On a dark starry night, Ariana was on the run as she was running in the middle of a blazingly hot desert with an ocean of sand as far as the eyes could see. Tremendous mountains towered over the surrounding landscapes in the distance. They were some pieces of rock that resembled the ruins of a lost ancient civilizations.
"Wait, how in the world did I even get here?" Ariana gasped shockingly.
Suddenly, even though Ariana doesn't really remember how she got there, she actually remembered being asleep after her day off from the lab. What disturbed Ariana most was the reason as to why she awoke to find herself in the middle of an unidentified desert.
"What the heck is going on here?" Ariana asked with fright.
"You are in the world of your own nightmare." A thunderous voice bellowed coming from behind Ariana.
Ariana immediately turned around and saw a colossal being of rock and stone rise from underneath the ocean of sand. The being looked like a gigantic living slender creature with long flat arms have three-fingered hands, three short spikes on his head, a dark grey zigzagging mouth, and a pair of grey eyes with slit pupils. He moved so slowly that the time itself slowed down, making Ariana run away from him. But no matter how much she runs, the giant living creature continues to chase after her.
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Meanwhile, the four K-5 are training outside the house. Well, all except for Ariana. The mages have noticed that Ariana had been asleep all morning and she hasn't woken up at all.
"So, is Ariana coming down here or what?" Camilla asked.
"I couldn't wake her up. Trust me, I've tried everything." Talia replied.
Camilla and Talia kept using their elemental magic to enhance their speed and skills. Then, Kirana walked out of the house and stood towards her younger brother as she used her enhanced ninja moves at him.
"Nice work, Kirana." Ezra said with a delight smile.
"You're really coming along." Camilla added.
Kirana smiled back at her younger brother, especially she's happy that her liquefying left arm and right leg are back to her real flesh once more. Well, her right leg at least, but her left arm is getting there. The mages turned around to watch their robot friend, aunt, and their cousins walking out of the house.
"Hello. We are heading down to the store." Norbit said.
"Any requests?" San asked happily.
"Get some gummy worms." Talia requested immediately. " Please?"
"Yeah, we'll see." Mūn said with a smirk.
"We'll be back in a few, girls." Coral said with a kind smile.
After Norbit, Coral, and her daughters teleported away, three mage kunoichis and one mage ninja continued their training without their magic this time. But when Kirana jumped slightly in the air to deliver a swift punch at Camilla, she pushed herself too hard that quickly injured her left arm.
"Kirana, I understand you wanna train so much." Talia said. "But you gotta give yourself time to heal."
"Yeah, but how long?" Kirana questioned sadly. She slowly walked back into her aunt's house. "I'll be in the house for a good rest."
"Good." Camilla agreed. "Some rest should help."
"I hope so." Ezra sighed, sadly.
Obviously frustrated about her injury, Kirana entered into the living room and laid down on the couch to take a nap.
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Darkness and silence filled Kirana's mind as she drifted across the seemingly endless nothingness with numerous asteroids. She did not know how much time has passed since she was still sleeping in the couch after her training with her two younger sisters and younger brother. Even worse, she didn't know if she is. But that quickly changed when Kirana realized that her arm is completely fine and healed as if she's feeling better than ever.
"Weird. My arm is fine." Kirana said. Suddenly, she felt the sense of excitement and happiness coursing through her mind at the same time. "In fact, I feel amazing!" She let out a strong punch at the asteroids in many ninja ways and she didn't feel any pain at all. "Oh yeah! Check me out, baby! I am better than ever!"
But Kirana's happiness had turned sour when she heard a mysterious voice out of the complete darkness.
"A courageous spirit just like your mother." A seemingly distant voice bellowed.
"Who's there?" Kirana shouted.
Kirana turned around to every corner around to find the source of that voice, but she couldn't see anyone in sight. Then, she found herself being confronted by a creature that stood before her that doesn't look like human in appearance. The being looked very slender and has long, flat arms have three-fingered hands, three short spikes on his head, a dark grey zigzagging mouth, and a pair of grey eyes with slit pupils.
"Who are you?!" Kirana exclaimed.
"I am Baku." The being scolded slyly. "And I'm here to bring out the nightmare that comes for you!"
