Welcome to Wonderland

“Do to one side what you do to the other.” the teacher said, scribbling away at the board. “To find the value of X, you subtract eight from the left side, as well as from 52...” Omnis scratched his head, having no idea what was going on. He was a short boy, with pale white hair. Sometimes people made fun of him for it, but it was just a lack of pigment. Others thought it was kinda cool. He had an average body, not slim but not overweight. He felt a tap on his shoulder, and he turned around. “What?” he instinctively reacted. “What’s the answer to number two?” his friend, Kenji asked. Kenji was about five inches taller than Omnis, he stood at around 5’6”. He was about 16, two years older than Omnis. Omnis simply turned around and ignored him. Kenji quickly ducked down, letting his dark brown hair cover his eyes. “Mr. Saioji.” The teacher turned around. “Were you disrupting the lesson?” Kenji muttered “Dammit” under his breath, as he shook his head. “No, sir.” The teacher gave him a dirty look, and turned back around, only to have the bell ring.

“Wait, before you go, class-” But it was too late, half the math class was already out the door. “Kenji, don’t get me in trouble.” Omnis met up with Kenji as they walked through the hall. “Sorry, sorry.” he laughed. “Oh, I’m gonna stop by Kira’s locker before English. It‘s gonna be a long test and I need the energy.” Omnis tilted his head. “Why?” Kenji laughed. “She has this whole candy business going on there, it’s pretty awesome.” Omnis crinkled his eyebrows, but followed Kenji through the hallway.

As they approached the girl’s locker, a kid walked away with a nerds rope in hand. “Hey, Kenji.” She said, waving at him from across the hall. “Heya K.” She nodded. “So, what is it you want now?” Kenji paused, taking a look through her locker. “What, what is it?” Omnis stepped to the side of Kenji, glancing in. “What the…” he paused, looking at the locker. On one side was a wall with gummy bears, licorice, nerds, skittles, swedish fish, and who knows what else hung up. On the top shelf were Hershey Bars, Kit Kats, Twix, Snickers, M&Ms, and a lot others. It was a surprise she could fit any books in there, and even more of a surprise that she wasn’t heavy at all.

“I’ll have some Skittles.” He said, as he handed her a dollar. In turn, she tossed him a pack of Skittles, and slipped the dollar in her pocket. “It’s like a drug deal, but with candy…” Omnis mumbled to himself. “Well, later.” Kenji said, as he continued through the halls with Omnis. “Later!” Kira called after him. “How come I never noticed that?!” Omnis glared at Kenji, and he ignored it. “Dunno.” was all he said, until he stood at the door of an English class. “Seeya at lunch, Omnis.” He said, then entered the class. Omnis continued down the hall.

---

As the bell for lunch period rang, children were already flooding the cafeteria. Kenji ran towards the front of the line and met up with Kira, who, as always, saved him a spot. “I always wondered how you get here so fast…” Kira grinned. “My period before lunch is Spanish, and the teacher doesn’t know how to speak English. So I say something random, and make it look like I have to leave every day.” Kenji stared at her in amazement. “Seriously?” She nodded her head. “Yeah, like…” She took a pause, and begin to point towards the door and hop up and down frantically. “The Japanese elephant warriors have eaten the sacred nacho plant! The teacher would nod, and I’d run out a few minutes early.” Kenji nodded in agreement as he picked out food and put it on his tray. After they paid for their food, the two moved to their table and put down the trays.

They began to eat as some others approached the table. “Heya Eiji.” Kenji said, as a boy with dark, neck length hair approached with a tray full of pasta. He was an inch or two taller than Kenji, and slim. He had dark brown eyes, and a friendly smile. He sat next to Kenji. “Hi guys!” he said, cheerfully. Normally, Kira would ask why so optimistic, but he’s always like that. Soon enough, Omnis sat down too, as did another boy, Gabe. He had brown hair, and tan skin. He was about an inch taller than Omnis, and the same age. The lunch was generally quiet, until Kira broke the silence. “Hey, see those two?” she pointed across the cafeteria to two people.

