Chapter 73: Dave's Nightmarish Premonition
My nightmare started as a normal dream, but it ended up being brutal and tragic... and there was nothing I could do about it. It began with me and my friends starting up another day of the search for that Yog and we were all in the Tetra together, waiting to decide on which country to look into next. At first, I couldn't tell if this was supposed to be the second day, or some day that came after that. So, I just rolled with it until it was said. "So now it's day four... ... With England and some of the other more isolated European countries checked off… where should we look for the Yog next?" Ex brought in the question. "Russia is far too big for us to cover in just one day, so that's not an appealing choice." Klug made an obvious, but good point. "Hm… … What about Australia?" Ringo suggested. "No, that's also too big for us to cover in a single day, Ringo." I told her. "Then what about Japan? We've been there before, so some of us know certain places there." Feli made her own suggestion. "Hey, that's a great idea! Japan is a small and isolated country and I've lived there in the past. I know Japan quite well, not just Ikebukuro. Thanks for the suggestion, Feli!" Ringo felt great and hugged her. "G-geez, Ringo… I didn't think you would hug me at a time like this." Feli blushed in slight embarrassment.
I did think that it was rather sweet to see Ringo hugging Feli like that. "I didn't think that we would come back to Japan…" Ex commented. "Yeah… but this time, we're going there for a serious reason." I nodded and said. "And we're goin' with ya as well." Lemres added. That's right... Lemres, Raffina, Klug, Sig, Lidelle, Ms. Accord, Rulue, Satan, and the Tetra crew, excluding Ex… Oh, and I guess Schezo too. None of them came with us during our first visit. The only one who isn't here with us is... Draco. ... That's okay, she doesn't need to get involved in this. We just need to find this Yog SOB and defeat it. We flew the Tetra around and arrived in Japan not too long after that. For the sake of familiarity, we stopped somewhere outside the Tokyo area and then exited the ship. "So, which way do we go first?" I asked. "We're gonna go through Tokyo and make our way to one of the less populated areas. I'm not too sure which one we should look at first, but I was thinking of Kawagoe in Saitama. It's pretty much the closest one from Tokyo…" Ringo told me.
Huh... that could work out for us. "That COULD be a possible place for the Yog to be hiding at... After all, Kawagoe is often overshadowed by Tokyo, from what I know regarding my world, anyway." I nodded slowly. "It generally is, Dave; it's rooted deeply in Japan's history." Ringo nodded to me. "Alright, Kawagoe it is then! Let's get a move on before we lose any more time. We should actually get back inside the ship and make our way there. Ringo, lead Ess to Kawagoe for me, will you?" Ex said before stepping back into the ship. We all went back inside and flew to Kawagoe. This city we were going to was known for having many of Japan's historic buildings. As one may expect, this city is more about historical significance than technological advancement. As we landed, we saw the wonders of old Japan. "Woah... this place looks great!" Amitie looked.
All of us went out and prepared ourselves for the search at hand. Snow slowly fell and blanketed the Kawagoe as we took in our immediate surroundings. "I've never seen anything like this before..." Tee's eyes widened. "This is the cool thing about Japan, Tee. On one hand, you have urbanized cities that are huge; and on the other... you have stuff like this, as well as the small towns in the countryside." Ringo told him. "Well... it's all interesting at the very least, Ringo." Tee observed the buildings. "Forget about how "cool" Japan is. Let's just find that Yog and take it out." Schezo said. "Yeah, Schezo's right... We need to find the Yog before it does anything bad." Arle agreed with him. We all decided to stop talking and get moving by following Ringo. We searched through the city, trying to leave no stone unturned. In the end though, we found nothing serving as a sign that the Yog was there. "Geez... we're STILL not making much progress." Raffina became annoyed.
