I don't own Shaman King.

The pale light of the moon shone down upon the sleeping town, row upon row of nice, clean and above all normal houses.

The alleys, however were not so calm, three eighteen year olds had backed a fifteen year old into a corner and were currently threatening him with knives and baseball bates.

" Come on," one of them said " everyone knows you travellers keep cash with you at all times, hand it over!"

the fifteen year old was wearing black trousers, a black T shirt with a symbol drawn on it, and over this an open Hawaiian type shirt.

His hair was slightly too long and also slightly spiky.

He was very calm for someone being threatened so and said " Look, I don't want to harm you, so if you just run along now we'll pretend this didn't happen, Okay?"

The biggest of the youths actually laughed at this, " Oh no, you're not getting away that easily, now give us the money!"

The fifteen year old, who's name was Danterik shook his head sadly, you just couldn't reason with some people. But he had to give them one more chance, " I really don't want to fight you, because if I do, there's a good chance you will end up dead!"

The lead youth snapped " Shut up! If you wont give us the cash, we'll take it!"

They youths leapt towards Danterik, who seemed very calm for someone who was being attacked, the lead youth slammed his knife down, there was a clatter, and the youth cursed, for a second figure stood in the way of the attack!

His short sword holding the knife back easily, he was about Danterik's age, with black jeans and an orange shirt, but the way he held the sword, he was an expert, his unruly black hair covered his eyes, of course, the youths couldn't see it, but behind him, lurked a ghost, he was a knight or at least he wore armour. A helmet completely covered his face, orange light was emitted by the pair.

The youth called out " What the heck are you doing?"

The shaman didn't answer, but dodged a slash, he moved with experience and speed, his sword shattering the knife and wounding the attacker!

The other two were stunned, they had never encountered such a warrior before, he leapt towards one!

The youth screamed and ran, he hadn't expected to fight mad swordsmen!

The third attacker made an slash at his foe's exposed back!

Danterik couldn't allow that! With a flash his katana shattering the knife!

The youth ran screaming.

Danterik turned to his rescuer, " Thanks, but I didn't need help."

The other nodded, " I know, with your Furiouku level you'd be able to defeat those three blindfolded."

Danterik said " Yeah, wait! How did you know my Furiouku level?"

" It's three thousand four hundred, right? You'd be Danterik, right?"

Danterik took a step back " That's exactly my level! And how do you know who I am?"

The other pointed to a device strapped to his arm, it was little more then a small screen encased within a lot of plastic shaped into a wavy look. The only real difference was the colour, Danterik's was blue whereas this stranger's was red.

The only purpose of these devices was to allow the shamans to know their foe's in the next fight, when a shaman was scheduled to fight, the name of his foe, the time, and the place of the fight would appear on the screen, beyond this it had little use.

Or so he thought anyway, but the stranger said " if you enter a code, it displays the Furiouku level of a shaman alongside his name and spirit. It also lets you select the shaman you want info on."

Danterik said " So, if you knew how strong I was, why did you help me?"

The other said " According to this, you find it hard to disable a foe without delivering a serious wound."

Danterik shrugged " You care what happens to them?"

the other said " Not really, but I happened to be passing and couldn't let three people take on a shaman?"

" So you let three people take on two shaman?"

the other laughed, " No, but I think I was better at delivering none fatal wounds."

Danterik shrugged again " What about him over there? You slashed him pretty badly."

" He'll live, and he will think twice before attacking someone again."

The stranger turned to go, and Danterik called out " Wait, who are you?"

the stranger said " Toran. You have a place to stay?"

Danterik shook his head " we're in town for the latest round of the tournament."

Toran nodded " Us too. Me and Reuk."

the knight faded into few again, this time his face was visible beneath the helmet, his close cut white hair and deeply wrinkled face gave him an aura of wisdom, an aura that his white beard only increased. But hit twinkling blue eyes seemed youthful.

Danterik nodded " hi, Reuk."

His own spirit appeared behind him, Koronzei,he wore a dark uniform that seemed to be sported by al ninjas, steel shin and knee guards gave him a strange look, he wore a red headband over dark hair and brown eyes, a helmet was clasped in his hand. He nodded to Reuk, " Greetings, noble warrior."

Reuk said " Thanks, I haven't seen a ninja spirit in ages."

Koronzei said " Yes, we do not normally remain earthbound. But in my case, I have."

Toran asked " You need a place to stay?"

Danterik shrugged " I just arrived in town, I haven't even thought that far yet."

" You can stay at my place if you like," Toran said " But I warn you, it's not the best."

Danterik said " Sure."

Toran walked away and gestured for the other to follow. They walked in silence for a good fifteen minutes when Danterik said " So, what's your medium?"

Toran laughed " You expect me to tell a rival shaman that?"

Danterik said " Hey, I'm just making conversation."

Toran shrugged " I use this crystal," he held up a crystal ,it was deep green and he wore it on a chain around his neck. " And you?"

