Disclaimer: Shaman King and its characters belong to Hiroyuki Takei, not me.

Author's Notes: If you want to see my long, drawn out explanation of things, take a look at the Chapter 1 Prologue. I don't feel like repeating myself and I'm sure you don't want to read it again if you already have.

WARNING! There be spoilers ahead!

In Response to Reviews

To Zetsumei: So, you finally read a fanfic that you haven't yet been included in and can't possibly write yourself into. It wasn't so painful now, was it?

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To Cat Silver: At this point I don't think Shiro and Shiva mind all that much about the fanfic anymore... considering what goes on in chatrooms, your fanfic is pretty mild in comparison. At any rate, I better move along with the fanfic so we can get beyond the angst and into the fun!

The Original Characters

Midnight

Age Unknown

Birthday Unknown

Details: The spirit of a wolf and coyote mix, found in small numbers in Crystal and Tyriel's hometown. As they mostly appeared in the creek near Tyriel's house, he was one of the few people that was actually aware of their presence. After meeting Hao and becoming aware of his power of second sight, Tyriel befriended one of the spirits and they have since become partners. [The personality of Midnight is based on another of my friends.]

Chapter Three, Part One: Complications

"I see you have found yourself a capable ghost," Hao observed the semi-transparent beast that stood beside Tyriel with his usual amused smile on his face. Apparently this Tyriel was quite taken with the idea of joining him, and quite capable of accomplishing what was requested of him. Finding a spirit partner had only taken him less than a month after he was aware that he could see spirits.

Tyriel nodded while the beast beside him let out a bored yawn. Despite not being human, the ghost certainly looked bored. Tyriel seemed to be itching for battle as well, which was rather entertaining. He was about to comment on something when a rather unexpected, although familiar voice interrupted him.

"What exactly is going on here?" demanded Crystal with a rather ominous looking Takikoneko perched on her shoulder. Tyriel was surprised to note that both of them were glaring at Hao, not at him.

Hao didn't actually wonder why Crystal knew exactly where he was. Her ability to track people down simply by recognizing their presence was not something to be taken lightly and clearly he had under-estimated exactly how capable she was of noticing him. Maybe meeting with Tyriel at the Middle School hadn't been the best idea.

Crystal folded her arms across her chest, but her glare faded to a less intimidating, annoyed look. Takikoneko jumped down from her shoulder and took on her humanoid form, also staring crossly at Hao. Crystal spoke again, "I guess you were trying to protect me from getting involved, but it's already a little too late for that. And did you think I wouldn't notice when my friend just up and disappeared with you?"

"Why would I bother trying to protect you?" protested Hao. The idea sounded completely absurd to him, although there was the question of why he never thought about putting her power to use.

"Perhaps it's because she's your friend," supplied Taki in an attempt to be helpful. The beast beside Tyriel, that was called Midnight, growled at her. This caused Taki to change back into her kitten form and hide on Crystal's other shoulder. Midnight looked thoroughly amused by this display of terror, but returned his attention to the happenings between the humans.

Hao wanted to protest again, but somehow he got the impression that there was some truth to Taki's words even if he himself didn't want to believe it. Crystal started talking again before he had a chance to consider the matter further, and he was kind of glad that he didn't get to continue thinking about it, because he really didn't want to.

"In any event, who do you think is going to control Tyriel once he starts doing your dirty work for you?" Crystal's serious expression made the answer clear. "Whether you like it or not, I'm joining you too."

Hao sighed in defeat, "Do what you like. I won't stop you." It was actually more along the lines of he couldn't stop her, but he wanted to at least maintain the image that he was the one that was in charge.

"Was that really so hard?" Crystal smiled, not pausing to wonder what had gotten Takikoneko so worked up.

Tyriel looked to Crystal nervously, "Why exactly are you doing this?"

"Someone has to act as your conscience once you get worked up in a fight, and so far I'm the only person you listen to," replied Crystal indifferently. Like I'm going to let myself be kept out of something this big? As if.

Chapter Three, Part Two: Confrontation

Lyserg, Ryu and Horohoro had been watching the entire discussion from a conveniently located row of bushes. So far they had managed to keep themselves scarce, but Lyserg's anger was starting to boil over at the sight of Hao. It wouldn't be much longer until he lost it altogether, and then the game would be up.

That girl seriously KOed Ren with one attack? She doesn't look very strong. Horohoro couldn't believe that it was possible. Then again, she was talking to Hao without any sign of being afraid of him. Moreover, it sounded like he didn't have much choice but to let her do what she wanted. It was actually a pretty good show, as long as you could ignore the fact that Lyserg was about to explode.

