Chapter 1 Meeting of the Wanderer

My name is Hikaru Hiyama, and I fell in love with an impossible man. Let me tell you my story.

-1990-

Hikaru Hiyama sighed as she sat on the park bench, alone. She had just failed another audition for a new musical production in town. She loved to dance and wanted to do it professionally. However, since that day she'd been depressed. For four years she'd been in love with a boy she met in Junior High. She'd only been 13 back then and he was her senior by 2 years. To be honest, she once dismissed him as some kind of loser until she saw him throw a basketball from an impressive distance into the hoop. She fell for him hard, calling him darling, and doing her best to be his girlfriend. Unfortunately, his heart belonged to another. He'd already fallen for her best friend, Madoka Ayukawa.

And she'd been too blind to see.

It was only recently that she discovered that they had fallen for each other but had hid it from her to spare her feelings. She still felt betrayed though and at the climax of it all, her darling sempai, Kyousuke Kasuga, had broken up with her, officially, to be with Madoka. It just wasn't fair. She was the official girlfriend, not Madoka, and Madoka was supposed to be like a sister to her only to betray her. Hikaru's heart had broken at the revelation of the two people she loved the most in the world betraying her like that.

Now the two of them were in college together, leaving Hikaru alone. She still had her childhood friend Yusaku and he'd tried to cheer her up but his attempts didn't work.

And here she sat, sad and alone, wanting to go back to the happier times in the past.

"Madoka-chan…Sempai…" Hikaru sobbed as she recalled the happy times they had spent together, and then reminded of the lies and betrayal. "Why…?"

If she were paying attention, she would've noticed the sound of metal footsteps headed towards her. She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice a figure approaching her. As soon as she noticed the metal feet planted down on the ground in front of her, she looked up and gasped as standing before her was a man covered from head to toe in silver armor with a helmet with a blank face that only had two black holes for eyes and a thin horizontal strip for a mouth. Mounted on its head was something like a bucket handle.

"You will be assimilated," it said in a deep, electronic voice as it reached for her. Hikaru was frozen in shock and then all of a sudden a green laser beam shot out of nowhere, hitting the metal man in the head and knocking it to the ground. It twitched and spasm on the ground as Hikaru stood up and stared. She then felt someone grab her hand.

"Don't just stand there gawking!" he said and she looked at the man who'd grabbed hold of her hand. He had short silver hair and twinkling brown eyes. He wore a brown suit with blue pinstripes, a dark green shirt, a red tie and black Converse All Stars. "Run!"

She didn't need to be told twice as she ran with him, still holding his hand. The metal man stopped twitching and slowly sat up. It then got back to its feet and scanned its surroundings. Turning around, it marched away.

(Linebreak)

"OK, we should be safe now," he said as he and Hikaru stopped in front of a red telephone box. She instantly withdrew her hand from his. "Eh?"

"Who are you? What was that thing? How did you stop it?" she questioned, she was surprise that she wasn't more hysterical about what just second but figured she was too shock to experience any other emotion at the moment

"OK, in order: I'm Smith, Jack Smith, aka The Wanderer. That was a Cyberman. As for how I stopped it, I used this!" He showed her a metal cylinder that was six inches long with a green crystal on one end. "My Sonic Screwdriver!"

"A…screwdriver?" Hikaru questioned, cocking an eyebrow.

"And it's sonic!" He emphasized by holding down the button, making a soft buzzing noise coming out of it. "OK, I think you should go and run home, its not safe here for the moment. And as for me, I've got a Cyberman to hunt!" He then began running off to the night

"O-Oi!" Hikaru shouted, but the man was too far ahead for her to catch up. She stood in place feeling more confused than ever.

That was the first time I met him, and it wouldn't be the last. There was something about him and I couldn't get my mind off him. However, I never did expect what I was going to learn about him at that time.

Hikaru went to ABCB for her part-time job the next day. Despite the memories this place held, she wasn't going to let it prevent her from doing her job. Master, the café's proprietor, was right at the counter. The man was sympathetic with her situation, understanding how it felt for her to be heartbroken. He lent his shoulder for her to cry on and she appreciated her effort. Of course she also needed someone to talk to about what happened last night.

'Was that just some kind of dream.' Hikaru thought to herself, the events seem far to scifi 'But if it was a dream, why did that cyberman and Jack seem so real.'

She was brought out of her thoughts when the bell above the door rang as it opened and Hikaru was about to greet the customer when her mouth dropped open. No sound came as she saw the man from last night come into the ABCB.

"Ah, this looks like a nice place for a cup of tea," he said. He then saw Hikaru. "Oh, hello there! I didn't know you worked in this establishment! Did you make it home alright?" No sound came out from her gaping mouth. "Flies will fly into your mouth if you keep it open like that and it isn't a pleasant experience. Believe me."

