So this started out as a joke Namari/Sati fic but Sati actually disappeared around the half? and was replaced by the whole Patch so this is kind of a fic following the SF from Namari's point of view. Anyways this was supposed to be around 2k words long. Haha (24k)
It also ended up being a kind of Namari character study? Though I do think that my way of characterising him has changed at least three times while working on this fic (but yes I got around 5k in February and now I'm sick so I wrote the rest because I'm bored xD)
The first time he meets her, it's obvious that she'll be one of the most powerful shamans this Shaman Fight will have. Sati already has her group assembled, ready to take the entrance exam, and Namari doesn't even have to check his oracle bell to know that everyone in Gandhara has a kami-class spirit ally. It doesn't bother him; aside from scratching him, they don't actively go out of their way to hurt him. He is there to be their officiant. That doesn't mean he doesn't go all out on them. Unlike some other shamans he has already tested, these guys are skilled, can use oversoul with ease, and are crazy good at manipulating all those spirits. That goes for the youngest member of the group, a 4-year-old Komeri, as well. It's rare for a child to be able to use such a powerful oversoul at that age; but not unheard of. Namari thinks back to Red Rope and their first meeting; he certainly wasn't that young back then.
None of the fights take long. While Namari is powerful, he is easily outclassed by them, especially everyone who knows furyoku annulment. With that in action, there is nothing he can do.
The fights are done. He gives everyone their oracle bells and brief instructions. Sweating from all the work, he shivers. Desert is his natural habitat; the night temperatures there are much lower than the temperature in January Tokyo, and yet, he shivers. Maybe it's from all the excitement, he genuinely doesn't know. Pulling his cloak over himself, he prepares to go to the apartment he shares with Radim and Thalim. Sighing, he remembers that they barely have money for food.
He is almost on his way when she speaks.
"Would you like to stay for dinner after going through all this trouble?"
Namari whips his head towards her. Despite the Gandhara considering her a princess, Sati is an ordinary human like every other. She has almost divine powers, that much is true, but she is human. She looks young, despite being 12 years older than him. Namari doesn't have time to think about getting old. He knows he can't ever enjoy retirement. This is his job, he's supposed to stay neutral.
"No, thank you," he replies, only for his stomach to growl and betray him at the worst possible moment. Namari grits his teeth. The promise of food is tempting, compared to what he would have at home. Combined, they have money only for the most basic things. Namari is a skilled cook; he owns a restaurant, he can whip something out of all those basic ingredients. Maybe if Thalim didn't have so much coffee, they could actually have a more-than-decent food for once. However, Thalim loves his coffee, Radim has his sodas, and he is left to deal with the consequences.
"Are you sure, officiant?" Kado asks, a smile on his lips. Namari thinks. He can well stay neutral and go have dinner, can't he? It's free food, and he knows better than to refuse free food. For the past week, they all ate only baked beans (courtesy of Radim who talked with Bron who told him that they are cheap, long-lived, and tasty). Radim might appreciate the beans, but he longes for something else.
"Alright then," Namari agrees, ignoring the tugging in his mind that he should not be doing this. He would expect something like this from Silva, he is the type of a guy to go out of his way after work like this, but not him. However, desperate situations call for desperate measures, and he follows the Gandhara team to their accommodations. It is a house not very far from where he held the tests. It is very modest-looking, and when he enters, he is proven right. Everything about the house screams modesty, as it probably serves as temporary accommodation during the Shaman Fight.
Namari feels very out of place there. The individual Gandhara members sit around a kotatsu and chat, and he is left standing next to a wall. He regrets coming here. He should've stayed in the tiny apartment with his family and tried to persuade them to finally eat something other than beans. However, glancing at the clock, he feels like they have already eaten. His stomach grumbles again, and, despite himself, he feels an embarrassed warmth creep onto his face, hoping that no one heard.
Sati is sitting on the floor in a proper seiza when she is given a kettle with tea. She lifts her head to look at Namari.
"Would you care for some tea before dinner is ready?" she asks him, and there is no way Namari can refuse. He sits down as well, trying to imitate how she's sitting. He's a guest here; he should not be impolite, even if there are million other ways he would prefer to sit in.