Quickly, Baku lashed out multiple smaller dark grey energy balls at Kirana, who's just standing in her position with a shock look on her face.
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Back at the living room in the real world, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra watched their oldest sister actually sleeping peacefully on the couch.
"Wow, she must've been tired big time." Ezra said.
"You know, I'm pretty tired myself." Camilla yawned as she sat on the couch chair. "A little shut-eye wouldn't hurt anything, right?"
"Me too." Talia agreed with a yawn as she sat on another couch chair next to the couch that Kirana was sleeping on.
"Me three. I guess we all need some shut eye." Ezra yawned as he went to the other couch to lay down.
Only thing Camilla, Talia, and Ezra don't know is that Ariana and Kirana are actually trapped in some sort of nightmare.
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After Norbit, Coral, San, and Mūn arrived back at the house with groceries in their hands, they became surprised to see Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra fast asleep on the couches and the chairs. Immediately, San and Mūn ran upstairs to find Ariana sleeping on her bed. The mage twins carried Ariana down the stairs and placed her on the floor carefully.
"I can't believe this." Mūn said as she sneered at her five sleeping cousins. "We just left a few minutes ago and we came back home to find them asleep that fast? Unbelievable."
"Calm down, Mūn." San reassured. "I've bet their training knocked them out big time."
"No, something's not right with all of them." Coral said as she was staring at Ariana closely. "Ariana? Ariana! Ariana!"
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Unfortunately, Ariana was unable to hear her aunt calling her and continued to run for her life as several gigantic fists kept bursting out of the sand underneath her for to avoid. She halted when she found herself in an eerily scary location. She was surrounded by what she recognized as the burial tombs of every known deceased people. Bursting out of the ground with their heads out were nineteen individuals that Ariana knew as her family and friends. The sight of them as zombies filled Ariana with unimaginable fear.
"No...No!" Ariana cried out, rushing past the graves. "You all can't be dead!"
As Ariana ran as fast as she can, Baku rose out of the opening corpses everywhere.
"You can't escape from your fate!" Baku said sinisterly. "Your family and friends are gone forever!"
Ariana turned around in fear while the zombies of her family and friends were walking slowly towards her.
"This can't be real! I must be dreaming!" Ariana exclaimed in fright. "I just have to wake up!"
No matter how hard Ariana slapped herself painfully, she can't wake up out of this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at the real world, San and Mūn weren't having any luck waking their cousins up.
"This is ridiculous." Mūn groaned. "We tried everything and they still won't wake up."
"But it was worth a try." San said with a shrug. "Not even our powers can wake them up in seconds."
"I have a list of concerns for the K-5." Norbit said.
"I don't understand what's going on with them." Coral said worryingly. "It's like they're trapped. Trapped in their own nightmares."
"Yeah, but their pulses are getting weaker." San said as she was checking all of her cousins' vital signs.
"But who could access the ability to take control of their dreams?" Mūn asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Wait! Mom, didn't you used to tell us about the spirit that feeds off dreams and causes the target to have unending nightmares?" San asked in realization.
"I should have known." Coral gasped sharply. "The spirit's name is Baku. He's an evil spirit who gives people nightmares to no end. My sister Sage locked him away a few years ago, but I have no idea how he was released after so many years."
"Sage had to use her magic to protect lives, she knows the right thing to do." Norbit added.
"We'll go find Camilla's spell book for a spell to help them out." Mūn said. "You do what you can here."
As Mūn and San headed upstairs to Camilla's bedroom to search for her spellbook, Coral sat in her mediating position and used her white magic to contact the K-5 in the dream world.
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Camilla awoke to find herself laying in a shallow sea of lava with colossal columns of gold fire shooting from the molten rock like geysers blazing from the Earth's core. But, she couldn't feel any pain and burns coming from the magma she was immersed in. As she rose to her feet, she wondered how her three sisters and brother ended up in the fiery world that surrounded her. Strangely, her sisters and brother were giving her blank but expressionless stares that threw Camilla into an even greater state of confusion.
"Uh, what the heck is going on here?" Camilla asked her motionless sisters and brother. "Where am I?"
"Where you truly belong." A deep cruel voice said coming from right behind Camilla.
