Sahara never expected things to go so well. The following days actually went by smoothly. Mrs. Kane didn't lose any of the enthusiasm she had about Sahara living with them and Mr. Kane, well he still kept his distance. He did, however, seem to have forgotten about his objections of Sahara being there as he locked himself in the barn most of the days.

School was the same as always. With the Kane's not living more than thirty minutes from the home where Sahara had stayed before, they decided to keep her in the same school. Mrs. Kane had said it was to not make Sahara have to say goodbye to all her friends. Sahara hadn't bothered to tell her that she had none.

It was in her third week at the residence, a time which was close to being a record of the longest time Sahara had spent with a family, that the bizarre event that would alter her life forever, was about to take place.

The school bus dropped Sahara off at the bottom of the hill, on which the farmhouse stood. It was something Mrs. Kane had arranged with the bus driver during Sahara's first week at the farm. Honestly, Sahara was grateful for it. Somehow even she would have felt embarrassed had Mrs. Kane picked her up from school in the rickety car, which had been temporarily fixed, that she owned.

Whispering a 'thank you' to the driver, Sahara watched the bus disappear before she began to walk up the path towards the house. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but she always enjoyed these short walks after school.

With a smile she tightened her grip on her school bag, resisting the urge to skip. Over the last few days, despite a voice telling her not to hope, something had set itself alight within her heart. There was a feeling that maybe, just maybe, this was the family for her. Sure, Mrs. Kane could get over enthusiastic and Mr. Kane, well there weren't really words to describe him, but they were nice enough.

Upon reaching the driveway, Sahara shot a look towards the barn. The hole, caused by the explosion on the day she had first arrived, had been messily patched over by a bunch of planks. They seemed to have been nailed there in haste.

Since that day there hadn't been any major explosions, only a few small ones where Mr. Kane came running coughing out of the barn. Once he had claimed that he had breathed in a deadly poisonous gas and would die within five minutes. Twenty minutes later, after Mrs. Kane calmly gave him his 'last meal' of milk and cookies, he returned to the barn.

Sahara could not help but wonder what exactly went on in there and yet she dared not ask, for as Mr. Kane seemed afraid of her, she was also somewhat afraid of him. With a shrug she turned and headed into the house.

Even when she didn't say a word upon entering it, Mrs. Kane noticed as always.

"Ah, Sahara, you're back!" she beamed as she walked towards her. She was wearing an apron decorated with a picture of an apple tree filled with apples. Her hands were covered in flour and there was even a streak of it on her cheek. "You came at a perfect time. I just put and apple pie in the oven. We'll all sit down and have it before dinner. I'm sure Samuel could use some food until then and you must be hungry too. You've spent all day studying hard after all!"

Sahara shot her a shy smile to show that she was grateful.

"Do you have a lot of homework?"

Sahara nodded.

"Well then. How about you sit out on the porch and get a head start on it?" Mrs. Kane suggested. "I'll bring the pie out as soon as it's done."

Without a word of protest Sahara turned and headed for the porch, her school bag still on her back. Mrs. Kane watched her go with a smile on her face. Yet then her forehead wrinkled somewhat. The middle-aged lady could not understand how Sahara would do anything she was told. It was as though the girl had no will of her own but followed every suggestion as though it were a command. Shaking her head Mrs. Kane hurried back to the kitchen.

Sahara settled down at the table, which Mrs. Kane had placed on the porch four days after Sahara had come. Pulling out her Math book, Sahara began the tedious job of going over one problem after the other. In all truth she hated Math. It was by far her weakest subject in school. Solving problems just wasn't for her. Yet despite this she didn't ask for help but set about to figure things out by herself. She didn't want to ask anyone at school, for she was too shy to approach them, and Mrs. Kane, well she didn't want to do anything that would inconvenience her. Mr. Kane himself was out of the question.

