Harry Potter and the master of fire
Disclaimer:Do I really need to put this up? Shouldn't it be obvious? sigh al right. I do not own Harry Potter, Shaman king or anything,anyone or any place else referenced in this story which could be recognised in this story.
If anyone might take offence to the contents of this story. It is only for fictional purposes and does not reflect my opinion in anything anyway whatsoever
Chapter 2: Proving Himself (part 1) The man with the Midas touch
Las Vegas - Grand Star hotel and casino(1) -penthouse suite. one week and two days later
Harry looked out over the sea of flashing neon light with contempt for those down below. In every direction as far as he see were casino's, were greedy humans squandered what little they had with the foolish notion that they could walk away with even more than they had first but almost always ending up with nothing because their greed will never allow them to say 'I have enough'.
Shaking his head he walked back into the suite and closed the balcony doors behind him to rid his sensitive ear of the sounds of sirens which were all to common in this city, he made his way over to the large couch in front of the equally large television he had tuned to a the 24 hour news network he only kept on should they make a mention of the one he was looking for. Hearing yet no mention he decided to open up the 'mantannian dictionary' he had sitting on the hardwood lounge table and continue the other part of his mission, trying to find a suitable Kami spirit.
Now before I continue I bet your asking why and more importantly how Harry got the most expensive room in of the top 10 Hotels in Vegas were even the slots only accept 20 bills. Well the first part is quite complex and will need a little explaining.
You see Harry has been having a little more difficulty than he first imagined in either of his tasks. First off when it came to trying to recruit fellow shaman to the cause it was always a case that they would never take the 7 year old seriously, especially with him still not having a ghost, not to mention that out of the 50 shaman he'd asked, even though 90 percent believed him it would turned out that 100 percent of the he asked shaman were so pathetically weak that they could barely hold unity for more than a minute. If he brought them to Zeke then he'd be torched for the principle alone.
So rather than his previously tried method of seeking out were he knew Shaman gathered to increase the speed in his very time restricted task, he started using the dousing methods he'd started learning from the Diethyl's books that the guy's had taken before his brother had burnt the house down. He wasn't the best their was but he was getting better, and so far all his readings showed an extremely powerful shaman taking up residence in the city of Las Vegas. His dousing proved accurate when he came to town and heard about a late night robbery on an armoured truck, the strange thing?
One of the guards in the truck before he was taken to hospital for head injuries claimed that they where town through the air, had the roof ripped open and every single brick and coin lifted out in one hand of a giant made of solid gold.
It would take a powerful shaman to create a giant over soul, let alone on powerful and reckless enough to charge the air with enough Mana to make the over soul visible to anyone with even the most underdeveloped sixth sense. Strong and stupid were always good qualities in an underling and whoever this shaman was had both of them in spades. Now knowing he had a target in Vegas he just needed a place to stay while he searched for him or possibly her.
Any-who. We got the 'why' he was in his suite. As for the 'how' he was in the hotel. Believe it or not Zeke's followers don't just extend to those who travel with him, nor is this the only lifetime in which he's had any. Every 500 years descendants of past generations of followers are raised to await the day Zeke returns to claim his one true place as Shaman King, making it more of a worldwide organisation rather than a merry little band of shaman. These descendent try as hard as possible to make themselves powerful enough in different ways to be of some use to their master. Whether it's becoming a strong Shaman, or powerful in business and /or government, and in the case of the founder of a certain globe spanning hotel chain accommodate and cater to the every whim of the child who proved to be Zeke's protigy and adopted brother. Free of charge of course
Now that the how and why are out of the way, let us return to the story already in progress.
Harry lay on the white leather angle sofa in his extravagantly furnished penthouse room while boredly flipping between the pages of a book that seemed to miraculously have an unending number of pages despite not being extra ordinary in origin.
He knew he should be busy using this time to douse for his mystery gold thief but he decided that running off to find him wouldn't accomplish anything if he didn't have a strategy, for one thing this guy had a ghost he wouldn't know anything about until it's to late, although he knew several excorsisom techniques from various countries if he didn't use the one from the spirits place of origin then the rest were worthless, plus bringing back a spiritless shaman to Zeke wouldn't go down well. Second of all he needed time to become familiar with the spirits that inhabit the town, though judging from what he'd already seen he could tell that the place was mostly filled with human spirits anchored to this plane by greed for money.
He needed to know his opponent, his or her guardian ghost and the lay of the land if he had any chance of taking them on, and he needed to do it fast.
As Harry looked through the book he glanced over each page, looking over the description of each possible deity he may seek to acquire and trying to ascertain their powers and perhaps more importantly their whereabouts. Next to the book on a notepad the name and page numbers of several of the divine spirits that caught his interest, only a few were tonight's addition to the single page list since he couldn't afford the time it would take to look for each spirit, he'd already wasted a week and 6 days on his little shaman hunt even with him taking what he thought was the quick method before and worse still their was only had six more remaining before his brother would either expect him back or much more likely track Harry down and find out exactly what little he had accomplished. That being the case he needed to find this guy within the next few days or else--
--If you don't know by now then you haven't been reading this story since chapter 1 fool.--
He lifted up his glasses and rubbed his eyes, looking over at the clock in the news channel corner he saw it was already 12:20AM. 'That late already' Harry thought quite surprised at how focused he'd been on creating his relativly short list that he'd forgotten his 11:00 PM bedtime all together.
'Small thanks that the girls aren't here to see me up past 11' he thought ' last time I did this I couldn't even sit up in my bed for three days'.
Honestly Harry loved the Hoshi-Gumi three. Ever since he could remember they'd been like a mother, sister, and aunt to him although they couldn't decide which roll each of them had since neither wanted to be classed as the mother for fear of sounding old. They were the only ones who got to feed him, change him, play with him, etcetera etcetera. Of course they were a touch overprotective of him. The only man that could go near or even speak to Harry until he was 3 and ready for training was Zeke after Big Billy tried to play 'up say daisy' with him and almost launched Harry over a cliff face. It was there that the Hoshi-Gumi earned their reputation as Zekes right hand after the three pre pubescent girls turned the toughest member of the crew the same colour as his football uniform. Without using any Mana. (2)
Though he'd rather enjoy this suddenly realised freedom his small boy body had other idea's and forced him to let out a mighty yawn. Giving in to his body's wants he closed over the book which gave a mighty 'Thump as over a thousand or so pages crashed into another thousand or so pages. He closed over his notebook with a slightly quieter sound and made his way over to his bed. Quickly changing into his nightwear consisting of dark blue pyjamas with little stars patterned into the fabric he pulled back the covers and snuggled into a real bed since the first time he could remember.
