Chapter 4: Dream Warriors

Ranma walked through the jungle until he came to a clearing. In the clearing there was a high-walled enclosure containing three temples set about a marble fountain. Once he walked through the gate, he could see the temples were linked by covered walkways and the interior courtyard was paved with loose stone. Here and there, there were little patches of greenery providing a very pleasant setting. Ranma looked at the temples and smiled. He already knew each temple very well. He debated visiting them when he noticed that there was a statue standing on a pedestal in the middle of the fountain. "That's odd," he thought. There's not suppose to be a statue there."

Ranma walked over to the fountain and looked at the statue. To his dismay, he saw it was an image of Shampoo standing in a very seductive fashion. She was almost completely naked except for the robe sliding off her back. Despite the pose, her face was very smug. A vast anger filled Ranma, so he raised his hand and fired a Chi blast at the statue. The statue shattered and turned to dust. Then Ranma concentrated and willed a statue of Akane to be in its place. Akane's statue show the girl dressed in her gi, but instead of throwing a block, the statue seemed to be beckoning the observer to come closer. Ranma noticed that the gi showed the upper inside curves of both breasts, despite the fact that the garment was tied correctly. The statue's eyes held a look of mischief about them.

Ranma grinned at the statue and then turned to walk to Cat's temple. However, as he completed the turn, he almost walked into another statue of Shampoo. The statue was angry, and showed Shampoo dressed in chainmail. The statue held a dagger in it frozen hand, ready to stab Ranma. Ranma's surprise quickly faded and he became angry again. He reached out and yelled "Breaking point," turning this statue into dust. Once the dust blew away, Ranma turned to check on Akane's statue, which was still where he left it.

Ranma turned back towards Cat's temple only to see another statue standing about ten meters away. This one was also Shampoo, but the statue showed Shampoo standing in her waitress uniform. The statue's face was grim despite the fact that the shirt had been undone and the statue was bearing its chest at Ranma. Again, Ranma destroyed the statue with a Chi blast. This time, Ranma did not turn around, but waited. Sure enough, another statue of Shampoo seemed to assemble itself from blowing dust, ten meters beyond the last one.

The young man strode over to the statue and studied it. Now Shampoo was standing wearing a ceremonial kimono swinging a katana. Ranma knew the motion was part of a seppuku ceremony, and he had no delusions concerning whose neck she was suppose to be swinging at. Once more, he destroyed the statue and waited. Again, another statue appeared ten meters beyond the latest. Ranma continued the pattern, letting the destroyed statues lead him away from the temples and away from the jungle. He walked through an open grassy area, destroying the statues until the trail led him up a small hill. Once on top of the hill, he could see a grassy plain on the other side stretching away from him. The plain was full of Shampoo's statues; all in various poses of work or play. Some of the statues showed clothes, some did not. A few of the poses could only be called erotic. The faces were all either angry or smug even on the seductive poses.

The anger again swelled inside of Ranma. He looked out at the endless array of statues and yelled: "NO! I BELONG TO MYSELF! I WILL NEVER BE YOUR HUSBAND! I LOVE AKANE TENDO AND I WILL ONLY MARRY HER!" A huge wind rose behind him at those words and flowed around him, down the hill, and across the plain. As the wind passed over the statues, the statues exploded in a spray of sand with a loud cracking sound. Row upon row of the statues were destroyed as Ranma looked on unrepentantly. The wind began to speed up, destroying the statues faster and faster, flying as far as the eye could see. Ranma could almost feel someone watching him, looking for some weakening in his determination, but Ranma gave no quarter, willing the wind to flow forever.

The sound of the rows exploding became one steady note and still Ranma urged the wind to blow faster. The sound grew until it dominated everything, but Ranma only yelled louder: "I LOVE AKANE!"

Suddenly a scream pierced the air, shattering everything, and Ranma woke up…

"Ranma!" Soun yelled. "Are you all right?"

Ranma looked up at Soun kneeling beside him. The shape-changer seemed to shake himself and answered: "Yeah. Why? Was I talking in my sleep?"

"Umm…not quite," Sasuke answered.

"More like screaming," Tofu told him.

"Umm..not quite again," Sasuke answered. "Ranma was not screaming, the air above him was. Ranma was fast asleep."

