"Ore sanjou!"= human speech
"Ore sanjou!"= imagin speech
*Ore sanjou!*= human telepathic speech
*Ore sanjou!*= imagin telepathic speech
"Ore sanjou!"= possessed human speech
"Ore sanjou!" Terminal Belt speech
{Ore sanjou!}= speech over a media device (ie phone, television, intercom, etc.)

Chapter 19: I'm a Dragon!

"Hrmph, geraway…. leggo…"

"Hey, I think he's coming around!"

"Staybaw….no, no… No!"

Eddy awoke with a spasm and a croak held longer than what could have been healthy. With quaking hands, he enwrapped his face, leaving his eyes to gape outward from behind the spaces between his fingers. His breathing was ragged and shook loose the sweat on his palms to drip and trace an outline around his mouth and chin, irritating the spots where his nails dug into his flesh. His cheeks would be irritated and stinging later.

Not even consciousness could remove the un-waking nightmare. His ears rang with a world of swirling water beckoning him into a dark abyss. His eyes, unfocused and dilated, witnessed only the final moments of his friends as they were dragged within a murky grave, taken from him forever. He desperately wanted to escape, even if it meant screaming himself free till his throat bled, but terror had a so intimately groped its dark talons into his shell-shocked mind that it exercised a horrid power over his vocal chords.

There was no escape.

The horror and fear wouldn't end.

"Eddy, wake up! Snap out of it!" Hana shouted, shaking him by his shoulders. A couple of slaps across his face were thrown in for good measure.

"O-okay, stop, I-I'm all here now," Eddy rasped out. Reality had registered back in. He unsteadily got up from the booth he had been sprawled out on and stood to his feet, taking a disgruntled note of how damp his silk shirt had gotten from a cold sweat session. He wrinkled his face in disgust at how it felt to have the moist fabric peel away from his skin and then cling back. The vivid image of a horde of snails squirming across his chest and back flitted across his mind.

"That… was some crazy dance." Eddy slowly blinked his eyes into focus. It was a bit of relief to at least know he was on the DenLiner.

"I would declare that to be a gross understatement," Double D weakly spoke up.

Eddy looked over to the other side of the car to find his two friends safe, but not entirely sound. It was a huge relief to just see them. "Geez, you and Ed look about as bad as I feel."

"I could say the same of you, Eddy." Double D feebly massaged his right temple while holding an icepack to his still hat-covered head. His free hand eased his back against the edge of a booth table. "We can thank our lucky stars that we were able to get away with only a few bruises and mild concussions."

"So same old, same old, huh?" Eddy grumbled and plopped back down into his booth. Running a hand through his hair, he winched as he came into contact with an assortment of smarting lumps rising over the top of his scalp. "Yow! It feels like I got beat with a bag of bricks!"

Hana brought Eddy over a steaming mug of tea. "Close enough, it was actually just a few loose pieces of concrete."

Ed, who hadn't even bothered getting up from his makeshift cot that was really just a booth bench with a blanket over it, finally had something to say. "Being heroes of justice sure hurts, guys. I can't feel my eyebrow…"

"I'm with ya, Ed. Next time the Conductor comes through here, I'm gonna find out what kind of health insurance we're gettin' for this gig," Eddy declared with only a quarter of his usual gusto. "I bet whatever's covered isn't enough for this kind of business."

Naomi was busy behind the service counter, brewing up an extra batch of tea for everyone. "You boys are well enough to tell jokes, that's a good sign," she stated cheerily as she dealt with a whistling kettle. "Looks like my special brand of Ginger and Red Sage tea is working."

"Better than the medical sludge my parents make during flu season." Eddy took an appreciative drought from his mug. "By the way, it's nice to see we're all still alive and kicking, but what the heck happened after that owl freak clocked us cold?"

"Yes, I'm rather curious of the events that took place after our incapacitation myself," Double D agreed. "Was that Owl Imagin finally dealt with?"

Hana shook her head disappointedly. "I wish, but no, things didn't turn out that way. He ran away, again. Momotaros, Urataros, and Kintaros couldn't go after it because you guys were already too hurt. Pushing your bodies anymore would've been a bad idea."

Ed sat up only so that he could gaze crestfallen to the floor. "We messed up again. Sorry Hana. We will try harder, honest."

"Come on, Ed, it's not your guys' fault," Hana reassured him. "There was no way anyone could've predicted that thing would attack the dance of all places."

With a snarl, Eddy pounded his fist onto the tabletop in front of him. "This is why I hate birds! That steroid-pumped turkey totally pulled a cheap shot! Now we gotta run all over the woods just to hunt that thing down, again!"

"And now it's going to be far more challenging than before," Double D regretfully added. "By the time we get back home, things will be quite manic. I'd be thoroughly surprised if the county area wasn't placed on high alert with police activity abroad. The woods will most likely be placed off limits altogether for the general public."

"Great, now we gotta sneak past the cops and our parents. We're not supposed to start doing that until high school!"

"Hey guys, I have an idea! Let's find the imagin's contract holder first!" Ed suggested. "That way, we can wait for the imagin to come to us!"

"While that is a good idea, Ed, I just don't see how we'd be able to pull off such a thing," Double D assessed. "We have no idea where to start looking. The contract holder could potentially be anyone in town. If you pardon the phrase, it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack."

Hana beamed triumphantly. "Then it's a good thing we already know who it is. After you guys were knocked out, I was able to stay in the gym long enough to see the Owl Imagin stop and talk to some large-headed kid carrying a piece of wood with a face drawn on it. I'm pretty sure he lives in your guys' neighborhood."

"Ya mean Johnny is the contract holder?" Eddy shouted. "No wonder the owl looked like a freak to the umpteenth power! All the people that thing could've chosen, and it picks Johnny's screwed-up head?"

