Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Urusei Yatsura Fan Fiction / Sister Princess Fan Fiction ❯ Lonely Souls ❯ Dream Walker (side story by Jeremy Evans) ( Chapter 21 )

Dream Walker

By Jeremy Evans

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A side story to Lonely Souls, written by Fred Herriot.

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Based on Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2, created by Takahashi Rumiko; and Sister Princess, created by Tenhiro Naoto and Kimino Sakurako.

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Set in the universe of the fan-fiction series Urusei Yatsura - The Senior Year, created by Mike Smith and Fred Herriot

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Asano Sayuri stared at the scene around her. She was in her class at Fuurinkan High School. If the sun was right, it was early in the morning, however there were no sounds of students and faculty traversing the hall or even the area around the campus. In fact, she saw no one else in the class except for herself. After several moments of contemplation, she realized that this must be a dream.

 

Admittedly, an odd one.

 

Just as she was about to leave the room in search of something to do, the door opened. In strode a young, dark-skinned man in what looked like high-tech biker leather. Under one arm was a sleek black helmet; the other, a set of books. "Please be seated, class."

 

Sayuri cautiously sat back down, wondering at this new oddity as he set the helmet and texts down and began to write his name on the board. Once finished, he stepped away and turned. "'Evening, class. My name is unimportant, but you can call me 'Dream Walker.' 'Walker' for short." A toothy grin split his face. "But please, considering the informal nature of this class, don't call me 'Sensei' or 'Sir.'"

 

Sayuri blinked trying to make sense of what he'd just said as he came towards her and sat on the desk directly in front of her.

 

"Wait a sec' . . .? Evening?!"

 

He brought his wrist before his eyes, where a fairly sophisticated watch resided. "Yup. Eleven-fifty-one PM to be exact."

 

She looked at him, and then at the bright sun outside the windows, and then back at him again. The second time she gazed on him, she found a lopsided grin displayed prominently on his face. "What's going on here?! Isn't this MY dream?" she asked.

 

He shrugged. "Yes and no. One product of my -- talent -- is the ability to manipulate people's dreams to what I desire. In your case, I'm here to get you out of the rut you are in."

 

Sayuri stood defiantly. "I don't know who you are but I don't care! This is MY mind and I'm kicking you out!"

 

Walker closed his eyes as his form rippled and shuddered -- before regaining solidity. "Right," he drawled. "Now that you've done that, I don't feel so bad about doing this."

 

As his eyes flew open, the chair she'd been standing next to came alive. With a lunging motion, it scooped the surprised schoolgirl up, and then it secured her firmly in place by wrapping newly formed bars around her! "Let me go, you pervert!" she demanded.

 

He arched an eyebrow. "'Pervert?' If I was a pervert, you'd have been stripped to your panties by a multi-tentacle horror within the first thirty seconds of this dream." He hopped off the desk. "I merely want your attention." He snapped his fingers.

 

A large cartoon pencil appeared, and then began to draw Saotome Ranma -- as a boy -- in life-like detail. Simultaneously, he pulled out what looked like a pair of three-D glasses from his jacket. "Are you gonna force me to watch old B-rate horror movies?" Sayuri taunted.

 

His lips quirked upward as he approached her. "Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope! Something far better." He slipped the glasses on her face. "You will now experience the important events in Saotome's life in RANMA VISION!" The last part was said in stereo.

 

"Ranma Vision will allow you to get the other side of the story. You know, the one you've doggedly ignored in your holy war against all of those who don't agree with Tendou Akane's view of things." He smiled as he stepped back to stand next to the construct of Saotome Ranma. "So, without further adieu, heeeeeeeeere's Ranma!" He gestured with a flourish to the simulacrum beside him.

 

In an instant, her vision changed. She saw his life from the first moments of his arrival at the Tendou doojou to the moment after the failed wedding when he overheard Akane admit she knew about the Nanniichuan flask sent to him by the Jusenkyou guide. Every emotion, every thought, every action was hers to experience. The elation of finding old friends and meeting his mother for the first time in a decade -- to the horror and anguish of betrayal by those very same "friends" and "family." It dragged on, hammering into her the joy and sorrow of those intensive months in Ranma's life.

 

Eventually it ended. The glasses were gently taken from her face as the chair released its hold on her and pitched itself forward to dump her unceremoniously on the floor. She coughed as she tried to regain her bearings, and then she staggered to her feet to stare at the concerned visage of Walker. "Well?" he asked expectantly.

 

She hesitated. It was all such a jumble that she couldn't really make sense of anything. She went with the familiar.

 

"He's still an insensitive jerk and it's still all his fault."

 

She crossed her arms, reassured by her own words. Walker looked less than pleased. "I see." His face seemed to darken. To Sayuri's growing discomfort, she realized the light was fading to shadow as the classroom morphed into the image of a dank cave. Her eyes glanced around as windows melted into solid rock, the unnatural still of the morning replaced by the constant drip of water.

 

"You know, you sound like Tendou Akane. And truthfully, Akane sounds like a character from a wondrous tale I first read ages ago."

 

She turned to find Walker was no longer in front of her. In fact, she couldn't make him out in the gloom. "Like her, he loved and hated a possession, though for him it was a 'precious' instead of a 'fiancé,'" Walker's voice began to transform into a horrid rasp. "And like her 'rivalsss,' he had 'thievesss' who took what was his."

 

A skitter caused her to turn right, just in time to see a black shape with gold eyes duck behind a rock.

 

"Yesss, evil bimbossss . . . "

 

The voice was more high-pitched yet familiar beneath the rasp.

 

"We hates them!"

 

A clatter rang through the cavern as a rock was hurled into a wall. Sayuri's eyes snapped to her left to find a vaguely humanoid creature with gold eyes perched upon a rock, staring at her.

 

"They're tricksy!"

 

The figure vanished as the hairs on the back of her neck rose.

 

"Yess, they're thievess. They're filthy little thievess!"

 

Hot breath rolled across her bare neck.

 

"They've stolen my fiancé!"

 

With a tremble, she turned . . .

 

"And we wants him!"

 

And then she screamed, for before her was the emaciated, pitiful figure of Tendou Akane. Her skin barley covered her bones, which peaked through in all the wrong places, a ghostly pallor gripped her flesh. Instinctively she shielded herself. For a series of heartbeats, she held the pose, fearing an attack.

 

An attack, she soon realized, was not coming . . .

 

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Cautiously, she opened her eyes to find herself in bed at home. With a relieved sigh, Sayuri closed her eyes determined to rest more peacefully for the rest of the evening. But a pair of gold eyes, in an emaciated yet familiar face, haunted her dreams.

 

Fin

 

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Just something I thought needs to happen to Sayuri considering her dogged anti-Ranma stance in Fred's story.

 

Hope you enjoyed this!

 

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