Chapter 15 – A living nightmare

"After all that excitement yesterday it seems that today is the most boring day of the year," Trunks complained. It was Friday morning and they had all once again gathered around the breakfast table that had been through so many adventures during the past couple of weeks.

"Nothing to worry about; I'm sure that as soon as we'll all start feeling nice and safe again, some alien scum or darkness demon will show up," Vegeta grunted.

"They better would, Goku isn't here any more to take us travelling with the table again!" Trunks announced.

"I think this table has seen enough for one lifetime," Bulma said, putting a huge bowl of rice on the table. "It took me two hours to get all that Namekian dirt off its legs. No, I think the rest of the days these three girls are staying here will be nice and quiet, or what?"

"That would be boring, now wouldn't it?" Hotaru had appeared on the kitchen's doorway. She seemed a bit… worried. Haruka's and Michiru's eyes narrowed instantly.

"If you had another vision last night then spit it out now because I don't wanna hear anything about any demon for at least two months!" Haruka announced.

Hotaru shook her head. "No vision. Just a nightmare. But I felt the presence of that same demon in that nightmare."

The others were quiet for a while.

"Should we worry about it?" Bulma asked.

"Well, it was a nightmare in the first place," Haruka slowly said, "I guess it's now back where it belongs. Did the nightmare include any "I'll be back" messages?"

"No, it just seemed… vengeful," the girl replied and sat down behind the table.

"Most defeated enemies are vengeful," Vegeta remarked. "Didn't you say that your mind was now strong enough to withstand the demon?"

Hotaru nodded. "True, and that's why you don't have to worry. I think it will haunt me every time it can because that's everything it can do at the moment. I just hope that it won't be able to do something more…"

"Have some coffee and don't worry about it any more," Bulma suggested. "You will leave this planet in a few days. Try and enjoy the last days here." Hotaru nodded, smiled and thanked her.

"So it sounds like out ambitious little demon's really gone for good," Trunks said with a grin.

"Ambitious little creatures can never be underestimated," Michiru warned him. "Take Haruka for example."

Haruka laughed. "So, if there are no big threats in sight then I guess we'll just sit back and watch TV for the next couple of days. Who has the remote?"

But things didn't work out that easily…

"What in the world?" Michiru sat up and blinked. She looked at the alarm clock. It was almost 4 AM. Something had woken her up.

The girl pondered that for a few moments and then realized that she had heard something. A sound… but what had it been? A moan? A cry?

Michiru got dressed – just in case, sneaked out of the room, looked around the hallway and her eyes narrowed. The Aqua Mirror appeared in her hand. It glowed slightly but didn't give any unusual reaction. She sniffed the air. Something was different… and familiar. Some slight scent in the air. She couldn't put her finger on it but she knew that she had smelled that before.

The girl went to the door of Haruka's room. Before she could knock, the door opened and her friend's navy blue eyes looked straight into hers.

"You heard that too…?" she asked. Michiru nodded.

"What was it? I'm not sure what I heard."

"It sounded like a very, very distant scream. I sure hope it hasn't anything to do with Hotaru…" Haruka crossed the hallway and knocked on the door of Hotaru's room. It opened in a second. Hotaru's worried purple eyes met the eyes of the two.

"It wasn't you?" she asked. Both girls shook their heads.

"I wasn't having any nightmares if you're worried about that," Hotaru claimed. "Perhaps Bulma saw a spider or something?"

Michiru frowned. "Then why do I have such a funny feeling?" Haruka nodded in agreement.

"Okay…" Trunks had appeared in the hallway. "Please tell me that it was one of you who screamed." The three shook their heads.

"I was afraid of that…" the kid moaned. "The demon is back!"

Hotaru snorted. "Don't be stupid. I would've felt that if it was back. Someone probably left the TV on."

"They're off, all seven of them," Bulma's voice interjected. She and Vegeta were standing in the end of the hallway. "Even if it was just a random scream from the street… how come it woke us all up?"

Vegeta yawned quietly and frowned. "What's that smell? I know I've smelled that before…"

"I know, it seemed familiar to me too," Michiru agreed. "But I don't understand what it is."

Hotaru frowned. "Kinda smells like… mould."

The others stared at her and then at each other.

"That night… when the demon turned the house into a haunted mansion," Trunks said slowly, "it smelled just like that."

"But there is no… eeeeeeek!" Bulma had backed against the wall and now hopped forward, landing almost in Vegeta's arms. The prince muttered something about being a bit too tired for such things and looked at the wall. It was wet, dripping and the wallpaper was hanging down.

"Okay… I thought Pegasus got rid of that thing!" Michiru growled.

"I think he did, when Hotaru claims she didn't feel anything," Haruka replied. "But the scream we all heard and that," she pointed at the walls," must have a good reason. And I'm planning to find out what it is."

"Go get your heavenly flowers, we may need them," Michiru suggested. Haruka nodded, turned around and pushed the door. "Funny… I don't remember closing the door…" a thought rushed through her head. Then she pushed the door again. It wouldn't open.

"Let me." Vegeta slammed his muscular shoulder against the door. It bended a little, gave a loud screech that reminded more of a scream and broke open.

