Chapter 231
Serena slowly picked herself up of the ground. She looked around in surprise.
"Where am I?" She asked herself. She was certainly not in her classroom at Juuban High. The last place she remembered being. Instead she was in a grassy field. There were forests a distrance away. Some hills to the east. She could barely see mountains far off in the distance.
"How did I get here?" she asked herself. "Is this for real?"
She pinched herself.
"No dream," She said and started to walk towards the forest.
"This must have something to do with that flash of energy outside the school. It must have done something to make me appear here. But where is here?" she asked herself. She stopped for a second and pulled out her communicator. She pressed a button.
"Anyone there?" She asked.
She got static back.
"That figures," She said and put the communicator away.
She kept walking not sure why she was going in this direction but hoping she
wouldn't get into trouble along the way.
Mina woke up in a bit of a daze. She was lying on a beach, her uniform was soaked with water, which she soon figured was because the tide had been rolling back and forth over her probably for some time. She stood up slowly, weakly.
"Wha..happened?"
"Good question," Came a familiar reply. She turned quickly and found Raye standing beside her similarly wet.
"Where'd you come from?" Mina said in surprise.
"I got washed up on the beach down there somewhere...started walking along towards that city there.." Raye said.
"City?" Mina asked and turned. A mile or so away there was a large citadel, complete with stone walls, a port, some ships in the harbor.
"Just where are we?" Mina asked in surprise. "This city looks like something out of the dark ages."
"Yeah, but not dark ages Japan either?" Raye said.
"Raye..could that thing have thrown us back in time.." Mina said.
"How would I know?" Raye said.
"I don't know..but what the heck happened?" Mina said hysterically.
"We'll find out, calm down," Raye said.
Mina sighed.
"Have you tried the communicator to find everyone else?"
"It doesn't work. We should head towards that town and see what we can figure out."
"Okay.." Mina said.
The two started off.
"Raye..we were both washed up..but washed up from where?" Mina asked.
"Maybe the school ended up in the water and we floated away," Raye said.
"That's a gruesome thought, people might have drowned."
"Of course you'd think if that happened, at least some other people would have survived."
"What if we're the only ones left?" Mina said stopping.
"I don't know.." Raye said. "Besides..would the tides have carried us that far apart if we came from the same place?"
"Who knows..what were we doing out there in the first place?"
Raye shrugged.
"You're taking this awfully calmly."
"I sort of have to," Raye said. "You should to."
"I don't have to do anything," Mina said. "I can be hysterical if I want to."
"Fine, fine, do whatever you want," Raye said.
"I just will," Mina said. "I want to scream."
"Do it, if it will make you feel better."
"It's not about feeling better," Mina said with annoyance.
"Then what is it about?"
"Don't ask."
Raye just glanced at her.
Elsewhere.
"We're not here two minutes and already you're mouth has gotten us into trouble," Steve said angrilly as he and Mike dashed down a dirt path toghether.
"Hey...it's not my fault," Mike said.
"Of course it is, next time we run into anybody, I'll do the talking!" Steve said. They jumped into the bushes.
Several horseman galloped past.
"We lost them.." Mike said.
"We shouldn't have been found by them either," Steve said.
"So..what do you expect. The school gets hit by something, and we end up standing on top of this hill. The next thing we see is this farm, with these people wearing outfits that went out in the late 1700's and I try and make contact. I say hello. They say hello back. Next thing I know we're being chased by these guys with swords," Mike said.
"Mike..I think we need to use some discretion here. We have no idea where we are. We need to find out what's going on before we start trying to meet with the natives."
"And how are we going to learn anything if we don't talk to people?"
"We should find the others," Steve said.
"And how do you propose to do that?"
"I don't know, but being chased by horsemen isn't the best way to do it."
"They're coming back," Mike said as he heard the rumbling of horses..
"Here we go again," Steve said and the two dashed off towards a nearby the
forest.
Rick had woken up on the floor of what seemed to be a bedroom of some kind. There were beautifully ornaments all around it. Nice curtains. The room was very regal.
"Where the heck am I?" was his first response. He looked around trying to figure things out.
This looks pretty important, and I don't think I want to be found in here. He thought.
A door swung open and he found himself staring at a beautiful human girl who appeared to be his age staring at him.
"And just who are you?" She asked.
"Uh..I'm very lost," Rick said.
"Guards," The girl said. A group of angry looking men in strange robes approached holding spear like weapons.
