Hey everyone! I am back with another NiGHTS story! Summer is coming to an end or has ended, and everyone is heading back to school/college. So let's have the summertime fun lasts a bit longer with this one-shot. Consider this the beach episode. Shoutout to Eliwert20 for suggesting this.
Possible OOC-ness in this story. Also, I have NiGHTS be referred to as they/them. After all, NiGHTS is genderless and their gender is completely up to how people see them as. Alright, on with the story!
In the Night Dimension, we see Elliot and Claris hanging out at Splash Garden. It is a cheerful aquatic park that has strange bubbles floating in the air above the beach, and a submarine cave in the ocean. Some of the Nightopians are singing, dancing, making bubbles, collecting seashells and playing in the water.
Elliot and Claris have arrived at Splash Garden to spend time with everyone in the Night Dimension. However, both of them showed up wearing their swimsuits instead of their normal clothes to play in the sand and the sea. Elliot is wearing a cyan and navy blue swim trunks, blue sandals and gray/navy blue and white goggles around his neck. Claris is wearing a two piece pink swimsuit with a swim skirt in various shades of pink and small touches of cyan. In her hair is a yellow star and she has a pink bracelet and yellow bracelet on her left wrist. The two of them a building a sand castle with NiGHTS and some of the Nightopians.
"Just need to add a little more sand here than it should be good." Claris says out loud. She takes some sand and puts it at one of the towers of the castle.
"The sand castle is looking pretty good. I'm gonna take a look on the inside." NiGHTS tells them and then shrinks down to go inside the sand castle. They soon come out and returns to normal size. "It looks pretty good in there. I think the Nightopians can turn it into a little playhouse."
"I'm glad we were able to come here to catch up and hang out." Claris tells them. She picks up some sea shells and puts them on the sand castle for decorations.
"Same here. By the way, how is the cruise?" Elliot asks Claris. Claris and her parents have went on a cruise for a month. Because of this, Claris and Elliot have only been able to see each other in the Night Dimension. The last time they saw each other in the Night Dimension, they agreed to meet up at Splash Garden for some fun at the beach.
"I remember you mentioned being on a cruise with your family. What is a cruise?" NiGHTS asks Claris.
"A cruise is basically a large passenger ship used for vacationing. They embark on round-trip voyages to various ports. As for how it's going, it's been fun. I was able to see some on stage singers and musicals. I also got some souvenirs from the places we visited. I got some things I thought you would like Elliot." Claris tells them.
"Thanks, I can't wait to see. I hope you took pictures of the sights." Elliot tells her.
"I wonder what a stage musical is like?" NiGHTS asks out loud.
"I think you would like them. Honestly, I think you would have fun being in a musical." Elliot tells NiGHTS. Claris nods her head in agreement.
They hear Nightopians laughing and look towards the sea. They see that the Nightopians are playing in the water. Some are splashing each other and some are swimming around.
"The Nightopians look like their having a lot of fun." Claris tells them.
"Yeah, they do. Why don't we join them? I'll race you there." NiGHTS tells the both of them. They fly over and dive into the water. When they are fully submerged, they shape shifted their legs into a tail and gain a dorsal fin on their back. They immediately swam up and out of the water, went into one of the bubbles in the sky, and then dives back into the sea.
Seeing this, Elliot and Claris join NiGHTS and the Nightopians. They run over and kick some of the water right when NiGHTS comes out of the water, causing NiGHTS to get splashed. Seeing this, NiGHTS decides to splash them back with their tail. Elliot and Claris retaliate be splashing at NiGHTS, resulting in a splash fight between the three. The Nightopians see what they were doing and joined in.
After a bit, they stop. NiGHTS comes fully out of the water, their tail turning back into legs. "That was fun! It looks like we got the Nightopians to join us." NiGHTS tells them. They see the Nightopians are still splashing each other. They all laugh at the scene.
Suddenly, Elliot turns to look at NiGHTS. "Hey NiGHTS, how about we have a race? A swimming race!" Elliot asks NiGHTS.
"Sounds like fun. Claris, do you want to join us?" NiGHTS asks Claris. They figured they could see if Claris wanted to join them.
"No thanks, I'm good. I'm not a fast swimmer anyways. I think I'll just collect some sea shells with the Nightopians." Claris tells them her plans.
"Well, alright. Be safe and if any Nightmarens show up, come find me so we can get them out of here." NiGHTS tells Claris. Claris nods her head in understanding.
