Welcome to Gaia! ::

The cold night air clashed with the warm salty ocean air. The heavy scent of wet asphalt lingered in the air. Fresh tears still warm washed away the blush that hid her bruised cheeks. Dirty blonde hair whipping about, runny mascara, and smeared lipstick. A sobbing mess of a girl, driving dangerously fast and swerving in and out of her lane, with her phone lighting up her distorted face. “Why,” she cried to the phone. “Why did you do it? I was nothing but good to you!” The phone remained silent. Her cries and moans became hysterical as her hands left the wheel. She slammed her fists upon the wheel. “Kaleo, why did you leave me?” screamed the hysterical teenager. “For God’s sake, ANSWER ME!” A she heard on the other side was rustling of clothes. “What will I do without you,” she whimpered to herself, a little hic and gasp in between words. “What will I---“ A sigh and the voice of Kaleo, deep and cold, came on. “Alice, go home… and don’t ever call my phone again. It’s over. So just get over it already.” A click, then the light of the phone slowly dimmed and faded black.

“Kaleo, don’t you dare hang up on me!” she screamed at the darkness. “Don’t leave me; I can’t live without you… I can’t ---“ Her sentence ended abruptly for her car hydroplaned off the of the road and into a tree. She slammed into the steering wheel before the white safety bubble could even deploy, the girl’s vision faded off into darkness as she fell into a quiet slumber.

“Alice, Alice!” called out a familiar voice from the distance. “Doctor, will she be ok?”
“Mother… where am I…” She tried to move her body, tried to move her mouth. “What…is going…on?” she whispered hoarsely before slipping back into unconsciousness.

The bright light of the mid-afternoon sun woke Alice from her restless slumber. Opening her eyes, she groggily glanced around, wondering why it was so breezy and why her bed was so uncomfortable. An object fell upon the girl’s head and startled her. “What in the…” she started as she pulled the thing off of her head, only to discover that it was a browning leaf. “A leaf? Why is there a leaf in my bed?” mumbling a complaint, Alice looked up and realized that her so called ‘bed’ was really the lowest branch of a very tall breadfruit tree. “This is sooo not my bed.” She stated. “Where am I? And why am I in a tree!?” After wiggling out of her little nook in the tree and onto the ground, Alice fixed her white t-shirt that held the words “Whose Your Daddy” in big bold letters and tugged her short jeans skirt into place.

Taking in the sights around her, Alice found that this strange place she was in was really her childhood house. She glanced around, taking in the familiar tree line of the forest which surrounded the property, the wide open space that was her front yard, and the long winding walkway that lead through the garden to the old, broken down, house. “This place shouldn’t exist… it burnt down when I was nine,” Alice whispered as she stepped forward, examining the old house for any flaws in its
details. “I was there when it burnt. This must be a dream.” Pinching herself and feeling the painful sting of reality, Alice found that her experience here were indeed real. “What’s going on here?”

Suddenly the earth around her began to quake as a low rumbling sound that reverberated throughout the green valley. “What’s that?” cried Alice. CRRAAACK! The sound of wood shattering caused the girl to jump and face the direction of the thunderous noise. Almost immediately Alice wished she hadn’t. She found herself staring into the red glowing eyes of a giant black tyrannosaurus rex, Alice knew for sure she wasn’t in Kauai anymore. “Today so isn’t my day…” she muttered as she slowly backed away. Another loud CRRAACK! The sound trees breaking and the screeching noise of metal being crushed made Alice cringe in fear. Whispering a little prayer, Alice turned around slowly. She let out an exasperated sigh as another t-rex, this one was smaller with brown scales, stepped out from the tree lines and onto a parked, rusted-grey Volkswagen. The metallic noise startled the smaller lizard, which lead the little thing to shudder and whine.

Alice began to snicker. Finding some amusement in the predicament she was in, she began to smile. “I thought I had problems.” She muttered watching as the smaller dino, which she assumed was the female by watching the tiny creature fret over the rusted Volkswagen, which was stuck to her foot, and listening to the larger black rex angrily grunted and growled at her. It was pretty obvious to see that the bigger rex was the male and the female’s mate. Eventually the smaller dino slumped her shoulders and shuffled sadly back into the forest, hanging her head in shame. “Wow, what a harsh relationship.” She muttered, reminiscing about her ex- love life and how much she missed it.

