Shaman King Fan Fiction ❯ Shaman King 2498 ❯ In The Army Now ( Chapter 3 )

In the bed next to me, another boy is rising. Torrus, the ghost I met last night, stands by him vigilantly. Turning to me, he blinks, surprised. "New kid?"

I roll out of bed, crashing to the ground below somewhat painfully. "Yeah," I mumble. I realise that I am still dressed in the same clothes from the day before, a plain white T-shirt and jeans.

"No problem," my new roomate says as he helps me to my feet. He's a couple of centimetres shorter than me, and looks to be of Korean descent. He has brown hair in a buzz cut, and strangely piercing green eyes. "I'm Lu Han."

"Natsume," I respond back. Sometime during the exchange, the shrill beep stopped. I glance over at the wall clock, which is displaying the time in bright red letters. "What the hell kind of time is 7:00 to wake up?"

Lu Han laughs. "That's what everyone says at first. But you get used to it. Curfew is at 10:30, so we're technically getting enough sleep. Doesn't feel like it, though."

"So they're really all military around here, aren't they?" I ask rhetorically, sitting back down on my bed.

"Yeah," Lu Han says distantly. Seeming to snap back to reality, he says "Come on, I'll show you around. But first...get changed, please. You stink."

I blush, then laugh. This could just work out after all.

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Shaman King 2498

Chapter 3:In the Army Now

A fanfiction by Amor

Disclaimer:Shaman King is owned by Hiroyuki Takei and a bunch of other people, which don't include me. The setting and characters are my own, however.

This story is rated PG-13:May not be appropriate for children under 13 years of age. This chapter contains mild violence and a bit of cussing. Future chapters may contain more graphic violence, sexuality and shonen-ai.

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As we wander around the myriad corridors of the building, Lu Han explains the living situation to me. "You get those three sets of clothes for free. Dump them in the laundry at the end of the day, and they should get done soon. We get three square a day, and two hundred yanu [1] a week if you want anything else. Got that all?"

"I think so," I say, shaking my head. The clothes I found in my drawer were three sets of the same outfit--a pair of slacks and a light shirt, both red. I am vaguely aware of Torrus following behind us at a short distance. "What do you guys do here, anyways?"

"Train, mostly," Lu Han responds evenly. "You'll probably start basic training with your ghost when they find one for you. Sometimes they set up mock shaman fights to give us 'combat experience'. I got a pretty nasty cut from one once."

"Really?" I ask. My stomache turns--I've never liked the sight of blood very much.

"Yeah," Lu Han says casually. "Just across my stomache. We're really not supposed to hurt each other during the fights, but some fighting styles can't be restrained."

Our conversation ends abruptly as we enter the mess hall. The long hall consisted of several tables and a cafeteria-style serving area jammed against the far wall. There are at least a hundred people here, and--my stomache turns--almost as many ghosts.

"A bit creepy, I know," Lu Han says, snapping me out of my gawking. "Come on, let's get some food."

We walk around to the serving area. Knowing what to do from school, I grab a flexeron [2] tray and take my place in line. Too intimidated with my surroundings to strike up a conversation, I simply follow Lu Han.

I hold out my tray, and a slab of meat flops down on it. I notice the grey hand attached to the serving spoon, and look up. The server is a tall, humanoid creature with ash-gray skin and a blank expression. I notice a rune-enscribed piece of parchment on his forehead.

Feeling slightly queasy, I glance around and see that the rest of the staff is made up of similar creatures. Mentally instructing myself not to stare, I move along, keeping my eyes on the ground. Similar creatures serve me a glass of milk and some noodles. I turn away, numbly following Lu Han.

He turns back to me, smiling. "I wish I could say I know what you're going through, but I don't. My family has been shamans as far back as anyone could remember, so I grew up knowing this stuff."

I shrug. "It's okay. I mean, I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually." I notice Torrus flanking him. "So, when do you think I'll get one of those ghost guys?"

"About a day or so," Lu Han responds as we continue wallking. I blink as a small child runs past me, ducking under a nearby table. She's clutching what appears to be a sheathed katana under her arm, and is being chased by a dark-haired Chinese boy. Lu Han continues as if nothing had happened. "They pick a ghost that suits your personality and attributes. I personally can handle a lot of mana at once, but don't have much stamina, so they gave me Torrus, which can use his power in a lot of different ways and in large increments."

We sit down at a broad wooden table, in plastic seats, across from a blonde-haired girl who looks to be of Jovan [3] descent and a taller girl with dark purple hair. The blonde is wearing a black tank top and jean shorts, and werars two silver rings on her fingers. Curiously, she doesn't appear to have any spiritual companion around. "Hey, Janna," Lu Han says casually as he begins to eat his meat.

Janna, the blonde who appears to be busy swallowing her noodles whole, merely nods in greeting. The purple-haired girl has no such inhibitions, but is still silent. She seems to be wearing more or less my uniform, except with a skirt instead of pants. I notice that a grey-skinned figure similar to those serving food stands behind her. This one, however, is wearing grey military fatigues and carries a large machine gun. I eye it nervously.

"Oh, don't worry about Konomi," the purple-haired girl finally speaks. "He's harmless. Mostly."

I sweat-drop. "That doesn't really reassure me."

"Come on, Shi," Janna says, elbowing her. "Don't scare the new guy!"

Shi smiles. "I was just stating facts. He's really not that dangerous. The gun's not even loaded. Certainly nothing more dangerous than some of the guys around here."

"Ah," Lu Han says, putting down his meal. "I forgot to introduce you. This is Janna Starfire--at least she says that's her last name--and this is Shiruna Xing. The jiang-si--that's what those zombie guys are called--is Konomi. Girls, this is Natsume. He's my new roommate."

