Kaito's apartment a mile away from the park
Kaito had returned to his house not long after he had no questions fully answered and nobody seemed to know.
He lied in his bed while clutching the feather. Memories were leaking. The dream was lengthy and information-ridden. It started like the vision he had before Midnight answered their questions.
The "Happy anniversary of transformation, Samurai!" and the cake in the table were heard and seen again.
Samurai blinked. Kaito didn't know if he could change anything in the dream, so he kept listening.
The tanned shirtless man started to speak again.
"Rising Sun sent a message this morning saying that the Global Guardians were busy fighting some of their villains, but they will be here for the party too."
"Ashley will be here soon. I'm going to pick him up. Tye and Buster are in the training rooms, and I'm pretty sure Green Arrow is making chili in the kitchen because I can feel my heart clenching of that tomato and beans smell. What a blasphemy. See you later."
The man then wrapped himself in his cape and disappeared.
A fire-headed youth floated over.
"Am I late?" He asked. "Killer Frost teamed-up with Mister Freeze and it look me and the entire Batfamily to take them out."
"I don't think so, in fact, you may be very early. Hi, Firestorm."
"Hi, Samurai. Feeling good in your Transformation Anniversary?"
"Yes. It's hard to imagine that a year ago I got hit by the New Genesis rays and made a superhero." Said Samurai as he sighed.
The man from before returned, this time with another man, whose skin was golden, his eyes blue, wearing an outfit evoking the Pharaohs of the past, and was holding what appeared to be a Zen Staff or Monk's Spade. Or just a normal staff, to be fair.
"Hey Toshio, old boy! Jolly day, isn't it?"
"I'm pretty sure Yuki-Onna managed to escape from jail and try to kill me three times in a row today by sheer hate alone, but yeah, jolly day."
"Whoops. Sorry for that. Want to fight before everyone else comes?"
"Sure, let me get my sword ready first."
Wait, sword?
Of course. There was a sword back in the vision of madness and the one with Golden Pharaoh. Kaito just didn't know where it was in the rest of visions and dreams.
...where did he hide it?
And as he asked to the void, he saw Samurai...himself... willing a zigzagged sword into reality.
An energy sword. The one he saw back there. Shining and glowing. Which he swung like a warrior when he fought Golden Pharaoh.
Later memories became fuzzy, but Kaito was more concerned on what he could do.
The wind was an obvious thing. He had referred himself as Lord of the Winds... somewhere and made himself a tornado. And when fighting, he had controlled gusts of winds from his hands. Invisibility was also a given, due to his missing arm and words he spoke. Fire was also said once, with the words of "Igo Moen". And now he knew he could summon a sword by sheer will alone. The only unanswered question was how did he turn into Samurai and if he could turn back or his civilian identity was left as dead.
Kaito woke up and rolled out of his bed, right arm still invisible. He went to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. He tried to will his arm back, and he succeed. Then he willed it invisible again and took a shower and dressed up again. The suit's right sleeve was still invisible.
Taking the sack and the feather with him, he started walking over to the park again.
If there's a book you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. Toni MorrisonPark
Oni looked over at the man shouting on his phone, his antics distracting the boy from his recent sleep troubles. {A...cult? What's he talking about...? Why's he so panicked?} Doing his best to not look like he's eavesdropping, the kid looks down at his textbook but focuses his hearing on the ranting guy.
...He'd noticed his senses becoming more acute recently. Not necessarily just his hearing, but his...awareness in general. Like he knew people were approaching him before they made their presence known. It was equal parts weird and convenient for an introvert. His mom didn't really have an answer for him, but it never really inconvenienced his life so he took it in stride. There are people around the world who supposedly don't feel pain or have some other weird unique "power." Maybe it's like one of those.
This post is sponsored by Amalgam Comics.Vito was sitting on the bench, observing what was going on and the ravings of some guy on his cell phone about a psychotic cult. The guy looked familiar, Vito remembered seeing him the night he got the memory feather.
