Episode 5: An Unforgettable Adventure
As soon as Team NiGHTS, Zack, and Croc arrived back at the headquarters, Cream's Yoshi egg began to hatch.
"Already?" Cream asked as she sat in the couch. She placed the hatching egg on the floor and watched it. NiGHTS, Tikal, Zack, and Croc just stood there and watched. When the egg finally hatched, it revealed a purple Yoshi with green shoes and the same signature red saddle on his back.
"Oh! Look at you!" Cream exclaimed. "What can I name you?"
"How about Tanzanite?" NiGHTS suggested as she walked up to them and kneeled down towards them.
"That's a nice name. Do you like it?" Cream asked the yoshi. Tanzanite nodded. "Great!"
"That is a nice name, NiGHTS." Tikal agreed. "Where did you find a name like that?"
"It's a purple gemstone I read about one time." NiGHTS replied. Zack shook his head as he walked up to the girls with Croc.
"If Cream keeps gettin' these pets, she could start her own zoo." He complained. Randy came up from behind him and allowed Tanzanite to hug his head.
"This moment is sort of similar to what happened back when I was a real nightmaren. It seemed unusual to me." NiGHTS continued as she sat on the couch. Tikal, Croc, Zack, and Randy followed while Cream placed Tanzanite on her lap.
"Why was it unusual?" Tikal asked.
"Wizeman needed my help with something unbelievable."
"Wizeman?"
Flashback…
NiGHTS, in her nightmaren form, was standing on the tower, Twin Seeds. When she heard something swift move from behind her, she looked in that direction and saw Wizeman fly out in a panicked expression with bruises all over his face.
"NiGHTS! The Dark Tiger is destroying Nightopia!" Wizeman exclaimed.
"WHAT!" NiGHTS yelled back as she floated up.
"It just came outta nowhere! We gotta stop him!"
"I'll stop him… under one condition."
"What?"
"You'll be a good guy instead from now on."
"(sighs) Okay. I promise."
Flashback, back to the headquarters…
"Inside, I felt that Wizeman wasn't being very sincere." NiGHTS continued.
"Then, why did you believe him?" Cream asked.
"I had to. Otherwise, he could've set off another evil plot."
Flashback, to Nightopia…
NiGHTS and Wizeman arrived back at Nightopia and it was nearly destroyed.
"Damn!" NiGHTS swore. "I'm gonna summon my spirit steal on this wildcat."
"Are you sure it might work?" Wizeman asked.
"I'm sure." She was about to summon her magic, but a small black figure caught her eye. She recongized who it was.
"Shadow!" She asked to herself. She flew down towards the black hedgehog. "What are you doing here?"
"Trying to get rid of this jumbo feline! Aren't you as well?" Shadow replied.
"Yes. I'm gonna summon Spirit Steal on him."
"Well, this has made me a plan. I'll wound it a little, then when I give the signal, you summon your magic. Got it?"
"Got it."
"Let's go!"
Shadow's plan was into action. He began to roll into a sharp ball while NiGHTS began floating in mid-air, preparing her attack. Shadow was able to scratch the giant cat's face and body. Then, when he saw the tiger get weak, he made a thumbs-up and NiGHTS summoned her spirit steal. A spirit particle came out of her hands and when it touched the monster, his ghostly sprit floated out of his body and he simply collasped and dissolved into tiny stars. NiGHTS floated back down and landed next to Shadow, who was tired out a little.
"That actually worked." Shadow said between breaths. "We make a great team."
"I agree." NiGHTS said with a chuckle.
"But, now, it's time for us to go in separate ways."
"What do you mean?"
Wizeman flew in and interrupted their conversation.
"Great job, guys!" He congratulated.
NiGHTS stared at him with a dull look on her face.
"Why do I suddenly get the feeling that you were behind this, Wizeman?" She asked sarcastically. Wizeman gulped with nervousness.
"Well… uh,… gotta go." He quickly flew off in the speed of light. Shadow shook his head with annoyance.
"Forget about him. Anyway, as I was saying, we need to take separate paths." He repeated. NiGHTS sighed.
"Why? What do you mean?" She asked again.
"What I mean is we should never again see each other from this day on."
"Why?"
"It's a dire consequence to see each other in another bad place. So, hopefully, you'll live a pleasant life without me."
"And the call you the bad guy. Anyway, I hope you do, too."
Flashback, to the headquarters…
"…and after that, Shadow made a promise that we wouldn't see each other again. I felt so discouraged." NiGHTS finished.
