Silence fell as she got on the plane, all eyes were on her. Then the whispering began. It made her even more nervous but she pressed on to find a seat. Whenever she saw an empty seat next to someone, they would put something on it so she couldn't sit down. She brushed it off and found herself a seat at the back, next to a window.

"Seems like everyone knows her." Horohoro said to Yoh.

"Everyone but us." He replied.

"For sure, I ain't never heard anything about that cutie pie." Ryu said loud enough for the whole plane to hear.

"That's just creepy coming from you." The boys said in unison.

"She doesn't look that strong." Ren scoffed. "Even so, there's a reason everyone else seems to know her, so we shouldn't let our guards down near her." Meanwhile, at the back of the plane she had also caught the attention of the mysterious Hao and his followers.

"Lord Hao, how much longer are you gonna keep staring at that girl?" Kanna asked.

"Lord Hao, do you know her?" Opacho looked over at her, she was staring out of the window, pretending to ignore everyone.

"No, but she is certainly intriguing to say the least. I think this tournament just got a little more interesting." He turned away but thought to himself 'as a plus, she's really cute.' She turned her head even further away so no one would see her blushing. Suddenly someone came up to her.

"Hey there!" He smiled. "I'm Yoh, what's your name?"

"Oh, hi, I'm Nova. Nice to meet you." She smiled back. She was actually happy someone came to talk to her.

"Nice name. I hope you don't mind me asking, but what's the deal?"

"Oh, you mean when I got on the plane?" He nodded. "I think it might be to do with how I made it through to the tournament. You see I didn't actually fight one of the officials."

"Then how did you get through?" He was confused.

"Well, it was this guy called Silva. And I walked up to him and tapped him. The goal was to land a hit on him, right? But they never specified how hard I had to hit him. At first I thought he wasn't going to let me off that easy but Golva said, technically I have met the criteria for passing the test."

"Wow. Yeah I can understand now why that might miff a few people off."

"Yeah, everyone else had to fight to get their place here, whereas I found a loophole. Oh well, what's done is done now."

"Glad you're not letting it get you down. It's hard enough making friends here, since we all have to fight each other at some point anyway."

"Yeah, you're right."

"Exactly, which is why you shouldn't be making friends with the enemy!" Ren shouted across the rows.

"Don't mind him, he's a bit of a hot head but he's alright once you get to know him. Anyway, we're about to take off, so I'll see you when we land, if you want?"

"Yeah, sure. Thanks." She smiled again as Yoh took his seat.

"There's something familiar about her. Her mana and that sach she's wearing. I know I've seen it before somewhere." Ren closed his eyes, trying to figure it out. The plane took off. Part way through the flight there was an announcement stating that the participants would have three months to make it to the patch village and with that the oversoul plane disappeared, leaving the passengers falling through the air.

"I'm dreaming that I'm flying!" Yoh shouted excitedly.

"You mean falling, don't you know the difference?"Ren grew annoyed.

Horohoro made an oversoul to ride down on, then Hao appeared.

"Look at these amateurs! You don't have enough mana to make it all the way to the ground. But you're welcome to catch a ride with us if you want?" He smiled.

"No way! We don't need your help, you asshole!" Horohoro shouted.

"You don't? Well then, how about you, Nova?"

"Huh? Me? Ummm... yes please." As soon as she agreed, Spirit of Fire lifted her up onto its back.

"Wait, Nova?!" Yoh gasped.

"Let her go, we have our own problems to worry about." Ren scolded.

With that, Hao and everyone flew off.

"Thank you, for helping me. I'm sorry but I didn't get your name?" She asked him.

"It's Hao. And you're welcome. Can't leave a pretty lady falling to her death." As he said that, his followers all looked at each other in a confused manner, as if to question if they heard him correctly. This startled her a little. "Haha! Sorry, I don't mean to embarrass you."

"Oh, no, it's fine. I was just surprised, that's all. So, your spirit ally? It's Spirit of Fire, correct?"

"Yes, what I'm wondering, as I'm sure everyone else is, where is your spirit ally?"

"I don't have one, in particular."

"So you came to a shaman tournament without any comrades or even a spirit ally? Not to mention you seem to have a low level of mana."

"Yeah, that's right. It's a long story but I just wanted to see how far I can make it. I want to test how strong I am. Which is why I want to ask if you wouldn't mind dropping me halfway? It's not that I don't appreciate your help, I just want to see if I can make it on my own too."

"That's understandable. Very well. We'll take you halfway and then part ways. Not forever, though, I hope." He smiled again.

"Yes, hopefully I'll be seeing you all again, at the patch village. Three months is such a long time. And if I were to get off here, I'd run into some of those other shaman, they'd probably finish me off before I can get anywhere near the village."

"Well, you're welcome to stay until whenever you want to get off."

"Thank you." She smiled back at him. "And thank you too, Spirit of Fire. What's that? Up ahead? But I don't see anyt... wait I can sense it now."

"Who are you talking to?" Kanna asked her.

"Spirit of Fire. It said there's something coming up ahead."

"But it doesn't talk?" She lit up a cigarette.

"It does, just not in the same way you and I are talking now. I can hear spirits' voices even if the words are not spoken from their mouths. To be so in-tuned with spirits is a gift one of my ancestors passed down, along with a few others." She turned her attention back to Spirit of Fire. "Huh? You want to what? But that's... oh, well... if that's how you become stronger, and I suppose it is a demon after all... normally I would be against this sort of thing but I do owe you, so allow me."

"What did it say now?" Hao asked.

"It said that a winged demon is approaching and Spirit of Fire wants to eat it's soul to become stronger."

"A winged demon, huh? So you're going to fight it?"

"Guess so." As she said that she ran forward and materialised her mana into a large scythe and attacked the demon head on. It threw her back but she created a barrier to stop her falling into Hao. This demon was fast and powerful. She used her feet to push off the barrier and attacked again and again, the demon was stunned, which gave Spirit of Fire an opportunity to grab it. In one gulp, Spirit of Fire swallowed the demon's soul.

"That was actually impressive. Considering your low level of mana. I see why you don't need a spirit ally now."

"Thanks, but that's nothing compared to what I'm gonna bring to this tournament."

"You're confident. I like it."

"I've spent most of my life preparing for this. I know I won't become the Shaman King, but that's not my goal here. My goal is to become as strong as I can, so that I can aid the Shaman King. It's my duty as the next leader of my tribe. It's a duty that was passed to me after my mother left this world."

"Sorry to hear that. But you should know, you're looking at the future Shaman King."

"I know." She smiled. Hao was confused as to what she meant and now he had quite a few questions for her. Just who was this girl?

"There's a lot of things I want to ask you now."

"And I'd be happy to answer them, just not now. Don't get me wrong, I just think some things are better left for when we know each other better."

"Well, I look forward to that day then." He smiled.

"You know what, I think I'm gonna get off here. Thanks for the ride, see you at the patch village!" With that she suddenly jumped, without giving Hao a chance to respond. He sat back and let out a laugh.

"She really is an interesting person."

"Opacho thinks so too!" Opacho sat next to Hao. The two had a private conversation. "Why did she leave so suddenly though? What did Lord Hao hear her think?"

"Actually, that's one of the reasons she intrigued me. I can hear everyone's thoughts, but hers. I have no idea what she's thinking."

"Opacho didn't know that was possible!"

"Neither did I. Until we meet again, Nova."