2015 - Shibuya, Tokyo - Japan.

"Mizuki.. wake up... Mizuki!"
"Uuah!" The young woman shot up and rubbed her eyes, quietly groaning and rubbing her eyes. She looked over to the sound of the voice and spotted her younger brother: Akio was crossing his arms and waiting patiently for his sister to wake up.

"Mizuki ya gotta hurry! Ya promised me you would take me to the convention!"
"Wha.. convention...? ... oh shit! Get out I need to get dressed!" Akio hurried out of the room and Mizuki slammed the door before she rummaged through her closet. She almost forgot she was taking Akio to his first convention today.

After having thrown on some appropriate clothing as well as sliding on her shoulder bag with a little pokéball pin on it, Mizuki ran out of her room and called out to Akio, the two heading out of the apartment and racing down the sidewalk.

After a good fifteen minutes, Mizuki and Akio had arrived at the Makuhari Messe Event Hall. Akio was In awe at all the cosplays he saw along the way, some seemed on the cheaper end, others looked professionally hand crafted to the smallest detail.
Mizuki was amused at his energetic behavior, she couldn't blame him of course. An hour later Mizuki was at one of the vendors buying them lunch, when she turned to give Akio his tray, he was gone.
"Wh..Akio? Akio! Where are ya kiddo?" Mizuki looked around, asking other patrons if they saw her little brother anywhere, after a dozen answered no, one pointed over to another vendor, the man running it was concealed by his costume, dressed as the merchant from resident evil 4. As Mizuki tried to push by some of the people, she watched as the merchant handed Akio a small plush.. a patron walked passed her vision, when her focused returned to Akio... he was gone.

As the crowd finally cleared, Mizuki ran over to where the vendor was, but the whole stall was gone, the man was gone Akio was gone. Mizuki frantically looked around for any sign of the merchant, her eyes darting around before she dropped the trays onto the floor and dropped to her knees, and let out a wail, her calls to Akio falling on deaf ears.

2021 Shibuya, Tokyo - Japan.

"can you please for once stop bringing it up Hinata.."
Mizuki grumbled, one of her friends from highschool walking alongside her had once again brought up Akio's disappearance to the girl, it was starting to get on her nerves.
"Oh.. but its so sad.. he was so hyperactive and smiling all the time.. it doesn't make sense that the police couldn't find anything, like.. even the description of that guy who took Akio would have been enough-"
"He was wearing a mask and a hood Hinata, there was no way I could give the police a good enough description.. can you please stop bringing it up?"
there was a brief moment of silence before Hinata spoke up again. "what if you go to the next convention? he might be there!"
"he wasn't at any other conventions I went to just to catch the bastard-"
"But you only saw him at the Anime-Convention right? maybe he only shows up there!"
Mizuki thought on this.. maybe Hinata was right.. she of course couldn't know for sure until she went herself.
"when is the next convention?" "in about two weeks.. ya better hurry, there's only a few spots left to order a pass!"
Mizuki nodded, the two said their goodbyes before Mizuki trekked up the stairs to her apartment.

Mizuki was sitting on the couch, staring at her laptop with a bottle of bepsi in her hand. the purchase had been made, she could only hope that this time she could catch the merchant who took her only family away from her.. Mizuki looked over to a photo of her and Akio smiling into the camera, next to that was another photo of Mizuki at a much younger age, holding a baby Akio in her arms, her parents sitting next to the two with warm smiles on their faces. she took a sip from her Bepis before closing the laptop and laying down on the couch, slowly falling asleep.

Mizuki felt the rush of wind flow through her hair as she descended towards a bright light. As the light dimmed, she saw what looked to be a stained glass surface sitting apon a pillar. Suddenly everything slowed down before her feet touched the glass, aside from the floor beneath her, and three pedestals, she was surrounded by darkness. The pedestals lit up; now each had a tool or weapon floating above them. One was a Shield, one was a Sword, one was what appeared to be a wand.

A voice rang in her head. "make a choice.. and sacrifice another."

-Protection
-Strength
-Wisdom

Her eyes darted between the three, before her hand reached out to the sword, taking it by the hilt and turning away from the wand. The pedestals vanished, and she was left in darkness.

Another three pedestals rose up, the voice rang out again. "What power do you seek.."

-Guardian
-Warrior
-Mystic

This time the choices were represented by mirrors, depicting events she doesn't recognize. She went up to the mirror in dead center, and reached out, her palm pressing against its smooth surface before it vanished into thin air. Along with the other two mirrors.

Suddenly, the ground rumbled beneath her before a large white dragon scaled over the edge of the pillar. Mizuki screamed and fell onto her back, as the beast approached her, growling and snarling before it thrashed its claws at her.
Mizuki yelped as she was thrown near the edge of the pillar; when stairs started forming out of thin air.
Looking at the dragon, and then the stairs, Mizuki quickly got up and ran up the steps, the dragon roared and took flight, circling around and flying straight for Mizuki.
She tensed up as the dragon swooped down to scoop her into its claws; acting quick she ducked into the step, the dragons claws scraping along the stairs.
Mizuki continued her trek up the flight of stairs until she reached another pillar.

