Abby giggeld some and follwed lookinbck at Shiki who was atreing down the street."Shiki-Saan , you okay?",she asked with worry.

Shiki blinked and nodded."yes im fine..."

"So, where are you guys from?" Xing asked as they headed for downtown.

Abby Smiled."a few cities from here .... called Tokami .....",she said calmly."

"Never heard of it." Xing said. "Then again, I'm not from this area really, either. I moved to Japan a few years ago, from China."

"thats neet!",Abby said with a smile

"Yeah, I guess so." Xing said, not looking at them or smiling.

Abby frowned."did I say somthing wring?if i did im so sorry Xing",she said suddenly looking supper sad.

Xing looked up. "Oh, it's okay, really!" He said, putting on a fake smile.

Master Xing, it pains me to have to see you hide your emotions. Bason thought.

Abby shook her head."no ... i can tll trust me ,i know more about hideing eelings then you think",she said softly.

"But, I really am okay," Xing said. He looked up to the clock tower. "Crap! They're making the announcement in a couple of minutes! Come on!" He grabbed Abby's arm and started running full-tilt.

Abby let out a small sqweek and ran with him."o-okay ... come on youguys!",she said glanceing back.

Shiki blinked a few times and sighed."we better hurry them hm?",he said looking tro Kimiko and Kojio.

Kojio nodded."right!",she sid and followed shiki as he ran.

Kimiko smiled."im likeing it here alrweady!",she said following the group.

The group reached the downtown plaza right as the clock struck the quarter hour. "12:15, we made it." Xing said. His oracle pager beeped, as did the pagers of everyone in the plaza. He looked down to it as a countdown began.j

10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1....

....LET THE SHAMAN FIGHT BEGIN!

This was followed by a message on everyone's pager, which was different for every participant; it was the name of their first opponent in the Shaman Fight, as well as the date and time of their first battle. Xing's eyebrows furrowed.

"What's wrong, Master Xing?" Bason asked.

"My opponent for my first match. Who on earth is Faust?" Xing asked.

***

Elliot watched from the rooftops. A young man with white hair and glasses caught her eye. "Hm. He looks a bit young to be a Shaman. Then again, so do his friends."

Nala was sitting Indian-style on the edge of the building. "Hey, you're not much older." She said.

Elliot shrugged. She held out her arm and the spirit of an American bald eagle alighted on her arm. "See anything interesting, Spire?"

"Only a lot traffic." The eagle replied. "How you humans live so cramped together alludes me."

"Me too, don't feel bad." Elliot replied, taking a look at her oracle pager. "Hm...I wonder who this Shiki character is?"

Abby looked confused."hmm....no idea...",she said said softly and looked to Shiki."what about you Shiki?"

Shiki looked at his."a girl named Eliot....what about you Abby?"

Abby looked to hers."hmmm someone named ..... Akira....."(Akira is oroginal, will make his profile after XD))

Bason took a look at Xing's oracle pager. "If memory serves me correctly, Master Xing, a man by the name of Faust VIII competed in the Shaman Fight 500 years ago. Your opponent, Faust IX, is most likely related." He said.

"Wait...that's only one generation between them." Xing said. "That can't be right...."

***

A rather young, feminine-looking man skipped down the street, carrying something that looked mysteriously like a body bag with him, creeping out those around him. If that weren't enough, the fact that he was wearing makeup--consisting of lipstick, eyeshadow, eyeliner, and some kind of black face-ink that looked like tears running down his face--and he looked like he was stitched together. That wasn't completely off the mark for Faust IX; he was dead. Very much so. However, when his time came to die when he was merely 22, he refused. Now he was a living corpse, being kept alive by his immense mana reserves and a bit of necromancy. Of course, this meant that whenever he got hurt somehow he had to stich his body back together.

"My my! Three little kids! One younger than the rest!" The young man said in a feminine voice to match his features. He giggled. "The white-haired one must be my opponent. Oooooh, I know I'm going to have so much fun with him!"

Abby smiled happily at Xing.'so whens your match?",she asked eagerly."if its not on the same day or time as mine i want to be there to cheer you on"

Shiki smirked some."you should tell her or shell drag it out of you one way or another..."

Xing shuddered. This girl sounds scarier than she looks. He thought.

"Tonight...at midnight." He replied. "At...." a doom-and-gloom look came over his face.

Abby blinked looking at his wrist thing.(forget the name lol)) "a graveyard .... thts so diosrespectfull!",she said pouting but smiled."oh well,since we have a while till your match,lets go back to my place and ill cook us somthing to eat,Kimiko convinced the spirits to clean up the place while we were out,i think a few went shpping,so come on lets go!",she said grabbing his arm as well as Shikis and started back towads her place.

Shiki followed looking at hs."mines tomorrow sometime..."

"Uh, okay." Xing replied, his face drained of all color. What disturbed him wasn't the fact that it was in a cemetary--though, it was disrespectful and cemetaries at midnight were inherintly creepy--but the fact that it was the foreigners' cemetary. Most of the people there hadn't been cremated; they were enbalmed and buried as the would normally be in Europe or America. I really, really hope this doesn't mean what I think it means... He thought.

Abby smiled walking along huimming softly.

"What's got you so cheerful?" Xing asked gloomily.

Abby got a sadlook on her face."I'm not allowed to be happy about makeng two new friends?and cooking diner for one of them?",she said softly.

Xing blushed. "Ack! Sorry! I'm just nervous about my first match." He said.

Abby slowly smiled."im sure you'll do great!"

Xing smiled weakly and nodded. "Yeah, I guess." He replied.

Abby smiled."i know you will",she said as they reached her house."now you two w=sit and relaxed while i get started on some food!"