One was a 19 year old guy named Kotaro. He had brown hair, and gray eyes. He towered over everyone else at about 6’ 1”. He sat with his girlfriend, Momo. She was about 5’3”, and had long, well kept brown hair. She was 16. “Blech.” Omnis said, looking at them. “So sappy.” Kira grinned. “Heh, they’re kinda weird, but they’re alright.” Kenji stared at Kotaro’s hair. “Look at that hair… That’s… So not sexy!” He shook his head back and forth, shaking his clean, shiny hair around. “Woosh!” he said, dramatically, though nobody paid attention.

After that, it became quiet again. “So, what’s everyone doing after school today?” Eiji asked in between eating his pasta. “Visiting my friend in the insane asylum.” Kira said, quietly. Everyone looked at her. “What?” Kenji tilted his head. “Never been to one of those before. Can I come?” Kira nodded. “Sure.” Eiji perked up. “Hey, me too. I’ve got nothing to do.” Gabe and Omnis were quiet. Kira sighed. “You guys wanna come too?” They nodded in unison. “Well, this has turned a depressing visit to my mentally unwell friend into a group outing. Should be a fun car ride.” She rolled her eyes.

---

“This is the place?” Gabe asked, as they got out of the car. “Mmhmm.” Kira said. “It’s… depressing.” Omnis said. “Saarne Institute.” Kira said, as Kenji gave her an odd look. “Kidding. I don’t know what it’s called. Lets go.” She and the others walked up towards the door. They let themselves in, and talked to a woman behind a counter. “Seeing a Mr. Zheel.” She said. The woman said nothing and pointed towards the left corridor. They shrugged and followed down. The walls were clear, and you could peer in to see the patients. There were names on the doors. Eiji decided to read them out loud. “Mildred Kemp… Leena Klammer…” Kenji glanced at Eiji. “What?”

Kira laughed. “They’re names, Kenji… Oh! And here it is.” she saw a door with “ZHEEL” printed on the front. She pushed it open, to see a kid with bright orange hair sitting at a desk, scratching things into it with his nails. “Oh, hey… “ he said, looking at everyone. “You brought a whole party.” He groaned. “Yup.” Kira said, and coughed. “Hey, I’m gonna use the bathroom.” Kenji said, as he walked down the hall. He saw another glass wall. On it, there was a sign that said “Kane Rae”. He looked inside to see a young boy in a straitjacket in the corner of the room. He had dark hair that covered his eyes, but he was obviously crying. Kenji frowned, but quickly moved on. “So sad…” he said to himself.

---

“Well, he was optimistic.” Omnis said sarcastically. “Why was he in there anyway?” Gabe asked. “His parents thought he was weird. A little too weird. So, he’s in there… He’s enjoying himself, he’s got Xbox life and is away from his parents.” Gabe nodded. “Okay…” Kira stopped, to look at a shard of mirror on the ground. “Huh?” she bent down and picked it up. “Careful!” Eiji said, waving his arms frantically. “Relax, this is… So weird though. Where could it have come from?” She then notices a trail of smaller shards on the ground. She begins to follow them. “This isn’t such a good idea…” Omnis says. Kira ignores him and continues.

She aimlessly follows the trial, until, without noticing, she gets near a large hole. “Kira, look out!” Kenji says, as he runs to try to catch up with her. It’s too late though, and she fell down. “Whoa!” Kenji couldn’t stop himself in time, and he went right down with her. “Kenji!! Kira!!” Eiji stops near the edge, and hops in. Omnis and Gabe approach the edge, exchange unsure glances, and both jump in.

“Whoa!” Kira yelled, as she fell down. “Kenji!” she saw him right above her. “Yaaaah!” Omnis yelled, as he fell down. “Wha…” They all realized the whole group had jumped in. “How deep is this hole?!” Omnis screamed. “I don’t know!” Kira yelled back. “I can see the bottom!” Eiji said. “Gahhh!” They all yelled, as they hit the ground with a thump. They were all out cold by the time they hit, it was at least a 300 foot drop.

