Meet The Dreamfinder

Disclaimer: Same as before…

RougefanKC – If you think this is chaotic, imagine what will come to pass when Vinny meets Trinity and Forge for the first time (if you'd like to imagine Jake Clawson getting involved too, be my guest)…

"Vinny, you might not want to mix that portion of chemicals…" Dreamfinder began.

BOOM! A black cloud of smoke flowed out into the hallway, and Prue remarked, "You're worst than my sisters when they're brewing potions…"

"So let me get this straight," Prue asked Donald, after she collared him walking down the hall, "The Dreamfinder's mere presence enhances the imaginations of people nearby."

"Bingo." Donald replied, "Which means I'm thinking up more anti-Heartless spells as we speak…"

"Allons enfants de la Patrie. Le jour de gloire est arrive!" D'Artagnan sang with Mole as they staggered around the hall, "Contre nous de la tyrannie. L'etandard sanglant te leve. Entedez-vous dans nos campagnes. Mugir ces feroces soldats? Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras. Egorger vos fils vos companges! "

"Yah outta try mah new and improved moonshine!" Cookie shouted, "Whoo wee is it potent."

"I assume that's why D'Artagnan and Mole are singing the French national anthem and staggering around the hallway." Prue remarked.

"I call it the Dreamfinder's Surprise. Care for a taste?" Cookie said, smiling.

"Aux armees le citroyens. Formez vos battalions!" the two drunken Frenchmen shouted, "Marchons, marchons. Qu'un sang impur. Abreuve nos sillons."

"Maybe later." Prue replied, diplomatically.

"Ah've gotta write the recipe down now." Cookie replied.

Prue turned her head to see a very muddy looking Godfrey, Doc, and Andy sporting some cuts and bruises and thoroughly drenched.

"Godfrey," Doc replied, "What possessed you to put us in that rugby game against the Welsh Regiment?"

"I think his name is Dreamfinder." Andy groaned.

"Come on you wankers. The game wasn't that rough." Godfrey replied.

"Not that rough." Doc began, his eyes narrowing, "Not that rough? You weren't the one who had to contain that enormous Welsh blindside flanker."

"And you weren't gang tackled by that prop and that speedy Welsh flyhalf." Andy added.

"What happened?" Prue asked.

"Godfrey ran into some fellow from his old school in England. They were a few players short for an afternoon rugby game against the Welsh." Doc replied, "So long story short, he asked if we wanted to give it a shot. I used to play in my college days, and Andy said it's close enough to football for his liking."

"Yeah, I got nostalgic about our old high school days, when I was the quarterback." Andy groaned, "Big mistake…"

"Rugby, my friends, is a real man's game." Godfrey replied, grinning, "Because we wear no bloody pads."

"You weren't in a ruck with Frankenstein the enormous Welsh flanker." Andy replied, flexing sore muscles, "Remind me never to get into one of those games with Godfrey again."

"Did I mention the Welsh are the main rugby rivals of the English." Godfrey replied, "And that British army sports afternoons can get pretty rough on some days."

"No, you didn't." Andy replied, "You neglected to mention that."

The three men's rugby jerseys were streaked with mud, and a trickle of blood came down Godfrey's nose.

"And what happened to you?" Prue asked.

"I got an elbow to the face trying to tackle the Welsh flyhalf." Godfrey replied, "Tackling my opposite number was a difficult one."

"I still don't agree with that quote of yours." Prue began.

"Which one?" Godfrey asked.

"That rugby is a ruffian's game played by gentlemen, where soccer is a gentleman's game played by ruffians." Prue replied, "It's a ruffian's game played by ruffians."

"I agree." Andy replied.

"Did you guys win at least?" Prue replied.

"We got waxed by the Welsh." Andy groaned, "I've never heard so many 'bloody Yanks' comments in my life."

"You're supposed to pass the ball backwards, Andy." Doc reminded.

"I know now." Andy groaned, giving Doc a stare that spoke of death and daggers.

"I've never had to deal with that many scrums in my life." Godfrey remarked.

"I'm an American, we don't play rugby." Andy groaned, exasperated, "We play football."

