Introduction
Such a gorgeous day.... she thought to herself. A teenage girl was walking down a
path in a park where she lived, admiring the early March weather. Winter had just finished
not longer than a week ago, all the snow had finally melted, and hardly a cloud was in the
sky. It was a perfect day. She had been there for a little under an hour, and was about to
return home. The bell tower on the other side of the park had just rung twelve noon about
ten minutes ago, so she felt she had been there long enough. Yet, something felt somewhat
strange. That's when it hit her. More correctly, that's when she hit her.
"OW! Oh my god, I'm so sorry, miss! I wasn't paying attention. You're... You aren't hurt,
are you?"
She stared at this strange girl, who looked about her age- in fact, they more than likely
were in the same grade in school. "No. I'm fine. Just slow down, okay?"
The strange girl stood up, and stared for a second before beginning to speak again. "That
reminds me, my name is Asano Tsukiko. Again, sorry for running into you."
"Hi, Tsukiko. My name is Hamano Yumi."
"Well, I need to get home soon, or my mom will get mad at me. Can we meet here
tomorrow?"
Yumi thought about the idea of meeting with this girl, and although it felt strange,
she decided it wasn't that big of a deal. Perhaps they do in fact see each other every day
at school, and she just doesn't notice. "Okay. Do you live around here?"
"Yeah, I do actually. My house is just a bit down that way, a block or so. Anyway,
bye,Yumi-san!" answered Tsukiko.
"Alright. See you tomorrow!" Yumi shouted in reply.
Yumi returned home after the unplanned meeting, but no matter what she did, something
felt strange. She was thinking about the girl she had just met, and couldn't shake it off
her mind. Its not like there's anything special about her. Not that I know of at least. Why
should I become this obsessed with her? I don't even really know anything about her but her
name!
The next day, at around the same time, Tsukiko arrives at the park, in the very same
spot, and waits anxiously to get to better meet this new friend of hers. After what seemed
like half an hour, if not a full one, she began to wonder. Maybe I am just a bit early.
I'll keep waiting.
Yumi finally arrived, seeming to suddenly burst into existence from behind a tree.
"Hey, Tsukiko-san." she slyly commented.
They had only just met, so the honorific seemed awkward to its receiver. "-San?"
"You called me Yumi-san earlier, so I figured I'd return the favor." she replied. The two
girls walked innocently down the path, oblivious to the world around them, which acted in
due part, being seemingly oblivious to them as well.
Tsukiko was half-embarrassed by this strange meeting, seeing as she had few friends
herself, and they met in such a peculiar manner, it seemed odd that they would
intentionally meet afterwards. She also lacked conversational skills, but tried anyway to
keep the mood flowing. "So... how have you been?" Her efforts were met well.
"I'm not too bad. It's such a beautiful day, isn't it?"
"I guess." She continued to struggle, hoping not to horribly screw up the next word.
"What do you mean?"
Yumi looked to the sky, then back to the ground, and admired the park around her. The
weather was even nicer than yesterday, the flowers blooming, nothing could be wrong with
this moment, although nothing was all that special about it either. "The sky, the flowers,
what little we have of clouds...." Her words flowed poetically from her lips, as did her
hair as a breeze began to pick up, then die down again. She seemed so elegant so easily, it
almost made Tsukiko somewhat jealous.
"Well, I guess you're right. The flowers are really beautiful." Tsukiko’s response
seemed to be a dud in her own mind. What exactly she was trying to accomplish through her
speech was completely unknown to the speaker and all who heard her. Yumi simply sat in the
grass, admiring the beautiful life springing forth around her, waiting for nothing to
happen, other than time to merely pass by.
"They aren't the only things that are beautiful, Tsuki-chan."
Then a sudden flash of darkness, like a massive bird flying through the sun, then
quickly springing forth back to noonday sunshine. Everyone who saw the shadow seemed to be
perplexed by it, despite its simpleness.
Then a immense crash, as the object that for the blink of an eye, eclipsed the sun,
slammed to a sudden stop in a nearby road.
Tsukiko shouted in utter excitement. Something amazing had just happened not three
hundred feet from her! "Come on, Yumi! Let's go check it out!"
"No way! Who knows what the hell that was. I say stay here and ignore it."
"Yeah, but thats boring! Please?!" she begged and whined until her friend agreed to come
along. What they saw, was so much more than any one could have ever imagined.
The object that crashed into the ground was a large sphere, made of some completely
foreign metal from as far as perhaps a different galaxy. It was silvery, very luminescent,
and deformed into a nugget from the fall. A strange, very low, humming noise began to emit
from the space material, and a large chunk breaks off the top. Curious, Tsukiko decides to
examine it a bit more closely, if not foolishly. She placed her hand against the stone, and
was intensely shocked by a jolt of static, and a large burst of heat.
