Chapter 2: The Shaman Fight

As Team Funbari, Team "The Ren", and the remaining X-Laws trained for the second half of the Shaman Fight, Yoh Asakura, while out for a mid-afternoon walk, began to sense a weird aura emanating nearby the Great Spirit.

"Amidamaru, do you feel that? It feels as though something is calling out to me. Could it be the Great Spirit? It's certainly coming from that direction." Yoh said.

"Yoh-dono, do you wish for me to investigate?" Amidamaru suggested.

"No, that's alright Amidamaru. Let's both go, I want to see whatever is calling me with my own two eyes." Yoh explained.

As they followed the mysterious call, Yoh and Amidamaru discovered they weren't the only ones who had heard it. Chocolove and Lyserg had heard it as well.

"Yoh! Lyserg! What are you guys doing here?" Chocolove asked, confused as to why he and his friends were all standing in front of the same cave.

"Amidamaru and I felt something weird earlier so we came to check it out." Yoh answered.

"I felt something weird too, Morphine is helping me find where that weird aura is coming from." Lyserg said. "She led me to this cave. What do you say, should we go in?"

Yoh and Chocolove laughed and agreed. The three of them were relieved that, although they're on different teams, their friendship had still remained strong. As they headed into the cave they began to sense an unstable, yet contained source of furyoku.

"Do you guys feel that?" Yoh asked. "It feels like a reservoir of furyoku is about to break loose."

Chocolove and Lyserg, noticing the immense level of furyoku, walked carefully alongside Yoh as they ventured deeper into the cave. Chocolove turns to his spirits, Mick and Pascal Avaf, and asks them to be ready for an emergency evacuation. Lyserg does the same to Morphine and Zelel.

"This level of furyoku is pretty intimidating. Don't you think?" Lyserg said cautiously.

"It is. But whatever is down there, I'm sure we can handle it. Everything will turn out fine." Yoh answered with a goofy smile.

Lyserg laughed softly and smiled in agreement. The deeper they went, the stronger the furyoku felt. When they finally reached the bottom of the cave the trio discovered that Ryu, Faust, Ren and HoroHoro were already investigating this mysterious aura. Their friends remained motionless, staring at a gargantuan tablet. Chocolove then sought the knowledge of his wisest spirit, Avaf.

"What do you think Master Avaf? What does this tablet say?" Chocolove asked.

"The tablet itself is a seal. It seals a great power behind it. A power greater than any I have ever seen. A power that not even Hao, in his 1000 years of life, has discovered. Your friends, they are merely stupefied at the sheer power this tablet hides" Avaf replied.

Yoh found himself moving closer to the tablet. With each step he could feel the great power passing right through him, suppressing his free will. As Yoh drew closer, he began to draw his sword, the Harusame, and the Futunomita no Tsurugi.

"YOH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Chocolove screamed in fear of what would come next.

In an instant Yoh formed his Spirit of Sword OverSoul and cut through the giant tablet, splitting it in two and allowing the power that had been hidden for so long to flood the entire room. Hao, noticing the sudden surge of furyoku, went to investigate.

"This power..."Hao said to himself as he and his Spirit of Fire walked towards the cave. "The patch went to great lengths to hide it for all these years. I didn't even know about this when I was a Patch." As they walked, Hao noticed that he was being followed by the Patch official Silva, who had also sensed the great surge of power.

The Iron Maiden Jeanne, the true leader of the X-Laws, also noticed the power. She sent Marco, her second in command, to investigate as well.

"I pray that this power could be of use to the young maiden. With this, she may become the winner of the Shaman Fight just yet!" Marco thought as he and his Angel Michael raced towards the site of the surge.

As the members of Team Funbari, Team "the Ren", and Lyserg come to their senses, they discover that behind the tablet is a hidden portal.

"What happened? Where's the tablet, and what's this portal doing here?" Yoh asked, worriedly.

"You mean you don't remember?" Chocolove asked. "You straight up cut it down with your Spirit of Sword OverSoul! I guess that giant portal is what the tablet was hiding!"