"Hmm..I was afraid of this," Rick said. "As much as I'd like to take my chances in some cell somewhere."
He lunged forward and kicked one of the guards in the stomach. The others swung at him with the blunt end of their spears. He dived out of the way and hit another as he bounded out the door and into a hallway. The guards raced after him.
"Stop him!" the girl shouted. Rick raced down a corridor.
This is all a misunderstanding, but I might not survive it.
A guard stepped in front of him, he was well dressed.
"Stop. Or you will pay for it," he said.
"Sorry..not interested," Rick said and kept running. The guard slid forward and hit him hard. Rick flew back and slammed to the floor.
I didn't even see his attack. Rick thought. The other guards grabbed him and pulled him up.
"Do not feel embarrased. You have been defeated by Tijiro," the guard said. "Now..take him to see Ariton."
The guards dragged Rick off.
"Tijiro..just what business do you think Ariton has with that assassin?" the girl said walking up.
"Princess Sakuro," Tijiro said and bowed. "Have you not wondered what he was doing in your room?"
"I figured he had ways of penetrating our defenses, he is an assassin," Sakuro said.
"I doubt that he is," Tijiro said.
"Oh?" Sakuro asked.
"Yes my princess, I believe you will understand in time," Tijiro said.
Greg picked himself off the ground, his dark uniform was covered in dirt. He looked around not recognizing the landscape.
"Just where am I? What happened?" he asked echoing his friend's statements. He turned and looked. He saw there was a on cliff giving him some sort of view of the countryside below. He walked to the edge of it and looked down. There was a large city, or what looked like one on the plateau. Then he noticed something interesting. Amidst a variey of buildings that looked stone and wooden, was a large white building sitting amidst them all slightly off center. A building he recognized as Juuban High School.
"I've gotta find someway down there," Greg said and looked for his way down.
But why is the school lying in the middle of that city. And where are we? And when too? That energie's behind this. But who's behind the energy? What a mess.
He pulled out his communicator and soon found it was no help.
"So much for that idea," he said, but stopped to pull out his power stick.
"I hope this one works," he said. "Saturn..Power.." he said and felt the energy surround him. He emerged as Guardian Saturn.
Well..that's one thing at least. I think I'll just stay like this for a while, until I find out what's happened.
He kept moving down a path. He heard occasional noises he assumed belonged to animals indigenous to the area. Whatever the area was. He hadn't seen a sign of life, but he figured the city didn't build itself. Of course whoever was behind this could be hostile. That worried him. Not knowing what was going on. But he had to try and find out.
His thoughts were interupted by something walking onto the road in front of him. It was a bearlike creature, but it resembled a tiger in the color of it's fur and the stripes that were all across it. It growled and seemed to hiss simultaneously.
Saturn pulled out his sword and aimed. The creature leapt at him. He fired. The creature stumbled back and fell to the ground. It seemed to be still alive, which was good. Saturn didn't want to kill animals if he didn't have to.
He quickened his pace hoping he didn't have to fight anymore of those things.
Serena sighed as she walked through the forest.
No sign of anyone yet. Though I guess there might not be anyone around. Or if there are they could be in other places. I mean most humans don't hang out in forests. Then again, who says that these are humans. She kept moving. She heard a strange cry. She whirled.
"Wha.." she said. She didn't see anything.
"It might just be a bird or something," she muttered to herself and kept going, a little more worried. She heard a rustling and turned. She saw nothing.
"Who's there?" She said. The forest quieted down.
"That's what I thought," She said to herself. "Nothing's wrong. Keep a hold of yourself."
She kept moving.
"Stupid forest," she said.
A small creature leapt out of the bushes and landed on the path in front of her.
"Ah.."she said and stopped. It was brown furry, with dark black eyes. It stared at her.
"Actually you are kinda cute," Serena said.
The creature purred slightly and stared at her.
"Of course I have no idea what kind of creature you are...so I can't talk...uh.run along will ya?" Serena said.
The creature just continued to stare.
"I don't..like this.." Serena said.
Out of the forest hopped another of the creatures. The two now starred at her.
"Okay..now I'm thoroughly scared. Just what do you want?" She said.
The creatures just stared back.
"Uh..I'll be going now!" Serena said and ran back the other way.
The two creatures just watched her go and then glanced at each other before jumping back into the forest.
"Enough with this spooky place, I'm going to stay out in the open," Serena said and was soon rushing across the field she had found herself on in the first place.
