Shaman of Emerald Flame
Chapter Three: Boxing Champions and Flaming Inferno's
Disclaimer: Shaman King belongs to Hiroyuki Takei
I only own the original characters and some original concepts.
Flamers: I have yet to be flamed for a fanfic, but anyways I dun really care if you flame me or not. I certainly won't like it since I think it's very rude to flame people. If you have constructive criticism or an ideas for me I will accept them gladly and with politeness. Flaming is immature and rude and any flames will be ripped to pieces and fed to my kitties and my dog.
Author Notes: This is a rewrite of the series , meaning plot changes
I'm also going by the manga because I have no access yet to the anime, and five seconds of the dubbed near killed me.
Couplings: Yoh x Anna, Amidamaru x OC, Ren x OC
Warnings: original characters, romance, cursing, insanity and once again plot , also might be a bit of out of character ness.
Also if you would like to use Koneko or any original characters please let me know.
Also I want to thank Just a Little Disturbed for beta-ing my story. She saved you all from the terror of my awful grammar and spelling.
One more thing: This happens before Ren first comes into the series and before the Soul Boxing issue in the manga
Italics and {}- flashbacks
-Koneko-chan
~~~~~~
"Hot! Hot! Hot!" Manta whined, lying on the grass outside the school, fanning himself with several books. "It's unbearable!"
"I suppose it is a bit annoying," Koneko commented, sitting near him in anything but the uniform. She was dressed in a slightly tight, dark green tank top with a black chibi cat face in the middle, her legs were covered by black jean shorts that came down to her knees, and she held a thick book in front of her face. She was obviously not immune to the heat, for much like Manta, she was sweating. Also, every once in a while she would raise a hand to push her black wire-framed glasses back into place, from where they slipped down because of sweat.
"How can you just sit there reading like that?" Manta asked, turning his head to look at her in amazement. She shrugged, never taking her eyes off her book.
"Simple, I just ignore the heat. There's no true way to avoid it, so I might as well deal with it," she said calmly, causing him to stare even more.
"Wait a second...are you wearing glasses?" he said loudly. She finally lowered the book and looked over at him .
"Yes, I am. I wear them for reading. Is that so unusual?" she asked and he shook his head.
"No. I just never noticed before," he admitted. They both turned to look at Yoh who was apparently fighting something, though that something was invisible to the both of him.
"What is he doing? And how can he stand to move around like that in this heat?" Manta asked, his mouth almost dropping open in shock.
"Good question," she said, taking her glasses off and putting them in the pocket of her jean shorts. "I'd say the sun cooked his brain, but I'm not sure if he ever had one."
"Come on, Ko-chan! What do you think I'm doing?" Yoh asked cheerfully, still fighting his invisible enemy.
"Being an idiot?" She suggested, in an annoyed tone.
"No, I'm fighting the heat," Yoh grinned widely. "The heat's only unbearable because you try to run from it. I face it head on and have fun with it."
"I've said it once, and I say it again: your an idiot, Yoh," Koneko said dryly.
"I can't help but agree with you on that one, Koneko-san," Manta said, nodding in agreement.
"KEEP AWAY FROM ME, YOU SWEATY PIG!" an older boy's voice yelled loudly, making all three stop and look over at what was happening. They found themselves looking at a tall boy wearing the uniform for their school with short spiky blonde hair beating up a shorter boy with glasses.
"What did I do to you?" the shorter boy asked from the ground, holding up his hands in defense.
"Shut up, fatso," The taller spiky-haired boy said, making a fist. "Or do you want second!?"
"Manta-san, what's going on?" Koneko asked, watching this with a critical eye.
"Oh, Tatshushi's at it again," he replied, sitting up.
"You know that guy?" Yoh said, stopping his 'fight the heat' dance.
"Doesn't every-one? Either of you ever hear of Gusshi Kenji?"
"No," both shamans said in unison.
"Figures," Manta sighed, already having expected that answer. "Gusshi Kenji was a boxing champion with a distinctive fighting stance. He was the god of the Japanese boxing world. He discovered Tatsushi and tried to develop him."
"Develop?" Yoh sounded confused.
"Train, bring out the better parts of his personality," the redhead now standing next to him explained and Manta nodded.
