Disclaimer: Shaman King and its characters belong to Hiroyuki Takei, not me. Ranma 1/2 and its characters, specifically one Ryoga Hibiki, belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

Author's Notes: At this point in time I have seen the entire Shaman King anime in Japanese with English subtitles and scattered episodes of the dubbed first season. I have read the first four volumes of the English manga and await the release of volume 5. I have visited countless spoiler sites and a lot of the information just doesn't agree from site to site. Most of my background information is based on the manga, such as the fact that the official start of the Shaman Fight was January 1, 1999. The rest of the information, such as the outcome of the Shaman Fight, is based on the anime. The reason behind this is mostly because my mind organized the information that way and it just seems to fit in well with my plans for this fanfic.

WARNING! There be spoilers ahead!

In Response to Reviews

To Black Dragon: I don't actually mind cliffhangers except when I am forced to wait for months at a time to see what happens next. In this case, the continuation isn't going to be delayed all that long.

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To Plantress: Since Ryoga has no sense of direction, I figured I had a valid excuse to drag him into a different series like that. And now, the new chapter begins!

Chapter Six, Part One: A Turning Point

Yoh had already exhausted most of his Furyoku in his battle with Crystal, which to his understanding was only supposed to have been a sparring match. The way that Hao was smirking seemed to suggest otherwise, but Crystal seemed just as surprised by this turn of events as his own friends were. Amidamaru floated by his side at the ready, but Yoh knew he wouldn't last long if he was actually forced to fight against Hao at this time.

"I really should thank Tyriel for the insight," Hao explained. "If I had known from the start that she was this naive, I would have planned this sooner."

Crystal's surprise rapidly transformed into anger which she directed, "We'll discuss this later... if later even occurs thank you."

Tyriel seemed to flinch, but he made no effort to deny having provided Hao with the means of pulling this elaborate scheme together. Crystal's anger faded into a sense of having realized that she was to blame for what was happening. If she hadn't been so trusting, she wouldn't have fallen into this pitiful excuse for a trap. It should have been obvious, but she had completely failed to acknowledge what was happening.

"Feeling frustrated?" Crystal acknowledged the question from Macchi with a rather blank expression on her face. "Maybe now you'll think twice before trying to hinder Hao-sama's plans."

"... I wasn't..." Crystal began to protest, but she wasn't sure what it was she was actually trying to deny. I never tried to stop Hao from doing anything. I joined him to make sure Tyriel wouldn't use following Hao's orders as an excuse to kill people, but I didn't intend to become an obstacle. I just want to be a good friend. She wasn't very good at being put on the spot like this. Her resolve began to crumble and after another minute of absorbing this obvious defeat, she seemed to stand down.

Satisfied with this success, Hao decided it was time to wrap things up by finally settingly things with Yoh himself. The Spirit of Fire raised a fist and slammed it down toward Yoh, where it was immediately intercepted by Crystal's double bladed, flaming sword. It was Hao's turn to look surprised.

He had been convinced that the aspect of betrayal would be a heavy blow to Crystal, but he never imagined that she would be the one to stand against him. Yoh looked equally surprised, but that could have been because he was surprised by the fact that Crystal could block a direct attack from the Spirit of Fire. Crystal spoke in a voice that seemed rather distant, and yet perfectly clear.

"It would appear I have lost my place in this conflict. However, there is always something worth protecting."

The Spirit of Fire pulled back. Crystal held her weapon at the ready beside her, a look of determination visible on her face. Hao responded indifferently, "Then I guess I'll just have to plow through you first."

"I don't believe you're going to attack me," replied Crystal. She had spoke those same words the first time Hao had threatened her life. At that time, Hao had responded by actually attempting to strike her down to prove her wrong. At least this time around she had the means to fight back.

Hao hesitated. He remembered that the two of them had had this converstation before. After all this, how can she still convince herself that I'm not a bad person. Hao pondered this a little longer and another thought struck him. Maybe I'm not a bad person. He shook his head and made an effort to snap himself out of that train of thought. No, that isn't right. Humans are worthless and only those Shamans loyal to me deserve to exist in the world I will create.

Crystal braced herself as a blast of flames from the Spirit of Fire descended upon her. The outline of Takiryuu began to take shape around her as she lashed out with the double bladed, flaming sword. It had occured to her that simply defending herself from the Spirit of Fire wasn't going to get her message across. The air seemed to get heavy in the area surrounding where the dragon began to collect energy in front of its mouth. The only way to deal with a strong opponent was with an equally strong attack, and Crystal felt that her Midnight Dragon Blade would serve that purpose.

