Notes: Another chapter, the first couple always seem to be the easiest to get out and after that, it just sort of depends on how much time I have. Since for both this and 'WDMC' I have a clear linear storyline I should hopefully be able to get chapters out fairly quickly. WDMC I know will likely be a short story. Longer than 4 chapters, but certainly not a work that can get too far over 5. We'll see. This one will be much longer, I don't have to force the details on it and me and the main character get along better lol.

Pardon my dust. I had to move and it's had everything nuts for a couple weeks. Cool thing, I have a nice shiny new desk and Ipod, still gotta save for a little laptop so I can take my tunes and head down to the park and write in the nice fresh air and shade, yeah.. that would be awesome. Past that, I just got my computer back so now I get to sit and start writing again, I pumped out 2 chapters in practically no time. But both ended up a bit on the 'short' side.... heh. so I combined them together to make at least one descent sized chapter, and they both rather fitted well together anyway.

*8*
Scattered Dreams

Chapter 2

*8*

When Maia entered the new area there seemed to be nothing but a forest, small trees all leading up to one huge tree that grew strong in the center of the forest, standing so much taller than everything else in this place. It towered and all around it sheltered creatures. She stared back through the foliage to see the king tree.

"Wow," she said shading her eyes against the light of the sun shining through the clouds and breaks in the trees. It was as if it pierced the very heavens with a strong will determination to stand.

"Indeed" she turned to see Owl, who found himself a perch on a branch of one of the smaller trees near her. "this is going to be quite an ordeal." he said.

"Yeah?"

"I scouted about a bit, and I have found Nights, but.. this is not going to be easy." he looked down and seemed to be eyeing her leg. Considering she'd only been standing a short time and was already about to fall over.

"I'll make it" she told the bird and leaned heavily upon Kitten. Who just rubbed its head against her side. "you'll help me right?" she asked her Nightmare who crouched a bit and after a moments hesitation she sat on the beast's back. Then had to grab on tightly and swinging her leg over the back as Kitten stood up again.

"Mobility is not a problem" she grinned at the Owl who blinked at her and coughed uncomfortably for being caught pointing out her deficiencies.

"Yes, so it seems. I saw Nights imprisoned in that giant tree. Its, not the usual style of cage they have used in the past. I will go ahead and see what I can figure out. Once you have reached there, I hope I will have something for you." and the Owl disappeared.

She looked at the spot where the Owl was and then patted Kitten's side. "Lets go love. We have a 'damsel' to save."

*8*8*

The first feeling of courage, optimism,and even a bit of joy at the thought of doing something really 'epic' faded. While she was riding, like with horseback it was hard work and made harder with her damaged leg. But walking was out of the question, even if she could stumble along the way there where no clear cut paths here. Fallen trees creating bridges and ramps, jams and obstacles. The way grew steeper the further they went along and it meant Kitten had to take greater leaps and bounds, which only jarred Maia's body and made her sore and tired.

On top of that she had to keep an eye out for glowing spheres of blue. She'd discovered if flung they tended to stun any of the creatures that might attack her. At least the ones that where not thrown off by Kitten's growl. Large ugly eel like creatures. She rather wished she could still shape things like she use to, but evertime she tried it just felt blocked somehow. She couldn't create any paths, they had to hunt and several times wonder if they were going the wrong way even. Maia was growing fustrated. No paths, no clear directions and on top that she was surrounded by nightmarish creatures that where an offense to her senses. She couldn't even reshape them into something really horrifying. So garishly bright they stood out against the shrubbery.

"Something more hidden would be better, so that you can get the real pop and scare tactics. These couldn't scare a baby." OK, well maybe they could scare a baby, when they got close enough to actually manage to look threatening. And that they where, with spikes and sticky balls, and electric shocks. Things meant to ruin ones sleep and possibly even wake them up. Which now that Maia was committed to her task she really didn't want to do. No, she needed to stay asleep, to last the whole night and win back those Ideya that Reala stole from her.

On top of it all, she had a feeling she was under a time crunch. She couldn't see a clock but the feeling that it was ticking down gave an added weight to her journey. How long before she would wake on her own naturally? Would she be able to keep coming back here, night after night? She didn't know, but she couldn't risk it yet. She really needed to last as long as she could while she could.

"I'm going to have to get you a saddle" she said to Kitten who just tilted an ear at her and snorted in response. She clung to that shifting back. It was not like riding a horse in the terms of a smooth ride. Horses had nice strait backs that where comfortable to sit on, her Kitten's back arched and dip, making staying on a bit more difficult. But she managed, leaning low over the back practically laying on it, and hanging on with both hands. With a few tugs she could somewhat direct her friend. When she spotted a way, or item she wanted to look at closer.

