Ch.1 Departure, Behind the Wall, and New Friends

A soldier in white armor with blue highlights dove behind a large boulder, bullets whizzing past his head. He gripped his rifle tightly, and checked his ammunition. He only had fifteen bullets left in the clip, and it was his last one. He looked down and saw a combat shotgun on the ground, and exchanged it for his rifle.

'Twelve shots, just enough...' he thought. He heard them, two enemy soldiers, coming closer. Apparently, they had teamed up to take him out. He waited until they were only a few feet away, and jumped out, shotgun aimed at head level. Suddenly, two shots rang through the air, and both enemy soldiers dropped, dead. He looked up, just in time to see the sun shine off of a visor, and one more shot rang out. He watched his own body fall, and saw his killer. A soldier in light blue armor, with magenta highlights, crouching on a ridge, and reloading a sniper rifle, but it didn't matter now...

--

"GAME OVER!" Calvin's TV blared, and showed the final results of his online Halo 2 match:
1: SassySammy - 50
2: WhiteMage16 - 42
3: SiLeNtNiNjA - 26
4: N00Bpwner - 21
5: DevilSPAWN - 17
6: DarthSoldier - 14
7: LegolasToad - 10
8: JesusChrist999 - -2
Calvin smiled. He knew he wouldn't win, not with Sasami online, but was happy he got second. He looked over the medals he got.

"Assassination, Beat down, Stick, Killtac, Snipe, eh, good haul." Calvin said to himself. Then he looked at Sasami's medals. "Jeez Sasami, Berserker AND Killamanjaro AGAIN?!" he spoke through the headset.

"What can I say, I'm a natural." he heard Sasami say through the speakers, he could almost hear her grin.

"Eh, whatever, I got to get off, school starts in a half hour, and if I stay around I might be late again."

"Ha ha, my school day was over six hours ago."

"Don't rub it in. Will you be on here, or FF eleven later?"

"Probably FF, if I wake up early enough. Still leaving this weekend?"

"Yeah, my school didn't change the exchange date like they wanted, so I'll be seeing you Sunday."
"Good, well, have a good morning, Calvin."

"Yeah, you have a good night, Sasami." Calvin clicked his headset off, and powered down his Xbox 360. He got up and grabbed his backpack off the kitchen table, and grabbed his car keys off the counter top. "I'll see you later Mom!"

"Come home early, you still need to pack for the flight." he heard his Mom yell from the computer room. Calvin smiled as he walked out of the house. At the start of the school year, he signed up for the Student Exchange Program, and told Sasami about it. Thanks to Washu's computer skills, he was headed to Sasami's school in Okayama for a few months, and then she would fly back with him to his school for the same amount of time. He was thinking about the upcoming trip as he started his '93 black Saturn and drove to another house a few minutes away. He stopped in front of a small house and waited. When no one came out of the door, he backed up to the darker looking house next door, just as a short boy with dark brown hair walked out of the door, waving into the house. He wore dark blue jeans, and a t-shirt with a yellow frowny face on it.
"Staying at Johnny's again, Todd?" Calvin asked as the boy opened the passenger side door.
"Yeah, my parents were fighting again. No worries though, they should be ok by now." the boy, now known as Todd, said. A few minutes later Calvin stopped his car in front of another house, blue with bright colored flowers under the windows. Out walked a tall, thin boy with black hair, who wore goth style clothing. He opened the back passenger door and got in.
"How's it going Calvin?" the dark boy said in a bright, chipper voice that did not match his appearance.
"Pretty good, Pepito. I can't wait for my trip to Japan." Calvin responded.
"So how long have you know this girl?" Todd asked.
"Sasami? Oh I've known her for awhile, I met her during a camp trip about six years ago." Calvin answered. The rest of the car ride was filled with idle conversations about news, media, etc.

--

A few days later...

--

Calvin zipped his last duffel bag shut. He put off his packing until the last minute, and was finished with the last of his clothes. He looked around his room. It was your ordinary teenager room, posters of bands, a computer, shelf full of music, movies, and games, save for one thing. A lone, stuffed tiger, a sign of his youth, was resting on a chair in the corner of his room.

"I'll see you in a few months, Hobbes." Calvin said to the stuffed animal, who only to him, appeared to be a living, breathing tiger, though slightly more humanoid.

