[XW1n5t0nX]

The three then hear a gargling noise behind them, they whipping their bodies around to see what is causing the noise. The ground bubbles and sinks down some as a figure rises from it, it being black head to toe. It opens it’s mouth open to reveal it’s fang like teeth, it’s eyes sunken in, little red pupils shining out some. It stares at Syuri and the others, it producing a snarl like laugh.

Inside Asami’s room, Aimi looks down at the girl as she screams and flails about, her flailing now more violent than ever, the girl even throwing herself up and down against the bed repeatedly, her head slamming down hard against her pillow. Outside of the room, Asami’s parents sit against the wall, their faces as pale as white can be, their faces painted with utter crushing despair. They would help their daughter if they could, but they were asked to not enter the room per Syuri’s request, she not wanting them in there and possibly waking Asami up, thus ending their “evaluation” of her.

Aimi looks into the bottle of sleeping pills she was given, she only having three left, Asami’s night terrors so bad that it was taking up more then one to get her to sleep. Aimi curses the three in her head, she hating them for forcing her to put Asami through this. Aimi takes a pill out and puts it down Asami’s mouth, she then rubbing it down her neck and into her body.

The Dreamrangers throw hits back and forth with the wraith, it seeming to always dodge every one of them. The wraith though continues to smack the rangers around as if it was nothing, his blows so strong that the heroes go flying into the walls of the room, it seeming to get hotter and hotter. Syuri and Paige attempt to double team the nightmarish being, but it simply waves its arm to the side, it using it’s mental ability to send Paige slamming into a wall, Syuri then crashing into Paige.

Keiji watches this and in reaction clenches his fists tightly. He then lets out a roar as he runs towards the wraith, he bringing his arm back in a position to punch his enemy. The wraith simply cackles though, it throwing it’s head down to looks at the ground. Right as Keiji is about to reach his target, the floor comes alive and grabs his ankles with gooey deformed hands. Keiji moves about trying to free himself, but is not able to, the hands then dragging him down into the floor, he screaming all the while.

Paige and Syuri look on shocked at what has just unfolded. In the blink of an eye Keiji has been dragged down into God knows where. As the wraith looks at the spot where Keiji use to stand, it producing another snarl like laugh while doing so, Paige screams as vanishes from sight. She appears again behind the wraith, she throwing her leg upwards, she looking to slam it into the neck of the enemy. The wraith suddenly vanishes, it appear a second later behind Paige. It snarls as it grabs hold of Paige by the chest and abdomen, it then flying up into the ceiling with her.

Syuri runs to the spot where the creature once stood with her friend and comrade, she dumbfounded by how the wraith can be this powerful. Before she can think of what to do, the walls of the room move inwards quickly, they slamming into Syuri, she screaming out in pain as the crush her slowly. The room then shoots out in all directions and explodes, Syuri disappearing with it.

Syuri slowly opens her eyes, she seeing nothing but a white floor, she laying face first against it. Slowly she makes it up onto all fours, she seeing that she has been forced out of her Dreamranger suit by the explosion. After a few more minutes she is up to her feet, her body as broken, bruised, and slightly bloody as always. With her area now fully visible to her, her jaw drops at what she sees. For Syuri is no longer in any room, forest, street, sea, or field. She now stands in complete and utter whiteness. She turns around in a panicked state, she trying to figure out where she is exactly within her head. However she finds nothing except white, white everywhere. Syuri’s eyes tear up some and she clenches her fists, she throwing her head up to what would usually be a sky or ceiling, she letting out a loud, agonizing scream.

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In a world in which dreams reign supreme and bring joy to many, a dimension filled with all the world's nightmares look to take over the dream world, and are doing so by attacking civilians within the real world. To combat this, the ruler of this kingdom of dreams to combat the evils of the nightmares. These three will fight for the future of both their kingdom, and of Earth. These warriors are....

Ikiryō Sentai Dreamranger!

*Opening Theme*

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Fifteenth Dream: Escape the Nightmare, Return to Reality!

Syuri stands in the middle of the arena in which her most recent fight was held in, she looking out through the visor of her helmet at all of the walls, the ceiling, and the floor of it. For not too long ago had her friends been taken prisoner by the room itself, and thus by the dreams of the child they were in. She was sure it wasn’t because the child woke up, if that was the case she, her friends, the wraith, and the dream itself would have vanished into thin air, only to be seen again if the girl dreamt about it again. No, the wraith itself had taken hold of her friends; they now lost in the dreams of the sleeping girl. Where they were she did not know, only that she needed to find them as quickly as possible.

