Battle for the Dream Masters

“Look what you made me do!” Vanessa said hitting Buffy in the side.

“What? They were gonna find us anyway!” Buffy replied. “Here we are handsome!”

“It’s you!” Josh said upon seeing Vanessa. “You’re the one from my dreams!”

“There are. The others are upstairs. They sent us down to make sure you were who you are.”

“Yeah, we’ve been through a lot the passed couple of days.” Buffy stated, fluttering her eyelashes at Josh.

“Should I tell her I’m gay now, or wait till we get back home?” Josh asked Chris telepathically.

“Eh, better wait. I wanna see this, it’s funny!” Chris replied getting a smile on his face.

“So, now that you know we’re legit. Where are the others?” Josh asked coming back to the land of the talking.

“Wait here, we’ll go get them.” Vanessa said peeling Buffy along with her.

“What’d you go and do that for?” Buffy said when they were on their way back to the group.

“Cause we don’t have time for you flirting and tryin to get in their pants! We got work to do!”

They got back to the group and informed them of the situation. They gathered up all their stuff and Vanessa along with Dominic at the head of the group led them back to the main entrance.

The introductions were made and they got out of there as fast as possible. Even though the sun was still up, Josh didn’t want to take the chance of being spotted by one of the god’s human slaves.

Back at Foxglove Manor.

“CIDS, prepare to hack into the system files of DARLA, the computer system of the Dream Masters base of operations.”

“There are some booby traps set up within the system. It will take about five minutes to break through.” CIDS replied.

“Take your time.” Lance said as he waited for the information to be accessed.

“There are three information files on each of the Dream Masters, the story of how they were found, a psychological evaluation, and a physical endurance file.”

After reading the files, Lance knew that he had to fill the others in on what he found out and decided to do it when Josh and Chris returned.

The ride back to the Manor was an awkward one. Josh and Chris didn’t know what to say to them, and they were still somewhat scared, worried and distrusting. Chris kept trying to break the ice, and for some of them, it worked.

“I’m Dominic, that’s Sean, over there is Sonia, that’s Leo over there, and those two over there are Buffy and Vanessa.” Dominic said making the introductions.

“Well, I’m Mr. Kirk . . . I mean, I’m Chris, and this is Josh.” Chris said along with a laugh from Josh. “Shut up Josh!”

“Ah, well, then you might know us from our former job, a singing group . . . NSYNC.”

“OH!!! Those dudes! I remember you! I used to love your guys music, what happened?”

“No Dom! I wanna know where the hell we’re going! I mean, how do we even know we can trust these guys? We’re just goin with 2 complete strangers, to god knows where! I want some fucking answers!”

“Calm down, all will be explained soon enough.” Josh said trying to maintain a calm voice.

“I said, calm down!” Josh said with force in his voice that caught them all off guard.

Leo decided to keep his mouth shut, but only after looks from the other 5. He just sat back in his seat and looked out the window.

As short of a ride it was back to the Manor, it felt like hours. The tension in the car was being broken down easily, especially after Leo’s outburst. They drove the rest of the way in silence; the only sound that filled the air was coming from the music being played on the radio. Once they finally reached the Manor, which all six of them were amazed to see, they got out of the car and Josh said,

“Ok, first of all, I’m sorry for yelling before. I understand how scared you all must be and that you have questions, but you all have to just bear with us, I assure you that all of your questions will be answered. Secondly, this is where you’ll be staying until further notice. Since this is a rather large place, you might get lost. We have a computer system called CIDS, if you have any questions about the Manor, and none of us are around, just ask him and he’ll answer them for you.” He led them into the main lobby and continued,

“There are six of us here, including Chris and myself. I’ll introduce you to everybody once you all get settled in. I’ll show you to your rooms.” He brought them upstairs to a suite he had ready for them.

While Josh was taking them upstairs, Chris went into the living room to go check on his son. He found him sleeping on one of the couches with Jack; he teleported both of them up to his room just as Lance was walking in.

