(One of many stories I started but never did anything with. Shorter chapters, but I hope it's interesting, at least!)

Chapter 1:
Prologue

The year was 2018 CE

War has raged among nations due to rapid development and change in recent decades.

The connected loss of strength of traditional religious and ethical norms have also led to many reactions against modern development.

Violence has become a common occurrence in the daily media, covering the military effort as well as increased coverage of violent crimes throughout civilization.

All the while, common citizens move about their daily lives, carrying on with thoughts of violence being the farthest thing from a majority of their minds.

However, this is not a story of this world.

It is the story of a single young man, who faces a destiny found amongst the soil of a world he did not know existed...

The world faded into view as Brad's eyes fluttered back open, his head pounding like a drum.

"Guh… What… What happened?" His voice rasped as he pushed himself back into his seat. His head had been resting on the steering wheel in front of him, had he crashed?

Grimacing at the thought of all of the trouble he would have to go through after this, Brad unclipped the belt from his waist, likely the only reason he wasn't thrown through the front windshield of his truck, and pushed the door open. Clumsily, he slid out of the driver's seat on shaky legs to inspect the damage.

Brad frowned at the sight, "Well… it could have been worse."

The grey ford had careened right into a tree, causing the front of the vehicle to crumple inwards from the impact would be a miracle if the thing even started at this point, and wasn't quite worth the effort to try at this point.

"Guess I'll have to call a tow truck… and Mom… and shit, I'll have to call in to work as well." Brad grumbled and leaned against the truck, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

The iphone lit up at his command, and he quickly navigated his way to his contacts list.

"Mom's probably going to lose her shit when she finds out I fell asleep at the wheel." Brad sighed as his phone attempted to connect the call.

After a few moments, the phone responded with a negative tone, and displayed that there was no service to connect.

"Great." Brad huffed and pocketed his phone. It was only about a thirty minute drive to work, but the route was pocketed with a few places that he never seemed to have service in.

Cursing his rotten luck, Brad turned towards the direction the road would be.

It was dark, as he expected it to be. Working the graveyard shift was usually nice for avoiding traffic, but hopefully a few cars would pass by to help.

"Guess I'll go flag someone down… Fuuuuuuck me…" Brad took a deep breath and began walking, thanking his luck that at least he wasn't banged up more than he was, likely just being a few bruises across his body. Nothing he couldn't handle.

"Man, where's the road? How far did I…?" Brad questioned as he walked along, stopping almost thirty meters from where he crashed. More trees being the only thing that he found. Where was there even a forest like this on his route to work?

Brad shook his head and doubled back to his truck, grabbing the barely-used headlamp from underneath the seat before attaching it to his head. Once it was secured and switched on, he resumed his search for the road, this time using the trail from the ford's tires to lead him.

"Guess I should be glad I never clean out my truck." He mused as he trudged along. The back seat of the truck was littered with trash and several odds-and-ends that become useful in random situations. Though explaining why there was a plastic shield and replica sword from the Zelda series was always a chore. In reality, he just couldn't be bothered to clean it out.

"Huh…?" Brad stopped as the trail ended out of nowhere. "Did I catch air somehow? Or is this a bad reenactment of Back To The Future?"

The tire tracks simply ended, and even walking past them a bit further did not reveal any more, disproving the theory that he had 'caught airtime' while asleep at the wheel.

Brad rubbed his eyes and looked around, the forest was just that, a forest. Something he wouldn't normally come across in southern California. Trees didn't grow like this there, at least not naturally.

It wasn't until the young man was at a loss until he moved his gaze to the sky.

His eyes widening, it took only a moment to realize the severity of the situation.

"I'm… not home anymore, am I?" He spoke aloud at the sight of the shattered moon.

Forcing himself to remain calm, Brad took a deep breath and contemplated the facts.

"I left for work, fell asleep at the wheel, and crashed into a tree on another planet." He mused as he turned towards the crash. "And by the looks of that moon, it's likely a planet filled with creatures ready to rip me to pieces." Yeah, he was calm all right.

