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[Kato]

"Back again, visitor?"
The voice drifted over the landscape in a demeaning manner. The dreamer took it in as he did his surroundings. His dream was showing signs of change. It began a few nights ago when he stumbled his way into a very lucid slumber. He found himself in a very blank realm at first, but then as he moved through it, it began to take form. First it was all sand. Then steppings stones came from that, and the sand turned to grass. Then the empty sky became a cosmic light show, and buildings began to appear. Unusual science-fiction buildings with energetic tunes playing just outside. It was like he was in his very own amusment park all to himself. There were rides, and mazes, and haunted houses all along the boardwalk leading to an outdoor elevator. And when one rose up past the clouds they were in a sci-fi adventure unlike anyone could imagine. Twisting hallways leading to an observatory, and an elegant room of study. This place was his dream world. A place of fun and imagination, where rides had no lines, and anyone could be brave no matter how frightening the haunted house. It was a Neon Boardwalk, all for the dreamer.

But then after a night or two in paradise, a figure approached the same realm unexpectedly. The figure, though difficult to describe, had black spiky hair with a single long protruding curl. His face was stark white and detailed with golden designs below his glowing orange and yellow eyes. He wore a black headband with a red jewel, and above all of this a mask in half-black half-white with the bottom portion carved into a cheshire grin of triangular teeth. Below his neck was a large steel collar in black adorned with silver spikes. His shoulders in black with red spirals leading into a jester-like triangle trim of gold and black. Instead of fingers he had long red claws which seemed to sparkle as if they were rubies. His chest and stomach were covered in white cloth, while his sides and legs were in black. A trim of masks like the one on his head ran down each thigh until they connected with black and white striped boots. But of particular oddity were the bizarre tentacle-like limbs, striped in black and white, which pierced skywards from his back before curling into spirals.

This unusual specter was the source of constant animosity for the dreamer. Whenever the dreamer wanted to go on a ride, the specter would always be in front of him in line and would always take the seat he desired. When exploring a haunted house, the figure would enhance the fear by jumping out from dark corners before laughing and continuing onwards. And the elevator to the space station above the clouds always closed its doors and began its lengthy ascent the moment before the dreamer would arrive. And from its cylindrical glass walls, the apparition could always be seen waving smugly. The constant antagonizing frustrated the dreamer and he decided to approach the figure. But as soon as he came within earshot, the creature spoke.

"It's frustrating, isn't it? To not get what you want? To be constantly overshadowed? If you really wanted something, you'd take it no matter what."

The dreamer blinked curiously as what he had just been told. "While I admit a few disappointments, I will remain polite. It's the nice thing to do. I would like to ask why you show me no such courtesy?"

"Courtesy? Politeness? And why should I? I can do things you cannot, and there's nothing you can do about it." The creature became airborne and began drifting idly in circles through the air.

"But what you're doing is inconsiderate. I'd like to ask that you stop."

"Ha. Make me."

"This is my dream, I can do whatever I like here."

"Can you? Can you really?" The specter drifted close, his deep, burning eyes gazed soullessly at their prey. "You'll have to kill me to be rid of me. But you don't have the talent to do so here. But I can kill you whenever I want. So who's dream is this? Yours, or mine?"

And with that the ground vanished entirely, and the dreamer fell before waking up in a cold sweat. His nightmare had won this time, but he got himself a drink and headed back to bed. When he reentered the plane he had considerable determination to ignore the interloper. His efforts however, were futile, and the reprecussions were great. Now he could no longer ride the rides or visit the mazes. Everything was closed and locked. However, each time, he'd always see the intruder having a grand time with them. Pitiable, the dream sat down on a bench trying to will away the locks on the doors when the figure approached.

"If you weren't such a sissy, you'd smash the locks, push me out of the way, and take what you wanted."

"But that would be impolite." The dreamer reasoned.

"But this is a dream. None of this is real. You could destroy everything and it wouldn't make a spit of difference."

In a fury the dreamer nodded, and moved to the roller coaster entrance. The gates to the line were covered in chains and locks, and the whole setup resembled a fortress. Resolving that he must take control, he began pulling at the chains to no avail. But the figure was watching this, and grinning.

"Dualize with me."

The dreamer looked back at the creature. "I beg your pardon?"

"Dualize with me. Take my and let us become linked. Your choices will be mine, and mine will be yours. Combined into my form these locks are no obstacle."

The dreamer considered the implication of such a fusion. Perhaps the sprite was elegant and attractive in his own ways, and he had a sort of charm, but there was still the matter of reasoning. Locks were there to keep people out of places they shouldn't go. But then this was his own dream, wasn't it? And he knew what lay beyond, and the manner in which it was barred was ridiculous. He turned to look at the figure. He was holding out his ruby talons like a handshake. Curious about this dualization, and still desiring to access his roller coaster, the dreamer decided to take the creature's hand. Besides, this was only a dream, and he could no no harm to anyone here. The dreamer extended his arm and grasped the outstretched digits as a brilliant light enveloped his vision.

