_-=^=-_

Nightmare Fighter Yumeko

Episode 2: Going Downhill

_-=^=-_

	"I could get used to this."

	Those words sent chills up Hiro's spine. This was 
NOT how things were supposed to go! Yukmeko was supposed 
to be the new Pretty Dream Fighter... instead she had 
become this... black garbed monstrosity. Steeling himself, 
he pushed his fear deep within him. "Dream Fighter..."

	Yumeko didn't noticed, to caught up in the rush of 
power she was experiencing. 

	"YUMEKO!" Hiro cried, his avian voice going shrill.

	That got the Nightmare Fighter's attention. She turned 
her gaze onto her spirit guide. Her smile slowly turned into 
a frown. "You're afraid. Why?"

	Hiro swallowed as best as he could as a bird. "Give me 
the scepter, Yumeko. It doesn't belong to you."

	Yumeko looked confused. "I don't understand. You gave 
it to me. You wanted me to fight. I fought. I defeated that 
thing. What's wrong?"

	Hiro shuddered at the calmness in Yumeko's voice. "I 
can't allow that scepter to be used by the forces of darkness, 
Yumeko. Just give me the Scepter, and you'll forget all about 
this and..."

	"No."

	Hiro started. This was going from bad to worse very quickly.

	The Nightmare Fighter continued, "I like this. I want 
this." She cradled the Scepter to her, "This is already the 
best thing to happen to me. Ever. I'm not going to give this 
up." Her gaze focused on Hiro, and he could tell that she saw 
him as an enemy.

	Hiro tried to calm himself. He was a spirit guide, damn 
it! He wasn't supposed to have to deal with things like this! 
"Then I'll have to take it back." Before Yumeko could react, he 
dived off his perch on the fire escape and onto the Dream Scepter.

	The next thing either of them realized, Hiro was across 
the alley, smoking slightly.

	"NO!" Hiro was officially panicking. *How,* he wondered, 
*had the Bonding happened so fast?*

	Yumeko glared at the bird. "Try that again, and I'll..."

	Hiro didn't wait for Yumeko to finish her threat. With a 
flap of his wings, he propelled himself upward, away from her. 
Three stories above her, he called out, "This isn't over, Yumeko! 
I won't rest while the Dream Scepter is in the hands of evil!" 
With that, Hiro flew off.

	Yumeko frowned. This wasn't how she thought Magical 
Girls were supposed to work. Why had Hiro thought she was 
worse than that monster? How was she supposed to work things 
out when the only person... or being, or whatever Hiro was... 
was convinced she was the enemy?

	But most importantly, or at least immediately, how 
DOES a Magical Girl change back?

_-=^=-_

	Keiji sighed with relief when he saw Yumeko return. 
When that... thing... had attacked, he was sure that he, 
Misako, and everyone else were going to end up as another 
unsolved mystery. Instead, the monster had stopped in the 
middle of its attack, and ran off. That had relieved his 
panic, until he realized the monster had run off in the 
same direction Yumeko and Hiro had gone. But it looked 
like Yumeko, at least, was all right.

	"Yumeko!" he called to her. "Are you all right?"

	Yumeko herself was rather shaken. It had taken her 
nearly fifteen minuets to figure out how to return to 
normal. When she did, the only evidence that it wasn't 
all just a hallucination or flashback, was that she still 
had the Dream Scepter. Then the Scepter had shrunk, and a 
chain appeared at its base. She was now wearing the scepter 
as a necklace.

	In reply to Keiji, Yumeko said, "Yeah, I'm fine. What 
happened here?"

	Keiji scratched his head. "I really don't know. All 
of a sudden this thing appears out of nowhere, grabs Misako, 
and says something about taking her dreams. The next thing 
I know, the thing drops Misako and runs off down the street."

	Yumeko grabs Keiji's shirt, shaking him a bit. "Is 
Misako all right?"

	Keiji nodded. "Yeah, a nurse is looking at her now, 
but she looks just fine to me."

	Yumeko released the shaken Keiji. "Good. Good." Her 
relief that this was over and her friends were all right 
was easily visible. But now that that was over, she really 
needed to be alone to think about what had happened. "Uh, 
look, Keiji, I've got to get going. I... need to take care 
of things at home... sorry."

	Keiji tried not to look downcast at that, and 
succeeded somewhat. "Well, then, okay, I'll see you 
tomorrow at school, I guess."

	Yumeko nodded her response, and started to head 
home. Keiji's voice called her back, though. "Say," he 
said, "What did Hiro want with you, anyway?"

	Yumeko turned to look at her long-time friend. 
"I'm honestly not sure, myself."