"So, you're saying that you wanna see him again, but you can't, right?" Croc asked.
"Exactly."
"Let's hope you can." Tikal encouraged.
The alarm rang right after that. Everybody came to the big screen, including Tanzanite.
"Yes, Argos?" NiGHTS asked.
"I called to tell you that there's another mission headed your way. Let me start by saying congratulations to Cream for a job well done at the Yoshi Races." He announced. Cream blushed.
"Shucks. It was really thanks to Randy's natural skills for being a racer." She replied.
"Glad to hear it. Anyway, this mission involves a rescue. Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon have requested that you help them find Ripto's lair. They say these guys were captured by him…" He showed a picture of Shadow, Prince Azrael, Jerry, Coco's pet dinosaur, and all of the baby dragons. NiGHTS kept her eyes focused on Shadow and her eyes widened as Argos continued.
"They need you to find the lair, defeat Ripto, and free the prisioners. Any questions?" Argos continued. Nobody replied. "Excellent… Oh! One more thing I forgot, since this mission's too dangerous, Cream will have to excluded from this one."
"WHAT! WHY?" Cream asked furiously.
"I already allowed you to go on a mission that was nearly as dangerous as this one… which was the race. You almost got yourself killed on that one. So, Zack's taking your place."
"YES!" Zack cheered.
"But, what about Randy?" Cream asked in a worried tone.
"Since the last mission, I suspected that Randy could take care of himself, so he'll be okay. Croc will stay with you for the time being." Argos replied.
"Don't worry, Cream." Randy said as he walked over to his owner. "I'll be okay. Trust me." He nestled his head in Cream's arms and she embraced it.
"Come back safely." She said to him calmly.
Later, at the Playstation Main Square…
Spyro and Crash were waiting patiently in the lobby for Team NiGHTS to arrive. Lara Croft and Ratchet were sitting with them. Crash was busy eating some Twisted Cheetos.
"Hopefully, the baby dragons will be alright." Lara said to Spyro.
"Me, too." He agreed. Ratchet was shining Clank with his robot polisher.
"Do you think Shadow will get along with them?" He asked. Crash looked up from his bag as he fingers and mouth was covered with cheese.
"Maybe." He replied in a muffled voice. "NiGHTS will be with them, right?"
While Crash was distracted, Spyro snuck a few puffs from the bag with his mouth. Crash noticed and snatched it away.
"Hey! Get your own!" He yelled at the greedy dragon.
"My bad. I was hungry!" Spyro apologized.
Seconds later, Team NiGHTS(minus Cream), Zack, Tanzanite, and Randy walked in the lobby. Crash and Spyro froze in the fight as they saw NiGHTS.
"Daaaaaaaamn!" They exclaimed sexually in unison. NiGHTS scoffed as she ignored them and walked up to Ratchet.
"I've got their location. You guys just have to get there." He suggested to NiGHTS.
"Thanks. I can tell this mission's gonna be a breeze." She replied.
"Yeah, I'm sure of that… but, I'm concerned about the baby dragons. I know they're already naughty enough to get themselves out, but they're not as bad as Shadow, though."
"DON'T SAY THAT ABOUT SHADOW!" NiGHTS screamed, still keeping the deep tone in her voice. "I know he's a good guy, even though he doesn't look like it."
"Maybe, but he might be better than being extremely bad… for a hedgehog!"
"That may be your opinion, but I DON'T THINK THAT'S TRUE! GODDAMN IT!" After that, she flew off in anger, leaking tears on the way.
"Poor NiGHTS." Tikal swore with worry as she ran after her. Tanzanite, being curious, followed her. Randy, Crash, Lara, Ratchet, Spyro, and Zack watched with concern, having Zack filled with anger.
"Now, what the hell was that all about?" Zack asked furiously.
"Maybe she suddenly has a heart for Shadow." Crash replied, wiping the cheese off his hands and face.
"OHHHH! A'ight! If that's how she's gonna be, she's gonna die cryin'!" Zack ran off furiously. Spyro ran off with Crash and Randy following. Lara shook her head with disappointment.
"Why did you say that, Ratchet?" She asked. "You really pierced her like a needle." She walked off.
"I don't know what I said, Lara. I always knew NiGHTS was pretty paranoid anyway." Ratchet repiled with disgust as he walked to his room.
Later, at the top of a nearby waterfall…
NiGHTS was already there, crying in her knees. Seconds later, Zack ran towards her with fury.
