{O-o Oh wow, good luck on your midterms! Do better than Yusuke or Kuwabara would XD}

When they walked in the room it took a lot of self restraint on Yue's part not to turn tail and walk back out. It wasn't that she was scared, but that the sheer amount of energy was overwhelming to her; it was so strong that she couldn't make out anything distinctly- like some sort of fog had been placed over her senses and made everything fuzzy. She had felt powerful demonic energy before, as well as spiritual, but this new energy was somehow more potent than that- more compelling and dangerous and thick. She didn't like the way it felt at all.
Then she followed Aleron's gaze to the ceiling, but with how foggy her head felt she couldn't make out what it was beyond a giant mass of darkness. It was what was giving off the taint though; her senses must have been really out of whack- how could she not have noticed it right away? And how was it that that thing was tainting the energy in the first place?

"Why the hell would demons want to destroy the barrier between worlds?!" Yusuke exclaimed, looking at Aleron, "It makes no sense! They practically walk through the barrier when they damn well please anyways.... and.... How the heck do you know about the barrier in the first place?!"

"If there's no sense in it, it saves us the trouble of trying to find it- as there isn't any to be found." Yue replied slowly, "... But it's simple to invent sense in this case... only low level demons can get to the human world you know- breaking the barrier would let even the strongest of demons pass through. And I'm certain they'd make quite a mess of your backwards human world- they generally don't think much and wouldn't try to make sense of your strange ways...." She wasn't exactly sure why it was that demons would want to destroy humans though, the ones she met were strange, certainly, but they weren't so bad. "I think that you're very interesting though." She added as an afterthought, as if to point out she wasn't so evil as her kin, "But you really don't make much sense at all."

"Our motives are not so simple as terrorizing the human world." One of the five demons spoke up, his amber eyes upon the group with a look of disgust, "With this power we will take over the spirit world, and change the balance of power in the demon world's favor.

"But you will not get the chance to understand the true weight of our desire yet." Another of the five spoke, and he made it sound as if it was a dreadful chore to do so. "For we want you to pass on the message first: go tell the scum in spirit world what's coming, so that they'll know of their demise." He flashed an evil grin at them- the first real emotion any of the five had thus shown. "If you still choose to return after that, we shall give you the honor of dying by our will.... Otherwise, we shall simply kill you along with the rest of the human world. It matters not."

"Hey wait a minute!" Yusuke stepped forward. "Why don't you stop yappin' like a bunch of old farts and let me kick yer asses-"

Just before the spirit detective could finish his sentence, another one of the five raised his hand, and just like that the group was forced backwards by an enormous wave of energy- right into another portal.

The enraged cussing of the spirit detective was drowned out as they all crash landed back in the human world exactly where they'd left.

((Thanks! That won't be too hard to do XD))

Aleron stumbled back a few steps as they were flung back into the human world. She coughed, twice, and shook her head. "Well... that sucks." She frowned as she looked around. "Least we know where we are. You okay, Yue?" She walked over to her friend, obviously concerned. She was feeling a little off from all the weird energy in the room.

Kurama brushed himself off, frowning. That was not a good sign. They had been thrown out of that world without much effort, which did not bode well. "Is everyone alright?" he asked, frowning.

"I'm fine," Kuwabara said, getting back to his feet from where he'd fallen over. "How would taking over Spirit World help them?"

"If they take over Spirit World, they'll have control over the human world as well," Aleron said quietly, frowning deeply. "They can pull down all the barriers, and then nothing would stand in the demons' way. It would be total chaos." She shook her head. "And I, for one, am not fond of the idea of living with other demons. No offense meant." She aimed the last at Kurama and Hiei, since she basically was living with Yue at the moment.

"None taken." Kurama glanced at Hiei, who merely grunted his acknowledgement. "Well, I guess we should get back. We need to talk to Koenma."

((sorry for the kinda crap post... T.T))

{Don't worry about it, you have midterms and writer's block happens to everyone. ^^}

Yue climbed to her feet and dusted herself off; she hadn't had that rough a landing since she was first learning how to fly.... It hurt just as much as it did back then too. "I'm alright." she said with her usual smile in response to Aleron's question, "I feel much better now that we're in a place with normal energy that isn't intent on trying to destroy the universe!" She was still reeling from the effects of the energy before, but she did feel better here; it surprised Yue almost for such to be true. Everything that happened had been so out of the way and strange that having something predictable and good happen was rather a shock.

"Yeah, great." The spirit detective grumbled, climbing to his feet as well, "The universe is about to be destroyed, but at least everyone's peachy keen!" It really made him mad that demons always wanted to destroy the world- what was wrong with destroying their own world? Why'd they always gotta mess with the human world? It prevented him from going to the arcade and beating Kuwabara up as much as he wanted to.
After dusting himself off he dug into his pocket and pulled out a strange cellular looking device; the thing had to have been made out of spiritual steel or something- it never got destroyed no matter what the sticky situation. At least spirit world technology was repliable; he didn't even have to say anything before a familiar face popped up on the screen.

"Yusuke!" Botan exclaimed when she saw his face, "I've been trying to get in contact with you for hours! You completely went off the map! Where were you? Koenma and I have been so worried!" Following this rant, another voice in the background said something defiantly about 'not being worried', and a scuffle ensued for the spirit phone.
"Come to Genkai's place. It was Koenma who had the phone now. He was no longer in his baby form, but his more adultlike human one. "We'll chat there. Then the phone went dark. Clearly he wasn't about to give Yusuke the chance to give him an earful until he had to.