The tea is delicious, yet does not satisfy his hunger. Namari comes to accept that he will have to wait for any food. Briefly, he wonders if his roommates have noticed his absence. They are all working long into the night these days. He knows that Thalim at least is probably back home by now. He doesn't like being outside after a certain hour.
Namari sips his tea, curious eyes watching the members of the Gandhara. They all look content, some of them are playing chess, some of them are reading, but they all look peaceful. Namari wonders what is their reason to join the fight aside from helping Sati to win the fight. Setting the tea down, he sighs. After all, people's reasons for joining the fight are not his business. He is there solely to do his duty. He should not care about things like this.
Sati smiles at him. For a moment, Namari is confused, until she speaks.
"I apologize for having to wait. I sincerely hope that you are not too hungry. Food needs to be prepared with love," she says, and Namari understands. Sati might be treated like a princess here, but underneath all that, he can see that she has been through a lot. He nods.
"It's fine," he says. He wants to talk about his cooking but bites the words back. This is only a one-time visit. He can't get friendly with the contestants. After this dinner is over, he will go.
Sati offers him a smile.
"In the meantime, the tea should help. Sometimes hunger is just a disguised thirst," she says. She's only half right, Namari thinks. One can fill their stomach with water but ultimately, hunger is hunger when one doesn't eat much for weeks in the end. However, on the outside, he closes his eyes and nods curtly.
Sati takes his silence as enough answer. Deep down, Namari is glad that she isn't asking questions, about him, about the tribe; it makes him feel more at ease. Briefly, he wonders if it's done to lull him into a fake sense of security, but then remembers that records of the previous Shaman Fight exist and the Gandhara probably knows everything they need to know. Including what the Patch is truly capable of. It doesn't really matter to him. Be it as it may, he will give his life to protect the Shaman King anyways.
After that, it doesn't take long for food to be delivered. Everyone gets their portion and they sit down around the kotatsu. It's big enough for almost all of them to sit around it, but there are a few members who can't fit and have to wait for their portion.
Everyone takes their own plate. Namari is relieved when he sees it being served with both chopsticks and spoons and each member can choose which utensil to eat it with. Despite being in Japan for a few weeks now, he finds it easier to use western cutlery.
"Itadakimasu," a lot of members say, some of them repeating the phrase in their native languages, and they dig in.
It's silent, there's no excited chatter over food like Namari is used to from the restaurant and family dinners. In his family, someone chats over food all the time, usually Magna or Renim. Well, that's when they all eat together. As the future officiants, they did a lot of things together, him and the others. Thalim and Rutherfor joined them when they were old enough to walk and Nichrom was usually by his brother's side since their parents died. Despite having no blood relations except for Chrom and Nichrom, the officiants are like a big family, aside from having their own, blood-related families.
Namari isn't used to staying quiet over the food. That doesn't mean that he won't stay silent. He is a guest, and therefore he will keep silent. It's unnerving, but he slowly eats the curry, and, true to their word, Gandhara makes it really well. Namari offers curry in his restaurant, but it never tastes like this. This is truly an exceptional dish.
He finishes sometime later and sets down the cutlery.
"It was delicious," he says, nodding at Kado who he knows prepared the food. While two members, who he vaguely remembers are called Mamy and Samy, go to take their food, Namari stands up. He feels that he has overstayed his welcome. He already enjoyed a lot of their hospitality.
"Going already?" Sati asks, standing up as well. The other Gandhara members make space around them. Some might not agree with Sati seeing him off, but she's still their leader and they do let her go while watching Namari like hawks. It makes him uneasy, but not scared. He could take on all the members if he so wanted, except Sati. He knows that she is stronger than him, however, he shouldn't have too many problems with the otherwise peaceful teams. The only problem would be their furyoku annulment ability, but he could deal with it when the time came. He would need to lure them closer to him to strike.
But now he walks away without problems, politely saying goodbye to everyone.
Once outside, he stops and pulls on his cloak. He turns to Sati.
"Thank you for the food and hospitality, Sati-san," he says. Before coming to Tokyo, he never truly had to use the honorifics, despite all of them studying Japanese to at least a conversational level in preparation for the Shaman Fight. They needed to be able to get by on their own in the big city, but they barely ever practiced conversation. Actually adding honorifics to names is still new to him.
The woman raises her hand.
"It was nothing, please, feel free to come by anytime," she says, and Namari tilts his head.