---

“Wh… Where are we?” Kenji slowly stood up, brushing the dirt off his knees. He looked around. “Eiji?” He begins to walk around. He’s in a long hallway that seems to be underground. It’s all dirt, somehow well packed in. There are lights sticking out of the wall. “Kira? Omnis? Gabe?” He begins to walk down the hall, realizing nobody is around. “Where am I?!” He begins to yell to himself, now running down the seemingly never ending hallway.

After about two minutes of running, he slows down, trying to catch his breath. He leans over, putting his hands on his knees to stabilize himself. He stared at the ground. It was dirt, but something about it was peculiar… It didn’t make any sense to him. “Oh my!” A voice boomed from across the hallway, which suddenly had an end about fifty feet away from Kenji. He looked up to see a teenage boy with white rabbit ears. He wore a coat and shorts and had a gold pocket watch. “I’m late!” He yelled. Kenji looked up at him. He had peculiar Black hair, that looked a lot like… “Eiji?” Kenji ran towards him. “Eiji!” The boy didn’t even look his way.

“I’m late! I’m late! For a very important date!” He turned to the right and began to hop off, while chanting in a catchy tune. “No time to say hello goodbye, I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!” He was too fast for Kenji, he hopped as fast as a normal rabbit. Kenji reached a large room, with one brown bridge that went across it to a higher up cliff. Below that was water. The “rabbit” was at the other end, hopping around in a circle. “No time to say goodbye hello, I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!” He hopped off, as Kenji followed him closely.

Before he knew it, he was in the middle of a large forest. “Whoa… How did I get here?” He looked around. Everything was a lush green. The rabbit was nowhere in sight. He sat down on a nearby log, and sighed. “Where the hell am I…” he mumbled to himself. “Oh look!” Two voices in unison were heard, but Kenji couldn’t pinpoint where. All of a sudden, two boys came walking out from a part of the forest. They stood in front of Kenji. “Who is this?” They spoke at the exact same time.

“I’m Kenji.” He said, quietly, not knowing what the hell was going on. He squinted his eyes. “Wait a minute… Gabe? And you’re… Zheel?” He stood up and backed away. “What is he talking about?” the two said again, walking around the small area of the forest. “So why are you here?” They both got close to Kenji, and leaned in to get inches away from his face. “Well, I WAS following some rabbit…” They leaned away. “Ooh. White rabbit, you say?” “Zheel” said. “Indeed, he said that.” “Gabe” said. “Why do you want to follow him?” They both said.

“I’m just, curious, I guess…” Kenji looked towards the other side of the forest. “Curious, you say?” They both looked at each other. “Do you remember the last one who was curious?” Gabe whispered to Zheel. “I do. She’s not around anymore…” The two looked at him. “If you want to find the rabbit, then go that way!” they pointed into the forest, and then quickly ran off. “Wait! Wait!” Kenji called after them, but knew it was no use. “This place keeps getting weirder and weirder…” He went where they said, and eventually reached an odd hedge shaped arch.

“Hehehe…” Giggling could be heard atop the arch. Kenji looked up, but nothing was there. He looked through the arch, then all of a sudden, there was a person on the top of the arch! He had cat ears, tails, and paws. The fur was dark gray, and he had yellow eyes. His teeth were pointed, and he had pale skin. “Hehehe…” He laughed again, and Kenji looked up. “Whoa! Who are you?” The cat quickly hopped down, landing on his feet- rather, his paws.

“I don’t know.” He said, grinning ear to ear. He then disappeared. “…That was weird.” Kenji said. “Who am I?” He was now behind Kenji. He quickly spun around. “Whoa!” He backed up. “You… It’s you, Omnis!” He gasped. “Everyone is here, aren’t they?” Omnis smiled. “You seem to be confused. You fell down the rabbit’s hole, didn’t you?” Kenji nodded. “Yeah, so did you!” Omnis was still grinning. “I did nothing, I’ve been here all of my life.” He then disappeared again. “Where do you keep going?!” Kenji looked around, and Omnis was atop the arch again. “Go on, and be careful. Not everybody in Wonderland will want to assist you… Be careful.” he disappeared again, and something dropped from the top of the arch onto the ground in front of Kenji. He bent down and picked it up. Examining it, it was a knife.