"Welcome to the ABCB," Master welcomed. "Can I take your order?"

"Oh, just a cup of tea," Jack said as he took a seat at a table and opened up the newspaper. "Say, there have been a lot of disappearances lately, haven't they?"

"Yes," said Master as he put a cup of tea in front of Jack. "Even the police are stumped. You can see all those missing people posters all over and there's just no clue about what happened to them."

"Yes it is quite a mystery." Jack nodded, but Hikaru noticed how his eyes narrowed slightly, and wonder if the reason of the kidnapping was cause of this Cyberman thing.

Jack picked up the cup of tea and took a sip. "Ah, delicious. Simply the best," he praised. "Thank you for the tea, Mister…"

"Just call me Master," the ABCB's proprietor told Jack. "If you'd want a refill, Hikaru-chan can help you with that."

"Ah, yes," Jack smiled, Hikaru smiled abit back. The door opened and a young man entered. It was Hikaru's friend, Yusaku.

"Hikaru, why didn't you wait for me last night?" he demanded. "I could've walked you home! You know how dangerous it is now to walk alone at night."

"But I'm fine, Yusaku," Hikaru told him reassuringly, glancing at Jack.

"Yeah, but promise me that you won't go out alone at night. People have been going missing left and right and I'd hate it if you were one of them," said Yusaku.

"You should listen to him," advised Jack. "The city at night is a dangerous place." He took another sip of tea.

He really did like his tea. I mean he kept asking for refills. He paid for them, though. But I never saw anybody drink so much tea. He could've asked for some cookies but all he wanted was the tea as he read the newspaper. Actually, he had more than one newspaper and seemed to be fixated on the stories about the missing people. I knew last night wasn't a dream and I wanted to ask him about that 'Cyberman' thing. Was it the one responsible for the missing people?

Hikaru went again to the park after her shift and found him leaning against the red telephone box with his arms crossed, looking at her expectantly. "I knew I had a stalker," he smiled.

"Who are you?" she asked as she approached him.

"I told you. I'm Jack Smith, aka The Wanderer."

"OK, Wanderer-san, just what was that thing last night?"

He looked her in the eye and said, "Hikaru, listen to me. What happened last night you should forget. You shouldn't get yourself too involved."

"Was that the thing responsible for taking the missing people?" she asked. Jack was silent. "Well?"

"…Yes." he answered hesitantly.

"Then we should call the police!"

"The police can't help and even if we told them they wouldn't believe us, I mean think about it, do you honestly believe what happen last night?" Jack told her. She thought about it. He had a point, even after experiencing she was ready to dismiss it as a dream till he show up at the ABCB. Plus, if she told the police a man in silver armor was kidnapping people, they would think that she was either crazy or playing a joke. "Now you understand. Now, I'm going to try and track it down."

"Then let me help you," she offered.

"No, it'll be dangerous," he protested.

"You helped me last night, now it's my turn to repay the favor," she said sternly. "Also, a few of my classmates have gone missing and I want to know why."

Jack grimaced and asked, "Are you sure? Cause if you do this, you won't like what you'll find out."

Hikaru just nodded determinedly "I'm ready,"

Hikaru just stared as Jack removed the manhole cover. "The sewers? Really?" Jack had accepted her assistance. This was her town after all and she wanted to repay him for saving her last night. However, she wasn't prepared for this.

"You said you were ready," said Jack as he started climbing down. "It means for things like this. So, are you coming?"

Hikaru grimaced before checking her pockets. "OK, I got paper napkins." She was going to need them.

Jack reached the bottom and called for Hikaru to follow and she started climbing down. "Easy does it now, Hikaru. Oh, and be careful. That ladder is a bit-" Hikaru slipped and screamed as she started to fall. He caught her in his arms. "Slippery," he finished.

Hikaru caught her breath and looked up at Jack's eyes. She blushed as she felt herself being held in her arms. He slowly put her down to plant her feet on the ground. She covered her nose. "It stinks!"

"Well it is the sewers," Jack said shrugging as he pointed to the river of sewage flowing by. He took out his Sonic Screwdriver and used it as a flashlight to light the way. He took her hand and advised, "Just keep holding my hand."

As the two of them were walking in the sewers, still holding hands, Hikaru asked. "So…why do you call yourself 'The Wanderer'?"

"I'm called the Wanderer, because...well, I wander. Never liked staying in one place for too long. I prefer traveling."

"So, you're just an eccentric man who does whatever he wants and goes wherever he wants," she concluded.

"Pretty much. Nice observation."

"And what about that Cyberman thing? What is it? A man in a suit?" she asked.

Jack was about to answer when he spotted something floating in the sewage, coming their way. He grimaced as he saw what it was and so did Hikaru. It was a dead body but what Jack noticed that there was metal attached to the chest.

