Shen Hollows's Story

Shen lay hidden in a cave, breathing heavily. There were cuts, scratches, and bruises all over his body. He wiped off a drop of blood off his cheek that had begun to trail towards the floor. Stealing food is such a drag... People and their fucking dogs... Shen picked up an apple, examined it, and bit into it. Aaaah... the first bite was always the best. As he sat there, eating his apple and staring at the ceiling, thunder boomed off in the distance. Sounds like it's gonna rain. Perfect timing. Shen forced himself up off the floor and carried a pail he had stolen from a nearby village outside. He set it down and stare at the sky for a second before returning to his spot in the back of the cave. Shen finished his apple, lay his head down, and before he knew it he had fallen asleep.

Shen was dreaming. "Shen, Shen, listen to me okay? You must not follow your father and I. Stay with your sister until we come back." All he could see was his mother's mouth, forming the words she was speaking. She took her hands off his shoulders and started to walk away. As he ran to chase after her, the portal that usually swallowed her opened up and swallowed him this time. He was thrown out into a park filled with other people. But these people were weird. They didn't have pointed ears and they were wearing weird clothing. There was a lot of noise, and the sun was shining brighter than it had in his world in a long time. A younger child ran up to him, "Sir, I think you're lost..."

Shen bolted up and hit his head on the cave's low ceiling. "Ouch! Damn, that hurt." He was drenched in sweat, so he took his shirt off and took a deep breath. He hadn't had that dream in a long time. Something must have changed or something will be changing very soon. And it won't be a small one. Shen wiped the sweat off of his face before getting up and slowly making his way to the mouth of the cave. He took the pail, took a sip of water, and washed off his face and neck. It wasn't until he almost stepped on a little cat in the entrance that he noticed it was there. He was thrown for a minute, but he got down on his knees and gently stroked the cat. It was soft... and he had to admit it was pretty cute. Shen had always liked cats. His sister Marina had had one that was the exact same color of this cat. He sighed at the memory, stood up, and went to go find a new outfit in some nearby cottage.

Shen was running through the woods when he saw 2 girls standing next to a piano. How weird... a piano out of all things. A girl with blue hair seemed to have been the player, seeing as she was sitting on the bench. A smaller one had blonde hair and cat ears and- Well wasn't that just great? Some creepo was spying on all three. Shen walked over in the middle of their circle. He just pointed at the guy behind the tree and said, "Oi. I think you guys have a visitor." He smirked, not caring if everyone else was wondering who the hell he was. "And you, Blue Hair, have a hair in your face... it's bugging me." With that, Shen tucked it behind her ear before running off into the forest.

Aron was embarassed by the random stranger's comment. Aron walked out from behind the tree, and embarassingly said,
"I'm sorry....it's just.....i couldn't help but listen to the beautiful song you were playing....just now....you did a great job....."
Aron looked around for a while, then slowly started to speak.
"Well......i guess i better be....on my way....."

Tamako watched as two more people came onto the scene, one of them saying a few words and running off. The second one came out from behind a tree, seeming embarrassed and quiet. He looked as though he were a young adult, slightly older than herself. Deciding it would be too soon to come out, Tamako decided to watch the three from a distance, curious as to what any of them were doing there, especially the man.

Nemui opened her eyes, as a figure left the cave. She could smell his scent on her and realized she felt a little warm. Did e pet me!? He tail poofed out a little as she jumped up. "That stupid!..hey." She walked to the entrance of the cave. "He left his pale here." She looked off into the distance, amazed that the boy had already made it to the tree line of the forest. "Hey!" She called out, though it was obvious that she was too far away for her little voice to be heard. She looked over at the pale again. I could just keep it, but what would I do with a pale? Plus it's not even shiny and I already have two different colored ones. The little cat let out a small sigh, she might as well try to return it to him.

A dark purple light surrounded her for a moment before she was standing on two feet and clothed in a little black dress. She picked up the pale, half full with water, and started running towards he tree-line where the figure had disappeared. "Stupid human." She muttered to herself as she reached the tree-line, thankful that it had stopped raining and was starting to get warm again. She continued walking through the forest before the sound of a piano could be heard in the distance. Nemui, now a little girl in her human form, turned her head in the direction of the sound, her ears pricking forward. It was a beautiful sound, though not even close to the sound of her bell, but still pretty.

