For a long time, he'd felt like he was...floating. That was the best way to put it. Everything was fuzzy for a while in the infinite blackness; he felt like he was on a train or something- conscious of movement, but at the same time perfectly still. But it was just then that he realized- 'If I'm unconscious, then wouldn't I not even have these feelings?' Before he could think on that any further, however, there was a sudden shuddering- a sharp, uncomfortable feeling throughout his body that only lasted for a moment, but was still incredibly strange. Almost as soon as it stopped, however, the fuzziness in his head started to clear- and he realized that he felt like he'd come to a stop as his eyes opened, and his vision cleared...

...underneath a sunny sky.

For a moment, his confusion reigned over anything else. Wasn't he just in an alleyway? He remembered that much...that he was going somewhere...but where, again? And for that matter, how'd he get to a forest so quickly? Or perhaps...had something worse happened to him?

Jolting up, he took note of his surroundings in a panic, one that only got worse when he noticed that he was in the center of what looked like an utterly MASSIVE crater for his knowledge. It had to be at least a soccer-field's width, and he couldn't even see over the edge properly, save! There- there was smoke everywhere, like something had collided nearby, but...

He paused, inwardly- and then outwardly- shivering as he realized the implications, shakily standing up and turning to check. But no, it was true...by all accounts, HE was the one who'd caused this. “How...what's going on?”

“Uuurrgh...” A sudden moan jolted him out of his reverie with a small yelp as he looked down to the side of him. He'd nearly recoiled at the shock of seeing a body- a very uncommon body, to boot- next to him, before his more logical mind kicked in. That was the lady he'd been guiding! Now he remembered- she'd been a bit lost and- yeah. Then that impact before he'd lost consciousness...

Before he could think any more on the subject, she stirred a bit more, shaking her head almost by instinct, and groggly opening her eyes much like he imagined he had. She had a moment of wide-eyed shock as her senses came back, and she mouthed something, but no words came out. Rolling over, she hopped to her feet, her face incredulous as she took in the surroundings. He couldn't blame her- but it was just then that he realized something odd- she seemed entirely unharmed. He took a moment to focus on himself for a moment, before realizing that he too seemed entirely alright for people who'd apparently been at the center of an explosion or the sort somehow.

But even that strangeness had to take a backseat to when she spoke. “Where the FUCK are we?!” She didn't seem angry- at least not yet, but she was most certainly confused. So was he, but for different reasons. “The hell happened?!” she half-yelled as she looked at him briefly, before turning back to almost glare at the rest of the crater like it'd do anything. He wasn't sure what to say, actually, and in the silence, she kept talking. “Last thing I remember was you were leadin' me to the gym I was goin' to, and then next then I know there's lights and...hell if I knows what else, I though it was a firework or somethin'. We both got knocked out or some shit, I think...” she trailed off, trying to work through her own logic.

Hokuto had to figure something out, himself. But...how to approach it? Perhaps... “Well, perhaps we were blinded by such, or perhaps something else?”

Almost immediately, the girl stilled- and whirled around to face him in surprise, which in turn surprised him. “Wait, you could speak perfect English the whole time?” NOW the glare was turned on him, in his utter confusion. “Why didn't ya just tell me where to go, then?”

“English?” he responded, baffled. “N-no! I- you're the one who's speaking Japanese! Very fluently, might I add!” He could at least compliment her on that. “I'd thought you didn't know how, but...” his words trailed off as her accusatory looked turned into utter bafflement again. “Eh? Is something wrong?”

When she spoke again, however...that was when he noticed something off. “What the fu...no, you're speaking crystal clear English, I PROMISE you, you-” and then she paused, just as he was about to bring it up. “Wait. Say something again. Anything. Actually, no-” and then she pointed to her own lips, and he was already nodding as she asked. “Is how my mouth moving and what you're hearing not quite lining up?”

“Yes...is...is it the same for me, then?” What was happening was...impossible, but...” You can understand me, yet...”

“Yeah...” she agreed softly. “Your mouth's not matching the syllables you're speaking. It- it's like you're a badly dubbed movie or something...” The implications of these weren't lost on them, and they both looked to the edge of the crater. “I think we need to get the hell out of here and figure out where the hell we ARE.”

“Yes.” Something...something off was happening here. Before he could worry too much about that, he noticed something else nearby. “Oh! Your bag?”

She jumped, looking in surprise. “Oh. Huh, wow, that's still here? Woulda thought someone would've stolen it...” Grabbing it, they both gave each other a quick look, then set off for the edge. It wouldn't matter which.

