The rain pounded down hard on my shoulders as I walked casually along, a wide smile on my freckled covered face. My clothes were completely soaked, my once curly brown hair was dripping water everywhere, and I didn't care. Not one bit. Even my shoes were off, socks in them and they were slung over my shoulders. I was walking along in the gutter of the street, the fast moving water sloshing around my aching feet. After a busy morning of running around, it was the best feeling in the world.

The grey clouds that loomed overhead darkened the area around me, causing it to look like it was late in the afternoon rather than the middle of the day. I had just finished my busy shift at video store. It wasn't the best job, but hey, it paid.

I was on my way home when it started bucketing down with rain as a storm started to brew in the skies over the small town I lived in. There was nothing that I could do about it because if I didn't get home in time my mother would freak out, so I kept walking and enjoyed it instead. A little water could never hurt you – rather, it seemed to soothe me.

I licked my lips to get some of the water off them as a flash of lightning danced in the sky. I angled my head up so I could look out for more, after all I thought lightning was beautiful to watch. A round of thunder rumbled in the clouds and it was followed shortly after by some more lightning. I could feel excitement coursing through my veins - storms always seemed to get me hyped up.

Suddenly my foot slipped out from under me, sliding forward with alarming speed as it knocked me off balance. While I was busying sky gazing, I had stepped on something slippery under the surface of the water that was rushing through the gutters and my foot had just shot out under me.

My other foot quickly lost its grip too due to the slippery surface under the water and I was now falling backwards. I gasped as everything seemed to go in slow motion around me, like what happens to most people any time they trip. The last thing I saw was a flash of lightning dance through the grey clouds before I hit the ground and everything went black. Just as the darkness swallowed me, I thought I heard a voice laugh.

I was swimming in an eternal pit of darkness for some reason, with no idea why. My mind was conscious, yet at the same time it was not. I was confused. Where was up? Where was down? And where the hell am I anyway? What was the last thing that happened? For some reason I couldn't figure anything out, my mind kept drawing up blanks. I was dazed and confused; nothing seemed to make sense no matter what I tried.

Suddenly, there was a strange sensation that my brain seemed to register; it took me a few moments to process it though. What was it? It was a smell, I think, and not a pleasant one either. The smell made me want to curl up my nose, but I couldn't feel any connection to my body to do that. Wait… It took me a few more seconds to realize that if I could smell something, then I must still be connected to my body.

I slowly concentrated all my attention on the smell, as unpleasant was, it was it was the only stable thing I had to grasp in my current state of mind. Everything else slowly faded out as it slipped away with the darkness, the black and the confusion going away gradually. All that mattered to me at the current moment was the smell. The smell seemed to get stronger as I suddenly felt heavy, slight pounding sensation growing in my head as I came back to myself. I had begun to regain consciousness, I realized, willing myself to open my eyes.

My eyes felt like they were being weighed down, but slowly they began to open themselves, allowing a crack of light to penetrate my vision. My eyes snapped shut straight away at the sight of the bright light, but with a bit more persuasion I opened my eyes again; going slowly to give them time to adjust.

When my sight finally came to me, I suddenly wished I just kept them closed. I noted that there was something in my line of sight, like when you concentrate you can see your nose. But my nose was huge! Maybe I had something on my nose? That must be it! I concentrated on the object in my line of sight even harder, and it slowly came into a blurry focus. My brain paused for a second to process the information, as if not willing to believe it. The thing on my nose was a… muzzle? No, it wasn't on my nose, it was my nose!

As that piece of information seemed to finally set in I felt my body stiffen with surprise before I tried to bolt up in panic. As I went to jump up my whole body felt wrong, that was the only way to describe it. All that I achieved though was to land myself in a pile of limbs back on the ground.

I forced myself to swallow the panic that I was experiencing and then tried to calmly scramble to my feet. I managed to get myself in upright position, but I felt like I was kneeling on hands and knees. At the same time I felt like my head and neck were stretched out straight and that they were in the right position.

In confusion I turned my head to the side to look at my body and froze as I was met with the sight orangey looking fur and four legs with paws on the end.

Now, I was never the smartest kid in my class, but I wasn't stupid either. I did have quick enough wits and common sense most of the time and it didn't take a lot for me to put two and two together, even with my confusion and shock still lingering in place. I was in the body of some sort of canine. No, that wasn't right, I was a canine.

