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Yes, but if you remember in the series, Genkai, AFTER GIVING YUSUKE HER POWER, was still able to defeat Shishi Wakamaru. She was actually able to sap him of his energy. But even then, she's unbelievably agile and either way has more experience than Sango.

Though I do admit that she might have SOME endurance issues, I think she's still PLENTY capable for the fight.

I considered using Koga, but I don't particularly like his character, and what's more, I don't think I'd be able to keep him in character. Plus, I have no idea how he and Sesshomaru would interact, or how I'd get him to the tournament. I suppose I could have someone tell him that it would help Kagome . . .



That is true; Hiei wouldn't normally fight a human, and I was going to come and ask about his sword techniques, because you have a great point. He doesn't need to use the dragon if he could just kill Miroku with his sword. I was going to justify his taking the fight as him having seen the wind tunnel previously--he'd want to know what happens to the dragon if it was sucked up. But you do make a great point, and I really have to reconsider my pairs.



I'd worked out my other pairs so that this match was a tie-breaker previously, for that added tension (I believe Kuwabara and Kurama lost their matches, in my version) but it actually doesn't matter; they'd fight even if they didn't need to for the fun of it, and Naraku's going to break up their fight before they can finish each other off, anyway.



Here, I tend to agree with havi: it would depend on which point in the YYH storyline Genkai fought. In my opinion, if she fought before giving Yusuke her power, she'd beat Sango no sweat. If she fought after, she might have a struggle. If she fought much later in the series (like the part that you referenced) then she might lose.

My established time-line is everything in the YYH series proceeds as normal until right after the first Dark Tournament. Instead of Sensui and his arc, there's peace for a few months, and then they get the assignment to go back to the Dark Tournament. I honestly haven't paid enough attention to the Inuyasha storyline to know where this fic falls there, but it's after Inuyasha kills the giant dragon thing and obviously before the end.

While Sango is a lot younger than Genkai, and she does have quite a bit of experience fighting demons, that doesn't necessarily equate to an easy win. Genkai isn't a demon, so fighting her would be a bit different (especially if Sango's used to fighting giant, stupid demons rather than quick, intelligent humans.)



True, but I'd like to point out that Genkai also beat Sazuka the Beautiful without turning young. Yes, he was pathetic, but she used her fists and brawn to do this, not energy. So, it's possible that she could beat Sango if she could disarm her, or out-think her.



Hm. That might give her a big advantage, but since I haven't seen it (haven't seen past the first 200 episodes, or something) I can't use that, since I have no idea what it entails. In that case, I'd pin this on the Inuyasha time-line to be right after Inuyasha beat the dragon. Sorry I didn't clarify this earlier. smile

As to the bolded statement, I think that's not giving her enough credit. Firstly, isn't it true that everyone has spiritual energy? So, theoretically, Genkai could use Sango's even if Sango wasn't able to use it? Also, being able to use one's body in deadly ways is extremely important, and even more important than all of that is how one fights mentally--at least to me. Sango is smart, yes, but Genkai is almost smart enough to trick Kurama. That's damned brilliant. I think she'd find a way to beat Sango, especially if she disarms her.



This may be true, but I think the story would lack if neither of them had a front-row seat to the action. Genkai, as I've said, is still strong enough to fight at this point, and I can't think of a character from YYH that I know well enough to write about for 15 chapters other than the main cast.

As for Kagome, I've decided that in the two months that she gets to train before the tournament, she learns several tricks from Kayade, who learned them from Kikyo. (This will all be established in flashbacks, by the way.) She learns to use her energy destructively, to kill, just as Kikyo once did, and her arrows are a good asset. True, she isn't the strongest person, and she'll be a bit of a dead weight, but I think she'll make it. Like I said, I wouldn't know how to write about Koga, and there's really no one else. (At least in this draft Shippo isn't fighting. lol.)

All that said, it makes more sense to me to have Kagome fight Genkai, especially for the reasons you highlighted--Genkai is weaker than the rest of the team, and so is Kagome. They make a reasonable match with Kagome's new powers, and that way I wouldn't have to cut both of them out.

Sorry about the uber-long post, and thank you a ton Ryuusei for your input. The more people I talk this out with, the better. biggrin

So I should edit that scene where Hiei tells Yusuke not to underestimate the guest team?

biggrin I completely forgot about the barriers that Miroku can make. They would be pretty effective against the sword if Miroku could get it up (ha) in time. I think I'll go with those pairings, then, unless anyone else has any input?

I'm still debating whether Genkai should fight Kagome or Sango, and who is going to win which fights. I'd really like for it to come out to a tie. If I played it right, Hiei just might lose to Miroku, if he can't use his dragon or his sword. I thought I could reasonably have Kurama lose, though I have yet to work out the specifics . . . and I believe Kuwabara would lose to Sango, though he would beat Kagome. (So would Genkai, for that matter.) Thoughts?

