*WARNING! This is not the whole story! This is a little test to see if I should do a whole story on this. I love Poniko, Monoko, and Monoe from Yume Nikki and actually designed a whole complicated game ion style similar to Corpse Party (dialogue-wise). I wish I could make it, but I can't! :( Oh, well. I'll just deal with this for now.*

Italy looked behind him. "Um, can you hurry up?"

Poniko stuck her tongue out in her usual defiant manner. "Shut it! We're going as fast as we can!"

Monoko giggled and turned into her "creepy mode," when she grows an arm out of her head and a new one on each arm. (Look up a picture, it's hard to explain.) Her older normal looking sister, Monoe, shook her head and Monoko sadly turned back to normal.

"She's so cute, though," Italy sighed.

Monoko chuckled and tugged on his jacket sleeve. "Thank you~! But I wish you'd still get scared at that. The first time I did that, you screamed like a little girl! It was so~ cute!"

Italy groaned and pulled his arm away. "I didn't expect you to grow new body parts."

Monoe crossed her arms and shifted her weight, her smug grin on her face. "It's what Monoko does. Don't blame her; she's a production of your imagination."

Italy tapped his foot impatiently. This was his dream world, a dark place where personifications of his worries and miseries go. And to think he always acted so innocent. But he stayed on the good side, which was still disturbing. He couldn't imagine what the bad side of the Dream was like. He didn't even know anyone here. Well, except…

"Where's the kiddo?" Poniko asked curtly. "He's running a little late."

"Holy Rome can take as long as he likes!" Monoko snapped.

Yeah, you heard her right. Holy Rome, or the Dream version of him, was still alive and well.

"Where is he?" Italy asked. "I'm worried about him."

"I'm sure he's fine," Monoe replied politely. "He's getting an effect for you, right? He just doesn't want you to get hurt in case anything wants to hurt you. I wonder what it does."

"I like the one that turns you into a girl!" Monoko shrieked in delight.

Poniko snickered behind her hand.

"Which effects do we have so far?" Italy asked her, avoiding eye contact.

"The girl one," she answered rudely. "the one that also turns you into a girl with twin-tail hair, the one that gives you an outfit like a Japanese school boy…and that's it at the moment."

"I hope there aren't many to go," Italy groaned. "This is really becoming a pain. Oh, hey, Takofuusen."

The strange white creature floated past, his eyes showing a grin although he had no mouth. He freaked Italy out at first, but they were fine now.

"Tako-nii-chan!" Monoko gasped. "I haven't seen you in a while!"

"Good morning," Monoe greeted.

Poniko simply grunted in greeting.

Takofuusen seemed to laugh and flew away.

"I'm glad he's not evil," Italy commented. "Oh, Holy Rome! There you are!"

The empire stumbled over to them, a thin circle in his hand. He handed it to Italy and smiled.

"Grazie!" Italy thanked him. He took a look at the circle: an effect. "You didn't have to go through any trouble, did you?"

Holy Rome shook his head, but didn't say anything. Sometimes Italy wondered why he couldn't speak. Or maybe he just decided not to.

"Its light green," Italy noted, a confused expression on his face. "The other ones are all blue, though."

Holy Rome tugged on his cloak.

"Clothes?" Italy asked. "Oh, yeah! That's the color of my dress when I was younger!"

"Dress?" Poniko repeated suspiciously.

"Not my idea," Italy countered. "It's got the female symbol on it too… You think?"

Holy Rome shrugged, although Italy could see he was trying not to smile.

"I wanna see what it does!" Monoko squealed loudly.

"It seems interesting," Monoe commented in her dignified way. "Perhaps it's useful."

Italy groaned and walked a little into a spaceship nearby. He found a man with black hair in a black jumpsuit. His white hands ran over his piano, playing a beautiful melody that Italy had frankly gotten tired of hearing.

"Good morning, Masada-sensei," Italy greeted. The man stopped playing and turned to the country, his right eyes focusing in the upper-left corner of the room and his left eye in the opposite direction. He gave Italy a friendly smile and pressed a happy-sounding key on his piano.

So he was well.

It seemed like a good time to talk. As his four companions entered the room, Italy asked, "Um, I'm sorry to bother you but I need advice."

Masada cocked his head.

"Uh, I'm sort of nervous about using this effect near Poniko and Monoko so…what do I do?"

Monoe huffed and looked away at the absence of her name.

Masada played a high-pitched note: yes.

Italy groaned. "I should? Holy Rome knows what it is, but…" He clutched the effect nervously.

"Do it!" Monoko screeched.

Italy flinched at her sudden command and sighed, turning back to them. The effect shimmered in his hands as he began to shrink, his clothes changing.

"Mmph…" Poniko covered her mouth like she did when she tried to hide a laugh. Holy Rome rocked back and forth on his feet and blushed.

"This is what I looked like when I was younger," Italy muttered. "Get over it, already."

You look so adorable!" Monoko gasped. "I love your dress! Can I borrow it?"

Italy looked down at his child-like self. Although he was still almost a teenager, he still looked incredible girly, much to his dismay. And much to the girl's delight.

Masada quickly played two repeating notes.

"Don't laugh!" Italy snapped, his face turning red. "It's not nice…"

Holy Rome walked up and patted Italy's arm: I think you look fine.

Italy looked up him. (Although the empire was only slightly taller than him as a chibi, it still annoyed him that he was shorter now.) "You're used to it," Italy sighed. "None of my other friends would laugh."

Everyone wiped their smiles off their faces. They knew by "friends" he meant one person in particular.

Italy turned back into his normal self, the effect appearing back in his hand. He handed it to Holy Rome.

"Uh, yeah," Poniko said awkwardly. "Let's keep moving."

Italy gave her a shy smile. She really did look like Germany. If you really looked. He shook his head. Now wasn't the time.

"Can we go back to my cave first?" Monoko asked. "It's nice there!"

"It's creepy there," Italy replied.

"Bleh!" she stuck out her tongue and led them out of the space ship, accompanied by a song that sounded like a death march, curtsey of Masada-sensei.

*DID YOU KNOW THERE ARE A LOT OF CONNECTIONS TO ITALY IN YUME NIKKI?! Like Poniko looks like Germany, Takofuusen looks like a twin with TRAP syndrome (AKA Italy's twisted version of his big bro) and etc. etc. So whaddaya think? Please let me know!*