Ryu was more concerned with helping Lyserg keep a hold on his temper, not that it was actually working.

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"Does it have to be the guy with the dog-like ghost?" whined Takikoneko from Crystal's shoulder.

Crystal sighed patiently, "I can understand you being frightened, but I can't just let Tyriel take off like this without volunteering to keep an eye on him... and besides, I think his ghost was just playing with you."

"If you can justify that as playing," snorted Takikoneko.

Crystal lowered her voice, "It feels like we might have some hostile company. I count three, in the bushes... all of them Shamans with spirit partners."

"You're right, as usual," replied Taki, resuming her humanoid form beside Crystal, away from Tyriel and Midnight.

The way that Lyserg leapt from beyond the bushes was similar to what happens when you take a match to a powder keg. The attack that Lyserg was directing at Hao with his crystal pendulum would have landed on its mark, had it either been a little faster or if Crystal hadn't been compelled to step in.

For lack of having her usual weapon at hand, Crystal had picked up a medium length stick. In the course of a few seconds, she had Taki's power transfered to the stick and had her Oversoul of the giant dragon standing in the path of the crystal pendulum. Put simply, it bounced off of the dragon's scales and Lyserg glared at Crystal.

Crystal only smiled, "You know, if not for the fact that you were, and still are, radiating an incredible amount of hostility, I might not have noticed you at all." She looked to the bushes and waved her free hand, "I know you're in there, so you might as well show yourselves... I'm guessing that you must all be friends of Yoh's, otherwise I couldn't begin to guess what you're doing here."

The element of surprise lost, Horohoro and Ryu emerged from the bushes, Oversouls at the ready. Lyserg seemed to have calmed down and looked back to his two companions to give them a warning, "Clearly this girl, Crystal, has a lot more going for her than just pure power."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that... what she said before though... does that mean she reads people's emotions?" asked Horohoro.

The dragon Oversoul that Crystal had used seemed to disappear and was replaced by the sudden transformation of the stick in Crystal's hand into a spiritual sword. Crystal sighed, resting the sword over her shoulder, "I guess I can read people's emotions, but you still haven't answered my question... are you all Yoh's friends?"

"That's right," answered Ryu. "Why does that concern you?"

Tyriel had removed a rapter claw on a chain from around his neck and transformed Midnight into a Spirit Flame. He put the Spirit Flame into the rapter claw on the chain and it seemed to transform into a spiritual claymore. Tyriel smiled almost insanely, "Because she probably doesn't want to fight with you, but that doesn't mean that I won't."

Chapter Three, Part Three: Intervention

Hao watched as Crystal and Tyriel took action. The two of them certainly could prove to be useful, except that Crystal was acting on her own and Tyriel seemed to be supporting her. In any case, they were clearly acting on his side for the moment. At least, that was how it must have looked from the perspective of Yoh's friends.

Whereas Crystal seemed totally unwilling to fight with Yoh's friends, Tyriel had an almost maniacal grin on his face. Hao decided to get a better view of the fight from up in a nearby tree. Since Lyserg, Ryu and Horohoro showed no sign of performing the first move, Tyriel gladly took control of the fight.

When Tyriel swung the spiritual claymore, a combination of high pressure wind and electricity was released from the blade. Horohoro responded with an ice shield, canceling out the attack. The problem was that Tyriel had seemingly disappeared to a point that even Crystal didn't seem to know where he had gone.

Behind Horohoro, Tyriel had locked swords with Ryu. Either he was very fast, or there was something about him that allowed him to totally vanish from the battlefield and reappear where ever he damn well pleased. At any rate, a little more force from Tyriel sent Ryu crashing through Horohoro's ice shield, certainly informing Horohoro of his new location.

Lyserg attempted binding Tyriel with his crystal pendulum. Apparently Lyserg's dowsing skills were faster than Tyriel's disappearing act, because he certainly got caught up in the cable. Ryu had recovered, so he and Horohoro decided to use a double team attack on the target they could now actually hit. Their attack was met by Crystal's spiritual sword, which now appeared to be on fire.

I didn't want it to come to this... however, if I don't have a choice in the matter, I might as well make my presence count. The shockwave from Crystal's defensive action caused Lyserg, Horohoro and Ryu to go flying back, leaving Tyriel free to escape his bonds. The flames around the sword faded and she rested it over her shoulder again, "I really didn't want to have to do that, but I have a certain policy about protecting my friends... even if that means becoming the bad guy to do so..."