He was out in seconds.
Across town at the same time
A lone boy or mabye a man since his height was difficult to say which was walking down a rather filthy back alley. Not something you generally do especially in a city were money in the hand is as loose as it can get and with those waiting to relieve you of that money might not just be the casinos.
This kid though looked like one of those who'd relieve you of unwanted currency. Faded blue jeans with ripped knees. Dirt old hooded jacket decorated with skulls on the inside and and the print on the chest worn away leaving only a few specks of greyed white. He was hunched over looking down at the ground while humming some offbeat hip hop song like he'd heard it once but never heard more than an earful. He was so absorbed in trying to remember how the song went he was completely ignorant of his surroundings except for his immediate front so he didn't heard the soft soul shoes come up behind him until the wearer was swinging a baseball bat at the back of his head.
WHACK
He went down like a sack of potatoes and he hit the ground with a wet thud.
His assailant circled him round from his feet to stand right in front of his hooded head. Smiling in satisfaction he called out.
"Got im."
Several other men and two girls walked into the alley. These guys were dressed like they were going to a society party. High end cloths that'd take your average Joe a year just to pay for their socks. Enough 24k jewellery to weigh down an elephant and that's just in chains alone. They each sported some sort of street weapon. Like a bat wrapped in wire or a pair of knuckles. The lead guy who looked like a gold plated jaws and shouldering an Uzi walked over a shooed away his subordinate like other people would a dog before looking at his victim.
"Well now" He said with a smooth voice. "Let's see what little piece of S!t wandered into the 'golden boyz' territory this time." He smirked and called over to have one off his flunkies with a crow bar to turn him over. Or he would have if he hadn't started to hear the sound of someone sniffing coming from the prone body. He stepped back a little as it started to get up onto its hands then its feet.
'What the hell' He thought 'This freak took a bat to the brain and he's still standing' He grabbed the crowbar from his thug a nailed the mystery boy across the head. Only to meet a solid resistance. He heard a raspy voice come out from behind the hood which seemed to vibrate down the bar and through his whole body.
"I smell...G...G.. Goooollld."
He walked back a aimed a few rounds right into the freaks face. Sending it back onto the ground for a few seconds only for it to get back up.
"Gooolllld."
"Shit what is this thing." He yelled as his men raised their weapons in what they knew would be a futile effort to defend themselves.
The guy started to glow a eerie yellow colour.
"Gooolllld"
The colour started to push out into a dome of energy.
"Gooolllld"
The dome of energy started to take a humanoid shape.
"GGGOOOOLLLLDDDD."
The only smart thug in the crew managed to gather enough of their wits about them to run just as the energy bent the laws of physics and became a solid, towering and very menacing form.
The leader couldn't move nor hear his men's screams as a giant golden hand reached down to close in around him.
"GIVE ME YOUR GGGOOOLLLDDD!!."
8:40Am Grand Star hotel the following morning
The other adult passengers in the elevator couldn't help but glance down at the young boy standing in front of the carriage door. The grand Star wasn't exactly kid friendly and family affordable if you know what I mean. The only kids you usually saw around were the pimple faced youths trying to earn enough to keep their parents off their backs about not knowing the value of a dollar. Even rarer when some big shot from out of town decided to show how important they were and brought their family along for show.
The doors to the lobby opened and Harry was the first one out leaving the adults a moment to collect their thoughts while someone else entered and pressed the button for the 38th floor with them still in it. He made his way over to the front desk and groaned as he stood on his tip toes to reach the bell. Seconds later a pretty girl on her early 20's looked over the counter at him.
"Did you get lost little boy?" She asked annoyingly, earning a glare from Harry.
"No. Can I speak to mister Rodermein please."
"Sorry but the manager's too busy to speak to a little boy, do you think you can come back with your parents kid.
Harry was boiling at the blatant lack of respect this woman was displaying. You didn't stay the apprentice of Zeke Asakura by being stepped on. He was about ready to jump up and teach her a lesson when he saw the balding manager come through the door behind the counter. Having lost his patience on the rude girl he whistled over at the man who reached over the counter with an annoyed scowl.
Which naturally became an obnoxiously wide smile as he saw who he was about to yell at.
"Ah mister Asakura so good to see you. I trust your stay is satisfactory."
"Yes" He glanced at the secretary. "Aside from her rudeness towards me." The managers eyes widened ever so slightly as he jerked his head at said girl.
"Alice your fired." He said firmly.
"WHAT! But sir I..."
"Fired!"
"But I."
"FIRED!!"
He pointed towards the lobby door. Alice gave Harry a piercing glare before storming out the rotating door. Satisfied at his handiwork Rodermein turned back to his highly connected client. "Better?"
"Much. Now I'll be gone for most of the day. If I should return with anyone I want no questions asked. Understand?"
The middle aged man internally grimaced. He'd been through this before and he still hated it. It was when one of these 'special guests' brought back one or more guest of their own to stay at the hotel. Not only did it eat away at the budget to cater to a dozen or more people for free like the last few times, but the people they usually returned with were the more unsavoury sort you'd rather not deal with. The procedure was turn a blind eye, act like nothing was wrong. Then when they leave bomb the entire floor they where staying in with a 50K payload of bleach.
Of course if he wanted to keep his usually ridiculously cushy and well paid job he didn't have much of a choice did he?
"Yes sir I understand."
The boy nodded and with a spin on his heel he walked out the door. Leaving the manager to bang his head on the oak front desk. Not bothering to lift his head of the wood he pressed a button on the Telecom panel and spoke into the mike.
