Human World, Hanging Neck Island.
In a hallway leading to one of the VIP viewing rooms, a handsome brown-haired teenager wearing a blue sleeveless shirt over a white long sleeved shirt, brown pants, black shoes, a pink sash tied around his waist, and a pink cloak draped over his shoulders with a light blue pacifier In his mouth and a mark that read "Jr" in the space between his eyebrows.
Following behind the teen was a tall, muscular, blue skinned ogre with a horn on the top of his head and yellow-green hair on the sides and back of his head, with the top completely bald. Wearing a loin cloth and carrying several bags of snacks in his arms, he was struggling to keep up with the teenager in front of him.
"Koenma, sir, could you please slow down?" The ogre asked. "It's hard to see over this mountain of snacks you ordered."
"Can it, Ogre." The teenager, Koenma snapped. "If we're late for the first match, I'm deducting the price for those snacks out of your next paycheck."
"It's not like you even give me paychecks..." The ogre, who was simply referred to as Ogre, grumbled as he struggled to follow along.
Eventually, they arrived outside the door that led to Koenma's personal VIP room. Upon arrival, Koenma opened the door. Then, just before he walked through the now open door, he was engulfed by a cloud of smoke. When the smoke dissipated, the handsome teenager was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a toddler wearing a blue robe, brown pants, a pink sash, black shoes and a blue hat with pink accents and a mark that read "Jr" on it stood in his place.
"Ahh, this feels much better." Koenma, in his true form, said before rushing into the room. "That form takes up too much energy. Now, hurry up Ogre. And close the door behind you."
"Yes sir>" Ogre replied as he entered the room.
Jumping up onto his seat, Koenma looked down on the stadium from high above. Luckily, he arrived just as Kuto asked the teams to select their first fighters.
"You're lucky we weren't late, Ogre." Koenma said. "Now, give me some of that grilled squid. And make it snappy."
Meanwhile, down on the stadium floor, Rinku jumped onto the ring. While basking in the cheers of the audience, he kept his eye on who would be coming up from the opposing team. Rinku was confident that he could defeat anyone on the team other than the guy that stopped him last night.
"So, who's going up first?" James asked with a smile.
"Why don't you go?" Hiei asked aggressively.
"Nah, He's too weak." James replied. "I could have killed him whenever I wanted last night. So, fighting him head on would be boring."
Understanding where James was coming from, Hiei dropped the matter. Instead, he and James, like Kurama, looked at Kuwabara.
"You want me to go?" Kuwabara asked while pointing at his nose with his right index finger.
"Why not?" Kurama asked. "You'll get a chance to put all that training to use."
"And you better not lose after I went through the trouble of training you." Hiei added.
"Uh, Okay." Kuwabara said, hopping up onto the ring a moment later.
Seeing that James was not the one who would be fighting him, Rinku felt a wave of relief wash over him. Then, as both fighters reached the center of the stage, Kuto began introducing them.
"From Team Rokuyukai, Rinku." Kuto said as she gestured toward the child-like demon. Then, she gestured toward Kuwabara and continued. "And from Team Urameshi, Kuwabara."
While the crowd cheered when Rinku was announced, they booed and called for Kuwabara's death. Making it quite clear who was the fan favorite. Instead of being intimidated, however, Kuwabara stood with his back straight while glaring at Rinku.
"Why don't you give up, Kid." Kuwabara said. "My honor won't allow me to beat up a child."
"If you think I'm a child, Mister." Rinku said in a childish tone while bouncing on the tips of his toes. "Then, why don't we play a little."
"Kuwabara, don't be deceived by his appearance." Kurama said calmly. "That demon is much older than you are."
"Now, let the first match of the Dark Martial Arts Tournament Begin!" Kuto said before running to the edge of the ring.
An instant later, Rinku began zooming around the ring at high speed. In fact, he was moving so fast that there were several after images circling around Kuwabara. Meanwhile, Kuwabara did not move from where he started. Instead, he watched the movements in the ring like a hawk.
