We're only on chapter 14? O.o This is gonna be a short fanfic.

Chapter 14: Trauma Center

The hospital was a maze of hallways. Each one looked identical, and Reala was getting discouraged. He was worried that even if they did find the portal creator, they might not have time to find their way back and it would be too late. The thought of losing NiGHTS…it was unbearable to him. Tears of rage stung his eyes. This was all Jackle's fault. "YOU MANIAC!" he roared at the silent jester.

Jackle jumped in surprise and cowered against the wall.

Reala towered over him and continued, "If you had fixed the portal creator, NiGHTS wouldn't be dying! And if you hadn't lost it, NiGHTS STILL WOULDN'T BE DYING!" His heart felt like it was going to explode. He couldn't even control his breathing. "If she dies, so help me Wizeman, I WILL kill you!"

"Reala! Calm down!" Claris and Elliot said as they tried to pull Reala away from Jackle.

"No!" Reala struggled against the former Visitors. "You don't understand!"

Clawz stood between Jackle and Reala. "We don't have time for you to be emo right now!" he told him severely. "We need to concentrate on the task at hand, and you're wasting precious seconds bickering!"

Reala stopped struggling and collapsed on the floor, panting. "You're right." He said after a moment. He got up to continue searching, when Dr. House limped towards them.

The doctor stated, "Ok, after a lot of thought, I've decided not to call the media. They might start asking me questions, and I don't want anyone to know that I faked my death and snuck into Japan to continue my medical practices."

Reala stared at him silently for a few seconds. Then he asked suspiciously, "Are you a real doctor?"

House answered, "No, I am a fictional doctor, and I'm ok with that."

A nurse walked up to them and said to House, "Your replacement came. He said you could go home now."

Hugh Laurie—I mean, Dr. House furrowed his brows. "I didn't call for a replacement…"

"Oh." The nurse looked befuddled. "He told me he was, then he went into your patient's room. I think he was carrying a syringe."

House raised an eyebrow. "Uh, maybe he lied?"

Reala and his friends glanced at each other in shock. "NiGHTS!"

"But we also have to find the portal creator!" Elliot reminded. "Maybe we should split up."

"Fine." House directed, "You, your robotic pet owl, and the stage 1 fangirl, go look for your portal thingy. The rest of you freaks come with me." Because he was limping and using a cane, it was easy for Reala, Clawz, and Jackle to outrun him in the general direction of NiGHTS' room.

Reala leapt up the stairs, two at a time. He wondered if Wizeman was behind this. After all he'd done so far, he wouldn't be surprised. Finally, he and his friends made it to the hallway where the room was. To their surprise they saw Dr. House waiting for them up ahead.

"Took you long enough." House commented boredly.

Reala cocked his head. "How did you…?"

House pointed his cane at the elevator beside them.

"Oh." The three Nightmaren-humans ran to the room with House and burst through the door.

Wizeman was cradling NiGHTS in his arms, the way a father cradled his child. "Shhh…" he whispered to them tauntingly with a dark smile. "NiGHTS is sleeping. Muhahaha…"

"I knew it was you!" Reala declared. He tried to take a step forward, but Cerberus jumped in front of him, snarling. Despite him being a single-headed dog, he still had the ferocious fangs that would make anyone tremble. The rest of Wizeman's Nightmarens surrounded the small group, blocking their exit.

House glanced around, seeing no escape. "Ah crap."

Reala froze where he was and stared in apprehension at NiGHTS' limp body. "What have you done to her?!"

"Hush, Reala. I have decided not to kill her yet." Wizeman replied.

"Huh?" The red jester was relieved, but confused. Then he noticed the unused syringe on the table. "Why?" he asked warily.

Wizeman explained, "You see, I was about to, but then I learned of her pregnancy. This was an opportunity I couldn't pass up."

"What are you talking about?"

"A Nightmaren born from two First-Level Nightmarens! Just think of the power it could possess!" Wizeman went on greedily. "It may even be able to replace all those wretched low-lives."

Reala heard a few gulps from the Marens surrounding them.

Wizeman grinned evilly at Reala. "And in time, who knows? It might make a loyal servant…"

Reala yelled in rage and lunged forward, forgetting about Cerberus. The huge dog clamped his jaws shut on Reala's leg, causing him to collapse on the floor. "ARGH!" Reala squeezed his hands around his wound. "DAMN YOU, WIZEMAN!"

Clawz sighed, "Again with the swearing…"

Wizeman looked down at Reala spitefully. "Face it, Reala, you wouldn't make a good father anyway."

"I'd be a whole lot better than you!"

"And NiGHTS may be loving, but she's so naïve and oblivious."

"SHUT UP!" Reala struggled to stand, but his leg was bleeding badly.

House offered, "Need a cane?" as he held out his.

