The Half Breed Bandit : Dueling Dragons

Chapter 4

Alone again, I went back to meditating, but gave up because I couldn't concentrate once I got interrupted. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the communicator. I tossed it back and forth between my hands and thought about Raizen.

I wonder what he does all day now? He has got to be bored out of his mind. I need to ask Koenma next time I see him. I already decided not to contact him again until right before my fight with Danoraya.

I'll want to hear his advice and words of encouragement, or rather hear him tell me that he will get to kick my ass for all eternity if I lose. He always knows what to say to me to get me to do what is required even if that is to make me scorching mad in the process. I sighed and put the communicator back up, then strolled over to his grave.

Holding out my palm, I materialized three white flowers to put on his tomb. "I miss you so damn much." The wind picked up for a moment, but then curiously died down as I sensed a half demon presence coming up behind me. That was strange even for demon world.

"Hello Yusuke. Coming to say hello to your father?" I asked without turning around. Stepping up on the stone beside me, he knelt down for a moment in honor of the fallen king.

"That and find you. I figured both things I wanted would be in the same spot and I was right. I've learned by now that if you ever go missing you are either on a roof or at my dad's grave."

"That's true. I didn't know I have become so predictable. When I come here, I talk to the grave and pretend my voice travels to his ears in spirit world. You should try it."

Yusuke moved closer, "Hey dad. I miss you. Wish you were here for all this. We could really use your help."

A gust of wind picked up again. This time I strained my ears to pick up anything that could be causing the sudden air flow. I swear I heard Raizen say, "Hello son" but surely not. I think I am just imaging his voice because I miss it so bad.

Yusuke rose to his feet and the wind died down once more just as quick as it came. "So if you are free today, I'd like to train with you."

Putting the strange wind in the back of my mind to investigate later, I replied, "Of course. I have been looking forward to it."

Yusuke flew about 100 yards and landed with a heavy thud. He sat up slowly, rubbing his head and swearing loudly.  He has yet to even get one hit in this whole time and it is starting to make him angry.

"You have to focus. I should have never been able to break through your guard. Keep your position staggered at all times and your arms should never drop to your sides. EVER!" I demanded.

That pissed him off good enough to where he jumped straight up and yelled, "Shut up! That's it! I'm not holding back this time!"

He powered up his astounding golden energy and charged at full power. The anger prompted him to attempt brute force in hand to hand combat. I've learned that this is his go to attack, and he is superb at it.

I easily blocked his wild swings until his fury subsided and his jabs became more precise and controlled. A crushing upper cut drove home finally knocking me up into the air and then he finished with a punishing kick to my torso that sent me flying backwards into a large boulder on the side of the field.

After an annoying headache went away and the searing pain in my stomach stopped I got up and brushed the rubble off me. "Better. However, you still held back." 

Yusuke was breathing heavily. Hell, he should be. We'd been at this for at least six hours. Hokushin told me he was used to long, grueling hours of training, but I didn't quite believe him until now.

"Do you want to stop?" I asked. He violently shook his head, "I won't stop until you need to." I smirked and thought to myself how much he constantly reminds me of his father.

"I think you have aced hand to hand combat. Next we need to work on building your energy's stamina. I know you already are about to drop, but I believe we can get a few hours or more out of you. I want you to pick either your spirit gun or your shot gun and power up."

He did as I asked without any complaining, which shocked me with that smart mouth he has, and pointed his finger at me. Of course, he picked his spirit gun. This will be fun.

"Now, instead of focusing on your energy I want you to focus on mine. When you sense me, make your energy locate my position before you fire your blast. You will understand why later. Now close your eyes and focus, then fire."

He did as I said and when his eyes were closed I took off. I traveled about 500 feet from where he was, zig zagging the whole way, before I stopped. I shut my eyes to sense what he was doing.

A few seconds afterwards, I felt his blast build then I felt him release it. Here it goes. If it makes it to where I am then it worked.

I sensed the raw energy coming from the blast he fired before I actually seen it. It flew towards me like a torpedo at break neck speed. He did it!

Immediately I raced back towards Yusuke to let him fully grasp what he did. When he seen me coming over the horizon with his spirit gun blast following me, he gasped and got wide eyed. I ran until I was about 50 yards in front of him before I stopped to face his blast.

"This is gonna hurt like hell." Gritting my teeth, I braced for impact. I spread my arms around it trying to make it stop, but it was more powerful than I realized. I pushed through the mind numbing pain before I lost control.

Finally I powered up fully and it stopped pushing me backwards. With a yell that almost made me hoarse, my energy coated his blast and I could control it finally. I thought of the forest of that godforsaken shape shifter and willed the blast towards it.

Panting through the pain, I walked to the edge of the field so I could get a clear view of the major explosion about to happen. Yusuke finally made it over right before impact. A loud, dynamic roar from the explosion created an earthquake felt all the way where were standing as Myziniai's forest went up in flames.

Yusuke pointed, "Was that what I think it was?" I smiled at him and we both started laughing. When the flames started to die down  Yusuke asked, "Baashti, did you just teach me how to make my spirit gun actually track someone else's energy and follow them?"

"Yes. Now they cannot dodge, out run or escape your most devastating attack. I knew you could do it."

He rubbed his chin, "You know, you are a bitch to train with. Not as bad as Genkai, but your still pretty rough. I understand why my dad got so powerful now."

"Your father was a work in progress, but we trained each other, really. When I thought I had learned everything, he would bring out some new technique I didn't know I could do. Of course, he was also trying to kill me originally so that helped."

Yusuke looked confused, "Dad tried to kill you? Why?" I had forgotten Yusuke had never been told how I met Raizen. "Let's sit down and I'll tell you how I met the king of demons."