She made her way through the trees, then spotted someone standing behind a tree a little further off from where the piano sound had been coming from before it stopped. Nemui narrowed her eyes a little. Something about this persons scent wasn't right. It made her feel uncomfortable. She dropped the pale and changed back into her cat form as she leaped up a nearby tree, then hopped from one to the next with the help of her wings before landing on a branch above the strange human. She looked over to where she watched as the person she was pursuing walked off into the trees away from two girls, one who had been playing the piano. She'd catch him later, right now she wanted to know who this person was. "Hey" she said, climbing onto a lower branch just above the boy, "You don't have the same scent as the other humans from this world. Where the heck are you from?" She said, her tail waving back and forth slowly and her ember eyes narrowed.

Penelope looks at all the people standing around her nervously. She keeps her blue hair out of her face as per the one boy's request. She notices the blonde boy appearing from behind a tree and blushes slightly because he was secretly watching.
"O-oh...thank you." she says, "d-do you want me to play another song?"

Damn... just my luck to get into a fight after I've finally found some nice clothes! Shen was holding onto a bag he had snatched and filled with clothes out of some young man's dresser. He had come outside to find the man waiting for him right outside the house. Now the two were fist fighting, and Shen was running out of energy.
Man: "Who do you think you are, boy?! What gives you the right to go steal others clothes and resources? You aren't the only one who is trying to survive in this crumbling world!"
Shen: "I have to do what I have to do!" Shen dodged a punch before catching an opening and slamming the man in the gut. "You think I like having to resort to this low stealing to survive? I DON'T!"
He kicked the man in the stomach once more before the man fell on the ground, defeated. He glared at Shen, his eyes full of disgust and hatred. The look caused Shen's heart to skip a beat, as the hurt sunk in. He'd been given looks like that his entire life while he had only been trying to survive. Shen bent down and picked up the bag of stolen clothes. He looked into the man's eyes and said, "I swear, one day I will pay you back for this." Then Shen picked up the sack and ran back into the woods. He had a black eye, blood streamed out of his nose, and there was a deep gash in his upper right arm. Soon Shen felt the energy draining from his body. He barely made it to a calm river before he sank to his knees in the grass. He washed his face and ripped part of his shirt to tie around his wounded arm. "Tch... what a pain. Literally."

Noah sat quietly under a large tree with silver petals that stood on the top of a grassy hill over looking a small village; the village she was ordered to take over. She'd heard Getsus loud and clear, but didn't bother replying. The petals continued to slowly fall around her, settling silently on the grass. She stood up and the few petals that decided to rest on Noah's lap fell to the ground as she stared down at the village. It looked peaceful enough, but she knew she was about to destroy that quiet peace and it would be so simple. So far the Dream Dimension had been too easy to tear down, and it would only be a matter of time before it was completely under the rule of Getsus Enterprises.

She pulled a little jar out of a little bag strapped to the belt around her waist and popped it open before tapping it a few time with her finger. Four little purple flecks floated down onto the ground and slowly begun to transform as she shut the jar and slid it back into the little pocket on her belt. Four of the smaller shadow bugs she carried with her stood in front of her, white eyes and sharp smiles, kind of looking like little children and only as tall as her knees. "I want Lumi, Felli, and Pon to hide yourselves within the village until I give order to attack." She said, naming three of them from left to right. She'd given each of her shadow bugs a name, something she did often when she found something she liked. She shadow bugs might look terrifying to other people, but for some reason Noah found them to be a little cute. "Fonfon," she said, pointing at the smaller on on the far right, "You stay with me." she said, then leaned back against the tree. "Off you go." she said and in an instant the three of them vanished and made their way to the village, leaving the one she'd called 'Fonfon' with Noah. First she would approach the village and ask them to surrender peacefully, if not, then she would head onto plan B and take it by force. Now if only she could find out where Aron was.