The change was miraculous. Never in his life had the dreamer felt such an overwhelming sense of freedom, and power. With a quick strike the red claws, now his own, slashed through the locks as if they were butter. But more than that, he grasped the gate itself and tore it off its hinges. With an idle fling, the gates went sailing into the sky, to bar him no more. With the ground much further below him now, the perspective of the ride was askew. The iron hand rails which zig-zagged around the lot were quickly ripped through as the dualized dream took a direct route to his beloved ride. But upon squeezing into the cart, and finding it almost obnoxiously foolish, he suddenly found the experience here to be disappointing. The ride which had once thrilled him was now just a toy for kids and offered only embarassment for maturity instead of excitment. When the cart came to a stop in the station, his embarassment turned to disgust, and with a display of immesurable strength, he lifted his cart from the rails and threw it straight at a loop along the rides track, shattering both in a golden explosion. Unmoved by the destruction, he took to the air, flying with absolute speed, experiencing a sense of thrill far beyond anything a mere roller coaster could provide.

The other rides and mazes were no longer of satisfaction either. The monsters and ghosts in the haunted house were all like broken toys and provided no terror. Those that displeased him he ripped apart with a single strike. The mazes became tedious to navigate, and plowing through the walls of them provided a much more intriguing sport. But when he came to the elevator, once again a moment too late to ride it, an insatiable anger pervaded his being. He ripped through the doors of the glass shaft and began flying upwards towards the ascending elevator. Tearing through its floor and ceiling he surpassed its velocity, and severed its cables, causing it to fall to the bottom and shatter into thousands of fragments. But the dreamer's ascent did not cease at the elevator shaft. He continued ripping and clawing at whatever was in his way until the space station now had a gaping hole in its cap. The dreamer continued flying higher and higher, out amongst the dangerous cosmic light show. Avoiding meteors, shooting stars, and all other manners of miniaturized celestial bodies, he flew straight towards the sun, unblinded by its light. And when the light of that sun filled his vision, his dream ended and he was awake.

"Back again, visitor?"
The voice drifted over the landscape in a demeaning manner. The dreamer took it in as he did his surroundings. His dream was showing signs of change. It began a few nights ago when he stumbled his way into a very lucid slumber. For several days his actions here while dualized with his new friend had escalated, but each time he returned everything was good as new. But this time, the environment had taken its toll. Facades of structures, the stepping stones, the grass, had all slowly become more surreal. with his constant revelries, the trees in their beds became striped in black and white with ruby and violet leaves. The buildings were blacker and their edges were becoming sharper. It was getting to become difficult to navigate as patches of the ground had broken into swirling red and black vortexes. Though his dream was still identifiable as his own, the differenced made his frightened, and longing to dualize just to be sure he could be safe. But the specter was always there, sure as clockwork, whenever the dream entered his realm. And though the weeks rolled by and his dream had become a nightmare, every time he'd dualize the creature of the nightmare would be even more fitted to enjoy himself. And though in his life his personality gained a razor's edge, he continued his addiction just as ashamed of it now as he was before he'd begun. But that was perhaps about to change when one evening, while dualized, the creature made an odd request.

"Dreamer...let us visit some other visitor here in the dream world. Let us mingle."

[The wise Kitsune]

Dani stepped into the dark Dream world. It was an amusement park.. but everything was black.. and scary. "This place doesnt look safe, Grape. We should go back to Dream Gate..." Dani turned around, but Grape protested. "We dont know if this place is dangerous, unless we explore, hm?" Grape pushed her back into the world. "F..fine.. I mean.. its only a dream." Dani said to herself to try to feel better.

[Kato]

The creature seemed to perk slightly. "Some other is here."
"What? Someone else?"
"That's right. You're not alone anymore. But do you want to appear lost and scared? Frightened and weak to the visitor?"
"No...No, I'm not weak." The dreamer lifted a hand and merged with the creature.
"Not weak at all."

[Mythic]

"Well, what a bore!" Kaleido circled in the sky a few times. He then flew straight again, muttering to himself. "Not a dreamer to take Ideya from, not even a frail little Nightopian to eat! Rather tragic. *sigh*" Kaleido caught sight of a dark Amuesment park. He grinned. "Maybe this won't be so bad after all! Besides, I might find a...'playmate'." He cackled and made haste towards the park.

[The wise Kitsune]

Dani felt uneasy as she walked towards the park, looking at the giant Ferris Wheel. She was afraid of heights, when she was not dualized with Grape. "Looks fun!" Grape ran to a ride, that looked the safest. Dani ran up as Grape said "..Its block off! I wonder why.."

