us three girls are going to go do what we want."
"You mean you want to do 'girl stuff'."
The geisha looked blankly for a moment, probably deciding whether or not to be insulted. "Well, yeah."
"And you boys can go do 'boy stuff'." Sora said, using the same emphasis Taichi had.
"Let's meet back at that big pot." Takeru suggested.
"It's called a cauldron, Take." Yamato corrected.
"That's a great idea!" Koushiro looked at his map. "We can meet on the side of the cauldron facing Pumpkin Main, which is the largest and center most street of the park. It leads straight to the theater, so we can meet up after the show. The show, by the way, starts in about an hour from now. The show itself, should you choose not to go to it, is roughly a half hour in length."
They nodded in understanding.
"Well, then, see ya." Sora waved as the three girls headed off toward Pumpkin Main.
"I guess it's just us 'boys' then." Yamato said, watching them disappear into the crowd. "What should we do first?"
"How about the games?" Takeru suggested, finishing his bowl of slop.
"Sounds good to me." Taichi nodded. "So where to, Kou?"
The four "boys", as Sora had called them, made their way first to the rides, and next planned to go to the games so they could be right near the theater for the show. Takeru spotted a ride he wanted to go on called "The Black Lagoon". It was a kiddie ride that had small boats go around in a circle on a foot or so of water. This water, however, was black as ink. Takeru seemed to enjoy himself, laughing and saying, "I wish Patamon was here!" Taichi looked at Yamato, seeing the sheer joy in his eyes and smile. Nothing seemed to make Yamato happier than to see Takeru enjoying himself. Taichi knew what that joy was like, as he'd experienced with Hikari. After that, the miniature Ninja Turtle wanted to ride the "Black Hornet", but Yamato told him that it wasn't any different than the boat ride, and he wanted to save some money for the games. They also went on the "Death's Scythe"; a ride that swung like a pendulum back and forth.
"Anybody in the mood for a scare?" Koushiro asked, looking at the map as he walked.
"No, haunted houses are lame." Yamato replied, weaving through the crowd like a pro.
"I wasn't talking about that- oof! Sorry!" he apologized to the Ryoga from Ranma ½. "I was talking about the shooting gallery. It's called 'Cemetery Shooting Gallery'. You know, where you shoot this small targets and radical things happen. It's on the corner of 'Vampire Alley' and 'Warlock Way'. It's on our way to the games anyway. Interested?"
"Yeah, that's sounds cool." Taichi said.
"Take, you shouldn't use that bo like a walking stick." The warrior advised, completely changing the subject.
"Sorry, Yama." He said, "I just don't know what to do with it."
"That's because you don't know how to use it. Here." They stopped as Yamato placed the bo in the strap holders on Takeru's shell.
"But, now I have nothing to play with."
"Here, you can play with the Pokeball I brought with me." Taichi said. "It's got Pikachu in it."
"No, that's okay, Tai. Thanks anyway." He smiled. "Maybe Yama will win something for me."
"Can't you win something for yourself?" Yamato teased.
"I'm not tall enough yet!"
"Oh, okay. I guess I'll HAVE to win something for you then."
The tiny turtle struck his fist to the air. "Yay!"
Yamato smiled.
The shooting gallery was dark, but red lights spilled over the game setup. Every time a target was struck the lights flashed, and something either roared, moaned, or screamed as it moved. Kids were lined up at the guns, about four kids to a line. It looked quite the wait.
"Maybe we should go somewhere else," Yamato suggested, watching some kid hit the zombie target. It moved from side to side and made an awful groaning noise.
"Yeah, let's." Takeru agreed, raising his voice over the noise.
All was quiet and black as pitch. Nothing could ruin this moment for him as he mediated, listening to the sound of his own breathing. In. Out. In. So soothing it was. Something alerted him then, something from behind.
"What is it?" the Dark Master's voice ruptured the silence.
"Yes, yes!" the comer hissed. "Everything is going well, master."
"Good." He breathed. "Have you found anyone yet?"
Silence.
"Well?!" the anger of the Dark Master's voice split the darkness like a razor.
"N-no. No. Not yet, but I swear-"
"Have you been using the stone?"
"P-partly. Partly, master."
"What do you mean 'partly'?" his voice practiced restrained fury. The Dark Master had always been good with his voice, and for the resurrection ceremony he would need it and all his training.