"Great." Yusuke grumbled, now looking even more livid than before, "I get to visit the old hag- just what I needed to finish off a "great day"!" The sarcasm oozing from his voice was practically venomous; the poor spirit detective knew that Genkai was one of the few people in the world who could give him crap and get away with it.... And she commonly did.

{And now off to work! today's my friday though! <3}

((Hooray for Fridays! ^__^ ))

Aleron blinked. "Genkai? Who's Genkai?" She stood by Yue, more confused than ever. She'd never met Koenma or Botan, though she knew the spirit world existed, and she'd never even heard of Genkai, somehow. Even without the knowledge, Aleron wasn't sure if she wanted to stick around or head back home. Home would certainly be easier, and so far it didn't look like there was anything in this that she would benefit from, except saving the world.

"Genkai is a powerful psychic, and the originator of the Spirit Wave technique," Kurama explained patiently, ignoring Yusuke's grumbles and curses in the background. "She also taught Yusuke."

"Yeah, she's amazing!" Kuwabara piped up. "Come on, Urameshi! We gotta go!" He glanced around quickly. "As soon as I remember which way to the bus stop..."

Kurama shook his head a little at Kuwabara's antics. He knew exactly where they were, and he watched as Hiei started baiting Kuwabara.

"What's the matter? Have you lost brain cells since last time we saw you?" Hiei demanded of Kuwabara, not at all intimidated though he was shorter. He also had the bigger temper.

"Shut up, shrimp!" Kuwabara took a swing at Hiei, which the demon dodged easily, and Kuwabara ended up flat on his face.

"Well, this has been amusing," Aleron said, watching with one eyebrow raised, "but I have problems with authority. So I'll let you lot go deal with this Genkai person and Koenma and have fun saving the world." She turned to leave.

"You do not intend to see this through, then?" Kurama asked, a little surprised. He'd guessed from her behavior that Aleron wasn't a quitter.

"I'm not really into saving the world. Humans in general deserve to die. Besides, I don't do something for nothing. Not in my nature." Aleron shrugged uncaringly, putting a smirk on her face. "Like I said, I've got problems with authority."

"I'm lost too..." Yue met Aleron's quizzical look with a confused one of her own; she had had very little clue of what was going on at the moment, and although she probably should have known who Koenma and Botan were considering she was a demon, Yue had lived in isolation her entire life, and as such was lost. "I suppose though..." She said thoughtfully, swishing her tail out of habit, "That when one is lost the best thing to do is stay where you are until you figure things out..." She wanted to know what this strange energy was; the entire reason she'd left home was to figure it out.... But she didn't want to leave Aleron either. She'd done so much for Yue since she'd arrived, and the demon knew that she'd been quite a burden what with how clueless she was. Yue really wanted to repay her debt somehow; it was rather clear that she was extremely torn on what to do.

"Woah woah Wait a second!" Yusuke exclaimed stepping in Aleron's path and blocking her way, "So you're just gonna come into some weird dimension with us, find out the universe as we know it is about to be destroyed, and just ignore it?!" He was pretty appalled.

"Heh." Hiei snickered, crossing his arms, "The great team to save the world involves myself, a fox, a fish, and two half brains-" He raised an eyebrow at Yusuke, "-I can't say I blame her." As far as he was concerned, he was stuck babysitting; he'd much rather be committing various crimes than fighting a battle he didn't consider his.

Yusuke glared at Hiei, and with some difficulty swallowed up his numerous retorts; instead he looked back at Aleron. "Look, I get it- if you're going to kick authority, you might as well do it with both feet. But seriously, the greatest authority of spirit world is in perpetual potty training- I don't think you really have much to worry about." She seemed pretty smart, and she had a lot of spiritual energy- that made her much more useful than Kuwabara... And as much as Yusuke hated to admit it, they needed the girls on their team. Hell, they needed all the help they could get. Those guys in the other dimension had blown them away like flies; even the spirit detective, cocky as he was, couldn't deny that. "Now I'm not gonna stop you if you wanna go home with your tail between your legs, but if you wanna find out what's going on then stick around-" He jerked a finger at Yue, "-Fishy here clearly wants you to, even if she's not saying it."

Aleron was actually surprised that Yusuke spoke to her. She wouldn't have figured him for the whole 'go team' speech type. She studied him for several moments, her eyes narrowed.

"Alright. I'll stick around for the time being. But if I'm going to help you save the world," she almost choked on the words, it sounded that cliched and so... so... selfless, "I'm going to want something in return. I help you, I get a favor I can call in when I need to. Deal?"

Kurama couldn't help but blink as he watched Aleron barter with Yusuke. He almost smiled at the first thing that popped into his mind: Deal with the devil. He and Hiei both had reasons for helping, Yusuke was stuck with the job, and Yue was obviously curious. Naturally Aleron would want something in return.

He didn't interfere with their talks, though. This one was all on Yusuke to figure it out. And if he did figure out the ways of women, well, more power to him. Even an incredibly old, extremely clever demon like himself couldn't always tell what women were up to. And this one was a mystery to him. Yue, on the other hand, wasn't as much of a mystery in the way that her mind worked, but she was a much more interesting person to study. To Kurama at least. Humans were good fun, but sometimes demons were better.