*8*

Agony was jarring every move that Kitten made. The giant shadow cat slinking along the moss covered rocks that was making climbing difficult. Ahead of them they saw the start of the tree roots, the giant king tree that hung over all else in this place. They where nearly to it. Nearly there, nearly able to reach

Nights finally after all the struggle it took to get there.

"You'd think a dream built around pieces of my heart would be a little easier." she muttered. But at the same time, something didn't quite feel right. Like those nightmarish creatures. They where nothing of her mind. Some of the other things, like the blue orbs and chests and other things they had located. A lot of the chests contained more orbs, but some had had of all things pocket watches. That when she touched them made her feel a little less.... wakeful? Would that be the word? It seemed it bought her time, she wasn't sure how but had to just trust that this was so.

Maia saw another such chest and with a slight tug, Kitten altered its direction slightly and took her to it. Inside was another of the pocket watches. This one was gold, those had much more time on them than the bronze or silver ones she noticed with satisfaction and reached out touching it, the watch disappearing and giving her a small sense of peace.

"Alright Kitten. Lets see if we can find ourselves a way in." they climbed up along one of the huge roots and at the top they found Owl waiting for them.

"Hoo-hoo! There you are, I was worried that you weren't going to make it." he flapped his wings and Kitten came up laying down, which let Maia slide down beside him her aching legs telling her about how badly she'd abused them.

"We're here" she told the bird "What do you know about Nights?"

"The cell is still a ways away. But." he fell silent a long moment "there is a rather large second level nightmaran between you and Nights."

"So, we'll have to beat it then right? And we can get to Nights."

"I do not know if you have the power to beat that thing alone." Owl said.

"But I have Kitten."

"Who is only a 3rd level Nightmaran."

She was quiet for a long moment. "Then we'll just have to think of a way to either get around it, or beat it with brains." she leaned back against Kitten, "What can you tell me about this boogyman?"

Owl flicked his wings and tilted his head "This is a very dangerous situation, are you sure you wish to try this?"

"I think Owl, the question really is, do I have a choice?"

"You always have a choice." Owl told her.

"But then who would get back my Ideya?"

Owl fell quiet again and cleared his throat "This one is called Dragonfly. It's actually a pair. What I can see is that one seems, like a golem of some sort and the other controls it."

She blinked "So then really all we need to do is separate them?"

Owl tilted his head "That does seem like the logical conclusion, if anything Fly would be easier to handle for Kitten than trying to take on Dragon."

She gave a nod "So, we separate them, take care of one or the other and then get to Nights right?"

Owl coughed "well I shouldn't think it would be that easy really."

"Well, my dad always tells me to 'keep it simple stupid' so the simpler it is the better chance we have to be able to adjust as things change."

Owl gave a nod, "Once we get past Dragonfly, it will still be a fight, you will have to get to Nights and Duelize. You don't have much time if you two can't find the keys to Nights cell, Nights will be pulled back and you will likely be woken up."

"What would happen then?"

"Hopefully... you would get another chance when you go back to sleep." Owl told her.

"Hopefully?" her head tilted in an unconscious mimicry of the Owl.

"You would have to start over from the beginning." he told her solemnly.

She gave a groan "So it would be all or nothing eh?"

"Very much so it would seem." He finished with a sigh.

Maia rubbed her face "Well we won't get anything done here, we need to go in then." she said and patting Kitten's flank she perched on the Cat's back as it got up. "Lead the way Owl."

"W-what?" Owl blinked startled.

"Lead the way, we're going to need your help." she repeated to the Owl, "you yourself said that me and Kitten can't do this alone."

"B-b-but what do you think I can do?" Owl croaked.

She grinned "What?"

"I don't have the power!"

"So? Neither do I, we'll help each other." she said and held out her hand to the fluffy Owl.

Owl seemed to think about it for a long moment and then nodded. "Alright. Lets go then shall we?"

*8*

It was still work getting into the King tree. But with Owl leading them it was a lot easier to find their way. Inside was a twisted maze of roots and branches of the tree all wrapped around into a tight network of paths, all leading up. But not all the paths lead in on each other or came back together, some where dead ends, and some went back down the wrong way. Owl would teleport up a little ways and wait for them, keeping a close eye out for trouble and shouting warnings before anything could jump out at them.

The inside of the tree was littered with places where things would shift from solid to shadow. There were no switches, the changes from solid to shadow were beyond their control. Often on the other side of what was once a solid wall along the path were rather nasty enemies. Having Owl ahead telling her and Kitten that they where there was helpful.

They made their way up and what they found near the top was a large arena style place, in the center floated a cage with nothing holding it in place. Inside Nights was laying prone at the bottom. The cage would dip and sway slightly with the breeze blowing through. Maia looked around, seeing nothing else "Where is this Dragonfly?" she asked Owl who landed next to her on root that rose next to her.