As Syuri thought of what she should do next, the mind of the child seemed to grant mercy upon her. The room in which the fight had broken out melted away, Syuri demorphing back into her civilian state, she finding it unnecessary to remain in her suit. The scene taken in by her eyes turns from a bubbling mess of a room into a rocky road with mountains behind it. Syuri walks over to the edge of the road, below her quite a ways down being a small beach like area with a large river, people close to Aimi’s age partying. The sight of seeing such festivity brings a bit of a smile to her face.

From out of nowhere a gust of wind slams into Syuri’s back, it catching her off guard completely and sending her flying over the edge of the cliff due its strength. After being pushed over the edge Syuri finds herself falling down through the sky almost as if she was in slow motion, the destination being that of the river when her fall is over. While continuing to fall Syuri looks at the river, it beginning to glow and shimmer with light. Her eyes widen at the sight of this, she clueless as to why this was happening. However the answer is not important, all that is important is that she is falling, the journey coming to an end as her body slams down into the river, she slowly sinking down into the river face first, her eyes blinking rapidly before slowly closing.

Aimi lies in the bed with Asami, one of her arms wrapped around the small child. Aimi remembered that when she would have bad dreams as a child that her mother would crawl into bed with her, she staying with her until she had fallen into a peaceful sleep. She thought if she lay with Asami she would calm down like she did with her mother a child. It seemed to have worked, Asami now sleeping peacefully. She knowing though that it wasn’t bound to last, for at any minute a new nightmare could start up and send her into frenzy. Even more worrisome was that it was nearly morning, 5:25 AM to be exact. Aimi was told that Asami’s alarm goes off every day at 7:00, meaning that her friends only had close to an hour and a half left to take care of the wraith.

As Aimi’s eyes start to flutter some, they sore from being up so late, Asami starts to moan a bit, an indication that she may be about to have another nightmare. Aimi snaps to attention, she moving closer to be against Asami, trying to comfort her as much as possible. She wasn’t sure what was taking the Dreamrangers so long, but she was filled with fear that this night may not end well at all, and could in fact become a true nightmare.

Light shines against Paige’s face, it so strong that it forces her to slowly open her eyes, she then covering them immediately with a hand so that her eyes are not burnt away. As she shields her eyes from the sun she looks around, she seeing nothing but flowers of various shapes, sizes, and types. She then slowly sits up and due to being out of the sun’s rays uncovers her eyes, she realizing that she is sitting in a field filled with flowers. The sight of this brings a smile to her face, the scene in which she sits being utterly perfect to her, it filled with so much beauty.

A pink butterfly flies over to Paige as she continues to sit in the field, she instinctively holding out a hand with her index finger pointed out, the butterfly landing on it and staying there. Her smile grows as this occurs, the butterfly flapping its wigs as it sits against her finger. Like a command was given, hundreds of butterflies fly over to Paige, she smiling widely and even laughing some as they all fly around her, she believing this to be a scene straight out of a movie. While they fly around her, Paige notices that there is a wasp among them. She bats an eye at it though, she too enthralled by the majesty of the butterflies to care.

Paige starts to bat an eye though as all of the butterflies turn into wasps, each one buzzing angrily as they fly around her in frenzy. Paige looks around as her facial expression turns to one of shock, it soon becoming one of terror as she feels one stinging the back of her neck. With that, the wasps turn into a sting ball of chaos, each one sinking their stingers into every open area of her body. Her legs, hands, neck, and face all becoming victim to their attack. As they continually sting her, Paige’s body begins to swell up, it becoming bigger and bigger. Soon her body is an inflated mass of red puffed up skin, her clothes enlarging with her. The sun then moves down to where Paige is once again staring right into it, the light so bright that it slowly burns her eyes away, they melting down her face. Once her eyes have melted, a wasp delivers a sting that causes her body to explode, bits of clothing and flesh flying across the field. Where she once sat now lays a pink butterfly, its wings broken off of it’s body.

Keiji walks down a dark corridor, a few candles placed against the walls to aid him somewhat in where he is going, the flames creating a slight ambiance to the tight corridor. As he walks along the path, her hears a small sound akin to the voice of a young child, he using that as a guide of where to go, he venturing in any direction he believes the noise to be coming from. Whenever he passes a candle, its light goes away, the darkness trying to take him in. Keiji keeps moving on though, he not letting the darkness catch up to him.