Thirty minutes later Sahara erased the answer before her for what felt like the hundredth time. She was still on the first question and was getting nowhere. Wrinkling her forehead she began to chew on the tip of her pencil as she analyzed the problem before her. Each time she thought she understood how to do it she would get half way through only to realize something was wrong.

With a sigh Sahara turned her head to stare at the road leading down to the bottom of the hill. A gentle breeze blew across, caressing her face as though telling her not to worry about it. Hearing banging Sahara turned her eyes on the barn. It sounded like Mr. Kane was back to hammering at whatever it was he had been making the past week.

"Oh my, it looks like you got so hungry you already got started on the pencil."

Startled Sahara turned to see Mrs. Kane coming towards her with a pie in her hands. Realizing she still had the pencil in her mouth, Sahara quickly put it down. She watched as Mrs. Kane placed the pie on the table before she realized her homework covered half of it. Scrambling to make space, Sahara hurriedly began to put her things away.

"That's okay, dear," Mrs. Kane told her, "It's not in the way." The delicious smell of the pie tickled Sahara's nose and she felt her mouth water. Suddenly there was an extra loud 'bang'. Both Sahara and Mrs. Kane turned to stare at the barn."Oh dear," Mrs. Kane sighed. "It looks like even if I called him now he wouldn't hear me over that noise." Her face brightened at a sudden idea. "Sahara, why don't you go fetch him while I get the plates and cutlery?"

Sahara turned to stare at Mrs. Kane. "M-Me?" she stuttered.

"Yes, dear," Mrs. Kane had already turned and was on her way back to the kitchen. "Just go in the small door at the front. When you find him let Samuel know that we are eating pie now and he has no option but to come."

"B-but..." Sahara began to protest. She trailed off as Mrs. Kane disappeared. Swallowing hard Sahara turned back to the barn. For a moment she simply sat where she was.

Go into the barn? The thought made her palms grow sweaty. Yes, she was curious as to what exactly was going on in there and yet at the same time it scared her. Besides, Mr. Kane wasn't exactly...on terms with her. The only words he had ever exchanged with Sahara were an occasional 'good girl' and twice a random 'stay' when he had left for the barn.

Yet Mrs. Kane had asked her to go and get him and Sahara was not one to disobey. Getting up she pushed the chair back. She took a deep breath before she walked down the steps, off the porch, and began to make her way towards the barn. Each step towards it made her heart pound harder within her chest.

However, the closer she got, the more her curiosity heightened. As she reached the small door, which had been built into the larger two at the front, Sahara paused. The banging had stopped and yet she heard the noise of someone shuffling about. Suddenly there was silence. Curious Sahara leaned her ear against the door.

BANG!

It made her jump as the banging resumed. Her heart began to race once more and Sahara felt as though she had just run a marathon.

Just what is going on in there?

Shooting a glance at the porch Sahara saw that Mrs. Kane still had not returned. Seeing that there was nothing else she could do, Sahara reached forward and opened the door.

Peaking her head in she blinked in surprise. She had expected the barn to be dark and yet it was light up brightly with lots of fluorescent lights. However, the lights were the one and only seemingly 'normal' thing there. The rest of the barn was filled with what looked like countless machinery. To one side stood a table with lots of glass tubes which contained different colored liquids making the corner look more like a chemistry lab than anything. A few Petri dishes, with unidentifiable objects floating in them, lay beside the tubes.

The smell of chemicals and oil tickled Sahara's nose. Dust was mixed in as well making it all the more unpleasant. Wrinkling her nose Sahara carefully took a step into the barn. Looking down she noticed the floor was simply dirt. It had to be a bother with all the machinery as it would no doubt not help in keeping them clean. However, Sahara guessed it was also a way to deal with the occasional explosions and fire.

Hearing another 'bang' Sahara looked over in the direction it came from. There she caught sight of Mr. Kane. His back was to her as he stood over a workbench. From the back Sahara could see his hair was in a mess and, from what she could make out, he seemed to have splotches of oil all over him. In one hand he held a hammer, the other seemed to be holding something down on the work bench.