It was suddenly apparent how vulnerable he was, and how even the spike in his fear was likely ringing a dinner bell for something to come and kill him.

"I need to get back to the truck." He breathed, knowing full well that it might not even start in its condition, but it was the only thing that would be able to stand between him and his demise.

So he began walking, turning his attention to his surroundings with renewed intensity. The walk back seemed to look much longer than it initially did, and after a few seconds of walking he picked up his pace.

Choosing to reach the truck as quickly as possible, Brad ran the rest of the distance before sliding back into the driver's seat.

A sigh of relief escaped his lips. Already feeling slightly more at ease, Brad attempted to start the damaged vehicle. With a turn of the key, the engine whined as it tried to start, whirring helplessly with each turn of the key.

"C'mon… C'mon! This is not the time to be cliche!" Brad growled and continued his attempts as he looked through the windows for any signs of the creatures.

Unfortunately, his fear mixed with the noise of the car was like a beacon, and from the behind a group of bushes prowled a large wolf-like creature, draped in black with bone-like plates coating it's hide.

A beowolf.

"Any time now!" Brad begged for the engine to start, his heart beginning to pound in his chest as he desperately turned the key again and again.

The beowolf glared at the strange object that seemed to be emitting fear and a sound it had never heard before.

With a growl, it steadily drew closer it's eyes practically widening as it caught sight of the young man inside. It's instincts told it to roar, and roar it did.

"Fuck- Start dammit!" Brad screamed and pounded his foot against the pedals as the Grimm began charging.

The whine of the engine turned into a roar of its own as Brad slammed it into reverse.

The Grimm, caught off guard, crashed into the tail-end of the truck before being dragged underneath as the barely functioning ford drove over the top of it.

"How's my bumper taste you asshole!" Brad yelled, smirking as his luck finally started coming his way.

His expression plummeted as a large paw rose from the front of the truck, digging its claws into the bent metal of the hood in retaliation.

"Shit!" Brad yelled and floored the pedal, pulling the truck off of the beowolf and careening backwards into the forest as it clung angrily to the grey vehicle.

It took every ounce of control he had to keep the truck from flying into another tree as he drove backwards between trees trying to shake off the Grimm.

"Let- GO!" Brad shouted and flung the wheel to the left, spinning the front end of the truck around and flinging the beowolf off of the hood. Sliding the gearbox out of reverse, Brad pushed the ford as fast as it could go and ran the recovering Grimm over as he peeled away, making sure it wasn't chasing him in his rearview mirror. More beowolves had emerged and surrounded their injured brethren, but the truck was already going fast enough to outpace them, at least he hoped.

Brad sighed and brought a hand to his chest, "Huff… that was TOO close…"

Finally able to think without overgrown wolves breathing down his neck, Brad settled into thinking while he cruised along.

"Okay, this IS Remnant then. Those beowolves all but confirmed it." Brad mused, he had been a big fan of RoosterTeeth and the series RWBY that they created. "But why am I here? I don't remember anything after leaving for work…" He checked his watch, "...forty-five minutes ago. Which means I wasn't asleep for more than about thirty minutes, I think."

Brad leaned forward onto the steering wheel, "I wonder if I still have a notebook somewhere in here… Writing down my thoughts would help." A quick glance at the dashboard reminded him of another problem, "Ah right… I only have maybe an hour's worth of fuel left. Fan-tastic."

He let out another sight as he focused on driving. WIth no idea where he was, he was going to have to drive until he found somewhere to stay. Sure, he could try climbing a tree to get an idea of what his surroundings were, but that relied on his truck being able to start again, his ability to not break his own neck falling from said tree, and being lucky enough that no Grimm would show up to pick him off like a quick snack.

Driving blindly it was.

With only the shattered moon and a single headlight to light his way, Brad just crossed his fingers in hope that he wouldn't run out of gas too soon. He was pretty sure the next gas-station was lightyears away.

[Valkyria Chronicles Anime OP]