"What's wrong?" Rinku asked, his voice echoing all over the ring. "Am I too fast for you?"
At that moment, Rinku moved into attack. However, before his attack could connect, Kuwabara side stepped the incoming kick and threw a right hook into Rinku's jaw, causing him to fly across the arena. A moment later, Rinku crashed into the ring and rolled a few times before coming to a stop.
"I'll admit you're fast, Kid." Kuwabara said in a solemn tone. "But compared to Hiei, you might as well have been standing still. Just stay down, let someone else fight."
"Instead of talking, he should be rushing in to finish the job." Hiei said with disappointment in his tone. "Kuwabara's chivalry will get him killed. This is not the place for it."
Agreeing with Hiei, James and Kurama nodded their heads.
"Grr." Rinku growled as he stood back up to his feet. "I'll show you."
This time, instead of circling around Kuwabara, he rushed straight at him. Readying himself to strike Rinku again, Kuwabara pulled his fist back with a focused expression. Kuwabara knocked Rinku away several more times. Unfortunately, things would not continue to go his way for long.
Throwing another punch, Kuwabara was ready to see Rinku fly away. Just as he had several times before. However, Kuwabara's punch never landed this time. The split-second before it did, Rinku vanished from where he was running in a burst of speed. And instant later, he appeared in the air, behind Kuwabara's head with his leg cocked back.
"This is the end." Rinku said before throwing a devastating kick to the side of Kuwabara's head.
*Bang!*
Kuwabara's head was twisted to the side at high speed due to Rinku's kick. On top of that, he was launched through the air before crashing into the ring.
With that kick, the demons in the crowd went wild.
"OMG!" Did you hear that, people?" Kuto exclaimed excitedly. "I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I think I heard the sound of a neck snapping! Now, let me start the ten-count. One!"
"Ha... You could count to a hundred." Rinku said, waving at the cheering fans. "The dummy's dead, I broke his neck."
Meanwhile, in the crowd, Keiko and Botan were visibly worried about Kuwabara's current condition. Meanwhile, Shizuru smoked a cigarette calmly.
"Shizuru, how can you stay so calm?" Keiko asked, worry evident in her tone. "Aren't you worried about Kuwabara."
"Eh... He'll be fine." Shizuru replied nonchalantly. "My baby bro is a lot tougher than that."
"Four!" Kuto counted.
Smiling at the crowd, Rinku was caught off guard when he did not hear the next count after a while. So, with his eyes narrowed, he looked back at where Kuwabara fell. And when he saw Kuwabara stumbling back to his feet, he narrowed his eyes even further.
"Hey, Kid, it looks like my neck is fine." Kuwabara said, stretching his neck.
That's a pity." Rinku said in a noticeably more serious tone while reaching into the pouches on his waist with both hands. "We'll have to do something about that."
In the next moment, Rinku pulled his hands out of the pouches. When he did, he was holding eight yo-yo's between his fingers. Then, he threw all eight of them down to the ground while the strings were wrapped around his fingers. A moment later, he pulled them all back up.
"These are the serpent Yo-yo's." Rinku said, letting the yo-yo's strike the ground and spin in place for a few seconds. "And like any serpent, they bite."
When Rinku pulled the yo-yo's up, there were eight small pits left I the ring.
"If you think those little toys are gonna be enough to beat me, you got another thing coming." Kuwabara said, flourishing his arms before continuing. "[Spirit Sword, Double]."
Continuing to flourish his arms, Kuwabara summoned two of the glowing orange swords he used on the cruise ship, one in each hand.
"Now, let's go." Kuwabara said before rushing toward Rinku.
Instead of backing off, however, Rinku simply flicked his wrists and fingers, sending the eight yo-yo's flying toward Kuwabara.
Seeing the incoming attack, Kuwabara slashed at the yo-yo strings with the spirit sword in his left hand.