When they both managed to reach an edge of the crater, both of them were still silent, going over the recent events in their heads and not really in the mindspace for conversation. The climb up the bowl and over the lip fortunately wasn't too hard, despite the side of the crater being at least three times the girl's own height. There was enough loose and irregular dirt and rock to clamber up and over.

As they took in their new sites, the girl was the first to voice their thoughts. “How the FUCK did we get into a forest?!” Well, maybe with less profanity. But yes- wherever they were was a lush and tall forest, with trees all nearby. They could hear the call of various birds and bugs sound in the distance, and...well, it wasn't anything he was familiar with, in terms of forests. Judging from her confusion, the girl didn't know what was going on, either, considering how worried her voice was getting. “What the hell...were we like, human trafficked or something and dumped out here or what?” It was a question mostly asked to herself, but considering Hokuto had heard, he wasn't sure he could answer it anyway. “This don't make NO goddamn sense...” Something about that sentence was incorrect, but he couldn't put his finger on it. But, more important things to worry about.

“We might want to find food first,” he put forth. “It may take us a while to find our way out.”

“Mm.” It was a general disagreement, he could somehow tell, but had little heat behind it. “I got some snacks and water in my bag, but they ain't gonna last us very long if we gotta hoof it for like, more than a day, I think. I ate not long before I met you, and I still feel kinda full.” Turning to him in full, she looked concerned. “You had anything to eat?”

His grimace was all she needed to start rummaging. “Hold on, I got a nut bar here that'll probably hold you for a couple hours. Small bottle of water, too, gonna want to ration that...” She practically chucked both items at him before he could refuse out of politeness. “Like I said, I got a few more of those, but let's not take it too easy.” As she looked at him, he could see, for the first time, just how seriously worried she was. Her eyes were wide, and they wouldn't stay with him for longer than a second or two before darting to focus on something else. He...he couldn't blame her.

“I...thank you, Miss...?” Oh, crap. All this time, and he'd never...

Fortunately, she didn't take any offense, just chuckling. “Jessica Gaines. I guess if you can understand me somehow, better we actually have a name to call each other, huh? What about you?”

“Ah- I am Hokuto Shimamoto. Pleased to meet you,” he said as he bowed.

“Likewise, kiddo.” She grinned, inclining her head in return before turning away. “Now come on, I'm betting we got some walking to do.” Considering their situation, one direction was as good as any, he supposed, and he quickly trotted to catch up with her, taking a bite or two of the health bar as they walked.

It wasn't very good, but he was grateful for it nonetheless.

The silence as they picked their way through the wood- it was oddly even, aside from the occasional hill and rocky spot- didn't last too long. It was Jessica who broke it. “Okay, so...any clue as to how we suddenly turned on personal dubbing for each other? I thought that kinda thing was physically...impossible?” She grimaced. “I got SO many questions, but that's kinda the first one right now.”

“I wish I knew,” Hokuto admitted. “But it at least helps. Although...I...” he'd been thinking about this himself, and, well...he had one idea, but he wasn't sure he wanted to admit it to himself. “There might be something.”

She quickly turned to him, curiosity in her eyes. “Yeah!? I mean, I hadn't heard of shit like this happening in anything but sci-fi shows and fantasy books.” She REALLY had a potty mouth, huh? Well...she was his only companion. And seemed nice besides. He could put up with it.

But she'd unknowingly hit VERY close to the mark. “Y-yes. We'll need to keep walking for a bit, though. Until we can find some clear sky.” He hadn't seen it where he was in the crater, which meant it was a bit out of sight...

“What? Whatcha lookin' for?” she asked in surprise.

“The Moon,” was his salient answer. “Or A moon.”

“...” There was a pause from her as she studied him carefully. Crap, did she think he was- “Oh, HELL no.” Before he'd even finished panicking, her eyes had blown open wide and she was wearing an expression of absolutely disbelief. “You are NOT about to suggest what I THINK you're about to suggest.”

Crap, she did. “Well...there was a strange flash of light, we're somewhere we've never been before, at the bottom of a crater-”

“We did NOT get whisked away into some wacky fantasy-land!” she interrupts. “That shit doesn't exist! There ain't no such thing as magic!” To his surprised, she turned away as she said it, shaking her head. Did she not even believe herself?

Well, whether she did or not, it was all he could come up with. “I'd rather us not seek out any wildlife-”

“Duh.”

