trans_9 | Target Practice

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Target Practice

Since living in the new castle with Ruffnut, Mindy had done her best to maintain upkeep, even "borrowing" a few things from the wreckage of Grand Central to spruce up the place. It helped, especially since the events of the homecoming, to keep her head busy. On the one hand, yes, dad had appeared: he wasn't dead, he was proud to know they won, and for just a little bit? She got to be a little girl again, to crack wise with her dad, to show him how far she'd gotten.

But then he was gone again, and the new pod pop didn't bring him out. She shouldn't have hoped for it, but she had, a little. Once that was a no go though, she was either training or helping Ruffnut patch up some of the frayed tapestries or fix up carpeting or overall making sure there were no holes for them to fall through anywhere. It had been good, but even Ruffnut had sort of side stepped asking her about dad. It was something she appreciated: Mindy wasn't known for easily delving into her feelings.

This naturally led to another thing on her mind: what had happened on the mission, where the Castle gun shootout had almost taken her out- SHOULD have, if it was anyone else. She had severely underestimated what she could do: the way she;d moved, the accuracy in each shot, the sheer carnage: that was akin to a limit break.

And now, she wanted to control it.

She emptied herself of all thought: that was how a fight in the dark was, if you had no edge. There were only a few precious seconds to gather your mind, and then you opened your eyes and all hell broke loose. Your eyes and your hands had to work in tandem then, and you pulled back and took out people one by one until you got the job done or you were dead.

Like now: it was those gun slingers from the castle, and she started with ten at first, taking them out easily. The background was the saloon again, only she made it bigger to accomdate the increase in shooters.She cursed to herself (it was too quick!) then brought the number to fifteen, then twenty.

Each took less time, and Hit Girl nodded: she HAD gotten better. She wasn't even using Zetta's gun or her artifact, and she was still taking these bastards down.

"All right: switch it to forty, and place them all over the bar."

Ok. GO.

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The spirit laughed again, doing a little mid-air somersault to show its happiness.

"Well, I mean, it's not nice to 'make' them do stuff. But they usually don't mind so we aren't really 'making' them, and having them do things is just sort of what we do."

He paused to think about it, remembering when he had to try and briefly explain the same thing to Ruffnut. "We can have them do loads of stuff. We can Hyōi Gattai, which is sorta like letting the soul integrate with us, which is handy, it gives us their strength, knowledge and wisdom but there's a few catches."

Hana then tried to put the idea of integrating into more relatable terms. "So, if anyone but a Shaman had a soul integrated into them, even those who can see ghosts, it'd be a 'possession', since only Shamans can control spirits. Strong willed people can fight 'em off a bit but really they're no match and the spirit will take over."

He gestured to the Holy Spirit, which was now waving at Hit Girl. "So, if this guy wanted to possess you, even though you can you have some power, which allows you to see him sometimes, and you're strong willed." He prodded Hit Girl in the chest, smirking. "I can tell." Hana continued. "He'd still end up taking complete control." He pointed to himself. "Shamans are incapable of being possessed, as our souls will dominate any others that try to enter."

Hana grinned widely. "But the best way of using a spirit by far is an Oversoul."

"Hey, its actually cute," Hit Girl exclaimed, laughing at the acrobatics. "I think I could used to this little guy."

Now she was starting to get an idea of what Shaman's, as he called them were supposed to do. They were apparently working in tandem with the ghosts to gain their strengths. In a way, it was a bit like her barrier jacket: it had a mind of its own, and sometimes had to act on Hit Girls behalf, just so the girl didn't wind up taxing herself needlessly. In a ways she hadn't lied to Morgan: she wouldn't injure herself. She just left out telling him that the barrier jacket would make sure she didn't do it to begin with.

She did look a little alarmed at the idea of some spirits possessing her. "They won't do that though, right? They seem pretty ok. And what;s an Oversoul?"

The spirit made a happy noise at Hit Girls praise and floated over to sit on her shoulder, chirping. "I wouldn't possess you, human! I promise!"

Hana smiled and shook his head. "He'd probably protect you from any other spirits too. Or come and get me if something was wrong. I think you could fight one off long enough for me to come and remove it anyway."