_-=^=-_

	That night was refreshingly typical for Yumeko, 
considering how weird her day was. She made dinner for 
herself and Shinichi, and helped him out with his 
homework some. Their father came home very late and a 
little drunk, and immediately went to the master bedroom 
and crashed. She put her brother to bed shortly thereafter 
she prepared for bed herself, deliberately ignoring her 
homework.

	Late that night... or rather early the next 
morning, considering her clock read 3:28, Yumeko woke 
suddenly. This was not abnormal for her, the nights 
she hadn't woken from a nightmare could be counted on 
her fingers. And that was going back as far as she 
could remember. She supposed it was fitting, then, that 
she was the Nightmare Fighter.

	However, this night's nightmare was different. Rather 
than the familiar fear and despair, this dream only left 
confusion. Quickly, she pulled out her notebook to write 
down everything she had seen before she could forget.

	"Many confusing images. A woman in a long dress 
watching me. A tapestry made from gemstones. A dog with 
four eyes. A giant wolf. An even larger snake. A man 
with one hand. A rainbow. A smiling mask. Woke feeling 
agitated and confused."

	Yumeko stopped and reread what she wrote. She knew 
that there had been other images, but she had already 
lost them. And now that she was the Nightmare Fighter...

	Was it more than a dream?

	Yumeko didn't get any more sleep that night.

_-=^=-_

	*It's strange,* Yumeko thought to herself as she 
ducked under a clumsy bat swing, *how something can go 
from being fun to tedious in the span of one day.* 

	Once again, Seiko and her friends... Yumeko racked 
her brain to try and remember their names, and ended up 
deciding to call the brown haired girl A-ko, and the girl 
with the twin ponytails B-ko... had ambushed her. This 
time, they had decided to raid the school gym supplies, 
and had come armed. Yumeko had to laugh at this attempt. 
While Seiko and her gang weren't bad fighters, they 
obviously didn't know how to wield their makeshift weapons. 
As a result, they were beating themselves up more than her. 
A few dodges, a knee kick, and three punches later, all three 
girls were moaning on the ground at Yumeko's feet. "Really," 
she told them, "you should go back to the basics. I didn't 
even work up a sweat today."

	Suddenly, one of the on-lookers screamed, and Yumeko 
saw a movement out of the corner of her eye. Then next 
thing she knew, she was on the ground, her head swimming. 
She quickly leapt to her feet and faced her new opponent.

	"I warned you that I wouldn't be forgiving, girl." 
Sakurobi Seiji said.

_-=^=-_

	Sakurobi Seiji had been having a bad day. The new 
dream fighter wasn't the push-over the last two had been. 
Now, if he intended to live, he'd have to take the girl 
out. But he couldn't use the Voice of Despair, his main 
weapon, against her. It was fueled by nightmare power, 
and so was she. No, he'd have to use more mundane techniques 
to take out the Nightmare Fighter. And he had to win. Even 
with something as unexpected like the strange nature of 
the new dream fighter, second chances were very rare.

	One way or another, there would not be a third 
chance.

	Then he had to watch over his little sister's 
brawl. He didn't know why she was so obsessed with 
beating this one girl up, but if she lost today, he'd 
put the girl in her place. Actually, he just wanted to 
beat her up first and be done with it, but noooo... Seiko 
had to do things HER way...

	But then his day took a turn for the better. He 
took a good look at the girl his sister was trying to 
kill, and realized that she was very familiar to him. 
The last time he had seen her... she had turned into 
the Nightmare Fighter.

	This was not an opportunity he could pass up!

	When the last of his sister's friends, (Was it 
Tatako or Chei? He could never remember which was 
which.) fell, he rushed in with a punch. Knocking 
the powered down dream fighter to the ground, he snarled 
out, "I warned you that I wouldn't be forgiving, girl."

	Yumeko got to her feet and replied, "Anytime."

_-=^=-_

	Yumeko was breathing heavy a few minuets later. 
Seiko's brother was much better than Seiko herself. Yumeko 
was more skilled, but Seiji made up for it with size and 
strength. This had forced Yumeko on the defensive the 
entire fight. Although even she wasn't entirely sure 
how they had gotten to the park from the school.

	It was at this point that Seiji started to laugh. 
A worrisome, not-quite-sane kind of laugh. "Now that 
we're away from witnesses, the REAL fight can begin."

	Yumeko was confused as to what he could mean, 
but was more concerned with catching her breath. Then 
Seiji disappeared in a cascade of darkness. Yumeko's 
eyes widened as the darkness disappeared, revealing 
the masked demon she had fought the day before, this 
time carrying a broad sword made out of what appeared 
to be obsidian. She scrambled for the miniature Dream 
Scepter around her neck, but before she could grab it, 
the demon crashed into her, sending her to the ground. 
"No more 'fighting chances.' You had your chance, and 
you failed to kill me, girl. Now YOU will die." A blast 
of darkness punctuated the statement, a blast Yumeko 
barely dodged.

