I do not own any official Pokemon or NiGHTS characters; they are copyrighted to their respective franchises and whatnot. OC's that are not my own are used with permission.

He landed hard on the rocky ground with a groan. Blinking up at the dark plothole as it snapped shut above him, he giggled, musing, "Why didn't I see that coming?" Well, some part of him did see it coming; Shirona was annoyed and got rid of the problem in that Shirona way of hers. "When I get back, I'll go get my own root beer float. But where am I...?"

Nitrine's breath drifted white as he sat up, looking around. Most of what he saw was pure whiteness, except for the stony wall off to his left. He noticed the reflective surface of a tiny patch of ice, and all his muscles shivered. Rather than going into the thick mist around him, he floated upwards and felt along the rocky wall with his hands, flinching when he touched ice. The white haze seemed to fade the further he ascended; he had climbed on top of a large, pointed boulder when the clouds thinned enough to let some sunshine through. Nitrine cast a glance over his shoulder. He couldn't make out much, but he could tell he was at the top of a mountain. "What a bitch."

Hovering forward, he came upon a small valley—rather, it was like a giant bowl on the mountaintop. The entrance to a cave was off to one side, and in front of it was a huge, flat space in the ground, like a great stage. On either side of it were pillars, shortened and shaped into spears by centuries of exposure to the elements. What caught his eye was the murky lake at the center of the flat stage, its waters swirling like a gentle whirlpool. Nitrine floated towards the pillars for closer inspection, but when something began to rise out of the water, he darted behind one to hide and see what it was.

The thing was as huge as Gillwing, with six relatively short, thick legs to accommodate its long body. It was pale gray in color, with black and red stripes on the underside of its neck and gold half-rings on its nape. Although its gaseous black wings didn't seem as though they should have been able to carry it, they let the dragon of legend land easily beside the lake. A growl sounded from within its chest as its red eyes scanned the area.

Nitrine withdrew his head behind his pillar, and the stomping of the beast's advance shook the ground. He took to the air just as the black and gold reptilian head snapped its jaws at him from around the pillar—it was so much more giant up close. A blue orb of energy formed in its mouth, prompting the nightmare creature to bolt away towards the open space above the lake; the aura ball crumbled the base of another pillar and nearly tipped it on top of Nitrine, who endeavored to keep it from crushing him even with his extraordinary strength.

The monster was airborne now and flying at top speed towards Nitrine with both front legs extended. Its claws glowed with a dark, ghastly essence. He dropped himself about ten feet when it was too close to brake its speed, resulting in it crashing head-first through the stone pillar that he held above his head. Closing his eyes tightly to avoid the chunks of rock blinding him, he did not watch the cloaked claws whizz past him on either side.

Dazed from the collision, it gave its head a shake before pivoting its neck to see Nitrine still standing on air, now armed with his crotch cannon. He taunted, "You wanna dance? I'm right here." With a shrill, frustrated roar, it climbed to its six feet and disappeared before the maren's very eyes. His body tensed, and he twisted all about while hoping he wouldn't have to fight an invisible foe. The thought occurred to him that simply warping back to his home in Nightmare was probably a better idea than duking it out with some dragon on top of a mountain. The very moment he disarmed himself, he heard a deep snarl from behind; without bothering to look back at the taloned paw coming down to slash, he wriggled into a warp portal—a second too late.


"It hurrrts!"

"Please try to relax. It won't be as bad if you aren't so tense."

"But it really hurts!" Nitrine whimpered through his tears. He was sitting at the edge of his bed, topless so that Lucent could tend his laceration. The dragon had ripped through both his favorite hoodie and his T shirt and left an open, severe gash that ran diagonally across his back.

"It's fairly large; it probably will sting a bit." Once he fetched a bandage, Lucent cleaned the area of blood to inspect it. The edges of the skin were actually black, and he winced at the thought of being gashed with flaming claws. He applied pressure with a thick cloth to stem the bleeding, his brother nearly jumping off the bed at the sensation, before beginning to wrap the bandages around Nitrine's torso. "Your wound is pretty serious and will probably need some time to heal. Take it easy for the next couple weeks or so, all right? In the meantime, I'll patch up your hoodie for you."

The other nodded with a sniffle, offering a little smile. "All right. Thanks, Lucie. If I stay home, I might actually get started on those art projects I've wanted to do."

Lucent gave his knee an affectionate squeeze before injecting, "Sometimes I wonder how you put up with that Shirona."

Nitrine shrugged slightly as to not disturb his wound. He had relayed to Lucent bits and pieces of the day's events through screams of agony once he had gotten home "She can be a bit rough sometimes," he admitted.

"I'm going to go work on your hoodie; do you need me to get you anything?"

"Nah, I'm okay for now."

As his blue-eyed brother exited the room, Nitrine gingerly levitated to his dresser to fetch another T shirt, accompanied by that stinging sensation. His shirt drawer was messier than what he normally tolerated, but he was in no mood to organize it at present. Bit by bit he pulled the tan shirt over his shoulders, reflecting irritatedly upon his injury. What had he done to deserve the dragon's anger? It simply rose up from the dark waters of its lake to attack him without much reason. Moreover, it was Shirona's fault that he had been transported to the dragon's mountain dwelling place to begin with.

As he thought, the feeling in his back progressed to more of a burn; though he was unaware of it, his brown eyes started to glow blue, except for that one blue spot in the corner, which had swapped to brown. Oh, how he would give that woman such a piece of his mind! Right after he jammed the six-legged beast's head onto a stake. The burning intensified, and he gave a soft cry of pain as he turned to float out the door, eyes returning to their natural color. First, a couple weeks of Lucent's comfort; then, payback.