"Bring back some of that famous Sushi, I've been dieing to try it." Hobbes responded. Calvin smiled and started to walk out of the door, when he stopped. He walked over to his computer desk, and grabbed an mp3 player (with a VERY large music library), put the headphones on, and brought his last duffel bag to his father's car, quietly singing to himself.

"He's only a lad, we really can't blame him. He's only a lad, society made him. He's only a lad, he's our responsibility, oh, oh oh oh."

--

A few hours (and one nap) later...

--

Calvin awoke in the airplane as it landed in Okayama, got some of his luggage from the overhead compartment, and went to baggage claim to get the rest, and also to wait for his ride. He wasn't sure who would be picking him up, until...

"HEY CALVIN!" he heard a familiar voice yell. He looked over his shoulder and saw a girl in a green blouse and dark blue skirt, with pink colored eyes and straight blue hair, reaching down to the middle of her back.

"Sasami, how are you?" Calvin asked as she ran up to him, and promptly hugged him.

"Great, it's good to see you." she said, and let go of him.

"It's good to see you too. So did you drive here, or get a ride?"

"I drove, got my license about two months ago. Got your stuff?"

"Yeah, let's head out."

--

Later that night...

--

Calvin had arrived at the Masaki household, and had reacquainted himself with everyone. Ryoko had even said "If I wasn't already attached to Tenchi, I'd be after you" and "Sasami is a VERY lucky girl". Calvin and Sasami laughed at this, but he could almost swear he saw Sasami blush slightly. He had helped out Sasami in the kitchen, as she explained his temporarily new school, and daily life around the house. When it was time for Calvin to go to sleep, he had one unanswered question.

"So, where am I supposed to sleep?" he asked.

"Well, Washu thought about creating a room out of subspace for you, but after Mihoshi volunteered to help, she thought my room was large enough, and I agreed." Sasami answered.

"Wait, what?"

"If you're worried about privacy, I will be changing in the bathroom, unless you want to, it doesn't matter to me."

"Uh, sure, I can change in the bathroom."

"Ok, well, I have my old futon that you can sleep on, and you can set it up where ever in my room."

"Uh, ok, that sounds fine to me. Um, you aren't worried about a guy sleeping in your room?" Sasami gave Calvin a serious look.

"Calvin, after living with Tenchi's father for so many years, I can almost literally spot a pervert from a mile away." She then smiled and laughed.

--

Later, around 2 in the morning...

--

Sasami was wandering around in a field, without a care in the world. She liked these kind of dreams, they always had a way of deeply relaxing her. She walked up and smelled a large sunflower, when a shadow past over her. She wasn't sure what happened next, only that her head hurt, she couldn't move her arms or legs, and she had the feeling she was being carried, as her captor approached a large, gray brick wall...

--

A few hours later...

--

Calvin slowly woke up, yawned, and stretched. He looked over to Sasami's bed, and found her still sleeping. There was an odd buzzing sound coming from her nightstand, and he went over to investigate. The source of the sound was a small, red crab, which displayed the time (6:23). Calvin examined it further, looking for the snooze button. He found a large bar on the back of the model crab, with a few Japanese characters. He pressed it, and the buzzing quit. He looked over at Sasami, and decided not to wake her.
He looked back at the nightstand, and looked over some of the photo's she had displayed there. A photo of everyone at the house, a photo of Sasami, Aeka, a large man with dark purple hair, a woman with blue hair (the same shade as Sasami's), and another woman with black hair. Calvin assumed the man and the woman with blue hair was Sasami's mother and father, but didn't know who the other woman was, probably her cousin or aunt. The next photo Calvin saw showed a young Sasami and Calvin, holding each other's shoulders, with Sasami giving the "V for Victory" sign. Calvin smiled, and decided to head downstairs.

"Five six nine makes the contact and lead them, U-94 scores a kill in the dark, one two four sinking four and two approaches, four oh six suffers failure on launch..." Calvin silently sang to himself as he was confronted with his first problem of the day, turning on the television. He had barely any knowledge of Japanese, so he had no idea what button was power on the gray remote. Actually, gray was the ONLY color scheme of the remote, from the dark gray buttons to the light gray, almost white text. He decided it was best to just press random buttons on the television itself. On his third try he hit the power button (he hit the far right, far left, then the middle). Only this provided his second problem of the day, he couldn't watch anything. Well, that's almost true. He COULD watch something, but he had no idea what they were saying, as it was (of course) all Japanese. Starting to get a little frustrated, he decided to tread on something he knew, he turned on the Xbox 360 resting below the television.