She was about to sit back down in the grass before she spotted a figure a little further off near a river than ran behind the village. She narrowed her eyes a little. Perhaps she could get information out of this person. Knowing the villages layout would help, and if there were any possible soldiers withing the village, she could know it from this person. She walked down the hill towards the river, the little shadow bug known as 'Fonfon' trailing behind her like a little lost puppy. She walked up behind the man, but kept a few feet apart from him. "Would you happen to be a citizen of this village here?" She asked, her face blank and her voice calm. She held the handle of her sword for precautions, but didn't draw it so not to alarm the man. Fonfon slunk up behind Noah and positioned itself centimeters away from her right foot, its face curious, yet ready for any order Noah would give it.

Shen leaned his head back, getting an upside down view of the girl. After about three seconds he rolled his eyes and sat back up, staring down into the river water. He hated people like her. People who thought they were hiding everything, but were in fact extremely easy to read. Shen's voice was low, filled with venom as he spoke. "What is this, little puppy? You want me to tell you about the village you're about to burn down? Fat chance." Shen stood up and turned to face Noah, nothing but anger and hatred burning in his deep blue eyes. He got right up in her face and took a fistful of her shirt in his hand. "You assholes think you can come in here and take over a world you know nothing about. You storm in here, not giving a damn about everyone else, and try to take over our dream dimension. Well listen here." Shen's entire body was shaking from anger and fatigue as he said with absolute certainty, "You won't win. You may be winning now, but you will not win. You will NOTtake our home away from us." Shen let go of her shirt and jumped into the river without a word. He had taken his shirt off earlier and it was lying in the grass. He stayed under water for about a minute before he came back up to breathe again. The water had calmed him down a little, and his voice was softer and more childlike than it had been before. "You think you're doing something noble, when in fact all you're doing is causing other people pain and suffering for your own benefit."

Noah wasn't really all that surprised at the boys answer, since she knew word of them had already spread throughout the Dream World. What did surprise her was when he stood up and took a hold of the collar of her shirt. She took a small step back but he had a good grip on the cloth, though the fact that he was much taller than her didn't make her feel any weaker. She tightened her grip on the handle of her katana, but didn't unsheathe it and didn't call for the shadow bug to do anything either. She didn't really find a reason too.

"You won't win. You may be winning now, but you will not win. You will NOTtake our home away from us."

Noah's face showed no emotion at the man's words, but she relaxed her shoulders a little when he let go of her and jumped into the river. She released her hand from her sword handle and straightened out her clothes, then looked down at him in the water after he surfaced.

"You think you're doing something noble, when in fact all you're doing is causing other people pain and suffering for your own benefit."

Noah's blank expression stayed the same, though her blue eyes saddened a little. "Yes, I'm well aware of the consequences." She said calmly, then turned and knelt down in front of the little bug. "Fonfon, have the others positioned themselves yet?" She asked and in return Fonfon gave a small squeak and nodded its head. Noah smiled softly to it and patted its head. "Good." She said, then stood back up. "It was nice meeting you." She said blankly to Shen, then pulled out a little radio and pressed one of the buttons. "Aron, did you hear the order given earlier? I've already got bugs positioned inside, are you any where nearby?" She said, speaking into the little microphone.

Shen sat there, staring at his reflection in the water as she spoke. That's when it hit. Another vision, except this one was stronger than the last.

Burning. Everything was burning. There was nothing but smoke in the air, as people were running and screaming. Shadow bugs swarmed overhead, and an older man was yelling orders at his subordinates. People who couldn't escape the fire lay dying all around him. There was no light in sight. If the fire wasn't controlled soon, everything would burn to ashes.

Shen clutched at his forehead and tried not to cry out in pain. He was already injured, and now his head was pounding as if he'd just been hit with a jackhammer. I have to do something... I have to do something. Shen couldn't think of anything else as he staggered towards the shore. He forced himself into his clothes and looked at Noah one more time. There was an exhausted but knowing look in his eyes. "You can't do this. You have no idea what will happen if you do." Then he burst off into the forest, headed towards the group of people he had seen earlier. He could barely function as it was, and if he wanted to save the lives of the people in the village, he was going to need help.

Noah turned her head and watched the boy dash off into the forest near the river. She watched after him and let out a small sigh. "Fool." she murmured to herself. He didn't seem like the kind of person to run off so he wouldn't be caught in the commotion of the village being taken over. She knew he was off to warn someone, as if it would make much of a difference. She could take on just about anyone, even without the help of the shadow bugs. She'd already helped take down a few villages in this world and this one wouldn't be any different.