He seemed glow with excitement as he explained the power of Oversoul. "That's where we can create weapons, armour or really anything by mixing the soul with some of our power and putting it into an object, a medium."

"This is my medium, most of the time." He made a wild gesture with his hand as he pulled out a small red stone sword (http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090628141412/shamanking/en/images/thumb/0/01/Hana_2.jpg/200px-Hana_2.jpg) from his back pocket. "Oversouls can really do anything. There's basic stuff, like fetching things, or major, like fighting."

Hana closed his eyes and waggled his finger, his tone implying he was repeating some lecture he'd received at some point. "An Oversoul is only limited by the Shamans imagination."

He chuckled, dropping the pretense. "Course, there's more to it than that really. There's your furyoku to consider, then there's the spirit to think about, and of course the spirits reiyoku, the medium your using." He shrugged. "But a good Shaman will have taken that all into consideration already so imagination really is the limit."

"There is a Unity-type Oversoul but that's... Difficult to master. I can't do it with any of the spirits on the ship yet. Sort of like combining Hyōi Gattai and Oversoul together into one form. Takes alot of skill." He waved it off in a way that said 'don't bother thinking about it'.

Whoa. It talked! OK, more and more she was going to have to get used to all of this crazy ghost spirit stuff. But at least it seemed nice.

"Good to know, now that the possibility of random ghost craziness happening," she said, shaking her head. "But yeah, I do have a few tricks up my sleeve if it were to come down to me versus some weird ghost thing."

Some magic, or even her own strength of will: she was beginning to see that it played a more substantial part than she realized.

Now the weapon. A weapon was definitely something that a girl like Mindy could get behind, even if it did look pretty simple in design. At this though, even Hit Girl knew she had to throw out certain notions, like how pretty a blade was or how big it was represented strength.

She wouldn't...because he kept dropping in Japanese words she knew nothing about, so she had to sort of gleam it.

"What's a furyoku?"

Hana saw her looking at the sword. "It's called 'Futsunomitama no Tsurugi'." He rattled off the complicated name easily. "It used to belong to a sword god. It's the perfect medium for creating a sword Oversoul. Any sword you make using this will be the perfect weapon for that sword style. Unbeatable, as long as you wield it correctly." He turned it this way and that. "It's been in the Asakura family for over 500 years, it's sort of a family heirloom. It's also a national treasure. Here." He tossed the apparantly expensive and important item to Hit Girl.

"Power, I guess you could call it. Furyoku is the measure of how much of the 'sixth sense' you have. Even basic Shamanic techniques require furyoku. It's linked with willpower, kinda made by it really. It reflects your conviction." Hana expression was calm and still as he spoke about such an abstract concept. "Every living thing has at least some furyoku. You're born with it. Even you've got some." He looked down at his hand, curling and uncurling his fingers. "It's always changing. There's many things that can effect the amount you have, but even having a large amount will be meaningless if you're unable to correctly harness it. Someone with half your furyoku will beat you if you're incapable of understanding and using the sense."

Hit Girl took the sword, and handled it delicately: to her, a weapon was an extension of yourself, and even if she seemed to be very cavalier in how she handled her weapons, this did not mean she didn't respected the weapons. She took it, admiring it in the light for a long time, running her hand from the cross guard to the point. Finally, she handed it back to Hana.

"Now that, I understand. My trainer and the Overlord call it something different, from chi to mana, but will power is really what it comes down to. But now I have a new word for it: furyoku. I've seen that at work too. Like I said, that last battle...I definitely learned firsthand what you can do with your willpower."

He took the sword back, spinning it around and around in his hand.

Hana tilted his head, considering this. "Mmm, they are similar, but in a sense, they aren't. It's difficult to explain."

He ran a hand through his hair, laying the weapon across his lap. "I wouldn't call them the same at all. Furyoku may exist inside you, but it's not the same as the other power that I can sense in you. Furyoku is inborn, you get a set amount, the way of changing the amount you have is difficult, and pretty much impossible for humans. They may all tie into willpower, but I think your 'mana' is different in nature. They're related in some way but... I don't know. I can just tell they're different too. It's hard to put into words."

He sighed, this philosophical thinking was taking its toll. He turned to her, looking apologetic. "Sorry, I'm not explaining this so well, am I?"

