Last time on Dreams of Destiny, having learned the Ghost of Dreams known as Nocturn has been hiding out in Trollberg the whole time. Hilda, alongside Lincoln, Steven, Bismuth, Peridot, Annie, Ed, Pony, alongside Lion and Amity Park's Mayor, Tucker Foley, raced there via Lion's portal ability. Once they made it, Lion collapsed from exhaustion and had to stay outside the walls of the blue haired adventurer's hometown. The group made it to the factory where the dream ghost was incubating in his dream pod, gathering more and more dream energy. Tucker and Peridot decide to take out the antenna of the machine while everyone else holds off the sleepwalkers guarding said machine. However, it seems that Nocturn had planned ahead and prepared for such opposition as these strange devices activated as they dispersed a strange smoke through the factory, affecting the fighters and altering their perceptions and making them see their worst nightmares. Effectively trapping them in their own minds!
Can they fight through this deception? Find out as this journey reaches its conclusion now!
Fight of Dreams: Part 2!
In a black void, Steven was in a battle stance, he didn't know what this place had in store for someone like him, but if his experiences in Rose's room (well technically Pink Diamond's room) in the temple taught him anything, was that he was going to see wasn't real. Also, just in case that the projections were going to attack him, he needed to stay on his toes and defend himself. However, the question on the half gem's mind was: What was going to appear and attack him first? Couldn't be worse than what he's been through so far.
He didn't have to wait long as he was had a familiar beach appearing around him as he was seeing the ocean in front of him. Being on this beach made him feel nostalgic as he lived for the past 16 years in Beach City with his dad and the Gems.
Suddenly, something in it began to make its presence known as a series of bubbles began to appear and pop the second, they reached their limit of bubbliness as what was in the water slowly began to rise.
What Steven saw made his pupils shrink as he began to breathe heavily, his gem shining like never before as he began to shed tears as his body went pink almost instantaneously.
"Oh no, not again! Why this?!" The poor lad said as he fell to his knees in despair. "Why, why do I have to relive this?!"
Out of the ocean was a giant monster with a pink color scheme and had big spikes extending from its head, along with his arms and legs.
Steven knew exactly what this creature was. The feeling he was having made him felt like he was having a million heart attacks simultaneously.
"It's not real, it's not real, it's not real." Steven stated to himself like a broken record, though the tears didn't stop flowing from his eyes.
For Annie and Pony, the two best friends were in their city of Pickleton. At first, they thought that it was going to be normal. That hope was dashed in seconds as what they saw was horrifying.
Buildings were on fire and crumbling into rubble and it was hard to see anything.
"Annie, I'm scared." Pony said as he stepped back.
"So am I." Annie said as she embraced her pet. "But we just need to stick together Pony, but just in case we get separated, be ready for anything, okay?"
Suddenly, the two heard an ear shattering screech that caused them to cover their ears. Opening their eyes, the two friends saw stampede of various angry civilians wielding pitchforks, torches and other different melee weapons heading right towards them.
"Oh no." was the duo's response as they clung to each other like their lives depended on it.
Suddenly, the ground then shook before a bunch of spikes made out of concrete shot up from it, creating a makeshift fence that separated Annie from Pony.
"Annie!" Pony shouted as he fell backwards.
"Pony!" Annie shouted as she was forced to let go of her pet/best friend.
Looking back, the young girl saw the angry citizens box her in causing her to back up against the fence of sorts.
"You struggle to restrain your pet!" one of the women citizens says pointing her pitchfork at her.
"He's gotten us severely hurt or worse, nearly gets us killed with his everyday antics!" A man said as he pointed to an eyepatch that he was wearing.
On Pony's end, he was fairing any better.
"Come on guys, let's talk about this." Pony said as fear creeped into him like a virus.
"Your reckless behavior has caused billions of dollars in property damage!" An elderly woman sitting in a wheelchair ranted.
"We're sick of it!" A young boy said, brandishing a hockey stick.
"Since Annie won't keep you in line, we will!" A girl said as she prepared her barbwire covered baseball bat.
