Chapter 1

Makoto Mizuhara always longed for a purpose, but he did not expect to find it in another world. His entire life changed on that day. It was June 21st. The day started like any other.

He woke up to the sound of his alarm clock. After turning it off, he began preparing for school. Once he brushed his teeth, Makoto put on the clothes he picked out last night. A black suit, a red tie, and black pants. Makoto has dark brown hair, dark eyes, and a handsome face. At least, all the girls say his face is handsome. It was the last day of school, and since he is Student of the Year, he has been asked to say a few words at the assembly. As he walked to the bus stop, he read over the speech he had prepared. Everything was going well for Makoto; his grades were great, he had plenty of friends, and he was looking forward to spending time with his childhood friend, Nanami, over summer vacation. They planned to take cooking classes together.

However, there was something missing. A goal. For a while now, Makoto has wanted something to work towards. All of his friends had already decided on their dreams. Only he had not. He just could not find something he was passionate about. This truly bothered him. Makoto hoped to solve this issue soon.

Suddenly, he bumped into something and fell backwards.

"My apologizes, young man." The person he bumped into said.

He looked up to see a large man offering him a hand. After he stood up, Makoto studied the man. His skin tone was the color of dark chocolate, his teeth were as white as pearls, and he was bald. He wore a black shirt with the image of the sun embroidered on it, jeans, and his feet were bare. What was most unusual about this man's appearance was his blind left eye.

"Are you alright?" The man asked.

"Yes, sir." Makoto replied.

"Well, then you had better get going." He said. "All you young people have things to do, don't you. After all, you are the future of the world."

"Yes." Makoto said, feeling a little uncomfortable. "Have a nice day."

As the two headed in opposite directions, the man grinned.

"Oh, I'm going to have a lot of nice days, kid." He chuckled.

Meanwhile, Makoto's childhood friend, Nanami, was hurrying to meet up with her at school. She is rather pretty girl. Her hair is light brown and so are her eyes. In her hands, she carried a box lunch she had made for Makoto. As she reached the school building, she spotted him.

"Makoto!" Nanami hollered.

He stopped a second later, turned around and smiled. Nanami loved to see him smile; it gave her a warm feeling. The two of them have been friends ever since he helped her find her way home when she was lost. From that day on, they spent a lot of time together, though they are not boyfriend and girlfriend. Also, since that day, Nanami has felt that Makoto is like a heroic prince that would rescue her if she was ever in danger. However, she has never told him that. It is too embarrassing for her.

"Hello Nanami." Makoto said when Nanami reached him.

"Guess what I got." She replied, poorly hiding the boxed lunch behind her.

"I am hoping it is one of your signature box lunches." Makoto replied. "If so, I would really like to have a taste please. Your cooking is unbelievably delicious and I could eat it everyday."

"Thanks." Nanami said with a warm smile. "I would say you have earned some after those compliments."

Unfortunately, her smile faded when she opened the box to show him what she had cooked and found it was completely empty. Not a single grain of rice was left. At first, she was confused because she knew for a fact that she made the lunch last night. However, Nanami quickly figured out who the culprit was; her older brother, Jinnai. No wonder he left for school so early. He did not want to face her wrath when she found out. Next time she saw him, she would probably put him in a headlock.

"Relax, Nanami." Makoto said, practically reading her thoughts. "Jinnai probably ate it before he realized you made it for me."

"I doubt that." She murmured.

Jinnai has never liked Makoto, not from the moment they met. As to why he hates Makoto, Nanami knows it is jealousy. Despite being a year younger than him, Makoto has always been better than Jinnai at everything. Thanks to his high grades and learning rate, Makoto was allowed to skip a grade. Jinnai, on the other hand, is in the same grade but has only average grades and usually resorts to cheating to improve. In gym class, Makoto could always run longer and faster than Jinnai. On Valentine's Day, Makoto must have received two dozen valentines, while Jinnai did not get a single one. This is why Jinnai does not hesitate to make Makoto's life difficult. From what Nanami has seen, Jinnai actually takes great pleasure in it.

"You are too nice, Makoto." Nanami said.

"Thanks for the compliment." He smiles at her.

They continue to talk as they walk into school.

