Most of the dialogue with Sati is paraphrased from the manga/remake (mostly manga though since it has more details). Added the Silva tries to steal the elemental spirits part because it seemed fun :D
When the second round starts, Namari spends most of the time in the restaurant. However, since everything's so new, there are no customers yet, and everyone is watching the matches anyways, so, for the morning matches, he closes the restaurant and goes hang out with Goldva and Kalim. Together with Silva, they're watching the projector. Namari frowns when he sees three kids win. They must be powerful shamans, but a quick look at his oracle bell tells him that they are far away from god-level. With that, Namari loses attention in them. They're not interesting. They will probably be defeated in their second match.
The second match is much more interesting. Namari is sitting with Renim, a rare time they sit next to each other. They are chatting about Renim's tendency to overthink things when the match starts. It is quick and bloody. Namari doesn't wince; he's seen a lot of blood. He knows this tournament is deadly, but, some of the contestants might not have realized that yet, and they're paying the price now.
He thinks the Iron Maiden has great potential. It's definitely a clever tactic to raise her own furyoku. She is probably more powerful than most of the Patch, and they do have more furyoku than a regular contestant. They have to, if they are to protect the Shaman King at the end.
He sees that Renim doesn't look away, but his eyes are fixed on the screen, not moving. He sighs.
"Well, that's this," Namari says and stands up. "Someone will have to clean the mess before the next match."
Goldva fixes him with a pointed stare.
"Magna, Nichrom," she says. "Take care of it."
Namari looks at the two. These two are away more often than not. Everyone knows that they hang out with Hao; they have known for months now. However, they're not doing anything against the Patch laws, so Goldva lets this slip, just like she let slip Silva's favouritism of the Asakura boy, or Namari's dinner with Sati. As long as they don't interrupt the fight, they're free to do as they please.
Namari stretches and turns around. He walks out without telling anyone where he's going, but everyone knows anyways. It will be lunchtime soon, and it is time to open the business.
Namari continues to watch the fights the next day. He's actually sitting with Thalim in the room, just like he had done with Renim yesterday. It's their day off. Silva, Kalim, and Magna are also present. It seems that Silva and Kalim always have free days; he and Thalim almost never. That is the fate of the customer service jobs, he thinks bitterly. He sees Kalim cover Rutherfor's eyes when he sees team T-production's battle tactics. Thalim blushes and looks away, Namari keeps his eyes on the screen, but even he feels uneasy about it. He's actually glad that Hao's girls defeat the creeps smoothly and quickly.
"You can look now," he tells Thalim, but another team is already coming. It's Hao. Thalim peeks at the screen, and Namari clears his throat.
"Or maybe, on the other hand, don't look."
He knows Thalim finds Hao scary. And since he's probably his best friend from this close group that the officiants are, he wants to spare him the sight.
"I feel like having a big frappuccino with extra whipped cream," Namari says and Thalim, sensing the excuse, disappears from the room. Namari heaves a sigh of relief. Sometimes, it can seem like he doesn't care about other people. He does, though. He cares about his family.
As he predicts, Hao's fight is short and deadly. Namari definitely wouldn't want to be in Radim's place right now.
The fight of the X-Laws and the Niles at least left some blood at the spot, Hao doesn't leave anything . Everything disappears, burned. Namari's eyes are fixed on the screen, and he lets out a horrified gasp as Venstar brings out the grenade.
The silent "Radim!" is on his tongue, but he can only watch as his friend runs and gets thrown away by the sheer force of the blast. The next thing he hears is a cup on the ground, shattered.
Namari prides himself on not being scared that easily, but he startles now. Between what happens at the stadium and what happens now, he can't keep his attention on both things.
"Radim!" Silva and Kalim shout instead of him and dash out. They're probably faster than Namari would be, and they will take care of him if he's injured.
Namari turns to Thalim.
"How long have you been there?" he asks and crouches down. The drinks are gone, and he carefully gets the shards of the cups. They need to get rid of them.
Thalim shakes his head.
"I just came," he admits and looks down at the dropped cups. "I, I can make more," he says, and Namari puts a hand on his shoulder.