To me, the wind tunnel seems to be the PERFECT weapon against the DOTDF, but the problem is that Hiei wouldn't need to resort to using that against a regular human. He would only use it as a last resort, once all other options had failed, and it's likely that one of his weaker attacks (which a wind tunnel couldn't protect against) would finish off a normal human. However, like mary said, Miroku is hardly regular, and he might be able to pull off defending himself long enough to make Hiei use the dragon. So, I agree with you, havi. biggrin




What do you think Sango's reaction to this would be? Would she feel reluctant to fight someone who won't attack her, or would she just fight him because she wants to win, or would she feel offended that he refused to fight her? I'm totally up for any suggestions on this, because I have no clue.



That sounds interesting, although I'd argue that Yusuke is probably stronger than Inuyasha in street fighting. Though, would Inuyasha's claws count as weapons? And he is a half demon, so perhaps I'm not giving him enough credit.

I got a new idea today, and I wanted to throw it to you guys and see if it makes a better argument for the Hiei VS Miroku controversy.

Now, Kurama knows going into this tournament that someone powerful has started it, because it obviously wasn't the guys from before. He doesn't know who, but he assumes that it's someone that has physical strength and is trying to manipulate the players or the audience in some way--since there isn't much point in betting against himself, and that's why most of the other tournaments were held. (Feel free to correct me on this and help me with the logic here, because this is just a rough draft.)

Anyway, Kurama realizes that they might very well have to fight a strong enemy after the final rounds, when everyone's exhausted. So, he tells Hiei all of this BEFORE the finals. They manage to come to an agreement--because Kurama absolutely has to fight Sesshomaru, he wants Hiei to take on an opponent that won't require a lot of energy to do away with, so that Hiei will still be relatively strong enough to deal with the enemy that may or may not attack after the finals are over.

This doesn't explain EXACTLY why Hiei has to fight Miroku, of course, but I think it helps. Hiei (grudgingly, of course) takes on a fighter that he knows will not require a lot of his energy, even if he does require a lot of tactical maneuvering.

Genkai will probably insist on fighting Kagome (or vice versa.) Kurama obviously has to fight Sesshomaru (since it was such a plot point) and Yusuke and Inuyasha are a given. The only thing I have left to explain is why Hiei would prefer to fight Miroku over Sango; I could possibly spin it so that he was curious about Miroku's wind tunnel, although he (probably) won't use the dragon (at least not more than once) during their fight. Or maybe Miroku wanted to fight Hiei to protect Sango from him.

This way, there won't be a problem with the score; Hiei and Genkai will win their fights, and Kurama and Kuwabara will lose, thus giving us extra tension going into the last round. Thoughts?

Well, Hiei's been watching all the other matches (with the rest of his team) and Sango has a lot of options aside from the boomerang; she's got poison powder (more or less avoidable, I suppose) and that axe/chain thing, as well as some hidden weapons. Plus he knows not to underestimate females. The way he sees it, Miroku has the tunnel (which he can avoid by holding on to something) and a staff. He's got powers of exorcism, but Hiei doesn't plan on getting close enough to him for that.



Yeah, I thought the same thing. As for the wind tunnel vs dragon, I could possibly play it to where Hiei will miss the wind tunnel, or Miroku won't use it, so he might use the dragon without realizing that it could be diverted . . . is it more like Hiei or less like him to expend more force than necessary? At this point he's so strong that he can use the dragon three times or so with no trouble, so he could possibly use it just to finish Miroku off quickly, then realize that it won't be so simple.

I was having computer/internet problems since the end of January, so I apologize for dropping out of the conversation. And seeing as I was unable to respond for a month, I shall warn you this is a rather long post. And there might be an Inuyasha spoiler.

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This is perfectly reasonable. I was thinking if i were writing it I would use episode 99 (Koga and Sesshoumaru: A dangerous Encounter) as a reference but if you don't like Koga or don't know how to write him it's only reasonable not to.



(Later comments as well.)




I feel like because you (InkMistress) and havishanta aren't as familiar (or possibly don't have a lot of love for) with Inuyasha, the series, you don't respect Sango as much as you would if you knew it better. You don't really see it in the anime, but not all of the demons that Sango fights are the big, weak, and thoroughly stupid ones. Some are craftier than that.

In the part you plan to have your fic taking place in relation to Yu Yu Hakusho, I think the battle would be 50/50 depending on what point it took place with in relation with Inuyasha. (I don't know which fight with a dragon you're referring to.) Sure, Sango right after she meets Naraku vs Genkai pre-Yusuke would be a joke (no-contest, Genkai would win) but Sango (just before Naraku dies in the manga/second anime) vs Genkai post-Yusuke has me leaning towards Sango (but not without a fairly good fight of course.)




