A/N: Okay, here's what you've all been waiting for!!! But before we get on with the story, I wanted to thank my beta, Ausha Black, and send a message to GirlWaterShaman and any other readers may have been wondering about in the last chapter: What did Yoh whisper into Rio's ear? May I have a build-the-excitement drum roll, please? Trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...........
Now let us return to the scene...
"And Rio, remember that time when-" here Yoh leans over toward Rio and whispers something in his ear.
Now let's get a closer look...
"And Rio, remember that time when I spiked your drink at dinner with sleeping pills, went into your room while you were asleep, put a bald cap on you, squirted a whole bottle of purple ketchup into your underwear drawer, filled all of your shoes with toothpaste, cut the crotch out of all of your pants, and colored all of your teeth black with permanent marker?" When Amidamaru draws back, Rio looks angry, crosses his arms, and answers through gritted teeth, "Yes, quite well. This is Yoh Asakura."
If you look in just the right place at just the right time, you can still see a little bit of black on Rio's teeth.
Oh and by the way, sorry about the names. I had already written the second chapter before I got your note, but they are right in this chapter. All right, now on with the story!!!
I am not Shonen Jump and do not own Shaman King or any of its characters. I am just a huge fan who uses them for her twisted little stories.
The Shaman Switch
Chapter 3
The Stay
Ren opened the door and led everyone into the house. There was a kind looking old woman doing some needlepoint at a table by the door. As they entered, she looked up, greeted them with a warm smile, and said, "Looks like you yunguns are shamans." The reaction was tremendous. HoroHoro's jaw literally dropped out of his mouth(Ryu quickly bent down, picked it up and replaced it); Ren's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline(he literally had to reach halfway up his hair spike and pull them down again); Amidamaru didn't know what to do with his hands(thankfully, he settled with putting them in his pockets); Yoh's eyes swelled so much that he literally had to hold them into his sockets; Kori fell off of HoroHoro's shoulder; Bason sank through the floor and didn't reappear for some time; Tokageroh started fidgeting terribly; Ryu started to shake and sputter out nonsense("This is all just pink elephants!!!!"). The only one who stayed perfectly calm was Anna, who said, "So how did you know?"
The woman considered it for a moment and answered, "Well, m' granddaughter's a shaman. Goes by the name of…what was it now?" As the woman pondered it for a moment, everyone returned to their normal state. "Ah, now I remember!" said the woman. "It was Tamao! Yes, she went off to a school of some sort." All return to their states of shock, and even Anna's lips twitch slightly. "So," the woman continued, "My name is Karen. If you people are lookin' for a place to stay, yeh can stay here tonight if yeh wish. Got a couple extra rooms in back, but one's already taken by some other shamans."
"Thank you," said Anna, and led everyone to one of the empty rooms. "Everyone lay their sleeping bags on the floor," Anna directed, "And put your stuff beside them. We need rest tonight, because we can't take half as many brakes tomorrow as we did today."
Everyone groans, but follow Anna's orders. Fifteen minutes later, she shouts, "Okay, lights out!"
"Hold on a second, Anna," said Amidamaru. "I need to get a glass of water."
As he raises himself from the sleeping bag, Anna says, "I better come with you, Amidamaru."
They make their way out the door of the room, but are shortly cut off by a familiar woman with shoulder-length blonde hair who was trying to balance a tall stack of pizza boxes. "SHERONA?!?!?!" Amidamaru gasps.
"Yoh, what are you doing here?" Sherona questions.
"I'm not—" Amidamaru started, but Anna claps her hand over his mouth.
"We're on our way to Pachi Village with the others. We were just staying here for the night." Anna answered for him. Sherona exclaims very excitedly, "You mean you found out where it is?!?!"
"No, we didn't," Anna replied, "But we're trying. Anyway, I didn't see your van outside."
"It broke down. It's in the mechanic's shop right now, and we had to walk all this way to find a place to stay."
Anna smiled slyly and said, "Then I guess you'll have to walk all the way back to get it."
Sherona opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by two shrill voices.
"Like, hurry up, Sherona!!"
"Yeah, we're like, starving here!!"
"Coming!" Sherona shouted back to them. She turned to Anna and Amidamaru and said, "Well, see ya. The Li's are waiting." Then she stumbled back to her room, barely managing to keep the pizzas from toppling everywhere.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the group was talking about what had happened earlier.