With her little happy moment slowly disappearing, Alice once again realized that the danger in this new world was quite real and she was in some heavy trouble now. Her eyes traced the many white laced scars up the large dino’s body to his eyes. Sighing with relief that the lizard was still watching off his whining mate, Alice began to inch slowly away from the scene. Nibbling upon the crook of her finger anxiously, she backed herself into the breadfruit tree and began to carefully circle around it when a sudden crunching noise gave her a start, bringing the male’s attention back to her. With a roar the t-rex bowed its head with jaws opened wide and charged her. The girl froze up, tears started roll down her cheeks as the tyrant lizard drew closer. “There is nothing more to live for anyway, guess it’s time to give up living.” She mumbled in defeat.

The Giant Lizard’s movement stopped abruptly and a painful wail startled poor Alice. She winced and opened her eyes to find a strange young girl standing before her. The girl had wildly, long, red hair which curled a bit past her hip. “Argoth, you should really start picking on girls your own size.” said the red head whose ragged looking clothes where splattered with blood. The Black Rex simply snarled at her, blood dripping down from the gash above his right eye. “What the…” mumbled Alice as she took a step back. A growl and the snapping sound of a large jaw slamming shut. Feeling a tug upon her shirt, the frightened girl screamed and opened her eyes. “Am I dead?” Alice found herself staring down at Argoth, who stood below her with his mouth open wide, snarling at her. “I must be dead if I’m flying.”

A child- like voice with an odd accent replied. “You will be hume, if you continue to squirm about in my arms.” Looking up, Alice found herself staring into the lizard-like amber eyes of the red-head girl. A white object that she hadn’t noticed caught her eye. Amazed by how unobservant she was, Alice found herself staring at the large, white dragon wings which flapped steadily above her, Alice gasped. “You aren’t human! What are you?!”

The girl simply smiled, showing off the rows of razor sharp teeth that lined her mouth. “I am far from being a Hume. I am Hotarubi, daughter of King Gojira.” Hotarubi landed upon the very top of the old breadfruit tree. Helping Alice upon a sturdy branch, Hotarubi floated off the tree. “I shall be back for you. Chotto Matte Kudasai. Wait, please.”

Nervously gnawing on her finger, Alice nodded. “Be careful.” The little girl just laughed as a white tail snaked out from behind her. A wicked crescent blade gleamed on the tip of her tail. “I can handle myself.” Somersaulting through the air, Hotarubi folded her wings back and dived at the angry battle-scarred Rex. Her nails grew out to claws as little black bumps emerge from her back. The bumps turned into spikes that grew all the way down her tail. Her bare feet turned into what looked like a dragon’s claw as she plunged head first towards the maw of Argoth. Alice gasped and covered her eyes. ‘Oh God. I can’t watch.’ she thought. Another tremendous roar followed by maniacal laughter.

“Dear Argoth, you have gotten quite rusty. Perhaps I should have come and fight you more often,” teased Hotarubi whose voice had a slight hiss to it. “I think our feud shall end here.” Peeking through her hands, Alice watched as Hotarubi took a crouching stance, digging her claws into the ground, folding back her wings, and her arching her tail dangerously over her head. “Good bye, my old rival!” With that, Hotarubi opened her jaw wide, her spines beginning to glow a pale blue color as the air around them grew warm. The scent of sulfur filled the air as Hotarubi took in a gulp of air and shot out a large, sky blue fireball that consumed the black king. Argoth screeched as he was hit by the fireball, the blood dripping from both of his eyes now splattered all over the ground as he panicked.

With his final few breaths, Argoth charged Hotarubi, his jaws wide open, snapping at her. Hotarubi growled with amusement, giving another one of those mischievous smiles. Alice watched in horror as Hotarubi dived straight into the charging Argoth’s great maw. She gasped and covered her eyes, peeking through a bit to see what will unfold now that her protector was dead. Satisfied, the tyrant king fell to its knees, ready to succumb to death. As his lifeless body fell to the ground, a slobbered up Hotarubi rolled out of its jaws and sighed. Stretching out her wings and cracking her neck, the strange girl looked up at what was left of Argoth. “You died with the satisfaction of killing me,” murmured Hotarubi. “Or at least, the thought of it. Pray your young will be smarter than you were.” With that, Hotarubi flew back to Alice.