"Might as well add my account on here." he said quietly. The familiar loading screen and tone greeted him as he sat on the couch, only to face his third problem, most of the menu was in Japanese, and set up differently then his 360 at home. He stifled a yell, and it came out as a low growl. Calvin then heard an amused chuckle at his left. He looked over and saw Washu leaning on the arm of the couch, with a smirk on her face.

"Having trouble?" she asked, still smirking.

"To put it lightly, yes, yes I am. Can you help me out here?" Calvin responded.

"Here, catch." Washu said, as she threw a small silver object in the air. Calvin caught it, and took a closer look. It appeared to be a Hershey Kiss, he unwrapped the silver foil, and frowned when he saw chocolate.

"How the hell is this supposed to help me?!" he growled loudly.

"It contains an updated language serum, so you'll be able to speak, read, and write both Japanese and English at will, unlike my prototype serum, where you could only speak English when you were in proximity of another English speaker." she explained calmly.

"Yeah, but you put in a chocolate kiss?" he asked.

"Well, you could always take the serum in a more interesting way..." she responded, staring at syringe she pulled out of subspace, flicking the needle. Calvin's eyes went wide, and he swallowed the chocolate whole. He had a fear of needles all his life. Moments later, he felt dizzy, and his vision was cloudy. He rubbed his eyes and and looked over at Washu as his vision cleared.

"So how will I know if it worked?" Calvin inquired. Washu smiled.

"Well, I can tell you right now it did." she replied.

"How do you know?"

"You're speaking to me in Japanese. If you wait a few more moments, you'll be able to tell the difference." And sure enough, after a few more seconds, he was thinking back and forth between English and Japanese.

"Thanks Washu." Calvin said in Japanese.

"No problem." Washu replied in English. Calvin looked back at the television, and set to work adding his account to the 360. "Say, where's Sasami? She should be up by now." Washu asked.

"Oh, she was still sleeping, and I didn't want to bother her."

"Hm, that's not like her. Did her alarm go off?"

"Yeah, it was buzzing when I woke up, I hit the snooze button, it took me a while to find it."

"Huh, that's odd. I'm going to go check on her, if you want to come with."

--

A few hours later...

--

Washu tried in vain to wake Sasami, but she was out cold. She informed the rest of the household while she moved Sasami to her lab. Aeka, enraged, tried to attack Calvin, but was held back by Tenchi and Ryoko. She later apologized to Calvin. Washu studied Sasami's condition, and informed the group of her findings, where they congregated in the living room.

"Well, there's good and bad news. The good news is that she's perfectly healthy, she isn't physically harmed. The bad news is that consciously, she isn't there. Her memory is still intact, but there is no self conscious." Washu said in a serious tone.

"Oh my lord, Washu, what happened to her?" Aeka asked, on the verge of tears.

"Well, I looked over her memories. More precisely, her last dream, and I've found something interesting." Washu answered, and brought up a view screen. It showed a green field, with some sunflowers. Sasami went close to one flower, as a large shadow appeared behind her. There was a blur of colors, then a gray brick wall. The recording ended there. "This intrigued me, and I investigated further. What I found was shocking. Apparently, whatever kidnapped her in her dream, took her to another dimension. It seems that anyone can access this dimension when they are in the latter stages of REM sleep, so for the moment, I have dubbed this new dimension the 'Dream World'. Another interesting factor I've discovered is that the older the individual is, the harder it is to enter the 'Dream World'."

"So what's the plan, Washu?" asked Tenchi.

"The plan is to send the youngest person in this room to this 'Dream World'." Washu replied, staring at Calvin.

"What, me?" Calvin asked, pointing to his chest.

"Yes, you. You are the youngest person here, so it would be easy to send you over. So, will you help us find Sasami?" Washu replied, the asked. Everyone in the room looked at Calvin. He stood there for a moment, then smiled.

