Man, it's been forever since I've updated anything. I haven't gotten any reviews for any of my stories. Writer's block is one thing, but it's incredibly hard to get over "inspiration" block.

Chapter 29:Purity

The trio had just gotten off another ride, a ship that went in a full circle, and NiGHTS and G&W were laughing. At what, you ask? Leon's jacket. It had slid off when they had gone upside because Leon had let his arms down, allowing his jacket to slide off his arms. Leon was now looking around frantically for it, but he wasn't having much luck.

"Heeere jacket jacket jacket!"Leon called out."C'mere, boy!"He whistled a few times.

"You looking for your jacket or a dog?"G&W asked, chuckling a bit. Leon scratched his head and looked down, noticing a small pebble. He crouched down and picked it up, stupidly hoping his jacket was under it. Obviously, it wasn't there, which made him shout in frustration.

"Will you please help me out here?"he asked his two friends. NiGHTS floated up a few feet and looked around while G&W, utilizing his lack of a dimension, slipped through a small space between the funhouse and another ride. The three of them looked just about everywhere, until NiGHTS spotted it in the coaster's rails, then all three of them went under the rails and looked up at it. Leon had a blank look on his face, then he sighed and started quickly ascending the metal before the other two could say a word.

G&W turned to the jester."He does know you can just fly up there to get it, right?"he asked, but got no response. He tilted his head."Hello? Earth to NiGHTS?"Still no reaction. NiGHTS was staring up at Leon with a somewhat surprised look. It wasn't the fact that he was climbing up the ride by himself, but without his jacket, his arms were more muscular than she thought.

Realizing where her thoughts were going, NiGHTS shook her head and blushed furiously. I can't believe I'm even thinking like this. What's wrong with me?

G&W, noticing the look on NiGHTS face, raised a nonexistant eyebrow. He looked back up and took a good look at Leon, who had nearly reached his jacket. The flat man thought about it for a moment, then an invisible grin spread across his blank face. He chuckled quietly, but NiGHTS apparently didn't hear it.

Hm. This is an interesting development. I guess I'll just watch this play itself out for now. And if I'm right, which I probably am, I'll give them a nice little game to play. He smirked at his thoughts. Watch and game. How ironic.

Leon had finally reached his jacket and slipped it on, then he quickly climbed back down to the ground.

"Well, that's done!"he remarked, wiping some sweat from his forehead."Now what?"G&W crossed his arms and NiGHTS looked away with a blush.

"We've been on every ride here at least once now,"G&W said as they came out from under the railing."Plus, we haven't been attacked in a while, so we really have nothing to do."Yeeeaah, he probably shouldn't have said that...

Suddenly, a large cage erupted from the ground and trapped NiGHTS within it, knocking the other two in different directions and sending them to the ground. NiGHTS looked around the large green cage of energy she was in as it rose up on a large chain.

"Not this thing again,"she groaned as rhe other two quickly stood and looked up at the cage.

"What in Flatzone...?"G&W muttered, looking at NiGHTS' prison in confusion. They all heard sinister chuckling, then turned to see Reala floating towards the cage, arms crossed and smirking. Leon scowled as G&W shook his head."I had to open my big, flat mouth..."The red jester looked at NiGHTS and tilited his head.

"Don't you ever get tired of falling into my trap?"he asked in an amused tone.

"Now you're in for it!"Leon shouted, running towards him. Reala calmly looked at the charging teen, waiting for the right time to strike. Just as Leon jumped up to grab him, Reala swung his leg and kicked the teen back down, then Leon hit the ground with a shout of "D'oh!" NiGHTS' eyes widened.

"Leon! Are you alright?"she asked frantically. The madman clumsily pushed himself to his feet.

"I'm good!"he shouted up to her.

Reala cracked his knuckles."Not for long,"he hissed, flying down and stretching out his claws.

"Reala, don't!"NiGHTS shouted as Leon held his arms up to defend himself.