Looking around, he saw a kid reading a textbook but also seemed kind of distracted, like he was paying attention to the guy on the cell phone talking about the cult.
The young goth dude in the leather jacket and sunglasses turned to the kid and said "Uh, you concerned about that guy yakking on the phone too?"
Lover of anime, video games, old-school Rock & Roll music, yaoi, horror, motorcycles, classic cars, trains, and historical fictionThe Park
"Ah, you don't even know the half of it. A lot of weird shit's been going on in this town lately. A lot of people are all having weird fucked-up dreams of past lives, myself included. If there is a cult around here, I would not be surprised. I'm scared as hell to be honest. Name's Vito, by the way."
Lover of anime, video games, old-school Rock & Roll music, yaoi, horror, motorcycles, classic cars, trains, and historical fictionThe Park
"..."
The kid winces, thinking back to a few nights ago.
"...Yeah, I had one. I was on...another planet, or something. I was fighting this big guy, he looked like a...soldier or something? I remember thinking I just had to hold out until somebody got there, somebody who'd be able to help everyone..."
He rubs the side of his neck.
"Then he broke my neck and I woke up."
This post is sponsored by Amalgam Comics.The Park
"So, you're having those dreams too? Damn, this must be more widespread than I thought. Do your parents know about any of this? I mean, I don't know what to do in all this. There's this strange person who appears at random points to tell us more and a bunch of other people here have been going through the same thing. I'm just scared and confused, but I can't keep running away...sorry if I am rambling on like this."
Looking at the guy previously yakking about the cultists, Vito called out "Yo! You over there! You find anything new about what's going on with these weird dreams? And what's all this about a cult?"
Lover of anime, video games, old-school Rock & Roll music, yaoi, horror, motorcycles, classic cars, trains, and historical fiction"What?! Who's following me?!" Frohman started to turn around in a panicked away, until he saw the source of the voice from far away.
"The dreams? You mean the nightmares where the US Army wants to kill me, aliens want to kill me, a spider testicle god wants me dead, and a floating elder god wants to kill me?! Yeah, that shit is due to the cult in this stupid cursed town! I don't know about you, but I'm leaving this place and never coming back. My MIT Ph D shouldn't be wasted serving some freaks, no sir! I would leave too if I were you!"
Once Frohman said that, his attention went back to his phone as he went back to calling for a transport out of here.
Yui was not quiet as she sped across town to the school. The roar of her motorcycle and her own roar of anger basically told the entire town that she was on the warpath.
Fortunately, it was a small town, so it didn't take long for her to get to the rendezvous point and jump off of her bike in a rather impressive manoeuvre that involved spinning the thing to a stop and landing on her feet with a glare.
"Alright, I'm here, now where the hell are you?" she yelled eyes sweeping across the field. In her hands was her scissors from work, the screw holding them together broken thoughtlessly. They were still tiny, but she held them like swords.
Laughter dragged her attention over to the bleachers, where the same assholes from yesterday were standing on piles of her clothes. It reminded her of her dad's basement where Senketsu was. Her dad? Ryuko's dad?
"Glad you could make it, Ito," the leader said through his bruised jaw, "we thought you weren't gonna show. Now, ya boi can have that rematch he was hoping for!"
I say that aloud too sometimes, just: "man, no life."A straightjacket. That woman's voice, reminding her how dangerous she was.
"Doctor Caitlin Snow, AKA Killer Frost." The voice continues, painting a portrait of her as a dangerous killer.
"An introduction like this could give a girl an ego," she mutters.
The chills still radiate through her bones, leaving her desperate and hungry for heat.
And one more voice, male this time.
"Welcome to the Suicide Squad."
Ariana awakens with a start. Well, there's the dream Midnight promised her.
