Chapter 1: What is happening?

On every TV all over the world, the usual shows and movies everyone is busy watching get pre-empted. Now on the screen is a woman in a gray suit behind a desk, holdings a small stack of papers. When she speaks, it's translated to different languages, "Good afternoon. As of 5:23 p.m. yesterday, the president has gotten reports of four strange boys and girls fighting a monster in the town of Las Vegas, Nevada. Many witnesses have stated that two of the four started glowing then transformed into weapons." Halfway through her talk, the TV shows a video of a fight between two Meisters with their weapons and an evil human. The screen turns back to the woman who continues, "These kids, who we now know them as Meisters thanks to an outside source, have destroyed many buildings. Further investigations revealed that many civilians were killed gruesomely in the vicinity.

"There have also been many more reports before of a monster battling kids who transform into weapons and women who seem to have power that baffles even the top scientists. We now classify them as the legend's namesake, Witch.

"At 9:25 a.m. last morning, the United Nation has agreed that these Meisters, human weapons, and humanoid monsters are a threat to the world and must be dealt with immediately. Soon after the agreement, Congress has passed down a law that all Meisters and human weapons will be discriminated and immediately dealt with armed force. Any sightings of these threats anywhere in the world will need to be reported to armed forces. We thank you for your time." The camera turns off and returns to the regularly scheduled program.

The group in front of one TV is the Meisters and their weapons, Maka and Soul, Black Star and Tsubaki, Death the Kid and the twins, Liz and Patty, along with the leader Death, Spirit Albarn, and Professor Stein, all slack-jawed except for Death and Stein.

Soul breaks the silence and says, "We're in trouble."

In the rainy state of Oregon, a girl with dyed blue hair walks around the dreary forest, wearing a large, yellow raincoat, striped jeans, and yellow rain boots. Coraline hums a little tune her dad made when she was a little girl, looking at the different trees she has come familiarized with after three years. She stops at the only clearing in the forest and sits on a stump, enjoying the cool, humid breeze of summer vacation. But it was short-lived. Soon, she thinks of what happened last night.

Last night, she had a dream that was weirder and scarier than her adventure three years ago. The girl is walking through a city that looks normal, but has spooking wire fences and signs and there's a rounded, almost comical skull everywhere. The roofs are red and the walls were either a bluish or a kind of tan color, and the road is made of cobblestone. But the weirdest thing of the town is the moon surrounded by a blue sky dotted with white. It's a crescent with an eye, a pointy, and a maniacal grin that seems to be dripping with red. Coraline hopes it's not blood.

While she walks through the strange city, her arms ache slightly for some odd reason, making her rub it over and over again. She quickly gets annoyed and lifts up her sleeves to check them, but finds them normal. But the ache continues as she explores the town.

The blue-haired girl scans the area, looking for anyone else that could be living in this town, but the place seems to be a ghost town. Can't handle the silence anymore, the girl cups her hands around her mouth and shouts, "Hello? Anyone here? Helloooo?"

As she predicted, no one appeared. She growls and rubs her arms again before resuming her travel. The windows on the buildings show Coraline's reflection clearly, as if a Coraline copy is on the other side walking along with her. She stops at one large window and looks at herself. Her blue hair is all messy and falls down in front of her eyes, some brown specks of dirt patterning it. Her simple clothing is all rumpled and dirty, and her eyes look tired and…frightened? It's almost like she's on the opposite side of a battle. She thinks, But why?

Suddenly, the reflection ducks her head so her hair covers up her eyes, making the blue-haired girl take a step closer in curiosity. When her reflected self finally lifts her head, it shows the girl three snake-like eyes with round pupils and a demented grin, and Coraline scream and jump away. She sprints away from the image and doesn't stop until the window is kilometers away. When the girl stops, she's surprised to not find herself bent down and breathing hard, but then again it is a dream.

She looks around the town again and finds a tall castle in the middle, comical skulls and spikes decorating the place and XXXXXL, lit candles around. The girl tilts her head a little in admiration and says, "That's kind of cool. I wonder who built it."

Coraline looks away from the castle and gasps, seeing a man covered in scarves head-to-toe, the scarves acting like a skirt and four of them floats behind his back, looking like blockish hands. The most frightening thing is the three eyes on the scarf wrapped around his head. The same ones she saw on her reflection. The girl steps back but the man doesn't move. "Who are you?" she asks nervously.

