#just a total clusterfuck on every conceivable level

[vmheadquarters]

What Goes Around... (Part 2)

This is PART 2 of a story that is being told in segments by twenty-six different authors, campfire-style. Each author will take over the story with no prior planning and then pass it on after putting their own spin on it! Expect the unexpected! :)  You can check our vmhq campfire tale tag for all of the previous installments or read the story as it develops on AO3. — Part 2 is written by @happilyshanghaied

[Part 1]

A blur of blue sequins and synthetic blonde hair rushes toward Veronica, like a shimmering, psychedelic peacock. “Finally! I thought you'd never wake up.”

Ruby Jetson?

She hasn't seen the other woman in months, not since that time Ruby popped into Mars Investigations looking for help locating her stolen car (turns out, it wasn't stolen, Ruby had just been looking on the wrong floor of a shopping mall’s multi-level parking garage).

There is no conceivable scenario where Veronica would be out socializing with Ruby, so her presence here must be somehow case-related. Or a coincidence? No. They're in the middle of nowhere and Veronica doesn't believe in coincidences. “Where are we?”

Ruby toddles awkwardly in a circle as she surveys the area, her five-inch platform heels threatening her balance with each step. “Rural?”

“Yeah, no shit Ruby. Where in ‘rural’ are we?” Veronica stares at her like she’s the one who just got tossed from a moving truck, then reminds herself that it's actually a keen possibility.

“Well, God Veronica! Excuse me for not being familiar with places that lack electricity and glitter.” Ruby rolls her eyes and adjusts the studded, leather bag on her shoulder.

“Sorry, I'm just—” Veronica’s gaze instinctively drops down to her own bag, an exact copy. She shakes her head —no time to kick over that disturbing rock— and combs a hand through her tangled hair, happy for once she doesn't own a pocket mirror. “How did we get here?”

“I cycled” —Ruby points to a mangled, pink carcass of scrap metal, lying useless on the side of the dirt road— “because I care about the size of my carbon footprint. You got here in the flatbed of some guy’s truck after last call at Thunderballs.”

“Thunderballs? The gay karaoke bar down by the marina?” At this point, Veronica is starting to question whether this whole thing is just a hallucination from sleep-deprivation. “And you followed me here?”

“I've already had one of my dearest high school friends get murdered and I won't stand by and watch another one get picked off like chum,” she says, hand clutched to her breast, as though she's delivering the Scarlet O’Hara hunger monologue to a black box theater audience. “Though, I want you to know that if you did get murdered, I would do everything in my power to make sure Logan got through it, okay?”

Shit. I never made it home last night. Logan probably already has Norris cornered in his office.

“That's—” Ruby’s botched rescue attempt strikes Veronica as equal parts creepy and sweet, but she's in no position to kick a gift horse in the mouth - even if that horse is emotionally unstable. Better to focus on the facts. “What were you doing at Thunderballs?”

“I go there every Friday night. I'm, like, kind of a celebrity there?” Ruby picks an invisible piece of lint off the front of her dress, not too unlike the one Veronica wore to a Navy benefit last month. “You were there with a tall drink of water, looked pretty cozy too. You and Logan aren't having problems, are you?” She asks, sweetly, in a way that fails spectacularly at coming across as casual.

A wave of nausea ripples through Veronica. Ruby’s account of the night is like listening to the details of somebody else’s life. The thought of not knowing who she was with, or what she was doing, last night has Veronica struggling to breathe.

Stop panicking and focus!

The only way she's going to get through this is to concentrate on the clues. “What was I doing with this guy when you saw me?”

“Just talking. Oh, and then you got up and sang ‘Goldfinger’. No judgment, but it was a little pitchy and off-key.”

Goldfinger.

Off-key.

It jogs something in Veronica’s memory that sends her fumbling for her satchel. She empties the contents out onto the grass and sifts through it. There, amongst her things, is that strange piece of metal she felt earlier: an ornate, gold key.

She holds the item to the light - it's undoubtedly an antique, too small for a door but larger than one for a jewelry box - and inspects its delicate filigree for clues. “Did you see the guy who grabbed me?”

“A really big Chinese guy in a bowler hat…at least I think it was a guy, but I don't really like to jump to conclusions about people's genders based on their external physical traits, because that's not the kind of person I am.” Ruby crosses her arms, looking bored. “Actually, he might've been Korean. Or Thai. Definitely some kind of large Asian person.”

“‘Some kind of large Asian person’, probably male and wearing a bowler hat threw me into the flatbed of his truck and dumped me here?” Was I kidnapped by Oddjob? “Was he alone?”

