Chapter 20: Nightmare In The Summer

Everybody was having a fun during their summertime. Sammy and Jimmy bought the lemonades and the ice cream cones from the orange wolf with the sunglasses named Audie and the blue bear cub named Bluebear. They gave Claire and Sonia the ice cream cones and the lemonades. They all sat down side by side while they were enjoying the sun. Vicki and Robert helped the dark blue penguin named Roald building the sandcastle. The penguin started clapping his flippers when the sandcastle was finished.

"This is fantastic, b-b-buddy!" said Roald happily. "I can't thank both of you enough!"

"We did our best, Roald!" said Vicki.

"That's right, this is all we can do for now," said Robert.

"I'd appreciate it!" said Roald.

Vicki, Claire, and Sonia were swimming at the ocean with their floats. Then, they got on their own floats and started to relax, just like the brown rabbit with the straw hat named O'hare. He was sipping his lemonade while he was relaxing on his float.

Robert helped the green and yellow frog named Henry who was setting up the camp. It was a huge camping setup for the frog to handle. Sammy and Jimmy, on the other hand, rather sat on the beach chairs to enjoy the sun than helping out with the others. Robert decided to let them go and continued putting up the huge tent.

When the night came, six people were sitting around the campfire. They each told their own stories in front of each other. Some stories were scary, some were very romantic, and some were kind of funny. Before they got some shuteye, Sammy stood up and had something to say.

"Hey guys, Jimmy and I have an announcement to make," said Sammy.

"Y-Yeah, you see..." Jimmy stammered, as he couldn't find the words that he wanted to tell them.

"Well, what is it?" Vicki asked curiously.

"Um, well, huh..." Sammy stammered in hesitation, as he tried his best to find the right words to say. "L-Let's just say we're holding the summer romance contest!"

"Huh? Say what now?" Claire and Sonia asked in confusion, as they were looking at each other.

"Y-Yeah, we're holding the summer romance contest, what do you say?" Jimmy asked, while Claire and Sonia facepalmed and shook their heads.

"Okay, I'm in!" Robert answered in confidence. "So, what are the rules?"

"T-That is a good question, let me think..." said Sammy, as he tried to come up with the rules of the contest as he could. "Alright, here are the rules... You'll only have twenty-four hours to spend your summertime with your loved one. Once the twenty-four hours are over, we'll meet you guys at the pier. Whoever the couple will become the happiest, will be declared the winners. What do you think?"

"Fine by me, where do I sign up?" Vicki grinned slyly. "I hope Robert and I will become the happiest couple ever!"

"Ha ha, what she says," Robert chuckled.

"Like, there's no way we're going to lose to you both," said Sammy.

"Yeah, even though you're both engaged, we're not going to lose!" said Jimmy.

Sammy turned to Claire and Sonia and asked, "Hey girls, aren't you going to participate this contest, too?"

"Ah well, I don't see why not, but I'll give it a shot," Claire answered, with a defeated sigh.

"Yeah, I suppose so..." Sonia replied, with the nervous grin.

Since the contest would be set on the next day, the three couples were competing against each other. The boys were giving each other a firm handshake while the girls were nodding along. After that, they all went to their tents to get some sleep.

During the night, the bobcat demon, Dalilah began crashing into the villagers' homes. She used her powers to steal five dream life forces from them before they got turned into the nightmare monsters.

"Ha, this should be a piece of cake!" Dalilah chuckled happily. "No interference from the Duo of Justice! And the victory shall be mine now!"

After Dalilah disappeared along with the dream life forces, five nightmare monsters were running around randomly and heading straight to the different paths. Who knew where they would be heading to? No one would know where, not even the dynamic duo would find out until sooner or later.

The next day, the summer romance contest has begun as planned. Vicki and Robert would be spending the time at the pool. Sammy and Claire would be sailing at the sailboat. That would leave down to Jimmy and Sonia who were planning to spend time at the beach.

Jimmy and Sonia decided to build a sandcastle together. They dug up the sand into their buckets with their shovels. Once they were full, they patted the sand on top and quickly flipped the buckets upside down. Sonia gently and slowly removed the bucket from ruining her sandcastle, and it turned out to be perfect. Jimmy, on the other hand, shook his bucket a little and removed it right away. But his sandcastle turned out to be flawless when it fell apart.

"I guess mine didn't turn out great, huh?" said Jimmy, looking at his sandcastle.

"I think you're making it a bit rush and hasty, that's a problem," Sonia suggested. "To make the sandcastle looked perfect like mine, you're supposed to remove the bucket very slowly. Otherwise, it will start to crumble down, like you did just now."

"Ah yeah, I think I get it now. Okay, I'll try again, thanks for a tip, Sonia."

"No problem, Jimmy! I can lend you a hand if you want."

"Yeah, with pleasure!"

Jimmy and Sonia continued building the sandcastle together at the beach. What they didn't notice were the two pairs of red eyes flashed behind the bushes. They quietly growled at the human couple and targeted them as their prey.