The women were running into the main room now with anxious looks on their faces. Ciren, Kasumi, and Akane all had quarterstaffs. Nodoka had a baseball bat (the sword was long gone). Even Nabiki had her short clubs. "What the hell was that?" Ciren demanded.

"A problem," Tofu said. He turned to Sasuke and questioned: "The sound came from above Ranma?"

"Yes," the little ninja answered. "Ranma was asleep and his mouth was shut tight. The sound literally came from the air above him."

Tofu turned to Ranma and said: "You were dreaming, weren't you?" It wasn't really a question. At Ranma's nod, Tofu added: "Start talking."

Ranma described the dream then, although he neglected to mention some specific details about the statues, not wanting to upset (or embarrass) Akane. He changed shape a few times as he mentioned Akane's name, but paid no attention to it. When he finished, Ciren and Tofu exchanged a long look.

Finally, Tofu looked at Ranma and said: "You need to go on a Spirit Quest tomorrow."

"Okay…" Ranma said, drawing out the one word. "I know what one of those is, but I already know who I am."

"Which actually helps a lot," Ciren stated. "The problem is that there's something else inside of you that's not suppose to be there."

Ranma groaned. "What? Like the dragon again?"

"Yes, but this is much weaker – more like a minor sprite or demon. Shampoo probably injected it into you with the knife today. That's why the tech couldn't find any traces of a potion; there was a spirit stored in the pommel," Tofu explained. "Shampoo probably cut a deal with the spirit and was sure it could possess you." The Doc smiled a little and went on: "She doesn't know about all the training you had. She also doesn't know that you've made peace with your other sides. If you hadn't accepted Ranko and Cat, the spirit would have been able to turn you against yourself and take over. But between the joining of your other selves and the fact that you truly love Akane, it cannot get a hold on you." Akane kneeled down and hugged Ranma fiercely from behind. Ranma squeezed her hands gently. When Akane stopped, she stayed close to Ranma.

Tofu continued to explain: "The spirit was probably hoping to drive a wedge between you and Akane by forcing a shape-change every time you said her name, but that doesn't bother you at all now. You were much more bothered by the constant bleeding. Now, it's trying to overwhelm you in your dreams, but you defeated it again. It's going to keep poking at you and trying to get a hold. It probably has a time limit before the possession wears off. The thing is, you cannot wait for it to keep attacking. Granted, you seem to be much stronger than it, especially on your home turf, but it may do serious damage before it gives up."

"So I need to hunt it down and throw it out," Ranma finished. Tofu just nodded. "All right, what do I have to do?" the shape-shifter said.

Tofu looked at the clock on the wall; it was 1AM. "We need to start the preparing," he started. Looking at Ranma, he continued: "The most important thing is for you to rest tonight, but you need to rest in a deep trance state. I can put together the herb tea you need. We also need a more protected place for you to rest in. I think we need to go back to the clinic."

"I'll throw a few things together," Nodoka said getting up.

Tofu started to say something only to have Kasumi step on his foot discretely. He clamped his mouth shut. Ciren smirked. Kasumi then said: "We should probably all move to the clinic for tonight. The old reasons for staying together are still with us."

"All right," Soun agreed. "Shampoo is still a concern."

Tofu seemed to regain his composure. "Sounds good; let's move. Don't worry about bedding and towels. There's plenty at the clinic. Let's leave as a group in ten minutes." Everyone got up and went to grab a few things. Before Ciren left the room, Tofu called out: "Ciren, could I speak to you for a minute?"

"What's up, Fox?" she asked when she came over.

"Are you up for spirit guard duty tonight?" he asked.

"If you mean sentry duty, then 'yes'," she answered. "If you mean Dream duty, then 'no'. There's a better option, and it's time to use it."

Tofu looked confused. "Hideo and Shizuka are not here. I need to prep." He paused and said: "Kasumi could do it, I suppose."