[Kato]

"Because someone doesn't want you to have fun." The figure drifted down from the sky behind Dani. "But like any lock, it will open if you have the right key."

[Mythic]

When he reached a roller coaster, Kaleido drifted to the ground, the metal plates on his feet making a slight noise. He looked around. It was dark and the entire place looked foreboding. It was just the very thing Kaleido liked. The grin still on his face, Kaleido began walking around.

[The wise Kitsune]

The voice behind her sent shivers down her spine. "D-do you know w-where the key is-s?" Dani said, clearly scared.

[Kato]

A red taloned hand reached slowly past her neck, barely touching it and then settling on the locks. With a small tug the lock broke free. Being his own dream, the creature found the limitations of locks to be inconsequential. But for an interloper....just how would they react here?

The hand retreats calmly back to its source, the expressionless face still staring from its point aloft.

[The wise Kitsune]

"Th-Thank you.." Dani said as she walked in. Grape followed her, looking back at the strange maren.

[Mythic]

Kaleido walked on until he came upon a Ferris Wheel. Seeing he wasn't alone, Kaleido thought. What was he going to do now? Should he hide? Should he try to scare these people? Pondering this, Kaleido stepped over to a dark spot and stood.

[Kato]

"You're very welcome." It said blandly, following her inside. "The ride here is no good however. I'm not sure you will be satisfied." The creature slid its mask over its face, the yellow painted teeth giving him an eerie facade. Then it moves to the control panel for the ride and summons a cart. The handlebar opens as it watches the visitor intently.

[Mythic]

After thinking, Kaleido knew what he'd do. He chuckled, put out his badger claws, and whispered, "This'll give 'em a fright!!" Out of his claws came a bat-like creature with no legs and souless eyes. He whispered something to it, and it took flight.

[The wise Kitsune]

Dani nervously sat down as the bar quickly dropped on her lap. Grape smiled "This seems fun" Dani mumbled "For you.." As the Rollercoaster reached the top, the bars sprang up, and didnt go back down. Dani started to panic. "Its not going back down!!!" The car started to fall down the tracks. Dani held on for her life, while Grape seemed calm. They rushed into a tunnel. Dani realized she was standing up from the fall. Suddenly, a large bat creature grabbed her and flew away. "Dani!!" Grape flew after the being and started shooting energy beams at it. "Let go of her you beast!"

[Mythic]

The bat creature merely growled at Grape. It continued holding onto Dani until it reached another thing: a giant Clown head. The Clown's jaws were wide open, ready to catch Dani if she were to fall. Kaleido, who was now out of the shadows, flew up to the bat creature.

[The wise Kitsune]

Dani stuggled. "Let.. me go!" she wiggled as another Maren flew over. Grape saw what was happening, and flew over as quickly as possible.

[Mythic]

"Oh! What good fun!" Kaleido said, grinning. With a snap off his fingers (or claws, in this case), the creature was gone. He caught Dani before she could fall, chuckling.

[The wise Kitsune]

"What are you doing?!" Dani said. "Hey, let go of the dreamer. Only I can terrorize her!" Grape said as she pointed her finger at Kaleido.

[Mythic]

"..Okay!" Kaleido threw Dani to Grape. "Sorry. I just needed to scare someone, is all." The clown head disappeared. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to go terrorize more rides."

[The wise Kitsune]

"Are you okay?" Grape asked. "Yeah.. how about we avoid that? Lets dualize." They dualized and flied to the entrance of the ride. The black and red nightmaren wasn't at the control box. "Huh.. lets explore more of the park" Dani said, more confident to be dualized with Grape.

[Mythic]

Kaleido flew around the park. He muttered, "Honestly, I probobly coulda stole that dreamer's Ideya! Why didn't I? Perhaps...My free will is getting in the way of my duties..." Kaleido shook his head. He came upon a funhouse, but it certainly didn't look fun. It was boarded up, the paint was coming off, and there was a lock. Kaleido sighed. "Well, it's locked."

[The wise Kitsune]

Grape and Dani approached a funhouse.. with an open flap. "Lets go inside. It looks ok." Grape said "Sure." Dani nodded and went inside.

[Mythic]

Kaleido smashed the lock with his claws and opened the door. Then he noticed the flap. "...Dang it! That was totally unnecessary! And I just washed my claws! Oh well, into the darkness I go!" He went in.

[The wise Kitsune]

It was dark for a couple of minutes. Suddenly, two spotlights went on Grape and Kaleido, who was across the tent. "Hey, who's there? Whats going on?!" Grape yelled.

[Mythic]

"Uh..What's happening?" Kaleido asked, not expecting an answer.

[Kato]

A voice echoed from above the two. "This is my dream. And you two are my playthings for now." A third spotlight turned on as the creature appeared before them. "And do not forget that."

[Mythic]

Play things? Kaleido thought.