"Strange creatures that stare at me..I don't need this," She said looking around at the train. Where she had emerged put a hill several hundred yars in front of her. "Maybe there's someone over those hills. A city or something."
She kept going and ran to the top of the hill. When she reached the top she starred down in amazement as she found a large army at the bottom of the hill. Hundreds maybe thousands of humans all heavily armed.
"I'm not sure I want to have anything to do with them.." She said. "But maybe they do know what's going on around here. Still.."
She noticed some movement, in the camp and soon several of the soldiers were rushing towards her.
"They saw me," She said hurriedly and instincively raced back down the hill.
"I'll take my chances elsewhere!" she said and hurried down across the field again. She could hear hooves.
"Well at least I know this place has horses," She said to herself. She heard a large scream. She looked up. A bird, about the size of a small airplane, swooped down and flew over her coming to a stop in front of her. She stopped, noticing that on top of the bird was a human.
"Come on..I'll help you," the ride said.
Serena whirled and saw the army rushing towards her.
"I've got little choice," she said. He reached and grabbed her, pulling her on.
"Hold on," he said. Serena did, the bird lifted up and into the air.
"Uh thanks, I think," she said.
"It's natural for you to not want to trust me, but I'll earn it," The guy said.
"Why were those guys after me?" Serena asked.
"For no good reason, I can assure you of that."
"Oh."
"They probably think you're one of us."
"One of you? But who are you?"
"I'm known as Sy, and I represent the resitance."
"Resistance against what?"
"You mean you don't know?"
"How I got here was a long story."
"We'll have plenty of time to talk about it."
"Oh..where are we going?"
Sy pointed to a mountain.
"Up there?" she asked.
"Sure," Sy said. "There you can meet the others."
"If you say so," Serena said.
"They're human, we must have gone back in time," Mina said as she and Raye wandered through the streets of the city.
"That's not necessarily true," Raye said. "We have no idea what happened."
"Yeah..well where else are you going to find humans but the earth?"
"We might still be on the earth, but maybe we didn't travel in time. Heck, we could be in another dimension."
"You're right. Another dimension. That makes sense, but how do we know for sure?" Mina asked.
"We don't," Raye said.
"Then what's your point?"
"Mina, just be quiet," Raye said. The two noticed the city people were all casting an odd glance at them.
"We obviously attract some attention here," Raye said.
"I like to think I attract attention everywhere," Mina said.
"You're pathetic," Raye said.
"You know Raye, both of us have been caught up in all this, but remember, I'm still mad at you," Mina said.
"Our feud can wait."
"I know, but you just keep that in mind," Mina said.
"Whatever Mina," Raye said.
"Excuse me," came a voice. The two turned to see a small man standing there looking at them.
"Yeah?" Mina asked.
"Where are you from might I ask?" the guy asked.
"Somewhere else," Mina said.
"You're all wet, were you in a shipwreck?" the guy said.
"We might have been," Raye said.
"We don't know," Mina said.
"Ah..it seems you have been through something. Please come inside my home and rest."
"Uh no thanks," Raye said.
"Yeah we..uh..don't want to," Mina said.
"Nonsense, I can give you some food free of charge," the guy said.
"Why would you do that?" Raye asked.
"I have my reasons," the guy said. "Please.."
"I am kinda hungry," Mina said.
"I'm not," Raye said.
"Come on Raye, maybe he knows what's going on."
Raye shrugged.
"All right," Raye said.
The group headed inside a small brick and wooden house.
Rick had been pushed into a room, followed by several guards. It was a dimly lit room filled with what seemed to be scientific contraptions, but he had no idea what they meant. They didn't look like anything he had seen before. A figure entered in a white hooded robe.
"Oh..great..the stereotypical mysterious old guy in a robe," Rick said. "Wonderful."
The figured stopped and pulled the robe off revealing a realtively young man's face.
"What are you talking about?" the figure asked.
"Uh..nothing," Rick said. "And you are?"
"Ariton," the figure said. "The wizard."
"Nice to meet you," Rick said reaching into his pocket for his power stick.
"Ah..yes..your magical item," the wizard said. "Feel free to use it. I wish to see a demonstration of it's power."
"What?" Rick said instinctively letting go.
"If you're planning to try and use your powers to escape I think you should think again. I am more powerful then you could imagine."
"Just why I am here?" Rick asked.
"Have a seat and we'll discuss it," Ariton said and pulled a chair up. Rick sat opposite him.
"Guards wait outside," Ariton said. The guards headed out.
