SHOUT OUTS/ANSWERS

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DISCLAIMER

Belongs to New Line Cinema and Canadian Television. I only own characters you don't recognize. I use the same story Marge told Nancy in NOES 1. And I may go into details not mentioned in the prologue, but it's not meant to be inconsistent.

"I don't believe it," Derek said, shaking his head. He had never seen Casey move like this before. It was weird. He took his house key out of his pocket and opened the door. As he did so, Joey noticed the newcomers and turned off the stereo. Everyone turned around.

"Hey, guys," Casey greeted, trying to sound casual.

"'Hey guys'? That's all you say after being caught skipping school?" Derek questioned in disbelief.

"We had to train. We've found that we're actually stronger in our dreams when we train in the real world," the other girl---Nancy, Derek thought it was---stated.

"What?" Derek, Sam, Max, and Emily questioned together.

"It's kind of complicated. Let's just leave it at that," Rod suggested.

"O…kay," Emily agreed slowly. "Just tell me one thing: what's going on here?" she demanded.

"What, you guys didn't tell her?" Casey asked in surprise.

"Hey, it's your story," Sam reminded her.

"Yeah," Max added.

"We better sit down for this," Casey commented. Everyone did so and Casey once again told their story. She told them how their friends had started dying in their sleep, and how none of the parents had wanted to talk. When she got to what she had witnessed, Casey's voice broke, and Joey, Nancy, and Rod put sympathetic hands on her arms and legs.

"Our parents didn't want to talk until Nancy forced her mother," Rodney added. "Through her we learned that Fred Krueger was a child murderer who killed like, what---twenty kids in the neighborhood?" he queried, looking at the girl.

"Yeah, that's what Mom said," Nancy confirmed.

"Anyway, he got freed because a search warrant wasn't signed in the right place," Rod continued.

"And according to Mrs. Thompson, they followed him to the boiler room he used and burned him in there alive," Joey chimed in.

"So wait. If he's dead---how can he be in our dreams?" Derek wondered.

"Well, we didn't really understand that either, until we met Kristen," Casey said.

"Kristen?" Derek, Emily, Sam, and Max chorused.

"Kristen Parker---one of Krueger's first victims. She told us that we were the first to actually defeat Krueger, that we had caught onto the dream skills faster than any else had before," Casey answered.

"Dream skills?" the others chorused.

"Taking a dream and making it work for you. Kind of like the Balinese," Joey explained.

"So let me get this straight: in your dreams, you have powers?" Derek asked.

"Precisely," Casey confirmed.

"So you guys are like, what again, exactly?" Max wondered.

"We're Dream Masters. According to what Kristen told us in other dreams, Dream Warriors were kids who decided to face Krueger---take him on, try to stop him with their own powers---but either couldn't or didn't want to take him on again after he resurfaced," Nancy told them.

"So, what's the difference?" Sam questioned.

"Well, we discovered our powers earlier than the other Warriors, and no matter what, we always stuck together---" Casey began.

"And we got our hands on anything and everything about dream skills, and worked on implementing them," Nancy interjected.

"Which in turn caused our powers to grow way beyond that of a Warrior," Joey continued.

"It was really cool," grinned Rod.

"This all sounds so scary. Why would you want to do this?" Emily wondered.

"Because he killed our friends," Casey replied. "He tried to kill us. How could we not fight him?" she went on. Just then, the door opened to reveal George and Nora.

"You two want to explain why we were both called by the school to say that you left in the middle of class?" George demanded.

"Well, I can't speak for Derek, Max, Sam, and Emily, but Rod, Nancy, Joey, and I had work to do," Casey answered.

"'Work to do'? You had 'work to do'?" Nora repeated.

"Yes," Casey responded.

"What could be so important that you would just take off?" Nora demanded.

"Yeah, I'd like to know that myself," George added.

"Fred Krueger," Casey told them.

"Who?" George questioned. However, Nora's face paled.