Hit Girl grinned when she saw him spin the sword around in his hand she had done the same thing with her butterfly knife.

So she got it wrong? Guess she better listen up.

"You're trying to explain it, and I think I sort of get it. Either way, I'm going to use my power to kick some ass. If there's something significantly different, I'll find out about it on my own."

He picked it back up and tapped her on the head with it.

"They're sort of the same thing, but not. And sort of joined, but not."

Hana then threw his hands in the air and grinned. "Enough confusing crap! You'll know what you gotta do when you gotta do it!"

"Damn right!" Hit Girl said. "That's exactly why I'm running this simulation! The moment that I get the ability to move as quickly as I did when I was over at the castle, I'll know I can control that part of me. It came easy, but I don't know if it was only because my life was in danger. That's the shitty part."

Watch out Hana: there's a varmit creeping near you.

"Well, that's the thing about spiritual powers, they tend to--"

He cut off to spin around. In a flash of light, Hana's weapon was suddenly encompassed in the massive grip of a giant Scimitar, the deadly blade was longer than the tallest man, not including the hilt, and although wide, was not thick, but instead, thin and sharp.

All around the weapon was some sort of aura that pulsed and ebbed, it looked wispy, like smoke, unlike the sword, which seemed very solid with its blood red sheen despite its slight transparent quality.

Hana's hand didn't hold the blade at the grip, instead it went right into the handle and, if you looked, you could see it hovering just above his medium. He didn't grasp it, he just kept his hand above it as the small stone sword remained at its fixed point inside the Oversoul.

With an irritated look on his face, Hana pressed the razor sharp tip against the guys nose. "Would you go away?"

Disembodied giggling surrounded Hana, it seems you didn't need eyes in the back of your head if you had dozens of pairs of eyes watching your back for you.

Hit Girl stared. Sure, it was a little overkill, but it was BAD ASS overkill, and she couldn't tear her eyes off the scene before her. Even the gigging was a nice touch she hadn't expected that at all. And here she was, butterfly knife already in hand, about the skewer the guy.

Looks like some appearances were really fucking deceiving.

The man, however, did not need any more than this, particularly when he decided to void how bowels then and there.

"Dude, gross! Get the fuck out of here!" Hit Girl said, irritated, and the guy disappeared. "I hate when they do that! Like blood and guts aren't enough on the floor!" She shook her head.

"But anyway, how cool are you?! I didn't know you could do something like that!"

He didn't bat an eye when spoke openly about such vulgar subjects, choosing to chuckle instead.

Hana turned back to her, looking confused. "What?" He suddenly clicked and looked down at the Oversoul. "This?"

He felt himself blush slightly. "Oh, er, this is actually... I mean... It's not all that great."

Hana shuffled, cheeks flushed with pleasure. Ruffnut had shown a similar reaction when he'd showed her. He'd forgotten, due to growing up with such powerful Shamans around him and becoming one in his own right so young, that even Oversouls he saw as simple where actually imposingly large and powerful.

"I mean. It's a good basic Oversoul, I got it here on Stacy because, you know, new spirits and all, I needed to start making more Oversouls, and its helped me out here alot so I'm comfortable using it."

He sighed. "But it's nothing compared to the one's I made back home, with Amidamaru." Hana gave a wishful smile and the weapon, which had seemed so powerful and strong, simply wisped away.

"Yeah, that!" Hit girl exclaimed, staring at him like he had five heads. "You mean to tell me that THAT isn't fucking cool where you come from? Because its really bad ass where I'm from, trust me. We can't do anything like that. I don't know why you'd even say something like it isn't great. You're nuts!"

Man, what she wouldn't give to have a sweet ass weapon like that! And he pulled it out all cool and everything! And what was better, if he could do that, they could train, couldn't they? The possibilities for what that could do was endless! Hell, she wouldn't mind pulling out that sword as one of her weapons! How did he not see the bad ass of this?

"Who's Amidamaru though? Another kind of weapon?"

He was giggling bashfully, cheeks a nice shade of crimson. "Heh, well, yeh, I mean, I guess most of my Oversoul types are pretty cool..."

"You, really think it's that awesome?"

