Chapter 24 - In the Dreaming

Kiari wakened in a large, comfortable bed with fine, cool sheets. Her pillow was plush, and her blanket wasn't overly warm. She distinctly remembered falling asleep on a lumpy, ill-used futon in the large home of the Watanabe family home in Kyoto. The fact that it hadn't been used since after Grandpa Akira's parents died left an ill-used, lonely feeling in what was once a boisterous household.

The caretaker was very elderly, so the house was very much in disrepair. Luckily the stagehands quickly compensated and managed to rustle up sleeping futons and food. After looking around the grounds, and house, they had a meal and retired for the night. It was Tai's intention to take a longer account of the holdings after they rested.

She'd had a rather difficult time getting to sleep, and when she finally did, she must have fallen deeply. Now she was groggy and confused. She came more and more awake, realizing that she also wasn't alone. Her eyes popped open and she scrambled out of bed falling a good ways to the floors with a yelp.

Kane jerked up right. He looked around in confusion then peered over the side of the bed with a frown. "Ok, call me crazy, but I would like to think I would remember going to bed with you for the first time," he commented and scratched a hand through his hair. He paused and picked up a hank of his hair. "And growing my hair out? What the hell?" His hair was back to its original near-black color but also fell past his shoulders.

Kii scrambled to her feet. Thankfully she wore a long night gown with bilious sleeves. She looked around. "I recognize this room," she said and padded around, looking at the intricately carved woodwork of the furniture.

Kane looked around as well. "So do I," he declared. He looked at her. "I also recognize that," he said, gesturing to her night gown. "Wasn't your cute little manga heroine wearing that on the last page you finished?" he asked her. "You know, when her love snuck into her room to seduce her," he added with a grin.

Kii gasped. "Oh!" she ran out the door.

Kane checked himself, and satisfied he wasn't somehow naked or in his underwear, he followed her. She ran to the huge double doors at the end of the hall and began banging on them. Tai eased the door open. "So you're both here too," he remarked.

"Lani?" Kii asked.

"Here! Don't come in!" Lani's voice called out.

Kii grimaced. "Look behind the big white doors with the mother of pearl inlays," she called out.

Kane quirked a brow. "What's going on in there?" he asked suspiciously.

Tai gave Kii a searching look. "Don't know. I woke up in this bed that was bigger than the room I fell asleep in. Luckily there was this red silk robe with lion's all over it beside the bed, but Lani wasn't quite so lucky," he remarked.

"Oh wow! Look at all the princessy dresses!" Lani exclaimed from within the room.

Kii twiddled with her fingers. "That's because Lani is a princess," she murmured. "Tai, you can find clothes behind the door with the onyx inlays," she said and dashed back to her room and closed it.

"What's this all about?" Tai asked.

"Go put some clothes on. If I'm not mistaken, Daiki, Rena and Rex are all around here somewhere," Kane said evasively and looked around, getting his bearings. He dashed off to locate them. If he remembered correctly, Rena and Rex were a few halls over while he and Daiki were a few floors down.

"Bring everyone here!" Tai called after him and closed the door. He turned to find Lani in a pile of silk and lace and sparkle. She beamed at him while she figured out which dress to wear. Despite the oddness of the situation, he couldn't help but smile at her.

~*~

Saeko looked around the Watanabe house for a few minutes with a frown. She passed a few Stagehands but she realized that no one else was awake yet. That was strange. She tapped the tapped the red and white symbol origami hooked to her belt loops. It was still dormant and Hikomi-san didn't even know what it was, as all mention of the White Samurai was destroyed when Hiro Shiba was cast out of the Clan.

She's allowed Tai to go ahead and send the brush to that Dr. Billie woman to be turned into a Morpher. It was now a waiting game.

Before they'd left Tokyo, Rena, Lani and Kiari had taken her shopping so she could get a few things that actually fit her, so she was at least comfortable, if annoyed. She stormed into Daiki's room. This whole sleeping-in business wasn't like him. She crossed her arms over her chest and cleared her throat. Nothing.

She frowned and knelt down to shake him. She didn't bother being gentle. Nothing.

This wasn't right. She bounced to her feet and ran into the makeshift study Hikomi-san and Tai had set up. "There's something wrong," she declared. "I tried to wake Daiki up but he didn't respond. None of the others are awake yet either," she declared.