I felt my back legs give out on me as my bum hit the ground with a resounding thump. I shoved the information I had just gathered to the back of my mind before I could panic more, and instead glanced around to see where I was. I saw dark dingy walls on both sides of me, and some trash cans along the side of the walls. There was a grey door in the wall too, a bright light at the end of the walls. I guessed that it was the exit and, if I wasn't wrong, I was in some sort of alley. So the nasty smell before were the trash cans and God knows what else that was down the alley. I don't even want to think about it.

There was no one else around so I stayed where I was for a moment to think over my situation. So, I was a canine. Fox, dog, or wolf I was not sure. And I was in an alley that was who knows where.

'Well,' I thought sourly, 'it could be worse.'

Suddenly a commotion at the end of the alley drew my attention, and I gently lifted myself up to all four paws and started padding cautiously to the mouth of the alley. It took me a few stumbled steps to get my legs moving smoothly, but I adjusted quickly. Having four paws to stabilize yourself with was really handy.

What I witnessed when I peeked out of the alley was a shock to me; there was a little girl who seemed really scared, and just about to cry. I cast my gaze around even further and saw a dorky looking guy with some weird-ass clothes on, but I couldn't miss the cocky smirk on his face. I followed his line of sight to see where he was looking and saw a large canine that was running around and scaring the people that were also in the street. I looked closer and saw that it was a wolf for sure, and seemed to be enjoying itself while tormenting these people.

Suddenly, the wolf bolted forward, heading straight for the little girl and, before I could think it through, I felt my body rushing forward towards the wolf. I might be a fool sometimes, and make stupid decisions, but normally I don't do things that could get myself killed. But, I couldn't sit back and watch a little girl get mauled either, so to hell with self-preservation.

I bounded out of the alley like a bullet, a bit shocked at my own speed, but I suppose it's no surprise that I could run faster on four legs rather than two. I threw myself at the wolf before it could get to the little girl, and on instinct, I clamped my jaws down on the first piece of flesh I could get. I've always been told that larger canines have really strong jaws that could just about crush bones, and I had been bitten by a dog before when I was little, but that was only a warning nip. When I clamped down it suddenly occurred to me that people weren't kidding, I felt my jaws meet together with a loud snap that shook my body. The fur and skin that was unfortunate enough to get caught between my fangs gave way to my sharp teeth and I felt some blood pool into my mouth, followed by a high pitch yelp from the wolf. It was at that point I realized how much larger the wolf was then me, not that I was small, but the wolf was built like a brick shit house and I seemed to comprehend that I'd just got myself in some trouble.

We crumpled to the ground in a pile of fur and limbs but I kept my grip on the wolf, and I heard several loud gasps from the people around us and a few loud exclamations. As we rolled around on the ground, I was not game enough to let go until I heard its snapping jaws close together not far from my ear. Thankfully it didn't manage to get hold of anything or else I'd be in some major pain. I dare say that snap was a reaction to the pain, and that its jaws weren't really aimed anywhere that time, but I wouldn't be so lucky the second time. Not against a wolf with natural killing instincts as thick as mud.

I quickly let go of the grip I had and scrambled back on my paws, dancing back further away from the wolf so it couldn't reach me easily, placing myself in the direct line of the little girl. Although we were about 10 meters away from her I didn't want the wolf getting any closer. I looked back at the wolf as it climbed to its feet, noticing that its shoulder was bloody I realized that, that was where I wounded it. I felt a wolfish grin slip onto my muzzle at the sight of my opponent but my attention quickly snapped to the cocky looking guy from before as he cried out, "How dare you, you flea bitten mutt! You can't attack my pet!"

I figured that he was responsible for the wolf and if I was human I would have laughed out loud, he said I can't attack his pet, but I think I just did.

I was thrown out of my musing as I felt the wolf collide with my body, this time he was the one attacking me. I've always heard that you should never take your eyes off your attacker in a fight and it seems like I'd already forgotten that rule and I was now paying for it. I felt sharp teeth tear into the fur at the back of my neck, but unlike me, the wolf didn't stop at one bite. His nasty teeth lashed out in several places as we fell to the ground and tumbled around. I let out several high pitched yelps as he bit into more places; my back, my shoulder and my ribs, each time drawing a little bit more of my blood.

While he was distracted with attacking me non-stop, I lashed out and bit down hard on his front leg, jerking it back with my head. The movement knocked his current momentum off balance and caused him to falter from his attack, which gave me enough time to throw myself on top of him, and bite down on his muzzle trapping his jaws between mine so he couldn't bite me anymore. The wolf started to struggle under my grip but I released a loud growl and clamped harder so the wolf's blood was running down its muzzle.