The man finally moves his head up and the scarf splits open, revealing Coraline's pale face and three red eyes, one in the middle of her forehead. The real Coraline shivers and slowly walks back. Suddenly, the scarves on his, or her, back suddenly shoot toward the frightened girl. She screams and raises her hands up, which both are now shooters, to start firing light blue energy at the scarves. They tear the attacking limbs to threads and head straight for the demented doppelganger, making her disappear behind a cloud. The blue-haired girl finally stops her firing and stares at the cloud, oblivious of the smoke rising from the barrels of her gun-hands. When the large cloud dissipates, she finds the scary man has disappeared. She sighs and relaxes her muscles until a new voice speaks. "You are quite powerful."

Coraline points her guns at the voice and sees a brownish-green snake sitting on a barrel. She looks around the area for the voice when the snake says in a feminine voice, "Hard to believe the DWMA hasn't found you yet."

"Who are you?" Coraline asks.

"That is not of importance right now," it answers, "The real question is what are you going to do?"

"About what?"

"About your souls?" it hisses before striking with extended fangs, making Coraline wake up. That's what got her to take a walk through the forest. So she can try and forget the dream but it keeps coming back. So she decides to try and make sense of it, but with little success.

"What does it mean? What's this DWMA? What does the snake mean about my souls? Well, it probably meant my spirit, but more than one? That makes no sense. Everyone only has one spirit."

A spider crawls nearby and Coraline shrieks in surprise but scowls before squishing it. She then goes back to her dream. "Who was that creepy man with the scarves? Or…was he me? Maybe it means nothing at all. It was a dream after all."

"So, are you done mumbling to yourself? Or do I need to give you some more time alone?"

The blue-haired girl looks at the trees and finds her only friend in Oregon, Wybie Lovat. A boy with thick, messy hair, bad posture, and always wears black jeans, boots, gloves, and an old fireman jacket. His suped-up bicycle is leaning against one tree nearby. She scoffs and says, "Nice to see you too, Wyborne."

He walks over to his friend and asks, "So what are you mumbling about?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just a dream I had last night. None of it made any sense."

"Well, it is a dream. They never make any sense."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she agrees, but Wybie can still tell she's distracted. "Something still bugging your mind?"

"It's something in my dream. When I was fighting this…thing, my arms turned to guns and fired a weird blue energy. It was really freaky but, kind of cool. Kinda wish I really had it."

"Sorry, but like I said before, it was a dream. Nothing in a dream is ever real."

"Thank you, Mr. Party-Pooper."

A trunk cracking to pieces echoes across the forest, making the two teens freeze. Wybie shivers uncontrollably and looks around the place for the noise. "C-Coraline, w-what was that?" he stutters.

"I don't know," she answers, "But let's find out."

"Let's not and say we did."

"What's wrong? You scared?" she asks, smirking.

"Uh, yes."

Another crack rings, this time sounding closer, and the geeky boy screams and jumps behind the blue-haired girl. Another trunk breaks apart and this time the two actually see the tree fall in the shadow. Now Coraline's a little scared. "Okay, I don't mind ignoring it," she mutters. The two friends start walking back home but then a whole tree falls in front of them. They shriek at the sudden appearance and Wybie says, "We were almost flattened."

"Gee, thanks Captain Obvious."

A snarl behind them alerts the two of an unwelcomed presence and the friends stiffly turn around. Coraline's eyes widen and she's left speechless.

Walking out of the forest is something human, but looks far from it. Shark teeth riddle the man's mouth, his greasy hair is dark red and covers half of his face, and his body is leathery gray and slinky, making him about nine or ten feet tall, but since he's bending down, it only makes him about six feet. His bony arms have blades sticking out of them and his fingers are super long talons and his extended feet. All he wears is a loincloth and as black tattoos lining all over his chest.

Wyborne starts whimpering in fright and walking back, but the blue-haired teenager doesn't make a move to run. The beast stares at the two teens and a long, dark-red tongue licks his lips. "Mmm, you look like a tasty bunch of souls," it whispers, making a squeak around the word 'tasty'.

"T-t-tasty?" the bad-postured boy repeats in fear.

"Yes." He jumps at the two with poised talons but Coraline reacts and pushes her friend out of danger before jumping away herself. The monster misses them but strikes in the girl's direction, scratching her waist. She gasps and clutches her wound, momentarily forgetting the homicidal maniac about to gut her like a fish. But before he strikes, a rock hits him on the head, and he turns to find the shaking boy holding another rock and a large stick. "L-leave her alone!" he orders, throwing the other rock. It bounces harmlessly off the creature's head and he shrieks at the boy, making him drop the stick and run screaming. The monster gives chase and swipes at the boy's heels, making him trip. On the ground, Wybie stumbles away but the beast grabs him and raises him eye-level, slobber dripping from his fangs. The boy screams as the teeth come closer but Coraline runs up with a thick branch and smacks the monster's face with so much force it makes him stumble back and the branch snap to pieces. The monster looks at the girl with annoyance and she shouts, "Put him down! NOW!"