"Ha, even if those yo-yo's are special, without strings... What!?" Kuwabara began to say, before exclaiming in surprise.
As Kuwabara's sword neared the yo-yo strings, the yo-yo's moved in an irregular way, dodging the incoming slash. With all the erratic movements, the eight yo-yo's, which were all aimed at Kuwabara's chest, originally, ended up hitting him in several different spots around his body.
"Argh!" Kuwabara grunted in pain. As he was thrown backward thanks to the blows he received.
"Are you stupid?" Rinku asked, pulling back the yo-yo's. Did you think I would use a simple kids toy? These yo-yo's allow me to add my demonic energy. So, I can control the strings to move just how I want them to. You trying to cut them with a sword is like trying to catch snakes barehanded."
"Oh yeah?" Kuwabara asked, staggering back up to his feet. "Well, if that's all you got, you'll never beat me."
Narrowing his eyes in irritation, Rinku unleashed a bit of his bloodlust, that could be felt by everyone on and around the ring.
"It seems that Rinku isn't happy with Kuwabara's insult." Kuto said excitedly. "It looks like things are about to get violent. Are you ready, people?
"Yeah~~~~~!"" The demons in the crowd shouted fervently.
"Well, it looks like the crowd wants to see you get beat up." Rinku said, throwing his yo-yo's at Kuwabara again. "So, who am I to disagree!?"
Instead of trying to attack head on, Kuwabara began cutting into the ring. In an instant, Kuwabara dislodged one of the ring tiles. Then, he flipped it up, using it as a shield against Rinku's attack. Unfortunately, that was not enough to stop the Serpent Yo-yo's as they ate right through the stone ring tiles.
Backing away from the yo-yo's that burst through the stone tile, Kuwabara raised several more. However, it was clear to everyone watching that Kuwabara was raising shields at a slower pace than Rinku's yo-yo's could eat through them. Eventually, Kuwabara was struck in his torso by four of the yo-yo's while the other four wrapped around his left wrist and ankle.
"Gah! *Cough*" Kuwabara grunted in pain while coughing up a mouthful of blood.
During that short time, the four yo-yo's that struck Kuwabara took the opportunity to wrap themselves around Kuwabara's other wrist and ankle.
"Haha, now that the warm up is out of the way, let's start doing some tricks!" Rinku exclaimed excitedly. "For my first trick, around the worldQ"
*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*
With that, Rinku raised Kuwabara off the ring's surface. Then, he began swinging him around and slamming him into the ring repeatedly. For the next minute or so, Kuwabara was whipped around like a toy that Rinku was getting tired of playing with. Eventually, Rinku slammed Kuwabara into the ground one last time.
"*Cough* *Cough* Is that all you got?" Kuwabara asked, coughing up another mouthful of blood.
"What is wrong with this guy?" Rinku asked, starting to sweat from the exertion. "Is he battery operated or something?"
A moment later, Rinku's eyes started to sparkle.
"I just had a great idea." Rinku said with a smile. "And best of all, I won't have to do any work."
Rinku then sent his demonic energy into his yo-yo strings. A moment later, they began raising Kuwabara off the ground. However, instead of swinging him around, Rinku continued raising Kuwabara higher and higher into the sky. Eventually, he was over a hundred sixty feet (approx. 50 m) up in the air. Higher than the highest point of the stadium.
"I don't like where this is headed." Kuwabara said nervously.
"Drop him, Rinku!" A demon shouted excitedly.
"Drop him! Drop him! Drop him!" The demons began to chant in unison.
At the same time, Shizuru finally started to show a worried expression while Keiko was standing up in her seat, shouting at Yusuke.
"What are you doing, Yusuke!?" Keiko shouted. "he's your friend, isn't he? Then hurry up and save him!"
Like Keiko, Botan was also fed up with Yusuke's sleeping. So, she rushed down onto the stadium grounds and began slapping Yusuke repeatedly.
