Well, with the lack of production coming out of my other stories, I decided to put some time into a fic that takes only a few days to plan and write out. Out of that vision comes this story. This is set after the events of Für de Libre, unless someone is willing to translate the light novels for me. This is also my first foray into first-person point of views, so this has the added benefit of challenging my writing abilities. Enough talking, so enjoy!

Kämpfer: Der Amerikanische Abenteuer

Prologue: What Once was a Normal Day…

"I'm feeling good today. I'll reward you with something even more amazing."

"Re…reward…"

"Kaede-sama…I want to get rewarded too…"

"Me too! Me too!"

"I want…too…"

"Of course…you don't have to rush..." 'Natsuru-san, I will never give up. Some day for sure, I will get you…'

Icy green eyes glared out of the computer screen, before the video faded to black and ended. The screen immediately reloaded to a different page. This time, it began playing Cristina Vee's Tomare! dub. Yes, it had nothing to do with the last clip. Haruhi Suzumiya doesn't have to fight against the aliens, time travelers, and espers that she conjures up from her imagination. I don't really care. It's my playlist; I should be able to run it as I see fit.

This world doesn't have any magic, nor does it have any otherworldly beings. There are no crazy fights, unless you want to go to the inhospitable plains of the Middle East or Africa. Kids go to school, adults go to work, politicians throw mud, and the military fights wars. This is just a normal, boring, interesting world, much like the one you're in right now.

Me? I'm not that special, unless you count playing in the band or being a senior in high school into that classification. With an average height of six feet, a brown, moderate length haircut, and a thin, athletic build, blending into the crowd is one of my specialties. Glasses only help to further that point. How many jocks or flirts do you know that wear glasses? Even my name is plain: Gregory Richards.

At the present time, I'm at my school, in the open courtyard at the center of the teaching center. You may have heard of it, as Paladin Central High School was mentioned briefly in a famous novel or something. It was a lovely late summer day. There was not a cloud in the sky, the temperature was perfect, and a cool, gentle breeze meandered throughout the trees in the courtyard. The goldenrod collared shirt and khaki slacks that I was wearing were all that I needed to wear.

"What a way to leave people hanging on the ending. Unless we see a translated visual novel, Fanfiction's going to have to supply the series endings." No, this wasn't the first time I watched Kämpfer, so I already knew that this was the predetermined ending to this delightful, albeit sketchy, series. It's just that the more I thought about it, the more they left untie ends, much like Familiar of Zero and Code: LYOKO did before they were given new leases on life. Hopefully, those two live up to their predecessors. Anyway, while Vee began working on the song's refrain for the first time, I pulled up another window, and began looking up the latest baseball news as the regular season winded down towards the last day…Let's see…Braves and Sox lose again…already saw Montero's moonshot…Cardinals are talking about extending Berkman…oh! Already 2:08! I quickly powered down my laptop, packed up, and left the courtyard.

Before I continue, I must state that there is an anomaly into my plainness. I seem to have a natural tendency to attract friends. I don't know why or how, but it just happens. Maybe it's because I don't put on a façade that appeals to everyone, but a natural and helpful friendliness that appeals to the like-minded. Or it could be that I tend to blow past the barriers of being smart or dumb, athletic or musical, and pretty or plain when I choose the people that I hang out with. Meh, can't complain when the results work out to your benefit, right?

Anyhow, I make the last turn down the end of the hallway, and entered my destination: the music room. Opening one of the room's twin doors, it was easy to see that it was a much larger expanse compared to the other classrooms, since the total area of the room was roughly four times the size of a standard classroom. Chairs and music stands were lined up in the far end of the room, with instruments packed in a closet on the right side of the room. I headed over to my seat, for my instrument was already there. It was only second period, so I had no worries that there would be somebody who came in and completely trashed my trombone while I was gone. The first class in this room is during third period, and anything before that is an independent study for my fellow musicianists, who I know for a fact wouldn't lay a misguided finger on my instrument. Speaking of them, an entire section of them were awaiting my arrival. They were already practicing their parts on their own, producing a loose, eclectic mix of notes that were right, wrong, and just plain ugly.

