*Koenma's POV*
"AARGH! WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE THEY?!" I shout. The useless ogres all run out, taking their stacks of paper out with them. I take little notice of them, as I'm too busy with the task that has held my full attention for the past two weeks; looking for my Spirit Detective and his friends.
I flip through the monitor channels again, no luck. My team seems to have completely vanished from this world. Which gives me an idea!
"MALIM! GET IN HERE AND BRING ME THE DIMENSIONAL ENERGY LOCATOR!" I shout, then start tapping my fingers on my desk. Six minutes later, and a green ogre comes in, carrying a rather odd looking box.
"Here you go, Lord Koenma. I brought the dimensional energy locator. Do you really think that it will work this time?" Malim asks me. I stare at him, before grabbing four vials out of a desk drawer.
"I have no idea if it will work, but it's the last idea I have on how to locate them. Now, if you would be so kind as to open the sample reader, we'll see if it will work." I say, in my false nice voice. I jump down from my chair and walk over to the machine. Malim hurriedly opens the sample reader and I open the first vial, which contains a lock of gelled, black hair. I pour the hairs into the sample reader, close it, make sure the machine is plugged in and is on, and then hit the big green button labeled "LOCATE".
Nothing happens for a minute and I'm turning away in disappointment, when the entire row of lights starts flashing rainbow colors and the rest of the machine starts beeping loudly. I quickly turn back to it and start hitting the buttons under the screen.
"We found him. We found him! WE ACTUALLY FOUND HIM!!" I shout, incredibly happy. I'm so happy that I'm actually laughing and crying simultaneously. I grab Malim's hands and we start dancing around, before I return to my senses and return to the monitor on the machine.
"Malim! Write this down! 7. 7. 8. 2. Zorn. Alpha. 9. 3. 4. Mentrin. Horp. Zeta." I read off the dimensional coordinates, as Malim obediently writes them down. Once he's done, he reads them back to me and I nod. I click the red button labeled "RESET" and the machine gives one last little beep before stopping its light show.
"Time for the next one." I say as I pour the long, red hairs from the second vial into the sample reader. I close the reader, and click the green button again. After waiting for a time, the machine starts flashing and beeping again. I stay calm this time and quickly get the coordinates. Thankfully they are the same as the last ones.
We repeat the process for the other two and the coordinates are the same for all of them. The next half an hour is spent with everyone celebrating the fact that the missing foursome has been located.
"Now comes the hard part. How comes the interdimensional transporter?" I ask one of the ogres in charge of scientific advancements. He avoids looking me in the eye, as he reaches up to scratch the back of his head.
"Well sir. We have managed to access other dimensions, and we can even retrieve things from them. There is a slight issue though..." He peeters off, and looks away from me entirely.
"Well? What is this issue?" I impatiently say. He fidgets, shifts his weight from foot to foot, and does his best to avoid eye contact. After a few seconds of this, he sighs.
"The issue, sir, is that we can retrieve things from other dimensions just fine. So long as they aren't alive. We tried to retrieve a yellow, rat-like creature from one world, but it came out of the portal looking like some sort of yellow goo that shot out electricity every time we poked it." He slowly and apologetically says. It takes a lot of effort on my part not to start cursing.
"Please tell me that you have some good news for me. I don't think I could take it if we were really this close but still couldn't bring them home." I ask as I rub the bridge of my nose.
"Indeed I do have some good news! While we may not be able to bring them back from this side, there is something near them that our scanners indicate could bring them here! The only issues being that this thing doesn't have enough energy on its own and we have no idea if it will bring all four of them to this specific world even if it did have the energy." He excitedly says. He pauses for a moment as if there's more, but he just can't think how to say it.
"Even though our portal maker is unable to bring living things through it from other dimensions, we should be able to reconfigure it so that it can send energy into something else!" He finally says. I wait for him to drop the bad part of it. Sure enough, he does.
"The reconfiguration will take about three minutes to complete, but charging up that much energy will take about two hours to complete. If they move very far from their current location during that time, we won't be able to get a clear shot and may end up missing completely." He backs away from me as he finishes. I sigh.
"Alright, go ahead and begin the process. We'll just have to hope that they are within range once the charging is complete." I say. I return to my desk and start doing some paperwork to pass the time.
*Meanwhile; Rose's POV*
"Come on, slowpokes! We're almost there!" I say, as we head towards Hunter HQ. We may have only been walking for an hour, but it's faster than the three hour drive traffic would have required.
"Didn't you say that they don't open until nine? So why do we need to be there an hour early?" Yusuke grumbles. I sigh, walk back to him, and show him the time on my watch. His expression goes from irritated to shocked.