“- so the moon is the next best thing,” he continued, ignoring the interruption. “If it is the same, then we just might be somewhere on Earth, somehow. But if not...” he let the implication trail off, the conclusion obvious. Even Jessica didn't object, but he could tell she wasn't happy with the declaration. To the point where he could hear her mutter something to herself in a growling tone.

“...believe...fucking Chron...nia BULLSHIT, for real.” Oh dear. Well...perhaps he'd give her some more time to get used to the theory. In the meantime, they'd keep walking, hoping to find some sign of civilization sooner than later. Yes, that sounded good.

Two hours later, they'd gotten themselves well and truly exhausted with their hiking. At least, Hokuto was. Jessica still seemed in a foul mood, but he'd caught her looking up towards the treeline here and there, and hadn't objected when he'd requested a small break. She'd plucked out a bar herself and a small water bottle and began to eat herself. Quiet reigned for a while as the sun passed overhead- fortunately, whatever time they'd woken up seemed to be fairly early in the morning since there still seemed to be plenty light out. To his surprise, Jessica took out her cell phone, tapping on it a bit before she frowned. “No signal. Of fuckin' course. But according the clock it's about 2:30 PM.” Ah, that's good. Well, if this place still had 24 hour time. He wasn't sure, but he wasn't about to bring it up to her. She just sighed, turning off the phone- even without internet, it'd be valuable for them, he knew. Best to preserve its battery. “I hope you know something about the outdoors, because I might've been camping a bit as a kid, I don't know jack shit about doing it without a premade tent,” she admitted. The refusal to meet his eyes told him just as much about how she felt about the fact as the fact itself.

“I...don't know much, either,” he felt he had to admit. “Perhaps we can get a fire going, and...I've heard of temporary shelter...”

“Like lean-tos. Yeah, same. No clue how to make one, but we might have to learn damn fast, huh?” Her smile had no humor in it, but it was appreciated all the same. There was another quiet moment, before she spoke up again. “I think we might be on a bigass hill, or like a high valley or something. We been going 'up' for a while. You notice?”

Thinking back on it, there WAS a small incline to their travels. It'd gotten a touch steeper not long before they sat down against the trees- it was why he'd asked for a break in the first place, but now that he thought about it... “Maybe we can find a way to see above the treeline. Get our bearings.”

“Can YOU climb one of those big bastards?” she grinned, motioning to one of the massive trees. “I don't think I can. USED to, sure, but...” she paused, thinking about it. “Well, actually, I dunno. If any one of these had some branches lower to the ground, maybe, but...” she trailed off, the idea now spinning in her head.

Hokuto himself was considering other things. He'd not seen his moon proof yet- no double moons or strangeness in the sky, but that didn't mean it didn't exist. Still, their first priority was getting somewhere civilized. He didn't want to hope they'd indeed been thrown to the wilderness to die...even though that was entirely possible.

Almost as though the world had heard him, however, there was suddenly a loud screech in the distance- a thick cawing that had the both of them shoot up in shock and fear. “The fuck was that?!” Jessica asked incredulously. “Sounded like a combo of a goddamn T-Rex and a fucking crow!”

“Whatever it is, we'd best not get near it,” Hokuto said quickly. That CERTAINLY didn't sound like any animal he knew of.

“No shit,” Jessica grumbled. “Look, that sounded close. I think our break's over, so-”

Another loud cry, before it faded out, and THAT'S when a rumble shook the ground. Lightly, but the fact that the cawing stopped when it did told them that the beast might've been silenced. But by WHAT was the question. The both of them paused.

“...you think it died?” Jessica voiced out loud.

“Maybe. But do we really want to check?” Hokuto added.

“Not really, but...” and it was here she took a deep breath, and Hokuto could tell he wasn't going to like what she said next. “Remember what I said about what I got not lasting us that long?” Oh, well, looks like he was right. “If something just died...might be good meat,” she hazarded. “Might could see if it's edible, cook it and all that.

“That sounds...risky,” he hazarded. Not that he didn't understand where she was coming from, but they didn't even have any tools to work with! How was she-

Clomp, clomp, clomp. They both went still at that. It wasn't a shuddering, but it was a measured, steady footfall- and it was fairly close.

Clomp, clomp, clomp. It didn't sound like it was four legged- the sounds weren't fast enough for that. Two legged? But what animal walked on two legs loud enough to be heard from out of sight? Not to mention, it sounded rather measured. Calm.

