Thanks so much to Blu Rose and Flairy-Chan, who both reviewed my story! Now, on with the story! Chapter 2!


Shaman Tale

Chapter 2

A Hard Family

Terra's hand flew to the hilt of her sword. "Is that your only reason to defeat me? Just because I beat your little sister?"

The young man tilted his head to the side. "Diana was the only one in our family who was seen as strong enough to fight in the tournament. But it seems she wasn't that strong, after all. I should have been the strongest, and now I, her older brother Zack, will prove it! Gahrok! Spirit form!" A large black soldier appeared behind him and turned into a black spirit ball.

"You're a shaman?" Terra asked while she drew her sword.

In answer, Zack shouted, "Unity!"

"I'll take that as a yes. Reena! Spirit Form! Unity!"

The two shamans pushed their spirits into their chests and stood ready, Terra holding her sword and Zack holding his mace.

"I'll show you how strong I really am!" Zack lunged forward and attempted to strike her.

Terra jumped back. "You'll have to try harder than that!" she mocked. She landed and then pushed off from the ground. "Dancing Blade!" she shouted, hitting Zack first with the flat side of her sword and then slashing across his back.

"Argh!" Zack cried and stumbled forward.

Terra ran behind him and held the sword above her head. "Now I'll give you until I count to five to give up. One… two…"

"TERRA!"

Terra froze. She knew who that was, and it wasn't Zack. She shakily turned around. "J-Jet…?"

A boy with shiny black hair was running over to her. Any girl would have melted at the sight of him. "What in the world are you doing? Grandpa's gone crazy, waiting for you to get home!" Jet was Terra's overprotective and rather popular cousin. He wasn't a shaman, so he helped to train her instead. "And don't you dare hurt that guy!"

"I wasn't gonna hurt him!" Terra protested. "He was the one who attacked me!" She pointed at Zack.

"Oh he did, did he?" Zack walked straight up to the injured Shaman, whose spirit was now floating next to him. "Do you want me to take your little ghost and use for my own purposes?" He stared into Zack's midnight black eyes, trying to freak him out. But it didn't work as well as he'd hoped – he and Zack were around the same age.

Terra pulled his arm. "There's no need for that, Jet! He didn't hurt me! Not even a bruise!" True, Jet wasn't a shaman. But he was a Ghost Channeler, and could channel a ghost's power into energy, like a fire or an electric spark. He could use any ghost he wanted, sometimes even stealing someone else's. But, no matter how much he threatened, he never did that. Or at least, Terra had never seen him do so.

"Hmph," Jet grunted. "Well, let's go home." Then he left.

Terra ran up to Zack, who had a dark expression on his face, and bent down. "No hard feelings, Ok?" Then she too left.

Zack looked up, and glared at the young shaman as she left. He heard Diana arriving behind him. "So you were going to take care of her, were you?"

Zack rose to his feet. "I was, until he showed up. Who knew that that girl had a Ghost Channeler as a relation."

Diana said nothing, and looked at the pink and orange sunset. "Next time, we attack together." Then she added, "Master's orders."

"Huh. Unusual for him to switch to those tactics. He's always so, 'when you want something done, do it yourself' or 'depend on only yourself', 24/7."

"Hmm. But even so, we still need a battle strategy. Even if it isn't as good as by ourselves."

"Then I suppose we'd better think one up."


"WHAT!"

Terra stared at the old man in front of her. They were outside her massive house, having just arrived home. The man gave her a cold stare. "You heard me, and you know the rules. When you're late home, you do all the housework, not to mention a more intense training schedule."

"But Grandpa! It's Jet's turn to cook!"

"Jet's cooking isn't very good anyway," said her grandfather, which earned a glare from Jet.

"But… but… I had to fight a shaman on the way! You saw, right Jet?"

Jet didn't especially want to do his share of chores. He smirked and said, "But you beat him so quickly! And you decided to treat yourself, didn't you, and went to sleep!"

"What? No I di...!"

"TERRA!" Grandpa shouted in his booming voice. "You fell asleep! What did I tell you about falling asleep? Now it's much worse, yes much more worse. A THOUSAND SIT-UPS RIGHT THIS MINUTE! THEN YOU CAN GET DINNER READY, AND AFTER THAT YOU CAN START ON YOUR TWO-THOUSAND PUSH-UPS!"

Terra's eyes filled up with tears. "Jet! How could you?" She let Grandpa push her to the back garden, to where she always trained.

Jet followed, a big grin on his face. He might have been popular with the girls, but to anyone other than those girls and his grandfather, he could be a nightmare.


So? How was it? The fight was short, I know, but I can't help it!

Please, please, please Read & Review! And no flames!