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Yu Yu Hakusho

June 14, 2015

Alphonse backed up against the stone wall. Beyond it was an old derelict warehouse somewhere in the LA area. The previous owners abandoned it due to the sorry state of the economy, and for now, it was still up for sale. Most likely it would end up getting demolished and something else would get built in its place.

For being an abandoned warehouse, it was a bit strange that someone would hire security guards. To Alphonse's left was a chain link gate, beyond which, he could see two guards in blue uniforms patrolling the grounds. They were too far away for him to knock them out. He just had to wait for them to be far enough away before he made his next move.

Once they were out of sight and he couldn't see their flashlights in the moonless darkness, Alphonse hoisted up a small carpet and threw it halfway over the wall above him, flattening the barbed wire under the thick sod. He took a running start and leapt at the wall, grabbing onto the ledge and hoisting himself over. He then quickly pulled down the carpet and stuffed it in a nearby bush to avoid detection.

Keeping an eye out for any more guards, Alphonse ran as fast as he can across the asphalt to the side of the warehouse. He then continued to the left until he found the back door. Holding his breath, he slowly twisted the door knob and hoped the hinges didn't creak. Alphonse only opened it as much as he had to to slip in.

Inside, the warehouse was empty and only slightly illuminated by bare bulbs dotting the darkness. Alphonse ducked behind a support pillar and looked at the crowd formed near the center. There were maybe twenty of them in total, six of them men, wearing suits and standing, and the other fourteen were all women and bound and gagged on the floor.

"This is quite the haul." One of the men said. "Fourteen this week equals five hundred ninety four in total."

"Don't count your chickens before they hatched." Another man said, this one more lithe than the others and very lanky. "We still have to wait for Torenga to get here with the truck."

Slaves... Alphonse moved closer, hoping none of them could see him prowling around in the darkness. With careful light steps, he made his way to a closer pillar. Slowly looking around the corner, he caught a glimpse of one of the six men. He was not the tallest or the bulkiest, but he carried himself with an air of professionalism. The others were more lax, like they were waiting for a bus. The leader just stood there, eyes darting from his men to the hostages. Alphonse focused his mind. Looking closer, he could see a faint outline on the leader's head. He focused harder, and the outline turned into three horns on the crown of his head. It wasn't then until the tension gripped him.

Alphonse was briefed on this mission, of course; his superiors wouldn't have sent him in blind and risk their top candidate's life for no good reason. However, he wasn't fully considering the truth that there were demons involved. Now that he was face to face with one, it was like encountering another alien spirit.

Calm down, he told himself. You're getting too worked up. They said you can handle him.

"Torenga's late." The leader said curtly. "I'm going to dock half a percent from him if he doesn't get here now."

"We can't stay here all night." The lanky man said. "We won't be able to smuggle these women out of the city in broad daylight."

"If Torenga doesn't get here, then we'll just kill the women and wait for another opportune time to kidnap some more. There are billions of people on the planet. We're in no danger of running out anytime soon."

It was a good thing the women were unconscious; publicity would only hinder his progress. Alphonse stepped out of cover and pulled the Smith & Wesson collapsible baton out of his jacket pocket. Lunged into the light, he swung at the bulkiest guy's head like he was up at bat, which dropped him like a rock. Everyone was caught off guard by the sudden act by this new stranger. Alphonse had to move quickly. He didn't know if any of the humans had guns.

"Who..." By the time the word left the leader's mouth, Alphonse lunged at the next guy, cracking him over the head with the baton with a two handed downward swing.

"the..." his guards were already pulling out their guns. With a right swing, Alphonse broke the third guy's jaw and sent him twirling in the air. His gun flew off somewhere in the darkness.

"FUCK!?" Alphonse jabbed the lanky man's stomach with the baton, which caused him to double over in pain. Alphonse followed it up with a knee to his face, breaking his nose and knocking him unconscious.

"Kill him!" The fifth guy already had a bead on Alphonse with his gun, but he didn't risk freezing and dying on his first operation. He quickly rolled out of the way, the first shot going off somewhere in the dark. He then made a mad dash at the guy and swung at his gun hand with the baton. He swung downward first, knocking the guy's aim off, then across his head to finish him off.

The leader stood there, stunned that this human was able to wipe out his entire gang in just a few seconds. Who was he? And how did he manage to sneak in here? Whatever. None of it mattered. He stood no chance against him.