" I use this," Danterik held up an SMG, it was clearly in perfect order and gleamed, it looked very deadly."

the other laughed " I thought you used a ninja spirit?"

Danterik said " Oh, I use a katana too, but when you need real fire-power, I always reach for the SMG."

Toran said " I just use my sword, it's far easier and besides, it's the weapon both Reuk and I were trained to fight with."

they had walked as they were talking and Toran said " well, this is it!"

Danterik looked around, " This is a park. With trees and grass and such."

" Well," replied Toran " This is where I've been sleeping for the past few nights, it's not too bad if you can get a fire going."

" Don't the people object to you lighting fires in the park?"

" Not really, most of them have forgotten this place exists. Those that do come here use it as a rubbish dump and couldn't care less what I do."

" Oh, well, shall we get a fire going then? It's cold. I guess we should gather wood."

Toran shook his head, " No need, let me see..."

he gestured with his hand and several logs picked themselves off the ground and grouped themselves in perfect position for a fire. Danterik could see several small blue spirits positioning them, each spirit had a leaf or a small stone at it's centre.

Toran explained " I come from a long line of shamans, you tend to pick up stuff when your great to the power of ten grandfather still hangs around the house. Be it in ghost form."

soon, a fire was burning happily and the two were gathered around it. The two spirits were talking amongst themselves, as far as Toran could figure out, they were discussing the pro and cons of different honour systems.

" So," said Danterik, " Why are you fighting in the tournament? Fame? Riches?"

Toran laughed " Nope, we're here to test our skills, to see our limits then to push past them."

Danterik wasn't sure if his new friend was serious or not so he compromised by saying " Being Shaman King wouldn't be too bad ether, right?"

Toran had to agree with that. " But what's the chances of actually making it that far? I could show you the Furiouku levels of some seriously tough guys."

Danterik said " Like who? Name three tougher then me."

" Hmm, lets see, Hao Asakura, Tao Ren, Yoh Asakura."

Danterik countered with " You've been spending a lot of time with that thing, haven't you!"

Toran held up his hands " It gets pretty boring here at night."

Danterik said " We should probably pile the fire with logs before we go to sleep."

" Don't bother, the spirits will make sure that the fire doesn't die on us."

As if to prove his point, a blue spirit pulled another stick into the fire.

" Just how do you control them anyway?"

Toran shrugged, " No idea, everyone in my family can do it. I guess they just like being helpful."

Soon, the fire grew lower, and while it was indeed kept well stocked, Danterik went to sleep quickly on a patch of soft grass.

Toran on the other hand, he stood as still as a statue, his hand held the hilt of the blade loosely as if afraid to let it go.

Reuk appeared behind him and said " Well, they seem nice enough people. The ninja anyway, I didn't have a good look at the shaman."

Toran looked up at the full moon, " Do you think we can trust them?"

Reuk shook his head, " Can we trust anyone? Not really, but these two are more trustworthy then most. The ninja's honour would not allow him to go along with a plot such as this."

the shaman sighed " Sometimes, I wonder why we ever agreed to this, I mean how long have we been travelling?"

" I have no idea, but it seems a long time."

" Agreed, my friend. It's been far too long."

" Yes, it has."

a new voice cut through the pair's conversation, this one was sharper. And the figure that came from the shadows was striding towards the shaman as if he owned the world, he wore a dark cloak with the hood covering his face. Dark jeans showed under the short, ragged cloak and his belt had an emblem, a fist smashing through a wall, a dark aura surrounding the fist.

Toran backed away, his hand tightening on the hilt.

" You!" he hissed.

" Yes, me."

the dark figure raised his hands to show he was unarmed, but Toran didn't move to ether draw his sword or move his hand away from it.

" why are you here?"

The dark figure said " The end is in sight, I'm going to give you one last chance. If you don't pick your side, you will be destroyed."

Toran spat " you think I'll fall for that? You've been saying the end is in sight for the past two years. If I didn't believe you then, why should I do so now?"

The dark one continued, " I have everything I need, almost everything. You hold the last key, don't make me take it by force."

Toran said " Yes, of course I'll hand you the key to immortality, you'll have to get past me first!"

The other said " I hoped you would say that, I will enjoy showing you just how weak you are. But, not at the moment, I have other matters to take care of, after them, I shall deal with you. This is a warning. You still have time, bring me the key. And I might let you live."

The figure flickered, then vanished, Toran stood still for a few minutes then fell to his knees. " damn it, damn it, DAMN IT! I hate him."

He punched the ground. " I hate him, this has gone on long enough! I should have stopped him earlier."

Reuk said " What are you planning? You can't actually intend to fight him?"

" Oh, I intend to fight him, I will destroy him! he will pay for what he's done!"

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This fic is open to any OC, if you would like me to include your character then simply Pm me and I will send you an info thingy to fill out and the OC should appear in one of the next chapters.