"We have to help him!" Hikaru cried but Jack stopped her. "Jack!"

"There's nothing we can do for him now," said Jack. "I'm sorry. He's dead."

"But…"

"You wanted to know what a Cyberman is? That's what a Cyberman is," he answered and soon the realization came to her.

"It was…human?" she uttered in shock. Jack nodded. "Is that's what's happening to the other missing people?"

"Not if I can help it. It came from there and that's where I'm going. You should go and get out of here while you still can."

"I came this far with you. I'm not letting you get yourself killed," she said.

"Why?" he asked. "You don't even know me."

"You helped me, and now I'm going to help you. It's how it works with me. I always try to settle a debt whenever I can," she told him.

Jack smiled and uttered softly, "I think I'm gonna like this girl..."

So, I walked through the sewers with Jack, The Wanderer. Seeing that body still shook me up but I needed to know the truth, and maybe even stop what was happening. He told me about the Cybermen, about how they were cyborgs who'd relinquished their emotions and humanity in order to 'upgrade' themselves. Of course I just considered it a cruel existence. I couldn't imagine what it was like for them to be trapped in those cold, metal shells.

"So, where did that Cyberman come from?" she asked.

"From another world," said Jack. "I am not 100 percent sure if they are from Mondos or an alternate world altogether."

"Another world? Seriously?" she asked. He looked at her with a raise eyebrow. "Oh, you are serious. So, what about the alternate world thing?"

"Well, my dad encountered a group of Cyberman built by a megalomaniac trying to take over the world" Jack told her. "My dad defeated them all but I guess one of them ended up falling into a rift in time and space before ending up here in your city. Now it's trying to build an army out of the people it kidnapped, though I could be wrong."

"And it was going to add me," Hikaru finished looking paled.

"Well, thank your lucky stars I came in time," said Jack. They turned a corner and stopped. Jack put a finger to his lips to shush her and peered over to check. It was the Cyberman from last night and sitting in a cage were the missing people. There was also what appeared to be a metal table with shackles and there was also a table nearby with tools and Cyberman components. "So, that's what it's been doing. It's been converting people manually. No wonder it failed."

"So, what's the plan?" Hikaru asked.

The Cyberman shackled the girl onto the conversion table and picked up its tools. "Soon, you will be like me. You will be upgraded." She screamed as the tools came close

"Excuse me." This cause the cyberman to stop before turning it head to regard Jack who was regarding him from a distance.

"I notice that you are busy, but do you have time to ask some questions?" Jack asked.

"You are an intruder!" the Cyberman said as it dropped its tools and advanced on Jack. But then it recoiled as it hit an invisible barrier.

Jack tapped his watch. "Force field generator. Now, care to tell me what you're doing?"

"The Cybermen will be supreme. I will build an army."

"Oh yeah? How is it going?" Jack asked. "Let me guess. You've been failing, haven't you?"

"I do not have proper tools, but soon the process will be perfected," the Cyberman reasoned.

"And by then how many would you have killed? 5? 10? 15? Then whenever you fail you just dump them into the sewer," Jack said in disgust. "I want you to let them go."

"That is not possible. The Cybermen must be supreme. They must be upgraded."

As Jack was speaking with the Cyberman, Hikaru snuck over to the cage. The prisoners saw her and she put her finger to her lips to shush them. She then pulled out Jack's Sonic Screwdriver and pointed it at the lock, holding the button down to undo it.

The Cyberman heard the Sonic Screwdriver and spun around to see Hikaru freeing the prisoners. "You will be deleted."

"Not on my watch," said Jack as he grabbed the Cyberman's arm. However, it tossed him down to the ground before advancing on Hikaru who was freeing the girl on the table. "Hikaru, run!"

The bonds came undone and Hikaru helped the girl off as the Cyberman came closer towards her, hand outstretched.

"HI-YAH!" Suddenly, Yusaku came out of nowhere and used a flying kick that knocked the Cyberman into the river of sewage.

"Hikaru-chan, are you OK?" Yusaku asked.

"Yusaku, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I followed you," he said. He then glared at Jack, "And you! Why did you bring her into this dangerous place!"

"She insisted," Jack said as he rubbed his head. Hikaru went to him and returned his Sonic Screwdriver. "Thanks."

The Cyberman burst out from the river of sewage. It had lights coming out from under its feet.

"So, you can fly," admired Jack. "Nice touch."

"Delete," the Cyberman pointed at Jack and fired a laser from its finger. Jack grabbed Hikaru and Yusaku and held them close as the force field prevented the laser from hitting them.

"OK, now it's time we run!" shouted Jack as he pressed a button down on his Sonic Screwdriver. A wheezing sound was heard and suddenly a red telephone box began to materialize around Hikaru, Jack and Yusaku. The lasers still fired on the box.