"Do you think she'll actually stay?" he asked Yue in a quiet aside. He wanted to get her opinion, as well as see how well she knew her new teammate. He couldn't help but be curious, especially if he was going to be working with them for a while.

Yue looked at Aleron anxiously, then at Yusuke, and finally at Kurama when he addressed her. "Well...." She looked thoughtful for a moment, "Actions are easy to determine, motives are rarely so simple....I think she will stay.... But as to why..." Another pause, "She is a very honest and straightforward human.... Her motives are more personal and perhaps selfish than simply saving the world.... But the same is true for all of us...." Aleron was a good person, perhaps a bit blunt, but good nonetheless. Still, she was a deep person, and Yue- with her innocence and lack of understanding of humans- had trouble understanding her. But while Aleron's motives were a mystery, Yue still trusted her. She knew she could. "I suppose our selfishness makes us a bit crazy-" She smiled a bit, "-But I think all the best people are."

Meanwhile, Yusuke was considering Aleron's proposal. He hated being in debt- especially when it was a girl, and even more so when that girl was just like him. It was just not a good situation to be in because it would undoubtedly bite you in the ass. Still, if he backed out now, then he'd be the quitter he'd essentially just called her. "....Dammit" She'd backed him into a corner. God he hated women. "Fine! But I'm not doing anything humiliating, got it?" He was not going shopping, he didn't care what happened.

[i]{sorry for short post... I had a longer one, but my internet closed and I lost the post.... Orz...}

((It's okay, happens to the best of us ^^))

Kurama nodded with a little smile. "Yes, I think you may be right." He knew he was fairly even keeled, but even so his friends were not. They all had their own brand of insanity, and yet he trusted them. So what if they were a little crazy? What was that between friends?

Chuckling quietly, he looked at Yusuke. "Better be careful," he teased with a gleam in his eyes. "It seems you may have met your match, Yusuke." He couldn't help snickering a little at the spirit detective's new dilemma.

Aleron smirked. "Don't worry, Yusuke," she said. "I never had anything humiliating in mind." She glanced around at the rest of them, her eyes alighting on Kurama when he started to tease the young man. She snickered herself, looking back at Yue. She'd just follow everyone else; she wasn't a detective, never had been, and she had no idea where this Genkai person lived anyway.

"Ha ha, Urameshi!" Kuwabara said with a big, goofy grin. "You got beat by a girl!" He seemed content to laugh at Yusuke's misfortune for a while, but Hiei had other intentions.

"Morons," Hiei growled. He was half-tempted to leave and just meet up with them at Genkai's. Okay, maybe more than half-tempted. With the two new additions, babysitting was even worse than before. "Can we go? I've got better things to do than stand around waiting for you."

Normally Yusuke would have had some clever retort to Hiei's condescending remark, but he was pretty miffed at the situation he was in right now. So, for once in his life he actually remained silent as they set off towards Genkai's house. It'd been a really bad day so far.... Which meant there were two possible solutions: A. Pick on Kuwabara to vent some frustration, or B. Put that spirit gun to use on himself to really vent some frustration..... He decided he wasn't suicidal.

"You're not allowed to make fun of me Kuwabara!" Yusuke said pointedly with a snicker, "How many times have you tried and failed to ask Yukina out? Sorry buddy, but I'll never fail that badly."

"It'll happen in time!" Kuwabara quickly exclaimed defensively, "We're connected by the bond of love!

"You're too much of a fool to ever bond with anything intelligent." Hiei bluntly stated, glaring at Kuwabara; the glare he sent in Yusuke's direction was even more harsh- he did not like his sister being brought into the equation.

Yue looked at Kurama, then back at Aleron and Yusuke. "They are very much alike, aren't they?" She finally said; her usual fanged smile having made a comeback as she spoke. "Is that typical among humans? I'd always thought them to be unique creatures of uncommon nonsense." Which was just a fancy way of saying she'd thought them all to not be typical in any manner at all.

-----------------------

It was with light chatter that the group made their trip through the city, but as they began getting more into the forest the conversations slowly died, and by the time they were walking up the stairs to Genkai's shrine the silence was one of determination and anticipation of what was to come.

They entered through the already open gates to find the old hag herself waiting for them. "I see you've made some new friends, dimwit." She greeted Yusuke in her usual 'blunt' manner, "I never thought you capable of being sociable. These girls must be here for other reasons." Then before the detective could retort she turned and began leading the way further inside, "C'mon now, I've prepared some tea, and your spirit world friends are waiting."

Kurama chuckled quietly. "Apparently today is your day to be picked on," he teased Yusuke as they followed Genkai. He admitted a fondness for Genkai; she was one of the most interesting humans he'd met. "That's Genkai," he said to Yue and Aleron. "Try not to piss her off too much." That he aimed specifically at Aleron.

Aleron humped and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring lightly at the fox. But she didn't retort. They'd gotten to the room where Koenma and Botan waited, along with Genkai.

"I'm assuming the little one is Koenma," she said dryly. "Nice to see the spirit world is in such capable, mature hands." She shook her head; why had she agreed to stick around? Oh yeah. Because baiting Yusuke was fun, she had nothing better to do, and she got something to hold over the spirit detective's head.

"Why is that everyone's first reaction?!" Koenma demanded, a vein in his temple throbbing. "Who cares if I look like a baby?!"

Aleron snickered but backed off, taking a cup of tea and taking a sip to hide her mirth. "It's fun to rile them up," she whispered to Yue. "You should try it sometime. You might like it."

