Team Urameshi Vs. Team Mashou III

Human World, Hanging Neck Island.

After receiving James' kick, Jin was sent hurdling toward the ring at high speed. Luckily, thanks to his mastery over the wind, Jin was able to slow his descent.

Eventually, Jin landed on the ring gently. Considering how high up he flew, he had barely enough time to make the landing so gentle. Then, a few seconds later, James landed in front of the astonished, and somewhat pissed off, demon.

"What the hell, man?" Jin asked while shaking the numbness out of his arms. "Who just kicks someone while their admiring the view?"

"Well... I do?" James replied in a questioning tone while pointing his right index finger at himself. "And who starts flying to admire the view when a fight begins?"

In response to James' question, Jin looked away sheepishly while trying, and failing, to whistle a little tune.

"Don't worry, dude." James said with a smile. "I was just kidding. I didn't actually care that you were admiring the view. But I didn't like how you started flying, thinking that I couldn't."

Jin looked back at James with that last statement.

"If I had to guess, you were gonna use some kind of dive-bomb attack once you got your fill of the scenery, right?" James asked.

"How did you know?" Jin asked with his eyes wide open.

"It's basic strategy, man." James replied, rolling his eyes. "Get with it."

"Haha. I guess so." Jin said, scratching the back of his head. "You know what, I think I like you."

Immediately after that, James stepped back with his arms covering his chest defensively. Seeing that, Jin was a bit confused.

"I'm not gonna say I'm flattered, because I'm not." James said in a wary tone. "But I'm only into women. So..."

Once again, Jin was confused. Even more so than before. However, a second or two later, Jin flushed angrily.

"I meant that I thought we could be friends!" Jin shouted. "Not that I, like you, like you!"

Hearing that, James visibly relaxed.

"*Sigh* That's good." James said in a relieved tone. "I mean, with that bright smile and those twitching ears, I wasn't sure."

"My ears only twitch like that when I get excited." Jin replied while pointing at his still twitching ears. "And after seeing how you took Bakken for a ride on your fists, I got really excited..."

Jin's words trailed off as he saw James take up a defensive position like before. Then, after seeing the wary expression on his face, Jin deadpanned.

"... Excited to fight you myself." Jin said in a dry tone, finishing his sentence.

Getting out of his wary stance, James smiled Then, he took a standard Muay Thai stance.

"Seriously, your reactions are hilarious." James said with a chuckle. "I knew what you were talking about from the beginning, by the way. But if you're so excited for a good fight, then let's get this show on the road."

Rolling his eyes in response, Jin also took his fighting stance. Then, after staring each other down for a moment, they both shot forward at high speed, clashing in the center of their previous positions.

Parrying an incoming jab to his left, James used the momentum from the defense to drop down and sweep at Jin's legs with his left leg. Effortlessly summersaulting over the leg sweep, Jin used the force of the flip to bring down a heel drop at James' head.

Kicking off the ring with his extended left leg, James was able to side flip out of the kick's trajectory while simultaneously sending a kick at Jin's chin. Using his hands, Jin blocked the kick, but he was sent back a few steps. However, a moment later, he charged at James, who had just stabilized his footing, once again.

This time, before Jin could attack, James leapt forward with a Superman punch that Jin avoided by ducking slightly. Then, before James could pull his fist back, Jin grabbed his wrist and threw him over his shoulder.

In a feat of flexibility and dexterity, James was able to get his feet down, abruptly bringing the throw to a stop. However, he found himself in an awkward position. While jin was holding his arm, James back was bent, resulting in him being in a weird half arched position.

Taking advantage of James positioning, Jin locked James' right arm between his torso and right arm. Then, he raised his left arm and brought down an elbow strike at James' throat.

Showing off the physical strength he had built up over the last few months, James raised his own left arm and firmly caught the incoming elbow strike.

*Smack!*

The loud smack produced from the collision of flesh was loud enough to be heard throughout the spectator stands. Meanwhile, James and Jin stared at each other with smiles on their faces, clearly enjoying the battle so far.