"Good morning, saxophones!" I say, as I announced my arrival. The random playing quickly stopped, and all of their heads turned back to face me. A variety of greetings formed out of their promising young mouths, as I placed my bags by my seat and began to set up my trombone. I say promising very loosely, however. All of them were either sophomores or freshmen, so there is no real head player yet. In fact, the reason why we were all here was because their misplaying was threatening the productivity of one of our pieces.

I walked up to the front of the group of chairs, in order to command the little group that was assembled before me. "Alright, I want to hear Nightmare before Christmas, from measure 10." The saxophonists rummaged through their music, until they find their piece. Raising my right hand, I prepared to count out the beats. "One, two, three, four!" The piece began, with the saxophones going into their initial solo. At first, everything goes on well. Vertical alignment is nearly spot on, and the speed is right a tempo. Then, we came up to the bane of their existence, a long stretch of eighth notes followed by eighth rests. When properly played, it sounds like "Da-(rest)-da-(rest)-da-(rest)-da-(rest)…" and so on. This was done fine for the first two measures, but once there was a note change in measure three, two saxophones suddenly changed to "(rest)-da-(rest)-da-(rest)-ds-(rest)-da…" Within a few measures, most of the other saxophones joined in with these two players, ruining the piece.

"Woah! Hold it!" I cried, waiving my hands in front of my body. Within a few measures, the playing came to a gradual stop. "You guys changed where the offbeat is! We're never going to be able to push any further with this piece until this section gets cleaned up. You guys want me to demonstrate the section again?" A lot of nods and voices of agreement are voiced. I picked up my trombone, counted out the beats to the song, and played my part. I honestly have no clue how to transpose, mind you, but thanks to having a mirrored part, I play at the exact same beats as the saxes. The section I was doing was about ten measures long, give or take, but it was played as it was intended to. As they say, there are two ways of doing things: the Great Western way, or the wrong way. I'm Great Western, and – wait, no I'm not…

"Remember, we repeat this figure three times in the song," I said once I finished, "so don't think any one of you has the right to slouch on this. So, let's get one of you guys to pull this off for the rest of them. My trombone can only do so much imitation, after all. Hmmm…let's see…Kate!"

"Yes!" a peppy, energetic voice popped out from the girl on the far right, holding a black and silver sax. That was Caitlin McGowan, one of the few saxophonists who are on the verge from making the jump from promising to reality. "Kate" as everyone calls her, is a peppy sophomore that was a few inches shorter than me. She had light blue eyes and wavy black shoulder-length hair that was tied up into a ponytail. Aside from music, her favorite interest was Japanese culture. Many times the two of us discuss the latest chapters of our favorite manga and anime series, even though we have different interests (she's into adventure and game genres, while I focus on the harem, ecchi, and comedy releases). Like all girls in the school, she wore a two-tone green plaid skirt instead of slacks.

"Start at the beginning to the eighth-note section. One-two-three-four!" Kate starts the dreaded pitfall, yet seems to evade the temptation to have a whole rest. The piece is moving smoothly, and the end is in sight, when…

"…da-(rest)-da-(rest)-da-(rest)-(rest)-da!" It took a second for Kate to realize her mistake. "Dammit!"

"No worries!" I assure her, as I take a seat. "We'll just go over this part once more, only a bit slower. There's no sense trying to rush it, so we'll try it a few more times, then we'll call it a day, and break for a quick snack before third. How's that sound?"

"Eh…okay!" Kate replies.

"Excellent!" I got up, and faced the saxophone ensemble once more. "Once again, from ten, but concentrate on that pitfall. One-two-three-four!"

"Urgh…" I moaned. "Who would think that it would take so long to get one part down…?" It was now fourth period, and I'm back at the courtyard. This time, however, I had food that was long since eaten, I was sitting down at a table with some of my friends, and my head is on the table, as I try to get a bit of peace and quiet in my school life. Stupid saxes…

"Do they even have part of the song down?" That was asked by Kasey Ferraro, the head of the marching band's color guard section. A senior, Kasey had a full rosy face, jade green eyes, and dirty blonde hair that fell to her chest. Speaking of chest, she's developed enough to pass the Hooters employment test – not that she wants to work there. She's also wearing sneakers, as she sustained a crippling Achilles injury while playing soccer freshmen year. Since she hadn't been that good, she deemed that surgery wasn't. However, the injury never healed properly, so dress shoes are now uncomfortable for her to wear.