"Leave it," he tells him. He can feel him shake. He's young and before this tournament, he has never seen anyone die. Never killed anyone, too. Namari feels that since he's the older one here, he should take command.
"Let's clean this up, get me some broom, please," he says, and Thalim gets up. Namari brings the destroyed cups to the trash, and he disposes of them. Hissing, he finds out that he's cut himself on one of the sharp ends. He curses under his breath and puts his finger in his mouth, feeling the metallic taste of blood and traces of the frappuccino.
He's glad that Thalim hasn't completely lost his head from the shock and brings clean napkins to clean the floor with. Namari assumes that he probably has experience with broken stuff; Thalim can be clumsy sometimes. Namari had also dropped his fair share of plates when he was younger (he definitely doesn't drop them now, thank you very much). It takes practice and it happens to everyone sometimes.
The two of them clean the mess. Goldva doesn't move from her spot, and Namari glances up. He's starting to wonder if she even cares about them all.
He stands up when the floor is clean and motions for Thalim to follow him.
The two of them arrive at the stadium. Kalim is gone, he probably went with Radim to the infirmary, however, Silva and Magna with Nichrom are there.
"Radim is alive, don't worry," Silva says instead of greeting and Namari feels relieved that his friend is alright.
A message about the remaining fights being postponed flashes on the board, and the five of them inspect the damages.
"So this is the power of Hao," Namari breathes. It doesn't settle until hours later, but Hao is definitely the strongest shaman in the tournament. It doesn't matter how strong Sati is, she doesn't have the power, and, more importantly, she doesn't have the drive to become the Shaman King.
It is that evening that they're back in the control room, Namari sits on the ground, meddling with his oracle bell and checking the participants' furyoku, that Magna and Nichrom come.
"Silva is planning something," the older Patch says, and everyone looks at him. Namari frowns. Silva? He was acting normally when they inspected the damage from the fight.
"He wants to stop Hao," Nichrom adds. "He attacked Radim."
At this, Namari's stomach makes a sick twist. Whether it's true or not, the thought of them fighting between each other is sickening. He sees Rutherfor's eyes go wide and she clasps her hand to her mouth.
"What?" Kalim says, his tone suggesting that he doesn't want to believe it at all.
Goldva taps her pipe.
"Find Silva and get him here," she orders, and all of them have no choice but to obey.
"I don't want to fight Silva," Namari hears Rutherfor tell Thalim. Both youngsters look very much distraught by this, by the prospect of fighting their own comrade.
Namari feels the same way, but he's not going to let it show on his face. However, he is angry. It's one thing to show favouritism and another thing to put the whole fight in jeopardy.
Magna takes the lead. He has Magnescope carry him and everyone follows. Namari finds it weird that Magna knows exactly where to go. It seems fishy.
However, he is ultimately right. They arrive at a secluded area of the island. Silva indeed has acquired one of the elemental spirits. At the first glance, Namari thinks it's the Spirit of Rain, based on the colour.
"Is that-?" Renim gasps. Namari can't help but feel the same way. He has known that that Silva was behaving strangely whenever Hao was mentioned, but he hadn't expected that he would actually go so far.
Silva barely has time to react when Bron tries to catch him with his oversoul. He leaps into the air, using Silver Wing, and Namari backs up for a second, worried that he might use the elemental spirit. Nothing happens, and Namari realizes that Silva doesn't have enough furyoku to keep such a big spirit in check. He only has Silver Arms as he's always had, and right now, he's locked in a fight with Magna.
Bron uses Blue Net again, this time catching Silva's right arm. That works well for them since he can't use Silver Rod now.
Kalim, Namari and Renim stand back. Their spirits don't have the capacity to get as far up.
Nichrom tries to catch Silva's leg with Yellow Whip's tail, but it doesn't work. For the first time, he uses his brother's spirit, Purple Kick, to jump high into the air and now he manages to do it. Yellow Whip's tail curls around Silva's ankle and brings him several feet down. Namari notes that no one is trying to kill him. They don't want to have to kill him, even if Silva is still brawling with Magna in the air, but he's losing quickly. Namari knows pretty well that he would be quite useless in this fight. Never mind Red Rope's size, his oversoul is designed to kill , and no one wants that at this particular moment.