"Yeah, essentially. Thanks to Gusshi, he went from bully to boxer. Then Gusshi Kenji died in an accident and his gym went bankrupt." Manta gave a sigh. "And Tatsushi went back to being a punk. I guess you just can't make a champion of a jerk like that." They watched as Tatsushi kicked the guy in the butt.
"Tatsushi Tobinai, 9th grader, and psychopath. If you see him coming, run away," Manta said, sitting back down.
"I run from no one. No matter how much bigger than me they are," Koneko said firmly, crossing her arms.
"Your crazy then."
"Well, we knew that already."
"The ghost of a boxing champ, eh?" Yoh said, looking interested. "Could be handy to have around."
"I guess.." Manta muttered.
Koneko blinked and then sweat dropped heavily as Yoh ran over to the bigger boy and whapped him on the back.
"Hey, big guy. Let's have a chat," Yoh said cheerfully.
"EEP! THAT IDIOT!!" Both Manta and Koneko exclaimed in shock, with Manta being much louder.
"What's your problem?" Tatsushi asked, glaring down at Yoh.
"I want to know about Gusshi, your dead boxing teacher! Lay it on me," Yoh said with amazing cheerfulness and got punched straight in the cheek.
"Don't ever mention that bastard's name to me again. It makes me sick," Tatsushi growled at Yoh.
~~~~~~~~
"There, that should do it," Koneko said, placing a bandage on Yoh's cheek.
"That was pretty stupid of you, Yoh." Manta admonished, sitting on a chair in the nurses office besides Yoh's bed.
"But he didn't seem like that bad of a guy," Yoh said, rubbing his cheek.
"I sensed that as well," Amidamaru commented, materializing beside Yoh.
"Well, of course he didn't! He obviously has a fighter's spirit and soul." Koneko frowned. "That doesn't…" she trailed off the minute she noticed that Yoh was not listening at all.
"Exactly! Let's find more about this guy!!" Yoh exclaimed to his samurai ghost excitedly.
"An excellent idea," Amidamaru agreed with just as much excitement.
"Ha! Not gonna happen! He doesn't have friends or family, and it doesn't look like he's gonna open up…." Manta started to say before Yoh interrupted.
"Of course not! So we'll locate the champ's ghost, if he's still haunting this world. Besides! It's not good to keep running away forever," Yoh said and then, if possible, grinned wider.
"Okay, Amidamaru. Go talk to your ghost informants. " Amidamaru hmm-ed to his master in understanding. " Me, Manta, and Ko-chan will check every place that has a boxing ring."
"Manta-san?" Koneko asked and the boy whimpered in acknowledgement.
"Do you think either of them heard a word we said?"
"No…"
~~~~~~~~~~
Koneko glanced around the dark abandoned ring calmly--well as calmly as one could with Manta clinging to their leg.
"Manta-san, please get off my leg. Nothing is going to harm us, and if anything tries, I'll kill it," she said, shaking her leg. "Now, come on. We have to do this to help make Yoh's plan work."
"How are we supposed to do that? We can't even see.." he whimpered, still clinging. She gave an annoyed sigh.
"Don't worry about that! Now get off my leg before I hurt you," she growled angrily and he released her leg.
"Chikazu, can you lend me a bit of light?" she called out and the little firewolf materialized at her side holding out his small clawed hand. A ghostly reddish fire appeared, casting flickering light around the room.
"Manta, you get the lights," she ordered and followed him as he ran over to where the light switch was.
"BASTARD!" They both heard Tatshushi's voice throughout the room as he punched a poster of Gusshi Kenji that was on the wall. "I didn't know nothin' but picking fights..then you gave me my first beat down...taught me the 'sweet science'..." the older boy's voice paused. "You gave me a goal -- to beat you one day -- and rule the boxing world, but you cheated me! YOU DIED! What are my fists good for now?"
"Kinda makes you rethink your opinion of him, doesn't it, Manta-san?" Koneko asked softly and the smaller boy nodded. "Flip the lights." He did as she told him surprising Tatsushi.
"What else?" Yoh replied cheerfully to Tatsushi's raging at the poster of Gusshi Kenji. Tatsushi turned around, angry that someone was in here besides himself, and found himself staring, startled, at the boy sitting in the ring in a pair of dark boxing briefs. "See. You do miss boxing."