Watching as the smothering blue flame slowly flicker out and disappear, Alice turned to Hotarubi. “What are you?” she asked as they glided back down to the rocky ground. “I am a Kaiju, a giant monster,” replied Hotarubi as they landed and she placed Alice gently upon the ground. Her face became stern as she turned to Alice. “Now what are you doing on my hunting grounds, Hume?”

“Well, last I checked this was my old home,” muttered Alice as she looked over to the house, reminiscing of the good old days of childhood. Sighing, she let her eyes wonder back to the so called ‘giant monster’ named Hotarubi. “If you’re a ‘giant monster’ then why aren’t you giant?”

Pulling her tail over her shoulder, Hotarubi motioned her head to the rocky road that leads up a hill and around the bend. “Let us walk and talk, Hume.” She said as began her walk up the hill. “I shall answer your questions as we go.”

Nodding Alice followed her. “Okay,” she said as she walked side by side up the road. “By the way, my name is Alice.”

They walked along the road in complete silence. Looking around Alice found that the forest’s density slowly decline. The trees stood further away from the road, much shorter than the proud old trees near her house. As they continued, houses and street lights appeared more frequently along the roadside. Gradually, civilization was taking over. Alice looked up and watched as the sunlight slowly moved towards the horizon, casting shadows upon the road. She sighed as she watched Hotarubi tug on her long white tail, a slight smile upon the Kaiju’s face. “I was cursed to remain in a Hume form. It takes quite some time for me to transform fully into a child giant monster.” She said. “One day I shall find the monk who cursed me and I’ll be free of this curse for good. Then I’ll be a giant monster like my father before me.”

Alice smiled and nodded. “Then you can be queen right?”
Hotarubi laughed heartily. “Queen, oh no. It’s only the males that rule. We females normally tend to the younger ones.” At this she rolled her amber eyes. “It sounds annoying. I try to tell my father that I am not like Miori.” Hotarubi sighed. “Miori…” Looking down the road, she gave a good tug on her tail as she fell into deep thought.

Alice watched Hotarubi smile slowly turned into a frown. “Hey, are you okay?” asked Alice as she reached over to comfort the disturbed looking monster girl. “What’s wrong?”

Her hand slipped on to Hotarubi’s bony shoulder causing her to jump. “Oh, forgive me Alice. I was lost in thought.” She murmured as she began to nibble on her tail. “It is a problem that a friend of mines has. One her children turned on her and she’s been depressed since then.”

Alice nodded and placed a hand near her cheek which caused her to yelp and remove her hand from the area. “What is wrong, Alice?” asked Hotarubi as she brought her hand up to Alice’s cheek. She carefully examined her cheek and found a large bruise upon it. “When did you get this?”

Alice’s eyes wondered away from Hotarubi’s eyes. She began walking ahead, ignoring the question that was just set before her. “It was nothing, from nothing,” Muttered Alice miserably. “I’d prefer not talking about it if you don’t mind.” Appearing before her with wings outstretch, blocking her way to the outside world, Hotarubi sighed. “Speak to me Alice; I am not as young as I look. Who has done this to you?”

“My ex-boyfriend did it. He normally does it on a daily basis, but this time it was because I never left when he commanded me too.” She replied softly. “Kaleo was his name, he wasn’t always this bad. I just pissed him off.”

Hotarubi poked Alice’s cheek. “This is not something you should go back to.”

“But he’s my first love and probably the only guy that will ever love me like that.”

“Are you afraid to love other Hume men?”

“No, I don’t know. I guess.” Alice turned to away from Hotarubi. “Is that really so bad? I was afraid that he’d leave me and now he’s gone. I don’t know what to do.” A tear slipped from her eyes yet again.

“Un, namida. Tears.” Hotarubi smiled and wiped away the tears.

“You should not cry little Hume. There is no reason for you to cry over a baka, like him. He is not worth your time.” She wrapped her tail around Alice and drew her close. “Now cheer up and let us be on our way.”

A slight smile slipped slowly upon Alice’s face as she hugged the lanky, little Kaiju. “Thanks for the advice, Hotarubi.” She said as she back away.