"Thalim!" Bron shouts at him, and Namari finally sees Thalim move. So far, he and Rutherfor were frozen on the spot, but now, they are finally going into action. The sharp order from Bron has woken them up.
"Sorry, Silva."
Using Green Seeds, Thalim's lianas wrap around Silva's second ankle, and Rutherfor uses Grey Saucer to manipulate gravity. Now, finally, Silva falls down to the ground, and Bron is quick to envelop him in another net.
Magna lands in front of him and Namari can see the glare Silva gives him even from where he stands.
"You've lost, Silva. Give up," Magna says.
Kalim stands next to him.
"Why, Silva?" he asks. He sounds broken. They all are. They never expected that they would have to turn against one of their own.
Silva doesn't answer. He just glares at them. Namari comes closer, and defiance is shown in the other Patch's eyes. They probably won't get anything out of him right now.
"Let's go," Bron says and leaves Silva space so that he can walk. He and Renim, Kalim and Magna, and Nichrom loyally next to Magna, go around Silva in a right circle. Namari goes a little behind them, followed by Thalim and Rutherfor. The girl is leaning against Thalim, and the two support each other. They're broken, Namari can see. He is as well, he supposes. It's too early to tell.
Once Silva is secured in a prison, they gather in the room again. The tribe, and not only that, the ten priests suffered a great loss today.
"Will we have to find another officiant?" Magna asks, and Namari curls his lip in disgust. It almost seems as if he's looking forward to someone else taking Silva's place.
Goldva grits her teeth. She looks irritated, and Namari doesn't want to get on her bad side right now.
"We will let the Great Spirit decide that," she says, and Namari knows that they're probably not getting another person to fill in for Silva. It's too late anyways. No one else has the right upbringing, no one can take over the glacier plant. They don't have time to get someone else.
He gives out a hot cup of soup to Nichrom, Rutherfor, and Thalim. He goes and offers some to the other members too, but only Renim tentatively accepts. Namari misses Radim in their space. He misses Chrom. Those two would know what to do. Like this, however, he retreats to the group of the younger members. Namari is with his 24 years somewhere in the middle, and he doesn't really feel accepted in the group of the older members. He feels more comfortable with the younger ones, and, since he's the oldest there, he feels that he should care for them.
"What will happen now?" Rutherfor asks. Sometimes, Namari forgets that she's still just a child, still a teenager. He often forgets that about Thalim, too. He's barely an adult. Nichrom is an actual child, but he doesn't seem to want to spend his time with the younger group.
"I don't know," Thalim replies; barely a whisper. Namari looks at them. They look tired, and he sees that the discussion about what to do with Silva isn't going anywhere tonight.
"I think we should go to sleep," Namari says. Some of the members look at him.
Finally, Kalim says: "Namari is right. Let's leave this for tomorrow."
They all get into their rooms, and soon, there's silence in the caves.
Namari doesn't sleep. He slips out under the cover of the night and goes back to the place where they found Silva earlier.
He punches the ground.
It isn't normal for him to get this angry. Namari doesn't get angry often. But he feels like destroying something right now. He isn't particularly close with Silva, but he never thought that he would turn traitor . He put his whole family at risk. What if the participants saw them? What if anything got to them? They would be regarded with distrust. How can the contestants trust them if they can't even trust one of their own?
When Namari feels like he's done enough, he sits down on the ground. He's still angry. He's angry at Silva. He's angry that neither of them saw through him and didn't stop him. Even if he is mad, he can't help but wonder what will happen to him. He thinks that he knows. Stepping out of line is punished; that's why everyone always does what they're told, they don't mess with the contestants. Namari wouldn't like to be in Silva's place.
It's long after midnight when he returns and he can't sleep. The next days, he spends them mostly in the restaurant. Since the stadium is closed, the contestants find their place there, going for drinks and food while the rest of the Patch is repairing the stadium. At least he knows that Magna and Radim do. Namari's glad that Radim is feeling better now, and Kalim is helping them, so he knows that the stadium will soon be as good as new.
