Both Ben and Yuji were taken aback by Megumi's declaration.
"Wait,really, I'm just fine!" Said Yuji as he lifted up his hands in an attempt to convince Megumi. Sukuna's markings gradually began to disappear.
"More importantly, you and I are both pretty beat up. Let's go to a hospital." By now, the markings had completely disappeared from Yuji's body. Ben and Megumi gritted their teeth as their body's shook slightly. This was due to them feeling uncertain about whether or not it was truly Yuji that was talking to them. Megumi gradually began to close the distance between his clenched fists, and Ben looked at him once more.
"Fushiguro,wa.."
"What's the situation?" Ben's and Megumi's eyes widened respectively upon hearing those words,as they knew who the voice belonged to. Both teens then turned their heads to the side, and their eyes fell on none other than Satoru. His dressing this time was quite different from when Ben had first met him.
Now Satoru was sporting a black blindfold and black high-necked jacket with matching pants and dark dress boots. Satoru's hands were inside the front pocket of the jacket, and over his right hand was a white bag.
"Gojo-sensei?! Why are you here?" Asked a surprised Megumi as he unclenched his fists,thus causing the dark aura to disappear.
"Hey" Said Satoru with a smile and his left hand held up.
"I wasn't planning on coming." He then dropped his hand and bent down a little.
"But man, you're roughed up." He then looked at a perplexed Ben.
"But you don't even have a scratch,so that's no fun." A grin then formed on his face as he brought out a white phone from his left pocket.
"You however Megumi. I'm definitely showing this to the second-years." He then began to take rapid photos with flash, and moving from side to side in the process. This caused Megumi to use the inside of his right hand to shield his eyes as he looked away from Satoru.
"Face this way." This caused Ben to frown in annoyance, and Yuji to look at him with confusion.
"The higher-ups wouldn't shut up with a special grade curse object gone missing." Satoru had stopped taking photos of Megumi and seemed to be sending them to the 'second-years' as he said he would. All three boys looked solely at him.
"So I stopped by while doing some sightseeing." He then looked away from his phone to Megumi.
"So,did you find it." Asked Satoru, causing the teen to look at the ground. Ben's expression changed into a somber one.
"Um..." Began Yuji weakly and his hand slightly outstretched. Satoru looked at Yuji with confusion.
"Sorry, but I ate it." Said Yuji sheepishly as he pointed at himself. Satoru's mouth was opened in a smile of disbelief, and he didn't speak for up to three seconds.
"For real?" He said.
"For real." Said Ben,Megumi and Yuji in unison. Satoru then put his phone in his pocket, and leaned sideways,as if closely inspecting Yuji. He would take this a step further by walking towards Yuji, and standing in front of him, just a few inches away from his face, much to Yuji's surprise. Satoru would then cup his left hand under his chin as he looked at Yuji inquisitively. All Yuji could do was blink in confusion as sweat slowly began to drop from the right side of his cheek.
"Heh heh." Chuckled Satoru with a smirk as he dropped his hand.
"Damn,it really did combine with you. That's hilarious." He then walked away from Yuji until he was directly in front of him, Megumi and Ben. He then turned slightly to face Yuji.
"Anything off with your body?" Asked Satoru.
"Not particularly." Replied a slightly unsure Yuji as he began to dust his chest before looking at his sides.
"Can you swap out with Sukuna?" Asked Satoru.
"Sukuna?" Said Yuji in confusion,now looking solely at Satoru.
"The curse you ate." Said Satoru.
"Oh... yeah,I think I can do that." Said Yuji as he placed his right hand on his waist. Satoru then walked towards Ben, much to confusion of the three teens.
"Then give us thirty seconds, more specifically him." Began Satoru as he stood behind Ben and placed his hands on his shoulders.
"Once thirty seconds are up, come back to us."
"Ummm,Gojo... What are you doing?" Asked a confused Ben.
"Making sure I get to see you in action for myself. And what better test than to pit you against a special grade curse?" Said Satoru gleefully.
"Are you hearing yourself right now? Itadori's not a curse,at least completely." Said an astonished Ben.
"I am, and he kinda is." Replied Satoru casually, causing Ben to grit his teeth in frustration.
"Even so, I'm not gonna fight him." Said Ben with folded arms.
"Oh, but you are." Said a grinning Satoru.
"What?" Said Ben as he dropped his hands in disbelief.
"Look at it this way. When it comes to fighting curses, you can't always choose which terms you get to fight them with. By making you fight him." Satoru placed his right hand on Ben's shoulder as he brought his head down slightly.