"Man, If I didn't know any better, I would have thought you were trying to kill me with that elbow drop." James said in a casual tone.

"No, of course not." Jin said, grinning in response.

"Good." James replied with a nod. "Because I'm not sure we could be friends if you were actually trying to kill me."

After that, both fighters began to laugh. Then, as if it were planned, they stopped laughing simultaneously. A moment later, James pushed off the ring. Then, as if a video tape had been reversed, James flipped back over Jin's shoulder. However, while he was returning to an upright position, James wrapped his left arm around Jin's neck, forcing him to arch his back as he had done before.

"Oh, look how quickly the roles have reversed." James said with a grin.

Preparing himself to defend any attacks James might send his way with his right fist or elbow, Jin was caught off guard by the impact he received to his back.

James had raised his left knee, striking Jin between his shoulder blades. This, in turn caused Jin to tense up for a moment. A moment that James took advantage of by falling backward with Jin still in his grasp.

*Bang!*

"Wow, people, did you hear the sound Jin's head made when it collided with the ring?" Kuto shouted excitedly. "I bet that really hurt. Maybe it even rattled his brain. But since he's down, I'll start the count. One!"

"Oh, man, did J just do an inverted DDT?" Kuwabara asked excitedly from near the medical tent, ignoring the pain that came with his excitement.

"How do you even know the name of that move?" Botan asked curiously.

"Because it's a professional wrestling move." Kuwabara explained. "An American Wrestler named Sting used to use it after he had a character change and became super edgy."

While all the talking was going on, James stood up and took some distance from Jin. Although he knew that wouldn't be enough to take out a high-rank demon, even if he was only at the initial rank, James was sure he would not be shrugging it off instantly. He had ran his demonic energy through his body to speed up his falling speed, after all.

"... Four! … Five! … Six! …

"Ow, that really hurt." Jin said, stopping Kuto's count at six.

Standing up slowly, Jin shook his head to get rid of the ringing in his ears.

"Jin is back on his feet!" Kuto shouted excitedly. "How will this match turn out after this?"

"You're good with your hands and feet, J>" Jin said with a smile while starting to wind up his left arm. "But how will you handle this?"

As Jin spun his arm around, wind started to gather around it.

"Yeah, no thanks." James said, rushing forward. "What kind of idiot let's his opponent charge up a move?"

A moment later, Jin had to block an incoming jab with his right arm, stopping the wind that was generating around it.

"It looks like your control over the wind isn't perfect yet." James commented when the wind stopped gathering around Jin's arm. "You really should work on that."

As he spoke, James threw a straight, that Jin avoided by tilting his head, then a left hook that Jin lowered his head to avoid. An instant later, Jin thrust both his palms at James' chest and fired a blast of wind on impact.

This blast of wind sent James tumbling through the air toward the spectator stands. Although Jin did not expect it to do much damage, it would give him some time to charge up the attack that James had interrupted a moment ago.

Meanwhile, James extended his wings once again. Then, before he came in contact with the wall separating the crowd from the ring, he stabilized himself in the air. Unfortunately, that short amount of time was enough for Jin.

When James looked back at the ring, Jin was standing there with a tornado whirling around his right arm. Then, without hesitation, Jin shot forward at James with his right arm cocked back, ready to throw a punch.

"[Tornado Fist]!" Jin shouted happily as he threw a punch at James' chest.

Dodging to his left, James was pushed even further by the raging winds as Jin's fist whizzed past him. A moment later, in a straight line, all the demons in the stands, who were unlucky enough to be in the line of fire, were either ground into dust or sent flying by the tornado that shot forward from Jin's punch.

"That's one of the things the Dark Tournament has always been known for!" Kuto shouted into her microphone. "WE've always prided ourselves on the level of crowd participation you see here."

At the same time, Shizuru stood up from her seat with a cigarette in her mouth.

"Shizuru, is everything alright?" Keiko asked, surprised by Shizuru's sudden action.

"Yeah, everything is fine." Shizuru replied as she started walking away. "But I'd rather not make a puddle on my seat."