"Master Ren, I just don't understand why you didn't fight the shikigami with me." Bason whined.
"Because Amidamaru and I already knew about it, and we didn't want the information to spread to any other person." Ren concluded, quite simply.
"But I'm not a person," Bason answered.
"You know what I mean!" Ren said firmly.
HoroHoro changed the subject. "So what do you think Anna and Amidamaru are really doing? I mean a glass of water? Pttht! could you come up with any more of a dumb excuse?"
Kori nodded in agreement. Tokageroh, on the other hand, disagreed. "You are too suspicious, HoroHoro. Anna was probably thirsty, too."
"But maybe she wanted to tell him something that she did not want us to know," added Ryu.
"Naw," Said Yoh, who was still getting used to the prospect of being able to pass through solid objects. "She might've just wanted to make sure he wouldn't say anything stupid if someone thought he was me."
"Well, we're about to find out," said Manta, pointing toward the knob on the door, which was being turned as he spoke. In walked Anna and Amidamaru who seemed to be fighting; the top of Amidamaru's hair was wet and he looked a bit nettled, and Anna was barking at him, "Well, next time, watch what you're talking about!" As the two closed the door and turned to the others, they noticed that Anna was carrying two tall stacks of sandwiches, as was Amidamaru. The two set them down on the table to the side of the room and announced, "Bon appetite." Everyone rushed over and started joyously pigging out, laughing and talking as they did so. Then Manta glanced over at Yoh, who looked very contrite. "What's wrong, Yoh?" He said.
"You tell me," Yoh moaned, looking sadly at the sandwich Manta was holding.
"Oh, sorry Yoh." Manta said, feeling compassion for his digestion systemless-friend. "Would you like me to describe the taste to you?"
"Sure, why not."
"Well, the ham's pretty juicy, mmm, and mozzarella cheese, too. Yeah and there's the perfect amount of honey mustard and mayonnaise—"
"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! STOOOOOOOP!!!!!!!!!! THE AGONY!!!!!! I CAN'T TAKE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The next morning, the group left. Between waving goodbye to Karen and hysterically watching the Li's begin their dreadful journey back to the last town on foot, they started conversing over recent matters. "Whew! What were the chances of that happening? I mean, running into Tamao's grandma?" HoroHoro began. "What a weird small world."
"If you ask me, there's something strange about the whole matter," said Ren, who was apparently deep in thought. "With you, there is always something strange about the whole matter," answered Ryu. "And anyways," added Anna, "We didn't ask you."
Ren's hair spike twitches, he says, "At least I'm right, and that's all there is to it." Everyone shoots him sarcastic looks, and Yoh begins to have second thoughts about him letting him join the group. Little did they know, he was right.
Back in the kitchen of Karen's house, The elderly woman holds a walkie-talkie in one hand and pulls off a Mission Impossible (which I neither own nor take any interest in) mask with the other, revealing the dark-skinned face of a woman with long black hair. She pushes the talk button on the device and says, "Decoy to Header. Key Shamans have left the premises and are heading East by Northeast at 40 degrees, over."
"Excellent," replies a disguised voice on the other end. "Yoh Asakura and his friends will soon feel my wrath."
A/N: Mmm-mmh! Now wasn't that exciting? Now, why not hear what my other head thinks? Take it away, Ern.
Host, A.K.A. me: Welcome all to a show called "Head to Head!!!" With your host, me, the lunatic
(I may not be, but hey! This is my fanfic) KattSwann!! Today's guest is none other than my other head. Let's hear it for Ern!!!
Katt: All right, Ern. How do you like my story?
Ern: Well, it's quite good, considering that you didn't borrow my brain to write it.
Katt: Not funny. I can write a story without your brain any day.
Ern: Oh yeah?? I'd just like to see you do that.
Katt: I already have.
Ern: Uhh…..well……that proves nothing! Pea Brain!
Katt: Glob Gob!
Ern: Mop Top!
Katt: Sneeze Sleaze!
Ern: Yuck. Stinker!
Katt: Ernie!
Ern: That hurt. Katt!!
Katt: Ouch! That's the worst insult I've ever received.
Ern: Me too. Insult Queen!
Katt: Why, thank you.
Ern: Grrrrrrrr.
That's it for now, folks. The forth chapter will be up as soon as I finish writing it!
