"I haven’t left on a shaman journey in years." the shaman said. "It kind of feels nostalgic in its own right." Kirol shot looks of concern to the shaman behind his back.

"Lord Exile, shall I scout above to pinpoint our destination?" Suke asked.

"Please." he replied. Suke flew high and viewed the vast wasteland ahead

"Exile, I have a question." Kirol said.

"What?" the shaman replied.

"What was the detour you spoke of?"

"Oh, of course." He pulled out a map of the area, and pointed to a small village in the desert not too far from their current location. "This is Patch Village. This is where I wanted to stop before we head to Funbari."

"Patch Village? Oh yeah, I remember." Kirol said. "The village of the native shaman people, the Patch, and the headquarters for the Shaman Tournament."

"Yes." He put away his map. "I want to know more about this Yoh kid." The two continued to walk across the plains. After a few hours of walking, Suke darted down from the sky.

"Lord, the desert is about one hundred miles ahead."

"Excellent."

For the next few days, they walked across the desert to Patch Village, regardless of the heat.

"Exile, are we there yet?" Kirol whined.

"We are." he replied with a sweatdrop. In front of them was the shaman village of Patch. White cloaked shamans walked between dwellings with spirits following them, nearly all of them nature spirits. "Suke, Kirol, wait here. I’ll find someone to help us." He walked to one of the shamans. "Excuse me," The shaman turned around. He had black hair and had five spirits with him.

"Yes?" he replied.

"I’m sorry to bother you, but could I speak with your chieftain?"

"I’m sorry, sir, but our chieftain is busy right now." The shaman turned around, but the visitor did not give up.

"It’s a bit of an emergency." he said, as he spun the Patch around.

"Sir, the Shaman Fight ended one year ago. Our chieftain cannot deal with outsider shaman such as yourself right now."

"Exile, let’s go." Kirol said. "I don’t think they want to help us find this Yoh Asakura kid." The Patch then turned around and got their attention.

"Did you say ‘Yoh Asakura’"? The visitor raised an eyebrow, then confidently stared at the Patch.

"She did say ‘Yoh Asakura’. Do you know him by chance?"

"What do you want with him?"

"Before I tell you, you need to tell me everything you know about him." The Patch instantly oversouled his spirits.

"I will not tell a fiend like you anything without a fight!" He rushed towards the visitor. In a split second, the black-cloaked shaman dodged his dash.

"Very well, then. I will fight you." He extended his hand out. "Hope you’re not too rusty, Suke."

"I will not fail you, Lord Exile!" Suke said, as he went into spirit-ball mode.

"Suke! Integrate with the gauntlets!" He placed the spirit into his gauntlets, just quick enough to evade another charging attack from the Patch. Then, a long staff with a sharp, metal blade emerged from the oversoul flame.

"Lord," Suke spoke, from the oversoul, "my kwan dao skills have grown a bit weaker since the last time we’ve battled like this."

"Don’t worry, Suke." he replied. "Your skills should be more than enough to take down this joker." The Patch was now high in the air, using his bird spirit to fly.

"Take this!" he dive-bombed toward the visitor, attempting to inflict a harsh blow to his body, but the alien shaman, instead of evading, blocked the attack head-on. The clash brought the Patch and the visitor inches away.

"Listen," he said, with a smirk. "Tell me all you know about Yoh Asakura, and we can end this painlessly." This made the Patch rush into his front in rage, but the alien shaman just dashed behind him and struck his bladed weapon into his back. A huge puddle of blood formed on the Patch’s back as he fell to the ground, unconscious. The visitor disintegrated his oversoul, and his guardian’s spirit emerged. "I think that should take care of him."

"But we didn’t get any information about the Yoh kid." Kirol said.

"Oh yeah, information." the visitor embarrassingly said. "Oh well, we know the important stuff. And besides, he was not the reason we came here." He walked toward another Patch and grabbed him by the throat. "Where is your chieftain’s dwelling?" The Patch pointed his index finger to a large housing in the village. The shaman dropped the Patch and walked over to the dwelling.

Inside, the chieftain sat and stared at the marking on the stone wall in front of him, markings of the Shaman Tournament.

"So you have come, visitor." the chieftain spoke.

"Greetings, Chieftain, my name is Exile." he said. "I am in need of the Great Spirit’s assistance."

"Only the Shaman King can use the Great Spirit’s power."

"No, I ask for the activation of the Oracle Pager." The chieftain’s eyes grew a bit wider.

"The Oracle Pager cannot be used outside of the Shaman Tournament, brave warrior. Those are the Great Spirit’s orders."

"Why did I see this coming?" he said, with a hint of impatience. "What if I told you I plan to be the next Shaman King?" The chieftain didn’t move or change his expression.

"Your power is great, and your mind is strong, but your heart has darkness within it."

"Listen to me! I must face the current Shaman King in battle! It cannot be a true Shaman Fight unless the Oracle Pager is used!"

"By the orders of the Great Spirit, I cannot let you use that power." The visitor clenched his fists.

"You have one last chance to show me the Great Spirit’s messengers." The chieftain did not answer. "Fine, then." The chieftain was then struck with an oversoul sword. He fell to the ground, unconscious and bleeding. The oversouled spirit, Suke, was then exorcized out of the gauntlets used to strike the chieftain. "Pathetic."

"Lord Exile, how will we take control of the Oracle Pager?" Suke asked.

"I will simply talk to the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit respects all shamans."

"What if the Great Spirit doesn’t agree with you?" Kirol asked. The shaman stared at the near-death body of the chieftain.

"As long as I have the Patch people, he will." They exited the dwelling. The entire Patch population stood in front of them with furious looks on their faces.

"You monster!" one yelled.

"Why did you do it?" another yelled. The visitor just kept his emotionless expression and walked past them. Many of the villagers attacked him from the sides and back, but he just brushed them off with a quick oversoul.

"Don’t worry; they’re still alive." he said to the villagers. He continued to walk, until he stopped in the center of the village. He continued his oversoul sword with a dash of fatigue. He stood still for about a minute, but then, he places the tip of his oversoul sword on the desert ground. A pattern formed in the sand: a circle with various symbols in the center.

"Come to me." he said under his breath. "COME TO ME!" He raised his arms as he disintegrated his oversoul and shouted to the sky. A bright light shown around him as he stood in the center of the circle. Kirol, Suke, and the Patch stared as his body disappeared in the bright light.

"Exile!" Kirol shouted. All eyes were narrowed from the light, except for the visitor, whose eyes were as wide as they could get.

"Yes.....let my message be heard." he quietly spoke. The light disappeared. The shaman lied on the ground, seemingly unconscious. Kirol and Suke dashed toward his body. The shaman then opened his eyes and stood up.

"Exile, are you okay?" Kirol said, worryingly.

"I’m fine." he said, as he brushed himself off. He looked toward Kirol and Suke. "Let’s get going. The message has been sent."