"I get to understand just how well you can turn a shitty situation into your favor. Plus, you don't have to beat the shit out of him unless you want to. You just need to hold out until thirty seconds are up. And don't worry if you're not able to last until then." He then removed his hand from Ben's shoulder and began to crack his knuckles.
"I'll tag in and wrap things up in no time."
"You sound pretty confident." Said Ben warily as he looked at Satoru who began to stretch his legs.
"Of course,I am the strongest after all." These words caused Ben's eyes to widen in surprise, rendering him speechless.
"No time to waste, Tennyson. Time to get this show on the road." Said Satoru as he pushed Ben forward, causing the teen to stumble.
"You're doing this to entertain yourself aren't you?" Said Megumi from behind him.
"Guilty as charged." Said Satoru grinning, causing Megumi to scoff.
'That guy's really getting on my nerves with just how nutty he is.' Thought Ben with a frown as he looked back at a waving Satoru.
'Doesn't seem like I have much of a choice but to fight.' Thought Ben with a sigh before looking back at a perplexed Yuji
"Don't worry, Itadori, it'll be over before you know. And I'll make sure you don't get any injuries." Said Ben with sincerity. He then pushed back his left sleeve, revealing the Ultimatrix.
'It's very important I don't leave any lasting damage. Seeing how effortlessly he destroyed that cursed spirit from before, I'm guessing Sukuna must be pretty strong.' Thought Ben as he activated the device, causing the green hologram of a humanoid alien with four arms to appear. Ben would begin to twist the dial, causing the hologram to change each time.
'Still,I know just the right guy for this.' Thought Ben with a smirk as he slammed the dial down, causing a blinding green light to wash all over him.
Once it died down,standing in the place of Ben was a humanoid, plant-like alien that had an overall green and black colored body, mostly with a red flame-patterned head and root-like feet, seemingly holding black rocks. His eyes were oval-shaped with points at each end with pupils copying the shape but were smaller. His shoulders and head had red petals and his elbows and legs had green frills sticking out. On his chest was the Ultimatrix symbol.
"Swampfire!" Shouted the Methanosian as he took a 'powering up' stance. Both Megumi and Yuji looked at Ben's new form with awe, while Satoru's smirk simply widened.
"Alright,a plant guy. Looking forward to what this one can do." Said Satoru grinning. Suddenly,he then used his left hand to pinch his nose.
"Though I hope there's more to it than that smell,phew." Said Satoru as he began to wave his right hand in front of him.
"It's not that bad." Argued an annoyed Swampfire causing Satoru to smirk. Meanwhile,Yuji stood there, seemingly lifeless as the black markings began to appear on his body once more.
"Alright Itadori, it's just you and me. You don't have to worry, I'm not going to go all o..." Swampfire was interrupted by a fist being indepthed through his stomach. The owner being none other than a grinning Sukuna.
"Uh oh." Said Satoru while Megumi looked on in shock.
"Uh oh's right. For you!" Said Swampfire as he hit a baffled Sukuna with a right uppercut to the Jaw that sent him flying. Seemingly coming down hard on the ground, Sukuna did a back flip mid-air and landed on his feet, his right hand scraping the ground as he skidded slightly. Once he came to a stop, he brought his left thumb to his mouth, and to his surprise he was bleeding. He would be even more surprised upon seeing the hole indepthed into Swampfire's stomach completely healed. That surprise would soon fade, and turn into a grin instead.
With a low but maniacal laugh, Sukuna would lunge at Swampfire. He would throw a downard slash with his right, causing Swampfire to sidestep to dodge it. He would then throw a left cross, causing Swampfire to bend backwards to avoid it. With a grin, Sukuna would clench his right hand into a fist, causing Swampfire's eyes to widen. He would bring it down with force towards Swampfire's face, causing the latter to jump backwards to avoid it. A large cloud of dust from the shattered concrete would form, concealing Sukuna in the process.
Swampfire's eyes narrowed as he looked at the smoke, his hands clenched into fists and his legs spread wide apart. In an instant, Sukuna shot out from the smoke, and with his eyes widened in surprise, Swampfire immediately held up his hands to his face in order to block a drop kick from Sukuna. The impact sent Swampfire skidding across the ground by a few feet away from Sukuna. Once he came to a stop, Swampfire rested on his right knee.
