Disclaimer: I do not own shaman king.

`stands for dolphin form

'thoughts'

HaoxYoh

XxX

Yoh` swam around in the amazon river at a slightly slower pace than usual, listening carefully for anything that sounded somewhat interesting. As he passed a tall tree, he heard the sound of people talking. Carefully peeking out of the water, he looked around for the source of the sound. A small flicker of light caught is attention, it looked like someone had started a campfire a little off in the distance.

It was around midnight, usually any travelers nearby would be fast asleep by now. Yoh` switched into his human form and walked over to the campfire to see what was there. He was a little more than ten feet away when one of the people invited him over, they appeared to be telling ghost stories around the fire. Once he was close enough, he saw that there wasn't just people, there were a few spirits as well, spirits he didn't recognize from around the area.

"Are you all shaman?" Yoh asked, with a hint of curiosity in his voice.

"That's right, does that mean you're one too?" The long nosed shaman asked.

"No, I can see spirit's, but I'm not a shaman." Yoh replied simply.

"I see. My name is Anatel Pokki and they are Nakht Pitra and Khafre Puljiz. What is your name, young human?" Anatel asked curiously.

"My name is Yoh, nice to meet you." Yoh replied with a carefree smile.

Anatel seemed to have forgotten about the conversation as he began to stare. Yoh didn't mind, he was fairly used to others staring at him. He waited patiently for about ten minutes before he started getting bored. He was just about to ask what was so interesting when Anatel spoke up again.

"...You look a lot like someone else I've seen before. He's the strongest, and one of the cruelest, shaman in the tournament. His name is Hao." Anatel said, hesitating before mentioning Hao's name.

"What are the differences between us?" Yoh asked curiously.

"Other than the fact that he's a shaman and your not? You're personalities are completely different for starters. The second thing would probably be the length of your hair, Hao's hair is much longer than yours. The third would be that Hao looks physically stronger than you and your skin is slightly paler than his." Anatel explained.

"That's surprising." Yoh stated. Noticing the fact that they seemed to be pretty far way from where ever they were from, he decided to ask. "Where are all of you going?"

"We are on our way to the shaman tournament, but we are taking a slight break while trading stories of myths and legends, do you know any from around here that you could tell us?" Anatel replied.

"I do, but they're not myths, they're real. Deep within oceans and rivers many thing exist that most people would merely pass of as a myth or legend. A few examples of that would be Mermaids, Water Nymphs, Kelpys, Hydras and the Encantado. The encantado is a shapeshifter who's original form is a pink river dolphin, also known as a Boto. Encantados can turn into a human, although it rarely happens and most transformation's are not complete."

Anahol and the others looked at him questioningly, but he simply ignored the stares and continued.

"Most encantados can't make their dolphin blowhole disappear from their forehead with the transformation, only very few can. Even though they usually only change at night, when Encantados change into human form, they are pale skinned and are great with music. Encantados love causing trouble and shaman used to end up getting called out to break whatever spell the encantados cast."

"Encantados abilities are shapeshifting, hypnotizing, controlling weather, causing nightmares, insanity, and death. Because Encantados are supernatural creatures, they can also see spirits. The encantados live in a realm called the Encante, which is very close to the Great Spirit and the realm of the shaman king." Yoh explained.

"That is an interesting myth, but there's no such thing as shapeshifters and merpeople." Anatel said in disbelief.

"Just like there is no such things as the sphinx, demons, and ghosts?" Yoh challenged.

"Just because the sphinx is one of the most well known Egyptian myths does not mean that it is true." Anatel countered.

"And just because you haven't met one doesn't mean they don't exist." Yoh replied calmly.

"Sigh... there's something else you and Hao have in common, no one can seem to win in an argument against either of you." Anatel said as he looked over at his two team mates. The three of them then began packing up and getting ready to leave.

"I almost forgot to ask, where is the shaman tournament?" Yoh asked curiously.

"North America. It's a little ways past the red river canyon and across the black desert. Once you're there, you'll see a small lake with a blue cave. At the end of the cave is Pache village, where the shaman tournament takers place. Most of the tournament participants will be flying there on the Patch plane. Mere human's like your self would not be able to hold your breath long enough to make it to the end of the cave, it's pretty deep underwater. You would drown before you even reached the second half of the cave." Anatel replied apologetically.

"I understand, are you leaving now?" Yoh asked, noticing that Nakht was getting ready to put out the fire.

"Yes, we have rested for too long and now we need to continue our journey." Anatel answered.

"Alright then, goodbye and god luck." Yoh said as team Team Niles walked out of sight.

'The shaman tournament, huh? Sounds interesting to watch, I think I'll try to find Pache village too. Anatel said that humans can't hold their breath long enough to make it to the end of the cave that leads to Pache village... But since when did I say that I was human? I said that I am not a shaman, but I never said that I was human either. Unlike most encantados I am rather laid back and even though I can shapeshift perfectly, I usually stay in dolphin form. I'm also the only encantado with the ability to change into a mermaid-like form. It's probably because my mom was a mermaid... I only change between forms if there is a festival, or something that piques my interest nearby. The shaman tournament, as well as the shaman who looks almost identical to me, sound rather interesting.' Yoh thought as he turned back into a dolphin and jumped into the lake. Yoh` chirped at the thought of the shaman tournament as he swam down the Amazon River and into the Atlantic Ocean.

xXx

Yoh` had been swimming through the Atlantic Ocean for several days before he finally reached the Gulf of Mexico. He had intended to swim through the Rio Grande until he reached New Mexico. After that, he would search around until he found the Pache village. Yoh` hadn't swam that long before and he was getting really tired. He had been swimming for a week straight and he was worn out from going so long without rest. He decided to take a break once he reached the Rio Grande.

In order to save energy, he switched into his mermaid-like form. Despite the name, being in his mermaid form didn't mean that he had suddenly changed into a girl. When he was in this form, he had the upper half of a human and the lower half of a dolphin. He had a dorsal fin on his back and his dolphin traits were all either pink or a faded violet. He found his dorsal fin rather annoying, but he could swim faster because of it.

Yoh had just reached the border to New Mexico and was about to take a short break when a loud crash sounded through the air. He looked around for the source of the sound and quickly realized that it had come from above. He looked up to see what it was and saw a boy that looked about his age falling out of of a burning plane. The boy wasn't the only one falling, but he was the only one who was separated from the others and appeared to be badly hurt.

Everyone that fell landed miles away from one another and the boy fell into a lake about 15 meters away from Yoh. He couldn't see any one else around and it didn't look like the guy had been conscious when he fell. 'Well I can't just let him drown.' Yoh thought as he got out of the water and ran over to where the boy landed. When he reached the edge of the lake, he dived into the water and returned to his mermaid-like form.

Yoh paused for a moment when he finally caught up with the other boy, he looked almost exactly like his human form. 'He must be Hao... So what? He could be the devil himself for all I care. I'm not about to let him drown.' Yoh thought as he reached out for the shaman. Once he had a good hold on Hao's hand, he quickly swam back to the surface. Yoh pushed Hao out of the water and then he sat at the edge of the lake so that he could see how he was doing.

After a minute of evaluating Hao's health status, he realized that his chest wasn't moving, he wasn't breathing. Yoh began to panic, he hadn't exactly been in this kind of situation before and it wasn't like he was a doctor or anything. 'What should I do?' Yoh thought worriedly, he was no expert on humans. All he knew was that, A, Hao swallowed too much water and, B, if he didn't start breathing soon, he would die.

XxX

Me: The Encantado is one of my favorite myths, but it's not one of the more common myths that I've heard, so I decided to write a story with one:)

Pink Dolphin: Please review.