Hikomi-san didn't waste time asking questions. He barreled out of the room and began trying to awaken everyone. "<Saeko-san. Bring me Kane-san's green computer>" he instructed when he realized none of them were waking.

Saeko quickly grabbed the computer and took it to the study. She set it up and turned it on. Cyber Cam beamed at her. "Well, hello there," he greeted.

"We need to speak with the lady scientist," Saeko stated.

"No one ever wants to talk to Cyber Cam," he pouted and the screen went blank. Within moments Billie appeared on screen.

"I haven't finished yet. It's my top priority at the moment, though," she said without looking up from what she was doing.

"That's not why we contacted you Billie-san," Hikomi-san said. "We are unable to awaken the Lord and the others," he explained. "I can only assume it is the doing of an Ayakashi but here in Kyoto we do not even have gap sensors to warn us," he added with a frown.

Billie frowned. "Well, she's going to have to find out for sure. Take Tai's Morpher. Being a Shiba you should be able to use the Character Power even if you can't Morph yet. I'll try to tap into the satellite and do some scans but you being there is the best option," she explained. "And if you are indeed Tai's sister, you can probably sense them without realizing it. I don't know if you've noticed, Tai has some...hyper sensitivity to these things," she added. Billie was never one to hedge around things.

Saeko frowned again. "Well, since I'm not, I can't," she declared and stalked out of the room to find Tai's Morpher.

Billie shook her head. "That girl's in denial. Keep Cyber Cam turned on Hikomi-san. I'll be in contact when I find out something," she stated and the screen went blank.

Saeko returned in a few minutes with Tai's Morpher. "All right then, Hikomi-san, show me how to use this Character Power," she said.

~*~

Kane found Rex in his room, staring up at a picture over a fireplace. Kane glanced up. The picture was of a pretty blond woman with bright blue eyes and long blond hair. "Why is there a humongous picture of Mel in this room I found myself waking up in?" he asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Er, I actually know the answer to that, but now is not the time. Come on, we have to find Rena and Daiki," he said and then slipped across the hall and beat on the door he concluded would belong to Rena.

She jerked the door open and she wasn't pleased. Rex snickered when he caught sight of his sister. She wore the least objectionable dress she could find, which was a gauzy pale gold sheath of a dress. She kept adjusting it. "What the hell is going on?" she demanded.

"Ah, check the trunk in front of your bed, I think there's something in there you'll like better," Kane suggested. Rena slammed the door in his face. "We'll pick her up on the way back," he said and began walking off to find Daiki.

"You seem to know an awful lot about what's going on," Rex commented as he followed him.

"Not the whys or the hows," Kane denied and they began walking down a couple flights of stairs. Daiki was waiting for them. He also had absurdly long hair now, though it was clubbed back. "Come on," Kane said.

Daiki squinted at them. "I can't see a thing but I could not find a pair of glasses anywhere," he declared sourly and followed along.

Rena was waiting for them as they came back through, now dressed in some sort of leather woman-warrior get-up.

She fell into step with the three of them. Kane rapped at Tai's door. "Everyone decent in there?" he asked.

"Come in," Tai answered. Kane led the way in. He looked around. "I'll go catch Kii," he said and left them still bewildered.

He returned to her room and entered with a perfunctory knock. She'd dressed but was sitting in front of a vanity fiddling with her sleeves. He looked around and scooped up a shirt he assumed to be his and threw it on and found a pair of boots. "We have to get to the bottom of this," he said quietly. "It stinks of Ayakashi," he informed her as he found something to tie his hair back with.

Kii nodded. She felt that whatever mess they were in was somehow her fault. It had to be. They were essentially in a world she created. Kane approached her. He took her hands and pulled her up. With a smile he kissed her forehead. She couldn't help the smile that crept over her face.

Hand-in-hand they went to Tai's room.

Everyone looked at them. Tai wore the least ostentatious thing he could find in the closet, which appeared to consist of a good deal of fantasy styled princely clothes. "The two of you seem to have some idea of what's going on here," he stated and waited patiently.

"Well, you see," Kii started to explain but wasn't sure how to go on.

Kane squeezed her hand. "In her spare time, Kii works on an online manga. It mirrors some events in real life. The main characters are the prince of a kingdom, his cousin who was raised in a faraway land, also a princess, and a high class lady recently married to the prince and the prince's two most trusted generals, one of whom is a member of a royal family himself. Later on a lady from a distance land arrived, who preferred her warrior digs to the froofy dresses she's usually forced to wear, then there's the boyhood friend of the prince, from a foreign land who turns out to be the brother of the foreign lady," he explained, nodding to each representative of Kii's characters.