"We didn't get much further than a few measures," I reply. "Kate and a few of the others have it just about down pat, but the rest of them can't change the notes without moving the note placement….I said that we would be done with it by today…but I'm guess I'm oh for one on predictions today."

"Aw, man…I love Nightmare before Christmas! I hope you guys can get that down in time!" That would be Brittney Sutton, the shorter, feistier, sophomore equivalent of Kasey. By that, I mean that she participated in color guard, had slightly rosy cheeks, and had a large chest size, which was slightly larger than Kasey's. The fact that the blue-eyed Brittney also has an excellently-proportioned figure leads me to the independent conclusion that Brittney has one of, if not the, best body in the entire sophomore grade. In addition, she has long, golden hair that falls to her rear, which is a plus in my books. While she's the sexiest girl to my knowledge (which could only get better as she continues to grow), she's not my biggest crush. I'll get to that in a bit.

"Thanks, Britt…" I sighed, finally picking up my head off the table.

"No prob!" she replied, flashing her trademark peace sign. Now, there are a few boys at the table aside from myself, so don't think I'm in a guy's Garden of Eden. There's Miles Depp, the flamboyant star of the drama club; Daniel Calhoun, the band's only drummer who can count beats in a song; and Timothy Sanderson, the best sax after his friend Kate. Miles and Dan, like myself, are seniors; Tim, meanwhile, was a sophomore.

"Have you heard about the new transfer student that's coming in today?" Dan asked. That's odd. Normally, we don't have a formal announcement about new students transferring mid-year. Even stranger that it was only a few weeks into the new school year. I mean, you can't decide where you want to attend high school beforehand? Although I have heard that there was a foreign beauty that was scouting the school as early as last week…

"Not really," Brittney admitted. "I didn't know we had one coming."

"If Dan knows that there's a transfer student here," I noted, "that means that he's either met the person already, which is highly unlikely, or it's a supercute/hot girl."

"Take the latter," Dan answered. "But I heard everything from Miles last period."

"I already had a class with her," Miles stated. "She is so gorgeous, all the way from her physique to her eyes! It's almost as if she came out of a TV show or something!"

"If that was even possible…" Tim stated everyone. "I've heard that she's from somewhere in Japan, which is why she's only come here now." Miles seemed surprised.

"Eh? Japanese? But I thought their hair colors were only black and brown."

"They are," I answered. "Why? Does the new girl have something else?" Miles nodded.

"Carrot orange, almost similar to Misty's."

"From Pokemon?" Brittney asked.

"Yup. Though she has it much longer than Misty's."

"I like how we're talking about this girl," Casey interjected, "yet you haven't told us her name yet, Miles." That would be important.

!BRRING!

Gotta go. Period change, and I forgot my History textbook for next period in my locker. "See you guys later!" I think I hear something starting with a K, but in my haste, I didn't catch the rest of the name. Besides, there was something more important that I had to rush for, and it had nothing to do with the Gilded Age in America.

The courtyard's not a very long walk away from my locker bank. I make a right at the hallway junction, and head straight down towards my locker. The hallway was already crowded, as kids flooded out of the classrooms into the hallway. However, I can already see my painting opening the locker located only a few away from mine. She wasn't particularly standoutish – she's sort of like me, except her grades are through the roof – but it's the fact that everything's of equal proportions. A calm yet independent personality, about my height, blue eyes, waist-length blonde hair in a ponytail…if it wasn't for the facts that she has stated that she doesn't want to be in a relationship until college and that I'm very gun-shy on love, I'd do everything in my modest power to make my girlfriend. Again, it's not because she's drop-dead gorgeous, has the best singing voice, or has the biggest boobs. It's because she's a proven case that love at first sight exists outside of fairy tales.

Whoops, almost forgot her name. Please welcome the introduction of the one and only Alex Preziosi.

"Hi, Alex!" I chirped to her, as I reach good ol' 506, my locker number.

"Hi, Greg," Alex replied. Ah, that voice may not compare to Brittney's or any of the Hollywood stars out there, but it's at the right pitch for my heart. Though just now, it seemed a bit dejected.