"Arthur. Were going to need another sanitary Nuke. Preferably by tomorrow thank you." He said as he then banged his head once more on the table for good measure and groaned. "Sometimes I really hate this job."
He walked down the streets of Las Vegas. Away from the glitz and glamour and flashing neon towers that were used to make out of towners feel like their wasn't anything more to this city than the gambling. It was a clever trap, but traps only work if your stupid enough to fall for them. Harry was one of those 1 in a thousand people that actually came to Vegas not to gamble. Looking around the street he was walking down he had a rather difficult time deciding which part of the city was worse, the part he was walking through right now were there was a homeless to every alley and sirens never seemed to stop, or the part of the city that tried to hide all this with false promises of wealth and glory.
This shaman he was looking for would have to be in down town Harry had decided. Besides his skills in dousing telling him so there was also the reason that anyone who had that much gold in this town would have a hell of a hard time hiding it uptown or in the suburbs were everyone knows everything about each other. Of course that got Harry wondering why anyone would want that much gold in the first place, they couldn't very well go to a bank and put it in an account, or use it on the slots. Hell since that careless robbery he'd seen people on the street eyeing anyone with the slightest bit of gold on them. Maybe they'd been planning to take it out of the city, but Harry scratched that idea when he'd doused for the Mana this morning, he was good enough to tell that he was down town. Now all this begged the question that if he couldn't get rid of this while in the city but he wasn't leaving then what did he want the gold for anyway?
Harry was jarred for his thought by a rather loud Russian man shouting out about the price of his papers from a news-stand, he turned to give the man an annoyed look but the large print on the mentioned papers caught his eyes.
'GOLDEN GIANT STRIKES AGAIN: CLAIMS GANG LEADERS LIFE'
He reached over to pick up the paper but his hand was swatted by the Russian.
"75 cents." he said in his heavily accented voice, moustache twitching as he spoke.
He glared at the man for a second before reaching into his money pouch and pulling out a dollar bill which was snatched from his fingers and quickly shoved into the money box, He continued to look at the man expectantly for his change but received a glare from the man and shooing gestures.
"You have paper, you go now."
Knowing their was no point in arguing with the man Harry gave him a final look before heading down the path he'd been following.
Michael quite proud of himself for taking the little boys money, and he continued to feel proud of himself as he suddenly had an overwhelming desire to open his money box and throw the contents into the street for the money hungry pedestrians to grab up.
Harry knelt down to pick up the quarter that had suddenly rolled to hit his heel without looking away from the article he was reading. Apparently there had been another incident with his gold loving shaman friend jut last night. It had come out of nowhere and literally crushed the leader of a gang called the 'golden boyz' ('irony' Harry thought) with only one hand. Leaving a mangled body on the ground which was missing every piece of expensive metal right down to having the numerous gold fillings and piercings ripped out of him. The rest of the gang were much more fortunate after getting their brains in gear after their leader got killed but what all but one of them saw as a guy floating in the air wanted and fortunate for them they didn't have any jewellery they needed a dentist to remove when they all but threw their gold at the him before getting out of their as fast as they could.
Reading the address of the claims the apprentice of Zeke decided it would be a good idea to check this out.
It took Harry only twenty minutes to get to the scene, he wasn't to surprised to only see a police car and an alley way blocked off with yellow tape, this did happen last night after all and all the fanfare happened last night, at most the CSI may return to see if any additional evidence of what happened can be uncovered. Of course they'd be looking for evidence of the white powder and syringe variety rather than looking for 'a gold brick giant'. Which was fine for Harry since he had access to a different form of evidence. Walking over to the flimsy tape barrier he had no trouble ducking under it as the officer that should have been stopping him seemed more interested in sitting in the car with the portable TV he'd snuck with him so he would get bored out of his skull sitting in an alleyway.
The young shaman looked about the dank back alley with interest. All around their was evidence markers the police had left were their was even a drop of blood, a chalk outline of a shape that didn't even resemble a human body, more like a bendy straw. Marked areas on the wall from gang members taking blind shots at whatever killed their leader Harry however could see evidence of what truly happened that the mere humans had obviously chosen to ignore what should be an affront to their precious notions that the universe is built on science and logic. Large scraps along the bricks and a large damaged section of a wall in the shape of a hand print show something large had been passing between the physical world and the spiritual in to fit into a passage much to small for it, the air still tingling from the Mana that this reckless shaman had been haemorrhaging, not enough left for humans sensitive to it to feel it but if this much was left hours later then his quarry must have at least as much if not more Mana than Blockenmier(3)
He decided to delve a little deeper. He placed his hands in a praying position and began to go over a chant in Japanese
"この場所の精神私は呼ぶ"(4) Harry continued this verse several times over. It was a low level spirit summoning technique taught to him by Zeke. It was supposed to bring forth weak spirits like Chime Moro (5) and normal human spirits. It was commonly used by monks and priestess as a rite of passage, now it would be used to get a play by play of last nights events right from the horses. The air around him began to wave like he was giving off great heat, slowly these waves began to take shape, forming crude outlines. Colour and shape began to fill these lines as they took true form. First came what he could identify as Chime Moro running along the ground.
'Not to unusual, plenty of live bugs and rats still in this alley' Thought the boy after hearing the faint movement of scurrying in the nearby dumpster. The next spirit however was definitely not a bug spirit. A transparent spirit in a ghostly version of a fine silk shirt covered in blood stains had risen out of his chalk outline and was starting to grope at his image as if it was all a dream, repeating to himself over himself over and over that this wasn't happening, he was entering stage 3 of grief and trying to reason that he could get out of this when he was interrupted by a little boy in a green shirt. Temporarily forgetting he was dead he responded to the boys presence.
"Whadda ya want kid. Can't you see I'm busy."
Harry rolled his eyes "Yes, 'REAL' busy." His voice dripping with more sarcasm than a snakes fang drips with venom. "Look I need you to give me a run down on what happened last night. Namely about the guy who killed you." The apparition seemingly took offences to this.
"Hey FCUK OFF kid. Get the hell away before I do ya some damage."
