20. Red and Black, Black and Red

It was raining in Future City. Awnings had automatically unfurled over the sidewalks and elevated walkways, and the headlights and taillights of vehicles both ground-based and flying struck sparks of white and red in millions of raindrops. On a rooftop, hidden from view of any of the vehicles or the few pedestrians, Reala brooded. The three heroes and the three thieves would be entering the final race at the end of the week. Whichever group won, Reala intended to have the Chaos Emeralds; what was at stake was too important for the Dreamcaster to not be recharged. It would be simpler, probably, if the blue hedgehog and his friends won, given that they considered themselves to be heroes. Heroes could be persuaded to return the Dreamcaster as the rightful property of Nightmare, with Reala as the Nightmaren representative. The thieves would be less likely to part with their spoils without suitable remuneration, and Reala's stock of real-world valuables was utterly nonexistent. Regrettably, it was the thieves that would be more likely to accept aid in achieving the win. Reala had considered offering to 'help' one of Sonic's group, but the hedgehog's oh-so-noble returning of his rivals' boards in the last race suggested that would be a tactical error, not only unaccepted but possibly offensive. Still the fact that all three of the group had won through was good for Reala's plans.

Things were not so good on the second front. The third-levels were of no consequence still, but after happening across the battle between NiGHTS and Sonatapede, the crimson jester had begun a serious search for second-level Nightmarens. Eight had been located, not counting the musical centipede. Sonatapede itself apparently had been returned to Nightmare and was unable to recross into the waking world. Which means I know one certain way to return the second-levels to Nightmare, but I really don't want to do it myself. I wonder if I could set them on NiGHTS somehow, and get them sent back that way? Normally 'setting them on NiGHTS' would be as simple as ordering them to catch his sibling, but the creatures were now refractory to Reala's commands. Dandy Lion had joined Sonatapede in returning early because the saber-toothed lion had dared to attack Reala while the latter was gathering information on the second-levels' current whereabouts. Reala had defeated the beast, of course, but the effort expended outweighed the results, in his opinion. Not to mention it was dangerous, which was another reason he preferred to arrange for someone else to do the chore. Subconsciously, Reala rubbed his right knee, where two of the Lion's claws had marked him. Actually, if I didn't have to do it alone, I wouldn't mind, but given the choice of hunting them by myself or working with NiGHTS– I'll take the third option and get him to do it. He stood up as he felt a sudden buildup of energy near him.

Shadow the Hedgehog stepped out of a flare of light that died as quickly as it had risen. His face was utterly expressionless, but there was a glint in his red eyes that suggested he was displeased. He looked the Nightmaren over and said, quietly, "You wanted to speak to me?"

Reala slowly sat down on the air, arranging himself cross-legged with his eyes on a level with Shadow's. He sorted rapidly through possible responses, discarding most of them and finally settling for a simple, "Yes."

Red-striped quills swayed as Shadow tilted his head. "'Yes?' No apology, no demands?" A pause, and the red eyes narrowed angrily. "No nightmares?"

Reala had made a tactical error when he'd called the dokan to join him. As Wizeman's major domo and chief lieutenant, he was accustomed to summoning other Nightmarens (with a few individual exceptions) as a human might summon a taxi or a waiter and punishing those who failed to respond quickly enough. Reala had contacted Shadow through the dark hedgehog's dreams, and when Shadow had declined his summons, the Nightmaren had casually grabbed a handful of Shadow's worst memories to repay the hedgehog with a nightmare. Two mistakes: first, while Nightmaren subordinates quickly yielded to coercion, the Ultimate Life-form rebelled; second, Shadow's worst memories were FAR worse than that of most dreamers, so Reala had inflicted a much greater penalty than he'd intended. Being mortified by the popular girl cutting you dead in front of the whole school, or terrified by the thought of an upcoming piano recital, rather paled in comparison to having your sister murdered and your father insanely rearranging your brain to further his own agenda. Unfortunately for Reala's plans, he had not previewed the memories before using them. He had not actually expected the hedgehog to come at all.

The Nightmaren dipped his head slightly in what might have been apology, or simply acknowledgment of the accusations. "I did not think you would believe an apology; I needed you here and you were going to come. However, I do apologize for the degree of nightmare I left you with."

"Only because you think it will hinder your chances of enlisting my aid." Shadow snorted. Rain ran down his face and dripped off his spines, unheeded. "What do you want, Reala? Sonic will all but certainly win the Chaos Emeralds, and I can assure you that Tails will recharge that Dreamcaster and it will be returned– "

"Get down!" Reala's hand sliced across as something moved in the wet darkness. The hedgehog fell instantly silent and dropped to the roof as the Nightmaren peered through the gloom. A wan light appeared, scanning across the buildings as the Seeing Hand rotated, looking for NiGHTS? Or Reala himself?

