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hao-and-yoh · 2 days ago

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Shaman King - “Fractured Duality” - “Alt” Universe

Continued from here.

Episode Eleven (5)

“So that was a little different. It was actually kinda nice, hah.” chuckled Yoh as he adjusted his backpack straps.

“What was?” came the disgruntled reply of the Chinese shaman.

“You know, actually landing safely and collecting our stuff — like “normal” people.” laughed the younger Asakura brother.

“Who wants to be normal? Sounds boring.” replied the elder twin with a slight amused grin.

The twins let out a mirrored laugh before beaming an identical smile at each other.

Ren rolled his eyes and huffed in response to the sickening familiarity the pair had with one another. But after considering their words for a moment, something occurred to him,

“Wait a minute, I thought you said that you didn’t make it this far in “your world” - and the Shaman Fight was called off?”

Yoh felt a pang in his chest as he realised his loose lips had accidentally backed them both into a corner.

“Well uh –” awkwardly began Yoh.

“It’s like we told you,” interjected Hao, “Yoh and I have experienced a shift in time and reality, just like you. In our old world - we travelled to the US on the Patch aircraft, they threw us out - and the next thing we know, we were back where we started.”

Hao forced a candid smile at Tao Ren, but when he was met with a cold and distrusting look in response, he quickly realised his attempt to create a sense of mutual understanding with him without bending the truth too much was impossible.

“Threw you out? Like - from the sky?!” loudly questioned the small human in their group. Manta’s eyes widened as Ren began to tell him the bizarre circumstances of his last experience travelling to US soil.

“Phew, nice save Nii-chan.” silently thought Yoh, letting out a soft audible sigh as he met his twin’s reassuring gaze.

Hao smiled softly in response to hearing his brother’s relieved voice. Though the small odd detail that Yoh’s lips had not moved along to his words did not seem to occur to him.

The colourful group of five continued their on-foot journey into the streets of Denver – observing the neighbouring shops and amenities as they began to open their doors for business. Yoh and Hao’s thoughts simultaneously turned to the missing member of their party, who had ran ahead with an excitable declaration he was going to “scout the area” for more Shaman Fight contestants. The twins were certain his search would be fruitless, but they were both becoming acutely aware that their new world was full of unexpected surprises.

“So uh…” mumbled Manta, “How did you find the Village last time, Ren?”

“A series of careless nonsensical poor decision making and a lot of luck.” replied Ren, bluntly.

Manta laughed awkwardly before letting out an anxious exhale in response to Ren’s cold and blunt words.

“Well - we don’t need luck this time!” gleefully chirped in Yoh. “Ren knows where we need to go next, right Ren?”

“We’re beginning from a completely different starting point. I’ll need time to gather my bearings.” replied Tao Ren with a notable hint of agitation.

Yoh laughed awkwardly in response,

“Well in that case, we might as well look around - you never know who we might bump in-”

“Hey guys! Look who I found!” came the loud and ecstatic voice of the ice shaman.

The group unanimously turned towards the direction the happy voice of their friend came from. Hao’s blood ran cold when he immediately recognised the young boy dressed in bright green attire to match his illuminous green hair style coming towards them. “Oh shit.”

“This should be interesting.”

For their own individual reasons, the group all shared a mutual feeling of uncertainty as HoroHoro beamed a goofy smile at them as he dragged the boy towards them by the wrist.

“This is that British kid I was telling you about - Lionel!” delightfully yelled HoroHoro as he and the other boy reached the group.

Hao and Yoh exchanged a worried glance with one another and they held their breaths, bracing themselves for another intense encounter.

Hao even momentarily considered summoning his Spirit Ally for protection.

The young boy chuckled sheepishly at the others as he tried to politely shake his hand free from HoroHoro’s grasp.

“My name is actually Lyserg Diethel.” said the softly spoken young man. He then beamed a friendly smile at the group. “It’s so great to finally find other Shaman Fight competitors. I should never have doubted my attuned dousing instincts - I knew more shaman were going to pass through here eventually!”

A short awkward silence grew. Ren and Jeanne shared a knowing unspoken exchange before Ren turned towards the familiar face in front of him. He then quickly caught on to the bizarre unfolding differing circumstances when he observed that not only was Lyserg familiar with his old team mate, he was also grossly unfamiliar with someone else in their group.

“You two… know each other?” muttered Ren, gesturing with his just his eyes towards Lyserg and HoroHoro.

“That’s right - we met back in Japan!” happily replied HoroHoro. The look of unwavering confidence and smugness on HoroHoro’s face did not go unnoticed by the warrior shaman.

“I see.” murmured Ren as he began to intensely examine Lyserg from head to toe. He fixated his glare on the most obvious difference in his appearance - the forest-green deer stalker cap he was wearing on his head.

Lyserg shifted on his feet uncomfortably as Ren continued to intensely stare him down. Feeling somewhat anxious by the strange reception, his eyes drifted to the friendlier and warmer expressions of the two standing beside Ren.

“Are these those friends you told me about, HoroHoro?”

“Yeah! Asakura bros - meet Lionel.”

“Lyserg.” quietly muttered Lyserg as he politely outstretched his hand towards Yoh.

“Hi Lyserg, I’m Yoh.” breathed Yoh, relieved, as he grasped Lyserg’s hand firmly. “It’s… really really good to see you.”

Recognising Yoh’s overpowering welcoming energy as he shook his hand, Lyserg blinked back in surprise at the shaman he had just met.

