NiGHTS: Back to Earth
Actuality 7
The phone rang around the same time Helen was practicing her violin which irritated her that it rang when her mother wasn't home, but she stopped at mid song to pick it up, "Hello?"
"Hey Helen, it's me," Helen recognized the voice, it belonged to Pammy. "My parents were okay with Ren staying, has your mom and Ren made the decision?"
"Mom was fine, and so was Ren," Helen explained, "would you like him to come over now?"
"Hmm, why not?" Pammy sounded like she could go either way. This was the way she felt, she was nervous about the awkwardness of her ex-boyfriend living with her, but she was ready to get over him.
"Okay," Helen nodded, "we will be right over."
Helen put the violin back into her case. She went downstairs to find Nicholas and Ren. They watching some strange cartoon with a purple bear mouse cat thing that cooked strange foods, "Hey, Ren? Pammy said that you can live with her now."
"You mean now, now?" Ren asked he had the white Artificial Ideya in his pocket, so he was good to go. He was very calm about this. He knew if he wanted to keep the white Artificial Ideya from Nicholas, he had to relocate; it was perfect that Pammy volunteered herself to welcome him to her home. Yet Ren wondered by Pammy would suddenly volunteer herself to let him live with her. Before she was just plain mad at him. Ren smiled, she was so not over him and what he did three years ago.
"Yes, now," said Helen, "unless if you don't want to of course."
Ren stood up, "of course I want to," he immediately replied; then he looked at Nicholas who opened his mouth, "no, Nicholas, I don't like her."
Nicholas closed his mouth. If Ren knew what he was about to say, then it was best not to say it.
The house of Pammy was the first building that Ren had been in since Nicholas had pulled him to the Waking World. It was a nice house, near the train station. Only that day when he stood in front of it again it was very bright and warm out along with very dry.
Helen rang the doorbell to Pammy's house. It was quick for her to answer, "Hey guys!" She gave a slight smile to Ren. This was going to be difficult, and chaotic, but this seemed to be the only way for her to stop having feelings for him.
"Hi Pammy," Helen greeted with a curtsy, "I have Ren here."
"Hello," Ren looked over at Pammy, "you have my room set up?"
"Of course I do," Pammy had told Ren, "It's upstairs, let me show you."
Ren and Helen stepped inside of Pammy's house. They both followed Pammy upstairs to see a room that looked average. It had a bed, a wardrobe and a bed stand. It looked nicer than May's room, it also wasn't pink.
"So, I guess this is goodbye," said Helen. She immediately went downstairs; she wasn't going to at all miss Ren. It was going to be peaceful where Helen was, even though she sort of felt bad for Pammy, even though she did put it all on herself.
"Well," said Pammy, "would you like to meet my parents?"
"What is with you kids and having parents?" Ren asked, "They seem like they control you."
"What's with you Nightmarens and having Wizeman?" Pammy asked back, "he controls you."
Ren just sighed then rolled his eyes, she had no understanding at all of what he had to go through to please Wizeman. "Okay, let's meet them." He walked out of the door then went downstairs along with Pammy. They went over to the kitchen where Pammy's parents were attempting to carve an uncooked chicken.
"Mum, Dad, this is Ren, the boy who I was talking about," Pammy introduced Ren, and then she noticed something strange, "guys, what are you doing, its 12:00, why are you making dinner now?! Actually, why are you cooking?"
"We're trying to dismantle this chicken sweetie," answered John, Pammy's father.
"But aren't you suppose to cook it first?" asked Pammy, "I mean, it would be easier."
"Don't question your father when he's cooking," Tina, Pammy's mother demanded, she took out two banknotes then gave one for each of them, "how about you two go shopping? Come back when we're finished with dinner."
"Um, okay," Pammy took the bank note a bit worried about what would happened with her own parents cooking, "let's go Ren!"
It was a nice day at the city. Pammy took Ren to Opal Street, a place with a lot of local shops. Ren had bought a new set of clothing while Pammy bought herself a necklace. They walked around when they saw a store that caught Pammy's familiarity, "hey, that's the store that Bridget shops at."