"EAT THIS!"G&W immediately fired a 'red' hot fish from his frying pan right at Reala's face, making the Nightmaren general flinch and gaining his attention. Reala charged at G&W, ready to slash him to bits with his claws. But just before he was in striking range, G&W activated his "Fire" ability, letting Reala shoot past. (A/N:Fire is the name of G&W's up-b attack.) When G&W landed, he quickly faced Reala, who was giving him a glare. The two then charged and began to knock the snot out of each other. Using the distraction to his advantage, Leon quickly ran under the cage and looked up at NiGHTS.

"How do I get you outta there?"he asked.

"Climb up the chain to get in here,"NiGHTS said."Your Red Ideya should be enough to help me get out."Leon nodded and quickly ascended the chain. He reached up and pulled himself past the green barrier and stood up on the cage's floor. The two dualized into Neon and easily flew out of the cage.

"That was easy,"Leon said, doing a midair frontflip, but NiGHTS made them frown.

"I'm afraid we're not done, yet,"she said, flying towards a strange creature riding on a bird."That thing has the key we need. We have to catch it quickly or else we'll be seperated and I'll be sent back to the cage."

"Alright, let's do it!"Leon grinned. The creature, hearing Leon's shout, immediately took off. They followed the creature as it flew around the entire park; circling the fun house a few times and then moving towards the coaster, then flying along the tracks as it did the same thing. They both dived down a drop at high speed, pulling up just before crashing. Meanwhile, G&W had just been sent to the ground by a drill dash from Reala. The red jester flew in to land another attack, but the 2-d warrior swung a small hammer to knock him away. Reala righted himself in midair and flew at him again.

"Alright. Let's try this,"G&W muttered, preparing his judge attack. He then, surprisingly, held up a 9 and bonked Reala in the head with his hammer, sending a surge of electricity through him and sending him through the air faster than a bullet. The nightmaren crashed right into a wall of the funhouse. Reala groaned and painfully pried himself from the wall, then looked at G&W with narrowed eyes.

"H-how...did you...?"he growled painfully.

"Leave. Now."G&W said coldly. With a grunt, Reala floated off into the sky. G&W sighed and sat down while rubbing his head. I'm so tired of all this stupidity.

Neon had finally caught up to the creature, which NiGHTS had said was a Goodle. The fused duo took the key from the creature before taking it out with a touch dash, then they quickly flew back to the cage and put the key in the lock, causing the cage to fall apart. They smiled and flew down to G&W.

"Where's Reala?"NiGHTS questioned.

"Gone for now,"G&W said calmly, then noticed a black cloud moving towards them, and he quickly stood up."Uh oh. Here we go again."Neon turned around, seeing the blackness coming closer.

"This again? Are you kidding me?"Leon asked.

"This is it. Get ready."NiGHTS said. The cloud enveloped them, and they found themselves back on the strange pinball table. Once again, they're ears were flooded with the sound of creepy laughter and terrible singing. They looked up and saw Donbalon and Puffy floating down towards them. G&W pulled out his key.

"Same plan as before?"he asked Neon, who nodded.

3. MINUTES. LATER.

The trio had managed to knock the balloon marens past the second gate. But now they had a big problem. There were two giant train sets blocking the way to the final gate, and they were going annoyingly fast. Neon had managed to knock Donbalon between them, but was having trouble keeping him from falling back down, and G&W was just barely managing to keep Puffy above the gate by using his air pump. Fortunately, he got a chance and knocked Puffy past both gaps in the train sets with good timing, nearly sending her into the final gate. G&W quickly jumped and landed on the first train. Looking back, G&W wished he hadn't done so, as he was forced to run along the train like a treadmill.

"A little help here?"he asked Neon, who had finally managed to knock Donbalon upwards. They flew down to him and grabbed his arms, pulling him up past the second train set."Please don't drop me on the train."

"Don't worry, you're pretty light,"Neon told him.

