A/N: Constant writer's block galore!

NiGHTS: Back to Earth

Actuality 12

Pammy now knew how Bridget felt, with her bare feet on the sidewalk. Whenever Pammy looked down at Bridget's feet, she would notice that there were no shoes. When it snowed in Bellbridge, or when she went to school, Bridget always put on some flip flops. Pammy always known that shoes had irritated Bridget. Yet for Pammy, the lack of shoes irritated her.

Pammy went over to her house, she was about to get out her keys when she had noticed that she didn't have them. So she knocked on the door to find her mother when the door opened.

That was when Tina began to cry and hugged Pammy tightly, "I'm so glad you're back."

Pammy nodded her head; she had to make something up; since telling a grownup about the Dream World would be awful. For Helen to tell May was already a stretch, "Ren and I, were about to take a train to his hometown...but I've changed my mind…"

Then Tina became a strict mother, "well you better have decided not to go, we were worried sick!"

Maybe Pammy should have came up with a different story, she knew that she would be grounded, even if coming to Nightmare was against her own will. She knew already that she was grounded for a very long time.

Bridget now knew how Pammy felt, trapped and confused. At first she thought of the Dream World as totally awesome. At least, it would be awesome if Jackle didn't keep such a short leash on her.

Jackle had set some ground rules for her, "you should not leave my room, unless if I leave, and if I do, you have to be near me at all times."

Bridget sighed then rolled her eyes. She had always thought of Jackle as an insane chaotic Nightmaren, not a Nightmaren of rules.

"My next rule is, don't sigh and roll your eyes at me," Jackle's face went close to Bridgets, "other than that my sweet, it's all good."

Bridget had thought that it was out of Jackle's character to have, "rules" Bridget had guessed that it was all a test of her knowledge of Jackle. She had only just met him, but she knew that he would never set up any rules, especially for being in Nightmare.

Jackle has left the room, and Bridget was all alone. This was her chance to break the rules. She ran as fast as she could out of the door, only to find out that she didn't know where to go. That was when she saw the exit of the castle. So she opened the castle's door and ran out.

Helen now knew how NiGHTS felt, attacked in a fight between friends. She wanted to contact someone who knew about the Dream World. Of course, she thought of Will. So Helen grabbed her purse and went out the door.

Helen walked out far, to a large field where she found Will practicing with his football game with Ben and James. Helen called out to Will, and Will ran over to her.

"Hey Helen," Will took deep breaths from running so much, "what'cha need?"

"Will?" Helen asked her boyfriend, "we need to talk; it's about the Dream World. Is this practice important?"

The boy shook his head, "no, this is just for fun; we can talk as we get to my house."

So Will and Helen walked out of the field to talk, "so what's the matter?" Will asked he swept the sweat from his face.

"It's a long story but, it ended up that Reala had he fifth Ideya, then Reala took Pammy with him…then Jackle came to the Waking World, and transported NiGHTS and Bridget to the Dream World. Pammy then came back and dumped Devin right on the spot, saying that she and Reala are together. Then Pammy and I got into a fight…"

Will closed his eyes then took a deep breath, "So, you're upset about Reala and Pammy getting back together? That, I can understand. "

"Well, it's not only that," said Helen, "but Bridget has a very childish crush on Jackle. This whole human having relationships with Nightmarens is so upsetting. I can even tell that NiGHTS doesn't like it. "

Will gave Helen a shrug, "well, this is only a thought, but, there isn't that much room for love for Nightmaren, they're too much like siblings for each other, maybe they're looking at different horizons."

"That's the case with Jackle at least," said Helen, as she remembered Jackle's desire for a girlfriend three years ago, then said "you know, you have a point, as long as Reala isn't tricking Pammy again, it's all right."

"Well," Will hesitated, "what I just said that it was only a thought, but in this day and age, I think it is just better to just accept that humans and Nightmaren are together."

Helen looked at the sky; there was only one worry, which was about Bridget. She was still in the Dream World; she didn't think that humans would last long there.

Bridget soon enough opened and closed the door that connected Nightmare to the Dream Gate. What she saw was the typical, fountain and doors, not much to see there. She walked around the area multiple times. She felt kind of bored with no one to talk to.