"Not a wise decision to come in here playing hero, kid." He said. "You don't know what you're getting into."

"Actually, I do." Alphonse said. "You're not human. You're a demon from another realm that lays adjacent to this one, known as The Makai. This is a smuggling operation to take fertile humans to The Makai to breed demons en masse, since demons do not have the same fertility as humans do. Combining both species, however, creates a much more powerful being at a faster rate, and your superiors plan to create an army of them."

"Well well, it looks like there's a new Spirit Detective." The demon said. "But your spirit energy is that of a mayfly compared to mine."

"You're not fooling anyone with that disguise anymore. Show yourself!" Alphonse lunged at the demon and swung at his head. He didn't even flinch from the strike. Alphonse swung again and again, but still nothing. Dammit!

"Fine, you wish to see my true form, human?" Alphonse jumped back and watched as the leader transformed. His skin turned a dark blood red and his muscles enlarged and expanded. His new form grew too large for his clothes and they exploded off his body. Three large horns sprouted from his head, and his hands developed razor sharp claws. Alphonse took a step back. The demon was now four feet above him. How the hell was he supposed to fight this?!

"Pissing yourself in fear yet?" the demon asked, taking a step forward. "Once you get back to Koenma, tell him to pick a better candidate next time!" He drew his claw back and swung hard at Alphonse. He quickly dove between the demon's legs and leapt up, swinging at the demon's back with futile effort.

"That little stick won't work on me now!" the demon backhanded Alphonse and sent him flying back across the warehouse floor. He was in a daze when the demon approached him. He stumbled to his feet and tried to run away, but the demon grabbed him and hoisted him up by the throat.

"Ghhh!" Alphonse gagged as the demon's grip tightened around his throat. He couldn't breathe! The baton fell from his grip. It was useless now. There was only one thing left to try, and at this point, he had nothing to lose.

"You shouldn't have come here to play hero, kid." The demon growled. "Koenma may have been generous enough to tell you about the truth, but he still omitted the fact that tonight you die!" He opened his mouth wide to bite the kid's head off, only to get the top of his head blown apart by a mystical force. Alphonse fired a beam of concentrated spirit energy from his index finger, known as the Spirit Gun, right into the demon's open mouth, killing him instantly. Alphonse collapsed to the ground, gasping for air and grasping at his crushed trachea. He was seeing stars in his vision, which slowly cleared away with each passing breath. He grabbed his baton and contracted it and stuffed it back into his pocket.

He stepped back into the light where all the hostages lay, and in front of him, a blue haired young woman appeared, wearing black pants and a white mandarin blouse.

"For a moment, I thought I had to step in." she said in a very subtle English accent that made everything she say sound refined.

"Seriously?! You could have just stopped him from eating me alive at any time?!" he exclaimed.

"Sure. We didn't want to lose our highest prospect." She said calmly. "But we also couldn't let you know that and risk skewing the test results."

"I don't like throwing my life out on the line like that, Botan." Alphonse growled, his legs trembling. "I really thought I was going to die."

"Either way, you survived, and now Koenma wants to see you about your evaluation." Botan held her hand out and formed a large wooden oar from thin air. She hopped on it and floated over next to Alphonse. He sat down with her and they took off out of a broken window high above them. They soared high into the air, the city shrinking in size below them until it could only be defined by a thick network of lights. Even though the air swept around them at gale force speeds, something was holding Alphonse and Botan to the oar as they flew higher and higher.

The two of them flew through the cloud cover, which would have made their clothes drenched and freezing cold, but a magical force around them prevented them from getting drenched. When they appeared on the other side, they were not anywhere on Earth, but rather in the next world. Spirit World; The Reikai. In the distance, there was a large Japanese palace with a wall several hundred feet tall that stretched across the realm like a belt, and curved off to parts unseen. Botan and Alphonse flew low over the ground, quickly coming up to the palace entrance. When they came to the threshold, the two of them hopped off, and Botan went up to a small intercom next to the giant door towering over them.

"Excuse me, this is Botan. Open up." She said into it. The door rumbled with the sound of rock sliding on rock, and it opened slightly to let them both in. Botan and Alphonse hurried down the lengthy hallway to corridor, and down that one, they came across red double doors twenty feet tall. Both of them stood at attention and the doors slowly slid open. They stepped inside, where on the far end of the room, there was a simple desk and a red and gold ornamented carpet leading up to it. The walls were a light blue hue that made them feel like they were surrounded by the ether. Sitting at the desk was a young toddler wearing a blue robe and red sash. He sat with his hands folded together, sitting erect like he was about to conduct a business.