Namari isn't there when Goldva makes the decision to have Bron and Renim re-establish Silva. It might be better. Nichrom seems not to care about what happens to him, and Namari considers not caring too, especially since he's still mad at Silva. However, as long as he gets back in line and fulfills his duty, Namari is fine with it. They need to work together, not against each other. Rutherfor and Thalim are more quiet than usual these days, but Rutherfor is losing herself in a game she's playing on her oracle bell while Thalim jumps when Namari enters the room. It's the evening, and he's tired. The matches are supposed to be resumed the next day. Not even for a moment, Namari doesn't doubt that team Myooh will win. He's pretty much convinced about it.
"Only a few teams left," he looks at the board and comments. Maybe he should start looking at the teams to polish his battle strategy for the last round.
"Who do you think will win?" Rutherfor asks.
Namari doesn't hesitate.
"Hao," he replies. Thalim looks away for a moment, and Namari regrets that he said it so resolutely for a bit.
Rutherfor turns to Thalim and pats him on the shoulder. Namari sees Goldva give them a side-glance from the center of the room.
"It's the law of the strongest," Namari crosses his arms. He doesn't say it with such enthusiasm as Magna would. It's just a dry fact; it is the law of the strongest now. It depends on the contestants now - how they use their furyoku, and who decides to be foolish and gets themselves killed. Namari knows there are a lot of unofficial battles all over the island. He's not stupid. It's natural in a fight like this.
"Yeah, the law of the strongest," Thalim repeats, but he doesn't sound happy. Radim comes over.
"There's still a chance that there will be some surprise, how about that Asakura boy?" he says. Namari rises an eyebrow.
"Hao's twin?" he asks. Kalim looks his way.
"He is strong and smart, but he's not that strong," he says, trying to sound as objective as possible.
"No one's that strong," Radim agrees. He misses his sodas, but he just drank the one and he needs them to last for the next few days.
All conversation stops when Bron and Renim enter with Silva in tow. Namari takes a step away; he doesn't want to be near them.
Silva looks different now. His eyes are blank, they lost their spark. Namari supposes that the Patch song does that to people. He isn't the biggest fan of the Patch's secret technique. He believes that everyone should fight with their own strength.
Even if he is angry about what Silva did, Namari can't help but pity him in some way or another. He stands between him and the youngsters; they're all pretty bad from the sight.
Radim sighs and leans on the wall. His forehead is still bandaged, even if he's healed already. He will have to take the bandage off tomorrow, but for tonight, it can stay.
Namari watches the fight together with Goldva the next day. However, it's interrupted with the cave shaking and Namari hurries out to look out over the island. Nothing can be seen except smoke coming from the nearby forest.
He stands there, wondering what just happened. However, he finds out soon enough when he goes back to the control room.
"Team X-II is out," Goldva says, uninterested.
As always. Namari doesn't even bother raising an eyebrow; it wouldn't have an effect anyways.
However, team X-II being out means that they unknowingly made more work for him. He sighs. He can't enjoy a day off, it seems. First they have to hunt down Silva, now he has to go tell Sati that her team's opponent has changed for the upcoming fight.
He dusts his robes and whistles.
"Well then, I'm off," he says, and Renim waves him goodbye. Namari takes it easy. There's still time until the match, and he doesn't really need to hurry.
It's not like he has to look for a long time to find the Gandhara. They're all gathered next to the sea side on the main road. Namari approaches carefully in the shadows, unseen. He's close enough to hear snippets of the dialogue.
"The power to use the five elemental spirits?" someone asks, and Namari can't really place the voice. It must belong to someone who he doesn't know. He creeps closer, and now he can see that the Gandhara are standing opposite of team Funbari onsen. Their leader, the Asakura boy, lies dead on the ground.
Namari's eyes widen and he stops. His mind flashes back to all those months ago when he was wondering if the Gandhara had some ultimate motive in the fight. It seems that he's found it. He stops to listen.
Sati is dressed in a simple, plain dress, but he doesn't feel the admiration that he normally does. He doesn't feel sick that she has killed a child to achieve her goal, no. Yoh Asakura knew what he was doing when he joined the tournament. Instead, Namari feels angry when he hears the next sentence.
