Disclaimer
As stated in the first chapter, I do NOT own NiGHTS into Dreams or the characters in the games.
I DO own my evil little pain in the butt dreamer though, so hands off. :)
I only got one review for the first chapter . . . how disappointing!
I'll post the second part anyway, but I need more reviews!
In this chapter, we meet our new rival and reaquaint ourselves with some old "friends.
The real fun starts in the next part, though, so give me lots of reviews if you want to see it!
By the way, I'm dedicating this chapter to Dusk the Wolf, who deserves more recognition than she's currently getting.
Here comes part two!
"Slipped, eh?"
NiGHTS was all sympathy as they swept through a series of loops, Drill-Dashing a Shleep in the process.
Claris absently watched the Minion bounce erratically away as she nodded.
"Yes . . . right into Elliot, I think!"
She gasped as NiGHTS drew to a sudden and complete halt, allowing them to sink to the ground.
"NiGHTS? What's wrong?!"
NiGHTS narowed one eye and smiled a little less, giving the impression of raising one eyebrow, or frowning a little.
That was another odd thing about NiGHTS - She couldn't stop smiling. That funny little line of a mouth just refused to turn in any direction besides up.
Or maybe NiGHTS was just that amused about everything that life had to offer.
Claris could never be sure.
"NiGHTS. . ."
NiGHTS took flight again.
"If you fell hard enough to knock yourself out, and you think that you hit Elliot . . . then the poor guy's probably in as much trouble as you are!"
Claris fell silent, but her dismay was obvious.
NiGHTS smiled warmly. "You really love him, don't you?"
Claris squeaked in surprise. "L-love him?! Now wait, NiGHTS! I never said. . ."
NiGHTS laughed as they flew. "You don't need to say anything. It's obvious that you're very close. And besides, I've Merged with both of you. I know your dreams as well as you do. . ."
NiGHTS seemed to realize that she was saying too much, and fell silent.
A while later, Claris spoke again.
"NiGHTS . . . you never explained why you were trapped again, or how the Minions came back . . . weren't they destroyed? Weren't you free? I thought that we won!"
NiGHTS could sense the girl's rising fear and frustration, and chuckled softly, hoping to reassure her.
"They were, I was, we did!"
Claris hesitated. "So why are there Minions and why were you back in the Ideya Palace?"
NiGHTS hesitated, so Claris tensed a little, silently forcing the Nightmaren to answer.
NiGHTS gave a little sigh. "We did win, but. . . "
Claris felt a sense of satisfaction as a series of images flooded her consciousness.
NiGHTS was using her ability to manipulate darker dreams to convey the story.
The Nightmaren's voice was heard as a voice over as Claris watched NiGHTS' thoughts like a movie.
"Things were great, until one night at Dusk . . . Wizeman returned. . ."
Claris saw NiGHTS weaving through several enormous, stony hands. She gasped as one grabbed NiGHTS so that only Its toes and head were visible, squeezing.
". . . and I was recaptured. . ." NiGHTS concluded.
Claris blinked as she found herself in the present again.
NiGHTS grinned. "I sure am glad that you arrived in time to free me, Claris!"
Claris blinked, putting two and two together.
"Wizeman! That explains the Minions and the Ideya Palace! And that awful costume you're wearing!"
She yelped as she was suddenly dumped onto the snow.
NiGHTS descended, frowning.
"No . . . like I said, I just like dressing up for Christmas, like the rest of the dream world."
NiGHTS grinned suddenly, flicking both wristless hands out, over Claris.
"Like so!"
Claris shrieked as she was engulfed in a puff of glitter and theatrical smoke.
When it faded, she was sporting a Christmas costume of her own, the same red with white trim that NiGHTS had on, but she had the addition of a miniskirt and big poofy buttons down her front.
She twitched, and turned on the Nightmaren.
"NiGHTS . . . kindly leave me out of your weird fashion ideas!!!"
NiGHTS sweatdropped. "Heh . . . sorry! But it is a good look for you. . ."
Claris shook her head.
"Look, I don't care. I want to know how Wizeman came back. I mean . . . we BEAT him!!!"
NiGHTS nodded. "Yes, we did! But Wizeman is even stronger than I realized."
The Nightmaren sighed. "And I gave Wizeman a lot of credit! I mean. . ."
Claris suddenly saw a vision of a sinister looking NiGHTS springing from Wizeman's hands.
NiGHTS' voice echoed over the scene.
". . . Wizeman created me! I know that he is stronger than anything in either of our two worlds!"
NiGHTS sighed, returning Claris to the present once more. "And yet . . . We DID defeat him!"