Everyone stared at the room. It was melting. The walls looked like a cream cake that was left in the sun for too long. The furniture had the same effect. Haruka carefully stepped in and hopped back. The floor was squishy and wet. The girl took a deep breath and looked into Vegeta's eyes.

"Fly me in there. Fast. This room will collapse soon."

"I bet the other rooms look just like Haruka's," Bulma guessed after the flowers were safely out of the room and in the back pocket of Haruka's old jeans. "Let's go see what's going on downstairs."

"I have a better idea… let's get out of the house," Trunks suggested. "We won't find anything in the house except for some moldy walls and possibly three-eyed rats again." The others agreed and so they headed for downstairs. The front door was, of course, closed. Vegeta slammed against it but it didn't work.

"Trunks… on three!" the prince hissed. They both concentrated and attacked the door with their energy blasts. It bended a little but didn't open.

"Won't your flowers help, Haruka?" Bulma asked the girl who shrugged, stepped forward and poked the keyhole with the flowers. No reaction.

"It just needs more power," Vegeta said. "You three girls, you were supposed to be superheroes on your planet, right?"

Three pairs of eyes glanced at him.

"Uranus Crystal Power…" "Neptune Crystal Power…" "Saturn Crystal Power…" "...make up!"

The energy waves lit the hallway for a few moments, then it was dark again but only until Uranus and Neptune pulled their talismans out. Saturn's Silence Glaive didn't glow but it gave a quiet, ominous whizzing sound as the girl pulled it through mould scented air.

"On three again?" Uranus asked. Vegeta nodded. Bulma stepped back.

Two energy waves rammed into the door. On the next second a bright blue, wavy and glittering energy stream from the Aqua Mirror joined them. The Space Sword shone like a red crescent as Uranus pushed it in the middle of the other energy waves. The Silence Glaive needed a bit more time to power up, as soon as dark electrical lines started running over its surface, Saturn stabbed the door with it. The door screamed like a human being, bending more and more.

"We need more power," Uranus gasped, barely holding her sword as her strength flooded out through it into the door.

"You got it," Vegeta growled, turning into a Super Saiyan. Trunks followed his lead. The whole hallway was now shining.

"We're fighting against a door," Michiru remarked sarcastically but her mirror was shaking in her hands.

"It's not… just a door," Trunks claimed. "Otherwise it would've broken long time ago. Take that, you rotten piece of wood!" He boosted forward, slamming his fist straight into the crossing point of the energy streams. The door cracked, screamed loudly and fell open. Or actually apart. Trunks was the first one to fall out on the lawn and the others rushed out too.

"Are you out of your mind?" Uranus asked, helping Trunks to get up. The kid's fist was terribly burnt. "You can't just touch the blade of the Space Sword and hope that you won't get a scratch. You're lucky that the Silence Glaive didn't hit you."

Trunks gasped, losing the Super Saiyan aura. "Well, I…opened the door, didn't I?"

"You did, but I'm not sure if it helped us much," Neptune said. "Look." Everyone looked around to see that the world around them had drastically changed.

The sky was dark green. All the buildings were black and didn't seem very solid. They were waggling and bending and their walls were melting just like Haruka's room. The moon was silvery and seemed bigger than it normally was.

"It's like a nightmare," Bulma whispered. Vegeta frowned and turned into a Super Saiyan again, just in case.

"Let's get out there and see if we can find something," Saturn suggested. They left the territory of the house and looked around. There were no cars in sight although normally the street was rather lively, even at night. But there were many people on the street, wandering around aimlessly. Vegeta went up to a man and asked him:

"Hey you, what's going on out here?"

The man stared at him blankly. "Dark… so dark… nothing but darkness… leave me alone!"

Trunks had stopped a lady and asked her what she knew about all that. The woman blinked and suddenly screamed:

"Spiders! Thousands of spiders… all over me… waaahhhh!" She ran away down the street, leaving the kid staring after her.

"I think I'm starting to get the point," Neptune said and turned to another woman near her. "Excuse me?"

The woman gasped. "Rats! Look at all the rats! They're gonna eat me alive! Help me!" She clasped Neptune's arm and stared at her with a terrified look in her eyes. Then she ran away too, screaming.

"We're in a living nightmare," Neptune said. "All those people are experiencing what they're afraid of most."

"And I bet I know who's behind all this," Vegeta murmured. "That winged pony isn't exactly reliable, you know."

"No, Pegasus sent it back to the dream world, that's one thing for sure." Uranus looked around. "This city has turned into a nightmare. That demon is attacking us on its home field."

"Then how come we're not surrounded by our greatest fears?" Bulma wondered. Uranus shrugged.

"We're awake. I suggest we'd go and try to find the demon. It's up to something nasty and I'd love to find out what it is."

"That makes two of us." Vegeta grinned. "Let's go." He started towards the city centre – or what used to be the city centre.

"Vegeta, wait!" Bulma hurried after him. "How do you know where to find it?"

"Let's just follow the screaming people," Saturn suggested, grabbed her Silence Glaive and went after Vegeta. Uranus and Neptune followed her, glancing at each other with concern. Saturn's voice had had that old well-known determined tone in it.