Meanwhile, Jinnai is buying test answers from an upper classman. He managed to get the seller down to two-hundred-and-fifty yen. After he bought the cheat sheet, he took several pictures of it with his phone, then sold the original copy to one of his classmates for five-hundred yen. After that, he headed to class, complimenting himself out-loud.

"I am a genius." He says to himself while laughing. "Once I graduate, I will become one of the greatest leaders ever born!"

Jinnai believed himself to be, "a brilliant mastermind, who would one day rule the world". However, things did not always go his way; especially when Makoto Mizuhara was involved. Every time Makoto got involved, Jinnai's schemes were ruined faster than you can blink. Then he has the nerve to apologize! Seriously, why apologize if you feel what you did was right? That is part of why Jinnai can not stand him. The main reason he despises Makoto is because he never cheats or breaks any rules but is still successful at everything. To Jinnai, this makes no sense. He sees honest hard work as a waste of time and rules as something to worked around or manipulated.

As he was walking down a hallway, Jinnai sees Makoto and his younger sister, Nanami, walking into the building together. What does she see in him? He thinks to himself. All he sees is a lucky loser.

"Someday, I will show them all what a loser Makoto is." Jinnai says to himself.

Elsewhere, a classmate of Nanami is hurrying to school as fast as he can. His name is Dante Cole, an exchange student from America with blonde hair. He was delayed on his way to school by some bullies. They were picking on some middle school girls, so Dante knock them all unconscious. A relatively easy task for the former Junior Karate Champion and current member of the kendo club. Those bullies never had a chance. However, he spent too much time enjoying the fight. Now, if he does not run with all his strength, he will be late, and his teacher warned him that if he was late to class again, his extra-curricular activities would be suspended.

Dante ran so hard, that when he made it to the classroom door, he felt like he was going to pass out. Today, it seems luck was on his side. He managed to make it to his seat a nano-second before the bell rang.

"Well, look who just made it." Nanami said to him with a smile.

The two of them sit next to each other; something Dante greatly enjoys. To him, Nanami is the prettiest girl in school. He is also an amazing cook and athletic. To use Dante's words, "She's a total dream". Ever since he met her in middle school, he has had a crush on her. Though, he has never told her this. Dante has tried to confess to her many times, but everytime he does, he ends up so nervous, he does something stupid. The first time he tried to confess to her, he fainted from the stress. That would have been very embarrassing, if it had not been a very hot day. Everyone thought it was heatstroke. Since then, he has tried to confess to her many times, and each time he becomes less and less nervous. Someday (maybe in a year) he will successfully confess to her.

"Hey, did you get hurt earlier?" Nanami asked.

"No." Dante replied. Those bullies he beat up did not even land a blow. "Why?"

"There is some blood on your sleeve." She pointed-out.

Just as she said, there was a small blood stain on his sleeve. It must have come from those punks he fought earlier. Before he could tell Nanami it was not his blood, she held out a band-aid for him.

"Here." She said. "You should take better care of yourself."

"Thank you." Dante replied.

He took it gratefully. Dante was overjoyed to receive something from Nanami. This is going to be a good day, he thought.

Then he heard whistling. The sound was high-pitched and grew louder with every passing second. The moment Dante heard it, his vision became clouded and his body went numb. A few seconds before he lost consciousness, he saw Nanami fall out of her desk. As well as a man with dark skin tone and one blind eye standing over them.

In Jinnai and Makoto's class, the two of them were taking a test. Makoto was completing his with little difficulty because he studied his notes the night before. Jinnai was finishing it quickly, thanks to his cheat sheet photos. Also, Jinnai had a plan to cause trouble for Makoto. He had printed a copy of his cheat sheet photos and managed to hide them in Makoto's desk without being noticed. Now, he intended to tell the teacher he saw Makoto using those cheat notes. At the very least, he would have to take the test again and receive multiple detentions. More than that, it would be a black mark on his spotless school record.

As Jinnai raised his hand to falsely accuse Makoto of cheating, he suddenly heard a whistling. Its volume was near deafening, but instead of feeling pain, Jinnai felt numbness quickly spread through his entire body. In a matter of seconds, he was unconscious. Makoto heard the same sound and as his sight darkened, he caught a glimpse of the man he bumped into walking toward him.