"Thank you for the offer, I will think about it," he replies politely, knowing full well that he would never come by on his own. As one of the officiants, he needs to not be dependent on someone else, maybe the rest of his tribe, but not outsiders. The Patch don't mess with regular humans when they can help it.
Sati nods. She watches him until he disappears in the night. Namari doesn't have any bird spirit like Magna, Radim and Silva do; he can't float like Rutherfor can, and so the way back to the apartments takes him way longer than it would've if he had just made an oversoul.
He comes back and the lights are still on. Namari checks the time. It's close to midnight, yet he finds both Radim and Thalim wide awake. Radim is watching the TV. They don't have money for a real TV, but he can connect his microphone to it. He's watching recordings of his nature trips with Platinum Sword. It's actually entertaining and on par with real documents. Thalim watches with Radim, his hair wet and cuddling a big blanket that he got from home.
They both look up when Namari enters. Setting his cloak down, he goes to change into more comfortable clothes. Not that his battle outfit isn't comfortable, but he would prefer not to go around half-naked, especially since the radiator works only on the living room. The radiator next to which Thalim sits. Namari doesn't have the heart to shove him aside.
"The dinner is on the stove," Radim says. Indeed, there are the beans. Once again, beans. Namari makes a face, doing his best to hide it from Radim. He knows that he's the best cook there, but he doesn't want to hurt Radim's feelings.
Instead, he turns to Thalim.
"Didn't we say to shower properly only once a week?" he asks. He knows Thalim is not a child anymore. But they can't afford to waste the water. They have bills to pay, but no money. Everything had gone to the poor shamans' accommodations and the Patch are left with little to no money.
The 18-year-old actually pouts.
"I got thrown in the river," he explains, and Namari stops in his tracks. There's no doubt that it happened on duty, and Namari only wonders who is so strong that could overpower Thalim when he fights seriously, because the youth is pretty powerful.
"The river?" Namari asks incredulously. "Who?" Namari cares deeply for the other tribemates, they're family. Despite his earlier accusatory tone, he wants to make sure that his younger friend is alright.
Thalim waves his hands.
"It was kids and their guardian. But they have this powerful spirit ally, I almost couldn't do anything," he says, and Namari's jaw falls. Kids? He mouths it as well but remembers very well that Gandhara's 4-year-old Komeri was really strong as well. Namari briefly wonders if this is how the future is going to be - kids being forced to fight.
Radim shrugs.
"Kids can be strong, Bron tested some boy yesterday. They have potential that we don't see anymore," he says.
"Adults also can grow stronger," Thalim pipes up, making the other two look at him.
Namari purses his lips.
"They can, but children don't have a perception of limits yet. They are stubborn and can do whatever they set their minds to," he replies. This conversation bores him.
Thalim stays silent now. He looks like he might have something else to say, but doesn't. Thalim is just like that. He doesn't want to get in pointless arguments. Namari also doesn't like arguments. He likes stating facts. In an argument, he likes to have all sides of the story. He is a calculating person, and Namari is proud to be always prepared. However, he doesn't like to start arguments.
He stretches. Radim looks at him and crashes the can of soda in his hand.
"Maybe we should all go to sleep," he says. "Tomorrow will be another long day. Hundreds more participants are waiting."
Namari raises an eyebrow.
"Most of them don't even pass the qualifications test," he points out. "It's not easy to get past us."
"Regardless of that, they all deserve a chance," Radim says and puts the can into the trash bin.
Thalim scratches his head.
"Isn't it the point of the tournament though? To test how flexible shamans are with furyoku?" he asks. He looks at his two older friends, and Radim nods.
"Technically, it is. But so many of them haven't even heard of oversouls. We can't let them pass if they can't use oversoul," he replies. Namari scoffs.
"Only the strong ones can get into the fight. Otherwise it's like a death sentence," he says, ignoring Thalim's "ah". Out of the three of them, Namari is the one who has the least problems with people dying in the fight. Radim and Thalim are more sensitive; they don't like pointless deaths. And there is a lot of them in this tournament. However, even if they never saw anyone die right before their eyes, that is probably going to change. Namari knows Hao is in this tournament. He will not hesitate to kill. He didn't hesitate 500 years ago.
He takes his hair out of the twin ponytails, and sighs. Nothing beats the feeling of hair getting loose out of a ponytail.