Sammy and Claire were on the sailboat so they could enjoy their time sailing together. Sammy was steering the sailboat while Claire was watching the scenery. With the wind blowing to the east, the sails were taking them around the island. But one minute later, the wind began to blow in the opposite direction. This could only mean the sailboat was sailing to the west. Sammy was having a hard time steering the boat. When the sailboat suddenly got hit by the boulder, he got tumbled down. Claire immediately rushed to him and helped him out.

"Sammy, are you alright?" Claire asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Sammy answered. "The wind must've blown to the opposite direction, and the sailboat got hit by the boulder a few seconds ago."

"Wow, no doubt about it... But at least, the sailboat wasn't damaged at all, was it?"

"No, I don't think so..."

While Sammy and Claire were checking the sailboat, they didn't realize that the two pairs of red eyes were flashing below the dock. That would've assumed those red eyes belonged to the nightmare monsters. They were waiting for the right time to attack their prey.

Meanwhile, Vicki and Robert were lying down on the poolside beds and enjoyed the sun. They find it very strange that they hadn't seen any one of the villagers since yesterday. Then, they heard the bushes rustling from behind. They sat up, turned around, and removed their sunglasses to see if something or someone was approaching. Suddenly, they felt the chill ran through their spines.

"Robert, did you sense something?" Vicki asked, as the realization hit her.

"Yes, I sensed the negative vibe alright," Robert answered gravely. "It feels as though that the atmosphere is having some...nightmarish air to it."

Suddenly, the bushes were still rustling and caught the duo's attention. Then, there came the hideous feet out of the bushes; and one of the claws was clutching the lemon, which it was dripping to the ground. The juice didn't seem to look like the regular lemon juice at all, but more like an intoxicated acid. Vicki and Robert sniffed the obnoxious scent and turned to see of where it came from.

"Eww, my nose..." Vicki and Robert groaned, as they pinched their noses and made a disgusted look on their faces.

From head to toe, Vicki and Robert met the nightmare monster who appeared to be an ugly wolf. They noticed that she was clutching the intoxicated lemon in her claws. She immediately threw it at the ultimate couple. Robert grabbed Vicki's arm and jumped away from the poisonous lemon.

"I-Is that who I think it is?" Vicki asked hesitantly.

"Now is not the time for that!" Robert replied, changing the subject. "It's time to transform immediately! Knight dream rescue action!"

"Angelic dream rescue action!"

Masked Swordmaster used his cannon to freeze the nightmare wolf monster from taking action. Then, Phantom Angel used her staff to turn the wolf back to normal. While Audie was unconscious, the angel put her on the poolside bed until she was awakened.

"I have a bad feeling that Audie isn't the only one who got turned into a nightmare monster," Masked Swordmaster explained. "There were other animals got turned into a nightmare monsters by one of the demons. And I bet they're still lurking around in this island."

"Okay, but where do we start looking?" Phantom Angel asked. "The monsters may have roamed around the island somewhere, but it's going to take a while to track down one monster. How do we supposed to find one or all of them at the same time?"

It's going to take several minutes for the Duo of Justice to figure out the answer. Until suddenly, someone began to scream, which it came from the beach, and this answers to Phantom Angel's question. The dynamic duo rushed to the beach and find out if any of the nightmare monsters were present.

Jimmy and Sonia were embracing each other when they encountered two nightmare monsters. One of them was a frog and another was a bear cub. They were in a big panic and kept on screaming when the monsters had them cornered. All of the sudden, two beach balls were thrown in the air and knocked the nightmare monsters' heads on the back. Jimmy and Sonia were very relieved to see of who that was.

"Thanks for rescuing us, Duo of Justice!" said Sonia happily.

"Yeah, we owe you one!" said Jimmy.

"We'll take care of those monsters, you two can finally run along now!" said Phantom Angel.

"Whatever you say! Come on, Sonia, let's get out of here!"

Jimmy grabbed Sonia's hand and headed to the boat. As soon as they got on, they started rowing the boat as fast as they could. The Duo of Justice started to grimace when they saw the strong waves taking them to the different direction, instead of their own.

"Um, Swordmaster, do you think Jimmy and Sonia are going to be okay?" Phantom Angel asked quietly.

"I'm pretty sure they'll be fine as long as they're safe," Masked Swordmaster replied, reassuring his "female counterpart." "But more importantly, we have to deal with those two nightmare monsters first!"

"Oh right, good point!"

Phantom Angel and Masked Swordmaster were stopping the nightmare monsters in order to give Jimmy and Sonia the time to escape. One of the monsters fired the ice cream goo at the dynamic duo. They quickly dodged the evil bear cub's attacks. Phantom Angel used her icy wind magic to counter the attack. But the monstrous frog built up the fort to shield off the icy wind. Masked Swordmaster used his sword to take down the fort, and the monsters were now defenseless. Before they got away, Phantom Angel used her staff to turn the nightmare monsters back to normal animals. After Bluebear and Henry fainted, the Duo of Justice heard another scream.