"But of all people, why Johnny?" Double D pondered. "It might be me, but it seems like these imagin have been targeting many of our neighbors in the cul-de-sac. Most disturbing…"

Ed snugly pulled his coat closer to himself and leveled a shifty-eyed glare all around. "I bet they're after the powers of my lucky cheese chunk. They will never get their hands on Sheldon, the fiends!"

"Oh, and let's not forget, we have another imagin to worry about!" Eddy threw his hands to the air. "And of all the people for it to possess, it took Edwin! That's just annoying! I swear, if we run into that break dancing wapanese freak again…"

Double D lifted a finger as if about to launch into a longwinded statement. "Actually, I think Edwin is Japanese, or at least has some Japanese descent within his lineage as hinted in his middle name, so the imagin technically—."

"Not my point!"

"But you did raise another good question. What happened to Edwin? Now that we know he's possessed, we very well can't just let him slip through the cracks. He's a danger to everyone around him."

Naomi quizzingly tilted her head to the side and tapped a gloved finger against her lips. "Really? He seemed perfectly fine when I met him."

"HUH?" The Eds yelled together.

"Didn't you know? When we brought the DenLiner to pick you boys up, we were able to take your Edwin friend with us." Naomi signaled over to the left end of the counter. "He even brought these really adorable friends with him."

The Eds directed their gaze to a plastic terrarium with six very attentive geckos watching their every move. Their slit, reptilian eyes glinted in the light, reflecting what eerily resembled hints of intelligence. They certainly seemed more composed than your average lizards.

"I thought it'd be a good idea," Hana said. "Like Double D said, we couldn't just let him run around while he's possessed. Momotaros and the others are in the next car over trying to get the imagin out of him.

Eddy shrugged. "Well…I guess that's one problem we can scratch off...those are some weird lizards though."

Hana looked off to the side and wrung her hands. "Yeaaaah, not really. You see, the thing is…."

-..-

"Get…the hell…out!"

"Try and make me, baka!"

"Oh, I'm gonna! Just wait and see!'

Urataros and Kintaros lazily sat back and watched as Momotaros tried for the countless time to remove the imagin from the human. They already knew how it would end, but the futility of it all hadn't sunk into their more hot-blooded comrade's head.

With the possessed boy tied up and bound in rope, Momotaros was able to seize him by the shoulders without fear of retaliation, and put all his strength in tugging at the invisible strings that connected the inhabiting imagin to their host. A torrent of crimson and amethyst sparks showered the air, and the harder Momotaros tugged, the more violent the firework display grew. Urataros eventually had to shield his eyes, but Kintaros was just fine with his ever present shades on.

Finally, the imagin within the boy was forced to repulse Momotaros back with a powerful burst, sending the Ogre Imagin tumbling head over heels back against the opposite wall. He was starting to leave a full body impression in the exact spot he would slam into every time.

Urataros drained the last of his cup of coffee without a slurp before commenting. "Now that was anticlimactic."

"Indeed," Kintaros grunted.

The possessed Edwin broke out into hysterical laughter. "Ha, ha, ha! I beat my personal record on that one! Wanna try again? This game is getting fun!"

"You rotten bastard…" Momotaros trembled with rage as he peeled himself off the wall. "I'm gonna crack that human open like an egg and rip you out!"

Momotaros lunged out only to be caught in mid-air by Urataros and Kintaros who had interceded in time. He flailed and kicked, but was helpless suspended in the grasps of the two taller imagins.

"Lemme go! I'm gonna kick this guy's ass so hard, he's gonna have to look up to look down!"

"Now, now, no reason to lose our cool here. We just need to approach this situation from another angle," Urataros said, "preferably one that doesn't involve dismembering the human we're trying to help, hmmm?"

Kintaros solemnly nodded. "No matter how hard the wind blows, it can never topple a mountain. You are starting to embarrass yourself."

"At least I'm trying, ya hypocrites!" Momotaros wrenched himself free from the two and landed on his feet. "Unlike you guys, I'm not gonna let this asshole get the best of me!"

"I believe he already has, Red; seven times now by my count." Urataros said. "No use casting a line into an empty pond is what I say."

Momotaros begrudgingly took a moment to reflect. Hmmm… I gotta admit this ain't easy as I thought it would be. This jerk's latched in that kid pretty deep."

"Maybe we should leave him in the human," Kintaros suggested.

Urataros and Momotaros both gave him looks that anticipated some kind of elaboration.

"For now, until we figure out how to properly remove this imagin," Kintaros explained, "we wait and use this opportunity to..." He glimpsed over his shoulder at the tied up boy, making sure he wasn't paying the Taros trio too much attention. Seeing that the possessed child was mesmerized by the passing, red canyons outside the window, he reached out his brawny arms and gathered Urataros and Momotaros closer into a huddle.

"…Use this opportunity to learn why this world is under attack. Do either of you know about the 'mission'? That goal the other imagins are obsessed with?"

"Of course, who doesn't know? That's the only reason any of us came to this world," said Momotaros. "But… er, I never really cared about the details. If it sounded like a party, I was down for it. Isn't it just a bunch of us flying around and offing any world we find? Like a big game or something?"

Urataros had to refute that theory. "No… no, it has to be more than that. I can't imagine so many of us going through the trouble of eliminating timeline after timeline for the simple sport of it. There has to be some greater design to it all.

"Such as, say…what?" Kintaros asked.

"I myself am bereft of the particulars on the matter, but what I do know—and this is just what I picked up through the grapevine before attaching to Eddward, mind you—is that the majority of our brethren are intent on the 'mission' seemingly because…"

"Because what? Knock it off, turtle! Stop trying to build up tension and just spit out what ya know!" Momotaros demanded.

"… There intent on the 'mission' out of fear, a great amount of it."

Such a simple statement drew an exchange of heavily perturbed glances between Kintaros and Momotaros.