The young shaman shrugged his shoulders clearly not intimidated by the ghosts reversal into the anger stage of grief. He turned away spotting a bearded ghost in filthy rags. "Suit yourself. It's not my problem if you spend forever stuck in this alley" He stated.
That got the wannabe gangsters attention." Fo..forever?."
'Hook, line and...' Thought Harry managing to keep the smirk off his face. "Oh my yes. You died a rather violent death. Before you even realised you were dead it seems. Now you're doomed to spend the rest of eternity anchored to this dingy alley. No one for company except the rat and bug spirits. Oh and that and the ghost of that hobo over their." He waved over to the semi visible old man who waved back a little before taking another swig of ghostly booze.
" Gulp Okay kid I'll talk." The ghost said nervously.
'...Sinker'
It took only a few minutes for the blubbering spectre to figuratively spill his guts to Harry. Apparently they'd jumped a guy in a hoodie who had wandered into their territory. The biggest guy in the gang had nailed him in the back of the head with a baseball bat but he was able to get up moments later.
'Mmmm, without actively using his Mana a blow like that should have sent him into La La land but he got up like nothing even happened. Either he's got a plate in his head, OR he's out of his head.' Thought Harry.
The spirit continued, when they got in close to see his face he started sniffing the air like a dog. That's when things got really out there, he started ranting about the gold they were all wearing and giving off this really bad vibe like, uhhhhh, well like nothing he'd ever felt before.
'That's usually the feeling an human without any sixth sense gets when around a lot of Mana.'
By this time a one of the gang had run screaming that he wasn't in the gang for some to take on some glowing freak, he didn't know what the hell he meant but he'd never find out because mere seconds later he was hauled up into the air by what felt like a hand made of smooth brick, the last thing he saw before he blacked out from the pressure was the guy they'd just beaten floating in mid air with his hand outstretched like he was holding something, he brought his other hand over the first one in a grasping motion and clenched. Then he knew no more.
'He became the medium for his Oversoull' Harry thought. That 'was' weird a shaman only became one with a spirit with spirit unity, never with a technique as powerful as Oversoul. It was too dangerous to become the medium should something happen to forcibly disengage the Oversoul as it nearly could result in bad injury's if they were lucky. Tecolote used people as the medium for his Oversoul but the person in question was always... THATS IT!!
With a look of the cat that ate the canary he turned to leave the spirit infested alley. Only to have a see through chest block his path.
"HEY what gives. You said if I told you what you wanted you'd get me out of this place!! The ghost said as a matter of factly."
"Did I?" The boy said in a mocking voice. "I don't remember promising to free you."
"LIKE HELL. YOU SAID..."
"I promised nothing of the sort!" Harry said while pushing a little Mana out in a fair imitation of his brothers commanding presence. "I merely stated what situation you were in. I never said anything about freeing you." He walked through the gang ghost only to have it reappear in front of him at his feet.
"Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease..." It went on and on until a tick started to form in Harry's eye. "Fine." He said and immediately causing the ghost to shot up with a pleased look. Harry put his hands together and began chanting another sutra. Almost immediately the gang boss ghost felt himself being dragged down into the earth.
"HEY!!" He screamed as he felt himself going down. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!" He shouted. Harry just grinned he walked out the alley.
"I severed your ties with the real world." He paused to glance back for a second. "You honestly didn't think someone like you would go upward did you?"
The ghosts eyes widened in horror as it futility tried grabbing for anything as he was taken down. His phantom screaming would echo through the alley for many years and would send shivers down the spines of any who walked through it. Then with a final jerk like someone had grabbed him he sank completely into the ground. Ready for a most enjoyable eternal torment.
With a grim sense of satisfaction that he'd rid the world of just a little bit more weakness he exited the alley.
The hobo ghost looked over to the spot where the other guy had sank into the ground, then to where Harry left. "I thought they'd never leave." He said as he took another swig of the phantom paper bagged bottle.
Hotel Conference room 2 hours later-
He found himself sitting in a rather plush green leather padded wooden chair in front of a very long conference desk. Sitting opposite him, if by opposite you mean about 60 feet away at the other end of the table was a middle aged man in a rather expensive looking suite. Armanni silk from head to toe, Italian leather shoes, solid gold button hell even the piece he was wearing looked like it was made from human hair rather than plastic fibre, he just screamed 'rich'. Beside him was Mr Rodermein and on the other side was a man who's sheer size and muscle made it seem like he could eat Harry in one bite and wash him down with a glass of razors. Rodermain looked exhausted having to run back and forth between the table every time the Harry and the big boss man wanted to exchange so much as a hello. The boss man in question had stood up with his hands on the table and was looking over at Harry with a slightly unbelieving look. He could hear Rodermein groan but turn and march up the table and kneel next to Harry to deliver his boss's message.
"Mr Masterson doesn't think your serious. The cost alone would bankrupt the Vegas branch of the hotel chain."
Harry Shrugged.
"I don't really care. I called this meeting for him to arrange what I wanted him to do. Not to ask his opinion."
Rodermein gulped a little but turned right back up to his boss. Harry saw Rodermein tell him exactly what he himself had heard moments ago. Materson's face started to turn an ugly puce colour as he knocked his branch manager out of the way to reach the other end of the table. Grabbing Harry by the arms and lift him a little out of his chair.
"LOOK HERE YOU LITTLE BRAT! WHO DO YO THINK YOU ARE THINKING I'LL JUST BANKRUPT MYSELF ON YOUR SAY SO!?"
Harry's emotions stayed ever calm as he just looked down at the cloths he was wearing then over to the emblem emblazoned on Materson's suit pocket. The man's eye's followed and he grew wide eyed at the gold laced star symbol standing out proudly on his cloths. Kind of like the star symbol on front on the poncho Harry had chosen to wear to the meeting to show just who he was and who he represents wherever he goes.
Harry turned his face to meet Masterson's. Silent words passing from his eyes to the old humans who immediately understood. Wordlessly he put Harry down and motioned to the two other men in the room to follow him out the door behind Harry's seat. The young grew a victorious smirk as he heard the tell tale signs of a cell phone being used and the raspy voice of the hotel CEO speaking into it.