Suddenly the floor left her feet as she was snatched by the dragon, holding her in its grasp before it let out a powerful roar and spun through the air, throwing her back down to the pillar, she yelped into pain as she rolled across the surface and slammed into what looked like a door.
Mizuki got up and rubbed her shoulder before hearing the dragons roar once more, she looked up and saw it dive bombing to her, its large maw open wide. She screamed and spun around, her hands pushing the heavy door open, before she was blinded by a bright light.

"Gyah!" the young woman shot up from her slumber on the couch, holding her hand to her bust; it felt as if her heart nearly jumped out of her chest. "holy hell.. all of this is stressing me out." rising off the couch she stretched out, feeling the joints in her back pop back into place. "right.. coffee time.."

two weeks would pass rather quickly for Mizuki, stuffing her laptop into her shoulder bag she took a glance at the photo of her and Akio together one last time, before she grabbed it and stuffed it into her bag as well. Mizuki took one last look at everything... it was weird.. she felt like it was going to be the last time she looked upon her home. Taking a long breath, she stepped out of the apartment and made her way back to where it started.

Mizuki casually brushed pass the massive crowds of people, all adorning different costumes ranging from Boku no Hero all the way to Neon Genesis, spotting some pretty impressive mechs along the way. The woman shook her head to get herself back into focus. ~I don't have time to be gawking around..~ she thought to herself, eventually she recognized where she was in the six years that had past.
Eying through the crowds she barely made him out, the man that took Akio from her.. ~there you are you son of a.. wait.. is he looking back at me..?~ that's when the world stopped.. literally. Mizuki took a quick glance around her to find everyone.. everything had stopped moving.

"What the hell..?" She mumbled, quite shaken at the sight, when she turned to find the man had vanished, she panicked and ran up to the stall.
Looking around she saw him strolling down the hall, but everything else was still frozen in place.. what the hell was going on? Not taking the chance at losing him again, Mizuki ran after the hooded figure, following him around the corner before pumping into his chest. The woman stumbled back and rubbed her nose, glaring daggers at the man.

"Where is he..?" She hissed, the man tilted his head and responded with an amused tone. "Where is who? Please be more specific Mizuki.." she sat in silence before taking a few steps back defensively. "How do you know my name?" "Oh I know many things about you Mizuki, of your past... present.. and future.." "future? The hell? Look I just wanna know what you did with my brother!." "Oh! You mean Akio.. yeah he's safe.. relatively speaking." "What do you mean.." "if you want I could send you to him.. though you're gonna have to sacrifice something first.." "I don't care! Where. Is. Aki-" his hand shot forward around her neck, she gasped and wrapped her palms around his arm, trying to pry him off of her. "Ah don't you worry.. you'll be taking the express route!" He snapped his fingers and opened a black portal behind him, tossing her into the void like discarded rubbish. Mizuki screamed as darkness enveloped her vision.

Mizuki felt the rush of wind flow through her hair as she descended towards... she's been here before... Mizuki opened her eyes despite the air battering her face.. she felt different. As her feet settled on the smooth stained glass, she took a look at her surroundings. "I.. saw this in my dream.. what the hell is going on..?"

"Not yet.." a voice rang out into her head, Mizuki turned around at the sound of the voice, trying to find the source. "Hello? Is someone here with me..?"
Turning around she found a mirror, but in that mirror was not herself.. or was it..? Stepping closer to the mirror she reached out to the reflection; she recognized it as a zoroark, from pokemon. As her palm pressed against the glass she felt herself being yanked into the mirror and tossed into the other side. She looked behind her and found herself - her human self - looking back at her, before the mirror vanished.

Mizuki did a double take, quickly getting up and looking down at herself, still sporting her clothing, but underneath she had smooth black fur with two pairs of crimson claws, feeling at her head she found her long and smooth hair had been changed into a bushy, but rather soft, mane. "What. The. F-"
"Please.. continue on.. you will return soon."
"...I'd certainly like an explanation."
"No time.. please.. hurry." "What the hell do you mean there's no t-" turning back around she found a large wooden door, similar to the one from the dream she had.. taking an exhausted huff, she pressed her hands against the door and pushed on; the heavy wood opening up to a bright blinding light.

Author's Note

For those waiting for another chapter I am terribly sorry, I didn't realize things would have gotten as chaotic as they are right now in my life and that's been taking a toll on me being able to write for you. It was a bit of a strategic choice to rewrite the entire chapter from the ground up to sort of give more character to Mizuki and her brother Akio. If yall have any critiques or suggestions please let me know! Have a good one!