"M-Mr. Kane?" Sahara spoke quietly as she took a cautious step towards him.

'Bang!' She flinched as he brought the hammer down again. It seemed he had not heard her.

Feeling as though she needed to cough Sahara brought her hand up to her mouth. Fighting to keep it in she continued to make her way towards Mr. Kane, her eyes wandering all around the barn at the same time. They moved to the ceiling which she noted did not look sturdy at all.

Turning her attention back to where she was going Sahara weaved her way through machinery. One particular one she passed she could almost swear was made up of what looked like it had once been a washing machine.

When she was behind Mr. Kane, and yet still a safe distance away, Sahara took her hand from her mouth.

"Mr. Kane?" She tried again.

"It just won't bend," Mr. Kane muttered. He seemed to still not have heard her.

The sneeze came before Sahara could stop it. No sooner had it left her than Mr. Kane whirled around. Over his face he was wearing what looked like a welding mask. Upon seeing her Mr. Kane froze.

"Um..." Sahara trailed off as Mr. Kane pulled the mask off his face and on top of his head. He turned and grabbed his glasses of the table beside him with shaking hands. Putting them on, he squinted at her.

"G-girl," he stuttered as he pointed a shaking finger at her and shrank back against the work bench. He looked panicked.

"Mrs. Kane said I should tell you we are eating pie..." Sahara trailed off at the end. The way Mr. Kane was clutching his hammer against his chest, as though it was his lifeline, unnerved her.

Is he really that scared of me? She couldn't help but wonder. A smile twitched at the edge of her lips. Thinking about it, it was somewhat comical as to how he was leaning against the table in a way that he looked he would climb up on it at any moment. It somehow made him look a lot less scary. For a moment the two stood simply staring at each other.

"What's that?" Sahara asked louder than she intended to. Mr. Kane flinched at her suddenly speaking up and yet then looked at where her finger was pointing to. It was a large machine to his right. Sahara had randomly picked the closest one and asked what it was in order to try and break the awkward silence.

To her surprise it seemed to work. Mr. Kane's eyes light up and he stopped gripping the hammer in his hands so tightly.

"Ah, that." He put the hammer down and took a fond step towards the machine. "It's my shrinking device."

"Shrinking device?" Sahara asked skeptically.

Mr. Kane nodded, his back turned to her as he ran a hand over the machine. Curiosity filled her and, without thinking, Sahara walked forward. She came to stand beside Mr. Kane. He didn't even seem to notice.

"You see," Mr. Kane began. "One day I was sitting in here wondering how we could make transporting things easier and cheaper. It hit me that if we could transport a larger amount and yet use less transport, it would solve the entire problem. Imagine being able to transport twice as much as usual in a van because everything is smaller than it originally was!"

Sahara wrinkled her forehead. "But how do you un-shrink it then once it arrives?"

Mr. Kane opened his mouth to reply only to freeze. "Un-shrink," he muttered to himself. "See, I knew I was forgetting something!"

"So, does it work?" Sahara asked curiously. Her shyness was suddenly forgotten.

"Well...it is temporarily out or order."

"Oh."

"But," as he spoke Mr. Kane reached forward and picked up two pictures that were lying on top of the machine. The fact that they were covered with dust made Sahara wonder just how long this 'temporarily out of order' really was. Mr. Kane blew the dust of the first picture. "This," he told Sahara as he handed it to her, there was excitement in his voice, "was what I used to try it out before it stopped...well before things went kaboom."

Sahara found herself staring at a picture of a red apple.

"And this," Mr. Kane proudly handed her the second picture, "Is the apple after I put it through the machine!"

Sahara stared blankly at another picture identical to the first. Was she supposed to be seeing something here?

"The second time it is slightly smaller than the first!" Mr. Kane helped her out.