"Something bothering you?" I asked. "Don't tell me that Mr. Ramen threw another surprise test on you?" Yes, the AP Physics teacher has the same name as instant Asian noodles. Tell that to him, and he gives you a test meant for the next day. Or so I've heard.

"Yeah, he did." Damn. O for two on predictions today. Maybe the third time will be the charm today. "I think I failed…"

"You? Fail?" I almost chuckled. "I'm not sure it's physically possible to fail. You did fine, Alex, so don't worry. Everything turns out right in the end, remember that." Alex smiled a bit.

"Alright," she said. "But I'll blame you if I take that attitude to my head." She began to laugh. I smile, as I've just cheered the spirits of another troubled soul. Alex shut her locker, and picked up her book bag. "I've got to head to class now."

"Alright. See you later!"

"Bye!" Alex headed off to class. As she hurried down the hallway, I took a long glance at her, as I attained a heavenly bliss. Which was rudely interrupted by the bell. Crap. Hastily shutting my locker, I picked up my bag, and hurried down the hallway, hoping beyond hope that I won't get a detention for tardiness.

Well, turns out that the new student was in my last two classes of the day, sixth and seventh. Sixth, my Pre-Calculus class, gave her a proper Japanese-style introduction. However, sixth also happens to be my 'crash' period. All I heard was a "Kaede" before I conked out, half asleep. I don't even remember what we did during the period. Seventh, Astronomy, had the teacher become a no-show, so a substitute came in, and with no work to do, everyone followed the path of the typical American teenager – we talked amongst each other. Kaede never got an introduction.

Fortunately, in a class filled with mostly semi-delinquents who are only taking this class to have enough credits to graduate, I had Tiffany Arias, who had just about the same levelheadedness as me, to keep my sanity in check. A clarinet player, she was a rare commodity in the band – a junior. Of Hispanic descent, she has a slightly darker complexion, had her black hair tied up into a shoulder-length ponytail, and had chocolate brown eyes. She also had a very athletic body, partly because she was formerly a dancer. There were two curiosities about her. One, she was short – and I mean short. I'm a full head taller that her. Second, she has a very large chest. Even Kasey and Brittney can't hold a candle to her.

Currently, the two of us were going over a recent change to a set on one of our marching band routine. We both have our dot books out, as I fingered through the sets. "So that set is now a fifty-two count instead of a fifty-six, correct?"

"Yes," she nods. Good. So I move sixteen to the right, and twelve back…

"Excuse me." Both of us look up. Kaede is standing before our desks, with a notebook in her hand. I'm a bit surprised, because she had almost no accent. Now that I have a good chance to see her, I'll have to agree with Miles's previous statement. She's at my height, has pretty bluish-green eyes, and has almost the same figure as Brittney. In addition, her long, orange hair fell down below her thighs, with a sea green bow tied near the top. This girl must have been fawned over by all of the guys back in Japan.

"You're the new student, ah…" Right, Tiffany never met her before. Guess I better step in.

"Kaede, right?" Kaede smiled. It's almost like one of Alex's. No, don't get turned on! I'm devoted to Alex already! DO NOT GET TURNED ON!-!

"That's right!"

"Welcome to Palidan Central!" I said. "My name is Greg Richards, and right next to me is Tiffany Arias."

"Nice to meet you," Tiffany says, bowing slightly. Kaede did the same.

"Nice to meet you too. Do you mind if I copy down some of your notes?"

"Of course," I replied. "You've only just arrived from Japan only recently. I wouldn't expect you to know much." Thanks to my handy-dandy notebo – uh, laptop, within a few seconds, the first few weeks of notes appeared. "We've been mainly learning about the properties of light so far. The textbook hasn't been used much, but…" I rummaged through my bag, and took out my Astronomy textbook. "…return this at the end of class. And my e-mail's under my name at Gmail, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask away!" Kaede was surprised by my friendliness and openness.

"Eh? You've only just met me, yet you're giving me all this?"

"Please don't be offended by it," Tiffany urged. "Greg's one of the friendliest people I know, and he loves to help people out whenever he can."

