7. Unhelpful Help

Tails and Amy wandered around the park a bit, looking out for any more unfamiliar creatures. When they reached the snack bar at the front entrance Tails' stomach reminded him that he'd never eaten any lunch. Tails was uneasy about sitting near the other children eating ice cream and popcorn at the picnic tables, so he and Amy took their food back into the park. Finding a couple of trees in a grassy spot, they sat down to eat. The fox cub kept looking around as he chewed.

"Relax, Tails," said the pink hedgehog sensibly. "I'm looking past you, and you're looking past me, so nothing's going to sneak up on us without one of us seeing it. And don't say it can sneak down from above, because you're looking up so much I'm surprised you don't have mustard on your throat from missing your mouth. And you're going to pour your soda in your lap if you don't watch out."

Tails grimaced, nodded, looked suspiciously at the ground - then jumped as something bapped him on the head. He grabbed at it, and realized it was a wadded-up napkin. He glared at Amy who was carefully looking everywhere but at him while trying to keep a straight face. Then the two broke up into giggles.

"Okay, so you're right," he admitted, "but what am I going to do? I don't dare go home - or anywhere else - and try to sleep because they might sneak up on me. And I don't think things that are hurling lightning bolts are exactly safe to have around other people, and I don't want anyone to get hurt just by being around me."

"Which is why the first thing you did when they showed up was lead them to my house?"

"No! Well, I mean, I knew you wouldn't let them hurt you. You can take care of yourself, and I did warn you when I arrived. But, say we were sitting with those kids back there," he waved in the general direction of the snack bar. "What do you think would happen if those eels and sheep-things turned up there?"

Amy nodded. Putting her drink on the ground beside her, she propped her chin in her hands. "Rouge was talking about putting rubber mats on all the surfaces in her night club," she said thoughtfully. Then she sat up with a little gasp, looking over the fox cub's shoulder. Tails twisted around.

The figure there was similar in general appearance to the one they'd seen earlier, that had called itself Reala. The coloring was very different, however. The skin, although pale, was a more life-like tone than the underbelly white of Reala. The clothing was trimmed in pink and purple, rather than red and black. The eyes were a dreamy blue, also surmounted by a jester cap, but this hat was striped in lavender and violet. The cap came down in an exaggerated imitation of a widow's peak to hide where the nose should be. The arms were folded guardedly across the chest, and expression on the face was downright sulky.

"Hello," said Tails, as cheerfully as he could manage. Why does this one seem familiar? It's not just that it looks like Reala, I don't think. "Can we, um, help you?"

The mouth twitched, and the being glowered at the little fox. "Tell me I can go," it said suddenly, in a light, androgynous voice. "Tell me you don't want my help, and that I may go where I please."

Tails blinked. Of a number of possible responses, that was certainly not one the fox had considered. "Um," he said again, at a loss.

"What help don't we want?" asked Amy. "And who are you, anyway?"

The creature scowled. "My name is Knights. And I'm supposed to help him," a finger flicked at Tails above the folded arms, "get oriented in the dream world."

"But–," started Amy.

"But I'm not dreaming," Tails overrode her. "Am I?"

"Nope, you're not," agreed NiGHTS hurriedly, "so you don't need my help. Goodbye!"

"Hey!" protested Tails as the strange stranger leaped into the air and started to soar away. And the memory clicked. Knights? NiGHTS! NiGHTS into Dreams, that game in Casinopolis that Sonic liked so much! This - person - looks like the game mascot! Sonic loved the pinball game; Tails didn't particularly care for it, but he did remember the main character, particularly that leaping pose as NiGHTS took flight. Come to think of it, Reala's picture might have been in there too. The fox glanced at Amy, and with a little growl of irritation, told her, "Wait here." Twirling his tails determinedly, he took off after NiGHTS.

The peculiar being was flying rapidly northward, but Tails put all his effort into catching up with - him? Her? It, maybe. Whatever the pronoun was, Tails was going to catch up. He was unexpectedly aided by the fact that NiGHTS suddenly slowed speed and dropped altitude, apparently looking at something on the ground. And then picked up speed, doing a barrel roll, and then a backwards loop. Tails slowed himself momentarily, until he realized that NiGHTS wasn't paying attention to anything around –him. Him, he repeated mentally, I've got to call him something, and 'it' would be rude, and 'her' doesn't seem quite right. Reala, by comparison, is definitely a him. Tails increased his speed, tailicoptering beneath NiGHTS while the other was sculling along through the air on his back, and popped up about ten feet ahead of the purple hat. NiGHTS, completely unaware of the fox, glided on toward him. "I didn't say you could go," said Tails.

The reaction was rather amusing. NiGHTS tried to simultaneously sit up in midair, while looking 'up' at Tails, and managed a peculiar sort of fold-and-drop, that turned into a belly-flop as NiGHTS tried to roll back right-side-up. It required several seconds for him to reorient himself, and 'stand' in front of the hovering fox.