Yue stared outside the open door at the plants outside.
She very much liked it here; there were a lot of plants and animals around, and everything was very serene. The energy from it all was very natural... It was soothing- especially after the tainted energy from before. She only took the time to look away when the tea was placed before her, and even then she swished her tail in a very content manner.

She tilted her head when Aleron spoke to her, not exactly sure what she meant by riling people up being fun. So instead she addressed Koenma "Why is it that you look like a baby?" She asked, genuinely curious, "I can't imagine diapers being very comfortable.... Or are you really that little?" The demon didn't even realize she was doing exactly what Aleron had just told her to.

"I am NOT a baby!" Koenma exclaimed, getting right in Yue's face, "And I'd like to inform you that I don't wear diapers either- no matter what Yusuke tells you!"

"How 'bout you stop acting like a baby and get to the topic?" Genkai sipped her tea calmly before looking in Koenma's direction, "Unless you want to prove that fish demon right that is."

"Yes... You're right." Koenma made a face, but then coughed and got back to topic. "We were pretty anxious when you suddenly disappeared into another dimension you know. But I sent Botan to do some investigating of the strange energy anyways... It turns out that was the right thing to do."

"It turns out that that strange power is actually a lot more devastating than anyone thought-" Botan cut in, "-It was actually one of the very few things in history that both the leaders of demon world and spirit world agreed needed to be sealed away."

"So basically those demons who we saw in that place were breaking some rules." Yusuke crossed his arms, not liking where this was going.

"Bingo!" Botan managed a smile, but it quickly faded as she continued. "It's worse than that though- the portal that you found led to an alternate dimension that was sealed away by the most powerful beings of both spirit world and demon world long ago. The race who lives inside there is known as the Fatalis- they were so powerful, that whenever they loaned their powers to demons or spirits, they changed the course of history and threw off the natural balance of power. This led to the very fabric of the universe itself almost coming apart on more than one occasion- which of course led to the agreement of sealing them away.... But now that the seal has been broken...." Her voice trailed off, and her eyes were suddenly fearful.

"It basically means the end of the universe." Koenma concluded, "And obviously, we can't let that happen."

"Oh, joy. We're going from the end of the world to the end of the universe." Aleron scowled. "I should have gotten two favors out of you for this." She glared briefly at Yusuke before she took another sip of her tea.

"Okay, so now we're involved. Any ideas how to stop these guys from just blowing us out of their universe like they just did?" Aleron frowned.

"Perhaps next time if we are not so noisy in our entrance we will have a better chance," Kurama said, giving Yusuke a look. He would have to think about this though. They needed a plan, a much better one than just going in there and trying to stop the Fatalis. Obviously they were stronger than he had originally thought. "Do they have any weaknesses that we know of?"

"None that we've discovered, I'm afraid," Koenma said. "Like I said, it took the strongest leaders of the spirit world and the demon world to seal them away the first time. This time I doubt it will be so easy."

"You call that easy?" Aleron grumped, holding her tea and tapping her foot while she thought. "Y'know, this would be a lot easier if there were some quick method of sealing off that universe entirely, or disconnecting it from our own." That would solve their problems. But it was impossible. Once two worlds were linked together it was impossible to sever the link without destroying both worlds, at least as far as she knew.

"Well. Looks like we're in for a bit of a challenge." Aleron took another sip of tea to hide her grimace.

{My last post before bed XD}

"Yes, a challenge indeed." Yue looked at Aleron, then down into her cup of tea as she considered what she'd said.... It wasn't possible to disconnect worlds, at least, not without devastating results... But maybe a similar concept might work? "To make a portal from one world to another, the energy of both worlds have to be synchronized in that one spot..." She began slowly, "... If we were to make it so that the creator of the portal in that dimension could not feel the energy from the human world, they would not be able to synchronize with it.... Meaning they'd be unable to create a portal...."

"And here I was thinking that Miss Fish here was clueless." Genkai stated with a snicker, "You have a very deep understanding of energy." She looked at the girl sharply, taking her in very slowly- as if seeing more than physical appearance as she did so. "I think I've met a couple of your kind before." The hag finally said after a moment, "They were bloodthirsty killers I didn't have the patience to let live long, but they mentioned another half of their race living in isolation in the demon world-" Her eyes narrowed, "So tell me kid, what exactly are you doing here?"

Yue blinked, rather surprised that Genkai had been able to determine so much about her so quickly; she was as confusing as the other humans, but in a different way- more mysterious. "I am here because I cannot be there-" She smiled a bit shyly, knowing she was dodging the question and knowing that Genkai knew it too. "-And it'd be rather unproductive to be neither here nor there."

"Ah I see- You're one of the Vati!" Koenma suddenly exclaimed, leaping to his feet, "No wonder you know so much about energy- half the technology in spirit world is based off of the knowledge of the Vati- including the barrier blocking off the demon world from the human one! I'd heard that you guys were extinct!" He began pacing back and forth, "As for your idea of hiding the human world's energy... That's a potentially dangerous one. The spirit world has jurisdiction over the human world, and as prince I could pull some strings to get it working.... But it wouldn't be exclusive- the human world's energy would be hidden from the demon world, and even the spirit world as well- knowing what was going on there, or even if the world was safe, would be difficult.. In fact, contact with the human world would be essentially impossible until it was over." His voice trailed off thoughtfully- it was a sticky situation.