"Okay, I get it now, but shouldn't we go faster?" Yusuke says, once it fully sinks in that we've been walking for a lot longer than he thought. I sigh and just walk back to the front of the group. Five blocks later, we reach our destination.
"Welcome to the home of the Hunter's Association! From this building, the Chairman and Council make all the decisions that affect all hunters. It also happens to be the place where I was pretty much raised. Any questions?" I gesture at the tall building behind me, and giggle to myself as I watch their expressions. The only ones who don't look impressed are Onii-chan and Hiei nii-san.
"How many floors does the Hunter's Association actually take up?" Onii-chan asks. I take a quick, evaluating glance back at the building before answering.
"Depends on what you mean. If you mean how many floors are in active use by just the Hunter's Association, about two thirds, on any given day. If you meant how many floors belong to the Hunter's Association, all of them. The Hunter's Association owns this entire building. They do rent out office space, sometimes, but it is incredibly hard for a company to get the permission. The company has to be directly controlled by a member of the Zodiac, or be more important than a small country's entire government just to be considered for space here." I explain. Eyes go even wider at this and I give them a moment to return to reality before going in.
"A word of advice, stay down here for the next ten minutes." I say to the boys. They all give me curious looks. Except for Hiei nii-san, who just looks annoyed.
"And why would we do that. The doors are right there and the building is open, so why should we wait?" Hiei nii-san interrogates. I just look at him and give him a grin, with a rather evil glint in my eyes.
"You'll wait because the security system includes hallways that are nothing but lasers capable of turning the human body into goo as soon as they hit. I plan on playing with it a little before bringing you all to Cheadle." Kuwabara turns pale and backs away from me, as I explain my game to them.
"See you all in ten minutes." I smile at them once more, and then walk into the building. As I'm passing by the little security sensor, I send out a psychic pulse and set it off. Red lights immediately start flashing, sirens go off, and steel screens slam down, blocking the doors in front and behind me. I laugh to myself and begin my game.
"Attention! Attention! Intruder alert! Please move to your evacuation point, or to your battle station! I repeat, please move to your evacuation point or battle station!" The mechanical alarm voice announces. The building is in frantic motion as I make my way into the main building.
"Time to play!" I think to myself, as I change to my half drangorta form. Within the time it takes for most people to blink, I've already managed to "kill" everyone on the first floor. They aren't really dead, I just left a thin red line on their neck.
"Level one has been taken. I repeat, level one has been taken." The mechanical voice says as I open the door to the stairs to level two. I sigh, pout a little, and then head up to the next floor.
"Level one was a disappointment. Maybe level two will be harder?" I think to myself as I head up. I reach the doors for the second floor, and pause. I materialize my solial staff and poke the door. Sure enough, electric sparks shoot off where the metal tip of my staff comes in contact with the door. I smile, dematerialize my solial staff, and change into my half electric eel form. Then it's a simple matter of just pushing the door open.
"Time for the first round of lasers!" I cheer a little, only to start pouting again as I realize that this is just a normal laser barrier, meaning that I just have to dodge through them. I sigh, finish going through the laser hall, and "kill" everyone on the floor. Then I make my way to the stairs for the third floor.
"Level two has been taken. I repeat, level two has been taken." The mechanical voice chimes as I open the doors to the stairs. That voice is already starting to annoy me. I'll have to bring that up with Cheadle.
"Electrified stairs and lasers? They upgraded this since I last came through! Now, how do I weave through this without getting electrocuted?" I smile, finally starting to have fun. I go through my catalog of forms and finally decide that it would just be easier to create a new ability on a form immune to shocks than it would to try going through with any current form and ability pair I have right now.
"Forms immune to electricity that don't already have a Nen ability paired to it? Jeez, only one? Okay, I guess I'll just have to play with this one. But it's as slow as molasses! Ah well, I just have to be able to weave through these. Which means that speed doesn't really matter." I enter my catalog and begin creating my new ability. I start by turning into my half human form, with my chosen form as the other half. Then I forcefully awaken my Nen with the reservoir I keep in my catalog.
"Now, what exactly do I need? Simple enough, I need an ability that allows me to weave through the lasers without getting electrocuted. Which means I need hyper flexibility, mobility, and an immunity to electricity. The formalin kyper worm is already immune to electric shocks, but it's rather slow, has poor mobility, and is about as flexible as a block of concrete. So that's what I need to alter." I list out the requirements, then do a quick divination test. I get lucky, because this form is a manipulator, which is almost perfect for the requirements for this new ability.