"What do you expect? I have no depth,"he remarked."Now throw me up to them!"Nodding, Neon flipped backwards and threw him straight upwards, allowing him to knock Donbalon through the gate with his box, where the clown was sucked into the hole at the top. As G&W started to fall, Neon flew over to Puffy and placed a hand on her head, then they took aim and sent her to the same fate as the clown. The trains stopped and G&W landed on the top one easily. He sighed, relieved that he didn't have to run again. Neon started to fly down to him, but a bright flash engulfed the area, and the three of them were now floating in a bright whiteness, where a single white orb with a strange pattern in it was floating between the three.

"What's that thing?"Leon asked.

"The White Ideya of Purity,"NiGHTS said softly."It represents the innocence of one's heart."

"I suppose it makes sense that it made a gigantic carnival of a world,"G&W said."The happiness an innocent child feels at a carnival, the unbridled joy in their hearts; it's poetic, in a way."He looked at Leon."Go on. Grab it."Leon nodded and held it in his hands, allowing the orb to be absorbed into himself. He felt a surge of energy go through his body, which made him close his eyes. He felt the presence of the other two disappear, then he could vaguely hear voices come from seemingly nowhere.

"...must...sto...at all co...you...derstand...Leonokas..."

Leon gasped. That name...

He opened his eyes again, and saw that he was back at the entrance to the Dream Gate. He looked around with wide eyes. Had he just been dreaming?

"Hey, Leon!"a voice called out. Leon blinked in surprise, then ran up to the fountian to see his two companions. When they saw the baffled look on his face, G&W asked."What's wrong?"Leon scratched his head.

"I dunno,"he mumbled. NiGHTS flew next to him.

"Do you have any of your powers back?"she asked. He looked between them for a moment.

"Uhhhh..."he then closed his eyes and concentrated, holding his hand out, then he felt a strange tingling in his fingers. Right after that, he heard NiGHTS gasp while G&W muttered "Whoa, that's freaky."(A/N:I'm going to admit that I wanted to leave this as a cliffhanger, but I'm not that cruel.)

"Leon...open your eyes,"NiGHTS said softly. Leon did as she told and his eyes widened, for in his hand was a strange distortion of space in the shape of a ball.

"...Cool,"Leon said, passing his other hand through it.

"So, what exactly does it do?"G&W asked. NiGHTS then tried to pass her own hand through it, but immediately pulled her hand away, flinching.

"Ow!"she yelped.

Leon frowned."You okay?"NiGHTS nodded, waving her hand a bit.

"I guess that answers my question,"G&W said."It hurts. It's meant to hurt."He looked at NiGHTS."How exactly did that feel? Did it burn or what?"

"It's kind of hard to describe,"NiGHTS told them."It just...hurt. There's no real way to word how it felt. I guess the best way to say it is that my hand was being pushed and pulled in every possible direction at once."Leon passed his hand through it again.

"Really? I don't feel anything,"he muttered, eyebrow raised.

"Well, duh,"G&W said."You're the one making it, of course it wouldn't hurt you."He stared at the ball for a moment longer before asking,"Can you charge it?"

Leon shrugged."I'll try."He then closed his eyes again and started focusing his new power into his hand. After a moment, he opened his eyes and saw that the orb was no bigger than before. He groaned."Aw, what a rip."He then threw the orb at the ground, but then three more orbs of energy fired out of his hand and hit the ground around the first, creating multiple, twisted dents in the ground. Their jaws dropped.

"Holy..."G&W muttered, stunned.

"Incredible..."NiGHTS said.

"...Sweeeeet..."Leon mumbled, a stupid looking grin on his face, then they heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. They turned and saw Owl sitting on his perch.

"Forgive my interruption, but a door to a new Nightopia has appeared,"he announced, pointing his wing. They looked where he was pointing, and saw that there was, in fact, a new door next to the other one. They walked up to the door and looked amongst themselves.

"One down, three to go,"NiGHTS said."I can only wonder what this next world will be like."

"Then let's quit wondering and get to it!"Leon grinned, opening the door. The two of them went through, but G&W just stood there and sighed somewhat sadly.

"Three to go..."he muttered."Why does it have to be this way?"Shaking his head, he walked through the door.

XXXX

End of chapter.

This was longer than I expected.