"Yes!" cried Will, as he watched Donbolan flying up into the jaws of the monster at the top of the stage. The teeth popped Donbolan for the seventh time and his remains splattered everywhere. NiGHTS sighed in relief.
"So, back to the Dream Gate?" she asked casually, praying to herself.
"One more," pleaded Will. "Just one more, please."
NiGHTS sighed. "I need to rest. Just for an hour or two."
"NiGHTS, please let's fly just one more time, then you can rest," said Will. "I don't want to wake up."
"You don't have to wake up," said NiGHTS patiently. "You can stay asleep at the Dream Gate."
Will scowled. "No, I can't! I get so bored I wake up."
NiGHTS sighed again. The obscenely bright purple design on the pinball-like machine was hurting her eyes. The colors began to fade into each other and were spinning faster and faster.
"Fine," she blurted out. "One more time!"
"Yay!" cried Will. In a few seconds he was back in Pure Valley.
Pure Valley had become a second home for Will. Whenever he was stressed out, he always insisted on going there. He finally learned how to take naps during the day, so he didn't have to wait until night to go there. Now, breathing in the fresh air, feeling the wind against his hair and the dandelion balls float down gently to the ground, he was perfectly serene. He felt like he could spend the rest of his life here, running through the grass, looping around trees, content for eternity.
Will ran towards the cage where NiGHTS was. Just running made him feel like he was flying, arms outstretched, the wind almost peeling back his eyelids. In a few seconds, was climbing up the chain and once again found himself in the wonderful sensation of leaving his body behind, of become one with NiGHTS. Now he truly was flying.
NiGHTS and Will moved instinctively through the air. They were so adept at it that they no longer had to fly; they could merely let the wind carry them from place to place. Will was laughing. Even after all this time, it still felt unreal to fly effortlessly from current to current, diving towards the ground and coming back up suddenly with no fear or hesitation.
NiGHTS flew around a branch of a tree just for Will's pleasure, hooked onto a dandelion ball and flung it towards the ground. The ball exploded into a fireworks display of white confetti, with Will laughing helplessly as they looped around the fluff, just for the thrill of it.
They had just looped around another ball when NiGHTS unexpectedly gave a moan and plummeted towards the ground. Will cried out as they undualized in both terror of falling and fear for NiGHTS. They both hit the ground at the same time.
Will lay on the grass, panting. All the wind had been knocked out of his chest. He stayed for several seconds, trying to regain his breath, when another moan caused him to jump to his feet. "NiGHTS?" he cried, running over to the purple form on the ground. "NiGHTS, what happened? Are you okay?" NiGHTS just gave another moan. "NiGHTS are you hurt?" This was no good. He had to get help.
The wind whipped around Will as he glanced around. He looked for the small lump of ruffled feather he usually hated. "Owl?" His voice sounded cracked. He tried again, louder. "Owl?" No reply.
Now Will was desperate. If Owl wasn't here, there was only one place he could be. He turned to NiGHTS. "I'm going back to the Dream Gate to get Owl. To get help. Okay?" There was no reply. "Okay?" NiGHTS gave a small moan that reassured Will. He sprang up and sprinted towards where he thought the door was.
"Please let me be right, please let me be right," he prayed silently. All he could distinguish from the landscape were certain trees. There was no way he could find a small door in this massive valley. Then he remembered the cage. If he could find the cage, with its long chain reaching up into the sky, he could find the door. Will sped up at this thought.
Adrenaline was pulsating through him, making him move faster. The wind made his hair fly backwards as he sped across the grass, stumbling occasionally. Finally, with a sigh of relief, he saw a gold chain connected to a cage. And right behind it was the door to the Dream Gate. Now he felt a flicker of hope, but ran even faster, and flung open the door. Soon he was falling through a sea of stars.
