Oliver swung the door to his small apartment shut and tossed his bag aside, sweating and panting after a long day of janitorial work. The roo didn't want anything else right now besides some well-needed sleep, so he slipped into his bed, pulled up his blanket, and passed out without even removing his work uniform first. Snoring loudly in the privacy of is own room, the brown-furred marsupial quickly entered a deep slumber and began to dream. He slowly began to open his eyes once again, but rather than seeing the ceiling of his room, he instead found himself in the world that his subconscious decided to provide him for the night. Everything seemed to be normal so far, except that he was washed up on the shore of a small deserted island surrounded by miles of sea, with only a single banana tree to keep him company. Stretching and yawning, the kangaroo felt himself naturally walk around in the foreign domain without questioning it much until he noticed a trapdoor in the sands. Deciding that whatever down there would be more interesting than the world above, he flung open the hatch and climbed down into whatever bizarre locale he would wind up inside next.
 
 This was pretty much your average night of dreaming so far for Oliver, being dropped into somewhere new and moving around without much thought. However, this night would prove to be different rather soon, as the roo wasn't the only one inside of his subconscious tonight.
 
 Another creature was waking up inside Oliver's mind as well, only this one was more of an invasive spirit that possesses those who dream. A creature from Japanese legend, the beast had the head an trunk of an elephant, the body and behind of an ox, and the arms and legs of a tiger, along with a flowing mane. His body was entirely a dark shade of green, besides the mane and tail being a vivid orange. Most commonly, the anthropomorphic beast was referred to as a Baku in texts, and thus accepted it as his name. However, there was something about this particular spirit that set itself apart from others like it...
 
 While other Baku tend to eat nightmares or other sorts of dreams, this one instead has a tendency to eat others inside their own dreams.
 
 But even as a spirit, this task was never quite as easy as it seems. For starters, it's a task to find his prey somewhere inside the dream, never starting too close near them. Case in point, the Baku rubs his head and sits up as he observes which odd section of the roo's dream he wound up inside. He seemed to be sitting on a bench in a city inhabited entirely by pigeons, going about their life and business without acknowledging that the Baku was even there. Thankfully, to make the task seem less impossible, he has the ability to track the roo's scent and follow it, wherever he may be. Sniffing the air a few times, the spirit gets onto his feet as he catches the smell of his ideal prey coming from the left of his current position. "Ah, it appears that I've wound up inside the mind of a rather mouth-watering marsupial..." A grin spread across his face behind his trunk, as he began to rush closer to the source of the smell, fazing through a few of the fictional pigeon people on his way.
 
 Meanwhile, Oliver found himself suspended in the air after the ladder slowly disappeared, looking down to see that he was miles above the Earth in the clouds. The sight spooked him a bit, but he soon realized that he was standing on some sort of invisible solid ground, shrugging it off and walking on his invisible platform until he could discover whatever else was around for him. A denser-looking cloud stood out among the others, and he fanned away some of the foggy air to reveal a wooden door. He pulled it open without much hesitation once more, and walked in to find himself in yet another new location. But the inside of this new domain made seemed to give him the chills, shivering as he stood inside what seemed to be a volcanic forest, with trees bearing flaming leaves and bushes holding berries of magma. However, the strange chills weren't a result of his mind playing strange tricks on him yet again. Instead, the kangaroo felt some sort of danger around, but he couldn't tell from where or why. Of course, the true reason for his sudden discomfort was that the spectral beast had nearly tracked him down, noticing the city environment gradually shift to a more natural yet fire-filled one.
 
 "He is nearby... I can smell it." His trunk huffed at the air a few more times, able to tell that he might bump into Oliver soon. This was where Baku decided to use a bit of his powers, powers that he is only capable of using in other people's dreams. These powers are never very strong when he first arrives, but the more intimidated he makes the prey he stalks feel, the more power he possesses over the dream. To prevent the kangaroo from seeing him, the hybrid spirit melts down into a dark shadow on the ground, quickly moving to Oliver while hiding in the shadows of the trees. When he finally walks by, shivering a little bit still, the shadow on the ground jumps out from its hiding place and replaces the roo's own shadow, moving as he does.
 