Sahara peered closer at the pictures. No matter how she looked at them, the apple in them looked exactly the same in every way, especially in size.

"Uh..."

"Do you see it?" Mr. Kane asked excitedly. Sahara looked up to see him staring at her with hopeful eyes. It was almost as though he were pleading for her to see something that wasn't there.

"If you look really closely," Sahara told him hoping that it was enough. It was.

Triumphantly Mr. Kane snatched the pictures back. "See!" He had a happy grin on his face and Sahara blinked in surprise. It actually made him look like a handsome middle aged man and not the crazy person she had thought him to be. "I'll definitely get it to work better when I get around to fixing it. But for now I need to work on the dog walker!" He was back to being the crazy person.

Putting the pictures down Mr. Kane turned. Seeming to notice for the first time that Sahara was right beside him he froze. Suddenly he reached up and pushed the welding mask down, almost knocking the glasses off his face. Sahara watched wordlessly as he turned and returned to the work bench, resuming what he had been doing before.

Hiding a smile Sahara turned around to stare at all the other machines. She wondered what other crazy things Mr. Kane had tried to invent. Somehow, suddenly, she no longer felt scared of the man. The brief conversation she had had with him had pushed all her doubts about him away.

The pie forgotten, Sahara walked by other machines, shooting curious glances at them. Some seemed half finished others looked more like a pile of junk more than anything. If any of them worked Sahara was doubtful.

It was when her eyes caught sight of one particular one that she froze. It was a dull machine, covered in layers and layers of dust. Yet there was just something about this machine that seemed to pull Sahara towards it.

"What does this one do?" she heard herself ask as she approached it as though she were in a trance.

Mr. Kane took a moment to briefly turn and shoot a glance in the direction she was heading.

"A complete failure," he told her before he turned back to the work bench. "I thought I had something going there." He let out a snort.

Sahara didn't reply as she continued walking.

"In the end it nearly caused the entire barn to burn down," Mr. Kane continued, "Burned most of my other experiments down too. Mind you, I don't know why I still have it."

Upon reaching the machine Sahara slowly reached a finger out towards it. Behind her the banging had resumed. Gently Sahara brushed her finger across the surface. Layers of dirt loosened just by that simply act.

Shaking her head Sahara was about to turn away when she something caught her eyes. Whirling around she stared at it. Squinting she took a closer look. Was it just her or had it looked as though an electric current had just flickered across the top of it? Yet when Sahara looked closer there was nothing there.

"How long has it been standing here?" She asked.

There was no reply as Mr. Kane seemed to once again be absorbed in what he was doing. That was when Sahara noticed it. A small red light seemed to be flickering weakly from beneath layers of dust. Leaning down over where it was, she blew gently. Dust rose, floating into the air and revealing what lay beneath. A few different looking buttons and a screen were there. A large red button stood right beside it with the words 'start' on it.

Sahara cocked her head as she reached towards it. Something seemed to be calling to her to push it. Something was telling her to go ahead.

"Ah!" Hearing the yell Sahara whirled around. Mr. Kane had dropped the hammer and was holding his thumb. "Stupid piece off..." he stopped himself as he seemed to remember Sahara was in the room. With a sigh he pulled off the welding mask. "I guess taking a break might help," he muttered. "What kind of pie did you say we were having?" He asked Sahara.

"Apple," Sahara told him, her back now to the machine.

"Ah, my favorite," A smile spread across Mr. Kane's face. "Well then, shall we?" He tossed the welding mask casually to the side. It landed against a shelf with a bang. Sahara jumped.

"Ah...sorry about that," Mr. Kane looked sheepish. Sahara was about to step forward when something fury, scared by the noise, rushed out from under a table and ran across her feet. Letting out a yelp Sahara jumped back. She had forgotten about the machine and slammed against it. Trying to stop herself from falling she reached out an arm behind her. As it hit something and she felt it move, Sahara shot a glance over to see that she had pushed none other than the 'start' button.