"Hello," Shiruna said, but got back to eating.

"Hey," Janna says, between sips of her milk. "So, what do you think of CIASOSM so far?"

"Uh...strange," I admit cautiously, finally starting my meal by cutting off a piece of meat and chewing it. "But the people seem to be nice so far."

"Well, I guess you could say that," Janna said, a smirk on her face as she finished her milk and leaned back. "Most of the jerks here seem to be of the 'brooding loner' type instead of the 'bully' type, so you should be pretty safe."

"So Lu Han," Shiruna, or Shi, whatever you want to call her said. "Is Natsume going to be coming along with us to see that Ogaro sim on Friday?"

"Ogara?" My eyes light up at the mention of my favourite samurai franchise. "I'd love to! That is...if you don't mind."

"Nah, we're fine with it," Lu Han says as he finishes his meal. "Well, I guess we'd better get down to business. I've got a match set up with Gorin this afternoon. Want to spar, Janna?"

The blonde girl's eyes light up. "You're on!" The two race away, Torrus following slowly.

Shi gets up and smiles at me. "The training gym's over that way. The garden's out through those doors. Other than that, you can go around and socialize. Just try to stay out of that guy who's chasing the little girl around's way." I sweat-drop again at the black-haired Chinese boy running around the cafeteria, waving his sheathed katana angrily.

I don't have a spirit or weapon to fight with, and I have no clue how to do the shamanic-seeming things, so I decide to work out. I was never much of a big guy--I'm average height, and quite skinny. Well, if we're going to be fighting I might as well be a bit stronger.

After spending about an hour in the weight room, I notice someone shouting over in the large main gym. Curious, I decidce to take a break. The gymnasium is large, about the size of a typical Impeiral Championships stadium, and undecorated except for a stripe of red around the middle. A large circle is painted in the middle, and it is inside this circle where people seem to be focusing.

There are three figures there. One is Darui, dressed in the same formal clothes than I saw him in yesterday. Lu Han also stands, dressed in the same leather vest over a white shirt. The third figure is a tall and muscular man, who looks to be about eighteen. I see Torrus gaurding over Lu Han closely, as does a dark-skinned spirit wearing a boxing outfit over the unknown man.

"This training match is between Lu Han Chang and Kizuna Gorin," Darui announced, loudly but calmly. "The first one to lose integration, give up, or be forced out of the ring loses. The use of bladed weapons or lethal force is strictly forbidden. Ready?" Both competitors nod, as do their spirits. "Begin!"

Lu Han snaps his hand up. "Torrus, spirit ball mode!" In a puff of ghostly smoke, Torrus becomes a bluish orb. I can make out his calm face, but his lower body features are gone. "Integrate!" The Korean boy arcs his body and pushes the spirit ball into his stomache. The spiritual energy expands and spreads out into his body, and I can see the spirits of Lu Han and Torrus mixed together confusingly. Is this how shamans fought with their spirits?

On the other side of the ring, I see Gorin and his spirit have similarly integrated. They circle around the ring, waiting for the other one to move. Gorin has his fists up, like a boxer, while Lu Han looks almost peaceful.

Finally, one moves. Gorin jumps forward, and I notice his spiritual energy gathering in his right fist. He lets out a bestial cry as Lu Han simply stands, watching him. *"Hammer...PUNCH!"* Gorin cries, and I momentairly reel from two voices--one physical, one spiritual--shouted at once. He throws his fist down at Lu Han, who suddenly slides out of the way expertly. Gorin's fist connects with the cement, letting out a shockwave and forming a small crater in the ground.

I whistle appreciatively. "Damn..."

Lu Han (although it seemed like Torrus was in control now) was now facing Gorin's back, and let lose with three knife-hands to the back. It seemed to do little damage to the muscular shaman, however. Gorin spun around with a right hook, but Lu Han danced backwards, evading the blow.

Gorin followed up with an unrelenting series of jabs at his opponent's face. However, Lu Han managed to evade each one with surprising calmness. So far he's the only one who's landed a hit, but he seems to be outclassed in the power department--and he can't dodge forever. Besides, Gorin is forcing him towards the other side of the ring. *"Stand still and let me hit you!"* he cries in frustration.

*"Now why would I want to do that?"* Lu Han/Torrus mocks, their tone more smart-assed than seems prudent. For their trouble, Gorin finally manages to get a blow through on the Korean boy's chin. Lu Han goes flying due to even the weak punch's sheer force, and lands with his head outside the ring. Darui signals for the match to keep going, however.

As Lu Han gets up, gripping his bald and bruised head, the black-haired Gorin rushes him with a war cry. Looking at the charging shaman calculatingly, Lu Han shifts to a squating position but doesn't seem to move.

Gorin reaches Lu Han and swings his fist downwardly, going for a finishing blow. However, the younger shaman rolls right through the larger man's legs, before springing up and spinning around to face Gorin's back. Lu Han capitalizes on his opponent's surprise by gripping his hands together in a bowl shape. I see spiritual energy gather.

*"Mercurial Arrow," Lu Han/Torrus says matter-of-factly, and a blue, arrow-shaped ray of energy errupts from his palms. The arrow's power, combined with Gorin's unspent momentum, sends him flying outside the ring and into a couple of onlooker's hands. I notice that his skin has also turned an eerie shade of blue.

Darui holds up Lu Han's right arm, as Torrus quietly leaves his body. "And the winner is...Lu Han!" The surrounding crowd claps loudly, and I see Gorin scowl. Janna, who was at ringside all this time, lets out a cheer.

Feeling suddenly very inadequate, I turn to leave.