"Actually we do." Prue replied, "In fact we won the gold medal in rugby at the 1924 Olympics in the sport. And actually football evolved after the demand for more protection for rugby players came out."

"That's what you get when you date a curator." Godfrey remarked, tossing his ball into the air.

"Or when you've been around Godfrey too long." Doc replied, "We all know he's the biggest rugby fanatic on this ship."

"It's a man's game, of course." Godfrey replied.

"I need a shower and a nap for at least a few hours." Andy groaned.

"Wimp." Doc grinned.

"Whatever happened to, 'I can handle anything you Brits dish out'?" Godfrey smiled.

"Wanker." Prue added, "Sorry, I couldn't help it."

"I for one have no intention of ever using British slang, despite hanging around Godfrey for almost two weeks…" Andy began as he headed for the quarters he and Prue shared before he bumped his head against a pipe.

"Bollocks!" Andy groaned.

"That was one of the shortest promises I've yet heard." Doc remarked.

"Oh shut up…" Andy groaned, "I could use a nap…"

BOOM! "IT'S ALIVE! HA HA HA HA HA!" came Vinny's maniacal laughter from several rooms away.

"Forget the nap. I could use a pint of that Imperial scotch or even Cookie's moonshine." Andy replied.

Vinny came out of his impromptu lab singed and smelling heavily of smoke and gunpowder, "I did it! I did it! I actually did it!"

"Did what? Cause more repair work for me?" Audrey shouted from down the hall as she headed over to where the others were gathered.

"Of course not! Thanks to Dreamfinder's ability to inspire imaginations, I was able to finally perfect the Walking Cherry Bomb!" Vinny declared.

"Walking Cherry Bomb?" Prue asked incredulously, "Why would you create something like that in the first place?"

Vinny replied, "I was inspired."

"You are insane." Prue quipped.

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but how did you create that thing?" Audrey asked.

"Easy, amiga, I simply took some spare clock parts to make little wind up motor and made some tiny mechanical legs and..."

"Never mind, I don't want to know." Audrey replied.

"But I'd like to know something." Vinny stated.

"What?" Audrey replied.

"If you see something that looks like a cherry bomb with tiny little mechanical legs, come find me immediately." Vinny replied, "It seems one of them got wound up accidentally."

"How do you 'accidentally' wind up a cherry bomb with a clockwork motor? For that matter how can you be so careless with explosives!" Andy asked.

"Uhm, it's possible." Vinny replied.

"Is the fuze lit?" Prue asked Vinny.

"Heh heh, you know, I'm not sure if I quite remember…" Vinny began.

BOOM!

"It was lit." Prue replied.

"YOW! COLD COLD COLD!" came the shout from across the hall, right in front of Kolopak's room where Kolopak was taking a shower.

"Let me guess, it wandered into the water heater." Andy began.

"I guess so…" Vinny replied.

"You GUESS so? What was your first clue?" Kolopak shouted, wrapped only in a towel as he came out of his room.

"Heh heh heh…" Vinny began, "Hate the sin. Love the sinner?"

"The Aztecs used to say hate the sin, sacrifice the sinner to Quetzalcoatl." Kolopak began.

"Uh oh…" Vinny replied.

"Start running, Vinny." Prue suggested.

"HELP!" Vinny shouted as he ran as Kolopak chased him down the hallway with an Aztec war club.

"So who was that bald guy we faced, Dreamfinder?" Sora asked, as he encountered the Dreamfinder in the lounge.

"He is Imhotep, a man cursed by the Egyptian Hom-Dai." Dreamfinder replied, at Sora's blank expression he added, "The Hom-Dai is probably one of the ancient world's most feared of curses, a curse so horrible it was only known to have been performed once, on Imhotep."

"One who wakes a victim of the Hom-Dai gives him power over the sands and the glory of invincibility." Dreamfinder said.

"Why would anyone curse someone with that?" Sora asked.

"Because Imhotep was to remain sealed in his sarcophagus, the undead for all eternity, but he escaped twice." Dreamfinder replied.

"Imhotep." Godfrey said, as he wandered into the lounge, having just finished his shower and thrown on his usual green British Army uniform, "Why does that sound familiar?"