"NiGHTS, why the hell are you actin' like this!" He yelled at the sad human nightmaren.
"Ratchet just had to say that about Shadow!" She replied, ignoring his question. "Why did he have to say that?"
"I could've said the same thing!" He picked up NiGHTS by the collar of her shirt and strangled her. "Since you do wanna act like that, I'm gonna have to show you how I feel about it!" He began to punch her across her face at multiple times. Seconds later, Tikal, Crash, Spyro, Randy, and Tanzanite arrived.
"ZACK, NO!" Randy yelled, but no avail. The black rabbit ignored him and pushed NiGHTS down to the ground and punched her in the mouth hard, then made a deadly punch on her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She was laid back on the ground, unconcious. He looked down at her in victory.
"I always knew you were a weak son of a bitch!" He yelled at her. She heard him and woke up with a start.
"What?" She screamed, but Zack caught her off guard and picked her up again. He was about to punch her again until…
"AHHHHHHHHH!" Randy screamed at the top of his lungs as he ran for Zack, jumped on his back, and bit him hard on the neck. Zack screamed in pain as he dropped NiGHTS back on the ground again and attempted to get Randy off his back. Tanzanite became brave and decided to help, but Tikal stopped him by using her tiara's telekinetic powers.
"Tanzanite, don't." She told him softly as she gently placed him back down. She embraced him as she watched the fight with fear in her eyes. "I can see why Cream couldn't come."
Back on the fight…
NiGHTS' anger was brewing inside of her as she looked up at the two boys fighting. Her eyes lit up slowly. Zack was finally able to pull Randy off of him and hold him upside down by his tail. He then smiled devilishly as he took his other hand and held the middle of the giant reptile's tail, then twist it extremely hard, knocking him unconcious. Then, he dropped the lizard on the ground.
"Weak-ass lizard." He swore as he looked down at the green lizard. When he turned his attention back on NiGHTS, his eyes got wide.
"Oh, no." He swore under his breath as NiGHTS finally shot out her large and powerful plasma blast from her eyes. Tikal, Tanzanite, Spyro, and Crash ran for cover inside a nearby cave as the explosion from the blast impacted. When the brightness from the laser was gone, it revealed Zack laying dead beside Randy with a big, bloody hole in his chest. NiGHTS was seen standing with the two dead figures at her feet.
"She actually… killed Zack?" Tikal asked in wonder. Tanzanite grew scared as he nudged closer to Tikal, who patted him on the head gently to calm him down.
"Daaaaamn!" Crash exclaimed. "She's pretty strong for a human to make a blast like that!" He walked out with Spyro. Tikal and Tanzanite then followed.
"You didn't have to kill him." Tikal said the the nearly sad woman.
"I know." NiGHTS agreed. "But I had to. He wasn't very trusting anyway."
"Guys, we need to continue on this mission fast!" Spyro declared.
"I agree." Tikal changed the subject. "We better get going, NiGHTS." She walked over to the purple dragon as he flew off, having Crash on his back. She looked back at noticed NiGHTS didn't move. "Aren't you coming?"
"I'll catch up." NiGHTS replied.
"Don't be too late." Afterwards, Tikal finally flew off with Tanzanite on her back. NiGHTS looked down at the two dead beings and placed an ear to Randy's chest. There was no heartbeat.
"That must've killed him along with the spinal cord." She said to herself. "I heard that sickening crack, too." She shuddered as she carefully pulled off Randy's expensive collar from his neck. "I'll give this to Cream to remember you by." As she placed the collar in her pocket, she took Zack's gold chain from his neck and placed it in her other free jean pocket. Then, picked up the two dead bodies and they disintergrated into spirit particles as they flew up towards the sky into the heavens.
"We'll miss you two." She said with welled-up eyes. Then, when the particles disappeared into the clouds, she turned towards the edge of the waterfall and flew off towards Spyro and the rest of the gang.
Meanwhile…
Spyro, Crash, Tanzanite, and Tikal decided to take a small 15 minute break, due to Spyro's wings getting exhausted. They stopped at the lake in Autumn Plains. Seconds later, NiGHTS arrived and landed next to Tikal, dropping the collar and gold chain at her feet. Tikal gasped at this display as she released Tanzanite to go swimming in the lake.
"Randy's dead, too?" Tikal asked. NiGHTS nodded as she sat down.
"The strong twist to Randy's tail not only broke his spine, but also his spinal cord. Once I head that crack, I knew he was dead for sure… and he was." She replied in an expert tone.