Both Claris and NiGHTS recalled that night, the sight of Wizeman the Wicked, ruler of Nightmare and most of the Dream World itself, tumbling to the ground, lifeless. Wizeman had most definitely been dead. There was no doubt as to that.
Claris sighed. "Then how. . .?"
NiGHTS cut her off before she could finish forming the question, knowing already what she would ask.
"There's only one explanation, Claris . . . but I hate to think it. . ."
Claris blinked, turning to see NiGHTS again. "What is it. . .?"
NiGHTS clenched a fist, gazing up at the nightsky.
"Somewhere out there, someone is helping him!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elsewhere, two piercing blue eyes, the color of deep water gazed into the depths of a stony palm, studying the image in the center.
"You weren't kidding about that NiGHTS guy . . . that thing figured out what's going on almost right away!"
The boy looked up as a soft breath was his only answer. He grinned.
"Gonna keep our secret for a while, eh? So who'll you send to stop them?"
In answer, another hand lifted itself off of the ground and pointed to a wall, which wavered and became glossy and dark, like polished marble.
The boy obediantly walked over and peered in, instantly spotting the wispy snake-like creature within.
"Some kind of dragon? No, I see . . . it's a winged eel, right? Gills . . . wings . . . OH! GillWing!"
He turned back to the hazy figure behind him. "You need to work on renaming these guys someday . . . er, somenight."
The dreamer ignored the soft sigh that was meant as a reprimand, and jumped through the portal as if it were nothing.
He had some dreaming to do. . .
GillWing was laying on its side, wispy, as if it were made of fog. Its breath was coming in shallow gulps, and the bulbous eyes were squeezed tightly shut.
The boy landed on the other side of the portal and walked along the dragon's length, smirking. "Wow, someone sure did a number on you! He looked the thing over. "I can't really see much here . . . but you're some kind of eel with a huge head and wings. . . " He grinned. "Well, I feel like improvising." he thrust both hands out dramatically and concentrated.
GillWing let out a roar that echoed throughout the dream as its color changed. Blues, greens, and yellows ran together before collecting along the creature's underside. GillWing stirred as the colors were replaced with a cheery candycane pattern of red with white stripes covering the head. The dragon's long body became red with colorful yellow and green stripes.
The dreamer stepped back, admiring his work. "Not bad if I say so myself. . ."
He watched as GillWing peered at him nervously, then dragged itself over to a boulder with a reflective side.
GillWing let out a shriek of horror and curled into a tight ball, peering around as if afraid of being seen.
The boy snorted. "Don't be such a big baby."
Dragon and dreamer turned as one as a gentle breath blew over them.
The boy frowned. "What, you don't think I have a future in the art world? Fix it yourself, then!" He smirked when nothing happened. Wizeman still lacked the energy to act on his own. The dreamer laughed. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
He blinked when a hand forced its way over, spreading wide to reveal the eye in the center.
"What, more?" He walked over, staring at the figure within.
"Some kind of . . . um . . . floating cape? It looks like someone's laundry came to life!"
The breath came again, and the dreamer casually hopped onto GillWing. "Well, then I'll go fetch him. Maybe I'll do him up in a Christmas tree costume. . ." He winced at a more forceful breath.
"Or I can leave him as he is . . . yeah."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"But NiGHTS, nobody in their right mind would ever help anyone as awful as Wizeman!" Claris protested, unnerved by the idea of another dreamer working against them.
NiGHTS held out a finger. "Exactly! It's someone who isn't thinking clearly. Wizeman loves troubled kids. You remember Roger?"
Claris nodded. Roger was Elliot's rival in the basketball world. He had been briefly controlled as a host for Reala, but had eventually come to his senses and helped NiGHTS instead.
Claris knew all too well how Wizeman was able to manipulate young minds. Especially if they were already angry or upset about something. "So . . . any ideas on what we can do about it?"
NiGHTS shrugged, partially lowering thick lashes over unusually expressive, violet eyes.
"I was kind of hoping that you would have an idea. . ." The Nightmaren yelped as a snowball hit. Claris mock glared.
"Don't joke about it, NiGHTS!"
NiGHTS shrugged again. "Can I joke about something else, then?" It yelped again as more snowballs hit, taking flight to escape the onslaught.
NiGHTS skimmed past a mound of snow, grabbing two piles and hurling them at Claris. "REVENGE!!!"
Claris shrieked and ducked, coming up with another snowball to throw.
This continued for some time as the two friends temporarily forget their concerns in favor of a good, old fashioned snowball fight.
To Be Continued. . .