“Hey Chris! You’re back already?” Lance said sitting on the couch next to Chris.

“Yeah, just got back, Josh is showing the Dream Masters to their rooms now.”

“Well, I downloaded their evaluation files from the computer back at their house so I could get some information and see what they’re capable of. I found out some interesting things and I have to show it to the rest of you.”

“Actually, I just told the others and they’re on their way down, so let’s just go and wait for him in the control room.”

As they made their way over to the control room, they ran into Joey, Justin and Beryl.

“The Dream Masters are here, and I want to fill you all in on some information I got about them.”

“Yeah . . . it’s funny, but yeah. The only thing we didn’t want was the poles and costumes. We made it more like the movies and comics.”

Back upstairs.

“So this whole floor is your rooms and stuff. The rest of us are on the floor just below this one. I’ll let you get settled in. I gotta go take care of something, then I’ll come back and take you downstairs to meet the rest of the guys.” Josh said starting for the door.

After leaving them to sort out things, Josh went down to the control room to meet the guys. He gave Lance a quick kiss then said,

“Well, Lance got some information on the little X-men! He hacked into their computer and downloaded some info on them.” Chris said.

“Well, I’ll show you.” Lance said passing out a folder to each of them. “This is their sort of biography. It tells who they are, their stats, where they’re from, how their family life was, and how they first met Dr. Wilkes. Dr. Logan Wilkes was the one who went out and found these kids; he dedicated his life to helping kids to cope with their powers and train them to be Dream Masters. He has that power and so does his son, Dominic.”

“So, read the files, pass ‘em along and let me know when you’re finished.”

After his mother Helena died, I was hoping that he wouldn’t inherit our powers. It wasn’t till around he hit puberty that he started to experience the symptoms: headache, seemingly weird dreams that felt real, visions of people he knew, and prophetic dreams. When he came to me complaining of the symptoms, I was hoping that it wasn’t what I thought it was, I was only fooling myself though. By the age of 14, was when I finally came to terms that he had inherited the power to travel into dreams. That was when I decided to pack up, move to a secluded place and try and help others like him and myself.

Now 25, he has become quite the scientist and is by far, the most experienced of the team. He is the team leader and acts as a teacher and role model to the rest of my students. By the looks, they all look at him as the more experienced, older brother.

By far, Vanessa is one of my most interesting patients, and also the most powerful. Originally from New York, Vanessa has been practicing Wicca since the age of 15. Although independent, even at that age, she was kicked out of her mother’s house for supposedly worshiping the Devil at the age of 18. On her own since then, she moved to the Village where she truly was able to become herself and act freely without the worry of being caught. She became good friends with her occult goods supplier named Gladis. Around the age of 20, Vanessa started to get the dreamer’s symptoms, as I have come to call it, she confided in “Aunt Gladis” and told her about her symptoms. Aunt Gladis then called a good friend of mine, Dr. Robert Rivera, and had him take a look at her. From working with me on many occasions, he had come to know how to recognize the dreamer’s symptoms, so he contacted me and I flew to New York with my son. Upon examination, not only did I recognize her symptoms, I felt a large amount of power generating from her aura. After telling her what she was, and offering her the chance to come with me and learn to control and master her powers, she accepted.

Originally from the town of Hudson, Colorado, Sean was somewhat of a popular teenager in his local high school. During his summer before freshman year in College, he started to get the dreamer’s symptoms. His parents took him to a local doctor, who referred him to a doctor in Denver, who in turn, referred him to Dr. Rivera in New York. Upon examination, Robert recognized his symptoms and seeing as how I was in New York at the time, checking out Vanessa, he had me take a look at him. I recognized his symptoms and strangely enough, felt his powers within him. His aura wasn’t as strong as Vanessa’s, but I felt them there. I tried to explain to his parents what he was and what he was capable of, but they didn’t want to believe me. It wasn’t till I told them that if Sean didn’t get any help, it would drive him insane. They left that night with that in their minds. To help further convince them, that night, I went into their dreams and showed them what would happen if they didn't get Sean help. The very next day, they brought him to Rob’s office and called me in. I assured them that he would be perfectly fine at my complex on an island off the coast of Maine and they agreed.