Camilla spun around to face the person speaking to her, but as she did, she found herself sitting on a throne. She looked down to see her sisters and brother dressed up in Shadow Clan ninja outfits and bowing down to her with loyalty and respect. Then, the being that stood before Camilla resembled a young man who was around Sage's age. He looked very tall and slender, and has long, flat arms have three-fingered hands, three short spikes on his head, a dark grey zigzagging mouth, and a pair of grey eyes with slit pupils.
"Who are you?!" Camilla asked with obvious discomfort.
"I am Baku! And your nightmare will rule over you!" Baku roared. "As the next...Lady Shade!"
Camilla flinched at the intensity of what Baku just said to her. To prove his point, Baku snapped his fingers and a circular mirror popped up in front of Camilla's face. Camilla gasped in fear to stare at her reflection wearing a black metallic crowned mask.
"No...This can't be happening!" Camilla yelled with great disbelief in her voice. "NO!"
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Ezra woke up on a cloud floating underneath a night sky filled with stars and the moon. He stood up and looked around to see nobody until he looked down to see a dark cloud swirling in New York City.
"What's going on?" Ezra wondered.
"You should be asking yourself that."
Ezra turned around to face Baku and he glared at the teal mage ninja with an unimpressive look.
"This is Dastren's son?" Baku observed. "I would've thought you would be more grown up."
"And you are?" Ezra asked, ignoring his comment.
"Baku. But, you've got your own problems behind you." Baku said as he pointed behind Ezra.
Ezra turned around to see himself as a soul corrupted in dark magic. Dark Ezra unleashed a glowing turquoise whip with his eyes glowing grey.
"Don't be afraid of who you will become." Dark Ezra said.
"I won't believe it!" Ezra yelled as he summoned his light magic to fight his alter ego.
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Talia ran happily as fast as her legs could carry her through the playroom-themed streets of the toy world. In the distance, she could see that the entire place was filled with toys that are made out of rainbow building blocks. She halted her tracks when she spotted a tall, slender being standing in front of her. He has long, flat arms have three-fingered hands, three short spikes on his head, a dark grey zigzagging mouth, and a pair of grey eyes with slit pupils. But even Talia doesn't find him that scary as she believed that he's just an action figure.
"I'm Baku." Baku introduced. "Welcome to the world of best-selling toys."
"Really? Awesome!" Talia beamed. "You wanna play?"
"Of course." Baku nodded.
Talia and Baku looked like a circular train track with a roller coaster-like train on it. They jumped on the train and rode through the tracks in super fast speed while laughing and screaming for fun.
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Back in the real world, Coral had successfully entered inside her nieces' and nephew's minds. But her white magic wasn't enough to the siblings' out of their dreams. She only could see Ariana, Kirana, Camilla, and Ezra were screaming in terror while Talia was growing tired of playing in the dream world.
Then, San and Mūn came back to the living room with Camilla's spell book and Ariana's cell phone.
"Girls, we're going to need some help from their friends." Coral said.
"We're already on it." Mūn said with a nod.
"Terepōto E Tsuki." San casted.
At her words, a golden mist was released from the book and flowed throughout the room surrounding the mages to teleport them to the farmhouse.
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Meanwhile, Baku used his powers to gather all five mages simultaneously in one dream. The siblings were relieved to see each other and hugged each other tightly, but that quickly short-lived when they all have to figure out what's going on.
"What the heck is going on here?" Kirana asked.
"Yeah, I was in a fun but strange dream." Talia replied.
"That's it! We're all in the same dream!" Ariana exclaimed. "We all have been experiencing our own dreadful nightmares!"
"Well, my nightmare wasn't exactly scary and horrifying." Talia pointed out.
"But that's impossible if we're in the same dream." Ezra said.
"So, you figured it out, eh?" A sudden sinister voice roared. "Very clever, ladies and gentleman."
"Who are you?" Camilla demanded. "Show yourself!"
Immediately, the sinister voice turned out to be the same being that haunted the siblings' dreams as he showed himself in front of them with devious eyes and a sly smile.
"The reason you all have nightmares is all because of me; Baku!" The being hollered.
"I'm sorry, did you just say Baku?" Kirana asked.