As Swampfire raised his head up,he saw Sukuna running towards him. Before he could react, Sukuna would send a left side kick to Swampfire's head, causing the latter to narrowly block with his right hand. This would leave him open to a flying knee kick that brought him back to his feet, along with being hit at the back of his head by Sukuna's right elbow in mid air.
Once Sukuna landed on the ground, he would follow up with a left cross, before proceeding with a right hook, cocking Swampfire's head backwards. Grinning, he would send a left punch to Swampfire's gut, causing the Methanosian to bend forward with his mouth wide open as he gasped for air. Sukuna would immediately follow up with a side kick to Swampfire's face from his right leg, cocking the latter's head and upper body to the left,as he spat out saliva in pain.
Landing a left cross once more, arching Swampfire's body back in place, Sukuna would follow up with a flurry of rapid punches to the Methanosian's face,all the while laughing maniacally. Ceasing his assault, he then cocked his right hand back, preparing to send the dazed Swampfire flying with this blow. However, before it could hit his face, the punch was stopped by Swampfire's left hand, much to Sukuna's surprise. He would then try to throw a left punch, which would be stopped by Swampfire's right hand.
Looking sternly into Sukuna's surprised eyes as he held onto his arms firmly, Swampfire would then headbutt Sukuna before kicking him in the stomach with enough force to send him skidding backwards by a few metres. Sukuna raised his head up to look at Swampfire, who's stance had changed as his legs were wide open and his palms exposed as they were stretched forward lightly. Gritting his teeth in rage, Sukuna let out a battle cry as he ran towards Swampfire once more.
Expecting this, Swampfire clenched his fists before crossing his arms into an 'X' shape. He then immediately uncross the 'X' as he threw numerous green seeds which landed in front of Sukuna. As they did so,large,thick green vines immediately grew from the ground and began to latch onto Sukuna, restraining him. Greatly taken aback by this,he was unable to stop them all from growing until they eventually held him in-between them from every corner of his body.
Smirking, Swampfire would then walk towards the struggling Sukuna until he was directly in front of him with his hands placed on his waist.
"Not so tough now, are you?" Taunted Swampfire.
"You sound pretty confident." Said Sukuna with a bit of a growl.
"Of course I am. You've got a few more seconds left before Itadori takes over, and I still managed to beat you without breaking a sweat. And considering the circumstances,i'd say I have every right to be." To Swampfire's surprise though, Sukuna began to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Asked an annoyed Swampfire.
"You really think you've won?" Said a grinning Sukuna.
"You Jujutsu sorcerers always sound so confident." Suddenly, the vines restraining Sukuna exploded to Swampfire's amazement. While still in mid air, Sukuna jumped off one of them, ascending high into the air. Once his rise had come to a stop, he did a rather graceful backflip, causing him to face the ground upside down. With a grinning face, he clenched his right fist, causing a small but visible black aura to envelop it
"No matter what the era!" Sukuna shot towards the ground like a meteor, leaving Swampfire unable to jump out of the way as he held an unhappy look on his face.
"Oh...man..." Were the words Swampfire uttered right before Sukuna landed his attack. The impact from the blow and his landing caused a massive cloud of dust to erupt from the ground and the building they were standing on to shake violently. Once the dust cloud had dispersed, standing in a large crater filled to the brim with cracks was a grinning Sukuna, holding his right hand triumphantly.
"That's why it's always satisfying when I turn you to dust." He then looked towards Megumi and Satoru, the former with a look of disbelief and horror, and the latter with a frown of disappointment.
"Now then... who's next?" Said Sukuna, grinning wildly with his arms stretched out to the side.
"I'm not done yet." Said the voice of Swampfire, much to the surprise of Sukuna and Megumi. Once Sukuna turned to his back, he saw long vines mixed with green and red curling around each other in order to reform into Swampfire. After a few seconds of doing so,in the position of the vines was a fully restored Swampfire back on his feet with a stern look on his face. Megumi look at Swampfire with awe, while Satoru did so with a grin.
"Since I no longer have to hold back,I might as well wrap this up." Said Swampfire as he clenched his fists.
"Tch." Began an annoyed Sukuna as he clenched his fists well.
"You're pretty persistent, I'll give you that." He then unclenched his fists and began to raise his right hand very slowly.
"However." His right hand was now outstretched and the black aura enveloped it once more.
"I think It'd be better for everyone if you just..." A ball of black flames formed in front of the outsreched palm.