A prophetic dream brought me to LA on a search for two more students. Attending the Miss Teen USA pageant I met Buffy, who was Miss Tennessee. During the one of the rehearsals, she passed out. I was called to check her out and see if she was well enough to still compete. When I first saw her, she was lying on a couch and her parents were standing beside her. I took a look at her and felt her powers immediately. I asked her if she had any of the dreamer’s symptoms and she had all of them. It was this that brought me to the conclusion that she was one of the two that I had to find. I told her and her parents what she was and they didn’t believe me. I then asked her some questions that had to do with dream travel. That brought her to believe and also brought her to tears. I told her that she was still well enough to compete and that stopped her tears. She convinced her parents that it was true, but they were still skeptical. She didn’t win the pageant, and that was for the best. After the competition, I had a meeting with her and her parents and convinced them that it was in her best interest that she accompany two of my other students and I back to the complex after I finished up my business in LA.

While walking through the streets of South Central LA, I was almost mugged by these two guys. While being held up, someone came up from behind one of the muggers and knocked him out. The second mugger went to grab the kid and I flipped him into a wall, knocking him out. As soon as I saw my rescuer I knew I had found who I was looking for. I felt a strong aura within him. The then 17 year old, tried to get out of there as fast as possible. I stopped him and thanked him. I asked him some questions about the dreamer’s symptoms and he looked at me like I was crazy. Somehow, even the awkwardness of the situation, he answered them. I told him who he was and what he was capable of and he thought I was crazy. He got out of there and made his way home. That night I went into his dreams and further convinced him. He believed and the next day he came with us.

An orphan since the age of 5, she was shoveled around to various foster homes for about 8 years. Originally from Portland, Oregon, her last foster home was thought to be where she would stay for the rest of her life. They got along very well and loved each other like blood relatives. Around her 16^th birthday, she started to get the dreamer’s symptoms. Her parents took her to a doctor who called up a friend of his. This friend lives in LA and is the leader of a chosen family who fights vampires. He is also a good friend of mine, which is how I came to find out about Sonia. I went to Oregon along with Vanessa and Buffy to see if she would be apart of our team. Sure enough, she had the powers. It was tough to try and convince her and her foster parents to let her come with us, but after about a week, they thought it best. It was the hardest to watch as she said goodbye to the family she had come to love as her own, and I hoped that with leaving that family, she would be able to adapt to ours.

“If you think that was interesting, that’s not all! I have two more files on each of them.” Lance said.

“One’s a psychological evaluation and the other’s a physical endurance file.”

My son seems to have an incredible gift and science, he’s even better than I was at his age. He’s taken on the role of a mentor figure to the rest of the students, a sort of father figure that’s their age. Whatever problems that, they can’t come to me about, they go to him. He’s discovered more about his powers and has taught us all how to use it. In some respects, he’s become more of an expert than me. He doesn’t seem to miss his mother much, but I don’t know if it’s because he’s trying to show he’s strong, or because he doesn’t remember her.

Although a little scarred by her mother’s reaction to her life decision, Vanessa is very strong-minded and quite caring. She practices meditation to calm herself and is becoming an even better Wicca by the day. She has shown great dedication and control so I have placed her second in command after Dominic.

He still maintains a preppy image of himself and doesn’t realize that if he showed who he really was, it would strengthen his powers. He’s set up a few barriers and is quite a smart-ass. He seems to have social problems with Leo. They don’t get along very well because they are from two different sides of society. If they both let down all of their walls, they would see that they are the most alike.

She seems to be most at home here. She’s the kindest of all of my students. She has often played a mother-like role to everyone, especially Sonia. Although a constant flirt, she has no sexual interest in any of the males here. Deep down, she wants a fairytale romance, someone to sweep her off her feet and carry her away. Realizing that that is hard to come by, she has accepted it and isn’t desperately searching for it. She still maintains her Southern hospitality and is often pushing her upbringing onto the others.