She didn't like having to kill to get what she wanted, but orders were orders and she never really knew anything but obedience. It was just the way she was raised. "I'm going to head into the South Entrance of the village." She said, turning her attention back to the little device in her hand. "I doubt I'll need any assistance but if you're nearby, help any way you can." At least that would make Getsus give Aron a little credit. She noticed the guy spaced out a lot, like he didn't like helping Getsus Enterprises all that much. She put the communication device away and started making her way up river with Fonfon trailing behind once again. She'd never failed to take down a village here yet, and she wasn't about to fail.

Serena opened her eyes, blinking a couple of times until her vision wasn’t blurry anymore. She hadn't slept well. She had dreamed about her parents, and the way they had been brutally murdered by Getsus Enterprises. She had always liked to hang out with dreamwalkers on the seashore or river banks, but now she didn't know which ones she could trust. She pushed herself up and brushed some water plants off of her light blue tail.

Serena swam out of her under water cave and looked around, quickly inspecting the water, like she always did. Once she was certain that everything was safe, she swam to the place where the sea connected to one of the rivers of Interactive Dream Dimension. As she swam through the river she grabbed some water flowers to bring along as a snack.

When she arrived at her destination she swam up to the surface and rested her arms on the river bank. She looked at the little village in front of her. This was one of her favorite places to be. Though all of her friends had moved to another village in an attempt to flee from Getsus Enterprises, she still liked it here. Watching two-legged creatures living their lives was quite interesting.

Suddenly she saw a boy run off and disappear into the forest. He was fast, for a human. He had looked a little panicked and he was wounded. She could feel it if a wounded creature was nearby. She wondered if he was alone too.

Serena rested her chin on her hands, nibbling one of the water flowers, silently observing the village. Something about the village felt different. Like something was wrong. She'd felt this way before and could only hope it wasn't what she thought it was.

Shen ran as fast as his body could carry him. His vision was getting blurry, but he forced himself to stay conscious. The vision had sapped away the last of his energy, and now he was fighting on pure willpower alone. He made it back to the group he had seen before. All were sitting around, talking as if their world weren't being torn apart right in front of their very eyes. Shen was panting wildly, but he caught is breath and said, "LISTEN! SHUT UP AND LISTEN! ANOTHER VILLAGE IS ABOUT TO BE BURNED. MORE LIVES ARE GOING TO BE LOST!." His voice commanded attention, and even though he was exhausted, his voice was loud and firm. He looked each person in the eye as he said, "Look, I know you don't know me, and I know you Dream Walkers have no idea what is going on but... If you don't want this world to waste away, you have to listen and you have to help me."

Shen looked on hopelessly has everyone stared at him with wide eyes, not saying anything. "Tch! I don't have time for this!" He spun around and ran as fast as his legs could carry him back to the village. He returned to find people screaming and running away. Everything was on fire, and shadow bugs were everywhere. Without thinking, he ran through the village, helping people to get away. Most were able to get away on their own, but there were children and older people who were struggling. Shen helped as many people as he could. Even though he felt as if he was going to pass out, he forced himself to keep going. As he was passing a cottage, he heard crying inside. Shit... there's one trapped inside. Shen opened the door to find everything on fire. The crying was coming from upstairs. Shen ran up the stairs to find a little girl with long, wavy light pink hair cowering in the corner. He ran over to her and picked her up. She started to fight him, kicking her legs and flailing her arms. "Let me go! I don't know you! Put me down! Mama will find me!" Shen was not in the mood for this. He held her tighter and talked into her ear, "Hey, I'm here to help you escape. Your mom probably doesn't even know you're here, and by the time she figures that out, this whole house will be burned down." This realization quieted the girl and she held still.

The man who ran off earlier had returned in a panic. Tamako looked at him curiously as he caught his breath and spoke.

"ANOTHER VILLAGE IS ABOUT TO BE BURNED. MORE LIVES ARE GOING TO BE LOST!"