"Well then, I'll be going to sleep," he says and turns to the room he shares with the two of them. Their beds are just two beds and one mattress, but neither of them is complaining.
"What about dinner?" Thalim asks, whipping around. Namari looks over his shoulder.
"I ate already," he says simply. "You better not make it too late and don't forget to turn off the radiator when you're done."
He hears Radim sigh. The soda he had just drunk will keep him awake for at least another hour. Good. At least he can keep Thalim company, because Namari, unlike them, values his sleep.
Namari leaves them to wonder where and how he could have eaten. It's not their business anyways, even if they do tend to tell each other a lot of stuff. This tournament will probably create gaps between some of the officiants. He is not looking forward to that.
He changes into the sleeping yukata they were provided with. It's not much, but combined with the blanket, it keeps him warm and he could get used to it (he misses his own sleepwear).
Namari can't sleep that night. He keeps thinking about the Gandhara and their motives in inviting him to dinner. He refuses to believe that they might just be that nice.
An hour after he goes to sleep, he hears Radim and Thalim enter, tiptoeing to their beds in their best effort not to wake him up. Namari closes his eyes and pretends to be asleep. He doesn't want to worry them. However, in the next second, there is a sound of someone tripping and an audible "ow" - Thalim, by the looks of it. Despite himself, Namari smiles. His younger friend can be clumsy sometimes.
"Are you alright?" Radim whispers over Namari. As the oldest one here, he has chosen to take the mattress on the floor, leaving the beds to the younger tribe members, even if Radim is just a year younger than he is.
"Yeah," Thalim hisses. He doesn't sound alright now, but the pain will go away soon. The two of them get into their beds and soon fall asleep. Only then does Namari fall asleep himself.
As the preliminary rounds progress, and Namari watches every fight of Gandhara's, he becomes more and more convinced that Sati is actually the only one who's powerful. Most of the other Gandhara members are pacifists and don't like to fight, and they rely heavily on furyoku annulment, waiting until their opponent runs out of their furyoku.
Sati is a pacifist as well, but she can fight when she needs to. However, Namari notices, she does only the absolute minimum to pass. She doesn't kill her opponents. She doesn't like to do that.
No matter how hard Namari tries to think about it, he can't figure out the reason for her to stay in the Shaman Fight, other than stopping Hao. The whole Gandhara comes to her fights, he had overheard them talking with each other. Other than that, Namari doesn't know. He seems to be assured that they have some higher motive now. He tries to take it up with Bron and Renim, and he is told to not worry about it and do his job. Namari frowns but obliges. It's clear that they are only interested in their jobs as Patch Priests. He tries to take it up with Magna too after he fails with the previous two, but he can see that Magna has abandoned his neutral position. He is in awe of Hao's power, and therefore naturally says that the Gandhara are probably trying to get to him and defeat him. He's also pretty sure that nothing will happen to Hao. Namari keeps a neutral expression. He has heard many things about Hao these days. He passed into the second round with two kills. He used the souls to power up the Spirit of Fire. Namari hadn't been present at it, but he heard the story.
It isn't just Hao he is worried about. There are other contestants who kill. Tao Ren, for example. Namari keeps walking along the river to where the apartment is after a match and thinks about Chrom. It's terrifying how fast a human's life can end. Chrom was just a month older than him. They learned everything together, how to walk, read, and write, they shared their training. Even though Chrom chose Silva as his best friend, he never forgot about Namari, the one who almost shared a crib with him once upon a time. Now he is gone. Namari takes it pretty hard, even if he pretends in front of everyone. He knows they will reunite in barely a year, and he kind of pities Chrom's brother who will have to take his place. He is still a child. A powerful child, but he hasn't had any training apart from what Chrom taught him. He might know a lot of things about the tribe, with Chrom being the archivist and teaching him, but he severely lacks fighting experience. Namari doubts that they can catch up with years of his brother's experience. Needless to say, the boy will fulfill his duty, because of his brother and because he's loyal to the tribe. But Namari really hopes that the end will be quick. He doesn't want to see a child suffering. Of course, he thinks bitterly, he won't ever have to see that. He is the first one in line, trying to stop the invaders and protect the rest of the tribe members. One way or another, they will die in the end. But if he can help it, he wants to spare them the agony, the pain, and the battle.