“Why did you give this to me?!” He shouted, but nobody heard him. He sighed, put it in his pocket, and pulled his shirt over the handle, to hide it. He walked through the arches, and saw a long table. “Somehow I have the feeling I’m going to meet some more people… Oh! Only Kira is left. Kira? Kira!” He began calling, walking towards the table. It was colorful, and they were in a garden now. At one end was a giant chair, and at the other a stool. Sitting in the giant chair was a very tall man, with shaggy brown hair, wearing a top hat. He had black dog ears spurting out the sides of the top hat, and he sipped a cup of tea. At the other end was a girl much shorter than the dog-man, and she had rabbit ears coming out of her head. Her hair was long and brown, and she wore fancy clothing.

“Now who are these people?” Kenji mumbled to himself. “Ah, we seem to have a visitor!” the rabbit girl said as she sprung out of her chair, towards Kenji. “Uh, hi…” he said, quietly. “Look, look, a visitor for tea time!” Kenji shook his head. “I’m not really…” she quickly shoved him, shushing him. “Do we now?” The calm voice came from the dog man, who looked up at him. “It’s time for the tea party then!” He stood up from his chair, and smiled a toothy smile that for some reason sent a shiver down Kenji’s spine. “What did I get myself into…?” he asked himself.

“Sit, sit, boy.” The dog-man motioned him towards the chairs. The rabbit-girl hopped over and shoved him into a chair, then with one big leap, hopped back into hers. “Let it commence!” the dog man stood up, and jumped on top of the table. With a snap of his fingers, tea cups were flying everywhere, tea was pouring itself, and the whole table was in total chaos.

“What the…” Kenji muttered to himself. The rabbit-girl again hopped towards him, and had tea in her left hand. “How many sugars do you want?” She closed her fist, then reopened it to have a stack of sugars sitting in it. “One?” she dropped a cube in. “Two? Three? Four?” She dropped there more in, then quickly hopped to the other side of Kenji. “Yes yes, drink up.” The man with the ears hopped off the table, and shot a glare to the other. “Ah, my March Hare friend… Do allow our guest and I some privacy, shall you?” She nodded vigorously and hopped off through a colorful hedge arch.

“You may sit in this chair, it’s very special.” He walked across the table, and sat in the small stool, then he pointed to the gigantic chair. “Uh, sure…” Kenji reluctantly sat in it, then watched as a tea pot poured him a cup by itself. He picked it up, and sipped at it. “It’s good.” He said, looking at the table. The man laughed, then took off his hat. He put it on the table and Kenji watched as cups began flying out of his hat, going into the proper places on the table.

Kenji got a better look at him. “Look at that hair.” he mumbled to himself. “That’s so… guh!” he almost choked on his tea when he made the realization. “Hm, what’s wrong boy?” The dog boy asked. “You’re Kotaro! And she’s Momo!” Kenji stood up and slammed his hands on the table. “Why, I’m the Mad Hatter!” “Kotaro” said with a smirk. “Now, please finish your tea…” Kenji nodded and continued drinking his tea so he could get out of there as fast as possible.

The Mad Hatter put back on his hat, then quickly glanced under the table, and pulled a sort of lever. “What’s that?” Kenji asked, tilting his head. “Why, nothing, nothing at all!” He smirked, as a high pitched noise was heard behind Kenji. “What is that?!” Kenji was about to jump out of his chair when ropes emerged from the arms and held him tight in place. He came to a realization then- the noise was a saw. A circular saw ready to saw the chair- and him- in half. “Stay still, it’ll only hurt a second…” He laughed, and stood on top of the table. “Come, March Hare, you need to see this!” In a moment’s time, the hare was behind Kenji, laughing.

