Mitchell sat on his couch, absently playing Grand Theft Auto. "Dude, I'm bored…" Mitchell said. Johnathen sat in a chair to the side of the couch and looked over at him sleepily. "Yeah." He replied. "So… let's do something." Mitchell said. "Like what man?" Johnathen said with a yawn. "Well hell I dunno, I mean come on, people are out there right now…" A cheesy inspirational song begins to play as Mitchell paused the game and stood up on the couch. "They are out there right now, skydiving, racing, adventuring… bowling." He shouted ecstatically at the ceiling. "Bowling?" Johnathen said with a raised eyebrow. "Hey, people bowl all the time." Mitchell said defensively. "Yeah yeah, I'm jus' sayin' that it didn't go with the other stuff you said." "Oh shut up, you get the point!" Just then a voice yelled up from downstairs. "Hey Mitch, you got a package… heh… package…" Mitchell hopped down off of the couch and headed downstairs. "Hey so are we doing something?" Johnathen asked him. Mitchell waved a hand as he walked downstairs. "Nah, all that stuff takes way to much effort." A few minutes later he came back up with a small box. "What's up with the box?" Johnathen asked. "Dunno…" Mitchell said plopping down onto the couch. He tore open the packaging and pulled out a tiny ornate box. "Looks like some kinda' mystical ring box." Mitchell said holding it up. There was a small inscription on the lid that read: "Whatever your heart most desires." Johnathen raised an eye brow and mumbled to himself. "Well here he goes…" "Ooooo… I want a jetpack… no a giant Mountain Dew… Oh! A Pony!" Mitchell said with his mind racing. "You dumbass, just open it." "Fine… stupid…" Mitchell opened the box, and a blinding white light engulfed them both.
The light was so bright that they couldn't open their eyes. "What the hell is going on?" said Mitchell. "How should I know, but I've got a good feeling…" replied Johnathen. Then the light started to strobe as it dimmed down. They opened their eyes and waited for the remaining glowing spots in their vision to go away. "Dude where are we?" said Johnathen rubbing his head. "Man… that sucked…" replied Mitchell wearily. When the spots in their vision cleared they could see each other. "Woah!" they both said in unison. "What the fuck are you?" They both said again at the same time. They looked like 3d shadows, but they looked exactly the same as each other. "Dude you look like a locked character in a fighting game." says Mitchell. "Dammit, I was just gonna' say that." Johnathen said. They looked around their surroundings and it was pretty obvious that they where in some big city. The city seemed pretty empty, which was odd because it looked a lot like Tokyo. "Is this what I think it is?" asked Johnathen. "I think this is Tokyo… but why do we look like this?" Mitchell said looked down at his hands. They noticed a building behind them that had a sign that read: "Welcome center for new arrivals." "I guess this is where we should go…" "Wait, wait, wait. This seems familiar but I can't seem to remember…" Mitchell said looking around. "Well what else is new? Come on let's go in inside and figure out what is going on." Johnathen as he walked into the building. Mitchell followed in seconds later. There was a desk at the far end of the room, but no one was there. They approached it and as they did they could hear something moving behind it. Then a woman popped up, startling them both. "Hi." She said simply.
The woman was a glaring example of something they had missed before. Everything around them was strange, almost as if they where inside of a living animation. It was hard to tell at first, everything was so intricately detailed that at first glance it seemed normal. The woman however was definitely not. Her body seemed to be surrounded in a thin layer of black that didn't show up when you looked directly at it, giving her a black outline. It was a strange kind of animation, like a far more detailed anime than what seemed possible. "Dude… that's…" Mitchell started to say in amazement. "Hello! My name is Washu! But you can call me little Washu!" (from Tenchi series.) The two just stood there with their mouths open. "I'm here to help you get started on your journey!" She said cheerily. "Uh… Journey?" Johnathen said. "Of course, you are here for a reason. For every force, there is an equal and opposite force. Something has been unbalanced here, so you two where brought in to even it out. Why do you think every badguy has a hero to deal with and vise-versa?" She said with a matter of fact tone. "Oh" Was all either of them could manage to say. "Honestly, why do you think you've been brought to Neo Tokyo?" "Neo Tokyo?" Mitchell said. "Look kid, just go through that door." "Uh… ok" Still slightly stunned, the two wandered into a set of steel double doors on the far wall.
The doors opened automatically, revealing two platforms in the middle of the room. The two of them just stood there looking around the room before they walked in. "Walk on in and step onto the platform." said Washu from the desk. "Well ok… if you say so…" Johnathen said. They walked into the room and approached the platforms with caution. They stepped onto the platforms and waited for whatever was going to happen. Then glass came up from under them, it sealed up against the ceiling with a hiss, trapping them in tubes. Then the tanks started to quickly fill with a thick watery liquid. "Ah! What the fuck is going on?! I want out!" yelled Mitchell as he banged his fists on the inside of the glass. The steel doors slammed shut a second later. Mitchell sand Johnathen both started banging on the glass and yelling, trying their hardest to break through. But the glass seemed more like a rubbery plastic, and absorbed all of their force. The tanks completely filled, and they where trying to hold their breath for as long as they could. In the end they gave up, and the water rushed into their lungs. But when the water filled their lungs it felt better than holding their breath, they where breathing in the liquid. Then holographic screens seemed to pop up out of nowhere and began circling the two of them. The screens displayed what seemed to be endless displays of clothing, hair, and every accessory that could be imagined. The screens where going through everything in the database, but it seemed to be selecting what their minds wanted. The water in the tanks began to glow and cloud up seconds later.
Steam began to shoot out from vents around the tanks, filling the room as the glass tubes slid up into the ceiling. Two figures stood among the thick steam, after a few seconds they became visible. They where astonished at what they saw. "Holy shit!" Mitchell exclaimed. They where now in the same strange style of animation that Washu had been in. Johnathen ran a hand through his spiky red hair, it seemed to defy gravity with ease. He now wore all black, jeans and boots with a simple t-shirt and a black over shirt with red flame pattern at the bottom. Mitchell wore black sneakers with baggy khaki shorts and a dark red t-shirt. The long bangs of his brown hair hung down out of the black baseball hat he wore low over his eyes. "This is awesome!" Mitchell said with a grin. Johnathen stared down at his hands and simply said. "Sweet." A tiny view screen popped up out of thin air and Washu's face appeared on it. "Ok gentlemen, please continue on through the door to your right." A door materialized on the far wall a second later. "Oh, and one more thing, each of you have the ability to learn powers." "Huh? What are you talking about? Where do we get these powers?" Mitchell said raising his hat and scratching his head. "Well Neo Tokyo is a Mecca of commerce, and an uber Anime melting pot. Everywhere you go you'll be able to see shops and schools for learning and buying things all over the place." And with that the two exited the door and stepped out into the massive city. Ahead of them they could see a huge statue of the founder of the great city, Astro Boy. In the distance they could see a huge ware house that was covered in strobing lights and blared techno music. They saw many buildings everywhere, The Battousai school of Tyu Hikaraki Ysuno Mukalaki Hirameki, Vash's shooting range, and Bato's survival training just to name a few.
"Maybe we should check out some of those schools Washu was talking about. What do you think Mitch?" Said Johnathen. He turned around to see Mitchell, but he was gone. Johnathen saw him running down the road towards the techno blaring warehouse. "Hey! Where are you going?! The schools are this way!" Johnathen yelled after him. "No… time… for… school... must… go… to… rave!" Mitchell yelled back over his shoulder as he ran. "Hey wait for me dammit!" said Johnathen as he ran off after him.