At least until she saw a girl fall to the front of the Dream Gate. She had dirty blonde hair cut very short, with eyes that were covered by glasses, but Bridget assumed they were brown. The girl looked at Bridget, "you look kind of familiar."

"Really?" asked Bridget, she didn't seem to recognize the girl at all… "Do you come from Bellbridge?"

The girl nodded her head, "yeah, I do…but…Owl told me that Visitors never meet each other…it only happened twice."

"Well," Bridget explained, in which she knew that she was a great exception, "this is my physical body in this world."

The girl's eyes grew very wide, "what?" she asked, "how did that happen?"

"Oh," said Bridget, as she looked at her nails, "a cretin someone teleported me here."

"Like…Reala perhaps?" The girl thought she was spot on, since she did witness both NiGHTS and Reala disappear.

"Nope, Jackle," Bridget confirmed, "he's my boyfriend you know."

An eyebrow rose from the strange girl, "boyfriend? You're aware that most creatures of this world are genderless."

Bridget nodded her head, "yeah, I know," then she looked at a door, "is that one of your Nightopias?"

"My only one," she announced sadly, then looked down "NiGHTS disappeared in front of my eyes."

"Well, I know that NiGHTS is back," said Bridget, "he came with me when we went to the Dream World."

"Really?" the girl became excited; she opened the door right away.

Bridget had followed as the butterflies by the door began to fade away. What she saw was a computerized looking Nightopia. She had always thought of Nightopia has being grasslands, yet then again Bridget knew that Nightopia was created by dreamers. Bridget took a few steps, when she saw the girl talking to NiGHTS.

"Well Rebecca," NiGHTS began to explain, "Reala now has the power to go through the Waking World and the Dream World, thankfully I got back here in the Dream World."

"Good thing you did," said Rebecca, "talking to Owl was getting boring."

Bridget ran over to the two, "hey!" She cried out.

NiGHTS turned around and crossed his arms, "what do you want, shouldn't you be with Jackle?"

"I can take a break from my boyfriend," Bridget told NiGHTS.

A dark circle appeared above the ground; a card came out of it, and then hit a black tree with green wires growing by it. Then the orange Nightmaren himself came out of the circle. Jackle cackled very loudly, "Oh, Bridget, Bridget, Bridget, you're worse than NiGHTS!"

"Is…that Jackle?" Rebecca asked NiGHTS, she looked very frightened, as any Visitor would.

NiGHTS nodded his head, "yeah."

Another devious laugh came from Jackle, "looks like ~I~ will have to capture you both!" Soon enough, Jackle snapped his fingers then a prison appeared around NiGHTS.

A smirk came to NiGHTS; he knew that being a prisoner would not be for long, since there was still Rebecca who could save him.

Then Jackle looked at Bridget, "and for you, my little rebel!"

"What did I do wrong?" Bridget asked, as she tried to act as naïve as one possibility could. She now knew that Jackle wasn't testing her at all as she thought before, but that they were actual rules. At least from the way Jackle was acting.

A glare came from Jackle's eyes; he flew over to Bridget then tried to grab her.

Bridget was smarter than that, she took a jump backwards to escape Jackle's grasp. "Missed me, now what?"

Jackle tried to grab her again, but with no prevail, so Jackle tired again.

As Bridget jumped out of the way for the third time, she hit the tree that got his by Jackle's previous Card. She screamed from the pain from being hit by the tree, she kneeled onto the ground as she cursed and held onto her head.

The pain that Bridget felt was a good opportunity for Jackle, he grabbed her, then went back to the portal that was still opened.

Will went over to the Dream Gate to find Helen, "Hey Helen!" He called out then waved.

Helen was talking to Owl, or more like arguing. "Come on Owl," Helen cried out, "we need to get to Nightmare! Don't you even understand that our friend is there?"

"Young lady," Owl was surprised by what Helen had said, "I know everything about the Night Dimension and from what I know; Nightmare is too dangerous for a Visitor to go alone, especially for a Visitor with all of their Ideya."

Will ran over to the two, as he wondered what was going on, so he asked, "What's the matter?"

"This young woman wants to go to Nightmare!" Owl called out, appalled as he could ever be, "for chit chat with Nightmaren too!"

Will shook his head, "Owl, didn't you know that we've met Reala in the Waking World? We've kind of warmed up to him."