But at least it was moving AWAY from them. And then- “Adrian!” a voice. They were shocked entirely. However, that one word was all they could hear from that distance, and even that was faint. But they'd heard it- both of them had gotten the same shocked expression on their faces.

The clomping got further in the distance, until it was gone entirely- and only then did they take a breath. “Okay,” Jessica breathed out. Hokuto nodded, even though it wasn't much of a statement. “Now come on, let's go see what they left.”

Hokuto's jaw dropped. “W-why!?”

“That was a PERSON,” she said strongly. “Meaning we're likely at least close to SOMETHING with people in it. More than one. Even if they aren't good people, we can at least tail them to something resembling civilization, I think.” The explanation was...tempting, and Hokuto found it hard to resist.

But resist he had to. Just to be safe. “And what if they're wicked? Rude?”

“That's why we're keeping our distance, duh,” Jessica riposted. “If it leads to some sorta gang hideout or something, we'll bail. I'm frankly just hoping it at least leads us to a road or something. Now come on, or we're gonna lose them entirely.” With that she began to trek in the direction of the voice. Hokuto couldn't really do anything but follow- as much as he protested, he wanted to find civilization, too, and this really WAS likely their best bet.

That didn't sit well with him.

They'd continued on for several minutes, Jessica in the lead, him at the back- he wasn't very athletic, and although he felt that, as a man, he should be at least in the front just to be safe, he couldn't deny she was keeping ahead of him well.

That had stopped when she jumped back in shock. “Geez!” she whisper-yelled. It didn't take him long to see why.

The dead beast in front of them had to be at least the size of an elephant; and it was nothing like any animal he'd seen before. A massive beak framed an avian-esque face, but the rest of the beast was quadrupedal- and quite muscular, with lustrous green scales adorning its hide. Vicious talons adorned its feet, and its beady eyes were lifeless, as the smell of the blood pouring from the neck indicated what did it in.

He wasn't sure what to say. But when he looked at Jessica, she was in naked shock as well. “...whaaaaat the fuck...?” For a moment, that was all that came out of her mouth as she tried to reconcile what he'd already begun presuming. This merely sealed it. Both of them knew this was no natural animal from Earth.

This was somewhere else entirely. A completely different world.

“What the FUCK.” It was more a statement than a question this time. “How...what the...fuck.” Before he could reach out a hand, she shook her head viciously. “Nevermind, fuck it, I'll freak out later. Right now...” And after a moment of search, her face split into a smile. “Bingo. Tracks! And look!” She pointed a bit past the fallen beast; what there was was clear wheel tracks- simple ruts into the earth, but they were noticeable. “That's gotta be a wagon or something, right?”

“I'd think so,” Hokuto agreed. “So this means...”

“They're GOING somewhere!” she silently cheered. “Come on, we need to make sure we keep up with them before the trail goes cold!” It was in a lot of underbrush, but indeed there did seem to be something of a pathway here, as the trees thinned out further in the distance. It WAS at least a promising sign...

The trail seemed to stay, at least. The ruts weren't deep, but it was clear that something was moving through this trail; what's more, that they hadn't been as deep as they'd though- the road wasn't paved, perse, but it was clearly used here and there, judging by the lesser grass and the notable gap between treelines. It was rocky, but clearly at least somewhat intentional. The tracks, according to Jessica, told of something large, three toed, like an ostrich, she hazarded. “If we really ARE not on Earth-” she'd shuddered at the thought- “Then this might just be a wagon and whatever hauls it. Looks about right, I think. Wheel grooves on the sides, prints in the middle,” she explained. “Hope they ain't got much further to go, or else things might get dicey.” They were still headed up at a bit of an angle, he'd noticed...but it also seemed like there might be an apex to the hill in the distance.

“I hope they're kinder folk,” Hokuto ventured. Jessica just nodded in agreement, huffing as she continued up.

When they crested the hill, it was just reaching early evening. They could at last see around them a bit, as the treeline had thinned enough, and they'd ventured high enough to get a look around. It seemed as though there were great mountains to the north in the far, far distance. There was more forest to the west and east, but thinner. However, that wasn't it.

No, to Hokuto? Even though it was evening, it was as though everything was at last illuminated in the brightest lights.

Because in the near distance, down a ways, in shallow, if long slope, was a village. Small, rustic, and little more than a few dozen homes and farms, true...but it was civilization at last.

“WOO!” Jessica cheered, and Hokuto could only do the same. She was already heading down, a renewed spring in her step, and a march that spoke of victory.

And yet, a part of him worried that it might be premature celebration. He hoped it wasn't.