But at least I can count on fiction to satisfy my desire to see the triumph of good over literal demonic forces.
A close up on a couple of the mourners shows that they're quite familiar - the guy with the ponytail and the one with the forehead scar whose battle Kurama observed with such dreadful admiration are here, but they're actually EXPRESSIVE. They're literally lamenting that their bedridden master could have been saved with surgery they couldn't afford, and all I can say is: welcome to the club, boys. They apparently owe their master an awful lot, for his taking them in and raising them and teaching them disciplines of the body and soul, the last of which would seem like a bit of a red flag in another story that didn't revolve around some more specific examples of such. Granted, those examples aren't exactly NOT abuse either, soooooo...
The guy with the forehead scar insists there must be something they can do, but the master, though he's touched by their heartfelt regard, asserts that he's not all that important. He asks them if they're all ready, and the fair-haired kid flat out denies the need to be ready, saying the master needs to get better, whatever it takes.
Suddenly, the guy with the chin from that very same team Kurama was watching, Ichigaki, appears and promises to cure the master at no cost! A little too generous to be true, but these disciples are desperate, making themselves the BEST marks. Right on cue, Ichigaki says there is ONE condition, as there ALWAYS is, and while one of the disciples asks what it is, another says it doesn't matter and they'll do anything. Ichigaki points out the very three Kurama saw in battle and asks if they'd be willing to take part in a little experiment of his.
Cut to Kuwabara sitting up and scratching the back of his head sleepily in bed. A trailing bit of dialog from Ichigaki leaking out into reality for him a moment, him saying that the aforementioned experiment is nothing too complicated and punctuating this with a phlegmy chuckle. Kuwabara mutters this is a weird dream.
Later, he's telling Yusuke about this, and Yusuke hums that the name Ichigaki sounds rather familiar. Does it? Do you think you might have read it somewhere before and somehow interpreted it as ANOTHER name? The topic shifts to Kurama and Hiei not having returned to the hotel room yet. As the boys drink a couple of canned soft drinks for breakfast, Kuwabara scoffs that he thought Hell would reopen as an ice rink before those two ran off. His expressions are so VERY colorful, lol. Yusuke sets down his drink and turns a confident smile on Kuwabara, asserting that they'll turn up.
While he's here, Koenma DOES want to talk about that egg he gave Yusuke a while back though. Yusuke reacts with confusion, adopting a clueless kitten face (whiskers, ears, and everything) and scratching his head. Koenma loses his absolute SHIT as he shouts in Yusuke's face the reminder that the egg was SUPPOSED to hatch when he came back to life, and when Yusuke makes a noise of recollection, gets pissy about THAT too. Man, he is TOUCHY today.
Vein popping and sweatdropping, Koenma mutters that it's "out of sight, out of mind" he supposes. Well, what do you expect, when the egg DIDN'T hatch when Yusuke woke up? Koenma quickly reviews with Yusuke the circumstances of his revival, which were quite a bit sooner than planned, because body and soul had to be in tune with each other and the intersection of those two lines was quite LONG. Koenma informs Yusuke that, as a result, the egg returned to the underworld unhatched, but it's STILL growing, drawing on Yusuke's soul energy to do so. We see the egg in a little nest near a pillar in a dark room, pulsing slightly, while Koenma concludes that its hatching is now immanent.
Once it does so, whatever hatchling emerges...
Naively, Yusuke declares that this is great, and the wait must have been worth it then. A still annoyed Koenma mumbles that's right, clearly giving up on re-explaining the whole thing to this dense kid. He changes the subject to ask how Yusuke's training with Genkai is going, if he's getting good practice in the meditative arts. Through a grimace, Yusuke says that he's actually still working on the basics of reiki, having progressed to making explosive bursts of aura and focusing them on a target. Sounds like what you've been doing this whole time, kiddo. Silently, Koenma descends even DEEPER into his irritation that Yusuke has "progressed" to the most basic of basics, and supposing that Yusuke really only responds combat experience. He thinks that perhaps this highly biased tournament might be just what the doctor ordered, ironically.
Continuing to march down the corridor, Yusuke invites his teammates to go and win this thing with him, so he can watch that egg hatch. Kuwabara silently bets that Yusuke has forgotten entirely that he can't use his Reigun. There's a high probability, I agree.
We cut to a wooded area outside the arena, where Hiei is standing with arm outstretched in the trees. Someone asks him if he's okay, and he glares into his periphery where Kurama sits perched on a nearby branch behind him. Hiei affirms he's fine and asks the reason for the question in the first place, prompting Kurama to respond with yet another question about whether Hiei really intends to keep fighting with only one good arm. Echoing my own thoughts, Hiei basically says he doesn't have much of a choice, and that Kurama knows as well as HE does that NONE of them can escape.
Back inside the arena, the simply UNPLEASABLE crowd complains about the teams that are presented below are incomplete. Indeed, Ichigaki and his three human fighters fall short of the prescribed five members, and Yusuke's team is just him, their "mystery" teammate, and a grimacing Kuwabara at the moment. It's disturbing to Kuwabara that these guys they're facing are STRAIGHT out of the dream from which he woke just a few minutes ago.