Motioning forward, Hotarubi began walking again. “Come let us continue to the end of this road. We shall then hit Kalapaki. It is a cozy little town.”

Thus the continued their short walk to the small town called Kalapaki.

By the time they saw the huge sign that screamed Anchor Cove with its bright neon lights, the sun already began to set below the horizon, creating an amazing scheme of color which flowed throughout the sky that cast a pallet of blues, reds, and other various colors upon the ocean. A warm breeze carrying the salty scent of the sea and the sweet scent of fruits, wafted past Alice. She sighed feeling at home in this strange backwards world. The mini shopping center the belonged to the ‘Anchor Cove’ sign seemed a bit smaller then what she remembered. The awkward angles of the roof made the building look more like sails billowing in the wind, where the building itself with its dark blue paint looked much like the ocean. The bright neon signs on the outside threw off the sea going theme of the place though.

‘Wow this place is kinda different then how I remember,’ thought Alice. As she walked towards the ABC store in Anchor Cove, a woman wearing a black spaghetti strap shirt and blue jeans walked up to her. She looked about 18, which was around Alice’s age. Her black hair was worn up in a pony tail. The girl smiled at Alice, her forest green eyes almost luminous in the twilight. “Welcome to my town. I’m your tour guide,” she greeted. “Oh and, the name’s Josie and we’re goina roam the clubs tonight!” Josie seemed to be another person that wasn’t quite human. A furry black tail wagged as she talked with fuzzy black ears that twitched with every noise. “And I don’t really mind if ya wanna to play with the ears.” giggled Josie.
Reaching up to toy around with the she-wolf’s ears, Alice couldn’t hold back the question. “Are they real?” questioned Alice as she took both ears into her hands and started to tug lightly on them.

Josie cracked up again. “Of course they are! Why wouldn’t they be?” she replied.

“Uh,” started Alice. “I don’t know… it’s just so weird. What are you? A dog girl?”

“Dog girl!” shouted Josie as she pulled away from Alice’s hands. “Ya gotta be kidding me! I’m no mutt!”

Wincing at the anger in this girl’s voice, Alice bowed her head and began to mumble an apology. “I guess he was right. No one could ever love me like he did.” She added softly, her voice wavering a bit. “Sorry, I have a habit of making people hate me.”

Taken back by Alice’s reaction to her sudden anger, Josie laughed and patted her on the back. “Hey, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings now. It’s ok. Ya never knew anything about me…or my kind.” She grinned as she gave Alice a tight hug. “Besides, it’s too early in life to be thinkin everyone hates you. Ya just started livin. Ya don’t know much yet!” Winking, she continued. “So cheer up and enjoy the life ya got now!”

“Thanks Josie,” whispered Alice gratefully. “That’s sweet of you to say.”

“Hey girlie, it’s only the truth.” She stated. “Now, let’s party!” Hooking one arm around Alice’s waist again and another around Hotarubi’s shoulder, Josie dragged them left towards the direction of what Alice remember to be a little beach-side tavern. With a little swagger to her step, Josie started singing a little tune as they made their way to the tavern. “There’s a she-wolf in the closet, open up and set her free,” She sang, swinging her hips and bobbing her head to the rhythm of the song. Her entire body seemed to be moving in-time with the song. As they drew closer to the area where the tavern resided, a heavy disco beat could be heard over the sounds of blaring conversations and a horribly loud game of pool. “It’s a she-wolf in disguise. Let her out so it could breathe!”

Before they can get any closer to the party, a howl pierced through the wild racket causing silence to fall upon the bay area. “What was that,” muttered Alice miserably. “Please don’t tell me it’s something that wants to kill us.” As if on cue, a taunting laughter disturbed the eerie silence, sending up the girl’s spine. Suddenly a woman appeared before the girls wearing a long hooded black cloak which covered her entire body from head to toe. Josie growled and pushed Alice behind
her.

“Maude, what do you want?” snapped Josie as her once friendly smiled turned into a disfigured snarl with her sharp canine teeth bared. “Leave this place! We don’t like the Shadow King’s followers around here. They’re nothing, but scumbags that hurt and betray people!”

The cloaked figure simply laughed. “I could care less what you like and don’t like around here. If I wanted, I could kill all of you without even breaking a sweat.” Mocked a deep womanly voice. A thin long finger appeared peaked out of the concealing cloak. “Do you wish to die first dear sister?”