"That's right!" I chirped up. "Whether you are a boy or a girl, smart or dumb, brawny or scrawny, I'll help you pull through even the fires of Hades!" Kaede lost her initial surprise, and began to giggle.

"You sound a lot like one of my friends back in Japan," she said. "Thank you so much!" She turned, and was about to walk away…why?

"Where are you going?" I ask. "Don't you have to copy down my notes?"

"I already memorized the notes on the screen, so I'll just go back to my seat and copy them down." I shook my head.

"That's no good. Come, sit down by us. We don't mind at all!" Kaede seemed hesitant, but she soon grabbed her belongings, and sat down into the empty seat next to us.

"For someone who just came from Japan, you speak very good English," Tiffany noted.

"Thank you," Kaede said kindly. Her face broke out into a slight blush.

"So where did you come from?" I asked. "What was it like?"

"I lived in a community not far from Tokyo," Kaede stated. "It's much more built up than Wayne, but not to the extent of a big city like New York."

"So it's like Paterson or Clifton," Tiffany noted.

"Correct. It was a nice, vibrant town. My parents worked far away, so I lived alone most of the time. Up until last year, I was able to enjoy the nice, calm, life of a normal high school student."

"What happened?" I asked. Kaede's expression suddenly became slightly solemn.

"Last year, there began a series of strange happenings around the school. Classrooms were trashed, shots were heard in the library, fire sprinklers were set off without reason; nobody could find the cause of it. Then, just a few months ago, the building suddenly burst into flames. Fire crews were able to put it out, but the building was already demolished by that point. My parents decided that the area was too dangerous, so they decided to enroll me overseas. The paperwork wasn't completed until last week, so that's why I wasn't able to be with you at opening day." Both of our mouths are agape after hearing her story. Wow. That's just…it sounds like it came out of a fiction novel, except now I do remember that there was a report on an explosion in a Japanese school in June or July. So she went to that school, huh…

"Poor thing…" Tiffany sighed. She seemed to have my mindset as well.

"Hey, if there's anything that we can do to help you, Kaede, please, we'll be glad to help." I'm being serious here when I say that. Being forced to move into unfamiliar surroundings after seeing such an unfortunate event…I hope I never have to experience it. I've read enough manga to see what the possible effects of it could be.

"Thank you…" she said. "You seem like a nice person, Greg."

"Well, I did go through an unexpected friend purge just before I left grammar school," I admit. "Almost none of my friends that I have now were present in grade school." Yeah, I have an unbelievable story as well. It was good enough to be adapted into that great novel, though.

"So we can relate to each other's feelings." Kaede gave another gentle smile. "If it wasn't that you were a guy, I think we could be a great couple."

"Eh?" Tiffany was confused, but I knew instantly what she meant.

"So you swing that way, huh?" Kaede nodded.

"I-Is that a problem?" she asked. I shook my head in disagreement.

"Of course not! I'm not your Jiminy Cricket, after all. I can't decide what your beliefs are, so why should that get in the way of a friendship? I have a few friends that are gay and lesbian already, and they are embraced by the rest of us as if they were straight. Hell, even I entertained the thought of-!" Crap. I forgot that I usually kept my past a secret. Screw me.

"Of what?" Tiffany, I love you and all of your attentiveness, but for once, could you have let my words slide without consequence? "Don't tell me that you almost became gay!" Okay, I better straighten this out before the wrong ears get ahold of this.

"The sexuality issue, yes. But not with whom I like. Back when I was without friends, I purged my sorrows into the deepest and darkest parts of the internet. Thank god I never was found out by anyone until now, since I deeply regret doing all of that. Anyway, while I was in the abyss, I entertained the curious idea on…" As much as I hate saying it…oh well, here goes "…being in the mindset of a girl…" There. I said it. Laugh at me. (Sigh) Tiffany, I didn't mean literally...

"Oh, wow, Greg!" she coughed, nearly giggling. "I'd never strike you as being able to remotely reach that level!" Don't remind me…

"If you saw me back then, you'd understand. Fortunately, I still understood that outside of divine intervention or a lot of money, you can't change one's gender. Glad I did so, since I would have probably gone crazy had I not kept my head on good shoulders."