Namari sighs and crosses the rest of the way home. It's time to start with dinner.
Another one of Sati's matches comes up and she wins without barely lifting a finger. She passes into the second round with two wins and zero kills. Namari would be lying if he said that he's not in awe of her power. He's glad that she also didn't extend any more dinner invitations. Namari knows that he would have to decline and he really doesn't want to do that, because their curry was really good.
The opening ceremony arrives too soon for his liking. While he is glad that they'll be going back home in the month and glad that they won't have to live in this tiny hot apartment and they'll get rid of the neighbours (the neighbours went to complain about noise when they celebrated Thalim's birthday. Namari kind of hopes that when they celebrate his birthday in a few weeks, they'll make as much noise as possible, but he already feels that Thalim will be against it. He's now avoiding the neighbours).
Namari takes his place in the line of officiants, he scans the participants. The stadium is crowded, there's no less than 300 people. Namari sees Hao in the crowd. He spots the Gandhara groups, the kids that Thalim spoke of, he sees Tao Ren, still in his battle outfit, and the boy he had fought right next to him; the two now seem to be friends. There are also Bron's charges, he can recognize them by the abundance of white. They literally glow in the dim light. And then there are people who don't really stand out, they don't belong to a group, and they seem to be lost. They will probably be the first casualties of the next trial, Namari thinks.
Namari stands as Goldva manages to scare all the participants with her words. But it is what they have to do. This is the last chance the participants can forfeit and give up if they don't want to end up as pancakes on the ground in a month.
When the participants leave, the Patch stays.
"That was something, the final match," Rutherfor says. "I never thought that you could tie in the Shaman Fight."
Goldva shakes her head.
"It's all about the will of the Great Spirit," she repeats like a well-known mantra. "You youngsters should know that by now."
Kalim and Silva look at each other. They're right next to Namari, and it's only because of that that he hears them whispering to each other if that's Goldva's way of saying that she's old.
Unfortunately, it's up to them to clean the stadium. The contestants didn't leave a lot of trash behind, but it's still something they need to do. Fortunately, Magna can take some of those in Magnescope's claws, Radim and Platinum Sword are doing well too, Thalim uses lianas to get bigger things, and Rutherfor manipulates the gravity to get even the slightest things off the ground. They work like a well-oiled machine, like a team, but it's still different.
It's silent. No one is singing and providing entertainment to make the cleaning more interesting. With a pang in his heart, Namari realizes that it was always Chrom's doing.
The stadium is clean very quickly and they just chit-chat for some time. The discussion is very dry; they're all tired after several months of working almost nonstop. There had been a lot of participants to test. Not everyone got into the fight itself. Not everyone survived the preliminary rounds. Not everyone passed into the next round of the tournament. They are all tired. Even Kalim who is usually the one who tries to keep the mood up. Even Renim who usually helps Kalim with that and is the first to reassure them that everything will be fine. They miss Chrom a lot.
Rutherfor looks like she's about to pass out from the lack of sleep. Namari understands that. He is also tired, and Rutherfor is still only 15, she is still a child and needs her rest. Thankfully, Goldva lets them go soon. They are supposed to try and raise some money for the tribe during the next month. Namari purses his lips. They barely managed to sell what they had in the past months, he doesn't think that they'll be able to sell some more. He would be more useful in a reptile shop. But it is too late to search for a job. He wouldn't even make it to the first payday. He will just have to sit on the streets with Thalim again and make sure that no one else tries to leave without paying.
At least Radim brings some money to their little household. He doesn't sell stuff, no, he has long since given his things to Namari to try and sell, he is acting as a stand-up comedian. He has the brains for it. People actually like it, and Radim's Japanese is pretty good. He owns the show. His efforts allow them to pay the bills.
Two weeks later, it turns out, Radim's efforts allow them to buy more than just bills. Namari comes home. He's alone today, and a few other Patch members came to wish him a happy birthday. He officially turns 24 today. However, it's not much of a celebration. It's his last year here, he knows that much. Namari is going to do his duty, it's what he has to do, but it's coming way too fast for his liking.
He sighs and opens the door home.
"Happy birthday!" Radim and Thalim wish him as soon as he gets into the living room. There is a chocolate cake on the table.
Namari smiles slightly.