	Quickly a new fight began... one even more one-sided 
than the last. Winning was no longer even a thought to 
Yumeko. Just surviving until she could transform mattered. 
Unfortunately for her, her opponent knew that too, and kept 
pressing the attack. Blasts of darkness, the obsidian sword, 
and super-human strength and speed were pitted against her 
all-too human abilities. Needless to say, she was losing, 
badly.

	Within moments, she was flat on the ground, and the 
demon raised his blade for the final strike. Yumeko 
wondered for a moment if hers was the shortest magical 
girl career ever.

	Then, another voice interrupted. "Excuse me, I was 
wondering if... YES! That is exactly what I need. Thanks!" 
With that, the Obsidian sword was taken from the demon's 
hands, causing the demon to falter.

	While the demon looked for who or what had stolen 
his sword, Yumeko wasted no time. Grabbing the miniature 
Dream Scepter, she chanted, "Let the dream begin...let 
the power commence!  My power, by right and birth, the 
power of the Dream Realm!"

	The demon whipped around, and brought up his hands 
to release his dark power, only to have it fade before 
even reaching the transforming figure. Then he found 
himself facing the Nightmare Fighter. And she was smiling.

	Yumeko chuckled darkly. "I can taste your fear this 
time. It rolls off you... you know you can't beat me..."

	The demon decided that the better part of valor was 
in order. But before he could escape, another tentacle of 
darkness wrapped around him.

	"You fear your failure. Now let your nightmare come 
true."

	With those words, the tentacle wrapped around the 
demon began absorbing the nightmare power right out of 
him. "No!" He screamed as he struggled to escape, "I 
can't lose again! I mustn't"

	Yumeko smiled. "Too late. Power of the dream 
realm, close the pathways, deny the strength! Remove 
your favor from this unclean one!" The dark aura once 
again formed around the Nightmare Fighter, and lashed 
out at the demon.

	Unable to escape, the demon was consumed by the 
energy. When the darkness faded this time, a battered 
Seiji was left behind. Immediately, he began screaming. 
"No! NO! Shigin-sama, give me another chance!"

	Confused, Yumeko just watched Seiji. To her shock, 
an aura of gray energy formed around Seiji. When it did, 
his screams cut off abruptly. And when the aura dissipated, 
all that was left of Seiji was a black gemstone. A 
gemstone that promptly fell into a hole that opened 
beneath it and closed up after it. "What the fu...?"

	"It's the price you pay for the game you play." 
A jovial voice came from behind her.

	Quickly, Yumeko turned, bringing the Dream Scepter 
up to fight, if necessary. What she saw was the strangest 
thing yet in her life. It appeared to be a man, but he was 
dressed in a patchwork jumper and cloak, no two sections 
the same dimensions, color, or pattern of the last. Even 
his gloves and boots where made from several different 
colors and styles. The cloak had a hood, which was up, 
and the beings face was covered by a smiling harlequin 
mask. He was casually leaning on the late Seiji's obsidian 
sword. "Who are you," Yumeko demanded, "and what just 
happened here?"

	The man let go of the sword... which promptly fell 
over and shattered. "As I said," he intoned as he walked 
up to her, "it's the price paid by mortals playing in this 
game. Any Dream Warrior or Dark Servant who falls in battle 
is promptly sent to Hel. They wait for the Final Twilight. 
If you can't handle that, I'd suggest you leave the game... 
now." His voice never lost it's jovial tone.

	Yumeko was livid. "You think this is a GAME?!"

	The masked man nodded. "Yep. A very old game. And 
you, Yumeko-chan, are currently a third party to it. I'd 
suggest finding an allegiance... fast."

	This was only making Yumeko madder. "WHO ARE YOU?"

	The masked man seemed to think about that for a 
moment. "Call me... Fable. Yes, Fable would be nice..."

	Now Yumeko wanted to kill. "That's it! Either you 
tell me your name, your REAL name, or I'll find out by 
taking that mask off your broken body!"

	"Oh!" Fable sounded genuinely shocked. "You want 
to know my real name. Really?"

	"YES!"

	Fable leaned in close, and then sang in a childish 
voice, "I'm not gonna tell youuuu." Before Yumeko could 
hit him, Fable vanished. But his voice came out from 
nowhere one last time. "I suspect, Yumeko-chan, that 
we will meet again."

	An angry Nightmare Fighter was left alone in 
the middle of the park, seething.