It let out a pathetic whine and laid still, its chest heaving as it tried to breathe in and out. I wasn't sure what to do now that I had pinned it, but a sudden pain in my head cause my vision to go black. I felt my grip on the wolf drop as I fell to the ground, my head spinning. I laid there, dazed for a few seconds until my vision cleared and I saw a stone lying not far from my head and I heard a nasally voice say, "I told you to stay away from my pet you damn dog!"

I let out a growl in annoyance and started to clamber back up to my paws before the wolf had a chance to attack me. Once I was back up I cast my glaze around for the wolf and froze in panic when I located it. It was heading straight for the little girl, and it was too far away for me to stop it this time, the few seconds I was down was all it needed to get up and away. I started running after it, ignoring the aches throughout my body as best I could, although I knew there was nothing I could do now.

The wolf lunged at the little girl as she screamed in panic. My heart skipped a few beats, fearing the worst but suddenly a green haired stranger stepped in front of the little girl, and before I could blink he'd pulled a sword out and left the wolf bloody at his feet. I figured the wolf was dead when it didn't get up again.

I stopped running when I recognized the man in front of me. It was none other than Zoro, from the manga and anime of "One Piece". Of all my luck I get dragged into One Piece. I wasn't sure at that stage if I wanted to cry or laugh. I was knocked yet again of my musing yet again by that bastard who owned he wolf. I was getting annoyed with him interrupting my thoughts.

"You bastard!" he screamed at Zoro. "You killed my pet! Do you have any idea who I am! I am the Helmeppo, my father is Captain Morgan! I shall have you executed for your crimes! Nobody kills my pet and gets away with it!"

Zoro's eyes narrowed as he said that, and he drew his sword, saying, "You're both annoying, you and your pet."

Helmeppo scowled and drew his sword, charging at Zoro with a battle cry. He swung his sword down, only to have Zoro dodge it and kick him in the face causing Helmeppo to land on his ass in the dirt. Helmeppo looked nervous now, as if suddenly realizing how much shit he was in and how much stronger Zoro was than him.

"Y… you don't understand. If we don't arrest you we'll have all these citizens arrested, even the little girl. I'll make you a deal, if you let us arrest you we'll leave them alone," daddy's boy stuttered out.

A dark look flashed across Zoro's face as Helmeppo scrambled to his feet, and only after a brief moment of hesitation, Zoro slid his sword back in his sheath. Suddenly feeling bad for Zoro and angry at the slimy daddy's boy, I let out a growl and took a step toward Helmeppo. I knew that Zoro needed to get arrested for the story line, but that somehow didn't make any difference. Alerted to my presence by my growl, the daddy's boy swung as his eyes landed on me.

"You filthy mutt! You attacked my wolf too! But now that my pets gone I'll need a replacement… You, marines, capture this dog for me!"

I swung around in the direction Helmeppo had issued his order towards and saw two marines standing there. I hadn't noticed them before, but it didn't surprise me. The prissy boy wouldn't have enough guts to go anywhere on his own anyway.

"Yes, sir," one of the marines answered hesitantly as they both took a step forward.

I took a step back at the same time, flinching as the pain of my early wounds seem to come back to bite me, no pun intended. I guess my adrenaline had worn off quicker than I thought it would. I was no shape to get in another fight, especially with marines that have guns. Plus, if I remember correctly, these guys don't really like this Morgan guy and his son; they don't really want to hurt anyone. But, that didn't stop them from doing anything if they were ordered to. They were pathetic and too scared to disobey.

They took another step forward and my fight or flight response kicked in, I'd already used up the fight option so I guess it was time for flight. I felt bad for leaving Zoro and the little kid behind but I knew both of them would be fine, fine enough anyway.

I spun around and put that canine speed to good use again, weaving in and out of the people in the street as I bolted. I heard the marines and Helmeppo cry out behind me, but I didn't falter. I ran to the end of the street, took a left, ran to the end of that street as well and kept running as I flew past more streets and people. I ducked down a few alleys and back streets, until I finally figured I was safe enough hidden behind a large pile of boxes in another random alley.

'Great,' I figured. 'I went from one alley to another, and this one doesn't smell any better.'

At least I was safe for now though, I hope. I curled up in a ball in amongst the boxes and stayed there for a while. Eventually I drifted off to sleep. Even though I had not been awake more than I few hours, I was exhausted. After all, I had woken up in a bloody anime/manga as some sort of canine, I'm guessing I was a dog after what daddy's boy had said, I had then fought a wolf, ran from a few marines with guns, and hid here. If my day was going to be any more eventful I wouldn't have moved from here for all the money in the world.

Beta read by praeses