To her horror the machine began to make a whirling sound and light up. She scrambled to stand up and yet by the time she did electricity seemed to shoot out. Sahara stared in horror at her hands as she saw them sparking with electricity. A tingling sensation filled her and she realized the electricity was running through her entire body.

I'm going to die! Sahara thought. At the same time, the pain she expected that should accompany the electricity wasn't there. Then again, maybe she was just too shocked to feel it. Looking up Sahara saw Mr. Kane yelling something, yet she could not hear him but only the whirling sound. Mr. Kane rushing towards her was the last thing she saw in the barn before her world began to spin and she felt as though something were sucking her away.

As the barn disappeared Sahara was sure she was dying and yet at the same time something struck her as odd. If she was dying, why was she spinning endlessly around and around? And what was up with the colors swirling together all around her?

Suddenly she found herself staring at a blue sky and felt herself falling. Opening her mouth Sahara let out a scream. She plummeted down faster and faster. Somehow she twisted in the air and she found herself staring at what looked like a large city below her. She was falling right towards the outskirts of it. A fresh scream made it to her lips. She didn't want to die, not now, not when things had finally been going so well.

She was getting closer and closer, heading right towards what looked like an ally between two houses, when she suddenly caught sight of a figure below moving faster than humanly possible. It seemed to be on a path which, if it continued on, would collide with her. Sahara's eyes widened. Not only was she going to die, but she was probably going to end up taking an innocent person with her!

"Watch out!" She screamed. She wasn't sure if her voice would reach the figure and yet when a head turned towards her she realized the person had.

She saw the person swerve to the side and realized that whoever it was, was riding something that looked a lot like a snowboard. However, there was no snow. Had the thought that she was going to die not been on her mind, Sahara might have noticed that the board was actually hovering a good deal off the ground, the ground which was getting closer by the second-

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eyes, Sahara saw the figure from before swerve again, except, this time, towards her. Her eyes widened as she realized the figure was rising up towards her, as though coming to meet her.

Deciding that they were either crazy or suicidal, Sahara squeezed her eyes shut. It was better not to witness her own death as well as the death of this stranger.

However, at the moment she expected to make impact with the ground, something, or someone, slammed into her. Sahara heard a grunt as she felt arms wrap around her. For a moment her direction changed from falling downwards to sideward. Then Sahara felt shaking. She opened her eyes only to find herself staring at a gray shirt, before she felt herself falling once more.

She hit the ground painfully and went bouncing. Somehow, throughout the confusion, she noted that the person, who had caught her, still had their arms around her, making them roll along the ground together.

As they skidded to a stop, Sahara's head tipped downwards. Her eyes widened as she felt her lips connect with something soft. As her vision cleared she found herself staring into a handsome face of a guy. He groaned before her stirred and his eyes flickered open. They were an unusual, stunning emerald green. His eyes widened somewhat before Sahara felt his lips turn into a smile.

She froze. Wait! Did I just feel his lips...Realization struck her. The soft thing her lips had touched had been this guy's lips!

Letting out a yelp she sprang back landing, not so gracefully, on her butt. Her eyes were wide with shock. The guy, on top of whom she had been lying until then, propped himself up and stared at her.

"Well, that was one heck of a way to thank me for saving you. Planting one right on me huh?" he said, a smile twitching at the edge of his lips.

"I...I..." Sahara could not get more out.

The guy got up and casually brushed himself off. Sahara's eyes stayed glued to him. His black hair was shaggy in the front and yet had been cut shorter in the back. While it was a style that would look odd on a lot of guys, it actually fit him very well.

His skin looked like he had a permanent tan and his gray, short sleeved, shirt showed off his arms which showed he worked out one way or another. His left wrist was covered with an assortment of bracelets while on his right wrist he wore a thick silver bracelet. Some way up, on his arm, he had a tattoo, which looked like already started at the side of his neck and then made its way down to just below his shoulder. Of what it was, Sahara wasn't sure but it looked like just a bunch of black patterns to her.