"That was NOT funny," he announced.

"Yes it was," replied the fox cub, feeling uncharacteristically perverse. "Anyway, I wanted to ask you some questions. The main one being, why are the dreams coming real? I mean, I dream about strange things all the time, but they don't usually come and attack me during the day. You said you were supposed to help me get oriented in the dream world. Was I supposed to have gone there, only it came here somehow?" And why do you look like a pinball mascot, although that's probably not an important one right now.

"You go to the dream world in your dreams," said NiGHTS, with the air of one who'd just been asked what water was by someone floating in a lake. "Or rather, everyone sees Nightopia when they dream, but most people don't actually go there, and those who can usually can't affect it. But when the Nightmarens want to expand their lands, they have to use real-world people to do so, because most Nightmarens can't get into Nightopia without human or dokan assistance."

Tails was rather surprised to actually get an answer. Admittedly, half of it sounded like nonsense, but as long as this NiGHTS creature seemed inclined to give him any, he figured he'd better pursue the matter. "'Nightmarens' sounds like 'nightmare'. Those electric eel-things and the sheep, they were Nightmarens, weren't they? Monsters from bad dreams?"

"Exactly." There was a faint jingle as the purple cap nodded. "Everyone sees them differently, since they appear as something a given dreamer fears. The Eelons and Sheeck are only two types of third-level Nightmarens. They're not very smart - they basically can identify the person they're supposed to torment, and torment them, and that's about it. Then when you run, they can follow you, right on across the borders of Nightopia, and where one goes, the rest can too, changing the world as they do. But– " NiGHTS hesitated, tugging lightly at one tip of his hat. "Here is the problem. Now they're out in the waking world, they aren't able to - well, we don't know what they'll do. We're not sure if others can follow them, we aren't sure if the world can be converted to Nightmare like Nightopia can, but most importantly, there are too many people here. Even if you dream about other people, there's still only one real person in your dream."

"So you don't know if they'll stay focused on me, or wander off and attack anybody who's passing,"guessed Tails. "Um, look, you might be able to just hang there in the air, but my tails are getting tired. Can we go down and talk?"

NiGHTS started to nod, then reached out towards the little fox. "Take my hand," he invited. Tails sharp ears picked up a certain amount of anticipation in the other's tone, but he seemed friendly enough, so the cub placed his own gloved hand in NiGHTS'. And, to NiGHTS' apparent astonishment, nothing happened. The hand slipped out of Tails' grip as the peculiar being did a backwards loop, then spiraled twice around Tails. Returning to the front of the cub, NiGHTS reached out again, with a hint of trepidation, to touch the puzzled fox's still-outstretched hand. Again, nothing happened. As the blue eyes beneath the purple cap widened in alarm, nothing continued to happen. Tails realized that if he didn't land soon he was going to plummet, so he started to drift downward. NiGHTS, still clearly bewildered, descended with him. The jester continued down when his feet hit the ground, collapsing into a seated position. He seemed to have forgotten Tails, staring at his gloved hands and clapping them lightly together.

"Tails!" Amy ran up, panting and waving her hammer. She glowered in NiGHTS direction, then lowered her weapon, staring at the dismayed jester. "What's going on? Is she all right? And," she dropped her voice, "isn't she the mascot of that big hotel downtown in Westopolis?"

"She?" Tails looked at the jester again. It was sort of like one of those optical illusion pictures. If you looked at NiGHTS with the thought in your mind that the jester was female, 'she' looked like an athletic female with an alto voice, but if you readjusted the pronoun to 'him', then NiGHTS became a rather youngish male with a light tenor pitch. Tails shook his head, then rubbed his eyes. Amy was frowning at NiGHTS now, and the fox cub realized that his automatic question had made her re-evaluate her own impression.

The pink hedgehog snorted, and marched up to the seated figure. "Excuse me," she said, asking the question that Tails never would have dared, "are you a 'he' or a 'she'?"

NiGHTS didn't seem to hear her at first, then looked up. "Hold out your hand."

Amy glanced at Tails, who shrugged. She looked back at NiGHTS, and with a shrug of her own, held out her free hand. NiGHTS touched his palm to hers. Nothing happened.

"What's supposed to happen?" asked Tails. "You clearly expect something to happen, so what is it?"

NiGHTS stood up - or rather, rose to a standing position. As with Reala, NiGHTS' boots didn't quite touch the ground. "I'm not sure I can explain it. I'm not either, by the way," the jester said, turning to Amy. "Male and female are waking-world concepts. In Nightopia - or Nightmare - we simply are ourselves. Generally if I'm assisting someone, they see me as the same as they are, but you can call me whichever you like. I– I was designed to relate to both genders."

"Designed?"