As Keiji walks around more, the voice gets more audible, it slowly gaining in volume with every step he takes. Slowly Keiji goes from a walk to a run; the now clearly audible and loud voice of the young girl drawing him like a lighthouse draws in ships at sea. He continues to run more and more, he finally hitting a dead end. But it isn’t a true dead end, for instead of a wall sits a door. Keiji stares at the door confused until the voice starts up again, it coming from the other side of the door.

Keiji grabs hold of the doorknob, he looking down at it with eyes filled with confusion and worry, he almost afraid of what lies beyond the door. He takes a deep breath though and slowly turns the knob to the right, he then pushing it open. Once the door is open Keiji is met with a white light that is almost blinding. He shields his eyes, but it still isn’t enough to fully shield him from the light. Keiji then sighs and takes another deep breath before walking through the doorway, the door closing behind him.

He stands there in the light, he unable to see anything from how bright it is. All he has is his ears, he focusing as hard as he can to pick up any sound to give him an idea of where to venture next. Keiji though soon feels a hand come down against his shoulder gently, it pressing the material of his jacket down against his skin. As he feels this, a familiar voice works its way into his ears and brain.

“Keiji?” Syuri says softly.

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After taking in Syuri’s voice Keiji turns around and unshields his eyes, they then becoming filled with the image of his teammates. Along with them comes a new backdrop, he no longer in a blinding white room but in a black one. While it is pitch black, the three remain fully visible to each other, almost as if they were radiating light.

“Syuri…Paige.” Keiji says, his mouth forming a small smile at the sight of his friends.

“Yes Keiji, those are indeed are names.” Paige responds with a gleeful smile.

“It’s great to see you again too.” He shoots back sarcastically with a small chuckle.

“Right back at you tiger.” Syuri finishes off with a wink.

“What happened to you guys? Is the wraith gone?” Keiji asks in succession.

“Well after you got dragged down into God knows anywhere, Paige and I tried to fight back. Unfortunately he took hold of Paige and made off with her.” Syuri explains.

“I ended up waking up in a field, but the wraith wasn’t around. I don’t really remember anything from when we disappeared. I guess it just left me there and ran off.” Paige throws in.

“I stayed in the room until melted away. I then got pushed off of a cliff and fell into a river. When I came to, I was standing in that bright room. After a little bit I found Paige and then you.” Syuri continues.

“While I was in the field I was attacked by wasps until I exploded. I woke up in here after Miss Syuri kept kicking me in the side with her foot.” Paige states, she giving Syuri a bit of a dirty look.

“Hey calling your name didn’t work. So I went with a more forceful technique.”

“Yeah well your little technique bruised a rib I think.” Paige throws back.

The three then laugh all at once, they enjoying their reunion in a fashion that one could say is typical of them. After they laugh for a bit, Syuri turns to Keiji again, she speaking up and questioning him.

“So Keiji, what about you? What happened after you got dragged down through that crap?”

“Well I came to lying in a corridor lit by candles. I started walking down it without a single clue of where I was going. Then I heard this voice, it was like that of a little girl. So I ended up following the voice until I found a door. When I walked through it, I was in the room you two seemed to be in as well. Other than that, I’m not really sure.” Keiji explains as he crosses his arms.

“Do you think this is the work of Asami or of the wraith?” Paige asks of her comrades.

“I wouldn’t know who to put it on. Asami has put us into some really random places while we’ve been here, so I wouldn’t put it past her to dream up what we went through. On the other hand, that wraith could be behind it also. We know Jung wants to trap us in here, so maybe this is the wraith’s way of making sure we don’t escape.” Syuri thinks aloud, he teammates watching her as she speaks, they hanging onto every word.

“But it seems like each of the experiences we had after being separated was meant to bring us all together. Why would the wraith want to do that? We’d be able to work as a squad again and either track it down quicker, or vacate Asami’s dreams. No, I think it was Asami who did this. Maybe she’s aware of our presence and is trying to lend us a hand.” Keiji rambles on.

“Speaking of Asami, how much longer do you think we have?” Paige asks of the two.

“Not much longer would be my guess. I say we double our combined efforts and track down that little pest as quickly as possible. The faster we find it, the faster we can eliminate it.” Syuri replies.

Keiji moves to where his back is to the women, his eyes widening a bit with a smirk becoming painted across his lips. As he speaks his voice oozes with ironic delight. “Guys, mission complete.”