For Annie and Pony, this is their worst nightmare personified...
"Hello?!" Ed shouted as he was walking through the ruined Cul-de-sac, seemingly abandoned as there was no one in site. "Eddy? Double D? Sarah? Anyone?"
He looked to the left and saw what was left of the Candy Store, so he decided to see if there was anyone there.
Since the door appeared to have been broken off its hinges, the monobrowed one simply walked in.
What he saw once he was inside made him stop in his tracks.
It was a group of what appeared to be mutated creatures, but upon further inspection, these weren't just ordinary mutants. Their facial features made the lone Ed boy instantly recognize them.
"Guys?" Ed said in horror.
The crew of mutants turned out to be his sister Sarah, his friends Double D and Eddy, and even his girlfriend, May. Upon hearing him, they wasted not a nanosecond charging at him with nuclear waste oozing out of them and their eyes glowing bright green due to said radiation.
Ed could do nothing except scream in fear and run for his dear life.
Hilda was standing alone in a black void that stretched for miles. She didn't know what to expect from mind altering fumes, but if the various adventures that she has been on has taught her anything, it's that she had to be ready for whatever comes her way.
So, what Nocturn going to send her way?
She had her fears yes, but most of the time the blue haired heroine was pretty fearless than most of the people that she lives with in Trollberg, so what could she possibly be scared of?
A type of supernatural creature that she's afraid of?
Puh-lease, she's spent the past five years living in Trollberg. While most of the creatures she faced were either misunderstood or downright terrifying, she managed to remain her fearless, adventurous self. Not even the Marra she dealt with when she was 12 (and the same ones she previously dealt with a few minutes ago alongside her new friends) could scare her all that much with their dream manipulation powers.
Is Nocturn going to try to use some type of emotional manipulation like using her mother and one of her friends?
Yaaaaawwwn! Her relationships with others have strengthened over the course of her life ever since she moved to Trollberg. Some disagreements and arguments here and there but those types of verbal and confrontational detriments only made the relationships stronger as a result.
Before the blue haired adventurer could continue to think of scenarios that were probably going to come her way, a flash of green light appeared in front of her.
What she saw caused her eyes widen in surprise as she couldn't believe what she was seeing in front of her as her body began to shake a little.
Regardless, she was going to be prepared for what was in front of her...
Lincoln was standing in a void of darkness as he was on guard, scared of what he was going to face thanks to Nocturn's little contingency plan. He was wondering to himself that if a gas like is supposed to make you see what you fear, then what was his fear. He had plenty of things to be scared of so what would be the one that Nocturn would use against him?
A vision of his family being upset with him perhaps...
Doubt it. While he had a complicated yet wholesome relationship with his family, they still loved each other and are willing to do whatever they could to help each other.
A vision of his home being set on fire...
While that was scary, he couldn't really see it as his biggest fear considering that his sister Lisa can be capable of such a thing knowing her experiments have a tendency to malfunction in some way even now that she grew up. Hopefully it will never come to that.
Whatever it was, he knew that it wasn't real despite seeing it with his own eyes.
Suddenly, the environment around him changed into a place where he only visited once... and it instantly brought back some rather traumatizing memories.
"Oh no." Was all Lincoln could say as found out what this place was.
Back in reality, Peridot and Tucker were almost done taking out the mainframe of the factory's antenna with Bismuth keeping the sleepwalkers away from them.
"Any progress you two?" The weapon making gem asked, batting away a sleepwalker with a hammer she transformed one of her hands into before using her other to form an axe to slice another sleepwalker in half causing it to dissipate into thin air.
"Just one more minute, Bismuth!" Peridot exclaimed as she and Tucker typed away at the firewalls as there a lot of them.
Bismuth was unaware of two sleepwalkers about to blast her with their mouth lasers from behind, only to be blasted away by a laser blast before they got the chance to.
"You alright, guys?" Lucy said as she was armed and landed by Peridot and Tucker.
"We're fine." Bismuth said. "Where are the others?"