“Oh my, look at this!” she laughed, and watched as Kenji was seconds away from doom. “No!” he yelled, struggling, but the ropes were too strong. He looked around, observing his environment, so he can remember the place he died. Then he realized on top of the hedge arch in front of him was the Cheshire Cat. He grinned, and pointed to the knife in Kenji’s pocket. He then turned around and disappeared. “That’s right!” Kenji said. “What is right, mm?” The Mad Hatter asked, mockingly. Kenji began to struggle, but eventually raised himself off the seat enough to get the knife in contact with the rope. His right arm was free. He grabbed the knife with his right hand, and cut his left one free. Instantly, he jumped up on to the table.

He ran across the table, only once turning away to watch the saw slice through the chair. With knife in hand, he ran towards Kotaro, screaming at the top of his lungs. Kotaro hopped off the table, but tripped and landed on his back. Kenji jumped off the end of the table, aiming for Kotaro, but the March Hare- rather, Momo- pushed him out of the way, and all 3 were on the ground. Kotaro was the first to recover, pulling Momo along. “Come come, the party is over… The Queen will have her way with you later!” He says as he runs off. Kenji was still on the ground, so he didn’t bother to chase after them.

“Good job, hehehe…” The eerie voice was from above Kenji. He looked up and the Cheshire Cat sat on the end of the table. “You’re doing pretty well…” he disappeared. Kenji slowly got up, and looked around. He decided to go through a hedge arch with a diamond on top. He walked straight, then realized there were two turns- right or left. He went right, then had to turn right again. He went left, then realized he was in a large maze. He tried his best to navigate through.

---

“Oh, I give up… “Kenji slouched down, leaning against a wall of the hedge maze. Just then, he heard a loud screech from one end of the maze. He jumped up, and continued on, heading towards the source of the noise. He eventually made it to an end, and saw a giant steel cage. Inside it was a dragon-like creature. “Hey… Are you okay?” Kenji asked, as he approached the cage. The dragon inside nodded, and clawed at the cage, trying to escape. Kenji saw a giant latch. He shrugged, and opened it. Out the dragon flew, above Kenji’s head. He then landed next to him. “Thank you, so much. I’ve been in there for ages…” The dragon now spoke fluent English.

“Could you help me?” Kenji asked. “I could. You don’t seem very familiar with this place.” The dragon spoke. “No, I’m not… Where am I? How did I get here? All I remember is falling down a big hole with my friends, and now I’m all alone…” The dragon turned away. “This is Wonderland. It’s an interesting place, to say the least. Things have been going a bit crazy ever since we got our new queen.” Kenji looked at him. “Queen?” He asked. “Yup, the Queen of Hearts. She rules over this place. Everything is hers. She’s actually a nice person, but… If anyone goes against her…” He motioned to a large pool of blood by one corner, that Kenji hadn’t noticed before.

“She’s the reason for those people like The Mad Hatter, and his hare friend. She’s the reason I’m in a cage. The Mad Hatter is to eliminate any threats, and well, I was a threat, so here I am.” He looked down at the ground. “What’s your name?” Kenji asked the dragon. “I’m Kane.” he said, as he looked up towards the sky. “I’m afraid I can’t do much more for you. Thank you.” He took off towards the skies, and more importantly, towards a giant castle. “That’s where I’m headed, I guess…” Then Kenji took off towards the Queen of Hearts’ Castle.

After a long time of walking, Kenji stopped. He was directly in front of the castle. Of course, he saw the Cheshire Cat standing outside. “Ah, good job, you made it far.” the cat slowly walked around Kenji. “So, now what do you plan to do?” He asked, then laughed. “I don’t know, I didn’t think I’d even make it this far. I expected to be stopped by something.” The cat disappeared, then reappeared on top of a hedge that was in front of the castle. “Like them?” He laughed, and disappeared. “Like who?!” Kenji ran towards where the cat was, but he was gone. Kenji then looked at the gate of the castle, and realized there were dozens of people coming towards him. They were dressed in odd attire. They wore white shirts, and white pants. They had bands on their shoulders and across their waist that were either red or black. Right in the center of their shirt, on front and back, were either a diamond, club, heart, or spade. Most of them held weapons that had the same symbol as their shirt.