Syuri and Paige then move to see what Keiji is looking at, all three now face to face with the wraith from before, it snarling and snickering at the three. All three Dreamrangers then share the same smirk that Keiji had once he laid eyes upon the beast.

“Well then, this makes our job supremely easy.” Syuri states with pure joy in her cold tone, he eyes shooting daggers towards the enemy.
“Round 2, ding ding.” Paige says as she rings an imaginary bell.

White, pink, and blue light surrounds the three and flies onto their bodies, it forming their respective suits. Once clad in them, the three then spin around in unison, only stopping to look straight at this creature in front of them.

"Providing a shield from all nightmares to let dreams flourish. Ikiryō Sentai Dreamranger!"

The blackened beast then snickers some more as it disappears in a flash. The three rangers stand in a circle of sorts, they waiting for the beast. It comes from below, it bursting out through the ground, it ready to attack. The rangers were ready too though, Keiji and Paige whipping around and delivering twin punches to it’s stomach, the impact sending it staggering towards Syuri. Syuri then moves out of the way a bit before delivering a kick to the side of it’s head, she following up with a jumping spin kick that sends it flying off some.

It soon stands up with the heroes staring it down. The beast then starts laughing crazily, the rangers now curious to it’s joy. It soon becomes apparent as it slams its fists together, the area around them flashing rapidly with different nightmarish images of violence, perversion, and many more twisted images. Along with the almost strobe like assault of images comes a shaking equivalent to an earthquake, the four struggling to hold their ground.

“Don’t tell me…”

“It’s being a sore loser!”

“It’s trying to wake Asami up and take us with it!”

In the real world Aimi stands over Asami, the child flailing about as she was earlier, but this time even more violently, and loudly. She screams as if she was being stabbed slowly, her eyes flickering open and shut as if she was about to wake up. The sight of this child’s torture breaking Aimi down until she is a sobbing mess. Along with that, Asami’s parents seem to have been disturbed as well, they banging away on the door to their daughter’s bedroom, they demanding to be let in.

Aimi moves like a cat and locks the door, preventing the two adults from entering.

“LET US IN!” The father shouts commandingly.

“PLEASE LET US IN AIMI, LET US SEE OUR BABY!” Her mother follows up.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t! I was told to not let you two in until they were done!” Aimi shouts back, she obviously upset from what was happening to Asami.

“PLEASE AIMI PLEASE! ASAMI! ASAMI!” The mother continues to shout as she pleads with the teenager, the teenager sitting against the door as she clasps her hands against her head as she continues to cry crazily.

“Syuri, Keiji, Paige, hurry up, please hurry up!”

Inside of Asami’s mind the three continue to fight the wraith fiercely, each warrior wielding their signature weapons, the wraith’s arms now in the form of two axes. While they fight the world around them starts to shake even more violently, the imagery of the nightmares flickering through it all. Along with this the environment begins to crack and break away, white light shining where part of the environment once was.

“The kid is starting to wake up!” Keiji shouts out to his fellow fighters.

“No shit Sherlock!” Syuri shouts back.

Keiji then goes to stab his Dream Trident through the wraith’s mid section. It is too quick and dodges the attack, it delivering one of it’s own, it’s right arm slashing upwards, the axe blade tearing into Keiji’s suit. With a cry of pain Keiji goes flying across the arena, he heading straight through one of the voids that have started appearing. Syuri blocks a strike from the wraith, she then noticing Keiji.

“KEIJI!” She cries out, she then vanishing into thin air.

Right as Keiji is about to make a connection with the void, Syuri appears and slams into in to him in a tackle like fashion. The two fall to the ground and roll away from the void. Once out of harm’s way Keiji picks his head up and turn to look at Syuri.

“Thanks.”

“It’s what I do.” Syuri answers with a chuckle.

Paige soon joins the two as she lands back first on the ground, her helmet sparking from where she was the receiver of a ferocious punch.

“This thing just won’t stay down!”

“We’ve noticed.”

“Any ideas?”

“Well considering we need something to put it in it’s place, as well as do it quick as shit so we can get out of here, I’d suggest the DreamCannon.” Keiji replies to his commander’s question.

“That would be fine with me.” Paige follows up.

“Then let’s pick our sorry asses up and use it!” Syuri shouts at the two, the three then jumping to their feet.