Helen gave Will a look, and then went along with it, she said "yeah, we've warmed up to Reala."

Owl found it hard to believe, but then a dark looking door appeared, then Owl sighed, "Fine, but I have warned you." Owl soon enough disappeared.

Both Will and Helen opened the door, only to find nothing, only a void of darkness.

Will took a deep breath, "well, here we go!" He took a step, which felt solid to him, so he took another step, then another. Helen had followed will through the steps of Nightmare.

When Helen and Will had gotten to the center of Nightmare, where the castle was, they opened the huge doors which entered the castle. What they saw was the usual dark interior of a castle, it seemed to be made out of stone, but was surprisingly clean!

Will and Helen walked down the area, to see many different doors. They didn't look the same, they had different colors, although, there weren't names on any of the doors, so to find that right one was kind of confusing.

Will opened a door, where they found a room which resembled a large dining room. They saw a round, pink, ball like Nightmaren. "Um," Will began to hesitate, "have you seen Reala?"

Instead of answering the question, the Nightmaren attacked Will, but Will kicked the nightmaren to the wall, which ricocheted back to Will. So Will ducked downwards so the Nightmaren would not hit him.

Helen took a close look at the Nightmaren, she actually recognized her, in the Waking World, she was a friend of May, Helen's sister, the Nightmaren was part of May's theatre group before May went to college, "Puffy?"

That was when Puffy stopped fighting Will, and then looked at Helen, "Helen?" Puffy bounced over to Helen, then took a look at her, "my have you grown?"

"Three years since we've met," said Helen, then came to a different subject, "we are looking for Reala, mostly to find my friend, Pammy, have you seen them?"

Thoughts when through Puffy's head, as a Nightmaren she shouldn't be helping Visitors, yet then again, she had helped NiGHTS with the attempt to prevent the revival of Wizeman, in conclusion, she decided to help the two Visistors, "I can show you to Reala's room." She bounced to a door that had red and black checkers on it; she opened the door to see Reala, sitting on his throne.

Will and Helen walked into the room, they both didn't say anything, they looked at each other trying to see if the other would talk first.

"What do you want?" Reala scowled, it seemed as though he didn't want to be bothered.

"Well," said Will, brave enough to speak up, "Helen supposed that Pammy was here, they got into a fight, and Helen wanted to apologize."

Reala looked at Helen, "and you're letting your boyfriend do the talking?"

A sigh came out of Helen's mouth, "I do want to apologize, because, Pammy and I take it way back, even before Joy moved to Bellbridge in our fourth year of Primary School. I've never knew that we would break up over something so silly, something that had to do with a world that wasn't our own. Going to the Night Dimension and meeting NiGHTS was indeed the greatest thing that happened to me, but, if it makes me not be friends with Pammy anymore. Then I would say that it's the worst thing to happen to a Visitor, even with all of my Ideya. I am willing to accept Nightmaren and Visitor relationships just to be friends with Pammy again!"

That was when Helen felt an embrace around her. When Helen looked back she saw that it was Pammy that was giving her the hug. "You've heard the whole thing, didn't you?"

Pammy giggled, "Not the whole thing, I might have come here around the middle of it."

Reala flew over to the two friends, "enough with the reunion, where were you? And why weren't you asleep?"

"My father had to work late, and my mom wouldn't let me sleep until my dad heard the news that I tried to run away," was Pammy's explanation, "yet when Dad got home, he wanted to go to bed. I'm only grounded for a month."

"Aw, that stinks," Will cried out, "that's a whole month out of your summer!"

"And I don't care," Reala pushed Helen out of the way, "as long as she isn't grounded from the Dream World, I'm fine."

"Well, I'm only grounded because I didn't tell them about the Dream World," Said Pammy, "and you're not in trouble, since I didn't say that you kidnapped me."

There was a knock on the door, Reala sighed, then opened the door to find Bridget. "What in Wizeman's name do you want?"

"Help," was Bridget's single worded answer. She was sweating all over her body, taking deep puffs of breath, as if she was running for a long time. Her hands were closed tightly shut, as if she was holding something in her hands. Bridget just didn't know what to do, and she hoped that Reala, Will, Helen or Pammy had any type of solution.