“Oh, wow. I’ve never met a new friend so glad to see me before!” happily cried Lyserg, giving him a sweet smile.

Letting go of Lyserg’s firm hand shake, Yoh then turned to his twin standing silently beside him and gave him yet another reassuring smile before he took in a deep breath and breathed out the words,

“And this is my brother… Hao.”

Hao froze momentarily as he watched in amazement as the innocent face in front of him shined the exact same sweet and welcoming smile at him before also presenting him with his hand too.

“What a disgustingly sweet little amateur he turned out to be.”

“Uh… it’s nice to meet you, Lyserg.” quietly muttered Hao as he accepted Lyserg’s hand.

The twins could almost feel Ren’s eyes burning into their skulls as the odd exchange unfolded in front of them.

“And this is Manta, Ren and Jeanne.” went on HoroHoro, gesturing to each one of them as he did so.

“Hi!” greeted Manta, reaching up and shaking hands with the English shaman before Lyserg offered the same polite gesture to the only woman in their party.

Jeanne smiled sweetly at Lyserg and shook his hand happily.

“Lyserg. The smile on your face and the joy emanating from your soul really warms my heart.” softly cried Jeanne, her eyes glazing over slightly as she spoke.

“Oh… uh, thank you?” awkwardly replied Lyserg. “It’s… great to meet you too!”

Jeanne found herself holding on to Lyserg’s hand for a few moments longer than the average hand shake - making their exchange somewhat more awkward than the others. Lyserg blushed a little as Jeanne continued to smile fondly at him.

“This is getting ridiculous.” muttered Ren under his breath, clearly irked by the situation.

Lyserg did not bother to offer a hand to the disgruntled pointy haired one. Instead, his mind fell back on the circumstances that led to this strange yet overly friendly meeting.

“It transpires my numbers prediction was accurate too.” nodded Lyserg as he looked around at the group one by one.

“Numbers?” repeated Ren, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes.” replied Lyserg, “There’s six of you. Six shaman.”

“Oh no, I’m not a shaman.” corrected Manta.

Lyserg blinked at the small human’s words. A puzzled look flickered across his delicate soft features.

“Huh. That’s weird. My advanced dousing technique is always correct about these things.” quietly muttered Lyserg, he lifted his arm to observe his dousing crystal device as he spoke.

“Maybe it just means there’s someone else around here we’re destined to meet too! This is awesome - it’s like a family reunion!” happily cried Yoh.

The rest of the group all exchanged a look with one another at Yoh’s words.

“Yoh.” hissed Hao. “Don’t you think you’re getting a little… carried away?”

Yoh brought himself down a few octaves at his brother’s sharp words.

“S-sorry, Hao. I’m just excited…” he muttered, sadly.

“Reunion? What do you mean?” innocently asked Lyserg.

“Oh. Hah.” jumped in HoroHoro. “Well… actually, it’s a little complicated Lionel but - things are a bit… upside down in our world at the moment?”

“Heh. That’s putting it lightly.”

“What HoroHoro means Lyserg is that… Yoh has actually met you before.” explained Hao, sympathetically.

“You have?!” gasped Lyserg, blinking in surprise at the twins.

Following Hao’s lead to speak the truth, Jeanne spoke up,

“I was not sure if it was my place to say, but Lyserg, dear - myself and Ren know you very well too. But in a different sort of way.”

Lyserg watched as Jeanne once again gave him an over-familiar smile. He looked on at confusion at the group he had just met for the very first time.

Yoh sighed deeply. He then looked around at the buildings surrounding them.

“You know what?” he sighed, smiling a bit. “Talking about all this confusing stuff really makes me hungry. I think I saw a diner over there – ”

“I like your thinking dude!” excitedly interrupted HoroHoro, “I could really go for a classic American cheeseburger right now!”

“It’s 9 o’clock in the morning!” snapped Ren.

“Hey!” retorted the Ainu shaman. “My body clock is still in China’s time zone! Mind your own business!”

The group turned their attention to a nearby bright red and cyan coloured diner sign. When Hao observed the shiny metallic reflective outdoor décor, he felt a strange sense of dread in his chest.

“Actually - I’m not all that hungry.” hastily muttered Hao, instinctively taking a step in the opposite direction, “And I think I’ve had enough awkward conversations lately to last me a whole other life time.”

The group all exchanged concerned glances with one another once more. Jeanne in particular gave Ren an intense glare in response to Hao’s sorrowful tone. Ren shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes at her in response.

“Are you sure man? You didn’t eat at all during the flight.” worriedly asked HoroHoro, placing a hand on the fire shaman’s shoulder.

“Yeah, Nii-chan. HoroHoro’s right - you need to eat something, we have a long journey ahead of us.” protested Yoh.

Without hesitation, Hao stepped back from his friend’s reassuring touch and continued on his way down the avenue alone.

“Just… get me something to take out. I - I’ll catch you all later. Enjoy your meal.”

In a shared stunned silence, all watched as the long-haired shaman hurriedly walked away from them.

After a moment, Ren scoffed and a devilish smirk appeared on his face as he looked towards the new addition to their group.

“Hm, one might assume he was running away from something.” sarcastically chuckled the warrior shaman.

“Or someone!” angrily snapped Jeanne.

As the others slowly one by one began to head towards the diner, Yoh kept his gaze on his big brother’s image for as long as possible before he disappeared at the end of the street.

“Hao…”

Episode Eleven to be continued.

Enter “Alt Universe” here.

Read “Fractured Duality” in full here.

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