"Why are you here? That's what you want to know?" Ariton asked.
"It would be nice if someone would tell me," Rick said.
"Well let me first explain something to you outworlder."
"Is that an insult?"
"No..not really," Ariton said. "You are not on your planet anymore. The one you call Earth."
"Then where am I?"
"Our planet has no name. We haven't gotten around to giving it one yet. Regardless of that..you are in the country of Jasoriko.
"So?"
"Hmm..good question. There is a lot that will need to be explained, but let me sum it up for you. This is a land filled with magic, magical people, items, geographic locations, anything you can think of it, there's probably a magical something somewhere. When enough of these magical things are thrown together it can open portals to other worlds. And that's what happened."
"How?" Rick asked.
"That is a long story. Needless to say," Ariton said. "It happened. And you and all of your comrades were brought here."
"Brought here? To this country?"
"No..see there was very little control in the reaction. The ones with magical powers have been spread across this continent. I have no idea where any of them are. But..you all are here."
"I need to find them."
"In time..you may get the chance, but let me explain to all that is
happening."
"We didn't manage to lose em this time!" Steve muttered as he and Mike went stumbling through the brush, several weapon bearing humans raced after them.
"You know if we transformed they wouldn't be a problem," Mike said.
"Good idea, you distract them, I'll transform," Steve said.
"Ahh..that was not the idea," Mike said.
"Ehh..just keep running," Steve said. The two dashed down a wooded slope.
Guardian Saturn had since made it a few more miles down the brush, but it was a long walk. He had encounter several more tiger-bears, or biger, as he thought developing a nickname for them. He hadn't want to move to quickly for fear of stumbling into something he didn't understand. Still...this was getting awfully annoying. There was just so much mountain to climb down. And he was getting pretty sick of it. Another biger emerged from the brush.
"Great..another one," he said and blasted it. The biger fell to the ground like the rest had before. But Saturn heard a growl. He turned to see several biger's racing down the trail at him.
"Uh oh..guess they woke up!" he said and leapt down the path the animals
angrilly racing after him.
Sy banked his bird intowards a plateau at a mountain. It came to a stop in front of a cave. Sy jumped off and helped Serena down.
"Just what kind of bird is that?"
"Bird?" Sy asked.
"Uh..what is it?" Serena asked.
"Oh it's an eagle."
"That's a pretty big one."
"How big are they were you come from?"
Serena made a gesture with her hands.
"Jeez..they aren't even born that small," Sy said.
The two walked into the cave. The eagle followed.
"Do eagle's eat anyone?" Serena asked.
"Not if they don't have to," Sy said with a grin.
"Just where are we going?" Serena asked.
"Well our base is in the middle of the mountain, so that's where were going," Sy said.
"Oh...." Serena said. "Okay."
"So what were you doing out on the plains?"
"I'm trying to figure out where the heck I am."
"You're in the zone," Sy said.
"The what?"
"Well that's what it's called. "The zone." See none of the four major countries have ever settled on a name."
"By countries what do you mean by that?"
"Hmm..you mean you don't know? Aren't you from one of them?"
"I'm from Japan."
"Japan? Never heard of it."
"Hmm..that's not a good sign," Serena said.
"Why?"
"Uh..it would take some time explain."
They kept descending until they reached a large lit area, where there were many men, women, and children milling about.
"Sy? Who's that with you?" came a large female voice.
"Someone I found out on the flats. The army was chasing her," Sy said.
"And you just brought her back here?" the woman said.
"Well..I..thought.."
A figure, heavily armored, stepped out in front of Serena.
"And who are you?" She asked.
"Serena Tsukino."
"Tsukino? Strange name, sounds almost made up."
"How do you know she's not a spy Sy?"
"I don't, but I thought that," Sy said.
"We'll find out soon enough, seize her!" the woman said.
"Now wait just a minute," Serena said before she was grabbed from behind.
CHAPTER 231 CHAPTER 232 CHAPTER 233 CHAPTER 234 CHAPTER 235
CHAPTER 236 CHAPTER 237 CHAPTER 238 CHAPTER 239 CHAPTER 240
CHAPTER 241 CHAPTER 242 CHAPTER 243 CHAPTER 244 CHAPTER 245
CHAPTER 246 CHAPTER 247 CHAPTER 248 CHAPTER 249 CHAPTER 250
CHAPTER 251 CHAPTER 252 CHAPTER 253 CHAPTER 254 CHAPTER 255