"Oh, okay." Keiko replied with a dumbfounded gaze. "Wait, I'll come with you."

As the two girls walked way, Irene glanced at Erza.

"Erza, can you go with them and make sure nothing happens to them?" Irene asked.

"Of course." Erza replied in a chivalrous tone before standing up and following Shizuru and Keiko.

"With J participating in this tournament, instead of me, those two are much safer than they would have been otherwise." Genkai said, never taking her eyes off the ring. "Without him, I would have been their fifth member and those two would have been in the stands alone."

"Then, I guess it's a good thing he decided to crash the party." Irene replied with a small smile.

Meanwhile, James had returned to the ring while Jin continued to float in front of the devastation he had created in the stands.

"It looks like one wasn't enough." Jin muttered to himself.

Then, the red-haired demon began spinning both arms. Before he could finish, however, Jin heard James' voice.

"Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle!" James chanted, pointing his right palm at Jin as an orb of yellow thunder magic formed in front of his palm.

"I don't know what you're doing." Jin shouted as a tornado formed around each of his arms. Then, as he charged forward, he continued. "But it's too late! [Double Tornado Fist]!"

"We'll see about that." James muttered as he smiled daringly.

Returning the smile, Jin continued his charge. Then, when he was close enough, he threw his left fist forward. In response, James coated his own left hand with his demonic energy. Then, to everyone's surprise, he caught Jin's fist. Even more surprising was the fact that Jin's tornado was stopped along with his fist.

"What the hell?" Jin cried in surprise. "Who catches a tornado with their hand?"

What James had actually done, though Jin was unaware, was spin his demonic energy in the opposite direction of Jin's tornado. Then, after a second or two, the tornado simply fizzled out. After that, James tossed Jin's fist away.

"That was good, but your right hand is still occupied." Jin shouted as he threw his other fist forward.

Still maintaining his smile, James held the orb of thunder magic in front of the incoming fist.

"[Hado Number 63: Raikoho]!" James shouted with a level of excitement that equaled Jin's.

As James completed his [Kido Spell] by naming it, the thunder orb shot forard like a bolt of lightning. Then, it slammed into the tornado spinning around Jin's left arm.

"Oh, this is gonna hurt." Jin muttered before he lost control of the tornado on his arm.

Meanwhile, after firing the [Kido], James [Flash Stepped' backward, coming to a stop on the edge of the ring. An instant later, thunder magic intertwined with Jin's tornado, causing it to expand violently, engulfing Jin in the process. Then, the whole thing exploded.

*Boom~~~~~!*

After a few moments, the smoke from the explosion cleared. In its place, there was nothing but a small crater in the ring. Jin, however, was no where to be seen.

"Oh... My... Wow!" Kuto shouted excitedly. "That was amazing! That explosion was spectacular! But where is Jin? Was he blown into ash?"

Not only Kuto, but most of the people in the stadium were wondering the same thing. There were a few exceptions, however. James, Irene, Genkai, Yusuke, Hiei, Kurama, The last member of Team Mashou, and the younger Toguro were all looking up toward the sky.

Several seconds later, the sound of something falling from high altitude could be heard, gathering everyone's attention on it, and everyone sitting in the stands where it was projected to fall began to panic as they moved from where they were seated. A few seconds later, Jin slammed into the stands, unconscious.

*Boom!*

When Jin landed in the stands, a large part of the section was destroyed by the impact and subsequent shockwave. On top of that, the demons who ran away the slowest were sent flying, their life or death unknown.

"Unbelievable, that explosion must have sent Jin high up into the sky." Kuto explained excitedly. "And because of the explosion's impact, he must have fallen unconscious on the way up. Otherwise, there's no way he wouldn't have used the wind to soften his landing. Anyway, since Jin is outside of the ring, I'll begin the count. One!"

For the rest of the count, Jin did not even flinch. However, from the rising and falling of his chest, it was obvious that he was still alive.

"That was a pretty good fight, Jin." James muttered to himself. "Inviting you to join my peerage might not be such a bad idea."