As everyone gathered together, they began to exchange information as to why they were drawn to the cave.

"I just felt as though I could've received a greater power from here" said Ren, intently looking into the portal.

"Me too. I thought the power I needed to win the tournament could be found here. But I guess I was wrong. So, what do we do now?" HoroHoro asked.

"Well, what do you think should we do boss?" asked Ryu, wondering what Yoh's next move would be.

"I think we should go through the portal." Said Yoh, shocking everybody but Ren. "I want to find out where it goes. If Ren and HoroHoro are right, this could help us become strong enough to defeat Hao."

As the group contemplated entering the portal, they heard a sound coming from somewhere inside the cave.

"We're coming too!" screamed Redseb, as he, Seyram, and Mikihasa flew in on Golem.

"Redseb? What are you doing here? It's dangerous. Go home." Said HoroHoro, condescendingly.

"I saw Yoh, Lyserg, and Chocolove enter the cave while Golem and I were sitting near the Great Spirit." Redseb said. "I wanted to see what they were doing. And now that I know, I want to get stronger too!"

"You're just a kid! Stop trying to get yourself killed! Idiot!" Ren screamed, infuriated. "Leave this to the shamans who know what they're doing!"

Redseb refused to leave. Prompting Ren and HoroHoro to ask Yoh to speak to him. As Yoh walked over to Redseb to convince him to go home, Yoh turned around stared calmly at Ren and HoroHoro.

"What? What's with that look Yoh?" Ren asked.

"I think we should let them come with us." Yoh replied. "Who are we to stop someone from getting stronger? And besides, my dad is with them. Everything will turn out fine."

Ren began to walk away angrily, but was stopped by Marco, who had just discovered the source of power he had been searching for.

"Marco? What are you doing here?" Lyserg asked. "And where's the Lady Jeanne?"

"The real question here is, what are YOU doing here Lyserg? Why are you fraternizing with the enemy?" Marco retorted angrily. "Lady Jeanne sent me here to investigate a sudden surge of furyoku. I suggest you all leave now, because this power now belongs to the Iron Maiden Jeanne."

"Like hell it does!" Ren screamed "this power will help me win the Shaman Fight and become Shaman King!"

Ren charged at Marco with his Fish Fin OverSoul but was blocked by Marco's angel, Michael.

"Don't fight!" Yoh said. "We won't get anywhere trying to murder each other. We're here to investigate, that's all."

"Even if they did, I would just bring them back to life." Faust said with a smile.

Marco and Ren lowered their weapons. Agreeing that they had a common purpose for once.

"So, what's the plan Yoh?" Chocolove asked. "Are we going to go through the portal or not?"

"We are." Replied Yoh. "We have to remember, that we don't know what's on the other side of this portal. We need to be ready for anything."

Just then an explosion came from the entrance to the tablet room. Hao had found them and had every desire to harness the power hidden within the portal for himself. He then charged at the group full on with the Spirit of Fire, only to be stopped by Silva's Silver Shield OverSoul.

"Silva!? You too!?" Yoh exclaimed. "Where is everybody coming from?!"

"I felt the strong surge of furyoku as well. I followed Hao here in order to protect the portal. This portal is an ancient secret of the Patch. A secret very few know about. But for some reason it had selected all of you as its champions."

"Champions?" Ryu asked, confused. "Does this mean we all won the Shaman Fight?"

"I'll explain later! Just jump through the portal! NOW!" Silva screamed.

While Silva struggled to hold back Hao, they jumped through the portal one by one. First Yoh, then Ren, Chocolove, HoroHoro, Marco, Lyserg, Redseb, Seyram, Mikihasa, Golem, Faust, then Ryu. Silva's shield could not hold on long enough for Silva to close the portal, and broke. Silva was pushed into the portal as Hao broke through and entered as well. The portal shut, and everyone was engulfed in a white light. When they awoke, they found themselves on a platform in front of a mountain. They seemed to be in a village of some sort, a village hidden in a forest.