Reala gratefully took it. "Thanks." He gripped the handle tightly and with a quick swing, he whacked Wizeman hard on the head.

"OWWW!" roared Wizeman in pain as he stumbled backwards.

Reala handed the cane back to House. "Here you go."

House just stared at him quizzically.

Clawz shook his head somberly. "He'll never use objects for their intended purpose."

Wizeman managed to recover from the blow. "You DARE insult me?"

"Kinda weird that you still have to ask that, but yeah." responded Reala.

"Then it's about time that I kill you right now! Nightmarens, ATTACK!" Wizeman ordered.

A big battle ensued. Reala, filled with determination, forgot about his injured leg and used Kung Fu: Jester Style. Clawz used Fury Swipes. Jackle used Water Gun (with a water gun he bought at the pharmacy). And the opponents used their signs.

"There's too many of them!" Clawz cried, desperately trying to dodge the signs and feet smashing down.

Reala was struggling with Chamelan when he noticed that House was sitting in a chair watching something inappropriate on his laptop. "A little help, please?" he strained.

House sighed in irritation as he reluctantly closed his laptop and got out of the chair.

Chamelan was about to bring his sign down on Reala, when a blade sliced the white board off, close to Chamelan's fingers.

"Good thing I brought my ax cane." House said, holding his cane that now had an ax blade protruding from one end. But even with House cutting up all the Nightmarens' signs, the enemies still inflicted damage by poking our heroes rather hard with their sticks! …It's not how it sounds, you dirty-minded people.

Just as Reala thought it was the end, the door swung open. Claris, Elliot, and Owl stared in shock at the scene in front of them. Elliot shouted, "CHARGE!" and he joined the fray with Claris.

Owl hesitated nervously. "Um, are you sure we—HOO!" His wings flailed in surprise as Elliot grabbed his leg and pulled him into the brawl.

The fight was fairer now, but more intense. The evil Nightmarens decided to ditch their signs and used better tactics. Gulpo and Girania tried to leap up and snap at anyone who came close enough to their tank. Bomamba threw her cats around crazily. Chamelan flung his sharp cards in a way that rivaled Jackle's card abilities. Cerberus was mostly going after Clawz, as they were a dog and cat, respectively. Donbalon and Puffy were blocking the exits. Queen Bella was using her last surviving weapon: homemade nun-chucks. And Gillwing was…feebly trying to scratch at the legs of his enemies.

Bomamba saw this and asked him with a new sign, "You're a Komodo Dragon, so why don't you just eat them?"

Gillwing, who found a way to write with the marker in his mouth, replied sheepishly, "Nervous stomach."

Jackle ran out of water in his water gun, and his heart sank. Now he didn't have anything to douse himself if he spontaneously combusted. And he doubted there was enough space in this crowded room for him to stop, drop, and roll. He felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned around to see Chamelan smirking at him with a card in his hand. Jackle narrowed his eyes and picked up his own card. It was time to d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-duel!

While they were playing Yu-Gi-Oh with their homemade character cards, Reala was squaring off against Queen Bella. She was agile and ninja-like, and he was already hugely disadvantaged with his injured leg. Still, he was able to get rid of her cheap nun-chucks with his brawn. They were soon in a fistfight, though neither of them seemed to be landing any hits.

Back with the card fanatics, Chamelan had just placed down his next card while mouthing, "Shadow the Hedgehog!"

Jackle frowned, as he didn't have any cards that could beat Shadow. Then he got an idea and grabbed a blank card and drew on it with some crayons. He proudly placed it down while mouthing, "Reala the Nightmaren!"

Chamelan glared at Jackle, then quickly scribbled up a new card. "Chamelan the Nightmaren!" he mouthed.

"You're not better than Reala!" mouthed Jackle.

Chamelan countered, "Yes I am! My boss fight with NiGHTS is way more complicated!" (They're still mouthing, by the way.)

"How so?"

"I use evil cards, and chameleons are awesome!"

"…Not as awesome as Jackle!" he slammed down a Jackle card.

"No one can beat Wizeman!"

"Except for MY Wizeman card!"

Both of them put down Wizeman cards at the same time.

"Mine's better!" said Chamelan.

"No, mine is!"

"MINE!"

"Let's get a second opinion." Jackle looked around. "Reala! I need help!" Then he realized he was still mouthing. "Oh." And THEN he realized that Wizeman was sneaking up on Reala with the syringe in his hand, and Reala wasn't aware as he was still fighting Bella. Jackle waved his hands, trying to get Reala's attention.

Chamelan was confused. "What are you doing?"

But Jackle was desperately trying to warn Reala. If it wasn't so crowded, Jackle would be able to go up to Reala. Even if he tried now, he wouldn't make it in time because Wizeman was about to stab him with the needle. Finally, Jackle pushed aside his own fears about what might happen to himself and he screamed, "REALA BEHIND YOU!"

To be continued…