“Oh God!” Kenji looked around, unsure of where to go, so he just ran to the side. Then he realized it wasn’t him that they were after, they were just… running? He shrugged it off. As soon as they were all gone, he looked at the gate again, only to see the white rabbit. “It’s you!” He yelled, lunging towards the rabbit. “Oh my!” The rabbit hopped aside. “Who are you- no, I can’t be delayed, why, I’m late!” The rabbit hopped off towards the inside of the castle. “I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date! No time to say hello goodbye I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!”

Kenji chased after him, but before he knew it, he was in a large, seemingly empty room. He looked down at the floor and noticed they had a checkered pattern. When he looked up again, there were statues all over the room. He saw a lever on the ground. “…Might as well.” he said, and pulled the lever. Suddenly, the statues shattered. Kenji was about to panic and run out before he realized there were people inside those statues.

“Charge!” a voice boomed. Kenji looked, and saw a man wearing a crown, holding a sword. He pointed the sword forward, and almost a dozen people dressed up as soldiers rushed towards the other side of the room, weapons in hand. There was an almost identically dressed line of people on the other side. Kenji realized that this was war- and he was directly in the middle of the battlefield. He was about to run to one side, but he realized he’d be attacked- if he ran to the other he may not be able to slip through. He tried to run to one, but had to stop himself because a knight sitting atop a horse almost ran him over.

“What are you doing here?!” The man lifted up his helmet, and looked at Kenji. “I don’t know! Where am I?!” Kenji began to panic. “Hop on.” The man grabbed Kenji’s hand and hoisted him on to his horse. “We need to get rid of that evil king over there.” the Knight pointed across the room, to a man with neck length black hair. He wore a golden crown, but otherwise was dressed all in black. “The King Qui, as long as I remember, our King Pensuke and him have had a rivalry… And finally, we have a chance at killing him!” He proclaimed, obviously proud of this accomplishment.

He raised his joust, and his horse charged forward, only to fall on it’s side a moment later. Two small soldiers were jabbing spears into it’s side, and the knight had taken damage in the fall, as did Kenji. “Hey?! Are you okay?” Kenji shook the man on the ground. The small soldiers then took to attacking Kenji. He was stabbed once in the arm, and began bleeding profusely. He struggled with trying to kick them away, until he heard a gigantic crash from the wall across from him. A huge window had shattered, and everyone looked to see Kain fly in, then perch himself on a tall stone pillar. He let out a strange noise, it was a bit of a growl and a bit of a screech. He then tossed his head to the side, and a trail of fire flew out of his mouth.

The large dragon jumped off the pillar directly into the center of the field. Instantly, both sides began retreating. Kane made a motion to Kenji, and Kenji got on Kain’s back. “Lets go to the queen’s!” Kane said confidently, as he swooped through the castle. It was gigantic, and very confusing- like a maze, of sorts. “Ooh, good job so far…” A voice came from behind Kenji. It was, of course, the Cheshire Cat. “What’re you doing here?!” Kenji turned around and looked at him. “Oh, nothing really… So you got past that chess match pretty smoothly…” Kenji nodded. “Uhm, yeah…” he said, wondering where the Cheshire Cat was going with this.

“But how do you expect to get rid of the queen?” Kenji smirked and pointed to the knife. “With this!” The cat was hysterical laughing. “She has an army of hundreds. Hundreds of well armed soldiers.” Kenji shrugged. “I’ll have to get help then… No matter what, I’m taking this queen down!” For the first time, the cat frowned. “Really now?” Kenji nodded. “Uh huh, and first I’m gonna- AHHH!” Kenji was cut off as he fell downwards. He was pushed off of Kane by the Cheshire Cat, and was now falling at least 20 feet to the ground. He landed with a thump, luckily on grass. “Red!” he heard a voice from above him but was in too much pain to move. “No, white!” “Red!” “White!” they went back and forth. Kenji finally looked up to see the soldiers dressed with the diamonds, clubs, hearts, and spades on them, bickering near a rose bush. “Those are the soldiers that…” Kenji caught himself. “Who’s this?” One looked at him. “An intruder?” Another said. “We’ll have to deal with him!”