"Good work, Alphonse." He said after the two gave a respectful bow. His voice was deeper than a toddler's should have been, but still high pitched enough to reflect his physical body. In reality, he was over 700 years old. "You did good work to eliminate that demon as quickly as possible, and with no collateral damage. Of course, you could have used your Spirit Gun on him before he transformed. Even with your limited amount of power, you could have killed him easily."

"Did you come to a conclusion?" Alphonse asked, a bit antsy about the result of his test.

"Yes. Yes we did." Koenma sifted through a few papers to find one specific one. "We came to a conclusion long before your test even began. Our initial evaluation gave you high marks in intelligence, determination, spirit power, morality, and spirit awareness, well into the 90th percentile on most of them. What was important, however, was how well you could handle yourself in a real situation when faced with another demon, and you handled that quite well, even if we almost had to step in at the last moment to prevent that demon from biting your head off.

"Alphonse Marcellus, I hereby grant you the title of Spirit Detective, the first one we've had since Yusuke Urameshi. Spirit Detectives keep the balance between The Ningenkai, The Reikai, and The Makai in check, eliminating humans and demons that threaten to upset that balance, and keeping the peace between all three worlds. You must be prepared to respond to these cases at a moment's notice. Do you understand what is expected of you?"

"Yes." Alphonse replied.

"Excellent. You also realize that this will involve a transfer to Japan, right? The nexus gate is closest there, and that is where most of the demons will operate."

"Fine by me. I'm not interested in LA anymore, anyways."

"Alright, then. We'll make those arrangements immediately, and you'll be tuning into Tokyo within the month."

* * *

Twenty years... Alphonse thought, staring out at Mushiyori from the balcony of his new house. It's been twenty years since the last Spirit Detective. The spiritual presence here in Mushiyori was incredible. He could see outlines of demons here and there, going to and from the giant portal a mile or so underground. Some of them he might have to arrest, subdue, or kill at some point in the future.

He looked down at his right hand and made a gun gesture. His new weapon, the Spirit Gun, was a concentrated energy blast fired from his index finger. He had the ability to fire it for almost three months now, but so far, it only had enough punch to break through a few inches of solid concrete. It wasn't much to brag about, especially when compared to the strength of the average demon.

There was another presence in the room. Alphonse spun around, pointing his index finger at the intruder.

"HEY! Watch where you're pointing that thing!" Botan exclaimed, quickly stepping out of the way.

"You know better than to come into someone's room without permission." He said, lowering his hand. "What is it?"

"Koenma has given you your first case. I've also come with your new equipment."

"You never said anything about equipment." Alphonse said, immediately intrigued. He stepped into the room and sat down on the floor with Botan, his legs crossed. "Uhh, I don't have to wear some kind of silly utility belt, do I?"

"Certainly not. We've made many enhancements to the old equipment and streamlined their usage." Botan set down a small metal case between them and opened it. Inside, there were a few gadgets; something that looked like a smartphone, an earpiece, and a few other things Alphonse couldn't identify right away.

"This is the Spirit Universal Communicator." Botan explained, picking up the earpiece. "It is able to translate a variety of auditory languages, both human and demon. If one was able to speak the language, I bet you'd even be able to understand the Voynich Manuscript! Of course it doesn't go both ways; you'll still need to learn Japanese for everyday usage."

"Dammit. Guess I'm sticking with Rosetta Stone." Alphonse said. "What else?"

"There's also the Spirit Multitool." Botan pointed at the smartphone. "It has a scanner that can detect Spirit and Demon energy up to 20 kilometers away, a GPS, and a direct link to me and Koenma's desk. Due to wiretapping issues, we currently can't call anyone else with it."

"Anything else? What's the rest of this crap?" Alphonse gestured at the rest of the equipment arranged in the case.

"Oh don't worry about them for now. They're just a few doodads and gadgets that are still being researched and developed." Botan said, waving her hand. "But the most important tools you'll be using for now are these two."

Alphonse took the Multitool and Translator and placed them on his desk.

"Fine. So what's this case all about?"