"Yes, my name is Baku." Baku replied. "Your mother sealed me away many years ago for bringing out never-ending nightmares to feed off everyone's dreams and corrupting their minds into my dark void realm for thousands of years." His face moved closer to the girls. "Then one day, Sage's four precious daughters and Dastren's precious baby son! You all think you are alone in your dreams. But you're not! Since your mother is not here to see this, I'm gonna corrupt your minds good and bring you to my realm for eternity!"
"Not gonna happen!" Kirana said determinedly. "Let's get him, guys!"
The K-5 charged forward to fight against Baku in a dream stage that looked like a comic book, but that battle was going very badly as Baku was just too strong for them to defeat. Having enough nightmares to feed himself and becoming stronger by a minute, Baku sent the mages into a dream world that was nothing but darkness.
Then, the K-5 heard a whooshing sound and spun around to see a dangerous spacial entity in a supermassive size. The black hole quickly began engulfing the five mages, causing the siblings to scream in terror for their doom.
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At the farmhouse, San and Mūn explained to April, Casey, Macey, and the Turtles what happened to the K-5 as Coral was continuing to wake them up, but the siblings were still sleeping.
"We have tried everything we could." Norbit said.
"I can barely find their energies anymore." Coral said desperately. "If we can't wake them up, they won't make it!"
"Baku is corrupting their minds! How can we wake them up?" April asked worryingly to the twin mage kunoichis.
"You can't." Mūn replied. "Baku was sealed in his dream realm long ago, and as long as he's in there, his powers are unstoppable."
"Guys, look at Ariana!" Donnie exclaimed.
Everyone looked down at the sleeping Ariana as they all watched the purple kunoichi starting to change slowly. Her ninja outfit turned from purple into black, her normal skin became dark purple, and several black indigenous marks appeared on her face, arms and legs. The purple kunoichi was shaking violently as Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra did the same thing in their transformation.
"They're changing and soon they will be corrupted by Baku!" Coral panicked.
"Looks like we have no other choice." San said to her twin sister.
Mūn nodded at her twin and the two gazed down at the spellbook as they found a spell that not only free their cousins but the spirit as well.
"Wait, you can't!" Coral shouted.
Despite their mother's protests, San and Mūn cast a spell to free their family and their enemy.
"Furī Auto Yume!" San and Mūn casted.
At their words, a golden and black mist flowed out of the book and swirled their way into each siblings' minds, causing them to wake up with groans as they sat up. Their transformation had quickly disappeared, turning them back to normal.
"You're alright!" Casey smiled.
Casey quickly ran over to Ariana and hugged her tightly with a small kiss on her cheek, causing the purple kunoichi to let out bashful giggles with a blush. Unknown to Casey and Ariana, Donnie's eyes narrowed dangerously for seeing that. But Coral had interrupted the moment.
"But now Baku is free! Free to destroy us all!" Coral shouted. "Get ready!"
Suddenly, a burst of black energy came out of the siblings' minds and swirled its way out of the dream world as Baku was rejoiced that he's free to enter the real world, but then he noticed something's not right with him.
"Wait a second." Baku said. He then realized that he's now the size of a tiny plush animal in the real world. "Are you kidding me?"
"Huh?!" Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra said in deep confusion.
"This is it? This is what my sister had been sealing from many years ago?" Coral glared.
"Well, I think he's cute." San gushed, staring at the spirit's doll-like size.
"If I were you, I should..." Mūn said to Baku.
"Leave? Way ahead of you." Baku snarled.
"Well, that and San will squeeze you out like a pulp if you don't get out of here." Mūn added, pointing her thumb at her twin sister, whose eyes sparkled in excitement at Baku.
"Okay, okay, I'm going." Baku said, getting scared of San for a second. "Scary girl."
With that, Baku disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.
Kirana sat next to Camilla on the floor behind the couch that Leo and Raph were sitting on.
"You know, after everything that happened to us, my arm is finally getting better." Kirana said to Camilla.
"See! I told you some rest would help you out." Camilla smiled.
Vee sat on the couch next to Ezra as Norbit sat on the other side with Macey.
"Note to self; never sleep in the living room." Ezra said.
"I will keep the note in reminds." Norbit said.
Ariana sat next to April as she still felt happy about Casey kissing her on the cheek for her awake.
"April, did you just see Casey kiss me a minute ago?" Ariana asked with a smile.
"Dream on, Ariana." April giggled. "Dream on."