***
Owl was flying aimlessly around the Dream Gate. He was bored and agitated. Now was the time of day when almost no children were asleep. Well, at least on his side of the world. Owl hated how each Dream Keeper got a different time zone. It seemed to him that it would be more convenient to have everyone on a full-time schedule, so they could spread the work around evenly. He would have to bring it up at the next meeting. Suddenly his ears perked up. He had gotten the signal that Will had just left one of his dreams and was at his Dream Gate. Most likely he was just choosing a new dream, but Owl needed something to do. So he closed his eyes and concentrated. In another second he was in Will's head, just as Will was running down the steps of Pure Valley door. The urgency in his eyes made Owl flutter his wings in surprise.
"Owl, Owl!" cried Will, running towards him. "I need, I mean NiGHTS needs help! Both of us. Now!"
Owl held up one wing. "Hold on. Take deep breaths. In…out…in…out…in…"
Will was in too much of a hurry to listen to him. "Owl, NiGHTS is in Pure Valley. He's sick, or something. He needs you to come and help him!"
"She needs me to come and help her." Owl couldn't resist. "I've been correcting you on that since you first came here and you still can't remember. Now, about her now."
"She is in Pure Valley. We were flying and he suddenly dropped and can't move. Now come now!"
Owl winced at the "he", but recovered quickly. "Okay, I'll follow you. If I must."
"Hurry!" Will ran to the Pure Valley door and opened it urgently. He stepped inside it and fell through the stars yet again, with Owl flying beside him.
***
Will ran across the fields of Pure Valley as fast as he could, with Owl flying behind him. His heart pounded against his chest as he scanned the landscape for a sign of NiGHTS.
"Tell me, do you have any idea where you're going or are you just blindly running?" asked Owl in a bored tone.
Will stopped and frowned at him. "Quiet. I know we fell around here somewhere/"
"You mean somewhere with the grass and trees?" asked Owl. "I would appreciate it if you were a little more specific."
"There he is!' shrieked Will, pointing at a huddled purple figure on the ground. He ran towards it.
"There she is," corrected Owl to himself, before flying towards NiGHTS after Will.
"NiGHTS, are you okay? Are you feeling better?" asked Will urgently.
NiGHTS looked up at him with bleary eyes. "I feel a little better, but not by much." She lay her head down again.
"Owl, what can we do?" asked Will.
"Well, we Nightopians only know one cure. You see, we rarely get motion sickness. How long have you been flying?"
Will looked embarrassed. "This is the eighth time through Pure Valley."
Owl fluttered his wings indignantly. "The eighth? You know, there is still a thing called energy in Nightopia and another thing called fatigue."
"It relaxes me," muttered Will.
"Oh, yes, I feel very relaxed when I fly around the same place eight times. Especially when I get motion-sickness."
"So, do you have the cure?" Will asked, ignoring his comments.
"Not on me," said Owl. "I don't carry around cures for motion sickness."
Will sighed. 'Well what is the cure?"
"Seaweed."
"Seaweed?" asked Will "You mean the plants that grow in the ocean?'
Owl clapped his wings together. "Brilliant. You know that seaweed grows in the ocean. It's not a plant though."
"Whatever. So how do I get it?"
Owl sighed. "Are you always this slow? You have to go to the ocean."
"Ocean?" asked Will. "There's an ocean around here?" He looked around as though hoping to see a door to one. All he saw were fields of grass and dandelion balls that floated slowly towards the ground like snowflakes.
"Not here," replied Owl. "You have to dream it. Haven't you figured this out by now?"
Will looked confused. "I can't control what I dream!"
"They never can," Owl muttered to himself.
"So I have to dream about the ocean? I've never even been to the ocean!" Will cried.
"Well either you have to dream about the ocean or find someone who has."
"Thanks a lot," muttered Will.
"My pleasure." Owl got up and stretched out his wings. "Well, I'm going back to the Dream Gate."
"Good," said Will after Owl left. He sighed and lay down next to NiGHTS. The grass was cool and the sun shined down on his face. He looked around at the hills that rolled across the landscape. Think of the ocean he thought closing his eyes.. But it was useless. He had to find someone else who had dreamed of the ocean. And fast.