“Shut up, you b***h!” screamed Josie. “What do you want here? And don’t call me sister, you backstabbing snake! You’re as bad as that naga, Lydia!”

“Heh, don’t compare me to that low-life. My master loves me more, then that runt.” Sneered Maude. “You need not know why I’m here. This area was mines before it was yours, little Jo.” A low growl caught Alice by surprised.

“I bet you still can’t beat your mother.” criticized Hotarubi.
“Miori would as they say, wipe the floor with you.”

In a blink of an eye, the cloaked figure was gone. “Where’d she go,” started Alice when out of the nowhere, the Kaiju was sent flying and in her place stood the hooded figure.

“Shut up, runt. Little naive children should watch their language,” chuckled Maude as she cracked her knuckles. “Else they end up dead.” Alice began backing away from the threatening woman. “And don’t think you can run from me, you little twerp.” The figure turned to face Alice and she found herself staring into the same luminous green eyes that Josie had. “I’m here to liberate you from your pain.” Her eyes transfixed upon the mocking eyes, Alice found herself once again frozen in fear as the woman’s sharp claws slowly reached out to her.

“Leave the poor girlie be!” roared Josie as she pounced onto her sister. Josie caught the hem of the cloak as Maude dodged her sister’s attack. The cloak slipped off of Maude revealing a tall, voluptuous figure wearing nothing, but a bustier that barely held her overly large bust. As the cloak slipped away, Maude managed to catch Josie in the side with a swift jab.

“Josie!” cried Alice as she ran over to the wolf-girl. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll… be… fine…” gasped Josie as she struggled to stand on her feet once again.

“Heh, stupid girl, you’re little valiant acts are so cute…” said

Maude in an odd motherly tone. “It makes me want to kill you even more.” A wicked grin grew upon her face as she pulled a sword from the shadows. “But unfortunately, I must kill your little friend here. My master’s wish comes before mines.” She mumbled sadly as she took a battle stance and pointed the weapon at Alice. “Now, it’s time to die!”

As Maude prepared to attack Alice, another cloaked figure showed up just in the nick of time to block the sword from delivering its killing blow. “Stop now, Child.” It whispered the voice was soft spoken and low like the reverberating sound of thunder that echoes throughout the land. Yet it had a hint of gentleness within it, a motherly like tone that seemed to soothe the soul. By the voice, Alice knew that this was another woman. Instead of wearing a black cloak like Maude, this mysteries person wore a large wolf pelt that wrapped around her body. The head of the wolf acted as mask of sorts. Blood dripped from beneath the pelt as the sword was yanked viciously out of Maude’s hands. “I know this is not your true self.” The figure through the weapon to the side and reached out a light brown hand to Maude. “Come back to me child. Come back to the light, where you belong.” Maude seemed to stand there, her emotions unreadable as the wind blew her long, bushy, black hair about. A clomp of wavy hair blocked one side of her face. The hand brushed against Maude’s cheek, pushing the side bangs aside. “You know you don’t mean the things you say.”

“Mother,” mumbled Maude, her expression still remained blank as if she was in a trance. There was a sort of sadness in her eyes, a sort of familiar look the Alice knew well. The emotion was called loneliness and it looked like it was eating her alive. Maude stood there, a hand grasping on to the mysterious figure she referred to as mother. The moment ended abruptly when the shadows around the two shot up and pushed the wolf-cloaked woman away and pulled Maude under, the tendrils wrapping around her and pulling her into the dark void.

“My poor Maude, being controlled by such an evil man.” The figure sighed sadly and turned to Alice who managed to stand Josie up. “Ah, little Josie, at least you are well.” Walking over Josie, the figure pulled the still gasping girl to her. “You should not fight your sister. I have warned you before, child.”
With tears in her eyes, Josie looked up at the figure. “But momma Mio, she started it… she… she…” cried Josie all flustered as Mio or Miori, held the fussing girl tight in her embrace.

“Hush now, I’ve got you.” murmured Mio.

“Un, pain…” muttered Hotarubi as she hobbled over to Alice.

“Remind me not to pick a fight with her again.” Hotarubi grasped the human girl by her shoulders and turned her about.