"OW!" she yelped. "Stupid rock...." Taking her anger out, she kicks the thing, only
to injure her foot in much the same way.
"That wasn't smart." muttered Yumi, half under her breath.
Yet, Tsukiko refused to lose to a rock, so she puts her hand on it one more time,
this time feeling no pain whatsoever. She feels the rock is hollow, and punches it at full
strength. She wasn't a very strong girl, yet it still dented the metal.
"What the hell are you doing?!" blared Yumi at the top of her lungs, worried about
her slow-learning friend.
"Beating this stupid thing up, what's it look like?" she answered.
"Well, cut it out. You'll only hurt yourself."
"I want to see what is inside."
"What makes you think there is anything...." Another loud rumble cuts her off. More
large chunks begin to crack and fall apart, landing harmlessly on an empty street. The
crowd that had gathered here stared in awe as the structure proved it was in deed created
by aliens by reforming back into a perfect sphere with all the pieces that fell off. A look
of terror strikes across Yumi's face, yet Tsukiko remains surprisingly blissful.
A strange feeling wrapped itself inside of the girls' minds, seemingly calling their
names.
It's a sort of moon, I'm a child of the moon. It won't hurt me.... The naive thoughts of
Tsukiko prevailed, as she continued to recklessly study the structure, not bothered by the
crowd or the police.
The voice began to call them louder, though still not aloud. "You need not be afraid.
I am not here to hurt you, Guiding Light, Child of the Moon. I am here to guide you."
Tsukiko proudly declared this as proof that the structure was indeed, harmless.
"Harmless?! This thing could KILL us!" screamed Yumi.
"Could. But won't." remarked the seemingly brave Tsukiko.
An officer slowly walked towards the girls, urging them away from the object. Yet,
Tsukiko held her ground, just as a bright flash shone around the girls. As it died down,
they disappeared.
Suddenly, they found themselves where they never thought they would be: inside the
colossal metal sphere. The voice started to speak again. "Please, do not be scared. You are
safe. Perhaps we should move this. Humans have an annoying tendency to wonder at the world
around them."
Yumi stared into the darkness, unable to see beyond a few feet. "You could at least
show yourself, you know?"
"You are right." the voice replied. A rather tall man dressed completely in white, with
shining silver-colored hair stood before them, holding out his hands as a welcoming
gesture. "Now then, for the time being, you shall know me as 'Orb'. I shall explain
everything as the time comes, but for now, we must hurry. Enough time has been lost."
Still, the girls could not entirely accept their situation. A myriad of questions
entered their minds.
"What IS this anyway?!" demanded Yumi.
"It is the shell of what we call a 'Terrademon'. They almost look like oversized
rats. Of course, I hollowed at the shell and expanded it a little to suit me as a vessel.
Otherwise, it could have taken even longer to reach you girls."
"Why us? What do you want, anyway?" Yumi screamed. This was basically abduction by
aliens, right? He obviously wasn't from Earth, they thought, and despite appearing calm and
friendly, something just didn't seem right.
"A very long time ago, our world was ravaged by a great force of destruction, and
nearly destroyed our entire existence. We cannot tell what its plans were, and if other
worlds were soon to suffer our fate as well. Yours included. For all we know, our fighting
this beast could very well have saved your world from utter annihilation." The
silver-haired man who called himself "Orb" seemed to become anxious, and stopped answering
questions. So many more went left unasked.
He merely raised one of his hands, and everything suddenly turned white. His voice
rang in their minds once more, just before regaining full consciousness. "Remember, my
children. On the Night of the Sun, stand in the horizon. Your dreams will be made full."
Once the light faded away, Yumi and Tsukiko found themselves in a wide open field, with no
signs of anyone, or anything, else in sight.
Yumi began to look around at the new world around her, unlike anything she's ever
seen.
Meanwhile, Tsukiko merely enjoyed the flowers that populated the ground like a colony of
ants.
"Wow!" exclaimed a bewildered Tsukiko. "Such gorgeous flowers! I wish we had ones
like them back home.
Yumi replied to this remark and the girls continued to explore the area around them,
using a large stream they found as a guide. Eventually, they stumble upon a large golden
gate with a fence extending seemingly forever in both directions. Tsukiko attempted several
times to open the strange wall, but failed each and every time.
"HEY! CAN SOMEBODY OPEN THIS FOR ME? OR TELL ME WHAT IT IS?" "Be quiet. We don't even know
where we are or... how we got here." Kuri butted in.
"Need help?" came an unfamiliar voice from nearby.
The girls turned around and saw before them a strange figure. He was fairly tall,
with long brown hair, and a dark look in his eyes, as if he had just witnessed a very
tragic scene, yet his expression seemed to contradict this. He simply stared at the girls
for a mere moment, then turned toward the large metal gate that stood in front of them. He
somehow opened the gate with ease, without even so much as a key or other hint to its being
locked. "There you go. I would assume you two to be... not from here. My name is Tsubasa.