I can't blame her for getting annoyed... It's ridiculous how little progress we've made in trying to find that damn Yog. Just where IS it? I know that it can just be anywhere in Ringo's world, but we've been looking as hard as we can within the isolated parts of it. It HAS to be in one of these kinds of places, waiting to create chaos. "... Since we seem to be at a loss currently… how about we all eat before doing anything else?" Ex sighed. "Yeah, I'm hungry." Sig plainly said. The others nodded, while I didn't. "Oh, yeah... The only local food here is stuff that Japan is known for, and Dave suffered the last time we had him eat any of it while we were in... Ikebukuro, was it?" The captain remembered as he looked at me. "Yeah, he quickly passed out and stayed like that for a couple of days." Ringo frowned. "I watched him with Ms. Ando and it wasn't a very happy sight." Tarutaru admitted. We stood there for a minute after that, staying silent. Schezo broke the silence by saying something. "Comet Warlock, can't you make candy for Dave to eat? It's not exactly appropriate, but candy is probably the only thing that he CAN eat right now... assuming Dave actually did pass out from eating the local food." He turned to Lemres. "O-oh! Well, I could... I didn't see that happen to Dave, but I think it'll be better if he eats some candy that I can conjure up. ... So, here's some salt water taffy." Lemres went before making some appear. "Th-thanks, Lemres." I took the taffy. "Don't mention it, dude." He smiled.
The others ate the local food while me and Lemres stood away from them. Lemres mostly eats sweets, so it wasn't surprising that he opted not to eat with the others. While we were alone together, Lemres decided to say something. "Dave, can I talk to ya for a bit?" Lemres asked me. "Uh, sure... What do you want to talk about?" I waited for him. "Well… … I jus' had a bad feelin' about today a little while ago, like somethin' terrible's gonna happen. And, I sense that Japan's gonna be a prime victim of it. Nothin' concrete though, jus' a feelin'. Nevertheless, it has me worried." He told me. "... How terrible do you feel like this "something" will be, Lemres?" I wondered. "Probably somethin' quite terrible, Dave. Jus' think back to the encounter we had with that count dude; this might be as bad, if not, worse than him." He answered. "I mean, we killed Vyle for good, all thanks to you. If something does happen, the others can count on you, Me, Ex, and Satan to protect everyone else." I told him. "Well, I can't argue with ya there. I DID turn the count into candy, allowin' all of ya to break him down to pieces… ... Yeah... we can totally deal with whatever comes our way, as long as we have the gumption." He felt better.
We both continued to eat more candy and such before the others were ready to get a move on. Throughout the rest of the afternoon, we searched around the Japanese mainland as much as we could. Once again though, we couldn't find anything out of place. "How many days will it take us to finally find that damn Yog?" I panted. "I dunno... this has easily been the hardest Yog to find." Arle said. "Then what about the Japanese islands?" Ringo brought up. "What? Like Iwo Jima and Okinawa?" I turned to her. "Yeah, them." She nodded. "Let's get back to the ship, we'll need it to reach those islands." Ex began to walk back. The rest of us followed behind and I heard a conversation between Jay and Elle. "Jay, don't you feel like something bad is gonna happen some time later?" Elle asked him, feeling worried. "Yeah, I do... something REALLY bad. I don't like where this is going, Elle." He answered. "Me neither, Jay…" She clung to her twin brother.
At this point, Elle was shaking out of fear of the unknown. "Hold on, do you two really have a bad feeling about something?" I asked them. "Yeah! We don't know what it is, but it's making us scared. I mean, look at my sister." Jay answered. It must be the same bad feeling that Lemres got… "... Don't worry, you two... Nothing bad's gonna happen on our watch. Isn't that right, Lemres?" I told them before briefly turning to Lemres. "Yup, nothin' bad's gonna happen to ya with us by your side. Many o' us are strong and we won't easily give in to somethin'." He backed my words up with his. "... Well, if you're willing to push through stuff, then I won't back down either! And I'll always be with Elle, sticking with her until the end!" Jay felt better. "Jay...!" Elle was surprised. Soon, both twins felt better and were no longer afraid. They smiled and thanked us for making them no longer afraid.
We got back on the ship and flew to Iwo Jima, since that was a smaller island. We approached the island and landed. We viewed our surroundings and knew that we could search the whole island before the day was done. All of us split up in small teams before looking around. I ended up being with Schezo and Lidelle for this. As we looked, we still couldn't find ANYTHING resembling a wicked seed or a Yog. Minutes turned into hours as everyone searched on the clock, but nothing turned up. "... Dave, I'm starting to think that perhaps this fourth Yog is no longer in this world." Schezo told me. "H-huh?! What do you mean?!" I freaked out for a bit. "I sense something very powerful around one of the islands, but it's not a Yog… It's like some essence of power. … Dave, as much as I hate to say it: I have an extremely bad feeling about this. We need to rendezvous with the others immediately." He explained. "Th-that makes me scared for what can of worms we're about to open…" Lidelle shook. "... Lemres told me that he had a bad feeling about something earlier… Is this the same as what he felt?" I thought out loud. "...! What?! Comet Warlock told you that he had a bad feeling about something?! Damn it! Why didn't you tell us, Dave?!" Schezo reacted, then grabbed me by the collar. "W-well, we've pulled through bad stuff in the past…! I figured that we could push through this sort of thing as well..." I told him the truth.