Kii wanted the floor to swallow her up when they all looked at her.

"Then it's obvious. An Ayakashi took advantage of us being without even the protection of the gap sensors to somehow transport us into Kii's imaginary world," Tai said and looked out an extravagantly large window that led to a balcony. "I doubt this is as harmless as merely trapping us. What kind of enemies do we have to look forward to?" he asked.

"The Demon King and his army of ghouls. This kingdom is the first and last defense against the forces of Hell," Kii answered quietly.

Rex grinned. "Of coarse it is," he declared.

Rena was looking out the window. She straightened slightly. "Say, this army of ghouls wouldn't be mounting a siege upon the castle or anything would they?" she asked.

Kii looked up with a frown. "No. At least not now. I have something like that planned for later. Why?" she asked.

"Well, I'd say someone has stepped up the plans for that," Lani declared opening the doors to the balcony. There was room was everyone to rush out and look into the distance. A milling force of creatures was marching toward them.

"It looks like something out of The Lord of the Rings," Kane declared in awe.

Kii gasped. "In the story, there is an entire army behind the Prince, but we're the only ones here now," she said.

"Weapons. We need weapons. We're not completely defenseless. We may not have our Morphers, but we're not untrained," Tai declared.

"That's right. We all have other skills besides Character Power and Bushido," Lani stated.

Kii nodded. It was true. Kane had been teaching her Earth Ninja Techniques and Rex was helping them learn a little of Pai Zhua. "The armory is this way," she said squaring her shoulders and turning to lead them out of the room.

Tai smiled. "We're right behind you," he assured her.

~*~

Saeko sat in the room with Daiki's unconscious form. She got frustrated with Hikomi-san's attempt at teaching some characters that might be helpful, so she banished him. She retreated with one of Daiki's many text books. This was more helpful.

Finding a symbol she thought would be useful, she practiced it a few times only to realize she did a few strokes in the wrong order. Maybe Daiki was right. Maybe she could do with a better education. She practiced a few more times until she was confident she had it right.

She stood and flipped the Morpher into Pen-mode. "Here goes nothing," she said and drew the Reveal Character in the air. She activated it. The Character glowed bright then dispersed in a bright inflammation. White hot flames burned dimly along an invisible web that ran from Daiki to each of the others.

Kiari was the center of the web and a small pool of flames flickered images. "Hikomi-san! Bring the computer!" she called out as she watched the Rangers as they armed themselves for battle.

Hikomi-san came running, and skidded to a stop when he saw what she'd done. He gaped at her for a moment. "The Power is strong in you, Saeko-san," he said simply.

She didn't acknowledge that statement. She spoke to Cyber Cam, "The lady scientist, please," she said shortly.

"No one ever appreciates me. I'm just as capable as--" Cyber Cam's diatribe was cut off by Billie's face appearing on the screen.

"Interesting," she said and looked down as she typed in a few commands to the Nodroz satellite she had positioned for them. "Thanks to that I have a read on the Ayakashi's energy," she said and frowned. "According to this, he's in the house. In your exact position," she declared.

Saeko watched the scenes as the Rangers moved to meet an encroaching army. "I think I have an idea," she said. She found a bag in Kii's room and emptied it. She also found Kii's Morpher and under the watchful eyes of Monkeyzord, she used Tai's Morpher to make a dream-copy. She put the copy in the bag.

She went around making copies of all of their Morphers before returning to Kii's room.

Billie smiled and pressed a few buttons on the console before her. "Good luck," she stated.

Saeko nodded. Hikomi-san bowed to her. Bag in hand, she stepped into the center of the web of flames. Hikomi-san and Billie watched her get sucked in.

~*~

The Demon King was a truly handsome man with dark piercing eyes and neat black hair. He was tall, broad shouldered, and had charming white-toothed smile. He laughed as he saw the Rangers approaching his army. "Fools!" he crowed.

Each Ranger managed to find swords and other weapons, but there were only seven of them, against an army of unknowable size.

"We won't go down without a fight," Tai warned him. He rather suspected this man was the Ayakashi responsible for all this.

The Demon King grinned. "Did you Rangers know, that if you die in your dreams, you die in real life?" he asked in conversational tones.