"Your the gnat I swatted this morning! Playing dress up?" the boxer asked dryly.
"I'm the spitting image of Gusshi Kenji, aren't I? And I came to fight his star pupil," Yoh smirked widely in his sitting position.
"... More like the spit then the image," Tatsushi growled at him.
"If you hadn't run away from boxing, you'd know me. They call me "The new Gusshi Kenji." That comment caught and pissed off the older and much bigger boy.
"Don't make me laugh! Your nothin' like Gusshi. You out-of-shape-kid!" Tatsushi snarled stepping into the ring.
"Hey, will Yoh be all right, Amidamaru? Koneko?" Manta asked, looking scared.
"Hai," Koneko nodded and smiled easily.
"He will be alright," the ghost also nodded wisely. "He has a powerful ally," he said as a spirit flame appeared beside Yoh.
"See for yourself," Yoh smiled. "INTEGRATE!" he then stood up and took an expert boxing stance.
"You little copycat!" Yoh's stance seemed to be making the older boy even more angry. " DON"T YOU MOCK MY TEACHER!! THAT"S A LOUSY IMITATION!!!" he snarled and threw a powerful punch at Yoh's jaw and hit.
Yoh merely smirked, "that tingled a little But if that's the best you got, your not good enough to lick my shoes."
"Okay, WISE ASS!" he snarled, throwing a series of powerful punches at Yoh. The young male shaman dodged each one, making sharp remarks to each block.
"PUNK!" Yoh yelled, then punched Tatsushi hard in the right side of his chest.
"That's amazing! That's just how Gusshi won the world title!" Manta said, clearly amazed.
"Yes. I do not really understand how it works, but shamans can take on the movements of the ghosts they integrate with," Amidamaru said with his arms crossed. Koneko looked up at him visibly astonished herself but hardly at Yoh's battle.
"You integrate with him and you don't really understand how it works?" She repeated slowly and the samurai nodded.
"Guess an idiot integrates well with an idiot," she muttered, turning her attention back to the battle.
"What does that mean, Koneko-sama?"
"Nothing. Pay attention," she said, brushing the question aside.
"YOU BUM! After all I told you! Still making excuses! EH, TATSUSHI?!" Yoh yelled, looking almost exactly like Gusshi as he slammed his fist hard into Tatsushi. "STOP RUNNING AWAY!" he yelled again, knocking him flat on the floor. The old boxer's ghost appeared behind Yoh and grinned widely.
"CUT IT OUT, ALREADY!" Tatsushi yelled, collapsing on the ring's mat. "Your..making me want to take up boxing again...."
Koneko smiled to herself, "Well this problem seems to be solved rather nicely, except for the large bruises Yoh has got on his face."
~~~~~~~~~
"It's another scorcher," Manta said as they walked into a ice cream store Yoh was ahead of him and then stopped and turned.
"Hey Ko-chan?!" he yelled out. Seconds later, he heard a loud 'ITAI!' as the redhead mentioned missed walking through the door and came in contact with a wall. She walked through the door holding her book in one hand and rubbing her face with the other.
"Next time, warn me quicker...and STOP CALLING ME KO-CHAN!" she glared at him as she took her glasses off and pocketed them. Yoh just smiled cheerfully.
"Can I have three shaved ices, please?" Yoh then said to the nice lady at the counter. "Two with melon syrup and one with strawberry."
"Sure thing, young man," she smiled at him and looked at Manta.
"I'll have a soft serve," he told her collapsing into a seat, then looked over at Yoh, "Your having three?"
"Nope. One's for Ko-chan," he replied calmly, ducking as a book came flying towards his head. "And the other is for him," he said, taking out a memorial tablet.
"Um...why do you call a memorial tablet him?" Manta asked as Yoh sat down beside him. Manta watched as Yoh sat the memorial tablet on the counter and put one of the shaved ices in front of the tablet.
"HEY! Isn't that in bad taste? That looks like the offerings to the dead you make at a Buddhist altar," Manta said, wide-eyed, as Koneko sat down on the other side of Yoh smacking him hard of the head. There were small bruises covering her face where it had collided with the wall.