The Imagins were a species of inter-dimensional entities that time and spaces held little control over. They could shift through the ether of time-space as naturally as a fish would through a stream. Until crafting a corporeal form from a selected human's mind, they were virtually indestructible. Even when bound in flesh, they needed only to resolve their contract with their host to regain the full extent of their untapped power, but then they would also have the addition of bodies with which to interact and terrorize worlds with.

By most accounts, say for a few extremely rare occasions, (competent Masked Riders), nothing could take an imagin's life. Any with the hypothetical power to stop them commonly failed, horribly.

Fear is a human concept that the imagins simply did not share. That wasn't to say they were without it, but the way they experienced it was far different than the how beings more rooted in the flow of time-space would. For an imagin to truly feel terror, they would have to face something absolute.

Learning that the greater number of their ilk was unsettled to the point of pre-emptive action wasn't just a splash of cold water in their faces; it was a belly flop into the Arctic Ocean. It brewed up a storm of hard questions that probably had answers that were even less fluent.

It also didn't help that Urataros had gone out of his way to make the news as ominous as possible either.

Kintaros's ears twitched pensively before flattening down. "Do you have any idea what they are concerned about? Any idea at all, Ura?"

"Not the foggiest, but, whatever it is, the rest of the imagin seem to believe that their worries will be alleviated with the destruction of enough timelines, especially this one. I'm willing to bet that the presence of a Mask Rider here doesn't exactly help them sleep at night either."

"If that's the case, then I say we go with the bear's plan and interrogate this guy until he tells us everything he knows!" Momotaros declared.

"But how do we approach him? I doubt he will talk willingly," said Kintaros.

"Ha! That's easy! We'll just use the ol' 'good cop, bad cop' routine," Momotaros suggested. "I'll play bad cop. Bear, you're with me. The turtle's got enough smarm to gun for a half-way decent cop all by himself."

"If that's the case, I don't see why you need Yellow's help," Urataros sniffed. "You're already unlikeable enough for two people."

"What was that, ya jerk?"

Before the two imagin could start anything, Kintaros pushed them apart and interceded. "Momo, Ura; we need to stay focused on the task at hand. Now, are we ready to start asking some questions?"

"Yeah, fine, let's do it!" Momotaros broke away from the huddle and strutted towards the still tied up boy. "Hey, punk! We got some questions for ya! Why the hell are you here?"

The haunted child pulled his gaze away from the window. "Huh? Didn't you guys bring me here?"

"What he means is what brought you to this world, this timeline," Urataros corrected. "What did you hope to achieve exactly by traveling here and taking possession of that human?"

"Why I came to this world? Ummm…" The possessed child turned his gaze to the ceiling for an answer, absentmindedly lolling the bare tip of his tongue out of the side of his mouth. His sneakers tapped and bounced off each other in an untidy rhythm as he delved in thought.

Ultimately, his answer was an erratic shake of the head with a ridiculous smile smeared across his face. "Nope, nope, don't wanna tell ya. I wanna drink coffee first."

"Coffee? The hell you think this is, a joke?" Momotaros demanded. "Don't screw around with us!"

"Too annoying." Kintaros snatched the boy out of his seat by the rope and lifted him high above his head. "Maybe we should get rid of him after all. If I tried, I bet I could knock him loose with one hit."

"Alright, then get him out here, bear!"

Urataros patted Kintaros on the shoulder, indicating for him to put the boy down, which he did roughly. "Gentleman, please. They say a fisherman in a hurry won't catch any fish." He turned to the boy with a friendly enough smile, trying to avoid coming off as too obliging. "Coffee you say? Dark or light?"

"Light please!" The possessed boy chirped. He eagerly retook his seat and waited patiently with a carefree, childish grin.

Urataros snapped his fingers. "Red, please be so kind as to fetch Naomi and have her whip up a delicious cup of one her famous lattes, would you? Also, bring the others; they might be interested in properly 'greeting' or guest."

Reluctantly, Momotaros shot the possessed child the stink eye before stomping off in a huff, grumbling to himself.

"Humph. If you're gonna make me play waiter, I better get tipped."

-..-

Peace Creek was in a panic.

After streaming calls coming in about a violent attack on a dance held at Peach Creek Middle School, the local police showed up in impressive force. They followed the standard procedure; evacuate any remaining civilians, closed off the area, set up blockades, surrounded the gymnasium, and then sent in a few brave men and women to assess the situation.

News reporters were on the scene as well to deliver the latest developments, because after all, the people had a right to know, though that wasn't their only motivation for being there. This was the biggest story to involve the school since the gymnasium literally collapsed to debris last year. Things had gotten so chaotic so fast back then, that by the time the police and news vans arrived, it seemed like everyone had a different story on how it happened.

The local networks weren't going to let lightning like that strike twice and just slip through their fingers again.

From what was gathered from witness reports, the dance was sent into disarray by entry of a flying monster bird-man. Both the police and news networks had the same thought:

'Isn't Halloween a few more weeks away?'

The police issued a blaring warning via bullhorn for anyone inside to drop their weapons, come outside, and place their hands above their heads. That didn't work as well as they thought it would.

A creature that could only be described as some kind of mutated bird erupted from out of the last intact gymnasium window and shot right over the strategically placed blockade set up by police. The rumor mill would make it a cryptid on the same level as the Mothman by morning.

It'd be good for the tourism business.

The cryptid flapped off into the obscurity of the late night sky, but that didn't stop the police from going into the gym to find out if anyone else was inside. There was no one else, but one officer swore they heard a train horn on the way in.

He was a rookie, so no one cared.

Aside for a building that Peach Creek Middle School would be repairing for quite a while….again, there was nothing police could go on.

It was anybody's guess why everything from the floor to the ceiling was peppered in razor-like feathers. Those would be sent in for analysis, along with plaster mold samples made from a collection of deep gashes on the walls that looked to be made by something sharp and heavy.

That all took place in the past few hours. In the here and now, the kids of the cul-de-sac had unanimously voted to wait out the night at Kevin's house. Since the cul-de-sac was such a closely knit neighborhood, Kevin's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Stenbuck, had no problems contacting every other child's parents to gain approval of the idea, especially when the news reported a rabid, oversized bird in the area.

