Now and Then, Here and There

Lala-Ru is attacked by kidnappers riding dragon-like mechas as she makes her way home from school, and "Shu," the main character and a boy who loves kendo, steps in to save her. As a result, Lala-Ru is unintentionally transported to the attackers' world, a wasteland devoid of water and ruled by a red giant star. Lala-Ru is in possession of a necklace, a great reservoir of water, which she can manipulate. Shu is beaten and questioned repeatedly within the vessel that is under the leadership of the brutal, maniacal tyrant Hamdo as he is stuck in this new, harsh reality. He encounters an American abductee named Sara Ringwalt while he is sequestered in a cell. Due to Hamdo's henchmen mistaking Sara for Lala-Ru, she was taken prisoner. Sara is repeatedly raped while being compelled to live in the quarters of extraordinary troops in order to become pregnant. Shu is forced to join an army of child soldiers after being attacked by an unidentified enemy landship. These children are trained to plunder communities, where they abduct village women for breeding and enlist orphaned male children into Hamdo's army.