Chio-sama: Okay, a couple of you out there have asked for a second chapter, so here it is! It's now back in the present, after the Shaman Tournament was postponed and soon it will be restarting. Yoh is training and his friends are preparing to leave their homes. They plan to meet up with Yoh in Patch Village. Anna is not coming, and Manta was forced to go to an American school and is trying desperately to get back to Patch Village and see his friends.
Crystal: Yay! I'm in this part! Nice detail in the summary there! Why don't you just tell the rest of the story that way?
Chio-sama: Don't get cocky with me! And you know that's not you! She's way cooler!
Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own Shaman King. Perhaps I will if I get reincarnated sometime in the future…. How I wish that day would come.
Yoh slipped his sandals off, having just finished his 60 km run for the day. Anna was expecting dinner, and by the way she was tapping her fingers on the living room table, she was getting impatient. Yoh quickly started dinner, disregarding the aches and pains in slowly seeping through his tired muscles. He suddenly heard a faint beeping sound.
Yoh walked over to his bedroom door, where he suspected the sound was coming from. He recognized it immediately, the oracle bell! He thrust open the rice paper door, and proceeded quickly to his dresser. Indeed, the orange contraption was active. It had been activated the first time a few weeks ago, saying more instructions were to be given soon, and also to be prepared for the reopening of the Tournament.
He lifted into his right hand, and gently tapped the screen. It read:
--Attention all Shaman Tournament participants. You will be required, if you desire to remain in this battle, to subject yourselves to a Soul Concentration. This is a fairly simple process, and is nothing to be concerned about. Because of recent events, all participants are required to have this performed. Arrival in Patch Village is required within the next two months, seeing as a recall has been placed, and many disqualified shamans have returned to fight once more, a second chance if you consider it as such. Your countdown begins tomorrow.—
Tomorrow? He didn't really need to leave right away, but he didn't exactly have a way to get there, seeing as all of his friends were going separately, and would meet up in the village. What's a Soul Concentration, Yoh thought to himself. Oh well, if the Patch said it's harmless, I guess there's nothing to worry about. He smiled and went to tell Anna of the news.
On the other side of Japan, a 14 year old blonde was sitting on a stone bench, a sacred shrine behind her. She watched as the leaves danced in the wind, for she truly appreciated nature. She was dressed in a white and gold kimono, even though her ethnicity was American. She had recently almost lost a close friend, not to death, but to sanity. If he had not recovered, her smile may have never returned. But her friend was strong, he was recovering. The kimono attire was new to her, for she had recently come to Japan at her friend's request. She visited him daily, waiting for his wounds to heal. She looked again at the trees. Beautiful, she thought.
"Hmpf. I remind myself of Hao more and more every day." She paused. "Pitiful, isn't it, Crystal?" The spirit appeared beside her and sat down on the bench next to her companion.
Crystal looked as if she was a young woman in her late teens or early twenties. Her hair and clothes were pink. Her belly tank and the tight skirt that fell just above her knees. The pink boots that went just below her knees was the same in color. She looked like an ordinary human spirit, except for the pink angel wings flowering from her shoulder blades. As the wind blew, the tails of the pink scarf that loosely covered her mouth blew backwards. This form was unique. Crystal was a god level spirit, she had the ability to phase herself in and out of the physical world as she wished.
"I don't think it is, Miss Christy, you value his friendship because he was your first and most trusted friend. The both of you love nature and are very powerful. When you talk together, you seem very happy to me." Crystal replied solemnly.
"I guess so," Christy said as she brushed some of her waist length locks off of her shoulder and the chin length bangs out of her eyes, letting them fall perfectly into place as they had been before the last gust. She turned the gaze of her sapphire eyes upwards toward the ever-changing sky.
Suddenly she heard a beeping sound. She hastily picked up her backpack and pulled out the disruptive object. The oracle bell. Of course, it was the contraption that she had ignored many times before. She had no wish to become the Shaman King, no initiative to drive that goal onward. She only wished to be in peace. But now, now it was all different. Hao needed her help. A new evil was brewing. As for now, he was incapacitated, unable to undergo much physical exertion, but he was making steady progress. She hoped he was well enough to travel by the required time to arrive at Patch Village. Right now, because Hao wasn't strong enough to fend off much anything, all she could do was hope.
Chio-sama: Don't worry, you'll find more about Christy later. I'll have a chapter explaining her and Hao's past. I hope you are enjoying this story, it's so long in my head! I hope I can get around to typing all of it!