Vile: This story took WAY too long. I've had this idea in stasis for months, but kept getting stalled. Yes, I started this story back in freaking APRIL, yet it's finally finished now. I can't understand why I can't keep my head on track for these things. Oh, to hell with it. I shouldn't rant to you guys about my own problems. Enjoy, folks!

Numbershot 87: Sweet and Sour Dreams

Chapter 1

Rio looked around the darkened version of Heartland City, the sky above seemingly night, but there was an eerie red tint to it. "What the heck is going on here…?" She asked herself, her voice echoing. Moving without any idea of where she was going, the girl tried to see if she could find someone else, anyone else. "Hello?! Is anyone here?" Rio tried calling out. Her echo was met with seemingly no response, but after a few seconds, she heard a groan. "Eh?" Another groan was heard, and Rio pinpointed the direction of the echo, rushing after it. Managing to keep on track after hearing another groan, Rio rounded a corner, finding two people lying against a wall. Rio approached the person, and when she got closer, she recognized the people: Kotori and Tetsuo, two of Yuma's friends, looking pretty beat up. "Kotori? Tetsuo?" Rio approached them carefully, kneeling down and shaking them lightly. "Hey, you all right?"

Tetsuo groaned before he managed to open his eyes weakly. "R… Rio…?"

"What happened here, Tetsuo?" Rio asked. "What happened to you two?"

"It was… her…" Tetsuo groaned.

"'Her'?" Tetsuo only weakly pointed, Rio following him. In the direction of his point was a shadowed figure. From their distance, the silhouette was indeed female, with hair longer than even Rio's. The unknown female turned in their direction, appearing to lock eyes with Rio. When they did, though, Rio felt a twinge of pain go through her. "GAH!" She gripped her head, her eyes appearing to glow briefly.

"Rio… run…" Tetsuo got out before falling back unconscious.

Rio looked back up at the unknown girl, only to realize that she was mimicking the same head-grab as her, pink glows where her eyes would be. "You… Who are you?! What have you done?!" Rio shouted at her. The silhouette didn't answer; instead, she seemed to step forward twice, a light blue aura covering her. Then… she flew at Rio with the speed of a missile, making Rio recoil as impact seemed imminent, getting a clean view of the glowing pink areas…

"Nyah!" Rio shot forward, breathing hard in a cold sweat. Looking around, Rio realized that she was back in her bedroom, nothing out of place. She looked at her bedside: The clock said "2:43". "It was… a dream…" Rio's fear was quickly replaced by frustration as she flopped back onto her pillow. "I so don't need this right now…"

*Morning* *Heartland High School*

The high school was the busy building it normally was, with students either heading to classes or just talking with each other. Rio was on her way to her next class, dressed in her school's uniform: A blue-and-green uniform in a different style than Heartland Middle School's, having a ribbon on the chest indicative of sailor fuku-style uniforms (though that was pretty much the only similarity) that was color-coded to indicate her grade (as a junior, it was purple), but it did have two similar elements: No sleeves, and a very short skirt that was also purple to match her grade. Rio herself, though, looked like she didn't get much real sleep, with her hair being slightly off and her facial expression just saying "tired".

"What happened to you, Rio-chan?" Someone asked. Rio saw another female student looking at her worriedly. She was a few inches taller, having golden blonde hair and brown eyes, and her uniform had the same purple ribbon and skirt, indicating her being in the same grade.

"Ugh… Stupid bad dream." Rio groaned as the friend walked alongside her. "I could barely get any more sleep last night."

"Ouch. Any clue what it was about?" The friend asked.

"I don't think I want to remember. But it's an image I can't get out of my brain." Rio replied. "How well'd you sleep, Koko?"

"Like a log. Here." Koko produced a small pill bottle from within her uniform.

Rio took the bottle, noting the name of the medicine on the bottle and recognizing it. "This is some over-the-counter sleep medication." She looked back at her friend. "Did you take this out of your dad's pharmacy?"

"With permission, of course." Koko told her. "You and I are about the same weight, so I think popping two of those before bed can keep you asleep if things go wrong."

"If I have another nightmare, I'm not sure I'd WANT to stay asleep." Rio mused, looking at the bottle again before storing it in her book bag. "Let's just get to class. Hopefully I can wake up sometime today."

"Yeah… We don't need you dropping dead asleep while the teacher's talking." Koko said. The two girls made it to their next class, but they noticed that multiple students had their heads down, snoring away. One of them was being poked by another kid. "Okay, I did not plan this."

"At least I'm not the only one who had trouble sleeping today…" Rio said.

"Whoa, insomniac attack last night?" Another girl said, walking onto Rio's other side. She was also in the same grade, a bit shorter and stockier than the other two (but not unattractive), having crimson hair in a ponytail and blue eyes. She was holding three cans of soda in her arms.

"I don't know what it is, Makie-chan, but clearly something happened." Koko told her.

"Is one of those an energy soda?" Rio asked Makie. Makie held out a green can, which Rio took and opened. "Arigatou." She started downing the drink.

"I got us these sodas in case you two were having any trouble sleeping. I saw a few others looking drowsy earlier today." Makie said as she handed Koko a soda.

"Hopefully people just had a crappy night." Koko said, opening her soda before noting that Rio was still chugging her soda. "Jeez, Rio-chan, breathe!"

Rio finally took the soda away from her lips, gulping what was in her mouth before panting heavily. "Gomen, guys… I'm just… really frustrated right now. That bad dream I had, Koko… I've been having it for a few days now."

"Bad dream?" Makie asked.

"I keep seeing the city, dark, nearly deserted… Then I see this silhouette walking around. This pain hits my head…" Rio's hands began to shake. "Then she rushes me. Boom, dream over." She sighed. "I keep trying to figure more out, but I can never get anything but vagueness, and then last night, I somehow found myself asking square one questions."

"Nasty." Koko said. "You ever thought about seeking professional help for that?"

"With what money?" Rio replied.

She went to take another drink, but Makie grabbed her hands. "Easy, Rio-chan. You're shaking. Come on, let's just sit down." Rio nodded, moving toward her seat with Makie and Koko following her.

A minute or two after finding their seat, the teacher walked in. 'Hopefully this won't be such a long day…' Rio thought, still rather frustrated.

Vile: My long-overdue Numbershot is underway, and the pace will be kept. This Numbershot has been fully written out, so I'll have a new chapter every day until this story's done. I appreciate everyone's patience, and I deliver once more. If you guys liked this chapter, leave a review for me! Ja ne for now!

Computer Voice: Vile, logging out.