Trying to make sense of it all, she begins preparing for the day. However, it isn't until she's applying her makeup that she notices anything's off. Her lips have taken on a navy blue shade, one that she previously would have associated with cyanosis. But even in cyanosis cases the lips only became slightly discolored; here, they were in a stark contrast to her pale, almost white skin. (Had it really been that long since she'd gotten some sun? She didn't think so.)
Having finished with her daily preparations, she realized that she felt strangely called to the park. To be fair, she didn't have any patients to see today, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she should be there...
Sure enough, when she arrives, some of the people from the night before are there, as well as a few she doesn't know particularly well.
Looking at the kid, she gears up to introduce herself- only for sentences to keep echoing in her mind...
I can get you something to read if you want, Caitlin.
Because of you, Caitlin.
Frost! Caitlin! You did it!
That name. The more she hears it, the more wrong "Ariana" sounds in her mouth.
"Hello. Don't believe we've met. You can call me Caitlin."
She's a bit perturbed by some of the speculation about what's been going on in Summerside.
"Vito, your theory makes sense, I guess, but...it doesn't explain everything. I'm twenty-five. There's no way I should have gone gray in the span of less than twenty-four hours. I'm a doctor; I know for a fact that's scientifically impossible. With all due respect, I don't know how a cult could explain that."
>^owo^<"Going...to...die..."
You are not. Don't be such a baby.
Jules replied with a wheeze, gasping for air as he ran after Yui. In the back of his mind, he wondered why he thought this would be a good idea—Yui was more than capable of handling her own problems. Then again, he'd feel awful if he didn't at least try to help. Like back on Jugdral, only worse because in this case he could—
What the hell was he thinking about?
Finally, Yui skidded to a stop, and Jules would've breathed a sigh of relief if he had any oxygen to spare. Instead, he slowed to a stop and doubled over, sucking in lungfuls of air.
When he had enough to think properly, his eyes darted to the source of the laughter, where he saw...
"What?"
The kids from yesterday. Standing...on clothes. Yui's clothes?
I agree, Loptous said. What.
"Wh-what kind of..." Jules muttered, before straightening. "What kind of perverted crap is this?!"
He might have said it a bit too loudly, because almost all the kids turned to his direction.
"...oops."
"Look inside yourself and to the stars; there, you will find your answers."The tense standoff was briefly interrupted by Jules suddenly showing up. A few of the gang members (there were more than six at this point, maybe about ten? Yui wasn't interested in counting at the moment) seemed to realize how this looked and started protesting.
The leader just straightened up a bit and grabbed a random outfit from the pile. Yui growled under her breath as she recognized Senketsu's sleeping form.
"L-look, it's not perverted," he insisted, "we'll give her all her stuff back. But first, we're gonna prove that we're the strongest in the whole town."
"Give him back!" Yui raged.
There was a pause, the gang looked around, and someone asked, "h-him? We didn't take anyone...?"
"I don't care about the rest of those, but Senketsu is my friend, give him back!" she indignantly pointed at the sailor uniform, only to get more confused stares in return.
I say that aloud too sometimes, just: "man, no life."Kaito arrived to the park around the time Dr. Glace started to talk to Vito. Her face was paler than before, and her lips were blue, with a shade that didn't look like makeup. The more he looked at her, the less she looked like the Killer Frost he saw in the vision. While Glace had white hair, pale skin and blue lips, Killer Frost was looked like she was entirely made of white ice, had light blue hair and her eyes were cold and heartless. A different version, perhaps?
"While all of this is quite unusual, I doubt it was a cult. Magic and scientifically-impossible science seem to exist, and I mean, there was a freaking badger spirit." He said while gesturing. "Also, Doctor, are you okay? You seem worried. Is there anything wrong?"
Quickly, he also looked at the new kid. "My name is Kaito Tanaka. Or Toshio Eto. I don't exactly care on what you call me now, as long nobody calls me "Old Boy" again. It happened in a dream, I'm pretty sure that I'm 29, and it feels really weird."