"Wizeman hunts for us all," breathed the jester. "If he finds us . . . . I know what he can and will do to me and NiGHTS, but in this world, I do not know what he can do to you. At the very least, he can trap you in your nightmares forever."

"Why are we chasing Emeralds instead of him? Is he too powerful to confront directly?" The hedgehog's voice was a soft as Reala's, making it difficult to tell if he was serious or sarcastic. Both beings held perfectly still and silent as the hand swept closer, turning a scant fifty yards away and proceeding up a different street.

Reala considered the 'feel' of the dokan beside him. Nightmarens could not read minds, as such, but he could tell that lies, or even evasions would be counterproductive this time. Shadow had been lied to and manipulated too often; already resentful, he would recognize the signs and become even more recalcitrant. The jester growled to himself, and drew on the power of the golden rings he'd collected on the way here to put up an umbrella; dream-stuff, but functional against the rain for a little while. Perhaps it would mollify the hedgehog somewhat. (And perhaps it wouldn't, but Reala was fed up with being wet.) "Do you know what dreams are for?" he asked.

Shadow flicked his hands through his quills, shaking the rain out. "For? The prevailing theory is that they are the brain processing the thoughts and activities of the day. An older view held that they were messages from the God or gods. Some people, then and now, believe that interpreting dreams can give important insights. My dreams exist mainly to torment me, I think." He scowled pointedly at Reala, then shook his head.

"You and the other Nightmarens and the Nightopians don't seem to fit, except that Maria told me about dreaming of someone like NiGHTS once."

That was interesting, and perhaps useful. "Which Maria? There have been many girls with that name, although most have been human."

"Maria was human. She was also my sister. Maria Robotnik; she lived on the Space Colony ARK fifty years ago."

"Ah, yes." Reala could recall every dreamer he had ever dealt with, although with the more common names it could be difficult to single out the correct Jimmy Brown. 'Robotnik' was nearly as uncommon as 'Maria' was common, however. "Maria Robotnik felt that her disease was effacing her, and people would forget Maria existed, leaving only the 'NIDS child'. With NiGHTS 'help' she discovered that she herself still had value, in spite of her illness. I don't recall her having a brother, though, particularly not a dokan."

"I wasn't created yet," replied Shadow. His tone discouraged further questions.

Reala didn't really care anyway. He needed the dokan's assistance, not his life story. "Nightopia has little purpose that we can discover save to provide homes for the dratted Nightopians and expansion space for Nightmare. Nightmare, on the other hand, serves a key purpose indeed. Most dreams are fluff– the brain organizing itself if you prefer to call it that. But some dreams exist to teach lessons that are needed in the waking world, and many of these are assigned to Nightmare." Reala laced his fingers together as he considered what to tell the hedgehog. Mostly truth, and much of it, he decided, but not necessarily all of it or all true.

"Roughly, we pose a conflict between Nightmare and Nightopia, with the lesson to be learned as the crux. If the Dreamer can face their fear or accept the lesson, then Nightmare is driven back and Nightopia returns to peace. During the process, Ideya energy from the Dreamers - which they themselves cannot use - feeds both the Nightmarens and Nightopians involved. Originally, there were Nightopian champions, who sided with the Dreamers and gave them mobility and effectiveness within the realm of Nightopia; the ability to affect the dreams rather than merely pass through them. They . . . are no more."

"Your doing?" interrupted Shadow. "Or your master's?"

"Not mine; I wasn't created yet. Beyond that, truly, I do not know. There were other Nightmarens in those days . . . . I suspect," here he dropped his voice lower, "that my Master may have been one of these, a first-level (if levels existed then) who thirsted for more power. I do not know, for no one in Nightmare survives from that time, save a few second-levels who are half-mad and mostly silent." And the Seeing Hands guard those old ones closely, he did not add. One of the deceased first-levels had questioned the old ones a little too closely; Wizeman had used Etheris as an example to discourage 'excess' curiosity among the other firsts. Reala had been scrupulously formal when setting those particular second-levels at tasks ever since, and did without them unless he could find no alternative.