He growls and smacks the girl, sending her flying over the trees.

"Coraline!" Wyborne shouts but then looks back at the humanoid beast when it growls. "I'll come back for you later," it rumbles before throwing the boy and tracks down the girl. One of his arm blades slices a tree and it starts tipping toward the dazed boy.

Meanwhile, the blue-haired girl screams while she soars through the air. All the while, she thinks of what that thing was. And what he said earlier. "Tasty bunch of souls" is what confuses her. What does he mean? How can you eat souls? She didn't have much time to think when suddenly her body connects with something hard and she crashes right through. A few seconds later, she figures it's the Pink Palace and she crashed right into the kitchen, where her now-shocked parents are. "Uuugghh," she moans, slowly lifting her body up.

"Coraline?" her mother gasps. "Why…how…what are you doing crashing through the window?"

"Human…monster," she groans.

"Human what now?" her father asks.

They turn to the destroyed window when they hear a growl, and find the bladed monster. The daughter points and mutters, "That."

The humanoid beast looks at the two adults and hisses, "Well, looks like I hit the jackpot of souls."

Mel grabs a broom and points it at the monster like a spear. "Who-whoever, or whatever, you are, I want you out of here now!"

The thing bites off most of the broom, leaving the mother a small stick. She looks at the beast with fear and, when the beast roars in her face, she screams and walks away, toward her daughter. The monster walks toward the two when Charlie gets him in the way. "Stop right there, monster. You will not harm my family."

"You two are starting to get on my nerves. Maybe I should kill you first," the creature says. He raises a hand and swipes at the father, but Coraline pushes him away while shouting, "No!" The claws slash the teenager, creating four new marks on her waist and arm and sending her crashing through another wall. She crashes in the living room, where her adventure started with the little door.

"Coraline!" Her mother hurries to her only daughter and checks her wounds, which are dripping blood. "Don't worry. We'll call a hospital."

"It's too late for that."

The two turn to the hole Coraline made and find the monster walking in, Charlie in his bloodied hands. "She's already a goner. But don't worry. If her soul is as tasty as the man's, then all would not have been for vain." He tosses the father to the side and the injured girl sees a bloody gash across his chest. "No," she whimpers.

"Charlie!" Mel shouts and starts running toward him, but the monster throws a hand and creates fatal wounds on the woman. She crashes into the chimney and it falls apart, pinning her on the ground.

"No. Mom!" The blue-haired girl tries to get up but stumbles because of her gashes. The beast chuckles at her futile efforts and whispers, "Oh, isn't that sweet. I hate sweet. Now, I think it's time to finish you off for good." He picks up the fatigued face of Mel with a claw, when the daughter huffs, "Get away from my mother."

The killer turns back to the teenager, who got on her feet and has her head down, making her hair cover her eyes. He grins and says, "So the baby girl got the energy to stand. Too bad all you can do is watch your parents disappear." He picks up the woman up despite the bricks and licks some blood off her face. Coraline snarls and commands again, "Leave my mother alone!" Newfound energy boils inside her veins and charges her body beyond capacity. She raises her hands and suddenly metal grows on her arms into two silver guns with curved spikes embedded on the sides moving toward the barrels. The inside of the barrels start humming and a bright blue glow appears, and the blue-haired girl aims them at the surprised monster. "I think it's time for you to leave. Permanently!" At the last word, two beams shoot out of her guns and catch the surprised humanoid monster, making him disappear in blue light. The beam destroys a part of the wall and continues on, leaving behind an inhuman shriek, either from the weapon or the beast. When the light dies, Coraline smiles a little under her hair, but when she raises her head, the smile vanishes and she looks at her changed hands, fright slowly rising in her eyes. She lets her arms collapses on the ground from the weight and starts whimpering in fright. She looks at her mother, who has a confused and scared look on her bloodied face. The teenager looks back at her arms and shakes her head, repeating "No. no, no,no," in disbelief. She looks at her fading mother and sees confusing and a little fright on her bloodied face. She starts crying silently and runs out through the large whole, entering into the gloomy rain of the world.

After darting through the sodden forest, the blue-haired girl stops and looks at her hands again, which haven't changed. She collapses onto her knees and starts sobbing her horror out. She moves her head up to the moon and finds it has changed. The half-moon turned into a crescent with a pointy nose, a withered eye, and a maniacal grin drooling blood. Coraline sniffles and screams to it, "What is happening to me!?"