"Wake up, Yusuke!" Botan yelled as she reigned down blows on Yusuke's face.
Meanwhile, the rest of Team Urameshi simply watched Kuwabara.
"It looks like the fans want a drop!" Rinku shouted loud enough for Kuwabara to hear. "So, I gotta give my fans what they want!"
With that, Rinku unwrapped his yo-yo strings from around Kuwabara's wrists and ankles. Then, he let gravity do the rest.
Falling toward the ring, Kuwabara began to gain speed. However, he was not panicking, like everyone expected.
"You just made a big mistake, Rinku!" Kuwabara shouted as he drew near to the ground. "You never should have let me use my hands!"
Then, Kuwabara created another Spirit Sword.
"Get longer!" Kuwabara shouted.
With that, the sword in his hand grew in length, looking more like a vaulting pole than a sword. A pole that Kuwabara jammed into the ground. Bending under the force of Kuwabara's fall, the Spirit Sword slowed Kuwabara's descent. Eventually, just before Kuwabara struck the ground, he stopped completely with the spirit Sword bent to an absurd degree.
"Now, let's finish this!" Kuwabara shouted as he was launched toward Rinku.
"Man, you really are stupid." Rinku said with a sneer. "Flying straight at me like that only makes it easier for me to hit you with all my yo-yo's."
"So what?" Kuwabara said with determination. "As long as I can knock you out, it doesn't matter."
Kuwabara then extended his right hand forward and created another Spirit Sword, aiming it directly at Rinku's chest and making it extend as fast as possible.
"You should have learned that stupid sword of yours is useless against me." Rinku said, diverting two of his yo-yo's to intercept the sword that was lengthening quickly.
Unfortunately for Rinku, before his yo-yo's could stop the sword, it bent and swerved around the two yo-yo's.
"It can bend?" Rinku asked in disbelief.
A moment later, both Kuwabara and Rinku were struck and thrown off the ring.
"Amazing, a double ring out!" Kuto exclaimed. "I'll start the ten-count. Both fighters have to the count of ten to return to the ring. Otherwise, this match will be declared a draw. One!"
As soon as Kuto started counting, Rinku began to stir. Then, by the time she reached the four count, he had returned to the ring.
"Damn it." Rinku said, crouching on the ring. "I'm almost out of energy. And the rest will have to go to healing this wound."
Using the rest of his demonic energy, Rinku began healing his injured torso. Meanwhile, Kuwabara had yet to stir at all, and Kuto was already at six.
"Get up Kuwabara..." Yusuke said, talking in his sleep. "I know you're used to getting your ass kicked, but now is not the time to be lazy..."
"Seven!" Kuto counted.
"What did you say?" Kuwabara shouted, jumping to his feet as if he had never been injured.
"Uh... I said seven, Kuwabara." Kuto said in a confused tone. "You have three counts to return to the ring or you lose."
"No, not you!" Kuwabara shouted, running toward Yusuke. Then, he picked up his sleeping Team captain by his collar. "Say that again, Urameshi, I dare you. Don't pretend to be sleep, now!"
"Eight!" Kuto counted again.
Hearing the count, Kuwabara dropped Yusuke. Remembering he had something more important to do, Kuwabara began to climb into the ring.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Rinku said, amazed that Kuwabara could even move. Then, he extended his right hand toward Kuwabara. "I'm so over this."
In the next moment, four yo-yo's wrapped themselves around Kuwabara's legs and torso.
"What?" Kuwabara shouted in surprise.
"Nine!" Kuto said, continuing her count.
"No~~~~!" Kuwabara said, struggling to free himself.
The next few moments felt like an eternity to Kuwabara and the rest of the crowd.
"Ten!" Kuto shouted.
In despair, Kuwabara simply fell on his butt with a lifeless look in his eyes.
"With that, Rinku wins! And Team Rokuyukai takes the lead, one to zero!" Kuto announced, bringing an end to the first fight of this year's Dark Martial Arts Tournament.