((Awww, okay! Well I should be able to post at least a couple times tomorrow too so it's all good ^^))

"Well why not just do that to them?" Aleron asked. "I mean, you want them sealed off from demons and humans, right? So why not just take their world and de-synch its energy?" It made sense to her, at least. That way not much changed. Sure, it would be hard to do, but it could be done. Or it should be able to be done. Hypothetically. Maybe.

"That... is a possibility," Koenma said after a moment, sounding surprised. "I wouldn't be able to help you, though. All of you would have to go and you would have to make sure that world's energy can't synchronize with any of the others'."

"But if we did that while we were still there, we wouldn't be able to get back," Kurama pointed out. "If no one could create a portal between the two worlds, we would be stuck there." That was not something he enjoyed thinking about, being stuck in one realm.

"Well it's gotta be one or the other." Aleron shrugged. "Besides, logically speaing, the good of the many outweighs the good of the few, or the one."

"And after you spouted all that selfish crap," Hiei snorted. "Looks like you're another hero."

"Am not. I'm just saying that if you think about this logically, it is easier and more effective to shut their world off," Aleron pointed out calmly. "Okay, maybe not easier for us, but easier in the overall big scheme of things. And if one person has to stay, well, would you rather it be one person or one thousand people that die? One million?" She shook her head. "That is not selfless, just logic. I never said I'd be the one staying there."

Kurama shook his head. "We don't know that anyone will be stuck there," he said. "Don't count on anything. If we are to pull this off, we will have to have a... fluid plan."

"And I suppose you've got something in mind?" Aleron shot back. Her moment of logic was over; she liked emotions better anyway.

"Not yet," Kurama admitted. "But we have some time to come up with some sort of plan."

Once the basic concept of what to do had been brought up, it was a matter of working out the details; but since the situation was such a difficult one, they discussed it at length for quite awhile, until the sun had begun to set and the temple was shrouded in deep shadows.

"The girl is right." Genkai finally stated, gesturing towards Aleron as she turned on some lights, "I'm not a fighter of good, it's just people who are bad commonly get in my way. Even so, sealing off the other world is much safer strategically in the general scheme of things."

"But Genkai!" Botan exclaimed, looking worried, "What if they can't get back?" With the exception of Kurama, Yusuke and his friends had always been a pain to work with, but she cared about them all just the same and hated the very notion of them being stuck in another dimension for eternity.

"If they don't take the risk there's nothing to gain." The hag replied bluntly, she then looked at Koenma, "Seal off that dimension's energy, then set a time limit- once time is up create a portal back to the human world."

"Yes, I've considered that...." The prince replied slowly, looking rather stressed, "But a portal can only be left open for so long, unless one has nearly unlimited power like those guys in the other world.... And I'm afraid I don't.... What if they miss it?"

"I'd like to think other than my dimwitted apprentice, these kids have a decent concept of time-" They'd have to play it smart, not taking on more than they could- simply getting in and getting the job done so they could get out in time. "-But if they are dumb enough to miss it, then they're screwed. So hopefully they're not that dimwitted." As she spoke the word 'dimwitted', Genkai's eyes lingered tauntingly on Yusuke, then she took another sip of her tea as if the situation wasn't as dire as it seemed.

"It's great to know an old hag cares about ya." Yusuke stated sarcastically, "Real nice, warm, feeling."

"Heh." Genkai laughed, "As long as they don't put you in charge, everyone will be perfectly fine, dimwit!"

"Oh yeah, because Kuwabara is just the leader type." Yusuke retorted, rolling his eyes.

"At least he can control his energy- unlike a certain dimwit I know who must have broken his brain in at least three places." The hag raised an eyebrow at Yusuke, as if daring him to keep trying to beat her in an argument; the boy had never defeated her before and she wasn't about to let him do so now.

Instead of Yusuke replying however, another voice cut in. "Perhaps he should stop going to those places then." Yue stated, twitching her ears as she looked at Yusuke. It certainly didn't sound like they were healthy places for humans to be.

To this Yusuke sent a hard glare in Yue's direction, while Genkai's smirk only widened- the argument ended at that.

"Then that's what we'll do..." Koenma finally said slowly after a moment, "What would be a good time limit?" The question was directed mainly at Kurama- he was undeniably the strategic expert of the group- if there was anyone to ask about a strategic time limit, it'd logically be him.

Kurama had been thinking about that, only half paying attention to Genkai and Yusuke. It was common enough for them to bicker that he hadn't paid attention. Besides, the matter of the portal was much more important.

"We need to leave it open long enough for us to get through, but not long enough so that others can get through as well." Kurama was quiet for a moment, thinking hard about that. He knew about how much energy it required to keep a portal open, and he knew the limits of the spirit world.

"Five minutes. We'll have to put it somewhere not so obvious, although I am sure some will be drawn to it anyway. That will give us enough time to get over to the portal and go through. If we get through early, you can close it. But then at least we have a slightly larger margin of error." Kurama spoke calmly, looking at Koenma the whole time. Now his eyes swept the room. It would have to be timed closely, but they could do it. Hopefully.

Aleron thought that over for a few moments before she nodded her agreement. "We'll have to have a time limit, too," she added. "It took us, what, half an hour?, last time to get to the top of the tower. Assuming we have to get there again, it should take about the same amount of time. They'll have doubtless upped their security since last time."

"Geeze, what are you, a general or something?" Kuwabara demanded. He would never have thought of all these things.