 It took a while until Oli would finally notice that something was amiss about the shadow he was casting upon the ground, mirroring his movements. It seemed pretty close to himself, but... It was also a little bit chubbier, and even had tusks and a trunk? Knowing how strange his dreams can't be, he feels at his own face to make sure that he isn't somehow transforming into an elephant or something. But then, the shadow begins to wobble, and then returns to take form of the Baku once again, causing the roo to shriek and jump back as the spirit lunges forward. The clawed ox-aphant smirked menacingly over the cowering kangaroo, finding that he couldn't even know peace in his own mind. "W-what the hell are you? What are you doing in my mind?" He questioned, scratching his head as he tried to understand exactly what he was looking at. He could've easily assumed that this was just some other part of his strange dream, but... there was something different about this entity. Everything in his dream seemed to have some sort of haze around it except him, who was clear as day. For added intimidation, the spirit taunts Oliver with the fire around him reflecting off his fiery eyes. "...I'm your worst nightmare."
 
 From that one taunt alone, there was only one thing on his mind, and only one thing that he could do: Run. Pushing himself back up onto his feet again and scampering into a run, he makes an attempt to speed away from whoever this was as fast as his dream self's legs could carry, tossing and turning a bit in the real world. However, no matter how far away he tried to run from the horrible spirit, he saw him every time he turned his head, getting closer and closer each time. Some drool could be seen slipping from his maw as he sprinted after the roo, sniffing some more to grow even more invigorated by the delicious meal attempting to get away. Right before his trunk could reach far enough to knock Oliver to the ground, the sprinting kangaroo noticed an oversized knothole in one of the trees coming up. To avoid being caught by the Baku, he wasted no time jumping into the tree and falling into whatever was inside.
 
 Baku was aggravated by his easy escape, knowing that the hole would be too small for him to fit inside. However, Oliver was clearly underestimating his abilities. His tiger claws gripped into the ground as his trunk stiffened, winding up before swinging into the tree at full force. The tree didn't stand a chance, the force at which it flew away enough to extinguish every last flaming leaf before smacking back against the dirt at least a mile away. He then gripped the hole beneath the tree with both of his claws, and spread the opening wide enough for him to fit in, before diving right down after the kangaroo.
 
 It was pitch black at the bottom of the hole, until two torches seemingly lit up by themselves to reveal some sort of Medieval Dungeon, full of strange torture devices and traps. "Hmmmph. Where could that kangaroo be now? I'm done playing games here..." He puffed some air out from his trunk, sniffing each trap to try and catch a lead for where he could've gone. Suddenly, he could feel the presence of someone else behind him, the odor of his prey approaching him very quickly. The spirit's body tensed up, and he swung around to surprise his meal yet again. However, before he could even react, a dull mace smacked against his back and knocked the wind out of him, falling right into a pillory. Obviously, the roo managed get the best of him this time, and tossed the mace aside to lock the Baku's head and arms in the pillory. "Okay now, let me ask you again... What are you, and why are you here?" Oliver barked, panting and catching his breath from the risky trick he pulled on the spirit.
 
 "Fine. Since you managed to trap me like this, I'll tell you." The hybrid huffed, narrowing his eyes at his captor. "I am a spirit forced into people's minds, unable to sustain myself in the physical world for long. The only way I'm allowed to experience reality is to devour the one whose mind I am in, digesting them and leeching off their physical form until they are gone, leaving me to remain inside someone else afterwards. You happen to be my unlucky victim for the night, and my only escape is going to be by filling my stomach with your mental essence, resulting in my temporary transfer to the physical realm to digest your physical form as well." After the reveal of such information, Oliver found himself at a loss for words, unable to react to the thought of himself being eaten in his own mind. "Y-you're crazy! Go swallow someone else's brain, or whatever the heck you're talking about!"
 
 "You clearly have no idea what I mean. The best way to explain would be to show you personally." Baku growled, his orange mane starting to glow as he meditated for more energy. The entire dungeon was starting to shake and crumble around them, causing the nervous victim of the beast to fall onto the ground as his dreamscape shifted around him. The spirit's eyes were glowing white with power as the pillory entrapping him crumbled into dust, raising his arms and beginning to hover off of the ground. Oliver still had no idea what the hybrid was talking about or what he was doing, but he knew that it couldn't be good for him, shaking along with the room that faded back into darkness as the torches were snuffed out. The only sources of light now were the glowing eyes and mane of the spirit, getting stronger by the moment.
 