"I'm talking about Akane," Ciren said with exasperation. Tofu was about to shoot the idea down and then stopped with a thoughtful look on his face. Ciren seized the opening: "Because of the Summoning, she's already been in his head. She's spiritually connected to him, and they have no secrets from each other. Plus, instead of me sitting by Ranma's bedside holding his hand, the two of them can hold each other. With the level of love they share, Akane will have a strong power base – way stronger than anyone else here despite her inexperience, my friend. With Ranma in a deep trance, she will practically be a god in there – that thing will have no chance. Worst case, if something goes wrong and she wakes him up, we do this a day later – but I say she is the best candidate we have. If you gave Ranma a choice, who do you think he would rather have in his psyche: me, Kasumi, or Akane?"

"I'm not sure how Ranma will feel about this, but your points are valid," Tofu said slowly.

"Then ask him," Ciren insisted.

Ranma sat in the kitchen with Tofu. "Ranma, how much do you trust Akane?" the Doc asked.

"A lot," Ranma answered.

"Would you trust her with your secrets?" the Doc asked.

"She already has them all, so 'Yes'. Why?" Ranma asked.

"Because I want her to be your dream guard when you sleep tonight – the spirit inside of you will be trying to sabotage your trance, but she will draw it off and keep it busy," Tofu answered.

"Doc, I trust her but I don't want her in any danger!" Ranma exclaimed.

**SMACK**

Ranma held his head as Akane stood in the doorway. "And I don't want you in any danger either, idiot," she said with some heat. "I thought we settled this when you started training me." Ranma just sighed. Akane stated: "I'm in. What do I have to do?"

"You won't be in any physical danger," Tofu told her. "Worst case is that the trance will be broken and we have to try again tomorrow night, but it's important that we get this right the first time to keep the spirit off-guard. Basically, it will be just like dreaming, but the spirit will be attacking you instead of Ranma. Since you will respond differently than Ranma, it won't be able to anticipate your actions. Ranma already gave you an example of the tricks it will be pulling when he told you his dream."

Akane's eyes gleamed. "I get to break Shampoo statues all night? When do I start?" she asked. Ranma and Tofu could not help but laugh.

Later on at the clinic, Akane and Ranma settled into the same large bed. Both were wearing sweat pants and sweat shirts. Ciren's comment that this would work better if they were both naked had caused them to blush deeply. Tofu yelled at Ciren to cut it out and assured the couple she was joking. Nodoka had been ready to beat Soun if he said anything, but he was too concerned about the couple to worry about acting childish. Besides, it wasn't as if the couple would be alone. Ciren, Soun, and Nodoka were taking first guard shift. Kasumi and Sasuke were taking second shift. Those not actively guarding would be sleeping. Tofu would be preparing things for Ranma's Vision Quest. Nabiki was sleeping in Ranma's room – she wasn't a warrior. Neither was Nodoka when push came to shove, but she was protective of her children. Nabiki was responsible for breakfast though, which meant take out.

Tofu gave Ranma one cup of herb tea, and Akane a different cup and had them drink. Then he had them place themselves into a meditative trance – but not before Akane nestled into Ranma's arms. "Sure," she said. "We get a chance to cuddle, but it's actually in preparation for a battle." The comment was greeted with laughter – including by herself and Ranma.

"All right, lights out," Tofu said shortly after.

Akane became aware she was standing in the middle of a temple plaza - actually, three temples surrounded the plaza on three sides. Everything was enclosed by a high wall with only one gate. The temples were linked by solid-looking covered walkways and surrounded a marble fountain. There were green little gardens sprinkled among the crushed stone plaza. In the middle of the fountain, set high on a pedestal, she noticed there was a statue, and walked around to see the front of it. To her delight and embarrassment, she saw it was herself. The image was flattering at least – it was nice to know Ranma thought well of her and found her appealing, but she had to admit to herself that she already knew this.

She studied the temples and could easily identify which belonged to whom. The twin peaked roof on Cat's temple obviously mimicked cat ears, and the windows all had a soft almond shape. Ranko's temple had round windows and gentle intricate curves shaping the roof. Ranma's temple had square windows with a straight-forward roof. "My little idiot is not quite over his stereotypes," she noted to herself. "Ah well, he's come along way anyway, and he's allow to be human." Akane debated visiting the temples, but decided that was too personal an intrusion. Instead she walked around and looked at the small gardens, waiting for the spirit to attack.