"No, it's called a brain. It's the big organ in your head. Try using it." Aleron didn't even bother to look at Kuwabara. "Besides, I know how these things go."

"She's right," Hiei added. "It will not be so easy to get to them this time."

Yue looked at Hiei and Aleron; they were both right- those demons who had gotten in the other dimension had a lot of power, but they were not foolish- they'd definitely have more in store for when the group returned. "It will not be easy." She solemnly agreed, already a bit squeamish at the thought of experiencing the energy in that place again, "But if everything were so very easy, we'd all be rather stupid indeed." Besides, Yue could not recall a single story where one found saving the world easy, and if fairy tales said them to be hard, reality would make it only that much harder.

Koenma took Yusuke's phone as the others spoke, and began typing in a variety of numbers and codes; he paused her and there between typing, as if reading a message. Each time he did so his face became more and more grim.

"Kids who aren't potty trained aren't aloud to use cell phones!" Yusuke finally snapped, snatching the phone from the prince and staring at it; he wanted to know what was going on, but he couldn't make heads or tails of the codes. "Alright, spill the beans!" He glared at Koenma, "What's going on?"

"Well, I can get you three hours before the portalm for you to return is opened." Was the slow reply. "Cutting off the energy for longer would be dangerous to the natural balance." His eyes narrowed, "But if you miss the portal to come back, it'll be another fifty years before we can open another one for you since the energy of that world is so unstable!" The situation was getting worse and worse.

{Blah, baby post. >_< I'm sorry. Have writer's block. Orz.}

((It's cool. Happens to the best of us ^^))

"Naturally." Kurama couldn't help but sigh. "It seems we have little choice but to go now." That way they'd have lots of time to get things done, especially if things only got more difficult. They would need all the time they could get.

"Now?" Kuwabara asked. "But we just got back a couple hours ago..."

"Don't be a baby," Hiei snapped.

Aleron sighed. Well, she'd really gotten herself into it this time. Her father was going to kill her when he got home again... "Alright. Let's go and get this over with. The sooner we go, the more time we have to kick their asses and get our own back to the portal." She glanced at her watch and paled a little. "Oh man..."

"What's the problem?" Kurama looked over at Aleron, minutely worried. She didn't seem the type to overreact to things, at least. Having her and Yue along would help them greatly, and would hopefully cut down on the time. He already had a clock going in his head.

"I haven't fed Loki yet. He's gonna squish me when I get home." Aleron growled quietly before she paused. "I could bring him along... but it would take too long to get home and back, seeing as you people don't use place-to-place portals."

"What're those?" Kuwabara asked, blinking. He'd never heard of those before.

"They're portals that go between two places in the human world, or the demon world, or whatever world you're in. For instance, between here and your house, or two cities. They're a lot faster than normal modes of transportation, and they can usually be powered by a couple of people if you know how to make them correctly. A strong person can power one alone. Again, if you know how to make them." Aleron sighed. "Unfortunately I don't know how to do that yet. Go figure."

"And who is Loki?" Kuwabara asked. The name sounded familiar for some reason...

"My dog. I named him after the Norse god of trickery and illusions." Aleron shrugged. "He'll keep until I get home, I guess. He'll find something to do with himself."

Kuwabara nearly fell over. "You're that worried about your dog?!"

"Well you don't make light of a Chinese Temple dog!" Aleron growled back. "Look, let's just go and get this over with so I can go home. Capiche?"

"Oh yes." Yue remembered Aleron's pet dog quite well; the creature was a fine thing, and she enjoyed petting him.... Once his master had made it clear that the new demon friend was not food anyways... "They do say a healthy appetite is good for the spirit...." She said at last. The dog had had a lot of spiritual energy too, which Yue had initially thought odd- but as she'd never seen a human dog before she didn't have much to go by. Perhaps the creature was a normal animal after all...
She joined Aleron at the door and managed a smile; all in all she was a bit nervous about going back to that place with the strange energy, but she wasn't about to let it get the best of her; she had to finish this- it was personal.
"I can make a portal... If it's only to your house." She said after a moment, looking back at her friend, "I can only make portals if I've been there before....But I can't keep it open for long.... And please-" She wrapped her tail protectively around her leg, not fancying the idea of being bit again, "-If he is hungry.... Tell him that fish is bad for dogs."

Meanwhile Koenma stood just outside, where another portal was awaiting in the temple gardens. "I'm sorry Genkai-" He gave her a wry smile, "-But the situation is dire and I didn't have anywhere else to put it." Then he turned his attention back to the group, "This portal will close as soon as you pass through, and in three hours will reappear in the same spot..... Make sure you're there when it does."

"And be careful!" Botan quickly added, looking very distressed, "Especially you Yusuke, I don't want to take you to spirit world anytime soon!"

Yusuke smirked despite the situation, eying the portal determinedly "Relax!" he said, crossing his arms, "The last thing I'm going to do is die!"

"The last thing most people do is die." Yue pointed out matter of factly, "She said she didn't want you to die at all." Which was undoubtedly the better thing to do in the situation. She quickly looked back at Aleron though, still willing to go through with her previous offer.

{And poo... My internet connection is out.... House renovations keep making it go out.... Now I gotta wait for it to come back.... Aaaand it's not coming back like it normally does..... So I'm just typing and being bored because I can't post.....}

Aleron smiled at Yue's offer. "That would actually be great, thanks. He could use the exercise. Don't worry, I'll be very quick." All she'd have to do would be to go through the portal, call Loki, and step through again. Maybe one full minute, tops. The other portal could wait for that long.