"Gozen Reiji Ryuu-ken!" A blue-white spiral shot from where the dragon silhouette had been collecting energy in front of its mouth. This skill was not elemental in nature and so the effect came in the form of a semi-massive explosion when it connected with the flames coming from the Spirit of Fire. When the smoke had cleared, the Spirit of Fire had vanished as Hao had lost control of his Oversoul out of surprise. Crystal however was standing with a plastic sword in one hand and her necklace in the other while Taki appeared next to in her humanoid form next to Crystal. If Hao summoned the Spirit of Fire again, she wouldn't be able to stand against another attack from it.

She really must have been going easy on me if she had a skill like that available to her. Yoh watched in considerable amazement.

"That was impressive, but now you can't even face me at my level," noted Hao. "It was a futile effort at best."

Crystal put her plastic sword back over her shoulder and went about the task of putting her necklace back on. She shrugged as she spoke to Hao again, "I don't know about that. It seems that I've made a pretty good show of it, even if it means that my life will have to be cut short."

"Now wait just a second!" Surprisingly, it was Ren that commented in Crystal's defense. "You can't even protect yourself anymore, let alone anyone else."

Crystal paused to think about that. Her usual light-hearted smile returned to her face, which was a welcome switch from the frustration and anger that had been driving her for the last few minutes. She spoke reassuringly, "This mess is my fault to begin with. It's only natural that I should take responsibility for what is happening. I'll find a way through this though. After all, anything is possible as long as we believe it is."

"Yeah, but didn't you just blow all your power on that last attack?" It was Horohoro's turn to comment.

"Don't worry. Everything will work out." Yoh decided to add his usual words to the conversation.

In that moment Hao realized that Crystal now had the backing of Yoh and his friends. That was something he had not been counting on. After all, how could one of his supporters so effectively gain the trust of Yoh and his friends. There is no way she can prove that what she's doing isn't simply another part of my elaborate scheme to kill Yoh. Why can they accept her so easily? Hao was surprised by his own thoughts. He had thought the same thing on several occasions in regard to Crystal's ability to trust him.

Crystal had returned her attention to Hao who seemed to be rather hesitant about summoning the Spirit of Fire again, "So are we going to get back to being friends or do you seriously intend to vaporize me for defending your little brother?"

This caught Hao completely off guard. How does she get off calling me her friend after I tried to kill her. And it wasn't the first time either!

"Face it Hao, being a crazy pyromaniac determined to destroy humanity in its entirety doesn't make you an evil person," Crystal continued. "In fact, maybe you're just afraid to let people see your good side because you're afraid of being hurt."

"What would you know about it?!" demanded Hao. He was starting to wonder exactly how Crystal had managed to transform this from a fight between Shamans into a group therapy session.

Crystal shrugged, "I wouldn't know anything about it. I was just making a wild guess, but it sounds like I was right."

Hao thought back to several nights earlier when he had asked Tyriel about Crystal. It occured to him that they might be somehow alike based on certain experiences that could have influenced them in the past. Could that have been the reason why Crystal was able to accept him, regardless of the things he had done that probably would have turned most people against him?

"She doesn't really like to talk about it anymore, but back when I first met her she was going around asking everyone the same question," explained Tyriel. "Would you rather be considered popular or would you rather be able to trust your friends? I think it was because she has always had to deal with the fact that there are those people who simply don't like her. She seemed surprised when I answered with the latter." Tyriel deliberately paused for a moment to let this information sink in.

"Why couldn't I see it before?" Hao collapsed to his knees with a somewhat pained expression on his face.

"The scars of time run deep, but given a chance even they can heal," replied Crystal with a smile. "You don't have to let your past control you anymore."

Hao stood up slowly, "... I don't know... what else is there?"

"Well, I'm sure you and your brother have a lot of catching up to do. Why not start there?" Crystal suggested helpfully.

Hao thought about it for a second before saying, "I suppose I could give that a try."

Chapter Six, Part Two: Looking to the Future

One Month Later...

Yoh, Ren, Horohoro and Manta with the addition of Hao were all relaxing in the bath/hot spring. After that whole mess had ended, Crystal and Tyriel had left in a hurry because they still had school to contend with and were already at a loss for an explanation for why they had been missing as long as they had been. Hao had found that he quite liked life at Funbari Onsen, even if it meant unintentionally signing up to be ordered around by Anna periodically when there were chores to be done.

