Chapter One



It was a clear Friday evening when eighteen year-old Sharon arrived at the Food Court entrance of the mall. She was suppose to meet her boyfriend, Brandon, for a quick dinner and then maybe a movie. She looked around and saw practically her entire school, except for Brandon, so she decided to sit down and wait. After a few minutes she finally spotted his six foot frame in his purple Bull's-eye Inc. shirt, walking towards the Food Court.

"Hey Brandon, over here," Sharon yelled, waving at him. Brandon turned his head, spotting Sharon at one of the tables. He waved back, walking over to her.

"You're late," she declared when he got there.

Brandon gave her a peck on the cheek. "Sorry, we had a big rush at the end of my shift and I had to stay a little longer." He sat down at the table. "So, did you get something to eat?"

"No, I thought I'd let you treat me this time," she replied sweetly, her light brown eyes twinkling.

"I'm honored," he mumbled playfully. "Well, what do you want?"

"Hmm, I think I'm in the mood for a chicken salad from Chicken Hut."

"Alright, be back in a few." She watched him walk away and noticed the line that he was walking to. "With a line like that I'll be lucky if he comes back in thirty minutes," she mumbled.

"Hey, Sharon. Still sitting here waiting for Brandon to get off from work?" Sharon looked up and saw her friend, Trisha, standing there.

"Hi, Trish. He's off now. I'm just waiting for him to get our food," she replied pointing towards the restaurant.

Trisha cringed when she saw the line. "That's a long line. When did he leave?"

"Just a few minutes ago."

"You're going to be here for a long time."

"Don't I know it."

"Well I wish I could stay and keep you company, but I have to go home and babysit for my mom."

"That's okay, Trish. Hopefully he won't take too long. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Alright then, see you later, Sharon."

Sharon decided she might as well study for her anatomy test while she waited. She was somewhere between the fibula and phalanges when she heard a strange voice in her head.

"Sharon, Sharon I need you." Startled by what it said, she looked around the food court to see if Brandon was back with the food, but when she turned around she saw that he was still in line. "Okay that was freaky," she muttered still looking around. "Maybe I'm just hungry or I'm studying too hard." She dismissed it as such. She noticed Brandon coming towards her with the food. "Finally now I can chow down."

As she was clearing the table, the voice came again. "Sharon, Sharon come to me. I need you, Sharon." Suddenly she began to feel strange and stopped what she was doing. By then Brandon had returned with the food.

"Okay let's see. That's one chicken salad for you and one deluxe chicken combo for me," he said as he placed the items on the table. "You didn't tell me what you wanted to drink, so I got you a Sprite. I hope that's alright." When she didn't answer he looked up at her and saw a distant look in her eyes. "Sharon, you alright?" Her response was getting up from the table and walking towards the exit. "Hey Sharon, where are you going," he asked puzzled as he went after her. "I know it took awhile to get the food, but it wasn't my fault." Sharon kept walking as if she didn't hear a word he said. Brandon caught up with her and grabbed her arm pulling her back. "Sharon, what's gotten into you? Why are you acting like this?" She seemed to be looking past him when she said one thing: "I must go to him."

Brandon was taken aback by her comment and his grip on her arm loosened. She pulled away from him and walked out of the door. He soon recovered from his confusion and realized where she went. 'I can't let her walk out there in her condition,' he thought, 'and who was she talking about.' This time when he reached her, he made sure she wouldn't get away. He took hold of both her arms and made her face him. "Sharon, look at me!" She still had that vacant look in her eyes. "Come on, Sharon," he said shaking her a little, "snap out of it!" Brandon started to get worried and couldn't take her strange behavior anymore. He shook her harder. "Sharon, WAKE UP!!" She suddenly blinked a few times and he stopped. "Sharon, are you alright?"

"Brandon " she quietly said a bit dazed. Then her knees buckled under her and she began to fall. Brandon caught her before she hit the ground. "Sharon, what's wrong?"

She raised a hand to her head. "I...I guess I'm just a little lightheaded." She looked around realizing where they were. "What are we doing outside?"

Now Brandon was really baffled. "Don't you remember coming out here?"

"No. Actually the last I remember was moving my stuff off the table."