“Hnn, no scratches on you… Good.” Smiling Hotarubi patted the girl on her shoulder. “I would never forgive myself if you were injured in battle.”

Miori looked up at Hotarubi and Alice caught the trademark feature of this family, the glowing emerald eyes. Unlike Maude’s eyes which showed nothing, but anger and rage, these set of eyes showed kindness. As Miori removed the wolf head from her brow, Alice found that this werewolf had only one eye, the other was covered up with a brown bandage that was hidden partially by her wild, short hair. “Hello, Child of Gojira. It has been a while since I have seen you.” She said. Her voice was so velvety soft and low, Alice was pretty sure that she’d be lulled to sleep if she listened any longer. “Have the days been good to you?”

Hotarubi bowed politely. “Hai, it has Miori-sama.” She answered. Looking over at Alice, the Kaiju placed a hand upon her shoulder and said, “This is a friend. She is new to this world. Her name is Alice.”

Miori gave a knowing smile. “Yes, I have already heard of her.” With an arm around Josie, the woman looked over Alice. “The Queen of Nights has summoned me to her side; I was to escort this strange child to her.”

“Who’s this Queen?” asked Alice.

“She rules this world we call Gaia. She keeps the peace and order around here.” Answered Josie as she rubbed the side that Maude punched. “If she summoned you then we best go see her.”

“Yes, seeing that the King of Shadows wants you dead, it would be wise for us to leave now.” Said Mio as she pulled out a little ice crystal from inside the wolf-pelt. “Shall we, Alice?”

“Um, I can’t really refuse a queen now can I?” said Alice as she began to nibble on her finger again.

Hotarubi tipped her head quizzically to the side. “Are you nervous?”

“What makes you think I’m nervous?” replied Alice.
Reaching over, the kaiju pulled Alice’s finger out of her mouth.

“Because you tend to nibble on your finger when you are nervous or scared. Have you not notice?”

“Well, guess I didn’t…” the girl answered. “It was a habit I was trying to stop. Kaleo said it embarrassed him. He said that he never wanted to be seen in public with me, that I make him look like bad.”

Before Hotarubi could open her mouth to reply, Miori came over to Alice’s side and releasing Josie, took Alice into her arms.
“One should never put herself down. It is quite unhealthy.” Smiling down at her Miori placed a small kiss upon her forehead. “You should never change yourself for a man that is supposed to love you for you. Child, you should be proud of yourself and be accepting of your small, minute habits.”

“ ‘specially if they ain’t hurtin anyone.” Added Josie.

“Wow, thanks guys.” Alice hugged Miori. “Thank you for being such good friends, I feel like I’ve known you guys all my life.”
Miori smiled. “Now, I want you to keep on smiling, little one. True beauty is in the kindness of one’s soul and the smile upon one’s face.”

“Now let’s get goin already! If stand around here any longer, I’m afraid we may be attacked by more of the Shadow’s henchmen!” stated Josie.

“Nn, good point. Let us be on our way.” Suggested Hotarubi.

Miori nodded and held out the little crystal. The full moon rose from the horizon, the brilliant white light lit up the sky and chased away the darkness. The light shone through the crystal casting an array of color on the ground. Miori whispered a short prayer over the azure crystal, as she prayed the ball began to spin. All of a sudden a flash and all was blindingly white for a while.

Alice closed her eyes, blinded by the stinging light. “Come,” a faint whisper, the voice seemed to be coming from all around her. “Come here… Alice.” Opening her eyes, Alice found that she was alone in a room that was made of white marble. The room was barren spare the large columns and a simple white throne that sat in the back of the room. She felt a slight breeze from behind her. “Who’s there?” she asked as she quickly turned around. Gasping, the girl took a step back. “Whoa…” Alice stared in wonder at the beautiful woman standing before her.

“I am the Queen of Night,” stated the woman, her pale complexion gave off a vibrant glow. “You may call me Lunar.” She smiled Her long hair was white and framed her round face. A thin hand reached out to Alice and Lunar smiled. “Do not be afraid child; I will do you no harm. No stand still and allow me examine you child.”

It's almost finished. ^-^ Sorry for all the grammar mistakes. I was in a bit of a rush. Would it be silly to say that this was my english homework? ^-^;;

Please forgive my mistakes. It's still the first draft.