"Of COURSE I'll do it! Send me out now!" Calvin yelled. Washu smiled.

"Glad to see your so enthusiastic. All right, follow me to my lab." Washu said, and headed to the broom closest door, Calvin right on her heels. The door opened to a hospital like setting, with Sasami laying in a bed, various machines monitoring her status. A few feet away was a similar bed, with similar machinery around it. Washu directed Calvin to the bed, and he laid down. She started attaching various electrodes to his forehead, followed by a metallic head band with lights placed around it.

"So how are you going to do this?" Calvin asked, as Washu went back and forth from adjusting some of the machinery to typing on her holo-top.

"Well, I'm going to send you into a lucid dream state, so you're in more control. I'll alter the area around you, so you will be in the last place Sasami dreamed about. Try to find the gray wall she saw, Calvin. That is the barrier between this dimension and the 'Dream World'." Washu explained.

"Got it, anything else?"

"I'm going to have a trace on you, so when you do cross, I can lock on to your position and send you supplies. Which reminds me." Washu pulled a small device out of her subspace storage. "This is a small radio transmitter, when I send this to you, place it in your right ear. I have it pre-set to my frequency, but if the situation calls for it, you can have other frequencies saved in the memory bank. To call me, press the small button on the side, and you'll be able to mentally select the frequency and call. You won't need to worry about a microphone, it'll be able to pick up sounds in a three meter radius. I'll be sending another one of these transmitters, for Sasami, when you do find her. I'll also be sending you your own subspace storage system, it will look like a silver ring. So, you all set Calvin?"

"Well, I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

"Good, I'll be speaking to you as soon as you cross," Washu smirked "Sweet dreams!" She typed a few keys on her holo-top, and Calvin was sent into REM sleep.
Calvin looked around, he was in the same field that he saw Sasami in on the recording. He walked around until he found the sunflowers, and kept going. After what felt like a half hour, he found a massive gray brick wall, at least thirty feet high.

"Great, how the hell am I supposed to climb this?" he said out loud. He looked to his right, then his left, and found part of the wall crumbling, some of the bricks were broken or missing. He ran over to the crumbling section, and looked up. Luckily, the damage went straight to the top. "Well, right now, this is a dream, so I can't get hurt, right? Might as well climb." And with that, Calvin started to climb. After a few minutes, he reached the top, and felt dizzy. He looked back to the field, only to find swirling colors. He looked up, on the other side of the wall, and saw a city, but what magnificence it once had was lost, as it was rather decrepit. Calvin looked down, and saw foliage. Without thinking, he jumped. He landed on his left arm hard, but the pain quickly left him. "Well, I guess I better be more careful in this dimension, otherwise I might not get back." He slowly got up, and saw a crackling ball of energy in front of him. It slowly floated to the ground, and faded. In it's place was a small metal box. Calvin bent down and picked up the box, it was relatively light. He opened it, and found the two transmitters, and the subspace storage ring. He examined the two transmitters, one had a C engraved on the side, the other had an S engraved on it. Calvin took the 'C' transmitter and placed it in his right ear. Immediately, he heard two sets of three beeps in quick succession. He found the small button on the side an activated the transmitter. To his surprise, a green translucent image appeared over his right eye. There were four boxes in this image, one contained a live video feed, and showed Washu's face. To the right of that was a larger box, which showed his reception and the frequency he was tuned to. To the right of that was another video box, only it showed his face. Below these three boxes was a very large box, but that was currently empty.

"This is quite an interesting piece of technology you have here W..." Calvin started to say.

"Don't say my name, I have no idea if we are being monitored, so anonymity is important. For now, call me Sekishoku. What do you want me to call you?" Washu interrupted, explained, and asked. Calvin thought for a second.

"Dokuja, call me Dokuja." Calvin replied. "I don't understand why you don't want anyone to know who you are when I can see your face perfectly."

"It's only through these devices that you can see the video. Now, have you put on the subspace storage ring yet?"

"No, but I'll do that right now."

"Good. To activate it, twist the ring to the right. To close the storage, twist left."

"Got it." Calvin put the ring on, and twisted it right. A round, black hole appeared in front of him. He looked inside it, and to him, it looked like a chest, or dresser drawer. He placed the metal box, along with the other transmitter, and closed the storage.