"You mean Devin's sister?" Ren asked, "Should we go in?"
"Why not?" said Pammy, "I've heard from Bridget that it's very interesting."
The store: Magon looked a lot like Bridget's room, only without the bed. There were bookshelves full of New Age books and Tarot Cards. There was also a table with statues of mythical creatures at the middle. Ren looked at the statues, when he saw something that seemed too good to be true. It was a blue Artificial Ideya of intelligence. Reala knew that he had to be sneaky when buying it; he looked at the price tag, and saw that he couldn't afford it. He knew that there was only one option, he took the Artificial Idyea then ran.
"Young man," the old woman behind the counter called out, "you have to pay for that!"
Ren stopped right at his steps, he was obviously noticed.
Pammy was surprised by Ren's action, "Ren, how could you?"
The old woman came out from behind the counter, and then looked at Ren, "do you even know what this is?" Her violet eyes looked intimidating to Ren.
"Yes, I do, I would know more about than you," Ren had spoken back, "It's an Artificial Ideya of intelligence. It represents Ideya, which Visitors of the Dream World have as their dream energy. Nightmarens often takes people's Ideya, so they would need this to get the energy back."
The woman looked at Ren again, "you seem to know a lot, are you sure you're not some teenager?"
"Well," said Ren, "I am actually…."
"No, he's a regular teenage boy," Pammy lied, "nothing suspicious about him."
"A young girl named Bridget told me that there are Nightmaren walking the Earth," the woman explained, "I have a sneaking suspicion that you are one of them."
"Well, if Miss. Pammy would let me tell," Ren glared at Pammy, "I am a Nightmaren."
"Well, then," said the old woman, "that was the right answer, I won't call the police."
"Well, Good day then," Ren was about to walk out with the Artificial Ideya when the woman grabbed onto his ear, "ow!"
"Oh no," said the woman, "if you can't afford the Ideya, you will have to work for it!"
"You mean at the store?" Pammy asked, "We could do that."
"Yes, at the store," said the woman, "but not 'we,' it will be 'him,' you didn't do anything wrong."
"Fine," said Pammy, "but are you sure? He needs all of the help he could get, we really need him and his brother to go back to the Dream World as soon as possible."
The old woman thought for a while, she hesitated in her speaking, "well….okay…but no one else, this store is very small."
Pammy bit her lip, she didn't really like the idea of working with Ren alone, "Wait, perhaps the other Nightmaren can work here instead of me?" Pammy suggested she knew it would be difficult to work with Ren.
"Nope, too late," said the woman, "you can start working tomorrow."
A calm feeling went through Pammy's mind as she was sweeping the floor of the store. It was her first day of work at the shop. She was just cleaning up the shop a bit before opening.
She felt very relaxed, until Ren came by with three coffees from Starbucks. He was wearing his new clothing which consisted of a vest with had red and black straps across it, along with black and red baggy jeans with suspenders hanging from the ends. Earlier, Sadie, the old woman, had asked for a cup of coffee along with something else for Ren to sip on. Ren had put the cardboard container of coffee on the counter.
Sadie came from the back room, "Oh, coffee is here," She took out one of the cups then began to drink into the cup.
Ren took the other cup then gave it to Pammy, "I had some extra money for you, so here."
Pammy didn't really like bitter things; she only liked coffee with lots of sugar. Yet she knew that Ren would be extremely mad if she didn't accept the coffee. She grabbed the coffee then took a sip. She cringed from the flavor.
"I suppose you don't like it," Ren said as he took a sip of his own, he was fine with the black coffee.
Sadie laughed, "You forgot the sugar?"
"Well you're not the one complaining," Ren said, "its Pammy who can't drink anything without the substance."
"I sure can," Pammy tried to prove herself, she took another sip from her coffee, but cringed again, "well, I don't drink soda and water with sugar."
"That doesn't count," Ren told her.
"We need to get to work," Sadie told the two. She walked past the two then flipped the open/close sign to "open."