She didn't have to wait long. Akane heard "Ranma prepare to die!" shouted out as an image of Shampoo dressed in Ryoga's clothes ran into the plaza. The fake Shampoo stopped when it saw Akane.

"Too, too, easy," Akane mocked in Shampoo's voice, nailing the pitch perfectly. A large hammer materialized in her hand and she malleted Shampoo into a pancake, then watched the pancake turn to dust and blow away. "This could be very therapeutic," Akane said out loud.

While she waited for the next attack, Akane wondered about the mallet. "It just appeared when I wanted it. If this is a like a dream, I should be able to call up anything I like."

During the next dozen or so attacks, Akane tested the limits of her imagination. Picking off the attacking squad of Shampoos by raining anvils on them had to be one of her favorites. The rocket launcher was impressive, but she was worried about damaging the temples – the idea was to protect Ranma after all. The crocodiles were messy and made Akane a little queasy, even though the false Shampoos didn't bleed. The quicksand was effective, but unsatisfying. The tigers did not work well as guards though – they just went into the Cat temple and went to sleep. She did learn that her "Thunder Strike" attack was still effective here, but she also learned that she could throw real lightning bolts in Ranma's Dream realm.

Hand-to-hand combat was interesting, but distracting as Akane could only fight so many people at a time. She had to fall back on anvils again as some of the Shampoos were getting close to one of the temple entrances. Akane then realized that the spirit had figured out Ranma was not reachable in the Dream state. It was trying to break into a temple and roust him from his trance, which Akane could not allow, so she settled down, and began eliminating the Shampoo warriors in a very practical (and amusing) fashion using the anvils – she never missed. Akane also setup motion detectors between the temples and at the plaza entrance. She was happy that the temples had only one door each and the windows were closed and, apparently, locked. Soon, the spirit was trying to pick its way through the traps Akane imagined into being. It didn't help the spirit's cause that Akane would keep re-arranging the traps. The maze Akane built was also a hindrance.

The spirit tried to fight back with its own tricks and traps. It tried to distract her with an image of a nude Ranma, but Ranma was in a trance and Akane was (fairly) sure he wouldn't stop his preparations for a battle – not even for romance (although a girl could hope). Besides, Mr. Macho was too much of a prude. To be safe, she just trapped the image in a pit and waited it out. The image tried to sweet-talk its way out of the pit while Akane was incinerating Shampoos, but Akane knew Ranma's was not smooth when it came to romance, no matter what he thought. While he could be very sweet (which Akane liked) and he was getting better, "flowery" was not in him. Nor did he know any of Shakespeare's sonnets. Eventually, it gave up and vanished.

Trap doors didn't work on Akane because she just hovered. The vampires were met with a rain of Holy Water and wooden daggers shaped like crosses. The zombies were met with a steam roller. Once, Shampoo appeared with a flame thrower, but attacking a Fire Mage with her own element in the Dream realm is a VERY bad idea. The spirit tried to create a deep pond under Akane, but Akane just walked on top of it. No matter how the spirit tried to affect the Dream environment, Akane was always better at subverting its intention. Her version was always the stronger one. For some reason, the spirit just didn't have the resources Akane did – it was fighting an unlimited adversary and the damn anvils were too accurate.

Finally, Akane watched a blaze of light surround her as Ranma woke up. In moments, she was back in the waking world. Ranma looked at her with a smirk and asked: "Well, did you have fun?"

"Yes, now shut up and kiss me," Akane replied, so he did.

The young boy looked out from his room on the second floor of the Cat temple. He had been disappointed that his Guardian had been sidetracked from visiting him by the unwanted spirit, but he had been delighted to watch his Sister's Guardian fight off the spirit. Still, he got up from the window and invoked a martial arts gi and sandals for himself (his Guardian was definitely rubbing off on him). Things had gone on long enough and it was time to clear the air – he needed to earn his keep and the upcoming Spirit Quest was an excellent time to do it.

A/N: This might be a little rougher than usual - time is very short this week and the snow storm in the northeastern USA is not helping. Reviews are always welcomed, especially any corrections (or ways to make the story better - I'm still learning). Feel free to send me a PM if you don't want to leave a review...

A/N: Next up: Preparations

A/N: 2/3/15 - Some minor corrections in the text.