"Hoo, I do not know. They had been wandering around earlier." Owl said sounding a bit worried.

"Well, maybe they are out using the bathroom?" she said hopefully, "If we could get to that cage." how to get there? there was nothing to climb, no way to jump out to that cage. How could she possibly duelize with Nights if Maia couldn't reach her?

Just then she felt herself suddenly flung forward. Kitten reverted to a smaller form as they tumbled through the air, she could hear Owl shouting something.

Maia landed on something that gave just enough under her that she had the air knocked out of her but it wasn't worse. She could have broken something! Opening her eyes she looked up to see a large strange hybrid of man, monkey, and reptile. It was like a giant toy, or a puppet. The other arm shifted and she saw a rope coming out of the wrist start to pull back into itself and that brought the fist that had struck the wall and had been what knocked her and Kitten off the ledge.

Maia gulped, this was what she, Kitten and Owl where going to take on? The huge construct turned its head and she saw there was a little man sitting on its shoulder. In fact, it looked like a little boy, dressed up as a pale clown with red hair and bright large green eyes that seemed to blaze. Kitten was below and shifted form jumping up the side of the larger creature to try and reach her. The little boy held out his hand and a bolt of electrisity shot out and hit Kitten who fell back with a scream.

"Kitten!" Maia shifted and looked over the edge of the hand holding her and saw that the boy and creature had their attention on Kitten's form, a foot raising to crush it. She looked up and saw Owl above looking unsure, "Owl! Help!"

"Hoo! Hoo! What can I do?"

"Fly at their heads! Distract them!" she said. Just keep them from stepping on her Kitten!

"Oh! Hoo hoo!" and he dashed down at the Dragonfly's heads. The two turned their heads up and made a swat at the Owl. Tilting the hand that had held Maia the girl fell the rest of the way to the floor. With a grunt she managed to turn to her belly and using her shaky arms she started to pull herself along the way towards Kitten.

"Common love" she gasped getting to the cat's side. She shook the currently small kitten body and picked it up snuggling it close "Wake up, Owl needs us, Nights needs us" she said and held the little body close and felt the tiny heartbeat under her fingers. She closed her eyes for a moment and felt her own heart beating in her chest, Kitten's matching. She started to glow and after a moment Kitten's eyes opened and the little shadow moved. She opened her eyes and looked down at Kitten who gave a meow and she released the shadow cat and it landed on the ground, with a low growl it began to grow. She looked down at her little Kitten who looked back at her, eyes seeming to grow very large. Going from yellow to almost white. She was trapped in those eyes, until she found herself staring out at.. herself?

Maia felt a bit of a tug and turned away from the still form of her body. Who was staring down at the spot the kitten had been. She could still feel a connection to that form, this was in no way like it was to Duelize with Nights, it was as if a small part of her was just taking a ride with Kitten.

Who grew to a large size and nails digging into the mossy ground took off fast. Great leaping bounds up the leg of the golem. Owl was frantically dodging electric shots of the little fellow on Dragon's shoulder. Loosing feathers in a great cloud which likely helped in hiding him from a closer aim. The Golem noticed Kitten, but too late, and Maia and Kitten hit Fly, knocking him from the back of Dragon. Immediately the golem went slack, crumpling like a doll as Maia and Kitten took out the clown. Maia found herself blinking again where she was seated, looking at Kitten who's shadowy tail twisted back and forth. Owl came down from wherever he'd been hiding looking ruffled "Well, that.. was easier than expected."

"It looked like Fly was Dragon's power source." Maia said and then looked up at the cage "Now... how to get up to Nights.." she narrowed her eyes. With Kitten's help, she could climb up Dragon and use him as a perch to jump to the cage, but that would then leave Fly able to get back to Dragon. That would just leave all kinds of trouble.

And she just had a feeling that Kitten just wasn't yet strong enough to be able to rip out that thing's throat even if he did look like a brat no older than herself. She noticed how the cage seemed to swing in the air a bit and her eyes narrowed. Then she grinned "I bet we can knock it down!"

"hoo? What are you talking about?" Owl seemed confused.

She pointed up to the cage "I bet we can knock it down, so I can get to it. Nothing is holding."

Owl coughed "Yes well, that would be a bit.. rough.. on Nights don't you think?"

"Yes well, how do you think we can get up there? I can't teleport like you can and someone's gotta hold that thing over there, or we'll have worse trouble." she explained.

Owl blinked and coughed "yes well, I can well image then yes, knocking the cage down somehow does seem to be the better option."

The two of them eyed the situation and butted heads together to try and come up with the best option to complete their goal.