"Hey, why did they stop moving? Things were starting to get good", Tatterhood commented as she saw that young Donnie and "slightly" older Reya suddenly pause from completing a "couple's yoga" pose.
"Huh? What do you mean?", RJ asked after Tatterhood's call broke his concentration on the remembong's entry.
When RJ walked over to take a look, the couple did indeed stopped moving, in fact, they were starting to turn into purple colored smoke. As RJ looked around even more, it appeared the entire area was slowly turning into a purple colored smoke.
"Huh...I think the memory is starting to end", RJ observed, "so I guess we're about to get sent back to Donnie's apartment, soon".
"Hurray", Senior Hippie said glumly, "maybe I can finally ask why he was so close with someone I knew I gave my heart to years a-huh...".
Before Senior Hippie could expound further on his somewhat broken heart, he suddenly stopped talking and began staring upward at a space quite a few feet above their heads.
"Senior Hippie? What's wrong?", RJ asked.
"I don't know magic stuff too well, but I assume that whatever that is isn't normal", Senior Hippie answered while pointing upward.
Following his direction, Tatterhood and RJ looked at the spot he was pointing at.
"Huh...is that...a crack? Suspended in space?", RJ asked while staring upwards
"Yup", Tatterhood replied while preparing her spoon.
"Is it getting bigger?", he asked once more while tightening the grip on his phone.
"Think so", she responded while changing back into her normal ragged battle clothes, "I think I hear noises too".
"Like the screams of damnation of those stuck in hell combined with horse braying and a rusty chainsaw"?
"Yup", Tatterhood answered while summoning her goat from who knows where.
"Where'd the goat come from? Why are you two so unusually calm about this?!", Senior Hippie asked, shocked at their nonchalance. Evidently, bring emotionally shooketh caused him to forget the nature of these two.
"Well I'm a badass for one thing", Tatterhood replied with a confident smile, "and there's not many things in this world or any other that can kill me".
"I almost got eaten by a giant wolf ogre, a giant rat and sliced in half by a crazy veteran armed with a demonic weasel sickle", RJ replied, "at this point, I am ready for anything"!
*CRASH! CRACKLE!*
"CHOOOOKEEEE"!
"NEEEIGHHH"!
"Except whatever the hell those two are", RJ added.
The sound of glass shattering to pieces accompanied by a chorus of unnatural screams echoed in the space as a grotesquely obese woman riding a demonic black horse with flames for hair and murder in it's eyes came charging through the crack. The crack resealed itself once the unusual rider had completely exited.
"Well, I'm taking back that thing about being ready for anything", RJ quipped as he took a photo of the strange duo, "let's hope this thing works on group shots"!
RJ switched his phone to identification mode and proceeded to photograph the obese woman and horse combination. The resulting photo had two glowing point on it that RJ tapped on to reveal more information on his incoming opponents.
[Targets Identified: Batibat and Nightmare]
{Name: Batibat}
{Classification: Elemental/Demon}
{Attributes: Wood, Yin, Dream}
{Rarity: Rare}
{Description: Originating from Filipino mythology, the Batibat( in Ilocano), or Bangungot (in Tagalog), is a type of a tree-dwelling spirit that takes the form of a demonic, ancient looking obese woman. Normally content with spending their days sleeping in the trees they posses, they only become active and dangerous when their trees are chopped down, especially if their trees are used as support beams. If anyone is unlucky enough to sleep next to one of these cursed support beams, the batibat will manifest and begin choking the victim while inducing horrifying nightmares and sleep paralysis. It is believed that in order to break this nightmarish hold, one has to bite their own thumb or wiggle their toes. The batibat will then disappear and the victim will be given the gift of spirit sight}.
{Name: Nightmare}
{Classification: Demon}
{Attributes: Fire, Dream}
{Rarity: Uncommon}
{Description: Horses. Fantastical horse monsters have been a part of human mythology for an incredibly long time, from the noble pegasus to the ravenous bicorn, but the idea of the Nightmare horse is surprisingly modern. In 1781, the artist Henry Fuseli created the painting titled "The Nightmare", an oil painting depicting a woman sleeping with an incubus on her chest, while a demonic looking horse (mare) looked upon them. Ever since this one painting, artists and writers all over the world had contributed to the creation of "the" Nightmare, a demonic horse from hell that causes fear and dread with it's presence and the go-to mounts for other demons and forces of evil}.
"Oh joy, nightmare monsters...", RJ grumbled, "wait does that mean we've been inside a dream this whole time"?
"Probably", Tatterhood replied while mounting her goat, "but for now we should probably take care of those two. Bellerophon"?
"Meehh"!
At Tatterhood's command, Bellerophon leg muscles tensed up like coiled springs before releasing, launching himself into the air and directly at the Batibat and Nightmare.
The sight of a mad woman armed with a wooden spoon while riding goat would normally be rather terrifying for most people and creatures, but the Batibat and Nightmare didn't seem to care.
Instead, they just galloped right past her!
"What? Why aren't they..."
But before RJ could fully ask his question, the Batibat suddenly dismounted from the Nightmare and landed with a thump at the place where young Donnie and older Reya were standing.
The Batibat reached out and grabbed the paused young Donnie by the throat, which somehow caused young Donnie to resolidify and start moving again, or at least flail his feet about.
"Hey, what's go-ACK", young Donnie cried out as the Batibat began to tighten her grip. Whatever she was doing had caused Donnie to release a pulse of weird black energy that caused the surrounding area to resolidify, but not in a good way.
The once-idyllic park began to warp in shape and size, taking on a more twisted and chaotic appearance. The people that had populated the area began to melt under the influence of the energy pulse, and then reforming into what gross mockeries akin to melted wax dolls.
The dream of a pleasant memory was starting to distort into a horrible nightmare.
_________________________________________________
Back in Donnie's Apartment
Tony and Kathy were just chilling and listening to Donnie's records when the sound of a loud beeping interrupted their chill time.
"Huh? Did we set an alarm or something"?
"No...oh shit! That's the Boss's heart monitor"!