"Oh great, now what?" Phantom Angel asked, rolling her eyes in disappointment.

"I am sensing another two nightmare monsters causing trouble," Masked Swordmaster replied. "And I believe they're not around the island..."

"So, that means they're at the..." Phantom Angel gazed at the ocean where the cliff was blocking her view.

"I bet that's where they are now! Let's go!"

Sammy and Claire were running around after they discovered two nightmare monsters appeared in their sailboat. While it was still sailing, they had nowhere else to go or hide from the monsters. Sammy and Claire embraced themselves and started to scream before the monsters would do anything to them.

Phantom Angel and Masked Swordmaster ran up to the cliff. Below them, they found Sammy and Claire who were being surrounded by the nightmare monsters. Suddenly, the sailboat got hit by the huge boulder. That made the nightmare monsters falling flat, and Sammy and Claire got tumbled down to the ocean. Two humans were now soaked that they were planning to get back on the sailboat, but the problem was the monsters were on it, which it wasn't safe for them. Phantom Angel held on to Masked Swordmaster and flew down to the sailboat. They quickly rushed to check on Sammy and Claire after they stepped on the nightmare monsters, like a steppingstone.

"Sammy, Claire, are you both alright?" Phantom Angel asked.

"Yes, we're fine, thanks!" Claire replied.

Suddenly, Sammy and Claire stopped the boat that Jimmy and Sonia were on. They were relieved that they made it just in time. Sammy and Claire hurriedly climbed up to the boat and told Jimmy to sail back to the island. He rowed the boat as fast as he could. Once the waves were getting stronger, Sammy, Jimmy, Claire, and Sonia were clinging on to the boat as they could. Until the boulder knocked the boat down, they all fell into the ocean.

While the four people were swimming back to the island, the Duo of Justice grimaced and let out a heavy sigh. As soon as the nightmare monsters regained their consciousness, they immediately attacked the dynamic duo. Masked Swordmaster used his cannon to freeze the deck. The monsters wobbled and got slipped on the icy deck. Once they fell down again, Phantom Angel used her staff to turn them back to normal.

After the Duo of Justice took Roald and O'hare back to the island safely, Vicki and Robert were heading to the beach. They were checking to see if Sammy, Jimmy, Claire, and Sonia made it back to the island. While they were checking the seashore, they suddenly heard four pairs of footsteps that turned out to be squeaky. Vicki and Robert turned around and realized who they were. Four people were now soaking wet due to the nightmare monsters' mayhem and the unexpected nature. The duo tried to hide their laughter from them as they could. Robert covered his mouth and pretended to think about what's going on in his mind. Vicki, on the other hand, hid behind him as if her laughter was out of control, unlike her "male counterpart."

"Hey, quit laughing, you two!" Sammy argued. "We can barely hear you, you know!"

"Yeah, it isn't funny at all!" Jimmy argued.

"S-Sorry, you guys..." Robert chuckled, as he couldn't contain his laughter. "Um, but what just happened to you guys anyhow?"

"It's a long story short," Claire replied, "but you wouldn't believe us if we told you."

"Just tell us exactly," Vicki interjected.

"Well, you see..." Sonia stammered.

Sammy and Jimmy started to explain everything to Vicki and Robert about what happened. When the contest began, they were enjoying their romantic times together. Until the nightmare monsters showed up out of nowhere, they began to freak out and tried to escape as they could. Suddenly, the Duo of Justice came to the rescue and gave the four people a chance to escape. Then, their boat got crashed by the boulder, and they had no choice but to swim back to the island. That was the end of their explanation.

"So much for our luck..." Claire whined, as she slumped her shoulders. "I just lost my sunglasses in the ocean..."

"And I lost my straw hat somewhere after we got crashed..." Sonia sighed sadly.

"But anyways, consider yourselves, future lovey-dovey newlyweds, lucky because you both deserved to be winners of the contest!" said Sammy sarcastically.

"Um, didn't we have like, fifteen hours left or so?" Vicki asked, pondering about the time limit.

"Forget about the time limit! The contest, Jimmy and I made up, was just a bluff, that all!"

"Oh..." Vicki and Robet sighed in disappointment.

"Sammy, I want to go home!" Jimmy whined.

"Of course, we're going home, Jimmy!" said Sammy in irritation, as he tugged his younger brother by the arm.

While Sammy and Jimmy were heading to the jet plane, Claire and Sonia wanted to discuss with Vicki. She looked up at Robert who was nodding in approval and joined the Slapjack twins inside the jet plane.

"Well, Vicki, speaking of your future marriage with Robert, do you remember the vacation houses we made for our clients?" Claire asked.

"Yes, I do, but what about it?" Vicki asked curiously.

"Oh, you will see once we'll get there..." Sonia grinned.

After the conversation was over, everyone got inside of the jet plane. As soon as it was departing, they were all headed back to their islands respectfully.