"Now, from what I've gathered recently, this dimension should function like ours, you'll experience the same gravity, you can get hurt, you may need to eat food, and you might have to sleep, but I can guarantee it will be dreamless."

"Yeah, I figured that when I jumped off the wall and landed on my arm. So what about other equipment, like weapons, body armor, or something to make me invisible?"

"I can only send a small number of things at a time, but I'll work on it. What do you want sent first?"

"Whatever you got to make me invisible, the less I'm seen the better."

"Alright, I'll start development on a small camo device. After I send that, tell me what you need next. If you need to contact me for anything, my frequency is 140.85 . Good luck, Dokuja." With that, the transmission was cut. Calvin looked around, and headed for the city.

--

About a half hour later...

--

Calvin had been walking through the city, walking the streets, alleyways, and small paths. So far, he had only seen a few people, in grubby clothing, ducking away in buildings. He turned to go down another ally when he spotted two armored men, in what appeared to be gas masks, beating a man with metal rods. The man was laying on the ground, screaming. Calvin stood there, shocked, when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and was pulled into a building. He was pushed back aways, and heard a clatter. There was man in front of him, placing tables, chairs, and other things in front of the door. He also wore grubby clothing, but had an odd, red hat with spots, almost like mushroom. He placed another chair in front of the door, and looked back at Calvin.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, standing in front of the Lunarium? Do you want to get killed or something?" He yelled at Calvin.

"What the hell are you talking about? And who are you?" Calvin yelled back.

"I'm Kombucha, but most people call me Combo. You must be from one of the islands the Lunarium didn't get to yet." he, now known as Combo, informed Calvin. "And who might you be?"

"Ca...Dokuja, now who are the Lunarium?"

"The Lunarium are part of the private army of Balthazar, that demon that's trying to take over Yume. They are brutal, and efficient." Combo flashed a pin on his sleeve, it looked like a small black spider. "But I'm part of the resistance, The Black Widows, we stick to the shadows, and take out key pieces of the Lunarium's current hold on Soad, the peninsula we are on. We have affiliates on most of the islands, free and controlled, ready to strike. Did you come from Emerald Light or Lycan Mater?"

"Emerald Light and Lycan what? I'm not from there, I can tell you that."

"Then where are you from?"

"Well, it's hard to explain, but right now that doesn't matter. I'm looking for a girl."

"Heh, aren't we all?"

"No, I mean I'm looking for a girl who's been kidnapped. Her name is Sasami, she has pink colored eyes and blue hair down to the middle of her back."

"Well, I haven't seen a girl like that, but I can ask my contacts. Say, what are you packing?"

"Packing what?"

"Protection, like a socom, five-seven, USP, Colt 1911, your usual."

"Got nothing on me."

"You are one crazy bastard, strolling around here without a gun. Come on, I'll take you to Sako's, and get you a piece."

"Wait a second, how do you know you can trust me?"

"Well, you haven't tried to kill me yet, and you paused when you saw that beating. How do you know you know you can't trust me?"

"Hm, you got a point."

"Come on, lets stop wasting time and get you a firearm, can't get far here without one."
After this fast paced exchange, Calvin followed Combo through the building, down a flight of stairs, and through a series of hidden passages.

--

A few minutes later...

--

They arrived at another building, and stood in front of a door. Combo did a series of knocks on the door, most likely a code, before large, burly man opened the door. Combo walked in, but the man stopped Calvin.

"Hold on, all new arrivals must be scanned." the man said, and pulled out what Calvin could only describe as a metal stick. The man pressed a button on it, and waved it in front of Calvin, then behind him. "You're clean, go on ahead." the man said.

"What was all that for?" Calvin asked.

"They had to make sure you weren't bugged with Lunarium tech." Combo answered.

"What if I was?"

"It would have been removed, you would be questioned, and depending on the outcome, either set free, or killed."
After a bit more walking, they were in front of another door, which read 'Sako's fine armory'.

"Hey Sako, I got a guy here who needs a sidearm." Combo said as he opened the door. A small man, with numerous scars on his face, greeted them. Calvin was awestruck at the amount of weaponry that was before him, for it could (and probably was) supply for a small army. As Combo talked with Sako, Calvin looked over a section of weapons marked 'efficient, deadly, and the current fad'. Calvin had seen guns before, and had taken gun safety classes, but had never shot a firearm outside of a shooting range. He picked up one large sidearm, it was somewhat heavy, but it felt right for him.