Koto instructs both team leaders to step forward for the short initial conference on how the battle/s will take place.
Ichigaki holds up three long fingers, asking if Yusuke will accept a single match that is his three against theirs. Yusuke says he doesn't see why that shouldn't happen, but asks if Ichigaki himself will be sitting out. With his phlegmy chuckle, Ichigaki says he's just the team advisor and an alternate, and he expects his "dear" boys to do the fighting. Yusuke gives him a critical look, and Ichigaki starts explaining how demons generally think humans are poor fighters, but he knows different. He calls humans like Yusuke and his boys quite talented, capable of becoming excellent killing machines when properly trained and CONDITIONED.
Just in case this heavy hint didn't get his message across, Ichigaki blurts that he has a DREAM to create the ultimate biological weapons, perfect slaughter machines that will do his bidding without fear or question. Seems like more of a nightmare to me, but I'm not a little worm who can't do their own fighting, so what do I know? Ichigaki indicates his three fighters behind him, who he calls prototypes, and he had to pull a few strings to get them, but it's been worth it, and this battle should be a fine one.
Yusuke is glaring when he asks Ichigaki if he's DONE already. He IS talking an awful lot, which gives me the impression that he won't have much of an opportunity to exposit like this LATER. Ichigaki says he's ALMOST finished, also expressing an interest in Yusuke and Kuwabara specifically, asking if Yusuke cares to make a little bet.
Ichigaki turns around and walks off, chuckling again that it's a bet. He thinks this is falling in line fine with his simulations, and Yusuke's team has only a one in fifty chance of winning this match without Kurama and Hiei. But before he can fuck off to the sidelines, the "mystery" teammate has come to stand beside Yusuke, suggesting they make this a bit more interesting and do a Battle Royale style thing. Hm, I thought that WAS what was being proposed in the beginning. I guess I just assumed, and you know what they say about people who do THAT.
Pausing a moment in his retreat, Ichigaki appears to make a few new mental calculations. When his brain dings and the figure comes out to be an over 99% chance of victory for him, he wears a VERY disturbing grin as he turns toward them again, like he's trying desperately not to laugh evilly and give away the game. Instead, he does one of his phlegmy chuckles and says his team accepts. Man, I very much doubt those guys on your team can decide what to have for DINNER, let alone how they would like to fight in this thing.
Meanwhile, Kuwabara is thinking that the shrimp boat "mystery" teammate has a good point, because they can all cover for each other, especially Yusuke. Clearly he's still brooding on Yusuke's disempowered Reigun. Anyway, he hopes they can grab a comeback victory from this particular strategy. Still, he mumbles with his usual grimace that reality is shaping up to be a lot like his weird dream. Hate it when that happens.
The "mystery" teammate says that she's seen the three opposite combatants before, much to Kuwabara's surprise. She tells him they're students of a well-known martial artist, great men and loyal to their master, and unwavering in their training. Seeing them here like this seems like a very sad devolution of affairs for them. Kuwabara says that this lines up with his dream, and declares Ichigaki must have brainwashed them in some way, making them fight against their wills. This idea certainly corresponds to the completely blank looks the opposition is giving Yusuke and company.
Koto announces the beginning of the match.
The guy with the forehead scar flies at them with hand raised, calling out his "Hound Claw" attack. Yusuke is thinking of blocking left and kicking right, but the "mystery" teammate calls for he and Kuwabara to jump back, to both their surprise. They do just as she commands, though, just as the claw is coming down. Forehead Scar creates a crater in the platform with his blow. The one with the mustache immediately raises his own hand to pick up where his fellow left off.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Real cheeky of YT to put HIS forgetting all about his egg subplot onto his main character there. Granted, I don't blame him; the egg was kind of half-baked as an idea to begin with. I'm sure there were reasons why he had to speed up Yusuke's resurrection (my money's on the editors and publishers aligning the comic to trends in the market), and a natural byproduct of that is the egg getting lost in the sudden shuffle. And hey, props to him for remembering and tying it back into his main story line so it doesn't just end up a dangling dead end.
The way Kuwabara's psychic dream acts as a kind of focal point to the chapter is interesting, and how it shapes his attitude toward his opponents should give the fight more emotional weight than it might have otherwise had. Yeah, it's not difficult for Yusuke or the "mystery" teammate to see that these guys are not fighting of their own free will, but while Yusuke just seems angry on their behalf, and there's a detached sadness in "mystery", Kuwabara is the one who can manage true, deep empathy with these guys. It's the difference between a reluctant "putting them out of their misery" default mode, and an actual attempt to bring them to their senses and save them. Which will make the match all the more difficult for Yusuke's team, because that's bound to be a much more challenging task.
As for Ichigaki, he sure does belong at this tournament, perhaps more than ANYONE else. He has something in common with the organizers: exploiting others' labor for profit and personal gain. I thought it was a bit funny that he tried to pass it off as a compliment that humans made good killing machines if they're properly programmed. Like the owner of a mine praising his miners for digging in the dark so well for him.
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