On top of this, the guy was wearing black, fingerless gloves and black baggy pants with a belt, which did little to stop them from sagging. On his feet he wore what looked like an odd pair of boots.

Sahara's eyes flickered up to his right ear which was pierced. One word screamed in her mind as she took in this person before her: Delinquent. He looked like one through and through. Yet at the same time there was something alluring about him. He looked like someone who had more than one girl trying to win his heart.

"Next time," as the guy spoke Sahara realized that she was staring, "At least warn me."

"Huh?" Sahara asked as she stared at him stupidly.

The guy responded by swiping his thumb across his bottom lip, the smile still on his face. This small action made Sahara's heart beat faster. Yet then her eyes widened as she remembered. Her hand flew to her own lips.

My first kiss! She thought in dismay as she sat frozen in shock. Gone were the thoughts of a romantic evening and kissing the man she loved, a well educated and law abiding one at that, while the sun set over the ocean. Now it was too late. No, her first kiss had been with this...this...she began to hyperventilate.

"Hey," the guy looked worried. "Are you alright?"

Alright? Sahara thought. Suddenly she remembered her near death experience. As a result she only began to hyperventilate more.

"Uh..." The guy came over to her and awkwardly crouched down beside her. He looked uncertain as what to do before he placed a hand on her back. "You going to be okay?"

Sahara shook her head as her hands clenched into fists and she pressed them to her forehead. What is happening here? She had been in the barn one minute with Mr. Kane and the next she was falling only to end up here.

"Surely the kiss wasn't that bad," the guy murmured beside her with a frown on his face. "This isn't usually the reaction I get."

Sahara barely heard her, her thoughts racing. The machine! She remembered the rat running across her feet and how she had accidently bumped into the machine and ended up touching the 'start' button. Did the machine have something to do with her suddenly ending up somewhere else? Was it a teleportation device or something? But it doesn't work, Mr. Kane said so!

"You'll be okay," the guy himself sounded uncertain as he said it.

Sahara simply nodded in reply. Get a grip off yourself! She thought. Beside her the guy began to rummage around in his pockets.

"Here." Sahara looked up to see him pulling something from his pocket. "It's my last pack but..." he sounded somewhat regretful as he handed it over.

As Sahara took her fists away from her face she slowly took what the guy handed her. I don't smoke, she thought thinking that was what he meant by 'pack.' She stared in surprise as she saw it was actually a small carton of strawberry milk. How it had survived the fall Sahara wasn't sure.

"It might help you calm down," the guy told her. However, his eyes were on the carton all the while.

Shaking her head Sahara handed it back to him. She was grateful for the offer, but right now strawberry milk was the last thing she wanted.

"You sure?" the guy asked as though not believing his luck.

Sahara nodded and she watched him take the carton back with a smile on his face. Her own breathing calmed down and she noticed that as a result the guy looked relived.

"Phew," he said as he broke the straw off the carton and proceeded to poke a hole in it. "Looks like you'll be fine." He got up. "You're not hurt anywhere, are you?" he asked as he stuck the straw in his mouth and took a long sip.

Sahara shook her head numbly. She felt a few sore spots here and there, especially on her legs and arms, which she was sure would turn into bruises but she had nothing major screaming in pain. However, when she looked up at the guy she noticed the nasty scraps he seemed to have picked up on his left arm. A twinge of guilt shot through her as she realized he must have taken most of the fall. She opened her mouth o apologize and yet the guy had already turned away.

"Jeeze, when I saw you falling from the sky I really thought you were finished. You're lucky I caught you," the guy spoke as he lifted his right arm. Reaching out he made a flicking motion with his fingers as though calling somewhat. There was a sound of something falling and Sahara's mouth fell open as she watched the board, she had seen the guy riding, shoot out from where it had gotten buried in a pile of boxes.