"Nope." He puffed out his chest proudly. "Amidamaru is my Guardian Ghost. They're our partners. Our true partners. It's all well and good going around having different spirit partners but you won't be strong that way. Having a Guardian Ghost is having someone you grow with, you bind with and understand each other. You get that, right? You've got a partner. I mean, it's fine having a few guys you can count on in a pinch to help you out but you'll never fight as well with them as you do with Ruffnut, right?"

Hana smiled. "It's like that. And Amidamaru, well, he was my dads Guardian Ghost first. They went through alot together. Amidamaru was an unbeatable samurai who died 600 years ago, but he's not like normal human ghosts, because he was so loyal to my dad he was able to let go of the ego human spirits have and become a higher class of spirit. He and dad have been friends since dad was my age. And then dad gave him to me. I've known him all my life."

His smile turned sad. "I miss him."

Aw, that was too cute. It reminded her a little bit of Negi in a way, except with less of that super genius ring to it. It was hard for her not to like Hana.

"Yeah, are you kidding? Your hand became a fucking sword! How is that ever uncool? It's like Ash's chainsaw hand, but with a sword!"

Now she got it. "Yeah, you have to have your human partner. I totally get that now. It sucks not to have that one person that completes your step, you know? And yeah, actually, you're right. I can probably fight alongside a lot of people, I sorta trained to do that. But if its with Ruff, we know how we work with each other best. We complete each other as partners on the battlefield."

She grinned, remembering that prom where they invaded and took that pony hostage. That was cool.

"Is there anyway he might be on the ship?"

"Heh. I guess one day I might be able to show you how I fight with it. I'm alot better with it than I am when I tried to fight you with nothing." That would certainly show his skills off more.

"Well, maybe I'll show you the Oversoul me and Amidamaru do sometime. I mean, I might not have him here with me, but I can make pretty much anything in these places, right?" He gestured around the Sensorium. "I could at least let you know what it looks like." Hana allowed himself a smug grin, he did like his true Oversoul a lot. "It's pretty badass."

"I don't really know how she goes about getting spirits on the ship. Even if he is here, he must be sealed away pretty tight somewhere, I can't sense him."

"Yeah, you better, are you joking? I'd love to take you on with the sword! We better not use the real one though: one bad move and I'm going to be pretty skewered. It was gross seeing that dude piss all over himself, but I'm not so stupid I couldn't see why."

Not that she thought she would ever make a bad move, of course, but better safe than sorry? She didn't need to go dying early.

"Yeah, you can. There are some people who are scared of the Sensoriums, but they're just cowards. I definitely want to spar with you with one of those weapons! Seriously, why the hell haven't we been hanging out more?"

She shrugged. "Stacy is Stacy. She'll find a way." Hi, Hit girl has a smug smile of her own.

"Sparring with you again would be awesome! I mean, whenever you're free!"

That was a fair question. Hana was actually closer to Hit Girls age than Ruffnuts, and they got along pretty damn well.

He gave her a smile but it was ever so slightly lopsided. Hana didn't want to admit it but sometimes, not enough that he could be totally sure, but still when he'd seen Hit Girl while hanging out with Ruffnut he could swear he sensed... something in the way she looked at him. He wasn't sure what, but it made him kinda nervous.

"I dunno. Maybe coz you're really busy?"

"Oh." Yeah, THAT would be why they haven't sparred more often. She was always busy, wasn't she? Well, she'd have to go and make time, of course. She was Hit Girl, she was amazing! She would find a way. Still wished she understood what she had felt earlier, that stupid weird jealousy, but she was SO over that! It's not like it made any sense anyway, right?"

"Well, I'll just make time. If you're hanging out at Ruffnut's place a lot, we'll have to meet eventually, right? Definitely get to do that! It;s kinda sad, but I don't really have a lot of friends my age, ya know?"

Hana gave her a bright grin that seemed to fill the room. "Sounds cools! It'd be great for us all to hang together!"

"Well, we're about the same age, but friends don't need to be, right?"

"Nah, but most of the friends I have on the ship are older than me, in case you haven't noticed. It's kinda nice to have someone as cool as me that's actually my age, you know?"

Wow. Those two as friends were bound to get into trouble.

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Target Practice

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