"That's strange. When I got to the table, you were acting kind of weird like you were sleepwalking or something."

Sharon was about to respond when she heard that voice again, but this time it was out in the open. "Come to me, Sharon. I need you."

"What was that," Brandon asked looking around.

"You heard that, too?"

"Yeah," he replied slowly looking up at the sky. "You'd better stay back in case something happens." Just then the sky started to turn until a massive hole appeared. Brandon backed up. "Man this can't be good."

"You will come now," the voice cried. Then the wind picked up in speed and began to suck up everything in its path. "Sharon, grab hold of to me and don't let go." Sharon clung to Brandon for dear life. He was able to get them to a railing before the wind got any stronger. Soon it became harder and harder to hold onto the rail, but Brandon was determined not to let go even though the muscles in his arms begged him to. By then their feet had completely left the ground.

"Brandon, I'm scared."

"Just...don't...let...go...of...me," he said gritting his teeth.

All of a sudden a sharp piece of metal flew past Brandon slicing through his left arm. He cried out in pain and lost his grip with that hand. Now it was nearly impossible to hold on. To make matters worse the wind grew even stronger and Brandon's hand began to slip off. "Can't...hold...on...much...longer." His hand slipped free and they went hurdling towards the hole; their screams being drowned out by the wind. The instant they entered the hole it disappeared and everything returned to normal as if nothing happened.

The next thing Brandon and Sharon knew, they were falling through a bright sunny sky towards a tree. Brandon noticed that Sharon had passed out, so he had to make sure he shielded her from the fall as much as possible. 'At least one of us will survive,' he thought as he twisted around to put himself at the bottom before they hit the tree. They broke through several branches until they landed on the ground. Then everything went black.

*****

"Master Kyro, sir, I've come to report that the transfer is complete, but there is a problem, sir."

Kyro looked down at his head servant. "Well, Kento, what is it," he asked impatiently.

Kento stood there nervously. He hated to be the bearer of bad news, especially where the master was concerned. "Well, sir, it seems that the subject has not reached her destination point."

"What do you mean she hasn't reached the destination point," he asked angrily.

Kento swallowed hard. "There appears to have been some sort of interference and we had to use more power. We barely had enough left to bring her to this dimension, sir."

"Where is she," Kyro roared his deep brown eyes blazing.

"We...we are not sure, sir, but we are working very hard to find her." Just then another servant came in. He scuffled over to Kento and whispered something in his ear. "They have found her, sir," he reported when the servant left, "but she is not alone."

"Nani?!"

"Hai, sir, she is with is with a human young man. He seems to be the cause of the interference."

Kyro was very upset when he heard this. He walked up to his servant and picked him up by the neck. "I don't care what it takes, I want her brought to me now! Understand?"

"H-h-hai, s-sir," Kento chocked out.

Kyro threw him down. "Good. Now get out of my sight."

"Hai, sir. Right away, sir," the scared servant replied scurrying out of the room.

Kyro walked to one of the huge windows and stared out into space. 'I have come too far to be fouled up by a mere human,' he thought rubbing his bionic arm. 'I can't let her get away. She is the key to my ultimate revenge.'

*****

Brandon woke up groggily to see that he was outside looking up at a tree. "What happened," he groaned. "Where am I?" he tried to get up and realized there was something weighing him down. He looked down and saw Sharon sprawled out on top of him. At first he was puzzled as to how she had gotten there, then his senses kicked in and he remembered what happened. He looked back up into the tree and saw quite a few broken branches. "How did we survive that?"

"Survive what," Brandon heard Sharon mumble. She was waking up. She looked at Brandon and he pointed up towards the tree.

"That."

Sharon looked up and saw the damage done to the tree. She looked back down at Brandon and realized that he took most of the hits. She quickly got off of him to check if he was alright. "Are you hurt? Is anything broken?"

"I don't think so." He slowly tried to get up, but crumbled back down when he put pressure on his left arm. "Then again I could be wrong," he moaned. Sharon looked at his arm and saw the huge cut from earlier. "My supervisor isn't going to be happy when he sees my shirt," Brandon said smiling weakly.