It came floating over and hovered in the air beside him and for the first time Sahara was able to see that it was black with a blue flame covering half of it. The guy pressed something on the bracelet in his hand. At once the board stopped hovering and began to drop. He caught it with one hand before it could hit the ground. Picking it up he began to look it over, as though checking it for damage.

As Sahara had thought earlier, the board really did look like a snow board. It was slightly smaller though and was missing the binding where one usually strapped in their feet. The fact that she had seen it hovering made Sahara realize that other than its look, it differed from a snowboard in more ways than one.

"Looks okay," the guy sounded relieved. He tucked it under an arm, the carton still in the other, and turned to Sahara. There was a thoughtful look in his face as he stared and Sahara suddenly felt self conscious. "Nope, I definitely haven't seen you around before. What crew are you with?" He suddenly asked before taking another sip of the strawberry milk.

Sahara blinked in surprise. Crew?

"If you don't want to tell me that's fine," the guy shrugged. "But assuming from the fact that you fell from above you were competing."

Competing? Sahara stared up at him. What on earth is he talking about?

"So against who were you up?"

"Who?"

"What crew?" the guy asked.

Sahara shook her head. She couldn't follow what he was trying to ask.

"Then what about your board...?" the guy trailed off as his eyes wondered first to her right wrist and then her left. He sucked in his breath. "No bracelet?" His eyes snapped back up to Sahara, suspicion written on his face. He narrowed his eyes and Sahara suddenly felt a bad feeling wash through her.

First I fall into a random city, meet some stranger who has a board that hovers, and then he asks me questions where I don't even know what he is talking about... her eyes widened. Am I...am I in a different country? Sahara had never been to another country, let alone another state. She scrunched up her forehead. But where could this be? She had not heard of a country where they had hovering boards. Japan? She thought. She had heard they were pretty far advanced with technology, and the guy before her...well his skin tone would probably fit. But somehow...maybe Germany?

Deciding there was nothing else but to ask Sahara shakily got to her feet. She looked up to find the guy was still watching her suspiciously. "Um...sorry to ask. But where exactly is this?"

The guy raised his eyebrows. "Where?"

Sahara nodded.

"Concussion?" the guy muttered questioningly. "Or..." his eyes widened. "This," he motioned to the buildings around him, "is Regona City." He watched Sahara closely as though wanting to evaluate her reaction. Sahara, however, was staring at him blankly.

Regona City? It didn't ring a bell. However, it did sound...maybe Italy? But then again, this guy was speaking English with her.

"What country?" she asked.

"Country?" the word sounded foreign on the guy's tong. He looked somewhat taken a back.

Sahara watched him expectantly.

"Regona City is Regona City," he scratched his head as he spoke. "Look," he looked at Sahara skeptically. "Maybe you hit your head a little hard when we fell."

Sahara shook her head. "I need to know where I am," she told the guy desperately as panic began to sink in. I have to know. I have to find out so that I can find a way to contact the Kane's and have them come get me!

"I already told you. You're in Regona City," the guy told her.

Sahara shook her head. This wasn't getting her anywhere.

"Look, let's take things one at a time here and figure things out from there," the guy told her quickly. He looked as though he were scared of Sahara hyperventilating again. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Sahara," Sahara whispered in reply.

"Sahara," the guy repeated. A smile spread across his face. He stuck out his right hand. "Call me Terrell."

Looking up Sahara timidly stuck out her own hand to shake his. Terrell the name sounded odd to her. Maybe I really am in another country.

As the two shook hands Sahara shot Terrell a timid smile. Terrell. Sahara would never forget the way she met him, the way he firmly shook her hand while he clutched the carton of strawberry milk in his other. For it would be through Terrell that Sahara's life would change forever. There was no way the following days were going to be anything near normal.