"Do you suppose Crystal will come back to visit once she's released for summer break?" Yoh asked no one in particular.

Hao shrugged, "Even if it isn't this summer, I have a feeling we'll see her again."

"You seem pretty sure about that," noted Horohoro.

"She has friends to return to, so she'll come back," replied Hao.

Yoh smiled, "It's nice to have you on our side."

There was a faint sound that quickly got louder until it came off as a well-defined explosion. A circular hole formed in the wall opposite the bath/hot spring as a voice shouted, "Bakusai Tenketsu!" Ryoga stepped through the hole and without even pausing to actually look around he shouted, "Now where am I?!"

There was an exchange of sweatdrops before Horohoro asked, "Isn't that the same guy that was here a month ago looking for some place called the Tendo Dojo?"

"No sense of direction?" commented Hao.

"Like you wouldn't believe," replied Ren.

Having heard the explosion, Anna promptly stormed in on the assembled group. Somehow the appearence of naked teenage boys never seemed to phase her, however the sight of shattered remnants of wall more than made up for it. In a matter of minutes she had poor, lost Ryoga building a new one along with the rest of them.

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Back in California, Crystal was visiting the waterfall. Since it no longer seemed like it would be necessary to use her powers as a Shaman and Taki had been away for quite some time, they went back to the way things used to be. That meant that Taki performed her role as the spirit of the waterfall and Crystal came to visit from time to time. It was a good system and sometimes Tyriel would tag along.

After Tyriel had explained his part in Hao's elaborate little scheme to use Crystal to weaken Yoh, Crystal had pounded some sense into him using a particularly large phonebook. Whether or not this actually worked was open to debate, but he hadn't done anything of that sort since. This might have also been because there hadn't been another opportunity to pull a stunt like that since that particular day.

In any event, Crystal was on one of her usual visits to the waterfall. One of the things that had changed was that under much insistence from the pyromaniacal waterfall spirit that was Taki, Crystal would frequently be wearing her headphones like Yoh. Crystal didn't particularly care, but Taki insisted that it was a good fashion statement and it completed her look. Crystal sometimes wonder exactly what look Taki was talking about.

"Your parents still mad?" asked Taki.

Crystal shrugged, "How would I know? They don't want to talk about it."

"It's funny to think that the truth is harder to believe than any lie you could possibly come up with," noted Taki.

Crystal raised an eyebrow, "Oh really? I can come up with some pretty unbelieveable stories, you know."

"Like what?" coaxed Taki.

Crystal smirked, "I've been saving that one about the toaster being a certified airline pilot who keeps taking me to Japan for anime merchandise."

"Now that would be interesting," Taki chuckled.

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A myserious figure lurked in the trees near the waterfall. He was dressed in the attire of a wandering monk and appeared to be rather young for a wandering monk. He was watching Crystal and for some reason she hadn't noticed he was there. He didn't phase in and out of reality every ten seconds, so he must have been masking his energy.

"So, she's the girl who managed to make Hao the way he is now? Very interesting."

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Tyriel marched down the length of the creek along with Midnight. He was stalking a poor, defenseless little squirrel. He stepped on a particularly dry branch causing it to snap and the squirrel darted up the nearest tree.

"Drat," Tyriel muttered under his breath. "There goes lunch."

Is this boy absolutely sure he's supposed to be human? Midnight simply shook his head watching Tyriel.

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From several vantage points around the globe, the young Shamans turned their attention to the stars. It was a quiet night and everything seemed in place. Only time would tell how long that would last.

The End... Or Is It?

A Word From the Characters

Manta: That was a strange and unexpected conclusion.

Lyserg: Hao is STAYING at Funbari Onsen?!

Ren: I wonder more about Horohoro. I drop by to visit and it seems like he never leaves.

Taki: (absently dangles a cookie in front of Horohoro)

Horohoro: (dives for it and crashes into a tree, joining the unconscious Yoh, Hao and Crystal)

Ren: Idiot.

Taki: And since Crystal is still unable to do this... the insane authoress feels more inspired to write when she gets reviews, the sillier the better. Threats from Anna usually work too... speaking of which, where IS Anna?

A Look At What's to Come

With Hao no longer acting as a threat against all of humanity it seems like things can only keep getting better. Two years pass and then out of the blue a mysterious Shaman known only as Hex appears claiming to be the guy who defeated Hao a thousand years ago. Whether or not that is the case, Hex is clearly powerful and he has his own vision of the future.

Can our heroes stop this lunatic bent on world domination? Only the upcoming chapters will reveal the answer!