"Died." The black fireball which was now massive in size,flew towards Swampfire. In an instant, Swampfire unclenched his fists as his palms were now ignited with flames, stretched them out and shot a massive stream of fire towards the black fireball. Upon making contact with it, it extinguished the black flame but still sped towards a surprised Sukuna,who narrowly dodged the attack by bending to his left slightly. Looking back, Sukuna saw that the attack then hit the ground behind him, causing flames to briefly burn behind him.
Looking back to Swampfire, Sukuna's surprise immediately faded as he now sported a wild grin instead. Gritting his teeth, Swampfire thrust his palms forward continuously as he sent rapid fireballs towards Sukuna. The King of Curses then began to run towards Swampfire with his upper body bent down, his neck arched forwards, and his arms arched behind him moving freely.
(A/N: If you don't get it, he's basically Naruto running).
He would move from side to side while running in order to avoid the fireballs headed his way. Once he was a few feet away from Swampfire, he would jump up into the air in order to avoid a fireball aimed for his legs, and would weave to his left in order to avoid a fireball aimed at him. Descending downwards rapidly, before Sukuna could land a Superman punch on Swampfire's face, Swampfire would grab Sukuna by the face with his right hand, and slam him down to the ground on his back.
Sukuna began struggling to break as he released muffled grunts, but to no avail as Swampfire would release a large green mist from the hand he used to detain Sukuna, causing the latter's eyes to widen. Almost immediately, Sukuna would kick Swampfire in the chest with his right leg, causing the Methanosian to release his hold on him and walk back slightly. Sukuna would then do a backhand spring while on the ground to bring himself back to his feet, before running towards Swampfire in order to attack him.
To his dismay, each jab,cross and kick Sukuna threw would either be blocked or dodged by Swampfire. Sukuna would throw a left jab at Swampfire, which would be dodged by a sidestep to the right before being followed up with a powerful left cross. Swampfire would then place his right palm on the stomach of a staggered Sukuna, before shooting a concentrated fire blast powerful enough to send him flying towards one of the steel railings on the roof. Upon hitting them, Sukuna would bounce off it before falling to his knees.
As he began to get back up, his breathing became ragged and his eyes struggled to stay open as his vision became suddenly blurry. He was barely able to make out Swampfire being directly in front of him.
'Damn it... He got me good.' Began Sukuna in thought.
'I can't keep my hold on this body. Just who the hell...is this...brat?'
With a heavy sigh, he fell face first to the ground with his eyes closed, succumbing to unconsciousness. As a result, the markings on Itadori's body disappeared indicating that he had regained control of his body, but still he remained knocked out.
In a blinding flash of green light, standing in the place of Swampfire was Ben, reverted back to his human form. He had a rather somber expression on his face.
"Well done, Tennyson. Very well done." Praised a grinning Satoru as he was clapping. He then walked towards Ben and slung his right hand around Ben's shoulders.
"Though you seemed to be struggling early on,I knew you could do it." Encouraged Satoru.
"It was nothing really." Said a downcast Ben.
"Oh,so modest. There's no shame in taking pride in one's victory." Said Satoru grinning. Ben didn't looked convinced however. His eyes fell on Yuji.
"Is he going to be ok?" Asked Ben worriedly.
"Him?" Asked Satoru as he looked at Yuji as well.
"If he isn't possesed by Sukuna when he wakes up,he might have potential as a vessel."
"Now I have a question for both of you. What should we do with him?" Asked Satoru playfully.
"Even if he is a vessel, jujutsu regulations demand Itadori be executed." Said Megumi sitting down, causing Ben to gasp in shock.
"However..." Began Megumi.
"I don't want to let him die." His facial expression was a determined one.
"Your personal feelings?" Asked a smiling Satoru.
"Yes. Please do something about this." Replied Megumi.
"And I'm guessing you feel the same way too?" Asked Satoru as he looked at Ben. Though he didn't answer immediately, Ben's somber expression changed into a determined one as well.
"It's not Itadori's fault that he got caught up in a mess like this. He doesn't deserve to die because of it either." Reasoned Ben as he looked at Yuji.
"He has a life, and probably people who care about him too. He doesn't deserve to lose it,or them." Said Ben, looking at Satoru straight in the eye. Satoru would remain quiet for a while before chucking. He then removed his hand from Ben's shoulder and walked towards Yuji.
"Now it's a request from a precious student, and someone whom we both have a mutual friend in." Said Satoru as he carried Yuji's unconscious body on his right shoulder.
"Leave it to me." Said a grinning Satoru as he gave both boys a thumbs up with his left hand.
TO BE CONTINUED.