After hearing that, Schezo let go of me and slumped in his stance for a bit. "*sigh* ... If both me AND Comet Warlock ended up getting this same bad feeling, then something is definitely wrong here. This thing might even be more dangerous than Vyle. And remember how dangerous HE was just after you won that fighting tournament… The only reason why we were able to kill him was because of Comet Warlock turning him into candy, as silly as that sounds. Come, we need to tell the others." He said before walking away. Me and Lidelle followed him and we met back up with the rest of the ensemble. "Hey, what's up with Lidelle?" Amitie noticed. "Yeah, she looks rather uneasy…" Raffina added. "... Do you want to tell them? Or should I?" I looked at Schezo. He opted to tell everyone else himself and they all slowly turned to me, as though I did something wrong... except for Lidelle.
I thought of something to say before going with it. "L-look, I didn't think that bad feeling shared by Lemres, the twins, and Schezo would be that bad! After all, we DID kill Vyle for good... and mentioning that made Lemres feel better." I tried defending myself. "Dave, this isn't just another threat that me, Comet Warlock, and those two feel. Whatever this is, it's possibly more dangerous than that vampire lord." Schezo told me. "...! Schezo, do ya think it might be one of those Yogs?" Lemres thought and asked him. "No... This feels... different. I'm not really sure how to explain it. All I can say for certain is that it's not a Yog, Comet Warlock." Schezo answered. "I feel something off as well… it must be whatever you four are sensing." Satan said. "... Where's this something coming from? Surely, one of you must know the general direction of where it's at…" I wondered. "Nope, can't pinpoint where that feelin's comin' fro- … Hey, what's that over there?" Lemres said before turning his head a little.
Soon, he and the rest of us were staring at another island. A purple-colored storm cloud had suddenly appeared over it and the sky went dark. "What in the-? That's not normal..." Klug observed it. "...!" Schezo immediately tensed up. "Ah-! It's that bad feelin'! It's goin' to that island!" Lemres tensed up as well. "*gasp* That island's-" Ringo realized before being interrupted by a loud noise. *boom* Many of us jumped from the boom sound and the next thing we knew, the island we were just looking at caught on fire. "...! Everyone, get inside the ship! NOW!" Ex exclaimed. We made haste, running to the ship as fast as we could. Once everyone was inside, Ess immediately took the wheel. "Ess, take us to that island over there ASAP! People need to be rescued from the fire enveloping those buildings!" The captain told her. "Y-Yes, Captain!" She hurried the takeoff process. Several seconds later, we were in the air and quickly flew to the burning island.
Oh God, this is horrible! What could've summoned that weird storm?! If this thing is more powerful than Vyle, then we're in for a rough time! As we approached the island, something hit the Tetra hard. *boom* "AAAAAAAAH!" We all screamed from the ship flying off course. "Tee, O, what the hell is happening?!" Ex asked them. "Pipipiiiiii!" O continued screaming. "We don't know, Captain! Something hit the right side of the ship and Ai's too scared to elaborate on it!" Tee told him. "YIP! *whine*" Ai shook. "Guys, I can't keep the Tetra afloat! We're all gonna crash on the island's beach!" Ess made us aware. "Crash?! Dammit, I still hate crash landiiiiings!" Ringo went before the ship fell faster. "Shit, shit, shit! This is bad, we're gonna die!" I panicked. "Not on my watch! ... Hah!" Ex ran up to the wheel. Then, we saw him reveal a hidden button. He pressed it, and this caused a waterbed-like cushion to pop up around the ship. "Is that gonna give us a softer landing?!" Amitie faced Ex. "It should, but I don't know for certain!" He told her. "It's better than nothing, at the very-!" Raffina went before we landed.