It took forever for any customers to come. Maybe that was what happened when they open at an early time. Pammy and Ren continued to argue about how Pammy couldn't take in anything bitter. When the bell by the door finally rang, Ren, within the world of debate said, "Well, maybe you're just too sweet."
He had said that at the wrong time, for it was Bridget that had entered the store. "Reala? Pammy? What are you doing?"
"We're arguing," said Pammy…then she saw that Bridget was a customer, "may I help you?"
"Yeah," Bridget nodded, "why are you working here?"
"Well, someone," Pammy glared at Ren, "tried to steal an Artificial Ideya from here, and now we have to work for it so someone will not get arrested."
"Oh, yeah, Sadie can be a bit too nice about shoplifting," Bridget nodded, "usually makes people work for the item; I think that's how she gets most of her employees."
"So, little girl," Ren said to Bridget, "are you here to bug us, or to buy something?"
"I am not little, I'm 14," Bridget crossed her arms, "also I'm here to buy some incense; they're in the back."
Ren began to taunt Bridget, "Should a 14 year old not be burning anything?"
"I'm old enough to contain fire, Reala," Bridget said, "I need Ocean Breeze and Dragon Blood please."
As Pammy went to the back to pick up the incense, Ren said, "by the way, you should call me Ren, not Reala."
"Why?" Bridget asked, "I mean, Reala is your name."
"Well, since human names sound different from Nightmaren names, we have to have cover names," Ren explained.
"That's just silly," was Bridget's immediate reaction she put her elbows on the counter, "does NiGHTS have a cover name?"
"Yes, he has a cover name, its Nicholas," Ren explained.
Just then, Pammy came back with two incense packs. She did the math of the two prices on her head then announced then, "That would be ten forty five."
Bridget took out a banknote and some change, "here you go."
"Thank you," Pammy put the banknote and the change under the counter with the other money.
When Bridget left, Ren began to think about what Bridget had said. That cover names were silly. The last living being that said that was Jackle, who had kept his name when he was stuck in the Waking World.
Speaking of Jackle, Wizeman had called him once again.
Jackle appeared in front of Wizeman, "Yes, my master?"
"I have a plan to retrieve Reala," Wizeman explained to his other first rank nightamren, "do you have your cards."
Jackle thought what Wizeman had just asked was… not so wise. Of course he had his cards with him, where would Jackle go without his cards? Yet Jackle slyly asked, "Why would you need my cards?"
"You have the power to throw them," Wizeman said, "perhaps I shall use the power of your cards to get yourself to the Waking World."
Jackle kind of groaned. He knew about the Waking World, and he didn't like it. Humans smelled bad and they were also so rude to him. Jackle definitely didn't want to go back. Yet he gave Wizeman his cards anyway. Wizeman would be very displeased if he didn't give Wizeman his cards.
"Very good Jackle," Wizeman took the deck, "now, I need to find a way for them to transport you to the Waking World."
"Wait a second," Jackle was in panic, "you mean, you will have my cards, and I won't?"
"Yes," Wizeman answered, simply and well put.
That was when Jackle screamed so loudly that all of Nightmare, Nightopia and the Dream Gate could hear.
"Oh my, someone sounds distraught," Owl told himself.
It was obviously heard that Pammy was rapidly pressing on the buttons of her phone, texting like a maniac. Sadie told them that customers do not fly in that quickly, but they do come. The bell by the door rang, and then Pammy put her cell phone back in her purse. It was Will, Helen and Nicholas.
"Hi Pammy, I've got your text," Helen said, "So, you're helping Ren get out of trouble?"
"Yeah, and we're working on the third Artificial Ideya," Pammy explained to Helen.
Ren had remembered that he was the only one who knew about the fourth Artificial Ideya, the one that was well hidden, for when they find the other four Artificial Ideya. He smiled from his amusement of his plan. Soon enough NiGHTS will be trapped in the Waking World, as Nightopia deceased slowly. He looked over at Pammy and Helen talk.
"So, what brings you here?" Pammy asked, "I bet you didn't just come just to see me!"
"We're buying me some clothes," Nicholas held up a shopping bag, "Will thought I should try a new look."