"Thanks," he says, and the other two briefly hug him. Namari rarely eats sweets. He prefers meat when he can help it. It must come with Red Rope being his spirit ally. But sometimes, he does accept sweet things.
"You made this?" he asks. He doesn't remember anyone buying ingredients to bake something of this scale. However, he is mistaken.
"We made it together," Thalim says proudly, while Radim shakes his head.
"He made it," he points to the younger Patch whose cheeks are coloured pink from the praise.
Namari sits down between them. He knows that Thalim prefers his coffee to actual cooking, but if their fate was different, he would have loved for him to help him out in his restaurant.
"Thank you," Namari says and treats himself with a big piece of cake. The other two also get a piece and for a few minutes just munch on the cake.
"It's really good," Namari comments because there's never enough praise, and the cake turned out delicious. He sits back and enjoys the taste of chocolate on his tongue.
"How about some music?" he asks then, nodding towards the Patch projector. It can play music, they all know. Radim and Thalim exchange looks.
"But the neighbours-" Thalim starts, nervous because of course he's nervous when the neighbors crashed his birthday party and complained (they weren't even that loud, honestly!). But Namari isn't afraid of the neighbours.
Radim shrugs. He gives Thalim an apologetic look.
"We can try," he says and goes to put on some Spice girls . Namari found a CD next to a rubbish bin a few weeks after arriving in Tokyo. It's battered and some songs tend to be just a hum, but he likes it. It's different than what he's used to.
It turns out that the neighbours have gone on vacation, to everyone's relief, and the three of them enjoy the music, cake, and coffee. It's not the best birthday party Namari has ever had, but it's definitely one of the coziest, and that is enough for him.
The month passes surprisingly fast and soon he finds himself selling food at the airbase from which they will go to the Patch Village. Namari is looking forward to going home again. It's nice to visit other countries, but he misses home. At least the other priests made this stay in Tokyo bearable.
Namari can spot all the participants. Not even one of them gave up their determination.
"Hello, Namari-san," he hears suddenly. He recognizes the voice. He looks up to see Sati, and the whole Gandhara is standing behind her. He catches Kado's friendly smile. Komeri looks up at Sati, and the woman smiles at her.
"Do you want some caramel apples, Komeri-chan?" she asks, and the young girl nods. Mamy and Samy join into the request, and Sati has Namari prepare 6 of the caramel apples in total. Namari sets to work when Komeri gasps.
"You have a nice bow!" she says, pointing at Namari's head. The Patch bites the inside of his mouth. His hair is adorned by a cute yellow bow on the side. Everyone has one, Silva wears his on the side of his head too, Kalim and Thalim wear it at the back of their heads, and the others wear it similarly in one way or another. On top of that, they aren't dressed in their traditional Patch outfits. That will come later. For now, they look like vendors on a fair. Namari supposes that this is kind of a fair. The bows are also colour-coded. Namari got a yellow one because yellow is definitely his colour.
"Euhm..." he clears his throat. "Thank you," Namari says, not sure how to accept this particular compliment. It's not often he has children come and say that he has pretty hair. He hands Komeri her apple.
"Here you go," he says, watching as the 5-year-old gets a bright smile on her face.
"Thank you!" she says. Namari hands everyone their apples and Yainage is left to pay for it. He leaves a tip, and Namari is glad for that. They can very well start saving for the next Shaman Fight in 2500. Namari knows that Goldva will leave notes for the next generations. Some of the members asked her to do so as a result of not even having money for electricity or water. Namari is glad that such a fate didn't fall upon him and his roommates. They had strict rules but were able to get by somewhat well.
The Gandhara comes back to their spot. Namari spots that they have an elephant with them; for a moment, he pities the poor animal. It won't have it easy when the participants inevitably drop from the air. However, he is confident that the Gandhara will think of something. They are powerful and have strong spirit allies. They will be fine, including the elephant.
Namari manages to sell some more apples; usually to kids, some of Hao's group come by to get some, and two kids with a man quite similar to Asakura Hao beg for their own sweets. Well, one of them at least. But the man decides that they should both have the same and gets two of the apples. Namari is glad that this day is so profitable. It brings in the action that he lacked whenever he was selling on the streets. Here he at least gets to do something than just sit.