Kurama watched with some fascination. He'd never seen a portal like this being made before. He knew it would be best for them to all go through at the same time, so he decided to wait for Yue and Aleron to be done. That would be easiest, and he'd get to indulge his curiosity. Win-win scenario. The kind he liked best.

"Don't worry, Botan," he added, looking at the blue-haired girl. "Yusuke is too stubborn to die just yet." He couldn't help the gentle teasing. It was too easy, and way too fun. Besides, he enjoyed the comraderie.

"Hn. Fools." Hiei didn't see the point in fetching an animal. Of course, he also thought they should just keep out of his way and he'd take care of everything if need be.

"By the way, I thought Temple dogs were extinct," Kurama said to Aleron as Yue made the portal. "From what I've heard, anyway."

"They almost are," Aleron said with a shrug. "There are five or six breeders in the world. My father and I had to... retrieve a litter of pups a couple years ago, and Loki decided he liked me. Stupid pup tried to attack a demon when he was yea big." She held her hands about a foot apart.

"I see." This should be interesting, given what he'd heard about those dogs and what he'd inferred from Aleron.

"Be back in a jiffy!" Aleron stepped through the portal as soon as it was done so she could get Loki and get back.

((Hope you don't mind that I assumed Yue made the portal. I thought it might make things go along a little quicker, and hopefully I left you enough to work with...))

[i]{I don't mind at all. ^^ In fact, that's probably for the best as I can't make any bets on how my internet connection is going to work with me posting. They're making a living area out of my basement, but some wires for my internet thingy run down there, and whenever they touch 'em or jostle 'em, my internet goes out for a good ten minutes or so. ^^;}

When Aleron gave her the okay, Yue closed her eyes and got right to work; tuning the others out was extremely difficult as she was the type to get easily distracted, but she managed to do so enough so that she could concentrate. Making a portal to an area that was visible to the eye was simple- even if it was through glass or a fence, because it was easy to determine where walking through one portal would lead. The further away a place was however, the harder it was to portal to. Aleron's house wasn't too far away, but Yue had to make sure that she pictured the girl's bedroom with every possible detail she could, and then connect the energy of that area to that of where she currently was. She could do this alone because it was easier to synchronize the energy in the same world than it was to do so with two different worlds, but it was still a delicate process to make sure that Aleron was headed to the right place.

It took a minute or so to get the thing set up, but eventually there was a hole in Genkai's wall that peeked into Aleron's room. Yue hoped that the elderly woman wouldn't' get angry, but she really wanted to repay the kindness Aleron had shown her somehow, and this was the first opportunity she'd gotten. She watched as the girl ran through the portal and off into her house, but was too concentrated on keeping the hole open to really react too much. Only when the girl returned did Yue let out a deep breath and let the portal disappear; it took a lot of concentration and energy to keep it open, so she was grateful that her friend had been quick.

She shook her head to clear it, then knelt down next to the dog. "Hello Loki." She smiled at the creature and hesitantly reached out to scratch his ears, "You remember that I don't taste very good, right?"

"Yeah great." Yusuke grumbled, obviously impatient, "You found Scooby Doo, can we go now?"

((Oooh, yikes! I'm sorry. That does not sound very fun at all DX I hope they get done soon! I know if it were me I'd be going nuts.))

Loki looked at Yue and nudged her hand with a low, affectionate rumble. The dog stood at Aleron's waist easily, with thick black and dark brown fur and intelligent brown eyes. He looked up at Aleron inquisitively and let out a little whuff.

"Yeah, you'll get your dinner soon," Aleron said, affectionately rumpling the fur on his head. "Just remember all these people, okay? No attacking any of them. Even on accident."

Loki licked her hand in affirmative, and Aleron looked at Yusuke with a smirk. "Loki happens to be a lot better than Scooby Doo, dimwit, but I'll let you figure that out for yourself once we get there."

Kurama held out his hand for the animal to sniff, knowing he would be less likely to be attacked on accident if Loki could determine his scent. Loki licked his hand before leaning lightly against Yue, careful not to put too much weight on the demon. He was over 100 pounds of pure muscle, after all.

"Finally!" Kuwabara said, marching over to the portal. "See you guys later!" He turned to grin hugely at Koenma, Botan, and Genkai. "After I've defeated all the monsters!"

Hiei rolled his eyes and stepped through the portal first, Kuwabara following him after a moment. Kurama hung back; he'd go last, make sure everyone else had gotten through okay.

Aleron jogged over to the portal, knowing Loki would follow in his own good time. "See you on the other side," she said with a smirk to Yusuke. "And don't forget, you still owe me."

With that, she stepped through, emerging in much the same area as before. They were a little farther back, and she took the opportunity to look around. No demons yet, and the remains of their last battle still lay scattered about on the ground. Maybe that would make any demon think twice about attacking them again.

A battlecry from near the base of the tower made her sigh. Ooooor maybe not.

{driving me crazy is an understatement ^^; I'm usually a mellow/happy person, but having to run into the other room and make sure the lights on the modem are all on before I click on anything is getting very old.... They should stop soon though o-o It's a half hour to midnight here!}

She'd been nervous when the dog first appeared through the portal after his owner, but Yue calmed down when Loki remembered her. He was a very smart dog, and seemed to understand that the demon was a bit uptight; his friendly nuzzlings that resulted eventually won a laugh out of her, and her usual smile returned as she patted him on the head. Demon though she was, Yue had always been a sucker for animals; she just couldn't resist their big eyes.