Sazuka was not only absolutely pathetic, he also made the extremely foolish mistake of underestimating Genkai, which Sango would not do.



As for the spiritual energy, I know I wasn't clear on this before, I was thinking that the reason Genkai couldn't use Sango's energy isn't because Sango doesn't have any energy, it's because she hasn't trained with it so she doesn't have a lot of it for Genkai to steal (or at least not enough to return her to her younger self.)




I wasn't suggesting you make it so that Kagome and Genkai get written out or into less central roles. I was thinking have Genkai on as an adviser to the team, a strategist if you will (much like how she was for the Sensui arc,) and Kagome as a kind of cheerleader (like Botan and Shizuru in the Dark Tournament.)

But if you're going to give Kagome a massive power boost, while still keeping her in charcter, it could work. And it would make it a fairly okay fight.

But I had a thought: unlike Sango, Kagome does use spiritual energy (as a priestess, in her arrows) which Genkai could then steal throwing them once more out of balance in terms of power. sweatdrop

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As for the whole Miroku vs Hiei issue;

After everyone else's very valid points I can see this realistically going one of two ways:

1) Hiei decides to have a quick, probably bloody, final match. The match begins. Before Miroku can remove the beads that keep the windtunnel sealed, he losses his right arm. Just after that, Hiei ends it with Miroku either dead or unconscious. The match is a repeat of the Dark Tournament semifinals round, Hiei vs Makintaro.

OR

2) Kurama convinces Hiei to fight Miroku. Miroku has a booby-trap barrier set up in advance somehow. Hiei makes the same mistake he made against Kaitou ("No three letter word can rule my fate. Hot!") and becomes ensnared. Hiei uses the Dragon of the Darkness Flame (either in dragon- or sword-form) and breaks free. This delay has bought Miroku some time (and possibly his right arm) to ready his wind-tunnel. Dragon of the Darkness Flame vs Wind-Tunnel. (Dragon vs Giant Vaccume Cleaner.) From there it's either A.) Miroku with a third-degree burnt hand (or palm/edges of the tunnel) and a lot of possibly poisonous demonic energy inside his body (from there Miroku loses to Hiei in hand-to-hand combat, Hiei never gives him a chance to use an exorcism/talisman) or B.) the wind-tunnel can't budge the incredibly powerful, demonic/spiritual Dragon and there isn't enough left of Miroku to put in an ashtray much less an urn.

And seeing as I don't think you want to kill Miroku off... in my mind option 2 part A would be the most entertaining way to let him live.

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sweatdrop I think 'rather long' might have been an understatement.

For me, this is 100% true. I stopped watching/enjoying Inuyasha about three or four years ago, so I don't really like the characters/respect them enough to accurately judge their power/personalities. I feel like my writing so far hasn't been terrible where they're concerned, but that may change. That's partly why I asked everyone what they thought, and I'm glad that people who actually like the show have responded. biggrin



I forget his name, (it started with an "R") but the dragon that killed Inuyasha's father--when Inuyasha learns the backslash wave. Havi's right; I should probably come up with a more solid timeline, but it's hard since I haven't watched the show (especially not past the second season) in many years.



That is very true. Since Genkai is so weak at this point, I might just utilize that during their match. What do you think about Kagome's chances against the young Genkai?



This is going to give me nightmares. gonk



I like this option, especially 2A, and the part about a booby-trap barrier. Miroku will have seen Hiei fight, and I'm sure he would think of some way to stop Hiei (or slow him down) early on in the fight.

I was going to say that because Miroku's hand is a black hole, the dragon wouldn't affect his body--but then I remembered the poison insects. Now I'm starting to wonder just how the wind tunnel works. If it's just a black hole, then how would the insects hurt him? WOULD he die from absorbing the dragon, or--OMFG EPIC--would he gain powers similar to Hiei's because he absorbed it?!

I remember Hiei absorbing the dragon in the first tournament, and that it made him a hell of a lot powerful. I suppose Miroku's human body would die from that kind of exposure, though. But isn't that a great thought? Jebus-please-us.

Thank you everyone for your input. At this point, I'm pretty sure I'm going to go ahead with the following match-ups and results:

Genkai versus Kagome (Genkai wins)
Hiei versus Miroku (Hiei wins)
Kurama versus Sesshomaru (Sesshomaru wins)
Kuwabara versus Sango (Sango wins)
and Yusuke versus Inuyasha (neither wins; match ends undecided.)

I still am not sure how Sango would react to having to fight Kuwabara, especially if he wasn't going to fight back. Otherwise, I'm fairly confident with the match-ups.