Sharon quickly took off the bandanna she was wearing. "We've got to stop the bleeding before it gets worse." she wrapped it around his arm and tied it. "Is it too tight?"

"No it's fine." He slowly got up, being careful not to put too much pressure on his arm. "Where are we?"

Sharon looked around. "I don't know. I really wish I knew what was going..." her voice trailed off when she saw the look on her boyfriend's face. "What is it?"

"I thought I heard something," Brandon replied looking around cautiously. Just then they heard the bushes rustling on both sides of them.

Sharon moved closer to Brandon. "What was that?"

"I don't know, but whatever it is has friends."

Suddenly four strange looking creatures emerged from the bushes. One of them was Kento. "We have come for you, Shyra," he said flatly.

"What?! Who's Shyra," Brandon asked nervously.

Kento ignored him. "My master wishes to see you now." He walked towards them reaching for Sharon. Brandon backed up protecting her. "I don't know who you are or where you came from, but you're not taking her with you. I told you the person you want ain't here."

"No one keeps Master Kyro from getting what he wants especially a mere human."

"I told you we don't know what you're talking about," Brandon shot back. Then to Sharon he whispered, "When I tell you to, I want you to run as fast as you can and don't look back."

Sharon looked into his deep blue eyes, terrified. "Are you crazy?! I can't leave you here. You're too hurt to take them on by yourself."

"Don't worry I'll be right behind you."

Kento was becoming irritated with the two teenagers. "I've had enough of this foolishness. Aoi. Akai. Murasaki. Get her!" The other three creatures advanced on the couple.

"Run," Brandon yelled and the chase was on. Sharon and Brandon ran as fast as their legs would carry them. They didn't know where they were going nor did they care. All that was on their minds was getting away from those creatures. Brandon stole a glance behind him and saw the blue and red creatures gaining on them. 'Wait a minute,' he thought. 'Where's the purple one?' He soon got his answer the hard way. When he turned back around, he was met with a foot connecting with his face. The force of the blow sent him flying back a few feet. He groaned as he laid there trying to shake off the fuzziness.

Before he could get up, his attacker came up to him and picked him up by the collar. The other two creatures ran by after Sharon. The purple creature brought Brandon up to his face. "I'm going to enjoy killing you," it whispered evilly.

"Well, I'm not going down without a fight," Brandon yelled back. He kicked out with both his feet, hitting the alien in the gut causing it to loose its grip on him.

"You're going to regret you did that, human."

*****

Sharon slowed down when she heard Brandon hit the ground. She came to a complete stop and turned around. She saw him on the ground struggling to sit up and then the purple creature reaching down to pick him up. She started to go back to help, when the other two jumped from behind them and came after her. She quickly turned around and kept running. 'What's going on,' she thought. 'How did we get here and why are these strange things chasing me?' Her thoughts were interrupted when the ground near her left foot exploded. She screamed, but kept on running. 'Now they're shooting at me.'

"Help," she cried, running faster than before. "Somebody help me!"

*****

Brandon was still fighting when he heard Sharon's cries for help. He staggered back a few steps from the blow he just received. He reached up and wipe the blood from his mouth. He felt like he was on the verge of passing out, but he knew he couldn't give up yet; not if he wanted to help Sharon.

"Have you had enough, human," the alien asked, smirking.

"Not a chance," Brandon replied. "Let's finish this."

"Foolish boy. No one has been able to survive against Murasaki." He threw a punch, but Brandon was ready. Brandon dodged the blow, caught Murasaki's arm, and used the alien's momentum to fling it into a nearby tree. He watched as his attacker slid to the ground unconscious. He sighed in relief.

"I always was considered an oddball," Brandon said, breathing heavily. "Now I've got to help Sharon." He started off in that direction, but didn't get far. Before he was able to take another step, he felt a huge wave of electricity flow through his body. He screamed out from the burning pain as his body jerked from the pulsating energy. After what felt like an eternity, the pain finally stopped and Brandon collapsed to the ground unconscious.

Kento came from behind a tree and walked over to Brandon's body. He watched the body twitch every once on awhile. "Now you know the consequences of those who stand in the way of Master Kyro's plans," he said and disappeared, leaving Brandon for dead.