"You mean this all a dream?" Rex demanded.

He shrugged. "Not that it matters. Die here, die in the real world. Then nothing will stop Lord Doukoku from flooding the human world with the Waters of the Sanzu River," he gloated.

Kiari's face flushed in anger. "No! You won't win! This is my world and Good will always triumph over Evil!" she denied loudly.

The Demon King laughed. "How naive! Attack!" he ordered the army.

The army rushed toward them. The Rangers launched their first line of defense. Kii and Kane knelt on the ground. "Ha!" a trench opened up in the ground that was ten feet deep and six feet wide. Horses and ghouls fell into the trench.

"Close it up!" Tai ordered. The trench closed around them. Kane didn't immediately get to his feet. He decided to try something he'd been practicing when no one but Taylor was around to laugh at him. He got to his feet and raised his arms. Root systems from nearby trees shot out of the ground all in the army. The roots around the nearest enemy and dragged them into the ground.

"Whoa! You guys are awesome," Rena declared.

"No time for admiration. They're still coming," Rex said and drew the two swords he'd chosen for himself as a silvery metallic substance coated his skin.

The ghouls were indeed still coming and the pitfalls weren't even slowing them down. Daiki had given Rena a brief lesson in archery and now they were firing arrows as fast as they could, but they had a limited supply of ammunition.

Occasionally two giant birds and a bat would swoop through the army. Tai's crane, Lani's falcon and Rex's bat. Still the ghouls came. Long distance defense was becoming harder and they began having to meet them hand to hand.

Just as the bulk of the army of ghouls was almost upon them, Saeko dropped between the two factions. She landed hard before she could compensate. She got to her feet. "Well, that did not go as planned," she complained.

"Saeko?" Daiki asked, surprised.

She held up a hand and began passing out the copied Morphers. "Looked like you needed these," she said, she frowned when she realized there was an extra in her bag.

"Samurai Sword Clash!"

Perhaps the appearance of the seven Samurai Rangers has the army afraid because they all stopped warily.

The Demon King rode forward, his face in a snarl. "How did you get here?" he demanded of Saeko. "No matter! You'll die as well!" he said and lifted a wicked looking blade.

Saeko flipped the extra Morpher out in Pen-mode and drew an Exit Character. When the Demon King swung down, she dodged, grabbing his arm and pulling them both into the Exit.

The Rangers and the ghouls watched as they both disappeared. There was a tense moment before the ghouls decided to attack again.

~*~

Saeko and the Ayakashi known as Yumebakura fell into the real world again somewhere near the Watanabe house. Yume got to his feet. "How dare you interfere! Who are you?" he demanded.

She hopped to her feet. "Samurai Sword Clash!" she drew the Fire Character in the air. She pressed the red button on her Morpher and activated it. Though the Character was red, when it enveloped and formed her power suit, it was white. When her helmet formed, it was a reversed version of Tai's. A sword formed at her side.

Before she could even deal with the sudden sense of power wearing the suit gave her, they both a small cry of a bird of prey. She gasped when her dormant origami awakened to reveal its nature as an eagle.

"Authorized by Providence, I am the White Samurai Ranger," she said as she drew her sword and pointed it at him.

Yume snarled and held out his left arm where a mist was beginning to seep. "I'll just put you to sleep, too!" he declared with a snarl. Eaglezord had different plans. It shot forward. It attacked the hand. It sparked and exploded. "No! What?!" he snarled and rushed forward to slash at her.

She blocked and slashed at him. He blocked. Their blades met and they strained against each other. "You will not win," she said between clenched teeth.

Yume's snarling laughter was cut off as he was knocked back as several tiny explosions rocked him. Seven Origami Zords whirled away and returned to their owners as they came up behind her. She'd never been so glad to see them in her life.

"Sankyou, Saeko-san. I will deal with him now," Yellow stated and gave her a polite bow. She held her hand out to Red. He handed her the Battlizer and Power Disc.

White tucked and rolled out of the way. She did not want to be in the middle of this.

Yellow opened the Battlizer and put the Disc inside. She closed it and held it up. "Samurai Sword Clash Power-up!" A bright light began to blink as she brought her arm down to hold it in front of her. She pressed a button on the back of it and the Shiba symbol and Truth Character lit up, growing larger. In a bright flash of light, the symbol and character wrapped around her. Her helmet changed, began slightly more angular and ornamental with a silver mouth plate. Yellow chest armor wrapped around her feminine figure and metal platelets forms along her arms and legs.