Elliot and NiGHTS are swimming through the sea. Elliot is trying to catch up, but NiGHTS has taken the lead. Meanwhile, Claris is collecting sea shells with the Nightopians. She walks around and ends up at the flower clock garden.
"So this is the flower clock they were talking about. If I remember correctly, the time that the flower hands are on let's us know what time it is in our world." Claris says out loud.
Once she saw the time, Claris happy expression quickly changed to being sad. The Nightopians notice this and become concern. Claris quickly snapped out of it and started to smile again when she realized she was working the Nightopians.
"Don't worry about me. I'm fine. Come on, let's head back to the beach. NiGHTS and Elliot are probably almost done with their race by now." Claris tells the Nightopians. Seeing that she isn't sad anymore, they all headed back to the beach.
When the got back, Claris was examining the shells she found when she heard the sound of splashing water. She looks up and she sees Elliot and NiGHTS coming back around. They're neck and neck until NiGHTS starts to speed up and makes it to the shore first. Elliot makes it a little after.
"Congratulations...NiGHTS. You won...the race." Elliot tells NiGHTS, trying to catch his breath. He straightens up and looks at NiGHTS. "But next time, I'm sure I'll win." He tells NiGHTS confidently.
"I look forward to it. Your really getting faster Elliot. Maybe someday we'll tie." NiGHTS tells Elliot, giving him words of encouragement.
"You both did great out there." Claris tells them as she walks over to them.
"Thanks Claris. I see you and the Nightopians have found some nice shells." NiGHTS notices all of the shells they have.
"We sure did. Some of these shells definitely don't look like the ones from our world. But I guess that makes sense." Claris shows them the shells.
"Your right. I never even noticed before. They look really cool." Elliot says out loud when he notices the shells.
"They sure do. However, I don't think your gonna be able to look at them for much longer. I think it's almost time for the two of you to wake up." NiGHTS tells the both of them.
"Your right. I didn't even notice that it was that time." Elliot realizes what NiGHTS said was true.
"Me neither. But we did get to have some fun here." Claris tells the both of them. However, they notice that Claris was feeling a bit sad.
"What's wrong Claris? Did something happen?" Both NiGHTS and Elliot ask at the same time.
She shakes her head no before she answers. "I just miss you'd guys. I miss my friends and the place where I sing. I miss my home back in Twin Seeds. Don't get me wrong, I am having fun. I guess I just feel a bit homesick. I know it's embarrassing." Claris explains to them how she feels. Elliot puts his hand on Claris's shoulder for comfort.
"I understand what you mean. One time, I spent my summer at a summer camp. While I had a lot of fun, I got a bit homesick. But, I didn't tell anyone because I thought they would make fun of me." Elliot tells Claris about the time he felt homesick.
"I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels homesick. I'm sorry you didn't feel comfortable with telling anyone without feeling you would be judged for it." Claris tells Elliot, making him smile.
"You said that you and your family will be home in a week, right? Then that means you'll be home before you know it. Plus, we have been seeing each other in Nightopia every now and then. So your never too far away from us." Elliot tells Claris, making her feel better.
NiGHTS pulls the both of them into a group hug. "Until you and your family come back, you can keep visiting us in Nightopia. That way, we can help you feel better." NiGHTS tells Claris.
"Next time, we can go to one of your Nightopias. That way, you can feel a bit more at home." Elliot tells Claris.
"Elliot, NiGHTS, thank you. I feel a lot better now that I got to talk about it. I think I'll be able to handle being away for the rest of the week." Claris tells them both in confidence.
NiGHTS sets them down and lets them go. "Now that's the spirit. I hope you'll be able to enjoy the rest of the cruise." NiGHTS tells Claris. She nods her head. "It looks like you both are about to wake up. I hope you both will visit soon." NiGHTS tells the both of them.
"We will." They both say at the same time. They wave bye to NiGHTS and the Nightopians as they leave the Night Dimension.
A week has passed after that. Elliot is seen walking down the street with his friends, having left the basketball field.
"Hey Elliot!" Elliot stops in his tracks when he hears a familiar voice call out to him. He turns around and sees that it was none other then Claris. Upon seeing her, he runs up to Claris and gives her a welcome back hug.
That concludes another NiGHTS story. A short one but hopefully a fun one. Let me know if I should make some more NiGHTS stories.