Chapter 11: Nightmares

I looked around at my new surroundings. It was basically a void. A black, empty void that I was floating in. "Guys? Where are you?" I shouted. There was no response. I also tried the telepathy, but the same thing happened. "Okay then. I need to find a way out of here and help the others."

"Do you really think you can stop it?" a voice asked. I turned around and surprisingly it was the time dragon that gave us powers.

"Uh, Yeah I do, actually," I respond. "You're the one who gave us these powers to stop it in the first place."

The dragon regarded me for a second before it tilted its head up and roared. I closed my eyes and covered my ears. When I opened them again, the dragon was still a dragon shape, but made on dark goo and was must sleeker and menacing. It flapped its wings and took off, but not before I grabbed its tail. It didn't notice. It few towards a wall, and took a sharp turn. I let go before the tail hit the wall and landed on my back. Getting up I noticed I was in the Factory, in the main hall. The conveyor belts were moving, the TVs were showing the Factory logo, and the place was deserted. That set me on edge, as the place was always bustling. A door flew open and Team Night Kings came out. They sprinted over.

"There you are!" Tora said. Arch grabbed my arm and started pulling me towards the door they just came out of.

"There's trouble. A lot of it. Blinx is already in the field, but he sent a distress signal," Bandit explained.

"We need to go! Now!" Juro said shoving me in the back, trying to get me to go faster. We broke into a run and jumped into the open goal gate. We landed on a metal platform supported by a single central beam. The sky was a dark gray and bright blue water was churning, sending foam high up into the air.

"Hey guys! A little help here!" Blinx called from across the platform. He was battling a time monster that looked like the Chronohorn but it was made of black goo that was dripping off of it with a red face.

We rushed to him, but the monster hit the platform hard, creating a shockwave that blew us all back. I started falling, and my fingers grabbed the very edge of the platform. I tried to pull myself up, but lost my grip and fell. I landed in the churning water. I hadn't taken a breath before I entered, and the water pulled me down. I started to lose air. I went deeper and deeper, until I couldn't see. Then something grabbed my hand and pulled me to the surface in an instant. I coughed and looked up to see Tora. She pulled me to my feet and, now recovered from near drowning, rushed to the others who were dodging bombs the monster shot out of its palms. Lightening leaped from its face and struck the bombs, hurling all of us back. The monster floated over to Blinx, who was struggling to stand. He fell back down. The monster held out a hand and tapped Blinx's chest. Blinx's eyes widened and he stiffened as a bright light enveloped the area. When it was done, there wasn't a monster. Instead, Blinx was laying there, stone still. Rushing over, we tried to get a reaction out of him. We were relieved when he started to get up.

"You fools," he said in a deep voice, way deeper than he normally had. Our smiles dropped. Blinx rose to his full height, and opened his eyes. They were the same color as the monster's face. He started shaking, and his fur darkened until it was fully black. An aura of time energy flowed over him, and his clothes changed to a brown body with black sleeves and pants. His goggles, gloves, and boots also changed to black.

He laughed maniacally and punched the ground. The blow knocked us all down, and Blinx walked towards Bandit. Touching him, Bandit underwent the same transformation. He repeated this process with Juro, Arch, and Tora. I stood up, and drew my sweeper.

"Aww, he thinks he can defeat us," Tora taunted.

"How cute," Juro said.

Bandit ran at me and knocked me back with a kick. "Pathetic."

"Guys what are you doing? It's me!" I yelled.

Blinx came at me and quickly took me down. "The ones you know aren't here anymore," he said. "There is only me."

I kicked his feet out from under him and he released me as he fell. "I'm sorry!" I yelled before I shot at them. The bomb blew up in out faces.

-XxXxX-

"Y/n! Calm down, it's alright. It's okay," I heard as hearing slowly came back to me.

"Get away from me!" I shouted as I tried to run, but I was so disoriented I ended up rolling over the person trying to calm me down. They caught me before I could escape and pulled me into a gentle hug.

"It's just me," Blinx said. "It's alright." I gratefully returned the hug. After a second we broke it.

I looked around to find the others still in a fitful sleep. I stepped back so Tora wouldn't kick me. She was trying to run it seemed. Bandit released a loud whimper.

"Do you think you could stay here and watch them? I know there's a plant that'll weaken the nightmare so they can wake up faster. I haven't seen any yet though."

"Sure," I answered, albeit shakily. I hoped that nightmare never came true.

Blinx nodded and left. I sat down in the middle of the others, a safe distance away to avoid any stray reactions after Arch punched the metal toe of my boot. It wasn't hard enough to hurt him though. Juro started sniffling, and after closer investigation I noticed he was crying. I wondered what they were dreaming about.

I waited for about fifteen minutes before Blinx came back. He had a handful of milky white, five petaled blooms.

"Turns out there was a patch behind a hill," he said, placing a few of the flowers by everyone each. They calmed down a lot rather quick, but Juro was still crying slightly. "Must be really bad for him," Blinx said when he noticed. "At least you guys got small amounts. It's worse as more gets on you."

The grass on the hill rustled. I narrowed my eyes a little, and Blinx noticed. He turned around just as another nightmare blob came at him. It caught him completely off guard, and he fell. His head hit the toe of my boot hard, causing him to wince. The blob started inching up him. He got up, but fell back down.

"Must've hit my head harder than I thought," he said quietly. I tried to grab the glob, but Blinx stopped me. "If you touch it, it'll try you as well."

"Well, What do I do then?"

"I'll be fine. I've dealt with this before." The nightmare prevented him from talking any more, then from breathing. He passed out. The nightmare blob faded out of sight and Blinx shivered, but was able to breath again. I grabbed a few flowers and placed them by his head.

"I hope you're right," I said quietly.

Well I'm not sure what you're all afraid of, and nightmares are generally scary, so I took my best shot at it. Hope you all have a good rest of the week. Go get 'em fey!

-ThinMintE