Follow me, will you?" Tsukiko went without thought, while Yumi protested a little, only to
have Tsukiko remind them they were probably not on Earth any longer, so safety was
relative.
"So, where are you girls from?" inquired Tsubasa.
"We're from... well, I guess Earth." Yumi answered.
"Where would that be?" It became apparent that, technically, they were in fact
abducted by aliens, yet, it felt more like an alternate reality.
Yumi merely looked, no where in particular, then finally directly at Tsubasa.
"Then... what is 'here'?"
"We call this place, or what's left of it at least, Atlas. Well, if I am to be of any
help, do you at least know how you got here?"
"That much we do know." blurted Tsukiko. "Well, sort of. A silver-haired man came in
this giant rock thing and I guess, teleported us here. He said to call him 'Orb' for some
strange reason...."
Something struck Tsubasa as she said this, as if every question was just answered
somehow. "I know exactly who you're talking about. He's actually a friend of mine. I'll
explain more later, but for now, let me take you somewhere. Trust me, okay?" With that, he
lead them to a large structure that lay atop a large hill surrounded by almost nothing but
grass. On the way, they passed through a small town, but otherwise ignored it for the most
part.
As they approached the structure, they noticed a tall, slender, silver-haired man
sitting outside it next to a bunch of four-foot human-shaped wooden dummies, about ten or
so. "Hey, Tsubasa-san!" he called out as they got within earshot.
"I guess this is the guy you were talking about?" asked Tsubasa.
"Y-yes, Tsubasa-san." replied the girls.
"Orubu-san, these would be Yumi-chan and Tsukiko-chan. I had a nice chat with them on
the way here."
"Good. Nice to meet you again, Yumi, Tsukiko. From now on, me and Tsubasa will be
your teachers. I hate to force you into this, but we need to train you girls. That's why we
brought you here. Sorry, but you will just have to get used to it." 'Orubu' clearly
explained the situation to the girls, although he never hinted towards his motives.
Tsukiko, as well as Yumi, began to wonder why they are needed. Why they need to be trained.
Why they were brought to Atlas in the first place.
Unfortunately, it seemed they had plenty of time to think on that.
"Orubu-sensei, what exactly are...." Before Tsukiko could finish, her question was
answered.
"As you can tell, we will be training you in the arts of combat. I'm more adept at
magic casting, while Tsubasa-san here is our resident weapons expert. A pretty balanced
team, if you ask me."
"Speaking of weapons," Tsubasa jumped in, "What kind of fighting styles do you two
plan on using anyway? I can't guarantee we can help, but we have a wide array of weaponry
available."
Tsukiko's face lit up. "Tsubasa-sensei, what do you mean by 'weaponry'?"
"Spears, bows, katanas of all lengths and sizes, not much on the heavier weapons
though."
After some thought, Yumi asked if she could use a katana, while her partner chose to
use bows, and hand-to-hand combat. Their instructors agreed, and decided to train them in
basic, weaponless styles first.
"We shall start with a pretty basic, but not necessarily simple, task." Tsubasa held
up two thin, wooden boards that looked weather damaged and weak, but sturdy enough. "As a
test to see what you already know, as well as your physical strength, try to break these."
They each attacked the boards with a decent amount of strength, but failed to break them.
After a second round of trying, Yumi managed to crack it a little, not breaking it until a
third try, by which Tsukiko had not yet damaged the board visibly at all.
"Congratulations, Yumi-chan." declared a disappointed Tsukiko, with a hint of
embarrassment since she failed to leave so much as a mark.
"Don't worry, Tsuki-chan. I've done it before." she reassured.
"Tsubasa-sensei," the innocent looking girl asked her mentor, "do I have to use my
hands?"
"Of course not. Use any methods you wish."
Tsukiko focused on the board, aimed at the middle, which seemed to be the weakest
spot, and kicked it with the intent to kill it if it was a person. It shatters into three
large chunks the instant her foot connects.
"Go, Tsuki-chan!" rang Yumi's proud voice. "See? You could do it."
"Excellent jobs. It would seem you two have physical strength enough for now, and at
least one of you appears to have been trained in martial arts a bit before?" Tsubasa said
casting a glance toward Yumi.
"Yeah, a few years ago though. I don't remember a whole lot, unfortunately, but it
will be enough to handle the situation a little easier."
They were handed wooden sticks after managing to break the boards, and guided on how
to handle a melee weapon, simply as a standard practice.
After their training, the girls returned to their respective rooms and prepared to go
to sleep, thinking about whatever was to come the following day.
Who exactly are they? What purpose do we serve, and how can we achieve that goal?
What makes us so special? How long until we can return home? No matter how much they asked,
no answer came. The questions plagued them until eventually, they fell asleep.
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