"What would Cream say?"
"That's what I'm afraid of."
"I'm sure Cream will understand." Then, a terrifying squeal was heard. Tikal gasped as she turned around. "Crash!" She ran over to the orange marsupial, who was purposely dunking Tanzanite's head in the water, attempting to drown him. Tikal came just in time and pushed Crash's hand away as NiGHTS answered her communicator watch.
"Yeah, Argos?" NiGHTS replied.
"Hello, NiGHTS. How you guys doing so far?" Argos asked.
"We're doing fine. Spyro had to take a little wing-rest break, but overall, we're okay."
"Good. Where's Zack and Randy?"
"I'll tell you after we get back from our mission."
"Okay. I'll be checking on Cream and Croc later. Good luck."
"Bye." NiGHTS clicked off as she started to turned pale. "All of a sudden, I don't feel so good." Tikal heard her as she pulled Tanzanite out of the lake.
"Is it nervous sickness?" She asked. NiGHTS nodded. "You'll be okay." Tikal turned her attention back on Crash.
"What is wrong with you?" She furiously. "Your not really taking this mission seriously!"
"I'm just here to keep the purple shorty company. Hunter was supposed to help out, but he was too busy. So, I took his place." Crash replied innocently.
"Busy with what?"
"He planned a date with Bianca today." Spyro replied as he walked up to them.
"He always puts women first, doesn't he?" Tikal asked sarcastically.
"Yep." Spyro looked behind Tikal and noticed that NiGHTS was missing. "Hey, where's NiGHTS?"
"Huh?" Tikal turned around and saw that NiGHTS was indeed missing." Where did she go?"
"Meega find purple lady." Tanzanite volunteered.
"You wanna find her?"
"Yeah."
"Okay… and hurry."
Tanzanite nodded in response as he ran around the plains, looking for NiGHTS. He stopped for a second and saw a figure on the top of the wall the plains was surrounded by. He couldn't make out who it was though.
"Spyro!" He called. The purple dragon came up to him.
"What is it, Tanzan?" He asked.
"Meega see someone on wall. Can purple dragon fly meega up there?"
"Sure." Tanzanite climbed on Spyro's back as he flew up towards the top of the wall and the purple Yoshi climbed off.
"Thank you." Tanzanite said politely. Spyro nodded in response as he flew back down to the lake. Tanzante walked closer to the figure to find NiGHTS kneeled down near the edge of the other side of the wall. She was holding her stomach tight. "Oh. NiGHTS no feel good." He jumped down and made a three-point-landing on his feet and ran towards Tikal.
"Well?" Tikal asked.
"NiGHTS on top of wall, but no feel too well." Tanzanite replied.
"What do you mean?" She flew up to where NiGHTS was and landed right beside her. NiGHTS had just started sitting up a little, groaning in the process. "NiGHTS, are you okay?"
"No. I really don't feel good about Cre…" She tried to say before she threw up over the edge. This shocked Tikal.
"Oh, my God! She is having nervous sickness!" She exclaimed as she slowly reached for NiGHTS' communication watch. She dialed Argos.
"What is it, Tikal?" He asked.
"You have to excuse NiGHTS from this mission!" She replied in a worried tone. "She's not feeling too good."
"How sick is she?"
"She's throwing up as we speak, sir!"
"Oh, GOD! I'll teleport her to my headquarters right away. You and Tanzanite keep the mission moving. By the way, what happened to Randy and Zack? NiGHTS couldn't tell me."
"And I believe she's really doing the right thing by doing that. We'll tell you everything that happened when we get back. For now, teleport her to your station. She's really starting to gross me out."
"Right away. Good luck." After that, NiGHTS disappeared. Tikal sighed with relief as she strapped the watch on her wrist and flew back down. Spyro, Crash, and Tanzanite ran up to her.
"So, what's up with NiGHTS?" Crash asked.
"She's sick."
"I don't even wanna know how sick." Spyro said disgustedly. "Anyway, I'm sure you two will still handle the mission without her."
"We can… and we must." Tikal agreed. Tanzanite nodded in agreement.
"Good. Now, let's move out!"
On Episode 6, the unforgettable adventure continues as Tikal and Tanzanite are the last two standing for this mission. Meanwhile, NiGHTS finally tells her story about what happened to Zack and Randy. Also, Cream and Croc have a "make-out" session. But, here's the real question: Will NiGHTS have the confidence to tell Cream about Randy?