"One spirit per warrior. Only then we can defeat Hao," she says, and Namari frowns. Again with the elemental spirits. As if it wasn't enough that Silva tried to steal them, now Sati is planning to do exactly the same. Namari forces himself to stay in the shadows. He has no business eavesdropping on other people's private conversations, but this directly concerns him. It directly concerns the Patch. No one is going to ask about their feelings on the matter. The contestants already know that the Patch have a strict non-interference policy.
Ryu, the tall guy with a pompadour, says: "Hold on, isn't the Spirit of Fire one of them?"
Namari frowns. So he has some brains, after all. He looks all battle and brawl, but he has a good head on his shoulders.
The fact that Sati knows that Hao has to sleep in order to merge with the Great Spirit doesn't surprise him. Even the contestants seem to know who will win this fight. Namari, for once, agrees that Hao is the strongest one. He sees that they have a tactic to take him down.
"We must get them and give them to the five warriors. That is Gandhara's only goal in the Shaman Fight," Sati says. Namari can't help but smirk. Finally, after almost a year, it all comes to the surface. What a way to find out.
"We want to save everyone. We don't care who becomes the Shaman King, we want to save everyone on this earth," Sati says and Namari thinks that maybe he shouldn't eavesdrop anymore. He frowns, and is about to come out of the shadows when Sati raises her voice.
"But first, why don't you come out to where we can see you, Patch officiant responsible for us Gandhara. Namari."
Namari supposes that he doesn't have any other choice, so he steps out into the open, a smile on his face. He doesn't care that Sati has sensed his presence. He has heard enough. He stops right in the middle of the road.
"Whoops, you caught me," he says playfully. Now that Namari knows what Sati's real goal is, he doesn't mind to play with her a little bit. He knows that he can't do much else.
Ryu prepares into a battle stance. Namari pierces him with a glare.
"He's an officiant?" The young man says. Namari guesses that he can't be much younger than he is. He's amused by this. Who else would go around in the Patch clothes if not an officiant. Also, it's definitely not like they haven't seen each other before. He does run the restaurant, after all.
Namari doesn't have a reason to interfere. He can't .
"Don't worry, I am completely neutral. I don't like to fight," he says. Even then, he sees Daiei shield little Komeri. He's a little disappointed by that, if he has to admit. Small Komeri was always one of the most welcoming Gandhara members. He wonders if this reaction has to do anything with all the treacherous talks they had been having here.
"Don't worry, Komeri," Daiei tells the little girl. "He won't interfere in others' business."
Namari almost pouts. Oh, how he hates that the old man is right. Namari is in a position where he can't do anything but talk. He has a sharp tongue, his mind is quick, but he doesn't think he can talk the Gandhara out of their goal.
With a swing of his cloak, he moves next to Sati. She doesn't flinch when he comes into her personal space. Neither her nor the Gandhara members react.
"However, the five elemental spirits are a treasure to us Patch. A god-level shaman like yourself shouldn't talk about getting them so loudly, what if it was someone else who was listening, eh?"
Namari realizes just now that he has a significant height advantage over Sati since he has to lean down to look into her eyes. He has never noticed this before; maybe because he was never as close to really notice. She's tiny. He's not that tall either, but he feels that the height difference might give his words a slight emphasis.
He doesn't get to say more because Ryu starts shouting at him.
"Hey, don't you get any closer, you jerk!"
Namari looks at him from the corner of his eye. So that's how it is. He knows that Sati is a charming lady, but he cannot let himself be intimidated by this youngster.
"As I've already said, I am neutral ," he repeats, more forcefully this time, and Red Rope materializes around Ryu and his lowly human spirit. Namari doesn't do anything else. He doesn't have to. He can't do anything else.
He won't get into a fight. He doesn't even want to fight right now. The Patch takes a step away from Sati, if that is what disturbs the man so much.
"That's Red Rope," Namari says, the same playfulness remaining in his voice, even if laced by irritation now. He hears their surprised gasps. Namari recalls Red Rope. That was enough.