From time to time, he chats with Magna, who is in the stand next to him. He can see that he has lost his neutrality, but that doesn't deter him. He knows that sooner or later, everyone will have a favourite. He is well aware that he himself is in awe of Sati and her power and maybe, maybe even wants her to win. However, he is quick to remind himself to stay neutral.
Finally, the time to put down the stands comes. They're not an oversoul this time; they need to preserve every last bit of their energy. Making a giant jumbo jet is quite an effort and they have to have enough furyoku left to travel back home. Without Chrom, this will be even more work than they anticipated. It is possible that they might need to drop the shamans earlier than planned.
Namari is glad to be back in his robes. The special outfit rubbed wrong against his skin, and he's glad to have it off.
"Should we have a flight attendant?" someone asks. Despite training for all of this, sometimes they miss the tiniest details. Goldva waves Renim off.
"No need for that," she says, and Namari thinks that maybe they're missing a wonderful business opportunity. Selling food and beverages on board would certainly be the most profitable.
"We need to conserve furyoku and not divide our attention from the oversoul," Magna says, a smirk on his face. "Besides, they should've brought their own food."
Namari supposes he's right. The contestants don't know what will happen. Some of them might know by now that they will fly, but a lot of them came completely unprepared. They might have enough food and water. Besides, it's not like the Patch flight is like any other commercial flight. They allow weapons and animals on board, though he's not sure how exactly Gandhara's elephant of the machine some kids have will fit into the plane. But that is not his problem. They either manage it or the elephant and machine have to stay here.
Once the oversoul plane is taken out of the hangar, Namari winces. He likes positive attention, but the giant faces of him and the others just make him cringe. That is not the kind of attention he likes.
"Talk about a big ego," he hears from the crowd and narrows his eyes. Of course he knows that. At least Silva and Goldva whose faces are the most visible on the plane stand their ground and hold their heads high and proud.
All of them are powering the oversoul. They help people board and then retire to the pilot cabin. This is their airplane, and where a normal plane has room for two pilots, three at the maximum, their plane has some weird proportions. It is what ultimately makes it possible to board both the elephant and the machine and a lot of other things. However, Bron has to inform the X-Laws groups that, regrettably, they cannot board a full-sized ship into the plane. They won't need it anyways while in America.
When everyone is finally settled and has their seatbelts on (Magna remarks that the seatbelts won't save them anyways), they roll on the runway and take off. Even if this is an oversoul, with all the weight it's carrying, it's quite hard to maintain. Taking off is one of the hardest parts, when they lose solid ground under their feet and fly. Bron is humming the Patch song to give them the furyoku boost they need for this part, but Namari can see in the faces of some of the others that they would rather listen to Madonna or someone else.
However, the Patch song helps and they ascend to the proper 11 kilometers above the ground. They need to be careful and on a constant lookout; it's why Silva's Silver Wing flies around, to make them aware if there is any other plane around. It wouldn't be nice if they crashed, not even mentioning that they'd all get onto the Great Spirit earlier than planned and there would be no shamans left to try and win the fight.
They know the contestants have fallen asleep. Namari's eyes are almost closing as well. He sees Rutherfor. She looks half-asleep, just standing with the rest of her willpower. Thalim and Radim are leaning on each other, still awake, but barely. That's what they get for staying up late last night, but Namari can't exactly blame them. He had spent the last night awake as well, wondering if they really had everything and didn't leave something lying around the living room.
Namari knows that the time difference will take time to get used to, but they had been flying for hours and hours now and everyone is tired. However, they can't rest. In normal airplanes, half of the crew would rest for some hours and then take over; the Patch can't afford that. When someone is sleeping or unconscious or dead, the oversoul disappears. They're not in America yet, they can't afford to fall asleep. That's why Namari jerks violently when Bron and Renim set hands on his shoulders and try to shake him awake. He hisses.
"What was that for?" He isn't happy with it. Namari values his personal space very much, and he doesn't appreciate Bron and Renim stepping into it just like this.
"Sorry," Renim shrugs. "But we need to stay awake. You looked like you were dozing off."
"I wasn't," Namari hisses. He isn't afraid to admit when he's wrong, but he is definitely still awake now. Renim holds up his hands apologetically.
"Sorry, sorry," he repeats. "We can sleep once we get home. It should be evening at home."