None of them were going to risk their child getting attacked on their way home.

So the kids had congregated to Kevin's well-furnished and heated basement, deciding to make the most of things. Mr. Stenbuck was able to round up enough sleeping bags, sheets, and pillows for all, and Mrs. Stenbuck was fast in preparing a few snacks that would hold their guests over for the night.

There was no real sense of urgency or foreboding in the air. It was really more like any other time the kids stayed over at Kevin's house than some emergency shelter scenario.

The night had a homey, laidback kind of feel to it. It actually seemed like things turned out for the best. Considering they did just come from a dance, this was the perfect way to end the night.

Though for some reason or other, Johnny had been fidgety and skittish the entire time, or more than usual anyway. He jumped at every creak in the floor, whimpered at every shadow that flickered passed a window, and absolutely refused in torrents of gibberish to be left alone. His grip on Plank had grown so tight, that his fingers were starting to leave dotted, warped prints in the board's surface. It was clear he was on the threshold of hysteria.

Nothing anyone said or did could get the boy to calm down. It would have been best for him to return home for his parents to properly aid him, but that wasn't an option. The only thing that could be done for him tonight was to give him space and hope that he would relax in time.

Of course, the question of where exactly the Eds were at was raised, but it was quickly replaced by a more prominent one; who cares? The kids figured Ed, Double D, and Eddy had been the first one's out of the dance (since of course, they were "cowards"), and were probably hiding out in their not-so-secret hideout in the junkyard.

"Pass the bowl of the roasted corn kernels, yes Kevin?"

"Coming in up top, Rolf!" Kevin overhead tossed the bowl from across the room, putting a counterclockwise spin on it to prevent a single kernel from escaping the confines of the dish. Rolf had no problems catching it.

"Ho-ho! Good arm!"

"Hey, will you guys be more careful? I'm trying to do my nails here!" Nazz said irritably as she finished the polish on her left pinky. She had chosen to set up her spot on the double wide couch in the middle of the room. "Like, it's too crowded in here for you two to play around!"

Kevin kicked his legs up on an adjacent box and lounged back on his sleeping bag. "Oh come on, Nazz. It's still the weekend, light up a little."

"'Lighten up'? Five hours ago, we were running for our lives from some freak bird-man thing! Were you seriously not shaken up by that?"

"Uh, yeah, course I was." Kevin said. "But it's not like this was the first time something's weird happened at a school dance. Hey, at least the gym's still standing this time around."

Nazz opened her mouth to argue, but couldn't quite come up with anything to retort with. "Yeah... you've got a point," She put her nail polish away and sighed, now suddenly depressed. "Anybody else thing we've gotten way too use to stuff like this happening?"

Sarah shrugged. "Meh, that's Peach Creek for ya, sister."

"Sarah, hold still! You're going to mess up your portrait!" Jimmy whined.

"Okay, geeze! No need to blow a blood vessel, Jimmy." Sarah huffed and faced back towards Jimmy with her shoulders squared off in a straightened pose. "What is this for again?"

Jimmy re-measured a few angles with his thumb and then meticulously traced a few lines down on his sketch pad. "For the sake of art, Sarah, for the sake of art. My muse is talking to me."

"Well I think your muse is loopier than Ed on week-old gravy brittle. Last week when it 'talked' to ya, you ended up making those weird knight paintings. You were acting like a zombie for three days straight until they were done!"

"Knights? You mean they weren't astronauts?" Kevin said. "But I gotta admit, they were pretty choice, fluffy. Almost like out of a TV show or something."

"Especially since you started and finished them so fast," added Nazz. "That takes a lot of talent, little dude, but maybe you should take it easier next time. It's like you're getting obsessed."

Rolf swallowed down a mouth full of popcorn and joined in. "Yes, I too must give the tip of the hat to Jimmy's work of the paint and pens. Additional kudos for the portrait based on the son of a shepherd."

"Huh? Rolf, I never made a portrait of you before? What are you talking about?" Jimmy asked.

"No need to be so modest, yes? Rolf clearly sees the resemblance between he and the painting of the yellow armor man with the axe. That robust and proud figure is a fine caricature of Rolf indeed!"

Nazz airily chuckled. "Rolf, Jimmy said he based his paintings off a dream, not any of us."

"Denial is a like an oyster left to spoil in the sun, half-a-tank Nazz girl. Remember that"

"Um, oookaaay…"

"What's with all the painting, anyway? Trying to get ahead for this year's art competition?" Sarah quizzed. "It's not like anyone could even come close to what you did last year."

"I don't know about that. Didn't Ed get some kind of ribbon?" Nazz pointed out.

"Yeah, the judges had to bribe him not enter his painting of what Cthulhu's kitchen looked like. They said it would scare younger kids."

Jimmy tapped his pencil to his lip as he tried to put into words an answer that he himself didn't entirely understand. "Well, no. I… I just had to paint them. I don't know why, but in my dreams, those weird knights… I don't even know if they are knights… When I paint them, they feel, I guess, real. A voice tells me so."

"You're hearing voices? Jimmy, you're really starting to sound like my dopey brother." Sarah curled her lip, more than a bit put off by Jimmy's response. "You didn't go inside his bathroom again, did you? That stinky ol' place needs to be burned by a priest!"

"No, it's nothing like that! It's not like I'm seeing leprechauns that tell me to burn things! I don't even hear that many voices... Just the one. Every time I paint, it gets a little bit louder. It's my muse that compels me to make art; sweet, beautiful art." Jimmy half-pretended to swoon, trying his best to feign seriousness. "My talent is an oversized Crêpe Suzette from the bakery of life. Woe, I'm unable to resist its tantalizing deliciousness, yet it is a meal too big for a delicate soul like mine too handle."

"… Lay off of the granola, Jimmy."