"But would you still want to?" The two of us looked at Kaede. Didn't I just say that it was impossible?

"What do you mean?"

"If there was another method to become a girl, would you still change?" …Okay…now she's starting to become a little creepy…

"Er, if there was, perhaps. But I started in this body as a guy. It would seem a little strange to me if that was to change, you know?" Kaede nodded. Looks like we can get off this-

"But I see you looking at me like all of the boys from my old school did." Damn. Cute AND observant, to boot. "Since you know I don't like guys, would you change in order to be with me?" It's tempting…but I already have my princess picked out, even if nobody else puts her in that category.

"It is what it is. I'll just roll with the punches, and see who's ready to take me on." Kaede smirked. This wasn't the you're-so-cool-saying-that-answer kind of smirk, but the I've-got-the-ultimate-devious-plan smirk. Though I showed it, the smirk seriously creeped me out, especially with what the previous conversation was about. Hold on. Didn't I see such a smirk recently…Can't remember…

"I see…" Without saying another word, she gets up, and returns to her original seat. Tiffany and I are dumbfounded.

"Weird…" Tiffany notes. I shrug.

"It's not the strangest thing that's happened to us. Remember the beginnings of the Dan Dance?" Looking back, I wish I took that statement back. What was around the corner was way, WAY weirder than anything I've ever been through.

I spent the last period of the day, a free, in the lobby. It was the best way for me to hang out and loosen up after a stressing day of school, especially since many of my senior friends, including Dan, Kasey, and a few others were there as well. For the first time in a long while, I had a normal conversation that had absolutely no mention of pretty (strange) Miss Kaede. When everything was said and done, and the dismissal bell rang, I went back to my locker to get my stuff. Alex was already there, but that wasn't the first thing I noticed.

"Goddammit!" I muttered. My lock was left open, hanging on the door to my locker. That's the third time this month. I swear, one day, I'm going to have all my stuff stolen because of this absentminded self.

"Kate!" Alex's voice alerted me to another presence, that of Kate.

"What's up?" I asked her. Kate pulled out a small book.

"I finished the second volume of Et Cetera that you lent me." Right. I managed to find a small collection of decade-old mangas at a Borders closing sale the other day, and a few Et Cetera volumes were included. I was reading them one day after class, and Kate happened to notice and fall in love with the artwork. Needless to say, I have had a few book leases over the recent weeks.

"So, how did you like them?" I asked, taking the book from her.

"They were very good!" she happily replied. "I'm going to have to go on Mangafox now and read the rest of them!" Looks like I reeled her into another one of my favorite mangas. I removed my lock off of the opening lever, and opened up the locker. "Also, I found this in my locker. It looks like a plush toy that came from a manga or anime, but I've never seen it before." She takes out the aforementioned object, but I was facing my locker, so I can't see what it is. I pressed the button to open the top shelf.

"Is that a plush…gut?" Alex asked, a bit of surprise in her voice. I didn't turn around to see what it was. I didn't need to, for I was staring at almost the same thing that she was holding right in my top shelf. In that moment, everything clicked. The video from the morning, transfer student Kaede and all of her weird statements, the explosion at the Japanese school a few months ago…everything played out in my head as if it was a motion picture, which it should have stayed. In the deepest part of my mind, I could hear a voice saying 'It's all just coincidence. All of this can be explained logically. There is no such thing as aliens fighting on a faraway planet, using our world as their battlefield.'

However, I seriously doubt that Game Freak would let someone get away with making an Entrails Pikachu.

For Your Information…

Title Translation: Fighter: The American Adventure

Since this is straight out of the same planning mode as The Pokemon World Series, you'll see a lot of similarities. The same ficticous Paladin Central High School in Wayne, NJ appears, as do a few characters. However, since a year has passed since that time, everyone's bumped up a grade. Again, name changes ensure the identity protection of those whom I based characters or events on.

References include The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumyia, The Pokemon World Series, Thomas the Tank Engine, Blue's Clues, Pinocchio,and Pokemon.

Well, the ball's rolling! What conclusion did Greg reach by seeing an Entrails doll? Why does his friend have one? And does anyone else have them? All that and more are answered in the first chapter, so stay tuned for next time! Remember to review and support my other fics as well!