If there's a book you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. Toni MorrisonThe Garden
"Let's play a game of tag!" , a familiar giant pink woman told Nelle, visibly excited.
"I'll be 'it'!" , the woman approached Nelle and then crouched. She playfully poked Nelle's nose with her index finger.
"Let's see if you're able to escape me." , she said.
Nelle giggled, "You'll never catch me!", she started running.
Nelle had a head start. She started enlongating her limbs to oustanding levels to better traverse the area. It looked like the diamond-eyed woman couldn't be able to catch her.
However, when she looked back at her, the giant woman was literally behind her. Nelle gasped in disbelief. How the heck was she able to catch up to her in such a short period of time?
"Tag, you're it!" , she touched Nelle's back.
The jester turned towards the woman with a surprised look on her face.
The puffy-sleeved giant giggled. "You didn't expect that, didn't you?" , she kept giggling.
Nelle(?)'s surprised visage soon turned into a cheerful giggle as well.
The two pink jesters sure had an unbreakable bond.
Balastone Orphanage
Nelle abruptly woke up, returning to reality.
That dream...
It still featured that giant pink princess lady, and they playing a game of tag.
Nelle for some reason could stretch her body like crazy in that dream. And Pinky was super fast!
The pink-clad girl cast a glance at the feathers near her. If that strange badger was right, she wasn't of this world and she was brought here, along many others, to save the multiverse from collapsing. And the feathers she gave them would give them memories of their past selves — their true selves.
... ...
That was a lot to take in, wasn't it?
Maybe she should go take a breath of fresh air...
The Park
As she made her way to the park, she noticed that it was more lively than it was yesterday (due to the fact that it was daytime, probably).
There were new faces..and some familiar ones though: Jittery Lad, who was being paranoid as usual, and that Vito guy.
"Maaaan, Jittery Lad isn't surely having a swell time...", she commented, approaching the forming group.
Edited by Noussibonne on May 20th 2020 at 10:16:30 AM
Sweet dreams are made of this~ Who am I to disagree?Park
The kid suddenly started looking kind of overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people who've showed up. He'd just come here for a quite place to do homework, what had he just gotten himself involved in?
"O-Oni Oji, ma'am...and sir. And...everyone."
He looks down, his face equal parts confused and concerned.
"So I'm not the only one who's been having weird dreams..."
This post is sponsored by Amalgam Comics.Jules recognized the clothes the leader was holding up immediately. "That's the—" He stopped when Yui started yelling at the kids to give it back...or, uh, give him back?
"What on Earth...?"
Who cares? Let's get 'em.
"I'm pretty sure I know what you mean by that, and the answer is no, but..." Jules looked up and cleared his throat. "Look, whatever weird reason you had for breaking into someone's house and stealing their clothes—though given she lives in a mansion, there were probably much more valuable things in there than clothes—it was incredibly rude and...look, I don't want to fight—"
Say what.
"—but I'm not going to let this slide. So. Um." He cleared his throat again, and, in the most commanding tone he could muster, shouted "Give her her clothes back!"
A pause. "Please?"
Loptous sighed.
"Look inside yourself and to the stars; there, you will find your answers."Yui's little gang of stalkers again tried to defend their honor, saying something about, "taking valuables would've gotten us in serious trouble." When he tried to threaten them into giving Senketsu back, there was another pause.
Suddenly, they all started laughing.
The leader jumped down from the bleachers, tossing Senketsu into the hands of someone else. "Or what, kid? You think we're scared of your daddy? Ooooh, big, tough mayor. How about this, we give you five seconds to go running home?"
"Stay away from him!" Yui yelled, jumping in between Jules and the leader. His smile turned almost gleeful as he reared back for a punch.
Before things could get violent, though, a shrill voice cried, "hold it!"
In what felt like a second, a familiar-looking girl stood between Yui and the leader (it was getting pretty crowded in that spot) with her hands crossed above her head.