Inside the box, Yusaku and Hikaru gaped at the big room with blue paneled walls. In the centre of the room was a metal, mushroom-shaped console covered in screens, buttons, dials, knobs and levers. A glass pillar was set in the middle of the console, reaching up towards the high ceiling. Jack was at the console, looking at the Cyberman that was still shooting at them. "OK, it's time we finished this." He pressed several buttons and pulled a lever. "Sayonara, Cyber!"

The telephone box was still being fired upon when electricity began arching all around it. The electricity then shot towards the Cyberman like a lightning bolt and it exploded upon impact, metal pieces falling into the sewage.

"And that is that!" said Jack as he clapped his hands together. Hikaru and Yusaku were still gawking. "Oh, speechless? I get that a lot."

Hikaru ran up to him and asked, "What is this place?"

"Oh, it's my ship," said Jack. "Speaking of which, it's time I took you both out of here."

Master was locking up ABCB when he heard a wheezing noise. Looking, his eyes widened as a red telephone box began to wink in and out of existence for a few seconds before finally materializing. The door swung open and he saw Hikaru step out with Yusaku, the boy looking quite shocked.

"We were in the sewers! How did we get up here!" he babbled, eye widen in shock. He then looked at the telephone box. "How…?"

"Bigger on the inside," said Jack, rapping his knuckles against the doorway. "Oh, hello, Master."

"Hikaru-chan, Yusaku-kun, what's going on?" Master asked.

She smiled and said, "We solved the mystery of the missing people."

(Linebreak)

Jack disappeared after that with his red telephone box and I never saw him again. I still take walk in that park where we met, hoping to see him again. I go to school, go work at the ABCB, and then practice my dancing for the next audition. However, my mind was on other things. I still couldn't stop thinking about Jack.

Then two months later after I last saw him…he came back.

(Linebreak)

Hikaru walked out of school. The adventure she had over two months ago was now just a memory. It was like a dream, an impossible dream. Who would believe in such a story if she told them? The missing people all reported to the police who concluded that it was some kind of costumed psycho and the people who'd been kidnapped decided that it made more sense than a robot wanting to turn people into other robots.

As she reached the gate and turned to the left, her eyes widened as she saw a familiar, red phone box. She ran towards it and stood in front of it. "Jack…?" she asked and she knocked on the door. It swung open and there he was, smiling at her.

"Hello, Hikaru," he smiled. She glared at him.

"You didn't say goodbye." Obviously, she was upset.

"I couldn't," he told her. "I hate saying goodbye."

"Why did you leave?"

"I told you. I'm a wanderer. I never stay in the same place for very long," he told her.

"Why did you come back?" she asked.

"I came back because…" He paused. "Today's the start of your summer vacation, right?"

"Right," she said. "It's the last day of school before vacation starts."

He grinned, "Well now, how about I take you for a vacation right here in my TARDIS."

"TARDIS?"

"It's the name of this vessel, the Time And Relative Dimensions In Space AKA TARDIS," he clarified. "It's a time-space machine. You can go anywhere you want to go, past, present or future. And it doesn't have to be on Earth."

"But…why me?" she asked. "I'm nothing special."

"Two months ago you showed me how brilliant you were down in those sewers," he said to her. "I was impressed. Even when it was scary you still put on a brave face. You and Yusaku did. By the way, where is he?"

"He's practicing his Karate in the school gym," she said.

"Well, I can't be here long. So, yes or no?" he asked.

Hikaru thought about his offer. Should she go with this strange, impossible man? They did have quite the adventure and as scary as it had been it had also been exciting. She looked at his hand and put hers in his.

Yusaku stepped out of the school gate in his karate gi at that very moment to see Hikaru standing in front of the red box from that day. "Hikaru-chan!" He also saw that man pulling her into the big red box. "Hikaru-chan, wait!" He ran to it as the door slammed shut. As he was about to reach it, it vanished from sight before he fell flat on the ground. He cried out at empty air, "HIKARU-CHAN!"

And so that's how I ended up traveling with The Wanderer. How did I fall in love with this strange man, you ask? Well, that's a story for another day.

Kamen Rider Chrome: The characters of Hikaru and Yusaku are from the anime/manga series Kimagure Orange Road. For more info, look up that title. As for Jack Smith, he's a character inspired from Doctor Who and is a creation of Shadow Element 13. I just thought to write this thing just to see where it can go. It's all about adventure. Also, it seemed like a fun idea and it wouldn't leave my head. Well, if this can be a series, I hope it does, it'll be a fun read. Now, hope you read and review as well.

Snake Screamer: Greeting Readers, the name is Snake Screamer, and I am adopting this story from the PREVIEWZ. FULL CREDIT GOES TO KAMEN RIDER CHROME WHO WROTE THIS CHAP AND SHADOW WHO MADE THE CHARACTER JACK SMITH!