Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in the following story.

There he was…….

Lil' Slugger………

In an open field……

Laughing………..

But this one was different. His bat wasn't bent, and his hat an insignia on it. He lifted his hand and pulled up the visor of the baseball hat to reveal his eyes. They were blue, not golden, and held some warmth to them. And then it shifted.

The moon took the place of the field, and an old man known to some as the ancient master, dress in a swallowtail suit began to speak.

"The new shoes of gold are revealed, and the golden fox's gold rusts away. The mask of blood is pulled off and then……"

Maniwa woke up panting and sweating heavily. It was happening again, he was receiving the messages of the Ancient Master. But he couldn't make out what he had been saying, but he recognized two words. 'golden fox' had been his way of referring to lil' Slugger. 'The shoes of gold' meant the same thing, but what was this mask of blood? Either way, lil' slugger problems meant Tsukiko Sagi was the answer. There was only one way to make sure no other lil' slugger attacks happened…….

Tsukiko woke up late again this morning. She looked around hesitantly, but eventually got up and walked over to her answering machine. There was one message on it, so she pushed the button and a familiar voice was heard.

"C'mon Ms. Sagi, I know you could use some money, what harm could an interview do?" Akio Kawazu, a sleazy tabloid reporter who was always ready to make some fast cash. Although he had a fairly sleazy look, Tsukiko was sure he wasn't as bad as he came across as, but even still she didn't feel like spending any more time with him than was necessary. It seemed like everyday he was pushing for an interview with her. The ring of the phone interrupted her train of thought. She picked it up, wondering who could be calling her.

"Hello?" Tsukiko asked timidly.

"Go to you're father's house, it concerns him." Came a fuzzy voice on the other end. 'Him can only mean one thing, lil' Slugger', her imaginary attacker.

Keiichi Ikari hadn't woken up, he hadn't fallen asleep, he was still awake, the thought of his wife's death still on his mind and the thought of what his belief in one true reality had cost him. He was losing a mental battle with his virtues up against his weakness. What he had said a long time ago had been true, he had been able to get through each day because of his supportive, maybe overly so, wife. He jumped to his feet.

'No! This is not who I am! I will accept reality as what it is, whether or not my trace in it is almost faded!'

As if to answer him, his phone rang.

"Hello, Ikari residence." He was suspicious of anyone calling at this hour.

"Chief, go to the train station. There are some loose ends to tie." Came a fuzzy voice from the other end. Even though he was no longer a detective there was only one person who still called him that.

"Maniwa, is that you? Maniwa!" But there was no answer. Keiichi Put on his old suit and tie and grabbed his pistol. 'If Maniwa really means business then anything could be going on, no sense in not being ready.'

He walked out of his house and towards the station heading out of town, along the way he could hear people talking to one another.

"I did what I thought was best."

"It's not my fault!"

"I was desperate, it had to be done!"

He could see the station now, and Maniwa was standing in front of it. He was never really certain if this new person was Maniwa. He wore a red cape and baseball cap. Over his eyes he wore either sunglasses or a pair of strange, electronic binoculars. He clutched a backpack, in it was a special radio that sent and received signals from a large radio tower. Using it, he was able to pickup noise over any electronic device that used signals, radios, cell phones, he could hear it all, but he could speak to people through them as well.

"Maniwa! What's this all about?" Ikari gave him a look to stare down the great lil' Slugger himself, but Maniwa wasn't even paying attention to him.

"Come on chief, no time to stand there staring." Maniwa jumped onto the back of a cargo car and opened the sliding door. "It's a long trip, and our stop isn't on the schedule.

"That's right, come closer, return to me, renew me, recreate me. My skill at manipulating dreams hasn't worsened one bit." Lil' Slugger floated within his dark confines. "Soon I'll be out, and when I'm done with all of you, you'll be thankful I'm back."