 Then, he decided to unleash all the power he was building up at once, with a mighty trumpeting from his trunk.
 
 Light shot forth from his palms and filled the room, causing the ground beneath the terrified kangaroo to grow brittle and crack as if it were glass, tumbling deep down into the unknown abyss with the spirit still hovering and leaving him to fall. The poor sleeping janitor felt himself fall for what felt like minutes straight, with nothing else in sight as he tossed and turned in his slumber. It could've easily gone on forever, but the tormented roo's long fall was suddenly halted when he smacked against some dark ground once more, rubbing his head in pain. "Ughhhhh... I-I'm still okay? Where am I...?" He murmured, getting back onto his feet and trying to get away. It was a rather short walk before he ended up bumping into a pitch black wall, one that he hugged into while working his way around until he realized that he was walking in a full circle twice. From there, he began to bang against the walls in hopes of breaking them, only making his small prison echo around himself. It resonated with an odd TING noise, one that he found oddly familiar... Was this prison made of porcelain?
 
 His questions were soon answered as he looked up, yelping at fear at what lied above. The spirit that brought him there was staring right back down at him, only now he seemed to be close to 30 times larger than before, towering over the kangaroo like a behemoth. "Now, lets finish this little act once and for all." He boomed out with a grin on his face, lifting up the entire chamber surrounding the kangaroo trying and failing to climb up the walls. While the now-massive Baku lifts him closer and closer to his face, the dreaming roo comes to a shock at the realization that he seemed to be trapped inside a coffee mug. The mug was slowly being tilted toward the huge beast's open maw, making the cowering Oliver slip against the porcelain floor denying him any mistake. His gullet appeared to be the same dark green that made up the rest of his body, teeth and tusks the same orange coloring of his mane and coated with saliva caused by the anticipation of him finally swallowing his meal. There was nothing for Oli to grab onto, nothing for him to prevent his fall, so he merely tumbled out of the cup and into Baku's mouth, his large tongue rubbing against his body and matting down his fur with the creature's odd drool. Or, would it be a sort of ectoplasm, since he's a spirit? Either way, it felt very uncomfortable against the poor prey's brown fur.
 
 Feeling Baku's hot breath against his wet body, the roo cringed as the spirit played with his meal, humming an old tune as the meal was tossed about inside. To make matters even worse for the kangaroo, his mouth closed to swish him around a bit inside before finally tilting his head back and gulping him down as one might do with a pill. Oliver rubbed against one of the walls of his throat the entire way down, squeezing against his tiny form. The view was very dark and surprisingly cold, likely a result of being eaten by such a ghostly figure. Eventually, he was naturally pulled all the way down into his stomach, already sloshing about with white fluids meant for digesting his meals. It was obvious that these acids have taken a good number of souls before like his own, and will continue to do so as long as Baku stays eternal. Oliver splashed down into the acids and immediately felt them working against his body, yelping in terror. The predator himself, however, merely smirked and rubbed his stomach as it gurgled down the roo's mental essence.
 
 The feeling was enough to wake the roo up from his slumber, gasping and jumping from his sleeping position. But unfortunately, it seemed that his dream had come true. It was still the middle of the night, and he was surrounded by the dark green stomach walls of the satisfied spirit, a belch echoing through the roo's apartment as a paw dragged itself across his ox-like gut. Back in reality, Oliver was no longer minuscule, but the spirit managed to return to the physical world yet again after digesting Oli's soul to take care of the rest of his body, his acids sloshing around the tight gut as it worked away at the kangaroo. Things were getting darker for Oliver somehow, darker than they were when he was trapped in an endless void in his dream. And just like that, he passed out once more, only this time it would be very unlikely that he would wake up again.
 
 Baku moved his trunk aside and belched yet again, this time even louder as his belly shrunk around the bulge Oliver made inside. "Another night, another delicious dreamer to devour." The physical spirit hummed in pleasure, allowing the janitor whose bed he stole to break down into extra nutrients to support his spectral body. Given a chance to view the real world again, Baku stepped off from Oliver's bed while digesting the room's only other occupant, deciding to go through some of the stuff he had in the meantime. The only thing of interest that he came across was an MP3 Player with a pair of headphones, taking them to bed with him and listening to whatever was on it for a while. "Interesting... Music has clearly changed over the course of the past hundred centuries. It's always a treat to experience it again, isn't it?" He said to his groaning stomach, the kangaroo now nothing more than some bone and clothes in his gut working its way further down his digestive tract. With a loud yawn, he gave it a nice pat. "Well, I'd say it's about time that I rest once more. Sweet dreams~" The hybrid belched afterwards, tucking himself back into Oliver's bed to sleep him off for the rest of the night.
 