A day later- the Grand Star hotel function longue
The famous party suite of the hotel was filled to capacity with the crème of western seaboard society as everyone who was anyone or thought they were anyone was there. The only ones in their who didn't earn at least a six salary in there where the bus boys moving through the sea of fat cats, spoiled brats and cigar smoke with trays of hourderves so posh that the lower class was sure the ingredients used in them were extinct. It had a little bit of everything to suite the various movers and shakers who were here tonight. The older gentlemen had large tables to sit at and talk about how rich they were. The heirs and heiress were either at the bar getting hammered on 20 year old scotch or trying to outdo the other with what their daddy's brought them. For the young businessmen who actually earned their money the were in roughly the same position as the heirs at the bar, the only difference was that the drink was being poured at the tables they were sitting at by either a blond in a glittery dress or a Hercules clone. The odd thing about the guests though besides their obvious character oddities was that in order to be granted entrance to the party was you had to first donate a large sum of money to the 'fire relief foundation' (bad joke I know) and show up wearing a significantly sized aseseccory along with your outfit. A tie pin, a necklace, a ring, anything. As long as it was made out of solid gold. To match the recently moulded gold cutlery, centrepieces, and especially the 15 foot statue of the spirit of fire holding a child in his hand (although if anyone asked it was a sculpture by newest artist that new hot artist that everybody heard of.)almost everything in the room in one way or another was either gold or gold painted
At the largest table in the room Harry was sitting next to the hotel owner in rented black tux with a green bow tie. Occasionally pulling at his collar every few minutes. The balding in denial man next to him was drumming his fingers on the table and was trying very hard not to explode. Without turning his head or even looking away from the stage he would soon ascend to give a speech he began speaking.
"Well. It took forty seven million dollars to buy all this gold. A hundred thousand to get it all melted down. Two million commission for the spirit of fire statue, and another 3 million to get news of this party to flood every form of media in Nevada. For fifty two million this boy of yours better show up."
Harry smirked.
"Don't worry Alfred. If this guy loves gold as much as he seems to then I doubt he'll pass this up."
The man's frown deepened. Fifty two million out his pocket just so a kleptomaniac can be lured here to steal it all. His moping was stopped dead as a light was shining on him from above signalling it was time for him to give his speech.
He slowly manured round the table and through the crowd of applauding socialites to ascend to the podium. That blasted spot light following him all the time. He went up the stair, and went to centre stage in front of the podium His grouchy appearance transforming into tomorrows front page instantly. He raised his hands in the gesture for quiet. Coughing a little first and looking over at Harry who was swirling his glass of orange juice in an attempt to look sophisticated Groaning deeply before he opened his mouth.
"Thank you. Thank you." He started. "I'd like to start out by saying how happy I am to see so many people here tonight that care so much about helping the less fortunate. Or those who just wanted to poke fun at me for spending half my fortune on gold lined toilet paper."
Their was a peel of laughter as the elite of the room humoured him by laughing at a joke neither he nor they found amusing.
"I'd also like to thank our young artist for drawing up the designs for the lovely tribute to fire and how it's is as much a force of life as it is a force of death." He pointed down to Harry who raised his glass in recognition as the adults clapped and whispered about how young he is.
"Tonight...tonight we sit here surrounded by wealth and luxury. It is no surprise to me that the combined donations given by only the people in this room tonight will be enough to restore over a hundred homes destroyed by fires. " He said and pointed to a large novelty check for more money than most can even count in a lifetime.
There was a large round of applause. To Harry it was just their way of praising themselves for looking like they care about those less well off than themselves. The louder the clap just meant the more they where building their ego's.
"Y'know. Coming back to the donation amount I reflect on a few things. All those who donated to the charity are here tonight." He picked up the microphone and began walking across the stage, picking up a few sheets off paper and skimming it. " And looking at the guest sheet, not including my young friend or staff it shows that only 100 people donated. A mere one hundred people where able to get donate enough money to rebuild more than half of the burned down homes in America. That tells me one of either two things. One is that this room is full of caring generous people."
The room buzzed with approval.
"And two." He paused. "Not a single person in this room cares about money."
This time the room grew cold as a hundred people were either shocked or insulted. Ignoring this at Harry's nod he continued.
"I look about this room and I see a room full of old men trying to outdo each other in how much money is in their account" He looked over to the elder men in the far corner with the large moustaches and the larger cigars poked between their lips. "And the newest generation of heirs and heiress who wouldn't know the value of money if it bit them. I mean honestly why buy a diamond encrusted cell phone and dump it a week later for a newer model." He said looking at the heiress to a rather prominent software company who was wearing a gold stitch dress with a rainbow of gems in them. The girl shrunk into her chair under the combined weight of the funny looks she was getting. He turned about and made his way to the front of the room and just below the podium he turned around.
"I could have just started up a charity and having people donate the old fashioned way. However I chose this extravagant event to make two points. That the rich only care when they have a chance to look good doing it..."
He held the suspense for a second. Ready to deliver the final insulting blow.
"...And to show that no one in this room at the end of the day really cares about their money. I mean look." He gestured about the room. "I used half of the money in my own pockets to fill this room with the ultimate expression of wealth. I wasted half my own bank account on gold salt and pepper pots for gods sake and I don't care because I can easily make it back up. The sheer amount of cash I used could have taken care of a hundred average people for life and I throw it around like it's nothing. Just like all of you, spending millions on whims and fancy's while poodle out there are struggling to keep themselves alive, bartering with every penny and stretching every cent they can find. No one in this room save for those who built themselves up from that dark place know anything even close to resembling those hardships." He nodded over to a table with four men and two women who unlike the rest of the party goers did not look insulted.
The men and women who had became went from dirt poor to filthy rich by their own hard work and determination and not having everything handed to them. The few in that room like with true worth.
"Bar these few people. No-one knows anything of value. No one really knows anything about the true value of MONEY!"