"Hey, don't bad-mouth granola!" Johnny stuck his head out of a makeshift fort of dusty, dented boxes to speak up for the first time that night.

"Yeah, like anybody's gonna take advice from you, baldy," Sarah waved off. "Last time I checked, Jimmy's not the one hiding in cardboard, weirdo."

With his attention shifted to the movie, Kevin didn't as much as blink. "Deep breaths, man. You're gonna give yourself an ulcer."

"We'll all get a lot worse when that monster shows up!"

"Johnny, relax. That thing isn't coming here, we're safe." Nazz tried showing a bit more concern. "It was just a rabid animal that probably escaped from a special wildlife clinic, the kind that deals with animals affected by chemical runoffs from factories and junk. I've, like, seen stuff about it on TV. That's probably why the bird was so big."

Rolf dismissed her statement with a hearty chortle. "Ha! You're modern day ninny-foolery has, how you say, miss the mark! It is obvious to even the most lame of brains that what we saw was none other than a familiar of the dreaded witch-hag, Baba Yaga!"

"That's stupid. It was just a big, dumb bird," said Sarah, "not your freakish hag whatever."

"Foolish tender ears! Of course it was not Baba Yaga! It was one of her winged servants!" Rolf proclaimed. "With the eve of hallows nearing, the darker spirits of nature have begun to awaken! We must prepare our homes for the time of their arrival! Gather your earwax and the ripened onion-stinkweed paste I say!"

"It's gonna come here after us I tell ya!"Johnny sprung from hiding and scampered around the room like a mad man with his arms and Plank waving in the air. "That bird monster could be here any minute! If we don't start blocking up the doors and windows, it's gonna be curtains for lot of us!"

Johnny continued to do laps around the room until he passed in front of the television for the third time in a row. The fourth time around coming, Kevin was up on his feet and ready to snatch him off his path. He picked Johnny up by the collar with one hand and punctuated each of his words with a resounding slap across the boy's face with the other.

"Dude, get…it…together! The dance was a freak accident with an emphasis on freak! It was just a big, ugly bird hopped up on whatever gunk got pumped out of some factory, like Nazz said! That thing don't have a beef with anyone here, so it ain't gonna come crashing through the ceiling, got it? So just…calm it down, man."

That failed to calm Johnny down at all. Instead, it finally sent him over the edge. With a shrill shriek, he shook himself out of Kevin's grasp and then pushed him away as hard as he could.

Surprised and off balance, Kevin went toppling backwards, mostly from the blow, but also out of the fear-induced instinct to get away from the manic spark in Johnny's eyes. The back of his head caught the arm of the couch on the way to the floor.

"Kevin!" Nazz immediately leapt from her spot on the couch and ran over to check on the fallen boy, crouching down to offer a hand up while gingerly checking his head for injuries. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good," Kevin pushed his hat off and rubbed at the throbbing sting on the back of his cranium. It wasn't hard to tell that a pretty good lump was going to swell up later. "Johnny, what the heck, man?"

Johnny was far gone. Nearly frothing at the mouth, he snatched up one of the many empty drinking glasses on the floor and posed himself to throw it while edging back towards the basement stairs. Plank was firmly cradled against his left side. "You don't get it; you guys just don't get it! That thing wants me! I can feel it in my head! It's in my head and its coming!"

The kids were quick to find cover. Nazz and Kevin rolled behind the couch, Jimmy and Sarah both threw their blankets and pillows over themselves, and Rolf just seized the biggest box he could for a shield.

"Holy cow, Johnny's finally lost it, Sarah!" Jimmy cried.

"Johnny, you idiot! What the heck do you think you're doing?" Sarah screeched. "Put the cup down now!"

Johnny growled and feigned to throw the glass her way, making her retreat underneath her covers with a small cry.

"Dude, seriously not cool!" said Nazz. "You're gonna, like, hurt somebody with that thing!"

"Yeah, man! This is waaay past bogus!" Kevin said.

Rolf got to his feet while carefully making sure the box in his hands covered his upper body and face. "Ranger Johnny, listen to me. This is a direct order from your scoutmaster. You are to cease this wrong-in-the-head buffoonery at once!"

It looked very much like Johnny was going to finally throw his weapon, but something at the last moment stayed his hand. Something he alone could see, hear or feel. It was all over his face.

Something that sent him screaming up the stairs and out of the basement. Along the way, the glass rolled from his hand to clink back down the stairs, miraculously not breaking.

Johnny pushed right past Mrs. Stenbuck who was on her way to the basement to check on the kids, dashed right by the living room where Mr. Stenbuck was watching television, and flew right out the front door.

Even as he ran into the darkened streets and the cries of Mr. and Mrs. Stenbuck faded into inaudibility, Johnny could focus on nothing but the intangible presence of the bird demon that never left him since he crossed its path at the dance. Ever since he laid eyes on its gruesomely bizarre countenance, heard the malignant timbre in its voice, and smelled the stench of decay upon its breath, He was consumed by a horrible realization.

He didn't want to believe it, but what the creature said was true; they were connected. He saw the truth squirming within the sunken black pits of its rotted, skull-like face. That thing…was born from a nightmare mercifully long-forgotten. A twisted apparition made real.

And he felt it. It was getting closer every minute. It was as if the monster was always one step behind him, as if its eyes were perpetually on him with a voracious impatience. As if it's very shadow was upon him.

It took a breath-robbing fatigue to open his eyes to the reality. As Johnny stopped to catch his breath in an alleyway, bent over to his knees and panting, clutching a nearby light post for desperate support…he found the silhouette of his shadow consumed by another.

The beating of his heart recovered just enough for the flapping of wings to be heard. Shaking like a leaf, Johnny lifted his eyes to the sky with a moan that held the full lament of his terror-stricken soul.

He had just enough time to scream before the Owl Imagin's took him.

-..-

"Itadakimasu!"