She took out the Power Disc before clipping the box itself to her Sword.

Yume snorted. "What's this now, little girl? Think you can take me?" he asked and rushed forward to attack.

Yellow spun out of his way as she pulled her Hidden Disc from her belt. She put it in the Battlizer and spun it. "True Dust Cloud's Dance!" Her blade glowed with yellow energy and dust began to whirl around her as she seemed to slide toward Yume. She slashed once. Twice and spun past him slashing him several more times. She slid to stop as energy arced and sparked from him.

"This isn't over Rangers!" he warned as he fell backwards, exploding.

Yellow pulled out the Monkey Disc and replaced the Power Disc with it. "Power Disc! Samurai Megazord! Giant Power Cannon!" She spun the Disc. The light grew brightly. The Origami grew to their full-size and formed the Samurai Megazord. The Rangers appeared inside the cockpit. The auxiliary Zords formed the Giant Power Cannon.

"I want in on this action!" Gold declared. She typed the Large Character into her Morpher. When it shimmered in the air, Wolf Origami Zord jumped through it. Not only did it grow to full size, but it transformed into a vaguely feminine shaped Megazord. She appeared in its cockpit.

White took a chance on something. She drew the Large Character over her Eagle Origami Zord. The Zord grew to full size and she appeared inside of its cockpit. She then drew two Characters. Unite and Wolf. "Samurai Armament!" The Eaglezord broke apart and joined with the Wolf Megazord, forming wings, a helmet and a laser gun.

Gold gave her a little salute as she appeared in their joint cockpit. "United under Providence. Wolfwing Megazord!" they said as one.

A target formed on the screen inside the cockpit of the Megazord and zeroed in on the Ayakashi. The Destroy Character flashed. "Now!" Red cried. "Giant Power Cannon! Fire!"

The cannon fired. The energy of every one of the Origami Zord used to power the cannon shot forward.

The Wolfwing Megazord lifted from the ground. "Eagle Blaster! Fire!" The laser gun fired a combination of flames and light. The Wolfwing Megazord landed beside the Origami Megazord.

Both attacks crashed into the Ayakashi. "You'll always remember me in your dreams!" he vowed a fraction of a second before he exploded.

"That brings this chapter to a close," Samurai Yellow declared with a firm nod.

Green grinned and hugged her close. Red patted her on the helmet.

Samurai White found herself being caught off guard as Gold hugged her. "That was awesome. Yeah, Lady Zord Power!" she declared and pumped her fist.

A giggle escaped but she quickly stifled it. It actually kind of okay being part of this team.

~*~

Kane and Tai stood looking at the land that Grandpa was going to divide between them, Cam and quite possibly Saeko. "Do you think it's fair to keep it? I have no intention of moving to Japan, and neither does Cam. You can see by the beady gleam in his eyes he's anxiously awaking the day Uncle Kanoi kicks off and he rules over the Academy," he said jokingly.

Tai chuckled. "I don't know, really. I now have two properties here. But hey, there are always kids. Maybe one or two would prefer to live in the land of their ancestors. But for now, I think I manage to schedule a couple trips a year to see how things are going here. I trust Hikomi-san to get things set to right here," he said. He clapped Kane on the shoulder and walked back inside.

It was only moments before Kiari joined Kane. She smiled. "Everyone likes my manga. No one was mad at me that I based some of my characters on them," she said. That had been one of the reasons she never told anyone. The other was insecurity. Tsubasa was the artist in the family. Whenever Kii had tried to draw something and show it off when they were children, Tsubasa usually found a way to mess it up.

The few times Grandfather caught her drawing instead of practicing, she'd get his not-quite-yelling speech about her duty and the frivolity of drawing and would give her extra exercises to do.

Kane hugged her close. "I told you, no one would be mad. You have an amazing talent. Never let anyone put you down again. Never be afraid to express yourself," he told her seriously.

Kii smiled against his chest. "I am trying. Rena-chan says she wants me to draw a picture of her," she said.

"Me first," he said with a grin. Kii nodded firmly. Him first.

"After we get home," she said quietly. Strangely enough, here in her homeland, she realized that it was not home. Her cute and girly little room at Tai's house with Kane and all her friends and Grandpa Akira around her was home. She couldn't wait to get there.

~*End Act 24*~           

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