*Cue Dreamranger theme*

The wraith then watches on as the heroes of Morpheus put their weapons together, Paige it out sideways in the air. Keiji then placing his trident on the top side of the handle. Syuri then flips the blade back up to lay against the barrel of her blaster. She places it on the bottom of the handle. Syuri then takes hold of the handle of the DreamShooter. Keiji and Paige grabbing hold of her shoulders'. Once the weapon is complete and the three are aligned to unleash their ultimate attack the wraith lets out a fierce roar as the dream continues to break away as Asami begins to awaken, the creature running towards the three.

"DreamCannon, BLAST OFF!" The three rangers shout, Syuri slamming her hand against the trigger on the handle of the DreamShooter.

Once she does so, a torrent of blue, pink, and white energy shoots out of all three weapons, it combining into a stream like ball of energy with lightning around it. The wraith and the ball of energy fly towards each other, they on an obvious collision course, the Dreamrangers only hoping that this attack will work.

The ball then flies into the creature, it coming out of it on the other side. The attack seems to have not phased the wraith at all, the three standing there in utter shock and fear at what has happened. The black wraith runs right up to them but stops suddenly. Syuri, Keiji, and Paige then stare on as it’s body begins to bubble and contort, it then exploding into pieces, the DreamCannon’s attack simply taking longer to effect the enemy than normal. They let out a cry of happiness as one.

“DAMMIT! GODDAMMIT!” Jung shouts out in her throne room. “Those fucking Dreamrangers foiled another one of my plans. And now they’re going to escape. Dammit, fucking dammit!” She screams, her voice so loud and suddenly high pitched that it breaks the windows of the rooms throughout the castle and even some of the other buildings in the nightmare realm.

The three rangers then stand as one, the dream nearly gone, they only standing on a small piece of blackness.

“Let’s get the hell out of here!” Keiji shouts out.

“Like now!” Paige follows up.

“Then off we go! Sayonara you shithead wraith and nightmare!” Syuri finishes.

The three then place their hands together as the land they stand on begins to crack. Their individual colors of light then shine around them as bright as the sun shining on a new day. The lights flinging the three off right as the place where they stood vanishes into thin air, thus signaling the end of the dream and that of Asami’s waking up.

Asami’s body jerks upwards into a sitting position, her body drenched in sweat. Aimi rushes over to her as she sits up. Right after Asami sits up white, pink, and blue lights shine around her, the Dreamrangers flying out of her body and tumbling to the floor, they rolling against it before slamming against a dresser. The three lay there in their civilian forms, they rubbing at their bodies in pain.

“Damn that was a close one.” Keiji murmurs as he rubs the back of his head.

“YOU GUYS!” Aimi shouts over to her friends.

“Oh, hey there Aimi.” Syuri replies as Aimi and Asami stare at the group of heroes.

At that moment Asami’s door bursts open, her father slamming into it shoulder first, he and her mother bursting into the room. Once inside of the room the two look around it, their eyes taking in Aimi, Keiji, Syuri, Paige, and finally Asami. At the sight of her parents, Asami shouts their names in relieved joy.

“MAMA! PAPA!”

She jumps out of the bed and runs into her parents, she hugging their knees tightly in tears. In response to this, both the mother and father move down to join her in one big hug, all three of them in tears. Aimi and the rangers watch on, each one smiling brightly at the image before them, Paige and Aimi in tears from the sight. After a bit, the mother looks over to Syuri and gang.

“Is she going to be okay?”

“Oh her? Yeah, she’ll be fine.” Syuri says as she walks over to the huddled group, she moving down onto her knees as she speaks warmly, she giving Asami a warm smile. Asami returns the smile and latches onto Syuri in a hug, the white warrior hugging her back as everybody watches on.

After leaving Asami’s house after they were treated to breakfast, the Dreamrangers and Aimi walk into the ranger’s apartment, each one equally tired.

“I’m glad that’s over.” Paige states.

“Me too. Hopefully Asami can sleep in peace now and go about her normal day.” Keiji adds in, his words getting a smile out of everybody.

A ringing then begins to come out of the laptop on the coffee table, it alerting the group to a call. They slowly make their way over to it, Aimi and Paige sitting on the couch, Syuri and Keiji on the floor. Syuri answers the call, Dr. Edogawa appearing on the screen, he looking excited, tired, and a little scared. The mix of emotions painted across his face causes Syuri to furrow her brow a bit.

“What is it doc?” She asks.

“Syuri, Keiji, Paige, I got it!” He shouts to them.

“Got what?” Syuri responds.

“I got them! I know who they are! I know exactly who the Musashi brothers are!”

...To be continued

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*Ending Theme*

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