Namari blinks. Yes, the time difference. He wonders if this will help them adjust quicker, going to sleep at a time they would normally, but he already knows that he will probably wake up after a few hours of sleep. It took him roughly a week to get used to the time difference when going to Tokyo, it will probably take him the same amount to get used to it here. He definitely isn't looking forward to going back if it means that he has to undergo this again.
He hears a yelp. Of course, it's coming from Radim and Thalim. They don't seem happy with being shaken awake by Bron. The same happens with Rutherfor a few moments later. She yelps and the plane shakes; she lost control over the oversoul for a moment.
"Control yourself," Goldva reminds sharply and goes make an apologetic announcement about possible turbulences on the way.
The Patch members look at each other.
"I can't wait to see a proper bed," Silva grumbles. He is also tired, but resisting sleep, unlike the younger members. Namari realizes that he's suddenly the fourth youngest in this company.
Kalim stares into the sun that's shining right against the plane.
"Believe me, friend, I can't wait either. This is entirely too long," he says. Goldva doesn't say anything. Namari knows that she doesn't usually help them much. They're the 10 Priests, she's just the chief. She does play an important role but usually, she leaves all the dirty work to them. Not today, she has stepped up to fill Chrom's place.
"I need coffee," Thalim groans and rubs his eyes. Namari would also welcome some coffee if he's being honest. He usually doesn't drink it in such amounts, but he would love to get some caffeine into his system, just this once.
"I would kill for some," Radim admits. He usually prefers soda, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Renim shakes his head.
"We have to focus, this is no time to think about food," he reminds them. Rutherfor looks at him.
"We haven't eaten anything for 8 hours. Or drunk," she says. Namari feels his dry tongue. He would kill for something to eat and drink. Finally, Goldva relents.
"Fine. Namari, Thalim, go fetch something," she says, and it's only good that they thought to buy some cans of water and soda before boarding the plane. Namari hadn't thought about making sandwiches, but at least they have the rest of the things they were trying to sell in the morning. Namari tries to hold the oversoul while he goes fetch them. However, by the plane's shaking, he can tell that he's not doing a very good job. At least he presumes it's him as he gathers the treats into a box. Thalim, for his part, is pretty good at maintaining several oversouls at once, given his spirit's nature.
Namari hurries back to the cockpit with the box, and finds Thalim already there, distributing cans of water, taking a soda one himself. It's no coffee but it's sugar, and it will keep him awake.
Everyone immediately takes something from the box Namari brings, and soon they're all munching on the food, even Goldva. Only now does he realize just how hungry he was. At least now he can focus on maintaining the oversoul. They're roughly two hours away from dropping the participants.
Despite the tiredness, the two hours pass fairly quickly. It's almost impossible to sleep or doze off when the sun is shining right in their eyes. Finally, Goldva says that they're ready.
Namari braces himself. They all take parachutes and secure them on their backs. Rutherfor and Renim stand right in the centre, the others in a line around them. Magna and Silva are right at the ends of the lines, both possessing bird spirits and therefore being able to fly on their own if Rutherfor and Renim's double oversoul didn't work well or they didn't last with their furyoku.
Goldva ends her transmission and they let go of the plane oversoul. It's a relief, it feels like being released from a huge burden, despite the contestants screaming murder. They shakily stand on Rutherfor's Grey Saucer oversoul that stabilizes the air pressure and keeps them from freezing (they are, after all, 11 km above the ground) and Renim's Clear Coat oversoul wraps around them and keeps them from sight.
They start moving towards the ground and in the village's direction once the situation clears up. Hao flies away with their spirit, and Namari can vaguely see Gandhara's spirits grabbing the elephant. He can't help but sigh in relief. He likes animals; he wouldn't have liked to see the elephant die.
Once they are at a breathable altitude, Magna and Silva fly on their own, allowing Rutherfor to use less furyoku to keep the rest of them on board. They still have almost two hours of flight. Thankfully, Rutherfor is powerful. Young and powerful. Not everyone would be able to have Grey Saucer as their spirit ally. Namari knows that he wouldn't be able to do it. Only Big Chief is more powerful than Grey Saucer.
Even then, she is completely exhausted when they get to the Patch Village and Kalim has to carry her. It's around 8 p.m., and they are all exhausted and starving. Despite that, they are welcomed back home, offered food and drinks, and finally collapse in their own beds.