"You can't just steal a girl's clothes like that!" she started to rant, jumping all around the place and making odd gestures to emphasize her points, "only perverts would target someone's wardrobe like that! And you can't hurt the girl from my dreams! Even if I can see the appeal. In my dreams, she was showing off her boobs, and they're amazing. But you can't force a girl to show off her body, it has to be her choice! Her choice! Not yours! And the girl of my dreams can't be forced by a bunch of perverts to get naked! Even if she wants to get naked anyway, because she looks really great!"
The silence was deafening as the strange girl stood firmly in front of Yui.
I say that aloud too sometimes, just: "man, no life.""Aah!" Jules cried out, stumbling backwards as the leader approached him. "I-I-I—"
Oh, trust me, you little brat, Loptous snarled as Yui ran between them both. His father is not the one you should be afraid of.
And then...and then some girl ran onto the scene, yelling about how she saw Yui in her dreams.
Great. More crazy people. Loptous sighed. You might as well take the opportunity.
"Opportunity for what?" Jules whispered.
Attacking, obviously. Draw first blood. You only have to kill one to scare the rest off.
"No," Jules hissed. "I'm not killing anyone."
Bit of a spoilsport, aren't you?
"I— Hold on."
As the girl shouted, Jules crept out from behind Yui. While everyone stared at her, he slowly climbed up the bleachers, trying to get to the punk holding the living clothes from yesterday as quickly and quietly as possible.
Ah, so you're going the stealth route, hm? You know, it's easiest in those games to just break the necks of your opposition...
Jules ignored him. He positioned himself right behind the group and slowly reached for the uniform. He was close now...closer...
He grabbed it and yanked it free from the punk's hands, causing them to yell in shock and everyone to turn to face him.
He barely waited a second before running.
"Look inside yourself and to the stars; there, you will find your answers.""Mako?" Yui whispered under her breath once the confusion wore off and she remembered some of her dreams. Was she in here too? Had she talked to Midnight also?
Before she could ask, Jules apparently decided to grab Senketsu, which jarred everyone out of their stupor. The gang leader seemed to remember what he was planning to do and shouted, "outta my way!" As he reached out to grab Mako, Yui became enraged.
"Don't touch her!" she yelled, and on instinct, she spun her scissor blades and they grew to their normal sizes. She cut off the leader as he moved, smacking him with the blunt side of her blade hard enough to send him flying.
The gang members near Jules didn't hesitate to start running after him once they realized what was going on.
I say that aloud too sometimes, just: "man, no life."Jules ran across the bleachers, clutching the uniform to his chest. He skidded to a stop when he reached the end, then started heading down the stands.
A quick look to the side showed him that would be too slow, though.
So he leapt off the stands and to the ground, stumbling forward. Then he took off again, running...somewhere. Anywhere. Trying to get as far away from his pursuers as possible.
You could fight back, Loptous said. Show this group what they're really wor—
"No time!" Jules yelled, already gasping for air.
He then realized where he was. The park. Several other people were there too. Mostly adults. Mostly people that could help.
"Help!" Jules shouted, running up to the group. "Being chased! The guys from yesterday! Stole Yui's clothes! Tried to help! Yui's back there fighting and the rest of them are going after me I need help!" After saying all that, he dropped to the ground in a sitting position, gasping for air.
"Look inside yourself and to the stars; there, you will find your answers."Park
"Wait, someone's getting attacked? They stole their clothes?!"
Oni looks around for a few seconds before just kinda...awkwardly handing his books to Vito.
"Can you...hold these for me please? Thank you!"
The kid takes off before even waiting to hear Vito's response and good lord he's faster than you'd expect. In fact, he's significantly faster than most people would probably be able to run.
This post is sponsored by Amalgam Comics.Dr. Octopus
He felt...refreshed. Clad in an oddly-familiar green work suit with black gloves and boots, he strode down the road with an easy, confident stride. Even the new weight of the harness over both shoulders didn't slow him down. There were all of those people at the park last night. I wonder if they're still around. Or that odd badger woman. If she does return, I will get better answers, from her or someone else this time.