"If you're fighting to be the Shaman King, you will have to get through me." He leaves him to wonder what just happened. Namari knows that he's strong. He's strong even if Red Rope doesn't belong to the strongest group of spirits amongst the Patch - that for sure is Big Chief and Grey Saucer. If anything, Red Rope is probably one of the weakest, but that definitely won't stop Namari.
Namari takes a step aside to look at Asakura Yoh. The boy almost looks like he's sleeping, but Namari knows better. He has seen death. A flash of unmoving Chrom flashes in his mind and he closes his eyes for a millisecond, tired.
"Really, you exceed my expectations. You actually killed this boy to further your plan," he says. He can see his chest isn't moving. He's completely dead. Guess that this means that Namari has to report the loss of another team back to Goldva. Seems like this second round will be shorter than expected in the end.
Namari turns to look at Sati again.
"But don't push your luck. You of all people should know what we Patch are truly capable of," he says and takes some steps away. Almost as if he had forgotten, he turns his head around.
"Oh, and I wanted to inform you that the X-II has been destroyed. Team Nyorai will be fighting against the Kabbalahers next," he says, the true reason why he actually came here in the first place. That he happened to overhear the conversation is just an added bonus. Namari feels satisfied with the amount of information that he got.
"Wait, what do you mean that the X-II was destroyed?" Ryu asks, but Namari barely pays him any attention. He is now much more interested in the new presence. Hao's team, the Tsukigumi.
"It's not only the X-II, but every member of the X-Laws," Zang Ching says and Namari stands aside. He's an officiant, and this looks like it's going to be a fight.
"My my. I cannot interfere, but be careful, Tsukigumi," he warns and leans against a wall. Official fight or not, he's going to stay to report the deaths. It's a part of his job, after all. He's not surprised to hear the names of the five warriors. They're just kids, but they're one of the last ones who still fight in the tournament.
"But Lyserg was blown up in the car. It seems that you lost a warrior, Gandhara," Zang Ching smiles, and Namari looks up. This fight will prove to be interesting.
However, he's not too thrilled by Sati's decision to protect the enemy. A noble one, sure, but definitely a foolish one. He's not surprised at all when Sati is pierced by Zang Ching's oversoul. His stomach twists, just like it does whenever he sees death up close. It doesn't matter if it's Sati or someone else; Namari can deal with death, but it always leaves a sick feeling.
Sati falls to the ground, barely breathing anymore, and Namari doesn't react. He stands there, partly hiding in the hood of his cloak, and looks at the fight.
It's short. The Gandhara members aren't anything without Sati. Namari goes deeper into the side street, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire. However, he's still completely relaxed.
It's only when Asakura Yoh is alive again that the fight turns. Namari doesn't even know how it happened. At one point, he was dead. There was no one to bring him back, and suddenly, he was standing there, oversoul in his hand, about to defeat the whole Tsukigumi. He realizes that the last member of the team has the power to resurrect people when he sees his oversoul. Of course. It's logical.
"How long are you going to stand there and act as if nothing happened?" Yoh asks him, and Namari keeps his hands relaxed on his chest. This boy can't do anything to him.
"It's our duty not to interfere between the participants' fights," he replies simply, a mantra that he knows by heart. He doesn't understand what is so difficult to understand on that. But of course, this boy is Silva's charge, and he doesn't know the laws of the Patch, because Silva keeps sticking his nose into everyone's business.
"Don't lie. It's because you've sided with Hao," he accuses him. Namari's eyes widen in surprise. He definitely hasn't expected this. He recovers quickly.
"Our duty is to protect the next Shaman King," he says. "And that will be-"
"ME!" Asakura Yoh says cheerfully and proceeds to defeat Hao's minions with three single blows. Namari can only watch, but he's surprised. Just how much did his furyoku increase by the stay in hell?
He hurries to look at his oracle bell. He doesn't get time to look.
"See that, Patch officiant? Team Funbari onsen is back in the fight!"
Namari narrows his eyes. This boy might believe that he's in league with Hao, but he doesn't understand anything.
"Very well, then," he says. He doesn't stick around to see Sati revived. He has seen enough.
Silently, he retreats into the shadows, going back to the control room.