_-=^=-_

	Several blocks away, another drama was playing out.

	"Please!" Hiro was begging. The loss of the Dream 
Scepter was a major blow to him and his cause. It was, 
after all, the most powerful of the Dream Foci. 
Fortunately, it wasn't the ONLY Dream Focus. 

	"All right." The red haired girl took the 
circular shield that Hiro handed to her. For a 
moment her brown eyes glazed, and then she intoned, 
"Let the dream begin...let the power commence!  My 
power, by right and birth, the power of the Dream 
Realm!"

	With flash and sparkles, the girl's uniform 
disappeared, to be replaced with an interesting 
outfit. A white dress, with gold trim formed around 
her. Her boots were brown and went up to her knees. 
The gloves were also brown, and were elbow length. 
The tiara on her head had a large crest and deep 
tangs, and almost qualified more as a helmet than 
a tiara. The shield, silver and inlaid with a black 
gem and a milky white gem, was mounted on her left 
wrist.

	Hiro turned into a bird and alighted her 
shoulder. "As much as I'd like to tell you about 
the corrupted Dream Fighter, my geis prevents me 
from revealing her identity to anyone. Besides, 
she's not the main problem. As much as I don't 
like it, stopping the Loki cult must take precedence. 
But we must always be ready to reclaim the Dream 
Scepter. Do you understand?" 

	The new Magic Girl nodded.

	"Then welcome to your new life, Dream Warrior Miwako."

_-=^=-_

	The Red Eye was slow that evening, but Tsugi was 
alert as ever. He noticed the woman as soon as she 
stepped into the building - not many would wear ankle 
length dresses to a bar. Nor, he decided with a whiff, 
would someone normally wear that much perfume. But 
considering what the dress and perfume hid, Tsugi 
wasn't complaining.

	The woman sat down at the bar, and waited 
expectantly. Tsugi obliged, pouring her a cup of 
a golden liquid, and commenting, "Well, this is a 
surprise. What brings you from your palace this 
evening, miss...?"

	The woman smiled. "Call me Helen, for the 
time being. And I see you're still emulating your 
old employer."

	Tsugi smiled, "Yes, but some things aren't 
easy to give up. But the question still stands, 
HELen. What brings you to the waking world? Going 
to come down on the Light side for having two active 
Dream Warriors, oh great judge?"

	"No. The Scepter wielder is currently unaligned. 
It will be interesting to see what happens with a rogue 
piece. No, this is about the other party involved today."

	Tsugi nodded. "Ah. You mean Fable."

	Helen nodded. "Yes. I don't know who he is or what 
he's doing. Knowing your interest in the rogue, I have 
to ask..."

	Tsugi frowned. "I am not now, never was, nor ever 
will be, this Fable. So by Forseti I will swear."

	Helen smiled. "I knew it wasn't you, dear boy. 
But I want to know who Fable IS. I am judge for this game, 
and will not have an unknown player."

	Tsugi sighed. "I don't know who he is. I know a lot, 
but in the end, I'm not omnipotent. I will tell you as soon 
as I can be sure of his identity."

	Taking a sip of her drink, Helen nodded. Moments 
later, she disappeared.

_-=^=^=-_

Well, that's done, despite delays.

Not a lot of character development in this episode, 
I'll leave that to someone who's a better writer. But 
I hopefully gave a better idea of what's going on, or 
at least enough to create some interesting storylines.

Now, to head off some questions...

Fable is not supposed to be anyone associated with 
Norse Mythology. Or any other Mythology.

A Harlequin mask is one with minimal features. Usually 
eye holes and a mouth. In this case, the mask has a 
large smile on it.

Miwako's Dream Warrior outfit is based somewhat off of 
an outfit of Sophia's from the Soul Edge/Soul Caliber 
games, only without the sword, and the shield is black 
except for the gems.

Most of the symbols from Yumeko's dream are bits of Norse 
Mithology.

Forseti is the Norse god of Justice.

Yes, I killed Seiji. I'm a bastard. A new Dark Servant will 
be needed for the next part...

Please read carefully. Misako is Yumeko's friend. Miwako is 
the new magic girl. They are not the same people.

And finally, yes, Helen is someone relatively important. 
I gave some pretty blatant hints as to who she is. If 
you didn't catch them... you really need to look up some 
Norse Mythology...

Finally, while I didn't get even a quarter of the time 
to write that I would have liked to, I did have fun 
writing this. And hopefully a few more people will 
pick this up and run with it, so that I can come 
back in the future and screw everything up!

Hope you had fun,
Jason, Victim of the Longniichuan, J-ryu


Beware the Radish
11/29/99
http://www.mit.edu/~johne/btr/