Thanks for all your positive reviews, I shall keep going. :)
Chapter Two: En Why See
NiGHTS, Reala, and Jackle landed on a hard surface in a dark alley somewhere. They groaned in pain and got up slowly.
"What happened?" Reala asked, rubbing his head where it hit something during the fall.
All of a sudden, Jackle screamed.
"What? What?" NiGHTS and Reala asked quickly.
"I HAVE NO IDEA!"
NiGHTS and Reala just groaned again.
"Perhaps I can help clarify the situation?" a mysterious voice said from behind them.
They turned around and saw a man standing there. He was wearing a dark blue suit and security-guard-like sunglasses. His hair was silver and spiked slightly. When he spoke, his voice was deep and gruff.
Reala blinked. "Who the heck are you?"
The man ignored him and turned to NiGHTS. "Congraulations on winning the Sweepstakes. In case you're wondering, the place you win a trip to is here: the real world."
"The real world?!" NiGHTS, Reala, and Jackle exclaimed.
Then Jackle asked, "What's the real world?"
Reala looked at Jackle. "You're kidding, right?"
The man answered, "It is the world where Visitors live when they are awake."
"Visitors?" NiGHTS looked around. "But I don't see any. And where exactly are we?"
"You are currently in an alley." the man replied. "But as for your global location, I do not know."
Jackle shrugged. "Oh well. Might as well go look around!"
"No!" Reala said quickly. He grabbed Jackle's arm before he could take off. Wait...Jackle's arm? Reala stared at the arm in his hand. He could tell Jackle was looking at it too becasuse when he looked up slowly, Jackle did too and their eyes met the same befuddled stare. Reala let go. "Where did THAT come from??"
Jackle looked at himself and his eyes went wide when he realized he had a body. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!!!" He began to jump around wildly.
Reala tried to grabbed Jackle in order to restrain him, but Jackle accidentally hit him in the face while he was jumping about. "OW!" Reala covered his nose with his hands. ...And then he realized he HAD a nose. He felt the new body part of his face and he too began to yell. "HOLY SH--!" But he was cut off when Jackle jumped into him, knocking them both over.
The man explained, "Since Nightmarens don't exist in the real world, you have all been turned into humans during your journey through the portal."
"Humans?!"
"That is correct."
Reala examined himself. He was still wearing his jester's outfit, but his form was that of a 20-year-old man. He got up and shuddered. "I don't like this whole concept."
Jackle cautiously looked over his new body. He was wearing a black burglar-like outfit. He even had that black woolen mask that burglars wear. He whimpered, "I'm scared."
NiGHTS suddenly looked up from analyzing his VERY different body. "Guys, I just realized something!" He put 'his' hands over 'his' chest. "I'm a girl!"
Reala put a hand over his face and shook his head in embarrassment. "Oh man."
Jackle just raised an eyebrow that he now had.
The man went on to explain, "Your genders were determined by what was circled on the form."
"But I circled both genders for mine." NiGHTS (who will from now on be refered to as 'she') pointed out.
"Hmm, really?" The man took out the form from his pocket and unfolded it. "Lessee here..." He read over the part where NiGHTS circled the genders. "Nope. You clearly circled only female."
NiGHTS wasn't convinced. "Give me that." She took the paper and looked carefully at it. Then she knew what went wrong. "Oh, I see. The ink didn't show up when I circled male." She gave the paper back to the man and shrugged. "Oh well, that doesn't matter. I was always on the feminine side anyway."
"At least you were smart enough to make me male." Reala said.
"Thank you!" NiGHTS responded, thinking Reala gave her a compliment.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm hungry!" Jackle announced. He started to turn to the mysterious man and asked, "Do you know any-- huh???"
But the man was gone.
"Hey, where'd he go?" NiGHTS asked, looking around.
"He just...disappeared..." Reala then sighed. "Guess we're on our own, now."
NiGHTS started walking towards the end of the alley. "Well, let's find out where we are. Then we can ask for help."
"AND PLAY CARDS!" Jackle added, following her.
Reala stayed behind. "Uh, no. I wanna stay here. Where it's safe."
"Come on, don't be such a..." NiGHTS paused, searching for the right word. Then she got an idea. "I'm not gonna say it. It might hurt your feelings."
That's what got Reala's attention. "What? What is it?" he demanded.
"Actually, I think I'm gonna tell Jackle."
"OOOH! Tell me!"
"NO!" Reala ran after NiGHTS, who was already running to the street outside of the alley.
