Yu Yu Hakusho: The After Years

Episode 28: Meet Team Faustus

"Guess they're those weirdos wearing all black and the kabuki masks, huh?" said Kuwabara, pointing to the figures now entering the arena.

"Your powers of deduction never cease to amaze me," said Hiei dryly.

"Man, in the past twenty years, have you ever just shut your mouth?" Kuwabara retorted.

Kurama shot them both a lethal glare, and they fell back into silence. The team they were facing looked much less threatening than the team they were to face if they won. Yet looks could be deceiving.

"Hey, uh, doesn't the other team look sorta sick?" Kuwabara said, daring to speak again.

Kurama's gut sank in realization, "They don't look sick, they look dead."

Yusuke leaned forward to get a glimpse of Kurama's face, looking puzzled, "How can they be dead if they're standing there?"

Kurama sighed impatiently, "What do you know about the proprietor of this tournament?"

Yusuke furrowed his brow thoughtfully, "Mr. Tithonus? I know he's sort of creepy and has a thing for young girls."

"He had won the Dark Tournament some time ago, before Genkai did, I dare say. They say that his wish was for eternal life, and eternal life he got, but not eternal youth. That's why, when the Toguros made their wish, they wished to be made yokai, to avoid his fate."

"So...he's basically like super old and gross?" said Kuwabara.

Kurama nodded, "He continues to age, but cannot die, so to maintain his strength, he must have regular organ and tissue transplants. He does so by creating clones and harvesting their organs. The clones are mindless, but as his clones..."

"They can't die either," Yusuke finished.

"Exactly. And the rumor is his doctor runs a team of the...leftovers during the tournament. They not quite as strong as Tithonus in his youth, but they are still formidable. Furthermore, they won't ever tire or back down. I imagine the only way to win would be to completely destroy them somehow."

"I would incinerate them," said Hiei, flexing his right arm, where his dragon tattoo writhed, "Maybe we will get the chance to face them later, if they really are as tough as you say, Kurama."

Kurama crossed his arms, "The other team sat with me earlier. They were quiet but...I don't know, I'm sort of rooting for them."

Kuwabara rubbed his chin, "I know what you mean. I kind of feel like they should win too."

It was her first match in a real tournament, and she was fighting a zombie.

There was no other words she had that could describe the drooling mass of decaying flesh in front of her. His eyes were completely soulless, and his body, though muscled, was crumpled in places, as if pieces of his organs were missing. He breathed heavily, the miasma of corpses being carried by each exhale. She could smell it even though they stood about eight feet apart.

They had agreed with their captain on one-on-one matches, and their captain, a doctor in a crisp white lab coat, had agreed. Their own team had agreed she should fight first, followed by Hiro, then Scarlett. "They never put the strongest fighter first," Scarlett had said, "So you leave that to me and we'll win by default if we get those first three." Ayame and Gadget weren't exceptionally skilled fighters, so she knew it was up to the three of them to win those first three matches so they could win overall by default.

The starting gong sounded, and the creature lurched forward at an alarming speed for its decaying body. Rieka side-stepped it's charge. It looked stupid enough that she half-hoped it would simply charge right out of the ring. But the thing swiveled around without losing much speed and dashed towards her again. It reached out to her with groping hands. Rieka ducked and placed a flurry of punches into the thing's crumpled gut. Not only did he seem unfazed, but a glob of drool was dislodged from his lower lip and landed, wetly, on Rieka's head. She jumped back at this, and caught her breath as the thing stared at her with those dead eyes.

"Several successful hits from Team Kabuki, but Team Faustus doesn't look bothered one bit by it!" said their host, Nao, cheerfully.

Rieka rushed her opponent again, hitting him with another flurry of punches before attempting to sweep his legs. However, as she moved down to do so, she felt firm hands grip her shoulders and lift her up. Her arms felt pinned to her sides, so she threw another wild kick.

There was a groan from the crowd, "Oh," chirped Nao, "Hit him right where the sun don't shine. Doesn't seem to bother Team Faustus though as he---what are those, teeth?"

Rieka felt a sharp pain in her left shoulder as indeed, her enemy had sunk his teeth into her there. She cried out in pain and gritted her teeth. This tournament was going to be harder than she thought.