"I can't just eat in front of my friend without letting him have some? Can I?" Yoh asked, taking out another spoon. "Right, Amidamaru?" The large samurai ghost materialized from the tablet in a bowing position, "Thank you, Yoh-sama."
Manta stared with wide-eyes, his mouth hanging open. "I think my heart almost stopped."
"Yeah and your hair went POOF too," Koneko commented, eating her shaved ice calmly. "Don't worry, Manta-san. You'll get used to instant appearances the more your around us."
"Memorial Tablets and Tombstones are like houses for ghosts," Yoh explained. "And that guy destroyed his. Floating around gets old."
"There other, more convenient ways of keeping ghosts with you when they don't have a tombstone, if you have more then...say one or two," Koneko added, holding up her wrist to reveal a gold charm bracelet with three charms on it. One was a black fox charm, and the other two were an emerald green dragon, and a black and red wolf charm."Demons are far more powerful then a regular ghosts, so they can 'live' in items that are related to them, like a fake fox or wolf tail or a emerald necklace. But simple charms are the lightest and easiest way to carry them around."
" I can't imagine living with a ghost 24/7," Manta said, once again amazed.
"But there are so many advantages! If either of us oversleep, one of the ghost wakes us up with sleep paralysis--like when you know your awake but can't move," Yoh said, eating more of his shaved ice.
"Or in my case, they make sure I actually get sleep," Koneko said, leaning back in her chair, having finished her shaved ice.
"Hai. Ko-chan here is an insomniac..."
"Partial insomniac," she corrected.
"Why are you an insomniac?" Manta asked her. She frowned and shook her head, her braid almost whapping Yoh in the face.
"I'd rather not say, Manta-san," she said sadly.
"Other advantages are that they can navigate from above, if either of us gets lost," Yoh said, changing the subject.
"Which is quite a lot, in some people's cases," a familiar male voice said from behind Koneko and she glanced up into Saki's lavender eyes.
"Meany," she glared at him.
"I am merely being truthful, Koneko-sama," he stated.
"Your still being mean."
"And neither of us have to worry about bullies. Though Koneko usually fends them off, instead of her ghosts doing that for her."
"GEE! Saki, don't you wish you at least knew how to fight?" Koneko said, sarcasm dripping from her tone.
"No, not in the least I prefer using my head in a tough spot then brute force," he said in his defense.
"Wimp boy."
"I am not a wimp."
"Well, you get the picture, Manta. Amidamaru is an outstanding body guard," Yoh said grinning.
"I think I'm more of a bodyguard of my ghosts then they are of me," Koneko couldn't help but say dryly, glaring at the black kitsune beside her.
"Bodyguard?" Amidamaru asked frowning.
"Like a Yojimbo," Yoh said, offering an example to explain to his ghost.
"A YOJIMBO!" the samurai exclaimed happily. "Every samurai dreams of becoming a Yojimbo."
"Your dream has come true then," Yoh said, leaning back in his stool.
"FIREEEEE!" A loud scream came from the lady who had given them their food. "This is terrible! The chinese restaurant upstairs is on fire! Run for your lives!" she yelled, running in.
"F-f-ire?" Manta exclaimed in fear. Koneko's eyes lit up and Saki groaned, recognizing the look in her eyes.
"IT'S AN INFERNO!" the small boy with them yelled. "Let's get out of here, YOH!" he had started to run away when Yoh grabbed his tie, half-strangling him.
"Wait Manta! There could be people inside." He said simply.
"PEOPLE! I'M PEOPLE!!! AND YOU NEARLY STRANGLED ME JUST NOW!!"
Koneko fell forward on the ground. "ITAI! Shrieky, please no more shrieky?!" she pleaded covering her ears with her hands. Chikazu materialized on Saki's shoulders looking down at his red-haired master.
"Saki-niisan, what's wrong with Koneko-sama?" he asked.
"She has sensitive ears and that boy is very loud," the fox said in slight annoyance of having the wolf pup on his shoulders.
"I figured that...I meant her speech. It doesn't make sense."
"It rarely does when she's dizzy, in pain, dealing with blood loss, no sleep, or hyper. You'll get used to it," the fox said in a calm voice that said he had to deal with the young girl's oddities for a long time.
