Author's Note: Translation notes! 'seien Sie ruhig' means 'be quiet'. 'Wenig' means 'little'. 'schläfrig' means 'sleepy'. The extension I did in ruhig was just Sofia moaning. Yay for actually writing out this chapter! I had to search for translation notes for the chapter that this frames in. And Yay for keeping deadlines!
"Well... 'least we know WHY it's called Pache Plane Enormous." Yoh said, almost in too good of a mood. HoroHoro rolled his eyes.
"That's kind of obvious."
Ryu, Ren, Yoh and HoroHoro stood with the masses of shamans at the Air Base. All of them waiting to board the large and... well... enormous plane before them. The gleaming metal shone brightly in the sun's reflection. Goldva's announcement had just finished, leaving the crowd buzzing with anticipation. Everyone that filled the Air base was in a hurry for the next round of the Shaman tournament. People of all sizes and shapes bustled onto the stairs that descended from the plane. Yoh's group only one of hundreds waiting to get on.
"I can't wait! This is taking too long!" Ryu's fists clenched lightly in impatience. Though his face held pride accomplishment. He (and everyone else) hadn't thought he'd make it this far. Ren folded his arms, glaring lightly.
"Calm down, you think the rest of us aren't anxious?"
"Meh, we'll get there when we get there." Yoh said, finally grabbing hold of the bars that framed the staircase. Ryu sighed. Another rolled of the eyes from the snowboarder.
"Master Yoh is so calm! I should try to model his image!"
"If that means 'shut up' I'm all for it."
The group boarded the plane amongst the pushing and shoving of other contestants. The seats all packed in groups along the isles. Officiants here and there helped guide on passengers, some even fighting amongst themselves. Most of the shaman were already in and it proved hard to actually find an empty seat, let alone enough for the group to sit together. Eventually, after making it to the back of the plane, they found a few groups of seats still empty and waiting.
Two minutes later, gone and occupied. HoroHoro plopped down with a rather sullen expression over his face. Dropping his bag on the floor, he folded his arms huffily and glared off to the side. "What's wrong with you?" Ryu asked as he sat down beside him. His large shoes propped up on the chair across from him. HoroHoro sighed irritably.
"It's that HAO guy!"
"Don't tell me you're STILL hung up about that?" Yoh asked. HoroHoro glared.
"I'm not hung up about it! It's just that damn attitude! Like he's so much better then us." The brunette across him blinked a few times with a shrug.
"So?" HoroHoro stared incredulously.
"SO? It's a BAD attitude!"
"Shut up. He obviously IS better then you so stop whining about it!"
"I'm not whining-- man my back hurts." HoroHoro shifted into the cushioned seats and sighed in resignation. The Ainu teenager gave up and settled into the pillow. "Whatever."
"Ahh, now THIS is what I like about flying." Yoh snuggled into the pillow behind him with a large grin. "Napping."
"Already?"
"What else am I gonna do?"
"That's pathetic..."
"Zzz."
"That's weird!"
Though most of them followed suit. The 12 hour flight didn't provide much entertainment. A few arguments here and there, though most of everyone's anxiety for the fight dissipated into snores. Ren squirmed out of his trenchcoat and scarf and rested against the back of the chair.
Sleep... yes. Sleep was nice. He slouched down with his head dipped down. Ren could hear HoroHoro mumbling incoherently in his sleep. Besides that, the back end of the plane was silent; the ride was smooth; and the chair was comfy.
It had been an awful long time since the Chinese teenager had relaxed like this. The plane ride provided a good chance to catch up on down time. His eye lids weighed down slowly, sight fading on him. He gave a mighty yawn and closed the lemon irises and let out a deep breath.
"Uugh. I'll be... uh- right back, Vati."
"Alright, take Frankensteiny though."
"Fine, fine."
Ren furrowed his brows. His hands tensed up. He knew those German voices, he was SURE he knew them. With what was left of his strength, he opened one eye and gazed out down the isle. Staggering down it was a small, thin form with shocking blonde hair. In front of her trotted a small dog made up of bones and spirit matter.