"The vizier under Seti I?" Dreamfinder hinted, tapping the paperback Sora had been reading earlier.

"Vizier?" Sora asked.

"An advisor." Godfrey replied.

"He didn't do much in the area of good advice." Sora began, "It said Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun, Seti's second wife, killed Seti."

"And Anck-Su-Namun killed herself with Imhotep attempting to resurrect her with The Book of the Dead." Godfrey replied.

"How do you know all this?" Sora asked.

"Read the introduction to that book." Godfrey replied.

"You mean: 'The Mummy's Curse' by Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell?" Sora asked, "The dedication says to A. T. Godfrey, good health and fair time of day. Is she talking about you."

"She's my aunt." Godfrey replied.

"So let me get this straight." Sora began, "Your aunt accidentally resurrected Imhotep, which led to the nine plagues of Egypt being released again in 1923?"

Godfrey nodded and Sora continued, "Then she was kidnapped by Imhotep, because he needed her vital organs to resurrect Anck-Su-Namun?"

Godfrey nodded again and Sora continued, "Then she was rescued at the last second by a group called the Medjai together with Rick O'Connell, an ex-French Foreign Legionnaire?"

Godfrey nodded and added, "They fell in love and got married…"

"And ten years later a cult of Imhotep's followers, led by Anck-Su-Namun reincarnated, no less, resurrected him again?" Sora added. Godfrey nodded again.

"Then Aunt Evy got kidnapped again, Uncle Rick went to save her, Cousin Alex got kidnapped, Aunt Evy and Uncle Rick went after Imhotep who was trying to release the Scorpion King's army of Anubis to consume the world. It was a narrow save when Uncle Rick impaled the Scorpion king with the Scepter of Osiris." Godfrey replied.

"You have strange relatives." Sora grumbled.

"Wait a minute, I thought Jonathan Carnahan did it." Goofy protested, he had a paperback book called Raising the Mummy by Jonathan Carnahan in his hands.

"Uncle Jon was always one for the flair and storytelling." Godfrey replied, "Usually of the exaggerated variety."

Donald asked, "My question is how they raised Imhotep from the dead? Wasn't he absorbed body and soul into the Underworld when he fell into the abyss?"

Lyle Tiberius Rourke, Imhotep, and Hades stood together in the night of the Olympus Coliseum. "So we have a deal, right?" Rourke asked.

"The deal is made." Imhotep replied, "Only when you have delivered the Charmed One to me. Her powers added to mine would make a wonderful addition."

"Clever idea you've come up with Rourke, but are you certain you can trust your inside man?" Hades asked.

"He will follow his orders." Rourke replied.

"But Godfrey is no fool." Imhotep replied, "How long can you expect to fool him? And from what I have observed of him, he will give his life for those he cares for, especially Prue."

"By the time Godfrey finds out that these weekly reports he sends on Prue, Donald, Goofy, and Sora are giving me all the information you will need to entrap them it will be too late." Rourke replied.

"Do not underestimate the power of feelings or Godfrey's intelligence." Imhotep warned, "He comes from a bloodline that has caused me considerable trouble in the past, and he seems more than capable of making trouble for me in the future."

"And what of feelings?" Rourke replied, "Godfrey's a soldier and he'll do his duty."

"And once he discovers you're using his reports to find a way to entrap Prue and the others?" Imhotep replied.

"That won't matter. For it will be too late." Rourke replied.

"Again, underestimating foes can be fatal, Rourke." Imhotep replied, "Do not underestimate what Godfrey can be capable of, given his feelings for Prue."

"That foolish love he has for that witch will be his undoing." Rourke replied, "Once I have her, I'll have someone else inside Allied Intelligence."

"It also is likely that Godfrey will kill you at the earliest opportunity, Rourke." Imhotep replied.

"Not if he wants his precious witch or his crewmates back alive." Rourke replied, "But of course that would be a deal I have no intention of following, and after the trap is sprung Godfrey will cease being a thorn in our side."

"Still, do not be overconfident that Godfrey can be destroyed so easily." Imhotep replied.

"You forget you owe the fact that you are living and breathing now to me." Rourke replied, "Had I not found the Book of the Dead you would still be rotting away, pining for Anck-Su-Namum in the Dark Underworld."