NiGHTS drifted back and forth as if pacing, ignoring Amy's remark. Eventually the jester stopped in front of Tails, looking down at him. "I told you, I'm supposed to help orient visitors to the dream world. Part of that is Dualizing with them. We touch hands, and then we Dualize."

"But what is Dualizing?"

"We sort of - become one. That is, the visitor's dream-self merges with me and disappears, but they can use my powers to fly and do things, and we can still talk and everything." NiGHTS trailed off a bit uncertainly. The two dokan were staring.

"That sounds kind of . . . creepy to me. Besides, if you're supposed to help Tails, then why are those sheep and eel-things trying to attack him, huh?" demanded Amy. She edged slightly between Tails and NiGHTS, hammer still firmly in hand.

"Their task is to plague the visitor until they meet me, and he hadn't met me yet. They're third-level Nightmarens. It is their duty to pursue dreamers; they feed on fear and hopelessness, and use both to extend the reach of Nightmare."

"And they've extended it here?"

"No, Nightmare is not– It only– Arrgh! I'm not supposed to have to explain things! Dreamers don't ask so many questions." NiGHTS crossed his arms and turned his back on the dokan.

"It extends into Nightopia," said Tails slowly. "As Nightmare grows, Nightopia shrinks, is that it?"

"Yes!" NiGHTS rose into the air and twirled with relief.

"So now that you're here, these third-level things will go away?" Amy persisted. "Or do they attack and you do something to them? And are they going to attack anyone else, since there's only supposed to be one real person at a time?"

NiGHTS paused in mid twirl, then sat cross-legged in the air. "That's what we don't know. The situation is . . . has changed. What is supposed to happen, is that they chase me after the dreamer and I have Dualized and we use my power to cast them back to Nightmare. And no, before you ask, I don't know if I can do that now. It is very annoying."

"So you can't 'cast them back' unless you're Dualized?" asked Tails thoughtfully.

"No, any time I make a loop around them, they go; but while I can still loop them and send them somewhere, I don't know where I'm sending them anymore."

"You keep saying 'we'. Is that you and Reala?"

NiGHTS made a face. "Yes."

"So you're from Nightopia, and he's from Nightmare?" interjected Amy.

"Hmm," replied NiGHTS. The jester suddenly rose higher into the air, attention apparently caught by something beyond the trees. After a moment, NiGHTS dropped back to about the dokans' eye-level. "Yes. Reala is the servant of Wizeman, who rules Nightmare, and he gives orders to the second- and third-level Nightmarens. I live in Nightopia, with the lesser Nightopians." Tails flicked a glance at Amy, and met one she was flicking at him. She shook her head fractionally. Okay, don't press him, but I think he just didn't admit to being a Nightmaren himself, and she caught it too.

"Does that make Reala a first-level Nightmaren? What's the difference in the levels, just rank?" asked the pink hedgehog.

"Oh no, it's much more than that. The third-levels are just drones. They haven't any intelligence, just the ability to identify their target and a basic instinct to pursue and attack it. Most can't even sense their targets unless they're pretty close, but that's balanced out by the fact that there are so many of them, they don't need to be very smart or capable. They end up either catching the target or herding them in the direction of a second-level Nightmaren's lair. The second-levels are a lot smarter, and tend to have - hmmm - a domain that encompasses several of the third-level types. The second-levels are like spiders, waiting at the center of a web or the end of a funnel. In the case of Queen Bella, literally. They've got more power and more cunning, but still don't do much more that go after the target once it comes into their range." NiGHTS had sunk lower and was now sitting cross-legged an inch above the ground, sketching a funnel-shaped net in the dirt. There was a pause, while the two dokan waited for him to continue. With a sigh, he finally did so, "Reala is unique among Wizeman's servants. He is fully intelligent and slavishly loyal. He also will not hesitate to turn any weakness of the dreamer," the jester cocked an eye at Tails, then frowned momentarily at Amy, "or your friend, to his advantage. He will deceive you if he can, to spread the realm of Nightmare and the rule of Wizeman ever further."

"You said," started Tails slowly, "that the Nightmaren goal was to basically overwrite Nightopia with Nightmare. Can they do that into our world?"

"And where does the dream caster fit into all this?" Amy added. "Or is he this Wizeman character?"

NiGHTS blinked. "The Dreamcaster isn't a person. It's a small stone that has the abil– Are you all right?"

Tails had clapped both hands over his face with a groan. "Don't tell me," he said, "it's a small striped stone the shape of your hat."

"YES!" shouted the pastel jester. "You've seen it? Where is it?" NiGHTS erupted from his sitting position to spin a tight loop around the two-tailed fox.

"Well, uh," Tails stammered, rather alarmed by the dream-being's response. "Um, actually–"

"Yes, yes," interrupted NiGHTS, "where is it!?"

Tails gulped and said in a small voice, "At the bottom of the ocean."

"WHAT!?" NiGHTS spun on the small dokan, his blue eyes seeming to glow in fury. Tails couldn't move.