Untied and free to move around, the possessed Edwin threw back his head and took a big gulp from his mug of freshly brewed espresso, decaffeinated obviously. The last thing anyone wanted was for a hyperactive, imagin indwelled child to be bouncing off the walls.

Ed, Double D, Eddy, and Hana watched with curiosity from across the car as they waited for the boy to finish his drink and start talking. The Taros trio sat just adjacent, in the next table over to the right of the humans. They were equally curious.

Naomi took back the now empty mug with a cheery smile. "How was it?"

The possessed Edwin wiped the back of his hand across his mouth before beaming upwards at the woman in a fashion more appropriate from a small child. "It was great! Thanks a lot, Naomi-san!"

"You're welcome! Always glad to know my brews are a big hit!"

"Yes, Naomi certainly does have quite the talent for the culinary arts, doesn't she?" Urataros stood up and diligently pat away the wrinkles in his blue slacks. "So, I don't wish to be such a ghost on the matter, but would you now be in the mood to answer just a few questions?"

The possessed Edwin jumped up from his seat as well and eagerly nodded his head. "Uh-huh, uh-huh! I'm ready now!"

"Ah, wonderful! How about we start with something simple, okay? Why—!"

"Why the hell are you and the other mooks trying to wipe this world out, huh?" Momotaros shoulder bumped Urataros aside and stood toe to toe with the possessed boy. "We want details! We want names!"

The indwelling imagin turned away and skipped down the aisle without giving Momotaros a second glance, much to Ogre Imagin's ire. "Ummm...I don't know. I never paid attention to stuff like that."

"Dammit!" Momotaros slapped his palms onto the table behind himself. "What good are ya then?"

"It's not like I wanted to do that kind of stuff anyway," The possessed Edwin turned back and grinned childishly. "Destroying timelines is boring! I wanna have real fun and play!"

Puzzled glances were exchanged between everyone.

"That does not make sense." Kintaros reached around and grabbed Momotaros by the face, pushed him out of the way, and took the center position. "If you do not wish to destroy this world, why would you possess that human? What's your motive?"

"That's easy! I didn't want to get picked on by the other guys who're really serious about all that stupid 'mission' stuff, so I found this Singularity Point person a reeeally long time ago to hide in!"

"The heck? Edwin's a Singularity Point!" Eddy cried. "But, that's… actually, not that big a deal."

"I think the word you're looking for is 'anticlimactic', Eddy," said Double D. "He retains full memory of your brother's, existence. It was easy to make a healthy guess from there. Quite frankly, it would have been more flabbergasting for our premonition to turn out incorrect."

Ed excitedly threw his arms to the air, nearly swiping Double D and Eddy out of their seats. Hana was safe on the opposite side of the booth. "Cool! We now have enough people to be official; Liner-Fist Squadron Den-Onger is finally born! Our blazing train tracks will be the proof of justice!"

That declaration was enough to rile Eddy up from his seat. "Whoa, whoa, Hold it right there, lumpy! Nobody said anything about anybody joining up!"

"I have to agree with Eddy on this, Ed," Double D said. "Whatever relationship we've held with Edwin in the past is very much ancient history. He's veritably a stranger to us now. Bringing him into our, shall we say, 'conspiracy', would be tantamount to inviting Jimmy!"

"You can't just go around making every Singularity Point you find a Masked Rider," said Hana, "and the fact that this imagin waited so long to do something is way too suspicious…I don't trust him."

"So, what do we do with our guest then? Keep him here?" Urataros brought up. "It wouldn't very well make sense to allow him continued reign inside that human, and I suppose the DenLiner could hold him until we figure out what to do with him."

The possessed Edwin pumped his fists in the air and hopped about in joy. "Yay! I wanna stay! I wanna stay! I have to take care of you guys!"

"Um, I beg your pardon?"

"Yep, that's also why I possessed a Singularity Point; so I could come on the DenLiner!" The possessed Edwin ran back up the aisle, right past the Taros, stopping in front of the table the Eds and Hana resided at. He pointed vigorously at the three boys. "Cuz I gotta take care of you guys!"

"Um, I'm quite sure we can take care of ourselves, thank you," said Double D, more than a bit confused. "We appreciate the…concern?"

"Yeah, we aren't looking for a babysitter," Eddy said. "We've got some bad experiences with those…"

"Besides, Eddy's mom and dad already have Nazz on speed dial for emergencies," said Ed.

"Shut up, Ed."

The possessed Edwin chuckled. "Not like that, not like that!" He curled his fingers into a gun and mimed shooting the boys, one at a time. "I gotta kill you guys so I can be the new conductor of the DenLiner!"

"WHAT!" The Eds shouted.

"I don't think that's very nice." Naomi folded her arms in front of herself, more bemused than bothered by the declaration. "I don't think that's nice at all."

"Yeah! You guys are making a lot of trouble cuz you're Masked Riders, right? I heard that if I wiped all you guys out, I'd get dibsies on the train! Isn't that neatest thing ever?"

"Screw that, ya crazy bastard! We'll dump your ass in the Sands of Time before we let ya do that!" Momotaros took a swing at the possessed Edwin, only for the boy to casually duck underneath the strike and skip-hop away to the other side of the car.

"I knew he was just like all the other imagin!" Hana said. "We'll never let you take the DenLiner!"

Kintaros stepped forward and took a fighting pose. He dropped his legs into a horse riding stance with one arm tucked to the side and the other stretched forward with the palm held up. "I won't let you lay a finger on Ed or the others! You'll be sent flying!"

"And even if you were to do away with us, which will not happen without a fight, that human you possess is a Singularity Point as well," stated Double D. "I thought imagins hated Singularity Points."

"Yeah, he is one, huh? Yup yup, I should kill him too!"

"You do realize that your own life is tied to the life of the human you're wearing, right?" said Urataros. "If he dies, you die too."