"I-I lost-"
"You 'lost'!?" he screamed, the sheer rage in his voice exploding like a bomb and echoing like a shockwave through the darkness of the void. "Take another and be gone! Give a few to your underlings, check ALL who pass in the front gate- as I TOLD you to do before- and search through the children that attend the shows. If you had obeyed my orders the first time, we wouldn't have to make other plans. You fool, you only make more work for yourself. Find them NOW!"
Closing his eyes he felt the darkness around him. Easy, easy. Everything must be controlled and in perfect order, or the resurrection would not succeed. Besides, the night was still very young. He mustn't be impatient. As he felt the stupid being turn to leave, he spoke in a crisp, cold tone, "Remember, you ARE replaceable."
The Dark Master slowed his breath in effort to begin to meditate again. He made an effort to listen to himself breath instead of letting his mind wander to...unimportant matters. The Dark Master felt the tension release; felt the rage drain away from his angrily shaking body. His blood began to cool.
He chanted, "When the moon turns black and the suns align. When the Moonstone exhibits a light not of its own. Then, will the resurrection begin at the cost of a soul...Only one of a perfect mind and body may inhabit the spirit of the one now lifeless..."
The three "girls", as Taichi had put it, made their way first to the front gate to get another map, then to the shops (under Mimi's request), and then planned to head for the games so they could be near the theater when the show would start. Maybe they could get good seats. They'd gone into the "Black Cat Gift Shop" and "Blood Moon Gifts". Mimi had found quite a bit she liked, but it had all been too...pricey. Some of it was gaudy, too. Although she did find a neat little rose quartz stone set inside the rose pendant of a necklace. It wasn't exactly Halloween-ish, but it was pretty. Only 700 en. That wasn't too much, she'd still have enough for games, food, and other pretty things.
They trailed down "Gypsy Lane". Mimi saw many booths for palm readings, tarot card readings, crystal ball readings, and whatever else fortune tellers did. In front of a walk-in place called "Cassandra's Psychic Counseling" stood a couple dressed like the character's of Ranma ½, one being Akane and the other Ranma.
Maybe Mimi should have her fortune read. She stood behind the couple just as a Dracula came out. The couple went in. Good! That meant Mimi was next.
"Mi! What are you doing?" Hikari said, trailing back.
"Yeah, you should tell us when you're going to do something." Sora looked at the entrance sign. "You want your fortune read?"
"Sure do." Mimi replied.
"Why?"
She shrugged. "It's just fun. Hey, why don't you have your fortune read too?"
The angel hesitated. "I don't know...I'm not really into that stuff. What if she tells you when you're going to die?"
"Oh, Sora! She's not going to say anything like that! She'll tell you about tall, dark, and handsome, not when you're going to die." Although, Sora already had a dark and handsome of her own. "It's only fun."
"Well, I don't see it that way."
"That's okay, Sora." The kitten spoke. "I'm not interested either."
Well, that did it. Mimi was officially dispirited about it now. The fun of fortune telling had been taken out of it for her.
The Ranma couple came out, and Mimi hesitated.
"What's the matter, Mi?" Hikari questioned.
The pretty geisha turned to them; her mind changed. "No, it's okay. I can find tall, dark, and handsome on my own!"
"Now that's the spirit!" Sora smiled. "What should we do next?"
"We're pretty close to the games," Hikari said reading her map, "let's go there."
The three weaved their way through the crowd. Suddenly Mimi noticed that Sora was no longer with them, and turned to survey the crowd. She didn't she her. "Where's Sora?" she heard Hikari ask, but paid no mind. The crowd parted just slightly then, giving Mimi a straight view of Sora standing with her eyes to the sky. "Sora?"
Sora looked at them as they approached. She looked a little nervous for the color was drained from her face. She spoke in a soft voice just barely audible over the crowd. "I saw something..."
"What?"
The small angel shook her head. "It just got really cold all the sudden- cold like winter- and then something flew over me." She paused. "It was black. And it was big."
"Like a giant bat or something?"
"Yeah. Kinda."
"Well, this IS a Halloween carnival, isn't it? I'm sure it was just a prop or something." Hikari said optimistically.
Sora nodded. "You're right. Let's get to the games before the carnival starts, huh?"
Mimi smiled, but she could hear the bravado in Sora's voice. She clearly thought she saw something.
The group reached 'Kraken Game Square.' There was an arcade. It looked pretty big, and on its sign it advertised as having laser tag. Oh boy! They just HAD to go there!
So they did. While inside Mimi shot a kid dressed in black with a white bandana. He was obviously a dramatist for he groaned wildly and danced around as he held his hand over his target. Mimi laughed as he gave his final, very prolonged death scream, fell flat on the floor, twitched, and suddenly died.