Imhotep bristled as Hades began, "He has a point."

"You will be rewarded handsomely for your service, Rourke." Imhotep replied, thinking as soon as Rourke's usefulness ended turning him into little more than a desiccated mummy was a fitting end.

"Why thank you." Rourke replied, "Just remember that the fact that you were able to organize that coalition of the Axis powers with the Heartless is directly due to my finding the Book of the Dead and raising you from the grave."

"Remind me to kill Vinny once I've fixed the water heater." Audrey grumbled, "If one more person asks me when the hot water comes on they're getting one right in the kisser…"

"Trust me," Bertha replied, "The Dreamfinder's enhancing all our creative abilities, and we've all had to put up with Vinny's twisted imagination being enhanced all day."

"Speaking of which, has Kolopak finished beating up on him yet?" Audrey asked.

"OW! OW! OW! NOT THE FACE! NOT THE FACE! OWW!" Vinny's screams echoed all over the corridors.

"No, Kolopak's still at it." Bertha quipped, "But I've enhanced the radio communications aboard this ship thanks to the Dreamfinder helping our imaginations."

Nigel orbed into the room just then. "Have you seen Prue at all?"

"She's probably in her room helping Andy nurse a bruise or two." Bertha remarked.

"What happened to him?" Nigel asked.

"He took up Godfrey's offer to play in a game of rugby…" Bertha began.

"Ah, a real man's game I do say." Nigel began.

"You Brits are insane." Audrey quipped, rolling her eyes as she tightened one more bolt, "Finally the hot water heater is fixed."

"Allons enfants de la Patrie!" Mole and D'Artagnan sang as they staggered around with their cups of Cookie's new and improved moonshine.

"Are they still at it?" Audrey asked.

"You should have heard them singing Frere Jacques. They're starting from the top of their list of French songs. They're still going strong."

BOOM! BLAM! BLAM! CRASH! A very singed Donald and Goofy came out of the storeroom.

"I told you using the Fire spell to light a candle was a bad idea." Goofy remarked.

"Aw shut up." Donald remarked as they ran from the hallway with several more clockwork cherry bombs chasing them.

"As if Vinny's imagination wasn't twisted enough." Bertha remarked.

BOOM!

"There go some more repairs." Audrey grumbled.

Donald and Goofy ran away from the Walking Cherry Bombs that were exploding behind them one after the other and thought they were in the clear when they locked themselves in another store room. Goofy flicked the light switch on.

Inside the storeroom were about a dozen mechanical ducks about the size of Donald that were bouncing up and down on spring-loaded legs. "Well, at least these won't explode." Goofy remarked.

"Vinny made them, Goofy, chances are they will explode." Donald replied, "Like any of his other inventions!"

"Let's get out of here then." Goofy replied.

"The handle's stuck!" Donald replied.

"Well, we'll sit quietly and hope these ducks don't…." Goofy began.

BLAM! BOOM! BOOM! BLAM! WOOSH! WHUMP!

"…Explode…" Goofy groaned as he and Donald staggered out of the storeroom with charred clothing from multiple explosions.

"EUREKA! The Bouncing Duck Bombs were a great success!" Vinny shouted.

"When is the Dreamfinder going to be off this ship again?" Donald asked, blowing smoke out of his beak.

"I don't know." Goofy replied.

Donald walked over to the nearest wall and began to bash his head against it. WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

"Here we go again." Goofy commented, rolling his eyes.

TBC

Flyhalf – One of the seven backs in a fifteen man rugby squad. Backs are smaller, faster and more agile than the larger and stronger but slower forwards. A flyhalf is an expert kicker, and can punt the ball. He wears the number ten jersey.

Ruck – In rugby, when tackled and going to the ground, the tackled player and tackler form a ruck and push against each other with their teammates joining in. The object is to hook the ball on the ground with your feet and pass it behind you.

Scrum – A situation in rugby that results after a dropped ball or similar interruption in play. The eight forwards of each team will shove against each other after the scrum-half (a back) flings the ball underneath them and try to hook it with their feet so the Number Eight can grab the ball at the back of the scrum and pass it.