"That's a Desert Eagle, kid. Packs one hell of a punch, and is accurate at a decent range, provided you take the time to aim." Sako said, walking next to him.

"Can I try it out?" Calvin asked.

"Sure, I got some targets at the other room." Sako replied. He directed Calvin to an opening next the large rifle section, labeled 'Distance melon busters'. Calvin stood in front of a table, and there were three human shaped targets, one a few feet away, one ten feet away, and one twenty feet away (on the back wall). He looked to his left and saw Sako rummaging through a chest, and pulled out two clips. He walked up and set them on the table.

"You know how to load a gun, kid?" Sako asked. Calvin grabbed one of the clips off the table, and slid it with ease into the handle. He pulled back the slide and cocked the Desert Eagle, loading a bullet in the chamber.

"I've had some lessons." Calvin replies. "How many bullets per clip?"

"Well, you can fit ten in the ones I supply."
Calvin nodded, unlocked the safety on the sidearm, and took aim at the close target. He easily got a critical head and chest shot, and moved on to the next target. The gun had strong kickback, but it wasn't something Calvin couldn't handle. His attempt at the medium range target was decent, he got good shots on the chest, but only managed to shoot the ear off the target. At the long range target, he got some chest shots, but missed the head.

"I'll take it."

--

A few minutes later...

--

Calvin had left Sako's with Combo, one Desert Eagle, tactical vest, brown leather jacket, combat knife, four clips, and four boxes of bullets richer. He decided that it was a good idea to have a combat knife for if an attacker got too close, and the tactical vest had holsters for his gun, knife, and three clips. The brown leather jacket was necessary, because he couldn't walk around with his weapon exposed to the public, and he found it rather comfy. As for money, Sako said it was on the house, because he was a new customer, and he walked in with Combo. Calvin took a deep breath of the city air. They were heading to a contact of Combo's, who lived on the other side of the city, for any info on Sasami. Unfortunately, none of the hidden passages were near him, so they had to traverse by alleyway. They went silently, uninterrupted, until they heard a scuffle. Combo took cover behind a dumpster, and motioned Calvin over. Calvin looked over the dumpster and saw two women, fighting off at least six of the Lunarium. One of them wore red and black robes, and had waist length black hair. She was swinging around what appeared to be a large, red croquet mallet. The other girl was dressed in a black leather jacket and skirt, with red highlights. She had a white and black stripped undershirt, with matching stalkings. Her hair was a light purple, shoulder length, and she had (Calvin rubbed his eyes a few times) wings, red and black bat wings to be exact, a pair on her back, and a small pair on her head. Both of them were fast, and the Lunarium soldiers dropped quickly.

"I told you we shouldn't have taken that shortcut!" the black haired girl yelled.

"I didn't know it would be crawling with these guys!" the purple haired, black winged girl yelled. As they were arguing, one of the Lunarium soldiers as rising, metal rod in hand.

"HEY, BEHIND YOU!" Calvin yelled. The black haired girl turned around, and swung the mallet at the soldier's head. A loud, sickening crunch was heard, as he crumpled to the ground. Calvin ran out from behind the dumpster, and Combo slowly followed. He could see now the black haired girl had blue markings on her face.

"Thanks for the heads up, who are you?" the black haired girl said.

"Call me Dokuja." Calvin replied.

"That name doesn't fit you, you know." the purple haired, bat winged girl said.

"I suppose it wouldn't it's a code name." Calvin answered. Combo walked up next to him.

"Hi, name's Kombucha, but you can call me Combo." he said, then looked at Calvin. "Code name? Are you going to tell us your real name?"

"Maybe, once I trust you more." Calvin remarked. He then looked back at the two women. "And what are your names?"

"I am Lilith, demon first class, limited." she, now known as Lilith, said, the small bat wings on her head flapping slowly.

"And I am Skuld, Goddess first class, limited." the black haired girl, now known as Skuld, said, twirling the red mallet and placing it on her back.

"Oh...kay..." a confused Calvin said.