The jester sat back slightly and returned his voice to a normal volume. "Today, the only Nightopians are the feeble-minded creatures your friend Knuckles is shepherding, and their king. They construct the dreams from images in the Dreamers' minds, but they are easy prey for even third-level Nightopians. The king can take down the third-levels, but has no interest in anything but its subjects. So, the first-level Nightmarens were created, and tasked with both staging the lessons and providing the necessary guidance to the Dreamers. Until the Master decided he needed more power, and instructed us to - shall we say - 'fail' the Dreamers?"

"Shall we say 'cheat'?" countered Shadow.

"I would not, because what most of my brethren did was die. They pretended to obey our master while giving aid to the Dreamers anyway. Invariably they were caught, and their punishments were dire, and fatal. Only two remain: one rebelled and ran away; one remains at his post for the sake of a task thatmustbe done, in spite of our master's wishes, if necessary."

The dark hedgehog pondered this a bit, sitting gingerly on the still-wet roof. "So you style yourself the Nightmaren Shadow to NiGHTS' Sonic?"

"Again, I would not. And I fear you are misreading NiGHTS badly. My sibling does all things for the amusement of NiGHTS, and benefits of NiGHTS. NiGHTS aids the Dreamers because it annoys me and infuriates our master, and because in so doing the Ideya energy is available; NiGHTS dares not come into Nightmare to feed on our master's energy. Some Dreamers have failed because they did not interest NiGHTS sufficiently, or because NiGHTS' whim at the time was simply not to help them; in one case, the Dreamer was deliberately led to his challenge and abandoned. Your Sonic, I think, has an innately good heart, if an impatient one."

"He's not my Sonic," objected Shadow, "and impatient he certainly is. But you are correct, that he would not abandon someone in need. Including most of his own enemies." He looked distant for moment, then a grin flashed across his face. "He was most indignant over his first encounter with NiGHTS, but every insult he added to the description could be equally applied to himself."

"It is said that we do tend to find our own faults in others. But NiGHTS has other character traits that your friend failed to see. And you and I resemble each other only in color and pragmatism, I think.

"But I did not call you here to discuss the character of anyone. You are aware, I assume of the golden rings of Chaos energy, formed where that energy seeps between planes?"

Now Shadow looked interested. "Do you know that for a fact, or are you basing that on someone else's knowledge? Professor Gerald theorized–"

"It does not matter," Reala said with annoyance. "The problem is that Wi- my master has apparently enlisted the second-level Nightmarens to block these energy seeps, while harvesting the final crop of rings at each site for himself."

Shadow, affronted at being cut off, became instantly thoughtful at Reala's second statement. Hugging his knees to his chest, he rested his chin on them while he considered it. "I was not aware that the seeps could be blocked," he said finally. "Do you know how they're doing it?"

"Not exactly. It involves sacrificing third-levels so that their energy can somehow plug the gaps, but that is all I know. That is what I want you to find out. With this," Reala proffered one of the crimson Nightmare chips, "you should be able to detect dream energy as you already can detect Chaos energy."

Shadow eyed the fist-sized globe warily. "What else does it do? And there are ways to track chaos energy use and users; how many out there will use this as a reason to target me?"

Reala grimaced, turning the chip in his hand. "This chip is not tied or tuned to any specific power source, but I cannot absolutely guarantee that it cannot be . . . hijacked. It may be sensed by any Nightmaren of second-level or higher, but only if they deliberately seek it, and to attune the chip to themselves, they - or even NiGHTS or myself - would have to have physical possession of it. And I have NOT so attuned it myself because that would link it directly to me if you were caught."

"And your master? Can he tune in to the chip without possessing it?"

"Not from a distance, I believe. He cannot 'tune in' to it unless you are careless, and I don't believe he can attune the chip without being very close if not actually in contact with it." Reala was both pleased and displeased by the dokan's caution. It was wasting time, when every second increased the danger of discovery, but the more cautious the hedgehog was, the lower the chance of discovery once they separated.

"How do I contact you, if I find the method of the seeps bring blocked?"

"Look into the chip, focus on me and speak. Any chip that is not pre-tuned to a particular power can be controlled by the holder, so no one else can listen in, including my master. Unless you are far more weak-minded than I believe, and unable to focus properly."

"Lack of focus is not something I am often accused of," agreed the red-striped dokan dryly. He took the red sphere in one hand and somehow slipped it into the red-and-black cuff of his other glove. "I shall see what I can learn."

"Good. I shall continue attempting to discern why the seeps are being blocked; it may be that we can somehow use them against my master."

"More than just recharging the Dreamcaster?"

"That is what I must learn." Reala dismissed the umbrella and rose cautiously, scanning for any sign of Seeing Hands.

Shadow the Hedgehog gave him a hard look, then vanished in a puff of Chaos energy.