Will nodded his head, "yep, then Helen mentioned that you guys were working here, so we decided to pop in for a visit."
"Thanks," Pammy expressed the gratitude to the three, since she was as bored as a girl could be, "I never knew how long Ren could go so long without talking. I have kind of forgotten what his voice sounded like."
"I don't think so," Ren had finally spoken up, "you probably think of my voice all of the time."
"Ren," Nicholas sternly said at his brother, "if you don't like being teased about liking Pammy, then you shouldn't tease Pammy about liking you."
"I was not teasing Pammy about liking me," Ren concluded.
"Um, yes you were," Nicholas talked back to Ren, "and what you said was just wrong."
"Hey, you're not the boss of me," said Ren, "I can say whatever I want to."
"Really guys," said Pammy, "I was not embarrassed about what Ren had said, just leave it be."
Nicholas and Ren just glared at each other. Hatred came to both of their eyes as they burned with a passion.
"You, me, one on one, outside, now," Ren said, "If you win, I will stop teasing Pammy. If I win, you have to stop teasing me." Ren immediately clapped his hands to release a dark light; he circled the floor to make it float around him to reveal his true form: Reala.
"Over something like this?" Nicholas asked, "Isn't this an overreaction?"
Reala drill dashed toward Nicholas, but Nicholas dodged just on time.
"Fine," said Nicholas, he clapped his hands to summon a purple light, he circled it around him then released it around himself to reveal his true form: NiGHTS.
They both flew outside; they flew all the way to above the buildings. Reala used his powers to create a giant star above him. A bunch of ball fell down from the star; then they began to fight.
Two girls looked up at the two nigthmarens, "what are they doing?"
That was when Pammy had a good idea, she ran outside to talk to them "they come from Magon, the store right here," she pointed to the store.
As more people saw NiGHTS and Reala fight, the others began to advertize the store.
NiGHTS began to worry about his vitory, Reala kept on dodging the balls that he kept on throwing at him, and he only had two that actually hit Reala. NiGHTS threw another ball, but he accidentally threw it upwards, then hit himself, "Ugg." NiGHTS turned back into Nicholas then fell, but Reala caught him on time.
Reala flew down to Will and Helen; he dropped Nicholas to the ground. "That'll teach him."
"I really didn't see the point of that," said Will.
Helen nodded her head with agreement, "yeah, it seemed to be a fight over nothing."
"I didn't ask you children," Reala growled at them, "just take the kid."
Nicholas had woken up from the fight, "I…lost?"
"Yes you did," Reala said, "now, a deal is a deal…stop making fun of me."
"Fine," Nicholas rolled his eyes, "if that's all you want. At least it wasn't a fight to see if I would come back to Wizeman or anything like that."
Reala flew to the store to transform back into a human, only to discover that it was crowded.
Pammy gave some change to a customer, then she waved to Reala, "Hey, you can transform in the back room."
At closing time, Pammy had to broom once again, she swept down the store, as she overheard a conversation with Ren and Sadie.
"Since you helped the shop's business, I think I will give you the Artificial Ideya early," Sadie said, she took out the blue stone, and then handed it to Ren, "but if you ever shoplift here again, I will call the police."
"Fine," Ren nodded his head, "after that experience, I may never step my foot into this store again." Ren grinned as he placed a Starbuck's bag onto the counter, "by the way Pammy, I went back to the coffee shop to pick up the sugar packets."
Pammy looked at Ren confused, "sugar packets, what for?"
"Your coffee that I gave you earlier," Ren answered, "you said that it was too bitter."
That was when Pammy began to laugh, "I threw that out hours ago it would be cold by now."
Ren just gave Pammy a look as Pammy smiled nervously. Ren had spoken out, "you humans are so wasteful."
"We are," said Pammy, "but the sugar packets may come to use." She grabbed the Starbucks bag, "thank you." She walked out of the store, and then she looked at Ren, "are you coming with?"
"Yeah," Ren walked besides her, with his blue Ideya. Ren felt good about his victory, and that soon he will be gone from this wretched planet, and Pammy.