Even Lyserg was shaken by Crystal's words, so much so that he momentarily forgot why he had been so angry in the first place. Hao's amused laughter from up in the tree was more than enough to explain that. He could guess why Hao was entertained though: he, Ryu and Horohoro had just been swatted like flies and could barely even stand up.

"You guys should be fine in a few minutes... that shockwave was another of my stunning techniques, like the one I used on Ren," Crystal seemed to enjoy explaining the nature of her attacks, not that it made a lot of difference when she seemed to make them all up as she went along.

Hao descended from the tree, "We're going to leave now, if that's alright with you Crystal."

Crystal shrugged restoring Taki to the form of the dragon, looming ominously behind her. She glanced to Lyserg, Ryu and Horohoro, "If you're smart, you'll go back to Japan now and let the others know what they're up against." With that, she had Takiryuu lower a clawed hand down to raise her onto the dragon's shoulder.

Tyriel had released his Oversoul, restoring the rapter claw on the chain to its place around his neck. He joined Crystal, along with Midnight on the dragon's other shoulder. The dragon took flight, heading in the general direction of the waterfall.

Hao looked over Yoh's friends with an amused smile, "You're lucky she stepped in... I don't think her friend would have hesitated to kill all three of you." After that he was standing comfortably in the hand of the Spirit of Fire as it took flight.

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Several minutes passed. By the time Lyserg, Ryu and Horohoro could move effectively again, the dragon and the Spirit of Fire were gone from sight. They all stood around quietly for a few minutes longer.

"Well then, I guess we should go back to Funbari Onsen," suggested Horohoro.

Lyserg frowned, "We have to stop Hao..."

"If we want to deal with Hao, we're going to need Yoh no Danna anyway. Let's go back," said Ryu.

Lyserg nodded, "... alright then."

Chapter Three, Part Four: Decisions

Crystal had stopped off at her house on the way to the waterfall to exchange her school supplies for what she considered to be a few essential things. Most noteably, she once again had the plastic sword in the plastic sheath strapped to a belt around her waist. No one had been at her house as it was the middle of the day and her brother was still at school while her parents were at work. No one was going to try to stop her and quite frankly, she didn't want to be stopped. This was an adventure that she fully intended to be a part of.

Tyriel sat beside her at the top of the waterfall. They waited patiently for Hao to return, because Crystal had a feeling that he would. If Tyriel had any doubts about what he was doing, he was the only one that was aware of it. Crystal's doubts had been put to rest when she had seen Tyriel fighting with Yoh's friends. She wasn't about to give him a chance to lose control in a fight.

The Spirit of Fire descended from the sky and vanished as Hao settled himself across from the base of the waterfall. He looked to Crystal and Tyriel at the top of the waterfall, "If you're both here, then I guess that means you've worked through any doubts you had about joining me."

"Call it what you like, I'm doing this to keep Tyriel out of trouble," replied Crystal indifferently. Takikoneko was once again perched on her shoulder.

Tyriel shrugged, "After this afternoon, I'm looking forward to it."

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By the next afternoon, the details were known by the rest of those present at Funbari Onsen. Hao was most certainly alive, and from the sound of it had some new followers that totally displayed the old rule of looks can be deceiving. Somehow none of this had actually surprised Yoh, Ren, Anna or Manta as they had seen Crystal display a fraction of her power as well.

"Crystal doesn't want to be our enemy, that much is clear... but she doesn't want to betray Hao either," said Anna. "I think she was actually serious when she said he was her friend."

Horohoro sweatdropped, "Does being crazy always go hand in hand with having lots of power?"

Yoh shook his head, "She isn't crazy... she's just loyal to her friends, which isn't a bad thing." Maybe if she can get that across to Hao, we won't have to fight again... and he might actually rethink his whole plan to destroy humanity, being as Crystal was an ordinary human before she met him.

Lyserg nodded, "You're right. She only fought when her friend's life was put in danger, and even then she just worked to demobilize us. She didn't try to hurt anyone."

"She might not want to be our enemy, but as long as she's working with Hao, we're going to have to face the fact that we might end up having to fight her," noted Ren.

Yoh sighed, "Unfortunately, that is true and we can't simply overlook it... however, if it can be avoided, that would be better."

To Be Continued...

A Word From the Characters

Horohoro: Yay! I got screen time this chapter and I didn't come off as a total idiot!

Ren: Can I please hit him?

Taki: (dangles a cheeseburger in front of Yoh)

Yoh: (dives for it and crashes into a tree) Itai...

Manta: Isn't that a dub reference?

Hao: So, it's still funny to watch.

Crystal: As always, the insane authoress feels more inspired to write when she gets reviews, the sillier, the better. Threats from Anna or threatening to get Anna on her case also work too.