The Tao boy's other eye shot open. 'What the hell?' He thought, mustering up his effort to finally sit up. Though his limbs weighed him down, Ren was stronger. He stood up and followed down the lonely isle, passing by either snoozing or bored shaman. Despite them, Ren sped up to a jog.
"Sofia!" He called, snapping some out of their trance-like states. The blonde, just stopping by one of the bathrooms looked up.
"Was?"
Ren came to a stop, his body still heavy with sleep. Sofia regarded him through squinted eyes. He stood there for a moment, just staring in confused amazement. Finally, the all familiar accusing tone of Tao Ren came. "What the hell?" Sofia flinched and held her head.
"Seien Sie ruhiiiig." She moaned. Ren arched a brow.
"What's wrong wi-- wait! Not my point! What are you doing here?" Sofia winced and shrugged.
"I'm here with my Va-" She made a heaving motion into her hand and felt around for the door to the bathroom. "Oh Gott." Ren's eyes widened and he quickly opened the door for her. Sofia disappeared with the flash of a closing door. Ren grimaced at the sounds of her... emptying her stomach. A few minutes later, she finally reappeared, her skin even paler.
"Better?"
"Wenig." She shrugged and slumped against the wall.
"Never been on a plane before?" She shook her head, which only caused her skin to tint into green.
"I don't bode well with crowds." Ren drew his head back in confusion.
"Clostrephobic." Another shake, this time slower.
"My empathy goes wild. I react so much to so many different people I end up getting sick." She sighed and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Ren nodded in acknowledgement, actually feeling rather stupid for not realizing the fact sooner.
"Isn't there anything you can do about it?" This time came a nod. She took in a deep breath, closed her eyes and let the breath out. She repeated the process twice more, until finally opening her eyes with a calm face. Ren knitted his brow.
"What the hell was that?"
"I'm detaching myself... it helps keep my emotions and empathy under wraps." Ren's expression grew with interest.
"Oh really?" She nodded, running a hand through her hair.
"I'm not sure how long it'll last though. I'm not this used to being around so many people at once." That brought the purplenette's mind back to the real reason he was even talking to Sofia.
"Speaking of which, what the hell are you doing here?" He repeated. Sofia waved dismissively.
"I'm coming with the father. Nothing big."
"What about the rule about shaman participants only?"
"Well it's not like I could go back to Germany all alone." She reminded. "The officiants understood the situation and let me come with my Vati." Ren blinked a few times.
"They seemed so strict about the rules." Sofia shrugged, smiling gently to poke through the rather monotonous face.
"Well, I'm here aren't I?" Ren smirked back at her. He was happy to see her. Ren had been ready to set off to the second round, with the idea that Sofia would be staying behind. Then the thought hit him. Of course Sofia wouldn't be staying behind. She would have had to go back to Germany if she wasn't coming along. If he felt stupid before, he felt ridiculous now. How could he have not realized something so simple? "I missed you Ren."
The Tao teen shook from his thoughts with a few blinks. "Eh?" Sofia smiled back at him.
"I missed you. We haven't talked since the party." Ren's eyes shot to the floor and he was suddenly thankful for her detachment. He noted that she didn't look half as embarrassed as he felt. He sighed.
"It's only been a few days. Are you obsessed with me or something?" Even without empathy, Sofia could tell it was a joke. She giggled and nodded.
"I'm your personal fangirl. Isn't it obvious?"
They went on to talk about what the next round would be like. Ren explained the encounter with Hao. Sofia made a mock expression of shock at the idea of someone stronger then HoroHoro as Ren went on about the Ainu's ranting about the stranger. The both of them discovered that Frankensteiny took a quick liking to Ren. The skeleton dog jumped up to prop his front feet on Ren's chest and bark playfully. Both Frankensteiny and Sofia learned that Ren wasn't that big a fan of dogs.
The plane kept flying for another four hours before Ren faltered. He yawned and Sofia quickly mirrored it. "Schläfrig are we?" Ren glared through tired eyes.
"I was PLANNING to sleep until I saw you." Sofia giggled.
"I'm sorry I distract you."
Suddenly, the tv monitors in the plane flashed on. "To all of your present, thank you for having been patient on this trip."