His rant finished not a second to soon sounds of impact reverberated of the double door for a second before they were thrown open by two men dressed in black suits who went flying over the party goers head and crashed on Harry's table. The boy himself continuing to drink his third glass of juice of the evening with a smile on his face, not even bothering to turn away from the stage, just like Masterson refused to take an angry glare away from him.
Coming through the doors was something you wouldn't normally see at a gathering this elite. A male figure that seemed to belong to a young male just entering his late teens. Dressed in a pair of worn out baseball shoes, torn kneed jeans, fingerless gloves that looked like they weren't always fingerless and a skull themed dark grey and blue hoodie that obscured his face save for the piercing green eyes and clenched white teeth with a golden gleam coming from one.
"If you don't know nothin' about money then mabye you should hand it other to someone who does. Like me for example."
Tearing his gaze away from Harry. The hotel owner played his final part in the boy's plan. He marched up towards the intruder who was throwing off the last security guard into the glass's behind the bar. Making sure that the golden buttons on his jacket, and the clip on his tie were clearly visible.
"I DEMAND THAT YOU LEAVE RIGHT NOW OR I'LL BE FORCED TO CALL THE POLICE!!"
He 'yelled' at the intruder who he noted gazing at the precious metals adorning his cloths just like the insufferable brat had predicted.
"GoL...And uh (look at that ...) who's gonna...Gold, gol...cough make me." His control over himself was clearly slipping as he struggled to string two words together. His hands twitching rather visibly and the shaking spreading all over his body.
Despite noticing the obvious lack of control the balding-ish oaf continued. I am Alfred Masterson. Owner and CEO of the grand star hotel chain of hotels and the organiser on tonight's 'golden Galla'. So in my authority as owner of this hotel I demand you leave.
The stranger didn't hear him after 'golden' his head frantically moving from left to right rapidly. Drinking in the sheer amount of gold in every part of the room.
"Gold."
His trembling increased.
"Everywhere. Gold."
He fell to his knees grabbing his head. Harry could feel the Mana build up without turning around.
"Gold. Everywhere. Gold. Gold."
A golden Mana was pouring out of him unrestrained as he sank farther into insanity. Two new guards clearly not being able to see the glow reached out to grab him.
"Gold, GOLD, GOLD, GOLD"
As they grabbed him and hoisted him to his feet they were thrown of by an invisible force.
"GGGOOOLLLDDD!!"
The shout was enough for Harry to turn around. He was impressed at the show. The shaman was lifted from the ground and was surrounded in golden Mana which was rapidly gaining form. To an ordinary person they would only she a poorly dressed boy floating in mid air. To Harry however the sight was. Simply incredible.
Also shiny. Very very shiny.
A 20 foot hulking giant Oversoul towered over the room. It probably could have been bigger but it's head at the moment scraped the ceiling to the size was probably for the best. It's appearance was in some ways like Harry expected from it's descriptions. It definitely was made of gold. What he didn't expect was for it to be made out of gold bricks. Hundreds of seemingly loosely piled bricks clinked together lightly with every movement it made as it looked around the room. It rather reminded Harry of when he was little and Blockenmeir gave him a large building block set for his birthday which he'd used to build a rather bad and bulky figure of a man. It's eyes hidden in shadows by what seemed to be a Spanish conquistador helmet, in fact the only thing you could see about the eyes was to red glimmers in the shadow that given the nature of the Oversoul were most likely large rubies. (6)
The golden giant threw its arms up and let loose an ear splitting roar like a crazed gorilla. All around the room the rich and famous scattered for the nearest fire door to escape this creature. One or two imitating the gangsters from its last appearance as they threw whatever gold they had at the monsters feet. Of course for most they didn't need to even bother. The crazed Oversoul's head was swinging from right to left in a frantic manner, reaching down for a second only to turn and reach for something else. Clearly unable to decide what to start with.
'Just like I planned' Thought Harry who was standing in the stampede of million and billionaires who just seemed to pass around him instead of crushing him. He'd made sure that this room was so ridiculously filled with gold that there saws no way that the shaman wouldn't turn up. So much in fact that it would be able to decide what to take since their was way too much in the room for even something as big as the Oversoul could carry, and being as crazed as he appears to be he will not leave without every single piece. Like a monkey tap, to get it's hand out of the gourd it has to let go of the fruit inside but it won't.
Now he'd caught his monkey all he needed to do was throw his net.
As the last fat cat ran screaming out the room he walked over to the creature how had began scrounging up gold centrepieces and brooches. He yelled out to the living statue.
"HEY!! BRICK FOR BRAINS!!"
The golem ignored him in favour of hoisting up the statue of the spirit of fire and with a feet of incredible strength buckling the statue into a ball which it absorbed into itself (7). Not in the least worried he puled out his own little entrance requirement for the night. A thin gold plate Masterson had given to him for the night. Harry used it to catch the light and shine it in the Mana constructs glimmering red eyes. That did the trick as its eyes locked onto the 24k Harry was waving in its face. As it reached over to grab it the boy holding it jumped a few feet back and dashed towards the fire escape, he turned around to face the temporarily confused beast and decided to try to see if he could actually mock it this time."
"You want it Goldilocks? Then come and get it!" And he ran not through the door to the outside, but rather up the fire stairs just as he heard a loud roar.
The walls began to cave as a semi transparent figure tried to pass through the wall. Part of the golem coming through the door to let through the only solid part of it. The gold in carried and the shaman himself. Then it turned and with wild abandon began to clumsily climb the stairs like a wild in a tree.
Harry speed up his ascent. Only sparing the barest of glances behind him as he watched whole sections of the stairwell collapse under the strain of carrying something many times heavier than anything moving like an ape should be. He saw in his sparing glances exactly what he wanted. It was getting smaller to deal with the environment. He could heard large thumps and small clinks as it was forced to ditch it's bounty to go after the boy it was chasing.
'C'mon just a little bit more.' Thought an exhausted Harry as he reached the 16 floor. Groaning a little as he realised that this place had thirty two floors. Sadly his destination being yet another 16 floors away.
'Really should have thought this through all the way.' went Harry as he began huffing and puffing his way up to floor 17.