As stated in the first chapter, I do NOT own NiGHTS into Dreams or the characters in the games.
I DO own my evil little pain in the butt dreamer though, so hands off. :)
I only got one review for the first chapter . . . how disappointing!
I'll post the second part anyway, but I need more reviews!
In this chapter, we meet our new rival and reaquaint ourselves with some old "friends.
The real fun starts in the next part, though, so give me lots of reviews if you want to see it!
By the way, I'm dedicating this chapter to Dusk the Wolf, who deserves more recognition than she's currently getting.
Here comes part two!
"Slipped, eh?"
NiGHTS was all sympathy as they swept through a series of loops, Drill-Dashing a Shleep in the process.
Claris absently watched the Minion bounce erratically away as she nodded.
"Yes . . . right into Elliot, I think!"
She gasped as NiGHTS drew to a sudden and complete halt, allowing them to sink to the ground.
"NiGHTS? What's wrong?!"
NiGHTS narowed one eye and smiled a little less, giving the impression of raising one eyebrow, or frowning a little.
That was another odd thing about NiGHTS - She couldn't stop smiling. That funny little line of a mouth just refused to turn in any direction besides up.
Or maybe NiGHTS was just that amused about everything that life had to offer.
Claris could never be sure.
"NiGHTS. . ."
NiGHTS took flight again.
"If you fell hard enough to knock yourself out, and you think that you hit Elliot . . . then the poor guy's probably in as much trouble as you are!"
Claris fell silent, but her dismay was obvious.
NiGHTS smiled warmly. "You really love him, don't you?"
Claris squeaked in surprise. "L-love him?! Now wait, NiGHTS! I never said. . ."
NiGHTS laughed as they flew. "You don't need to say anything. It's obvious that you're very close. And besides, I've Merged with both of you. I know your dreams as well as you do. . ."
NiGHTS seemed to realize that she was saying too much, and fell silent.
A while later, Claris spoke again.
"NiGHTS . . . you never explained why you were trapped again, or how the Minions came back . . . weren't they destroyed? Weren't you free? I thought that we won!"
NiGHTS could sense the girl's rising fear and frustration, and chuckled softly, hoping to reassure her.
"They were, I was, we did!"
Claris hesitated. "So why are there Minions and why were you back in the Ideya Palace?"
NiGHTS hesitated, so Claris tensed a little, silently forcing the Nightmaren to answer.
NiGHTS gave a little sigh. "We did win, but. . . "
Claris felt a sense of satisfaction as a series of images flooded her consciousness.
NiGHTS was using her ability to manipulate darker dreams to convey the story.
The Nightmaren's voice was heard as a voice over as Claris watched NiGHTS' thoughts like a movie.
"Things were great, until one night at Dusk . . . Wizeman returned. . ."
Claris saw NiGHTS weaving through several enormous, stony hands. She gasped as one grabbed NiGHTS so that only Its toes and head were visible, squeezing.
". . . and I was recaptured. . ." NiGHTS concluded.
Claris blinked as she found herself in the present again.
NiGHTS grinned. "I sure am glad that you arrived in time to free me, Claris!"
Claris blinked, putting two and two together.
"Wizeman! That explains the Minions and the Ideya Palace! And that awful costume you're wearing!"
She yelped as she was suddenly dumped onto the snow.
NiGHTS descended, frowning.
"No . . . like I said, I just like dressing up for Christmas, like the rest of the dream world."
NiGHTS grinned suddenly, flicking both wristless hands out, over Claris.
"Like so!"
Claris shrieked as she was engulfed in a puff of glitter and theatrical smoke.
When it faded, she was sporting a Christmas costume of her own, the same red with white trim that NiGHTS had on, but she had the addition of a miniskirt and big poofy buttons down her front.
She twitched, and turned on the Nightmaren.
"NiGHTS . . . kindly leave me out of your weird fashion ideas!!!"
NiGHTS sweatdropped. "Heh . . . sorry! But it is a good look for you. . ."
Claris shook her head.
"Look, I don't care. I want to know how Wizeman came back. I mean . . . we BEAT him!!!"
NiGHTS nodded. "Yes, we did! But Wizeman is even stronger than I realized."
The Nightmaren sighed. "And I gave Wizeman a lot of credit! I mean. . ."
Claris suddenly saw a vision of a sinister looking NiGHTS springing from Wizeman's hands.
NiGHTS' voice echoed over the scene.
". . . Wizeman created me! I know that he is stronger than anything in either of our two worlds!"
NiGHTS sighed, returning Claris to the present once more. "And yet . . . We DID defeat him!"