"Now that the easy parts are done, time for the difficult parts. How do I want this to work and what should the trigger/ activator be?" I take a few moments to think these questions over, then come to a great solution to each. I start by taking my Nen and shaping it around my hand to create a ball, which I then stretch into a foot shape. I apply this to my right foot, then repeat the process for my left foot. I then proceed to create a skeletal figure out of Nen, and apply each piece to my own body as they are formed. Once the skeleton is complete, I set up the trigger. Then I exit my catalog.
"Let's see if I did this right. If I didn't, bad things may follow. So I really hope I did this right." I think to myself as I enter my half kyper worm form. I take a deep breath, then step onto the first stair. Electricity immediately races through my body and my new ability activates. Before I can even think, I'm already at the top of the stairs. I blink a couple times, then look back at the stairs.
"That worked better than expected. There are a few bugs to work out, but I seem to be in one piece, which means that none of the lasers touched me. Time for level three!" I return to my half drangorta form and open the door. More lasers, but these are much closer together and they sweep. I smile and quickly get through them. A second later, and I've cleared this floor as well.
"Level three has been taken. I repeat, level three has been taken." The mechanical voice chimes as I open the doors to the stairs. If I ever find the source of that voice, I'm going to ensure that nothing in all of existence will be able to repair it, or even make out what it was before I got to it.
The next twelve floors go the same as the first three. Which is sort of disappointing. Other than the lasers and electrified stairs, nothing else has changed. I sigh and open the door for level sixteen. I'm greeted by a small army of armed hunters. My ears perk up and I smile.
So, you all think that you can catch me? Tell you what, I'll give special prize to anyone who can lay even one finger on me. I write out. They exchange looks and then grin at me. One of them steps forwards and starts talking.
"Sounds good to us. But what happens whe..." I cut him off with a swift hit to the back of his neck. I smile at the rest, who all have stunned expressions on their faces. Before they can even comprehend what I just did, I've caused them all to take a little nap.
"And here I thought that you all would be some fun. I guess the only person I have to worry about is Netero, and maybe Ivan, but he should still be in training." I send to the unconscious group at my feet. Then it's off to "kill" the rest of the people.
Three minutes have passed since I entered, and I've already managed to clear half the floors. I take a moment to pout about how boring the security system is, before opening the door to the twenty sixth floor. It doesn't take long to clear this floor either.
Four more minutes later, and I'm standing in front of the door to Grandpa's office. I hesitate for a second, then decide to skip him. As much fun as fighting him is, I really don't want to take more than ten minutes clearing the building, or have to repair the damage our fight would do to the building.
"I really thought this was going to take up the full ten minutes. I guess I overestimated the security system." I say to myself after two minutes. It's only been nine minutes since I entered and I've already cleared the building. The sirens and lights turned off about three minutes ago, which means some Zodiac member entered the building. I open a window and jump out. Before I fall too far, I turn into a hawk and pull out of my free fall. Then it's just a matter of lazily spiraling down to where I left my friends.
"Thirteen minutes and fifty five seconds. You're late. The others already went in." Onii-chan says to me as I land and turn back to my humanoid form. I smile at him, which causes him to sigh, and then we both enter the building. To my surprise, Grandpa is waiting for me, along with five members of the Zodiac. Cheadle starts right in on me.
"Rosaria Kurasagi! Where the heck have you been for the past three years? You had us all extremely worried! When your handler came back without you, we all thought that you had gone and gotten yourself in major trouble!" Cheadle angrily scolds. I shrink into myself just the tiniest bit with each word, but then find myself shocked when she pulls me into a tight hug. Both Cluck and Pyon join Cheadle in squishing me. I can feel an angry aura coming off of Onii-chan, but the three Zodiacs ignore him. Until he pulls me out of their grip and stands between them and me.
"Before you all start trying to kill one another, I'll do introductions. Signs, these are my friends, Yusuke, Kuwabara and Hiei. The angry redhead is my Onii-chan, Kurama." I say to the six Zodiacs. I point out each person as I name them and they either say hi, or nothing. Onii-chan calms down a little and allows me to come out from behind him.
"Guys, these are some of the Zodiac. The guy with blond hair is Pariston, the rat of the Zodiac. On his left we have Mizaistom, the Zodiac's ox; the girl with bunny ears is Pyon, the rabbit; the lady in the bathing suit is Cluck, the chicken; and the lady with the big hat is Cheadle, the dog. The old man is the Chairman of the Hunters Association, Isaac Netero." My descriptions earn me a few glares, but everyone has calmed down.
"Rather than talk in the lobby, why don't we all go up to my office to chat?" Grandpa says, as he leads us all to the elevator. I'm glad that the elevators are big enough to fit an elephant inside, because it would be a tight fit otherwise.