As he approached the park he saw some of the same people from yesterday. That young fellow from the other day (Jules?) had just dashed up, carrying some clothes and babbling about being chased.
Octavius turned to face the direction he'd come from, frowning slightly. The light gleamed on the lenses of his black goggles. No. I still need the boy for information. He cannot be harmed until I have it.
With an unsettlingly sinuous motion, four long tentacles unfolded from the good doctor's back. There was a loud thud as two of them slammed into the ground and lifted him easily off the ground. He moved on the metallic limbs swiftly after the running youth. Besides, this will serve as an excellent test. Practical science.

Radio Crackle
The station returns from an ad break to begin the morning broadcast. First up, the ident;
"Radio WUBRG supports and is supported by our local businesses. And now, start your day off right with 'The Morning Gruel' featuring Sandra Napier and Vanessa Revere sponsored by The Oat Barn. The Oat Barn; your friend in grain."
With a snippet of a bright and chippy music things transition to the live broadcast.
The Radio WUBRG Building
Situated in an unassuming (if you discount the giant antenna structure) one-floor building on the outskirts of town, Summerside's local radio is done inside a fairly utilitarian workspace; the studio with all it's microphones and buttons, the separate and soundproofed control room and a general cooking/relaxing/'cool things we want to display' room with couches and a small kitchenette. At the moment the action is happening in the studio portion of the building where the woman who is trying to come to terms with being both Sandra and Chandra is sitting and watching her co-host: A taller, thinner woman with brown hair and perfectly ordinary ears named Vanessa Revere.
"Welcome to the Morning Gruel, for your breakfast and drive to work. I'm Vanessa and with me in the studio is my co-host Sandra."
Now was the opportunity for San— Chandra-... Whatever she was to see if her dream was truth.
"Yo. Hey can we talk about dreams real quick?" she utters loud enough to turn up on the microphone, prompting a brief look of surprise from Ni- Nessa. It was hard keeping these names straight anymore.
"Alright we can swing into our first topic of the day. News can wait. What kind of dreams do you want to talk about?"
Chandra or Sandra or whatever she was now took a deep breath and pulled her mic a little closer. "Have you been having weird dreams lately? Like... Vivid ones; places you've never been or being able to do stuff you can't normally?" she looks a little expectantly, hoping this would prompt the answer she was looking for.
"I've been having these wonderful tranquil dreams of some of my travels; the vast waters of Lake Michigan, the still and silent forests up by Black River. Even a few places further afield that I've only seen in pictures... I once dreamed of standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon, letting the wind blow through and around me. It's quite nice, makes me feel one with nature a little."
The redhead is silent for a few moments, almost a taboo of radio but the answer was... Not what she expected, neither a denial of the concept nor an outright confirmation. It was a little annoying.
"Huh. Well last night I had one where we were all fighting a dragon. You, me, Jake, Lily, Chad."
The last word catches in her throat as Vanessa laughs softly.
"A dragon? The whole— well almost whole University Radio team fighting a dragon, even Chad? Was Nick there too?"
The redhead shakes her head before realizing that visual indicators weren't really something that works in radio. With a sigh she tries to keep herself from getting emotional over old, pale memories.
"Nah. Maybe we should hold off until everyone's around and we can discuss this in private. Hey, Nick how about we open the phones? Listeners, if you've been having weird dreams, especially last night that you want to talk about call in and we'll have a discussion yeah?"
"And while we wait I'll handle the news."
Sandra nods and backs off from her microphone to sit and sort through things in her head. It'd been ages since she thought about the former sixth member of their gang and now her dreams were saying he was some kind of light-forged warrior alongside them. Doubt was starting to creep in, maybe he wasn't dead? Maybe that car crash was a convenient memory to explain his absence because he was... Somewhere else?
She hoped so.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.