Sora giggled as she ran from Hikari, and, not seeing the still form, tripped. She nearly fell flat on top of him, but with great grace she only stumbled over him. It looked almost as if her wings had caught her and she flew to safety.
The kid sat up.
"I'm sorry. Are you okay?" she asked.
He gazed at her a moment before jumping to his feet like a gymnast. "No, it's MY fault. I shouldn't have been laying there like that. Let me introduce myself. I'm Hiei from Yu Yu Hakusho." He bowed as if on stage and smiled. "Well, actually, my name is Yasha."
The three introduced themselves. Yasha insisted on repaying Sora in someway for making her trip. They walked around for a while, not deciding on any particular activity. Yasha was quite the talker, speaking on and about nearly everything.
"There's a shooting gallery not far from here," he said. "You want to go there?"
"Sure." The other three agreed.
Inside the shooting gallery Yasha stood in line, talking his mouth off, and before anyone knew it, they had made the front of the crowd to pay the vendor. He took his gun in hand, and, with outstanding speed and accuracy, shot every single target. Without delay he even shot the ones in the back. His final target was the cemetery sign. It was the hardest target because it happened to be right behind the zombie; in between its legs. It didn't look hard, but not too many people seemed to hit it. Yasha shot it like a pro.
It was the mother load of all targets. The entire set went into action. The door of the shed on the far left of the set slammed open and closed, shaking itself. The shovel leaning against the shed stood upright, making a creaking sound; a hand stuck out of the ground at the base of a head stone wiggled its fingers; a black cat puffed up its tail and yowled; the jack-o-lantern perched next to another head stone flashed, laughing maniacally; the zombie swayed from side to side while it made a horrible moaning noise; the branches of the tree on the far right, next to the sign, moved up and down; and the moon on the back wall pulsated its dim, white light. The red over-lighting flickered as there were loud sounds of screaming, groaning, the whooshing of wind, and other like noises jumbled together.
That seemed to be his last invisible bullet, and he turned to Sora and smiled. "Would you like to try?"
All three of them tried, but no one was quite as good as the Hiei impersonator; the gun-slingin' champion.
They left there for the real games. They saw all kinds; gold fish catching, balloon dart, water gun, ball toss, on and on. They passed up all these, stopping finally at a rice throwing game. Yasha paid his en, took one bag of rice and threw it. About twenty feet back was row above row of baskets on a slanted wall. The baskets proceeded to get smaller the higher up and farther back they were. The bag of rice flew, and landed perfectly in the uppermost center basket; the Grand Prize.
The shocked vender let Yasha have his pick of the prizes. He turned to Sora, asking her which she liked. The small angel blushed, looking at the different stuffed animals. She gestured finally to a green-striped, purple tiger. It was of the large variety, but she liked its coloring. Yasha offered to carry the large beast for her, but she said she could handle it. Yasha bowed to her, saying that his debt had been paid. Mimi wanted him to win something for her, too. He smiled and accepted the challenge. He won a soft, hot pink stuffed pumpkin for her, and a small panda for Hikari. He paid for it all with his own money, and won the very best prize on the first try. It was amazing just how good he was.
He was incredibly handsome, too.
They headed up to the theater, passing stages set up at the theater's entrance outside. Mimi saw a large stage where they where showing off wild animals, like tigers and bears. Other stages featured fire and sword swallowing, a puppet theater for children, and so forth. They entered the theater along with many others, and in the rush of the crowd Mimi held Hikari's hand, and Yasha held Sora's.
He could feel the darkness as if it were a thick substance floating about him. Someone approached. Could there be no peace for him?
"My report, my liege." The subordinate spoke softly. He bowed. "There are many that have come tonight."
"Have you found anyone?"
"No, but I do have my suspicions."
"Good. Just make sure you keep track of those suspicions." The Dark Master's trained voice demanded. Truly, this was one who did not disappoint or vex him. No grief accompanied this one. He felt...pleased. "Are they still coming?"
"By the fistful, my liege. As you commanded, all who wish to leave have been put to judgment. Being so early in the night still, none too many have left."
The Dark Master felt his spirits rise. "Make sure you assign three replacements before you leave your post; quantity must be preferred where there is a lack of quality."
"Of course, sire."
The Dark Master smiled. "You are dismissed."
The other bowed, "By your leave."
As the other turned to leave, the Dark Master added. "Be sure to make the show...unforgettable."