"Umm, but it's not like I wanna kill him yet..." The possessed Edwin shifted his gaze to the floor anxiously, folding his arms behind his back and kicking the nonexistent dust on the floor. "Being Edwin's been a good thing…"

"Huh? The heck's that supposed to mean?" Momotaros raged. "This some kind of trick?"

Suddenly, the possessed Edwin was on his knees in front of everyone with his hand clasped and begging. "Can I just keep things like this a little longer, please? Pretty please? I promise to kill you guys later, cross my heart!"

"Ya think saying 'please' is gonna gloss over the fact you wanna kill us? Blow it out your nose, psycho!" Eddy told him off. "I say we rip this guy out of Edwin and kick him off the train already!

"Damn straight!" Momotaros jumped around Kintaros and moved to lunge at the possessed Edwin. "I'll take care of this guy right now!"

The possessed Edwin easily pivoted around Momotaros's lunge and danced into a far booth, twiddling his fingers from his nose in a taunt. "Too slow, too slow! Nyah-nyah!"

"Why don't you come outta that human and say that to my face, ya coward!" Momotaros scrambled to his feet, grabbed the possessed boy's empty mug off the table, and hurled it at him.

The possessed Edwin bent out of the way and let the porcelain cup smash into pieces against the wall.

"Hey, that was one of our best mugs!" Naomi cried.

Kintaros moved in to block off the possessed boy's entry back into the aisle. "I think I should shut him here!"

"That's what I'm talkin' about!" Momotaros was quick in jumping around the other booths to hop into the same one as the possessed Edwin. He seized him by the collar and pinned him to the wall. "Now get outta that human already so I can toss you out the window!"

"Uproar on the DenLiner, I see."

Everyone nearly jumped out of their skin. Sitting at the farthest booth at the back of the car was the Conductor, tapping his cane lightly against his shoe with a none-too-pleased expression on his face.

"Seems we have an extra guest today," said the Conductor, "but not a very welcome guest, I reckon. Would someone care to enlighten me on what exactly is going on here?"

Momotaros, Urataros, and Kintaros were quick to clear the way as Hana marched a path over to the possessed Edwin, who stood on a booth seat with a simplistic smirk and his hands held up in half-defense. She stuck her finger at him and demanded forcefully.

"Sir, the imagin possessing this boy attacked the Eds and he's plotting to take the DenLiner! Please, after we get him out of the boy, force him off the DenLiner!"

The Conductor slowly rose to his feet. "I see…"

"Yeah, kick this freeloading jerk out!" Eddy rallied in. "This guy ain't got a pass or anything! He's practically ripping ya off!"

"Nu-uh! I gots a ticket, I gots a ticket!"

"…You're bluffing," said Urataros.

The possessed Edwin jumped off of the seat and started digging his hands in his jean pockets. "Nope nope, I've got it right here!" After finally coming to his back right pocket, he pulled out a flimsy piece of paper the size of a playing card. There was nothing at all amazing about it at first glance. It was looked to be a mere white slip with a barcode running horizontally along the bottom.

"That's supposed to be a ticket? Why, that's can't be anything more than the kind of label the postal service sticks on oversized parcels! It's rubbish!" Double D stated.

"Ooh, ooh! It looks like a type A2074; the aged cheeses and sausage samples slip!" Ed said excitedly. "That's a keeper, bucko! I still need one for my collection!"

The Conductor took his time strolling down the aisle. His face was stoic, but the shadow of a frown lurked just beneath the surface. The entire time, his eyes were concentrated forward on the haunted child. When he came to a stop in front of the boy, he chose not to take the ticket from his hand, but instead to keep appraising him.

As the Conductor scanned over the child's face, his gaze grew even harder. Everyone held their breath.

Something unseen must have been visible to the Conductor alone, because for a fleeting instant that was uncaught by all, a knowing twinkle lit up in his eyes.

"Now let's see what we have here…" The Conductor took the supposed ticket from the possessed Edwin and pressed his thumb into the center.

When he removed it, a geometric 'D' bled onto the surface like a spreading ink drop. It went from a light gray, to jet black, until finally settling into an iridescent holographic.

"Yep, this is a genuine ticket." The Conductor bowed slightly with a smile. "Welcome aboard the DenLiner, young man. Please, enjoy the full extent of our services at your leisure."

"Looks like we have a new customer," Naomi cheerily said.

"Yay!"

That didn't sit well with the kids.

"What? Didn't you hear anything that the bossy chick said? This guy wants to off us and replace ya, old man!" Momotaros exclaimed.

"How in the world did he even get a ticket in the first place?" Hana demanded. "You can't just buy those; they come from a special place!"

The Conductor walked past the group and towards the door to next car over. "How he obtained it is not as important as the fact that he has it. The rule is that anyone with a ticket may ride the DenLiner. Their species is a frivolous detail."

Urataros pinched the bridge of his beak and shook his head tiredly. "Splendid. That's exactly what we need right now; another headache."

"B-b-but sir, please reconsider!" Double D pleaded. "You're granting a dangerous individual with malignant intent towards everyone here occupancy! What about our safety as passengers?"

"Not to worry, lad. If he stirs up too much trouble, I'll simply revoke his ticket," The Conductor answered. "But as long as he behaves himself, he may stay aboard."

"I can't believe this! How the heck are we supposed to save the world when we have to watch our back around this guy?" Eddy wailed. "This just ain't right!"

Kintaros cracked his fists threateningly. "I will keep him in line!"

The door hissed open and the Conductor walked through, but stopped on the other side and turned back around. "Oh, one more thing; the policy is one ticket per customer. The imagin may stay, but I'm afraid the human must leave immediately."

With that, the door closed and he departed.

Ed waved after him. "Okay, thanks for stopping by!"

Naomi excused herself and headed for the next car over as well. "I better get back to work! Now that there are so many people, I'll need to brush up on some special recipes!"

"Yeah, you do that!" Eddy yelled after her. "Heck, wouldn't want the guy who's gonna kill us do it on an empty stomach, right? I mean that would just be bad service!"