Tamako said nothing, staring at him with wide eyes. She had no clue what to do; she wanted to help somehow, but she had no experience in fighting and no weapons to protect herself with. As she struggled to think, the man grew impatient and ran off towards the village. "H-hey, wait!" Tamako called out to him, running towards him. He was too fast, and she eventually lost sight of him; however, she arrived to see the village being attacked. Looking around, she saw the strange blonde man from before run into an alley, abandoning the strange creatures around him. She rushed to follow him, wanting to know who he was and why he had attacked the village.

The girl nodded and held tighter to Shen's clothes. As he carried her out, Shen noticed that the rest of the village was almost empty except for the shadow bugs. He set the girl down in the woods and told her to run along while he went to make sure there was no one else inside the village. As the girl watched Shen stagger off, she sent a silent thank you to God and the universe for sending him to save her life. Ten minutes later, Shen returned to find the girl was still waiting for him. "What are you still doing here? Shouldn't you be looking for your family?" The girl shook her head. "It's getting dark. I can't go by myself." Shen sighed. Great. Now I have to help her find her mother. "Okay. Well my name is Shen. I'll help you look for your mother in the morning, but for right now-" Suddenly the woods swayed around him. Before he knew it, Shen was on the ground completely unconscious. He had reached his limit. The little girl jumped back alarmed before rushing over and putting her hand in front of Shen's mouth to make sure he was still breathing. "Hmmm... I'll be right back." The girl ripped off a portion of her long white dress and headed towards the river to get some water. When she arrived on the riverbank, she noticed the mermaid and the other older girl. She made sure to stay far away from them as she dipped the cloth in the cool water.

Serena didn't expect the girl to react the way she did. As the girl fell into the water Serena pulled back her trident and waited for the girl to climb up again. This girl can't possibly be with Getsus Enterprises...

"I'm guessing you're the one who sent the snakes," the girl said, pulling out her weapon. It was a fancy weapon. Certainly not one a citizen here would have. Okay, maybe she is one of them. Serena raised her trident, ready to use it if necessary.
"I'm sorry but I killed one."

"I know. The snakes only let go when killed. If you hadn't killed it it would still be on your ankle now. But it hurt you badly enough." It probably gave some people the time to get away safely.

Serena felt a small movement in the water and looked to the right. There was a little girl at the river bank. She was quite far away, but still an easy target. Would the Getsus girl attack her if she saw her? Was she really that evil? It was possible. Serena had seen it before. Heartlessly these people had killed her parents, who were just trying to defend their home. The mermaid's head filled with anger. Serena always hoped she wouldn't have to use the trident to attack someone, but if the little girl was going to be attacked, she wouldn't have a choice.

Serena noticed the venom was wearing off and tried to distract the girl.

"Why do you do this? Don't you care about any of these people?" she asked, trying to stay calm.

Noah stood up and pulled her hair over her shoulder to ring it out as the mermaid explained that the snakes would only let go when killed. That was something Noah hadn't known before, since the last time she was bitten she did the same thing she'd done for this one was immediately kill it. She brushed her hair back behind her shoulders again before sitting back down to remove her shoes and dump them out.

"Why do you do this? Don't you care about any of these people?"

She paused a moment at the question and looked down the womans head in the water. She had her trident raised a little as if ready for an attack at any moment, but Noah didn't feel very worried. She didn't think the mermaid would actually do anything unless Noah made the first move. She didn't answer for a moment as she removed her left shoe and shook it out before putting it back on and gently remove her left shoe to also dumb the water out. "I'm just doing what is ordered of me to do." She said blankly, slipping her right shoe back on carefully so she wouldn't hurt her ankle. "I gave those people in the town a choice, but they chose the wrong one. Simple as that." She stood back up again and started to strap her belt back on when she spotted a small figure in the corner of her eye down river. She turned her head and narrowed her eyes a moment. It was a little girl, probably from the village. What is she doing? She seemed to be dipping something in the water.

Noah picked up her sword and slid it back into its sheath before, glancing over at the mermaid for a moment, she turned and started to walk, though limping a little bit, down river where the girl was. She kept a short distance between herself and the river in case the mermaid tried to do anything until she stopped a few feet from where the girl was. "Excuse me, do you belong to this village here?" She asked the girl, though she already knew that that was most likely the case. "You shouldn't be this close to it right now, it's not safe." She said, supporting herself on her left leg.