Leo is the most troubled of them all. He has set up many emotional barriers in his mind and is hard to communicate with. That is all due to his father walking out on him and his mother. His mother is an alcoholic and often beat him as a child. Due to his parental background, he has a problem with authority.

He has a very high intellect; he completed high school a year early, but couldn’t go to college. He remains a loner and doesn’t socialize with many of the others except for Vanessa. He has grown a special bond with her, it is not known whether it is sexual or not. I have tried on many occasions to get him to open up to me but all have failed. Vanessa has informed me that she has been helping him and when he’s ready, he will come to me. I only hope she is right.

She’s still getting used to being here and is having a little trouble due to her frequent changing of background as a child. She has turned to Buffy as a sister. She often follows her around everywhere, and although sometimes a nuisance, Buffy allows it. With every passing day, she is adapting more and more, but it is going to take some time for her to truly feel at home. She is still subconsciously bothered, by her being tossed in and out of foster homes due to her parent’s murder. It is still unknown how they were killed, the case has not been solved.

Dom is a 7^th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Doe, he can bench press 130lbs and due to his study of the martial arts, is very focused and uses violence only as a last resort. He has taught the others basic moves in Tae Kwon Doe and how to focus their energy and maintain control of a situation.

Combining her mental and physical powers, Vanessa is a powerful opponent. Although mostly calm, when she lets her aggression loose, she takes it out on her target. She’s very flexible and agile, she’s mastered the ability to move stealthily and go unnoticed.

Sean has a hard time getting down the basic martial arts moves, but his enthusiasm makes up for his lack of ability. He has fast hands and good reflexes which is a good combination and would be lethal if he mastered any of the martial arts.

Of all of the students, next to Dominic, Buffy is the best fighter. She is very agile and observant of her surroundings. Although aggressive in her fighting, she still manages to stay in control and doesn’t let her rage get the best of her.

Due to the issues Leo is facing, he has a bad temper, which turns into an uncontrollable rage when fighting. He has trouble controlling his temper and tends to let it take over. Although that can be used to his advantage, he needs to learn how to focus his anger and control it. He is very strong for his height and weight, although he doesn’t lift weights, he could probably bench more than Dominic.

Although highly nonviolent, Sonia has mastered the little martial arts taught to her. She tries to avoid fighting as much as possible by blocking hits and trying to immobilize her opponent, but if hit, she will react and counter.

“Well, at least they’re not totally defenseless!” Justin said after they read all the files.

“It shouldn’t take you long to remember, it’s like riding a bike.” Justin said.

“Bring ‘em down, so they could see the place. Plus, there’s more room for all of us in the living room.” Lance said.

“We’ll be in the living room.” Lance said as Josh and Chris went upstairs and the rest of them went into the lining room.

“I dunno, I mean, it’s a nice house, but it’s weird . . . I mean, it’s just like, ‘ok, here you’re staying, and now I have to go. Bye!’ Then, it’s soooo big that . . . I dunno. I mean, the complex was big too, but this place is just HUGE!” Another female voice said.

“Yeah, it takes some getting used to, I got lost like all the time when we first moved in.” Josh said rounding the corner.

“What the fuck! What the hell are you doing sneaking up on us like that!” Vanessa yelled.

“Fucking asshole scared the shit out of us!” Vanessa yelled turning to Dominic and pointing to Josh.

“What happened?!” Buffy said running out in the hall, “I heard a scream!”

“Hey, hey, hey!!!” Josh said trying to get everybody’s attention. By this time, the rest of them came out into the hallway. “I didn’t mean to scare you! I just came to get you cause I wanted to introduce you to the rest of the guys!”

Sign the guestbook! J

First posted: 3 May 2001 Last edited: 3 May 2001	Copyright © 1999-2001 The Chosen Ones All Rights Reserved	< Last Chapter Next Chapter >