"Don't worry, Manta. If you die, you can integrate with me," Yoh said simply, as if it was no big deal. Manta's eyes however bugged out and he seemed to be in complete shock.
"Well, at least it shut him up," Koneko said, jumping up to her feet.
Yoh frowned distractedly. "Hey Amidamaru, will you see if anybody is inside?" Yoh asked his ghost who nodded and flew off into the fire.
Manta snapped out of his shocked state, "He flew into that?!"
"Well yeah..he's already dead so it's not like he can die again," Koneko said dryly.
"Oh...yeah...I sort of forgot about that."
"YOH-SAMA! THERE IS NO ONE INSIDE! BUT THERE ARE CHILDREN ON THE ROOF!" they all heard Amidamaru yell to them.
"CAN YOU SEE A FIRE TRUCK, AMIDAMARU?! IT'S A LONG RED VEHICLE!" Yoh yelled back to his ghost.
Koneko frowned. "Shimatta...Chikazu could you control this fire, in any way?" she turned, looking at the wolf pup on the tall kitsune's shoulder.
"Only a portion from it..from inside the actual fire..but that's far to risk-" he started to say when he noticed the glint in her eyes.
"That will have to do then," she said crossing her arms, a plan formulating in her mind. A plan very similar to the one formulating in Yoh's mind.
"THIS IS NOT GOOD! THE STREET IS BLOCKED!! THE FIRE TRUCKS CAN'T GET THROUGH!" Amidamaru yelled back to them.
"Geez! Do we hafta do everything around here?" Yoh asked Koneko softly.
"Apparently," she answered as he walked up to a large bucket of water and dumped it on his head.
"Y-yoh? K-koneko? What are you.." Manta asked, looking from the soaking wet Yoh to the calm Koneko.
"We're gonna save them, of course. This town's got enough troubled spirits already," he said, shaking his head and then ran forward. "Amidamaru, lead the way to the roof." He skidded to halt when Amidamaru held out his arms.
"You must not enter," he said firmly. "There are no more safe paths inside. I cannot allow you to sacrifice yourself, even if I must disobey you."
"We can't let those kids burn. Won't you feel bad if you let them die?" Yoh said seriously.
"OF COURSE... BUT... BUT I WOULD FEEL WORSE IF YOU WERE TO DIE!!"
Yoh smirked. "That makes two of us." He smiled at Amidamaru and Manta, and then ran forward into the fire. "So you better keep me alive!"
"He ran into the fire," Manta said weakly, falling to his knees.
"Indeed he did," Koneko said smirking, causing Manta to stare up at her.
"Aren't you worried..?"
"Not really. I'm planning to do something similar." She grinned and tore forward nearly giving the boy a heart attack. Saki sweatdropped and knelt by Manta, watching as Chikazu turned into a small red black spirit flame with two wolf ears and a giant poofy red black tail, and then raced after Koneko.
"It's okay, Manta-sama. This is a normal occurrence...for them at least," he said in what he hoped was a reassuring voice.
~~~
Koneko looked around the fire calmly, her emerald eyes turned a deep fiery red, as she quickly ran through it
"Amidamaru-niisan," she called out towards Yoh, her voice having taken on a much more childish and younger tone. Yoh turned towards her.
"You are Chikazu, correct?" he asked, sounding more like Amidamaru then Yoh. She nodded.
"I can create a path through the fire for these mortal bodies to pass safely, that way we should reach the top without them being harmed," he said, holding out his hands. The fire around them began jumping apart, creating a path for them.
"Well done, Chikazu-san," Yoh nodded to him and ran forward with the red-haired girl chasing after him to the roof.
"You should release the water," she said as she ran forward to the children who were crying.
Yoh stared up at the emergency water tank, then cut it with the pipe he was holding, sending water pouring down over the building.
"I'll say this.." Koneko peered out over the building, one of the children holding onto her leg. "Life with these shamans sure isn't boring."
"Indeed.." Yoh agreed, before passing out.
~~~~~
"I see.." a young male voice said as the owner of the voice watched the scene before him from a tall building.
"The headphone boy has a strong and clever ghost, and that redhead girl is certainly a rare one, don't you think Bason?" he asked the Chinese warlord that had appeared behind him, smirking to himself.
~~~end chapter~