Once NiGHTS came out of the alley, she stopped. And looked.
Reala caught up to her and was about to say something, but he then saw what she was staring at.
Buildings. Lights. Noise. People. EVERYWHERE!
And the first thing NiGHTS asked was, "Where are all the Nightopians?"
"You fool!" Reala scolded. "We're in the REAL world!"
NiGHTS giggled. "Oh yeah, I forgot."
Jackle complained, "I'm still hungry and I still want to play cards!"
Glancing around, Reala could see humans giving them odd stares. "Guys, people are watching..." He muttered to his friends.
"Then let's get out of here and find somewhere more private!" NiGHTS suggested. She leaped high in the air...
...and fell flat on her face.
Jackle exploded in laughter. "NiGHTS, you forgot how to fly! THIS is how you do it!" He leaped high in the air...
...and fell flat on his face. "OW! WHAT THE??"
Reala then snickered, "Well, it's been great, but I think I'm gonna leave you behind now. Toodle-loo!" He leaped high in the air...
...and also fell flat on his face. "DAMN!" Then he remembered. "Oh yeah, we're humans! And that means..." he waited for someone to answer.
"Coconuts do taste better when you're hungry?" Jackle guessed.
Reala slapped him in frustration. "Humans can't FLY!" He was mad that he himself even forgot that.
NiGHTS was in shock. "But how? The kids from my two previous adventures could fly on their own!" She then gasped. "Does that mean I lost my Red Ideya???"
Jackle replied, "Nope! The shard is still on your chest. Or rather, it's hanging by a string on your chest."
NiGHTS looked and saw the Red Ideya shard. "Oh, how did I not notice that before?" She realized then that she was wearing it as a necklace. "Hmm, maybe that's why..."
"You guys are so dumb." Reala sneered. "OBVIOUSLY, we can't fly because the only place we can fly is in our dreams."
"Oh." NiGHTS thought for a second, then said, "Well maybe if we fall asleep, we'll be able to fly somewhere else!"
"Good idea!" Jackle agreed. "Let's fall asleep." he closed his eyes and lied down. "...Any minute now." Time passed. "I think I feel it coming..."
"Jackle, get up. You're embarrassing yourself." Reala said, still aware of all the awkward stares. He started walking down the sidewalk. "It's late. Let's find a place to stay for the night."
"Ok!" NiGHTS and Jackle followed him.
A few minutes later, they still didn't know where they were, and Reala was getting more and more annoyed by the stares.
And then he couldn't take it anymore. "STOP STARING AT ME! AIN'T YOU AIN'T NEVER SEEN A JESTER BEFORE?!"
People nearby flinched and quickly resumed their walking, and people from the other side of the street looked over to see what was happening.
Jackle grabbed Reala's arm and led him along, saying, "Reala, you're embarrassing yourself."
Reala glared at Jackle but said nothing.
"Besides," NiGHTS started, "there's a much calmer way of getting attention." To prove her point, she asked someone who was walking by, "Excuse me, sir, can you tell us where we are?"
The guy looked strangely at the three humans for a second, then continued to walk by, muttering, "Freak alert."
NiGHTS frowned. "Or not."
Jackle turned around and to the guy he yelled angrily, "YEAH! AND A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU TOO, SMILELY!"
NiGHTS shushed him. "Maybe we're not doing something right."
Reala turned to a guy sitting on a bench and pointed to him. "You. Mortal. Where are we? And I want an answer! Now!"
The guy slowly looked up and cooly replied, "Ain't you clowns ever heard of NYC?"
"En Why See?" Jackle repeated, wrinkling his new nose. "What does that even mean?"
"N-Y-C. New York City?"
"Ohhhhhhh!" The three jesters finally understood.
Then NiGHTS asked, "Is it anywhere near Nightopia?"
Reala snapped, "For the love of all things common sense, WE'RE IN THE REAL WORLD!!"
NiGHTS took a step away from Reala and rubbed her arm. "Sheesh, you don't have to yell."
Jackle then hollered, "I'M STILL HUNGRY!"
One person muttered as she walked past them, "What a bunch of bozos."
Fuming, Reala was about to punch the lady in the face and shout something innapropriate, but he was stopped by NiGHTS.
"I think we should get some sleep. That way, we'll be fresh and alert in the morning." NiGHTS told him.
"Like Spring Valley daisies." Reala mumbled sarcastically.
To make things short, they decided to go back to the alley to sleep for the night.
This chapter was longer than I expected. What did you think? And yeah, NiGHTS is now a girl.