Somehow, the possessed Edwin had slipped right past Momotaros and Kintaros without being spotted and crawled into the booth behind the Eds' seat. Tittering through his teeth, he poked and prodded Eddy in the back of the head. "Hee-hee, you're funny."

Eddy shooed him away with a disgusted grunt. "Back off, weirdo!"

"Pain in the neck aside," Hana shot an especially heated glare in the possessed Edwin's direction, "You seriously need to get moving on stopping the other imagin that's actually rampaging in Peach Creek. That thing is still out there putting people in danger."

Double D was the first to get up. "Then now is the time to act! We must subdue our quarry before he finishes his contract with Johnny!"

"Yeah, if we ain't too late already!" said Eddy.

"To arms!" Ed rallied.

Eddy jumped from his seat over Double D to lead the way with Ed tagging behind the both of them. All three took out their Rider Passes at the same time on impulse.

Hana was last to follow. "Wait up guys, I'm coming with you. I can at least help out with a cover story if you three end up needing one. We'll just say you guys went to my 'house'."

"Good idea, better to be prepared for our return," Double D said, "though I can't say that we'll need to be. I doubt anyone will question us about our whereabouts. There are advantages to being the odd men out, so to speak."

"Wait, what about Edwin and the dancing demon man in his brain?" Ed asked. "Do they stay here?"

"Heck no! You guys heard the Conductor; no ticket, no ride!" Eddy declared. "The imagin stays here under lock and key, Edwin's coming with us!"

"Ha! Ya hear that, fruitcake? Time for you to lose the deadweight and come on out!" Momotaros picked a giggling possessed Edwin up by the collar. "Hurry up, we ain't got all day!"

"Yes, your inane antics come to a stop now," Urataros said with finality. "I'd say this game where you play the child-minded fool has run our last nerve raw."

"Huh? Game? What game? The thing is…"

A current of purple static ran like a swirling surge from the top of Edwin's head to the bottom of his feet, returning all of his features back to normal before he immediately slipped into limp unconsciousness with a heavy sigh. This purple static fell away from Edwin's body, bounced off the floor, and then back and forth between the walls of the car.

Everyone ducked out of the way as the static ricocheted around the car like a rubber ball gone out of control. Momotaros and Kintaros swatted at it whenever it came close enough to them, but the charged energy wad weaved out of their way each time.

Finally, the purple static came to an abrupt drop at the far end of the car where, with one large hiss, it fizzled away.

"…The thing is, I really am a kid!"

"Leaping lizards, Eddy!"

Ed was right, but still got smacked upside the head for the incredibly lame pun. In place of the purple static was an amethyst-skinned lizard in a white hooded sweatshirt and baggy, purple jeans. At least, a lizard was the closest anyone could guess the imagin to be.

A lizard that had to be about Jimmy or Sarah's age at that. Maybe a bit less even.

Even if the imagin's pants were baggy, they still fit him well enough. The sweatshirt was a different story. The ends of the sleeves flopped comically in the air, empty where the hands should be. The cuffs would have to be rolled back at least three times before it was an appropriate fit.

The sweatshirt's hood had enough space on the top of the head to curl backwards like an elf hat; all the while hiding the upper half of the imagin's face. That left everyone to stare at a chin and a curled grin with a pair of chibish canines hanging from the top lip.

And oddly, a pair of catfish-like whiskers.

Grown restless from the a lack of response, the imagin twirled itself into what it must have thought to be a 'hip-hoppish' pose, sleeves flapping and all. "Whaddya think, whaddya think? Pretty neat or what?"

"Um, 'or what' is more like it," Double D stated. He couldn't take his sight off of the sweatshirt. As if to specifically get under his skin and only his skin, there were sloppily written, oversized Japanese kanji scribbled all over the otherwise pure white article of clothing in dark purple crayon.

It was, in his eyes, one of the most heinous clothing related crimes that could be committed; to reduce a perfectly clean piece of casual wear to the level of a child's coloring book! His left eye twitched involuntarily…

"So what the heck are you supposed to be, an oversized gecko or something?" Momotaros said.

The imagin stomped a black and purple hi-top shoe in frustration. "No, I'm a dragon! A dragon! Can't ya tell by the whiskers?" He twitched his whiskers for emphasis.

Urataros put a hand to his chin and tilted his head to the side. "Hmm, maybe he's some variant of catfish-gecko hybrid. His contract holder must have quite an abnormal imagination."

"No, no, no! I'm a dragon!" The imagin stomped both feet and yelled.

"I think he's a bug," Kintaros grunted.

"D-r-a-g-o-n; dragon!"

"Pfft, whatever, ya snot-nosed gecko," Momotaros finally dismissed, "go play with your gecko friends in the other car or something."

"Can we just go now, please?" Eddy snapped. "Geez, this place is turning into some kinda circus! We're gonna have to get a tent and start charging money or something!" Eddy paused for a moment. "Wait a sec, that gives me an idea…"

Hana pushed past Double D and Ed, slid the train car door open, and shoved Eddy out. "Going now!"

And the group finally left out to do their job, hoping for things to be simple, but knowing that they would more likely than not have a tough fight on their hands.


A/N: Sorry for the long wait everybody, I had a lot of things to deal with (such as my computer crashing one day and having to start from scratch on a lot of different things that I had saved).

Also, I'm looking for a Beta Reader, somebody that can help tighten up the story and fix any grammatical errors I miss. If you're interested, just pm me, but I do have specific requirements, like:

1) You have to be familiar with the Ed, Edd, n' Eddy series.

2) You have to be familiar with the Kamen Rider Den-O series.

3) You have to be familiar with the Kamen Rider franchise specifically (just the Heisei Era will work).

4) You have to have written more than one story with at least five chapters.

Hopefully, a Beta Reader will help to get these chapters out faster, and improve the quality of the story.

Thanks for reading.