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 About five hours later, the morning sun rose again and shined through the single window of the room. The light was enough to wake the Baku from his slumber, yawning and stretching awake as his bowels emit a distressed grumble, packed with what remains of both the kangaroo's physical and spectral forms. The spirit rose from his bed and stepped back onto the floor, scratching his behind and looking down at his stomach. He was clearly more pudgy than he was they day prior after swallowing down the kangaroo, and he felt that he only had about another hour of time to spend in the real world before he'd need to haunt somebody else's mind. An extraneous detail about the anatomy of the spirit was that he lacked any form of genitals, as he would never need to reproduce. This also meant that he never needed to relieve himself of any liquid remains that his meals might leave behind.
 
 "Did you sleep well?" His jokes continue, rubbing his lower intestine packed with waste before suddenly filling the room with a shocking display of flatulence. "G-gah! My lands, I guess not. I assume we should fix that immediately, then..." Baku gags, immediately taking note of the one window and lifting it open to air the rotten stench of digested kangaroo out of the room. Scanning the rest of the room, he soon realizes that there isn't a good place to dispose of his former meal, only a small wastebasket unfit for holding the waste he felt brewing inside of himself. There was still one more place that he could use to dump off what remains of the roo, taking note of the open window...
 
 The anus of his ox half quivered as he pushed his ass out the window, sitting down on the windowsill and letting it hang out. The room as around four stories high and the window lead out into an alleyway, so nobody would've been likely to notice the spirit's rump pushing outward from above unless they were passing through. His dark green bowels churned and pushed to work the messy mass closer to the exit, prepared to stretch the Baku's pucker wide open to dump its contents all the way down onto the alley below. Grunting, the spirit leans over and moans in stress. "Unffff... Time to banish you."
 
 With one final, wetter fart, a massive log of oxshit piled out of his tailhole and fell down all the way to the concrete ground in the alley, ending with a mighty splatter as it smacks against the ground. It was soon followed by yet another nasty splatter of the spirit dumping onto the ground below, this time carrying a few bones that jut out from his asshole on the way out. As more piled out of Baku, the more the general area of the alley got painted from the impact of all of his waste. The splatter of the waste became less and less large the more he pushed out, since the blow was being softened by even more shit. The alley below was now holding a rather large, haphazard pile of former janitor that held a few telltale signs that his former meal was a kangaroo, a few bones visible before being covered by a filth-covered jumpsuit that tickled the hybrid on the way out.
 
 "Hmmmph..." Baku grunted yet again, spreading his ass wide open so that the roo skull would drop out of his ass and fall into the pile of shit below before being covered in even more mess the spirit was harboring in his bowels from the night prior. That would've been the end, but there was one last thing that he felt the need to eject from his body. Very slowly, another snaking log poked out from beneath his tail. However, this looked different than the other ones that gave the alleyway a new coat of paint, so to speak. This one was a translucent bright blue color that glowed a bit in the sunlight, slopping down onto the rest of the aftermath of his meal without much fanfare. It appeared to be the what remained of Oliver's soul after being digested inside his own dream, forming a rather sickening form of a cherry on top of the chocolate sundae Baku served out the apartment window.
 
 "How repulsive..." The spirit reminisced, looking at the horrible mess he caused down below, knowing that it wouldn't be long before someone finds out exactly what he did to the marsupial. He pulled the bed sheet over with his trunk, using it to wipe his ass and leaving a terrible streak of blue and brown on the bed. Afterwards, the Baku stepped out of the former dreamer's apartment and sneaked around to observe some of the other apartments, since his physical form was beginning to fade once more and he would need to find yet another mind to invade so he could sustain himself. Nobody seemed to be awake yet, but it could be very easily assumed that Oliver wasn't the only pile that the voracious and ghostly hybrid would form out of the apartment's tenants...