Yusuke made a face when Aleron mentioned that he still owed her; he'd hoped she'd forgotten about that.... But apparently she hadn't. "Why is it that no matter how many demons I fight, women always prove to be more evil?" He made a face, shoving his hands into his pockets as he stepped through the portal himself.

Yue emerged behind him on the other side, arriving just in time to hear the high pitched battle cry that echoed in the distance. "That sounds most unpleasant-" She flapped her wings and took off into the air, getting an aerial view of the masses in the distance headed their way, -and it looks very unpleasant too." It was practically an entire army headed their way, and while their power alone would not have been much to consider, their numbers and obvious thirst for battle was intimidating. "The energy from this world must be bad for the skin." She added as an afterthought, "They all look horrendously mutated. Every one...." Her voice trailed off as she landed back on the ground and looked at the others.

"Dammit" Yusuke didn't like the sound of what was coming- they had to cover as much ground as they could before those demons found them. "Let's GO!" He shouted, taking off towards the tower. It sucked knowing they were under a time limit- just like a math test.... And he'd never passed one of those.

{I would go to bed, but I'm so busy preparing for the rest of the weekend. o-o crazy lotta stuff going on.

Ima try and get on, but I'll probably only be able to post a couple times tomorrow and Sunday.... >_< Sorry, but Easter is always a crazy family time sorta thing for my family, so I'm always visiting relatives and stuff like that.}

((Oh I know the feeling. I've got Easter breakfast on Sunday, and tomorrow afternoon we're leaving to go to family's house for dinner, which will take a couple of hours at least. Plus homework on top of that >.< Crazy stuffs))

Aleron let Loki move in front of her protectively. The two had worked like this before, and they knew how to fight without getting in each others way. As the first wave of demons descended on them, she started flicking little balls of energy into the masses, severing limbs and setting demons afire. Loki snarled as he started to attack the demons, knocking them over and expertly severing limbs and ripping off heads.

Aleron winced as something sharp just grazed her back, and she turned to find a large demon standing there, prepared to slice her in half. She jumped back, sending more energy at him and watching him catch fire. Time to switch to the easier ammo. She took aim into the demons and started firing off little pebbles of energy, like bullets. Each energy bullet that pierced a demon left burns in its wake, and several of them went through two or three demons. She may not have been the most powerful human, but at least she knew how to use her energy.

Kurama was the last through, and he made a mental note of the place where the portal would reappear. He formed his rose whip and started slicing through the demons. These demons were a little smarter than the previous group, and there were many more of them. It would take more time than he'd anticipated to get through this group. He could hear Kuwabara not far away, and from the slicing and blood he knew where Hiei was.

Yusuke would be fine, he knew. But Yue and Aleron worried him a little more, and he kept track of them as he sliced through his opponents, leaving havok and death in his wake.

Ten minutes later he paused as he heard a small cry, and he turned to find out who'd made the sound.

Aleron knelt with Loki standing in front of her, his fur stained with blood, and pulled the tree root out of her calf where it had punctured her. Not a large wound, certainly not life threatening, but annoying. She scowled as she stood again, carefully. Her calf throbbed but she ignored it, favoring that leg to give it time to stop bleeding and heal a little. She needed all the strength she could save for the big fight after this. She bared her teeth at the demons around her and pulled a short sword from under her shirt where she'd strapped it to her back, hiding it. A few moments later she started fighting again.

{Aw poo, I'm tired. Ima put everything off till tomorrow and regret it then! Right now I'm goin' to bed! ....Well, ooooone more post XD}

Yusuke blew through demons left and right; he powered his pumping fists with as much spiritual energy as he could squeeze into them, which helped him tear demons apart blow by blow, and when a group of them gained up on him he fired off a shotgon blast to get them away. Even so a couple of them landed in blows; the detective was surprised at how much smarter these ones were than their predecessors. Obviously they'd been pumped with the weird energy- and it was annoying as hell. He removed his jacket since it'd already been torn and continued to beat down anyone who got in his way, but the process was slow as there were so many. He swore when one managed to get a cut on his arm. Then a soft cry drew his attention elsewhere, and he swore quite a bit more when he saw Aleron's wound.
"Hey!" He dashed over to give her some backup from the relentless hoards coming at them, "I'm not gonna owe you a damn thing if you die, got it?" This was ridiculous- they'd be lucky to reach the tower anytime soon, never mind make it back in three hours.

Yue slashed her way through demons as they came her way, but without being able to manipulate any of the energy around her, she felt like she was at half strength. She was able to take down her foes easily enough with her claws, but the sheer numbers overwhelmed her easily and she ended up defending more than anything. Last time she had dodged by taking to the air, but the demons were dominating up there as well, making it much harder for her to maneuver. Her people were skilled with energy, but having lived in isolation for so long physical strength and battle prowess were not things that had developed. It was only a matter of time before a demon made a lucky shot and cut through one of her wings, grounded her successfully. She bit back a cry of pain with difficulty, instead making her way over to Aleron worriedly.

"Are you alright?" She asked, slashing as she spoke; there wasn't any trace of her usual quirkiness or innocent remarks, she was concentrated and worried- for once curiosity was the last thing on her mind.