When Makoto awoke, he found an orange cat with blue eyes licking his face. Slowly he stood up and observed his surroundings. He remembered what had happened after a second, but did not really understand what had happened. Around him were tall trees and he could hear animal noises from all directions. The leaves and vines of the trees blocked most of the sunlight, but thanks to some strange green-glowing flowers, he was able to see. All the plants looked rather odd to him. From what saw, he was able to deduce that he was not in Japan any more. He felt the cat that had been licking him brushing against his legs.

"Hey, buddy." Makoto said as he bent down and petted the cat.

It was then that he noticed the clothes he was wearing were not the ones he had been wearing earlier. Instead of his suit and shoes, he was wearing a black shirt and sandals. There was also a sword strapped to his back. Stranger still, there was a tattoo of a black infinity sign on the back of his right hand.

Before Makoto could even wonder what had happened, he heard someone shout: "Hey, is anyone out there?!"

It was a man's voice. The voice sounded somewhat familiar, so Makoto decided to follow it. After a few minutes of searching, he found a person in a small field of grass. Once he was close enough, Makoto recognized him.

"Dante!" Makoto called out.

He wore a red skin-tight shirt, gray pants that only reached his knees, and sandals. Like Makoto, he had a tattoo on the his right hand, only his was of a green "X".

"Hey, it's Makoto, right." Dante asked. "You have any idea where we are?"

"Not a clue." Makoto replied. "All I can remember is taking a test, then hearing a loud whistle and seeing a strange man. Next thing I knew, I woke up in this jungle with my new friend here."

He was referring to the orange cat.

"That is exactly what happened to me." Dante said. "But, why?"

"I think the better question right now is where we are." Makoto replied. "Because I am positive we are no longer in Japan. None of the plant are indigenous to Japan."

"Then where the hell are we?!" Dante said. "All these weird events are making my head hurt."

They did not have a chance to wonder what had happened any further because they suddenly heard a scream. It came from nearby as well. Seconds later, a girl emerged from the jungle. She collapsed only two feet away from them. Makoto immediately bent down to make sure she was not injured, but when he saw her face he paused for a moment to admire her beauty. Her clothing consisted of a gray dress that was covered in dirt, a long skirt, and sandals. Though her clothing was ordinary, they certainly did not lessen her beautiful face. She looked about the same age as Makoto and Dante.

"I don't think she is wounded." Makoto said. "She is not bleeding, but she is exhausted."

Then, Makoto noticed the serious expression on Dante's face. His eyes were darting from one direction to another, never staying still for more than a second. He slowly moved closer to Makoto, but did not bend down when he spoke to him.

"We are surrounded." Dante's voice was just barely louder than a whisper.

"What?" Makoto asked, trying not to be too loud.

"At least ten of them." Dante replied. "They have completely surrounded."

"Well, looks like this one has good eyes." A new voice said.

That was when they revealed themselves. It was instantly clear that they were not human. Their bodies were covered with silver fur, their hands had razor sharp claws, and they had the faces of wolves. All of them wore dull black armor with a symbol that looked like an ugly boar with large tusks painted on them. They were all looking at the three human teenagers with angry red eyes.

"What are you?!" Makoto exclaimed.

"Huh, I guess this is your first time seeing a Werebeast." One of them said with a chuckle. "And it will be your last."

One of them charged at Makoto, but just as he was about to sink his claws into him, Dante delivered a kicked to the wolfman's face. The beast went flying right into a tree. Two more quickly sought to avenge their comrade. Dante grabbed one's arm and throw him into another tree. However, he failed to land a blow to the other and the beast slashed at him with its claws.

"Oh, no!" Makoto yelled.

He was then surprised to see Dante did not bleed. Instead, the wolfman's claws broke and Dante punched him in the gut. With one punch, the beast collapsed. By then, the beasts realized they had underestimated Dante and kept their distance, but were still ready to attack. Dante himself was surprised by his strength. He knew for a fact that somehow his strength had suddenly increased dramatically. Though even with this display of strength, the wolfmen did not seem to be planning on retreating.

Suddenly, a shadow covered them and the space around them. When they looked up, they saw a flying-wooden ship. It had white sails, cannons mounted on the sides, and a flag at the top of the mast. The flag looked like a silver dagger in front of the sun. This ship was apparently their savior, because the moment wolfmen scattered. While they ran, three flying boats slowly descended to the ground.

Makoto and Dante exchanged shocked expressions.

"'I don't think we're in Kansas any more.'" Dante quoted from the Wizard of Oz.