The force of us landing caused the water cushion to pop and we dropped a little more, hitting the ground. "Oof!" I fell to the Tetra's floor. Just about everyone else fell to the floor as well. "Ugh… ... … Is everyone okay?" Ex got up and looked at us. "... A bit bruised up, but that's about it..." Klug slowly got back up. I'm surprised that Klug's glasses didn't break from the crash. "... …! Captain, the flames are getting larger!" Tee looked outside. "Damn… … Who here has magic that can put fire out?" Ex gritted his teeth. "Me!" Arle quickly answered. "I have something for the fire too!" Amitie jumped to a stance. "Then please, get going! The rest of us will protect the people that haven't escaped. Ringo, be our middleman of sorts. You can speak their language right?" The captain said, then turned to Ringo. "Y-yeah, I can!" She nodded. We all dashed out of the Tetra and began to save the people of this island. Things were going fine for us rescuing them… until something even worse happened. The ground began to shake, as though an earthquake was occurring. "A-an earthquake?!" I exclaimed. Then, an enormous figure slowly formed near us and we were beyond shocked. "... …! No! Why here?! Why now?!" Satan realized what this was. "What is it, Satan?!" Arle asked him. "Arle, don't you remember what that is?! It's-! Shit!" He started to answer, but was soon targeted for an attack.
The attack thankfully missed him, but it hit someone else. "Geh-!" Ringo uttered. "...! Ringo!" I began to rush over to her. "Kyah!" Lidelle got hit as well. "L-Lidelle!" Ex ran to her. "Guh-!" Lemres was hit next. "Lemres!" Feli made her way to him. Before long, most of my friends got shot down, along with innocent civilians. They all either died right away, or they were barely alive. Blood splattered onto the beach's sand, painting it red. The girls ended up dying right away, including Ringo. "RINGO! FELI! AMITIE! … Speak to me, damn it! You three can't just die here! ... *sob*" I started to tear up. "... This is worse than I thought… They're all dead now… and Arle too…!" Schezo rolled his hands into fists. "Oh dear… Amitie, Lidelle, Raffina, Klug-" Ms. Accord shed a single tear as something else happened. "Gyaaaaah!" Ess and Yui both got hit at the same time. "...?! ESS! YUIIIII! … ... They're… They're both gone… just like that… … … NO! *sob* They were my precious daughters... my family…! … GAAAAAUUUGH!" Ex lost it, teared up, and pounded his fist on the ground. This is absolutely horrific…! "The end is coming for you all, accept your fate." A voice suddenly boomed.
The remaining portion of us that were alive turned our heads to see that the massive figure fully materialized. "Yoggus…! This is impossible; you shouldn't be formed yet!" Satan yelled at the figure. "Wait, THAT'S Yoggus?!" I pointed at it. "It was for the best of us wanting to spread chaos throughout the dimensions. Some small sacrifices had to be made for me to be formed early, but it was worth it." Yoggus said. "Dammit, we were not ready for this!" Schezo pulled out his current sword. "You bastard…! *sob* You will never get away with murdering my daughters like that! HAAAH! Those two were the only family I had left! ... …! They've been killed too?! And if that wasn't enough to satisfy yourself, you killed Tee and the twins too!" Ex transformed into his armor. I soon did the same, feeling a loss that simply could not be recovered. "And you just killed many of our friends and innocent people as well! You have NO right to do this!" I added. "You humans are nothing more than ignorant and foolish masses. You cling to others of your kind, even though you will all die someday. I don't see what the problem is; I am just expediting the process of life and death for you all. As for us Yogs… we can keep on living for thousands of years, unlike you. And we can use this to continuously lay waste to dimension after dimension. The only thorn in our side has been that individual you call: The "Keeper of Dimensions". Now that I have formed though, I can destroy him for good." Yoggus spoke.
It means that it can kill Ecolo…?! Oh fuck… that'll be catastrophically bad if it happens! "Enough! I won't have any more of this bullshit! Go down, Yogguuus!" Ex charged straight at the humongous floating eyeball. "Yeah! We're tired of you Yogs threatening our worlds!" I added. "And you will suffer in the Puyo Underworld for all eternity!" Satan followed behind us. "I don't think so... DIE! Meteor Storm!" Yoggus summoned. "...!" We stopped dead in our flight. "This is impossible… we're all dead. There's nothing we can do, no moves to make…!" Satan knew the end for us was coming. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The three of us screamed. The remaining bits of our group followed suit. We were all crushed by meteors, ending our lives. That's when things went black before I woke up in a black void. "AAAAAAH! *pant pant pant* ... … A-am I dead...?" I screamed before looking at myself. "No, you're not dead. That was a nightmare you had within this dream, Dave..." A girl's voice echoed around. "Huh...? Who are you? How do you know my name? And… where are you?" I asked. "I… can't really say who I am. Let's just say I'm a god-like being who's currently on the run from a certain person. If they figure out that I'm conversing with YOU, then they'll eliminate me. In any case, that's not relevant to your situation. Dave, that nightmare you just had within this dream… it was a premonition that I gave to you as a warning." She told me.