“You know, I was a little busy getting run over to get a good look.” Ruby sighs dramatically as she gestures toward her totaled bicycle again. “P.S. You owe me a bike.”

“Yeah, thanks for coming after me,” Veronica says, begrudgingly. In all honesty, she isn’t sure if she's better or worse off with Ruby as her plus one in this colossal clusterfuck of a morning, but it certainly makes waking up with short-term amnesia a little less scary. Sadly, she knows from experience what it's like to do this when you're alone.

“Of course!” Ruby lights up at the praise. “You know, this is fun, in a weird, Mad Max kind of way. I’m kind of like your sidekick, right?”

“Yeah, you're a regular Cheedo the Fragile.” Veronica shoves everything but the key back into her bag and climbs to her feet. They should probably follow the tracks back to the main road and then hitch a ride from there, but something about the area feels strangely familiar to her.

Want to find out what happens next? Check back next Saturday for the next installment written by... @elliebear75. Tag, you’re it! Make sure to submit your segment to  vmheadquarters@yahoo.com by Wednesday, May 10th 

[sobdasha]

17 - i frequently wonder what Kuwabara’s exact power level is by the end of YYH

because I'm actually not convinced that Kurama ISN'T the weakest member of Team Urameshi by the end of the series

I kind of wish we had more comprehensive info about power classes and all...I have pulled some numbers regarding what we know and honestly, basically all we have is a clusterfuck?

- we don't know what specific numbers go with the lettered classes, all we know is that it increases exponentially and the difference in numbers that spans the conceivable length of the S class range is much, much larger than the difference in numbers that span the entire range of E through A - assuming the numbers measure the same thing, pre-Genkai-training Yusuke's level is 155 and Kuwabara's is 129 - Toguro is upper-B class at the Dark Tournament - Hiei is upper-D class when he first appears, mid-B at the start of Sensui arc - Sensui is S class - Youko Kurama and Hiei both used to be A class, and apparently level up to that again by the final Sensui battle - Makai Tournament Arc numbers: Mukuro 1,575,000 (S) / Yomi 1,550,000 (S) / Raizen 1,322,000 (S) / Yusuke ?? [200,017 in the anime] (S) / Hiei ?? (presumed S class, since he outgrew fighting A's and joined Mukuro's elite guard) / Kurama as Youko 152,000 / Jin, Touya, Chuu, Rinku, Suzuki, Shishiwakamaru 100,000+ [120,000+ in the anime] / Kirin 89,500 / Shachi 37,800 / Hokushin 36,000 (S) / Kuwabara ?? / Kurama on a regular day 1,902 [they bumped it up to 8,902 in the anime because they were so ashamed he couldn't break 2,000???]

Kurama on a regular day, after all of his leveling-up during Dark Tournament and Sensui final battle, is 1,902 do you see where I am going with this

It's really hard to make good comparisons because we're not sure what all these numbers and letters really mean but I'm pretty sure the disparity between Kurama compared to Yusuke and Hiei is significant and huge and I would really, really love to know if Kuwabara is supposed to be ~team weakest link~ in total power still or if Kurama's power levels are hilariously low compared to his as well i have personally come to the conclusion that they are, this is my headcanon

Like no wonder Kurama depends on "I have to figure out my opponent's strategy and then attempt to take them out in one perfectly calculated blow" and "Oh ow oh, this hurts, I am dying, you definitely just landed a bunch of fatal blows on all my vital points ow, look I'm bleeding, let me smear it around a little more and scream a lot, I am definitely not playing this up just to get you to let your guard down" tactics to win, has he been entirely out-classed by every opponent he's ever fought since becoming Shuuichi???

No wonder Hiei makes that dig at the start of the Dark Tournament about how if the mysterious fighter fucks up Hiei and Yusuke (not "and Kurama") can take the slack (I mean I also still assume it's just because Hiei's salty about EVERY PIECE OF BULLSHIT KURAMA HAS PULLED, which is a lot of bullshit and Hiei legitimately doesn't deserve to have to put up with Kurama lol) ...and is proven right because let's see here by the end of the Tournament Kuwabara costs them 3 fights, Kurama costs them 2 fights, and neither Hiei nor Yusuke lose a single one

All of that being said, obviously Kurama's got thousands of years of experience under his belt and he can use his less-than-2,000 power to insane advantage, so he can fight more effectively than Kuwabara. Buuuuuuuut I still think it's very likely that by the time all the Sensui stuff is over with Kuwabara has surpassed Kurama in power and also Yusuke could probably kill Kurama with one punch if he put his mind to it