Both Claris and NiGHTS recalled that night, the sight of Wizeman the Wicked, ruler of Nightmare and most of the Dream World itself, tumbling to the ground, lifeless. Wizeman had most definitely been dead. There was no doubt as to that.
Claris sighed. "Then how. . .?"
NiGHTS cut her off before she could finish forming the question, knowing already what she would ask.
"There's only one explanation, Claris . . . but I hate to think it. . ."
Claris blinked, turning to see NiGHTS again. "What is it. . .?"
NiGHTS clenched a fist, gazing up at the nightsky.
"Somewhere out there, someone is helping him!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elsewhere, two piercing blue eyes, the color of deep water gazed into the depths of a stony palm, studying the image in the center.
"You weren't kidding about that NiGHTS guy . . . that thing figured out what's going on almost right away!"
The boy looked up as a soft breath was his only answer. He grinned.
"Gonna keep our secret for a while, eh? So who'll you send to stop them?"
In answer, another hand lifted itself off of the ground and pointed to a wall, which wavered and became glossy and dark, like polished marble.
The boy obediantly walked over and peered in, instantly spotting the wispy snake-like creature within.
"Some kind of dragon? No, I see . . . it's a winged eel, right? Gills . . . wings . . . OH! GillWing!"
He turned back to the hazy figure behind him. "You need to work on renaming these guys someday . . . er, somenight."
The dreamer ignored the soft sigh that was meant as a reprimand, and jumped through the portal as if it were nothing.
He had some dreaming to do. . .
GillWing was laying on its side, wispy, as if it were made of fog. Its breath was coming in shallow gulps, and the bulbous eyes were squeezed tightly shut.
The boy landed on the other side of the portal and walked along the dragon's length, smirking. "Wow, someone sure did a number on you! He looked the thing over. "I can't really see much here . . . but you're some kind of eel with a huge head and wings. . . " He grinned. "Well, I feel like improvising." he thrust both hands out dramatically and concentrated.
GillWing let out a roar that echoed throughout the dream as its color changed. Blues, greens, and yellows ran together before collecting along the creature's underside. GillWing stirred as the colors were replaced with a cheery candycane pattern of red with white stripes covering the head. The dragon's long body became red with colorful yellow and green stripes.
The dreamer stepped back, admiring his work. "Not bad if I say so myself. . ."
He watched as GillWing peered at him nervously, then dragged itself over to a boulder with a reflective side.
GillWing let out a shriek of horror and curled into a tight ball, peering around as if afraid of being seen.
The boy snorted. "Don't be such a big baby."
Dragon and dreamer turned as one as a gentle breath blew over them.
The boy frowned. "What, you don't think I have a future in the art world? Fix it yourself, then!" He smirked when nothing happened. Wizeman still lacked the energy to act on his own. The dreamer laughed. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
He blinked when a hand forced its way over, spreading wide to reveal the eye in the center.
"What, more?" He walked over, staring at the figure within.
"Some kind of . . . um . . . floating cape? It looks like someone's laundry came to life!"
The breath came again, and the dreamer casually hopped onto GillWing. "Well, then I'll go fetch him. Maybe I'll do him up in a Christmas tree costume. . ." He winced at a more forceful breath.
"Or I can leave him as he is . . . yeah."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"But NiGHTS, nobody in their right mind would ever help anyone as awful as Wizeman!" Claris protested, unnerved by the idea of another dreamer working against them.
NiGHTS held out a finger. "Exactly! It's someone who isn't thinking clearly. Wizeman loves troubled kids. You remember Roger?"
Claris nodded. Roger was Elliot's rival in the basketball world. He had been briefly controlled as a host for Reala, but had eventually come to his senses and helped NiGHTS instead.
Claris knew all too well how Wizeman was able to manipulate young minds. Especially if they were already angry or upset about something. "So . . . any ideas on what we can do about it?"
NiGHTS shrugged, partially lowering thick lashes over unusually expressive, violet eyes.
"I was kind of hoping that you would have an idea. . ." The Nightmaren yelped as a snowball hit. Claris mock glared.
"Don't joke about it, NiGHTS!"
NiGHTS shrugged again. "Can I joke about something else, then?" It yelped again as more snowballs hit, taking flight to escape the onslaught.
NiGHTS skimmed past a mound of snow, grabbing two piles and hurling them at Claris. "REVENGE!!!"
Claris shrieked and ducked, coming up with another snowball to throw.
This continued for some time as the two friends temporarily forget their concerns in favor of a good, old fashioned snowball fight.
To Be Continued. . .