What…? Why did she give me a warning? "Really?" I crossed my arms. "Yes. You and your friends must find and defeat the Yog you have been recently searching for soon. This is so that not only you'll turn back into a boy… but you'll also prevent that catastrophe you just experienced in the nightmare, involving the formation of Yoggus." She elaborated. Defeating that Yog WILL turn me back into a guy...?! Wait a minute... I should ask her something. "Question: How does defeating it prevent that very catastrophe from happening?" I continued to ask. "The Yogs have needed to recover themselves after you defeated the ones you have fought thus far. That takes their focus away from merging together until you defeat all eight. At that point, they'll have no choice but to merge in their safety zone, so to speak." The girl answered. "... The dimensional rifts..." I spoke. "Yes, those serve as their safety zone and that's when you'll have a good chance to strike at Yoggus. ... You're about to wake up soon for the day ahead of you, Dave. The Yog you seek is somewhere on one of the Japanese islands." She said to me. "What?! ... So we were on the right track, but we were just too late in the nightmare... Damn!" I gritted my teeth.
The girl must have really felt my frustration because she gave me what I considered to be good news. "You have today and tomorrow to defeat that Yog before Ringo's world is in ruins on the day after tomorrow. In the nightmare, Ecolo also died… And because of that, Puyos and Tetriminos both rained down on the world's remains heavily and the planet eventually gave in to the chaotic pressure. Don't worry... you certainly have time to find the Yog, but not a whole lot; please be mindful of that, Dave. Anyway, don't tell anyone that you had this nightmare within your dream… And certainly don't tell them that some god-like girl, i.e. me, talked to you in your dream. Can you keep this promise for me? You're the Puyo Puyo dimension's only hope, as the Demonic Dragon Warrior who has a pure heart." She went on. So she knows who Ecolo is… "... I know, but I can't do it alone... especially while I'm a girl in the real world. I need to change back soon and regain the level of power I had before. ... Yeah, I'll promise to not mention any of this to my friends. But, I want you to show yourself to me first." I told her.
Is she really going to go through with it? She might not be very comfortable with showing herself to me. "Th-Thank you! I don't mind showing myself to you. ... ... Here I am, Dave. Now you know what I look like, should we ever happen to meet again in the future." She revealed herself, standing right in front of me. This girl looked to be around sixteen years of age from what I could see. Key word being "looked". She said it herself that she was a god-like being. So, she was most likely a lot older than sixteen. Still, she looked cute with that blonde hair of hers. "Huh... So that's what you look like..." I looked at her. "This is the most you get to know about me. Now, I have to hurry and end this communication between us. You need to wake up for the day, and I can't allow myself to get caught by the other person that I mentioned earlier." She held one of my hands briefly before letting go. "O-okay." I nodded. "Goodbye, then." The girl waved briefly. After that, disappeared and the void lit up so brightly that it flashed white. The next thing I knew... I woke up in my bed, determined to find that Yog.
I looked at myself in the mirror for a bit. "I don't even care that I'm still I girl... I'm gonna defeat that fucking Yog and turn back into the guy I'm supposed to be." I quietly said to myself. I got ready for the day as I left my room. I met up with Ringo and Serilly to eat breakfast and get in those much needed calories. Then, I simply waited for Lemres to show up and take me and Ringo to Primp Magic School during this Saturday. The wait was slow, but it had to be this way. Eventually he did, and I mentally prepared myself. I didn't want to make Ringo and Lemres think that I had something on my mind, so I went along with any chill conversations that came my way.
Author's Notes: Dave had a nightmare within a dream and it showed him first-hand what would happen if he and his friends don't defeat the fourth Yog in time. He was taken out of the nightmare and this god-like girl began talking with him in his dream. After their little talk, the girl briefly showed herself before leaving Dave's mind. Dave woke up, readying himself for the day ahead of him... Will Dave and his friends find and defeat that Yog in time? Just who is this girl that entered and left Dave's mind? Next chapter, Chapter 74: Island Hoppers.