Harry slammed through the fire door on the penthouse level and collapsed to the floor nearly exhausted.
'A small boy should not have to run up thirty freaking flights of stairs.' He thought as he heard a oar behind him. He groaned but got up and quickly dragged himself along the floor to enter his suite. Opening the door he walked over and crashed into the comfy couch gasping for breath. Not even bothering to move as the doors flew open again and a boy in a hoodie who was enveloped in what remained of his Oversoul after the little trip up the stairs. Gasping for breath to he reached over in an attempt to take the gold Harry had dropped when he hit the couch.
Harry smiled. "Gotcha."
As soon as he touched the plate it began glowing green as did the rest of the room and in particular the area around him and several straight lines came together to form a star. The glowing marks around the rest of the room were connected to the stars tips.
The shaman found he could move anything as harry somehow managed to drag himself off the couch and stand just in front of the gold plate. He leaned down a little so he could be eye level with the teens own frozen eyes. He looked at him for a few minutes before moving over to the table he'd had moved earlier to create his sealing masterpiece. He opened a drawer built into the table and pulled out a long piece of paper decorated with ink brush strokes brought together in Chinese calligraphy. It was a talisman he'd made for tonight for exactly this. He stuck it on the poor boys head and left it their somehow sticking with no use of adhesive.
Th boys form shuddered as the muscles fought to move against the paralysis as he was being electrocuted by his own Mana.
Harry watched expectable from his seat as golden energy slowly escaped the boys body and took form above him. Eventually gaining a completed form just as both the seal on the hooded guys head fell away and the seal on the floor died. Allowing the tired and electrocuted prisoner to fall to the ground unconscious.
Harry gazed at the spirit hovering over the guy like a bad stench for a moment before sweet sleep embraced him.
Harry's room the following morning
The young shamans eyes opened slowly. Tilting his head to damn the sun that was streaming through the windows. Banishing thought of extinguishing his new enemy were moved aside as he heard a light snoring coming from the floor. He was pleasantly surprised to see that his guest had not woken up during the night and tried to get away after the wards had dissipated. Above him was a spirit that was madly clawing at the boy's body in a mad effort to possess him again but was repeatedly thrown of by the talisman on his former hosts hidden face.
Harry shifted himself off the couch, stretching his arms over his head before gagging at the smell of sweat from his little marathon upstairs was still clinging to his cloths. Brushing himself of a little he decided to forgo any subtlety and just kicked his guest in the stomach slightly. He doubled over as air was forcibly expelled from his body. He got up on one of his hands while the other was on his knotted stomach.
"What the hell man. This how you wake somebody."
He stopped their as his brain suddenly registered where he was and who he was talking to.
"WHAT THE F&K!? Where the hell am I and what the hell is a kid like you doing in a place like this?"
"You mind wording that differently. Kind of sounds like your trying to pick me up."
The teen growled and move towards Harry. Stopping for a second before he noticed the paper sticking to the hood, Without thinking why it might be their he ripped it of and immediately heard a groaning sound coming from above him.
"Shouldn't have done that." said Harry as he pulled out another talisman.
The golden boy had very little time to think about Harry's words as he felt his brain become encompassed by fire like once before. Spreading through his every vein as control over his body began to slip. The room getting darker.
Darker.
Darker.
Dark...er.
Brighter.
Brighter.
Way Brighter.
AAGGHH! TOO BRIGHT TOO BRIGHT!!
He threw his arms over his eyes and stepped away from the window he had staggered towards. Lowering his arms he saw that he once again had a thin piece of paper over his face. Except this time he had his hood down. He reached for it before he heard Harry behind him joking at smiling at his expense.
"Now if you don't wish to be possessed again I suggest you leave the excorsisom talisman attached."
His hand recoiled from the paper when he heard the words 'possessed' and excorsicm. The excorsist was his favourite movie after all. The turned back to face Harry. His face completely pensive and eyes full of questions.
"Kid. What the hell is going on." He said in a tired voice.
Harry smiled up at him with the best comforting look Kanna had shown him.
"What's going on is. You my friend are a shaman."
He looked at Harry for a second.
"Oh...cool."
About Half an hour later Harry was sitting on the couch next to the teen who was soaking up everything Harry was telling him about the world of shaman, his mission, about his powers, the way he had been acting when possessed and how he'd helped him. Above them was the conquistador spirit looking quite defeated.
He said his name was JC. Johnny Colstien but everybody called him JC. Now that he had his hood down Harry could get a good look at his face. He had a hint of African American in his appearance. From about 3 or four generations down the line from his mom's side of the family so he said. His eyes were still a glimmering gold in colour in place of ocean blue, probably from his long term possession. His hair was a dark brown almost black and like Harry's was quite messy and shaved in around the sides leaving only a little length on top. He really didn't need to hide his face because he had a feeling that if she was here then Matilda would be all over him.
"What I want to know is how you can to be possessed in the first place. For a simple human spirit to possess anyone they must be in a strong emotional state. Which is why most ghosts go to lengths to scare their victim and take charge in a moment of weakness. I take it that happened to you."
JC shook his head. "Naw. Ain't really had much in the way of fear since mom and pop left me and my sister's and brothers."
Harry cocked an eyebrow. "How'd they die."
The former possessed snorted before responding. "I don' mean leave us like that. I mean they pack up their bags and left us to rot. Stupid ass holes, why wait till you have five kids till you decide you don't want any. One day they just packed their bags, took all the money and told me they were my problem now."
That hit a spot for Harry. His extended family may have disliked humans but not a one of them would abandon children so young.
A child to then could be another shaman in the making after all.
"So where does the emotion come in."
Jc Sighed.
"I needed money."
Harry almost instantly understood.
"I needed to b able to take care of them. So I did what I had to do. Dealing. Robbing. All kinds of things. I had to pull out of school, all my friends left me, my girl got with another guy. Everything for my brothers and sisters. The only thing I knew was I needed more money, I thought about money so much that I...
"Began to care more about getting the money than you did about your family?" Cut in Harry.
JC looked surprised. "Yeah. How'd you know?"
Harry moved into a sitting position from his lying one. Tilting his head back onto the couch.
"When a person become so obsessed about something it mess's with their strength of mind. Their entire being so focused on one thing that everything else just slips away, until the very reason for the obsession itself is washed away. That sort of single mindedness leaves you so ridiculously easy to control that even the weakest of spirits could take over. Such as your weak, equally obsessed Spanish friend over their taking over the body of such a like-minded individual would be all to easy." Harry said as he watched the spirit know trying to lift the plate of gold from last night he'd found again. Paying no mind to the fact that he was a ghost and logically could not lift it. He wasn't exactly being truthful about about the spirit being weak. With the Oversoul it was clearly a seirei class spirit. A soul of over 500 years old and had become so consumed by it's desire for gold that it's reason for the desire, it's own sense of identity or 'ego' if you will had vanished long ago. He opened his mouth again.
"So what happened to your family."
"Don't know. I think they were put in an orphanage. Course by that time I had forgot where I lived, this freak had me going after all the gold I could carry. Then if what you told me is true then I was as much as we could carry."
"Sorry to hear about that."
"Don't be." He said sadly. "I'm not fit to look after a bunch of kids. Hell I'm just a kid myself. There only toddlers, they'll forget about me soon enough. Whoever adopts them could give them a better life than I ever could." He finished with his head hung. "I don't know what to do any more."
Harry smiled. He put his hand on the moping money mongers shoulder. "Maybe I could make a suggestion."
Later that day
Harry and JC looked t the bright and sunny looking building from across the street. In the yard kids where playing and laughing. Kicking balls and playing games. They saw in particular a group of four toddlers sitting together in a group of other toddlers. They were all sitting in front of a young girl who was reading from a thick book while they all looked at her in rapt attention.
JC smiled. "Thanks man."
Harry just looked over impassively. "Just remember the deal. You work for Zeke and I make sure that your family is taken care of here until your able to take care of them."
JC nodded. "Yeah I know. Thanks for the few quick lessons on shamanism by the way."
"Don't mention it. Have to know this stuff inside out myself if I want to get my own guardian ghost someday." He stated. Turning his head slightly to his companion. "Interesting choice in spirit by the way."
JC said nothing to Harry but looked at the golden spirit ball floating on his shoulder. It had glowing red eyes and an old Spanish helmet.
"What can I say man. Me and this guy already know each other real good so I thought what the hell." He spoke to the spirit ball. "So whadayasay 'Bling'. Wanna go get rich!"
The ball looked up at him and enthusiastically began talking "Gold. Gold. Ld go gold."
"O...kay. I'll take that as a yes."
"Gold."
"Okay shut it."
Harry looked at the newly complete shaman. "Bling."
"Don't know his real name."
"I already told you he's the spirit of a Spanish conquistador who died centuries ago looking for 'El Dorado. His name is..."
"Don't care. 'Bling just sounds better." Harry let it drop knowing he wouldn't win the argument.
The sound of a horn drew their attention to the long black limo several feet away from them. The passenger in the back looking quite pissed. "If your done I'd like to get to the airport now please."
Ignoring the words the two spiritualists ducked into the limo jut as it began to roll forward in impatience. In he back of the luxury car on the opposite end of the couch arrangement was the head of the recently closed 5 star hotel. Closed because of the ongoing police investigations into the appearance of a giant brick monster by several rich eye witness's, the disappearance of half the gold in the grand ballroom at the time which was found making a trail leading up to the penthouse by the fire escape. The penthouse in question filled with ritual markings.
"Well thanks to you to I'm now completely ruined. The little speech you made me give has nearly the entire west coast social list howling for my blood. The police are closing down every one of my buildings in the county after they connected the name and logo to the markings they found in your suite and assumed it was some sort of gold thieving cult with the trail of of peoples valuables leading up their. Seizing my assets on suspicion of aqquiring them illegally, and as the final nail in the coffin making my wife leave me for thinking I'm a common GOLD THIEF." He was now completely red in anger and right in Harry's face. The boy just looked at him completely carefree, not saying a word until he stopped.
"I'll make sure to tell Zeke how big a help you were."
Masterson just sat back down in defeat. Never saying anything to the rest of the trip to the airport.
"So Harry where we heading now. Get the other shaman you need?"
"No John" He said getting a rise out of the older boy. "Theirs something much more important I need to get first.
"What?"
"A god."
JC looked at the boy for a few moments trying to understand what he meant before sitting back against the push seats and watching some crappy movie on the flat screen on the car wall.
Harry looked at his new acquaintance for a moment. He knew he'd made a good first choice in human allies.
'Now I need to be as good in picking gods." Thought Harry as he tuned to watch the movie as the car took them to the airport. Leaving this place of hollow dream behind him.
Next time: Harry goes after a Kami class spirit. What will it be?
YOU DECIDE.
I want to continue this story but I need more votes for the polls if I am to decide how the next chapter goes so please vote after reading this
Sorry about the late update but I only tend to write when I get a flash of inspiration. So I can't promise the next chapter will be any sooner. This might not be the best work Ive done even now. I may add more to this chapter later on.
Before anyone starts. I armed Harry with all this spirualist knowledge to make up for him not having a ghost at the moment. Something I intend to remedy next chapter
(1) I couldn't decide which hotel in Vegas to use so I made one up
(2) As I've stated in this story before. No matter who you are, no matter how much bigger and stronger you might be than them, their is no greater power in the world than an angry woman. THEY. WILL. KICK. YOUR. ASS.
(3) Blockenmeir is the guy who looks like he's made out of Lego is shaman king with the ability to control Lego like bricks.
(4) I got this off an on-line translator is means 'spirits of this place I call you'. Not a real chant as far as I know. i just went onto an online translator a had the sentence turned into japanese
(5) Chimi Moryo are the spirits who have forgotten what they look like. Usually the spirits of small birds, rodents and bugs. Used by Boz (The flying Zen brothers) In shaman king.
(6) If you don't know how to picture it jut picture the gold golem from 'dragon warrior monsters' with red eyes and an old Spanish explorer helmet.
(7) How else could it carry all that gold.