"They're down there but we have a problem." Lucy said, pointing down at Lincoln, Steven, Hilda, Annie, Pony and Ed in some sort of trance. "They aren't moving and appear to be in some kind of trance."
"Come on, come on!" Tucker said as seconds later heard a beeping sound on his hacking device. "Alright, we're in!"
"We'll handle shutting this thing down, Lucy, you and Bismuth go check on the others and see if you can snap them out of whatever they're under." Tucker ordered before turning to Peridot. "Peridot, let's take this thing out!"
"Heck yeah!" Peridot exclaimed.
With the two tech experts beginning to turn off the antenna, the Crystal Gem and the member of the Mortician club hopped down to the team who were still in trance.
"Steven?" Bismuth said as she knelt down to his level before grabbing him by his shoulders. "Come on buddy, you have to snap out of it." She then followed this plea up by shaking him a bit, hoping that the physical contact would break him from the trance. Sadly, it didn't.
"Snap out of it, brother." said Lucy before she too shook her brother a bit. Unfortunately, it didn't awaken him from his trance. "Nothing. This is not good."
The two shook Annie, Pony, Ed and Hilda, with same results.
"Nothing." the two said in unison.
Suddenly, the two heard growling. Turning around, they saw a bunch of sleepwalkers flying towards them.
"We're going to have to worry about them later, Lucy." Bismuth said, transforming her hands into hammers once more. "I don't think we can do much for them out here but protect them!"
"Agreed, maybe they can get out that mental prison on their own." Lucy said as she blasted sleepwalkers as determination to protect her friends and her brother while they were out of commission for now.
All they can do now is hope...
Ed was backing away in fear of the mutated versions of his loved ones. He didn't know what to do. He didn't want to fight them as he was more of a dim-witted lover than a dim-witted fighter.
"STAY BACK MANIFESTATIONS OF MY FEARS!" Ed yelled. "MY FRIENDS WOULD NEVER TRY TO KILL ME!"
Suddenly, the mutated versions of Double D and Sarah lunged at him... before they suddenly stopped in their tracks, almost as if they were frozen in place.
"Huh?" Ed asked himself.
Noticing the mutants are frozen, he cautiously walked towards them before he stuck a finger out to the mutant Double D.
To his surprise, it didn't respond.
"Wait, I wonder if..." Ed wondered to himself before he spoke again. "These aren't my friends and baby sister!"
Just he finished saying that his friends Eddy and Edd, his girlfriend May and his sister Sarah turn into a puff of smoke as they return to their normal selves.
He then tried again. "The Cul-de-sac is NOT like this!"
After saying that, the area around them began changing. Changing back into a state of normalcy.
Just the way the optimistic Ed boy likes it.
Ed blinked his eyes as he snapped back into reality, the effects of the mind-altering gas having finally wore off. Looking around, he saw that he was still in the factory. As he began to remember what happened a few minutes earlier, he looked around and saw Bismuth and Lucy fighting the sleepwalkers while Tucker and Peridot were taking out the tower.
Looking behind him, he saw Lincoln, Hilda, Annie, Pony, and Steven still in a trance.
He grabbed Steven by his shoulders and yelled. "Think happy thoughts!"
He repeated this process with the others. This gained Bismuth and Lucy's attention.
"Ed?" Lucy asked in surprise. "You're out of your trance."
"That's not going to work, Ed! We already tried that!" Bismuth said as she tried to focus on fighting the sleepwalkers.
But Ed refused to back down as he continued to shout, "Think happy thoughts!" at his hypnotized friends.
Back in the mindscape void, Steven was staring at his monster self in sheer shock. Ever since the first time he became a monster and turning back to normal, he vowed to never become that again... not if he could help it.
Seeing it right in front of him after so long was like reliving that that experience all over again.
After a few moments of silence, the massive beast spoke.
"Poor Steven." It spoke in an understandable English language, surprising the hybrid. "You think that just because you're not a monster anymore, you think that the mental scars will go away instantaneously?"
Despite trembling a lot at what he was seeing before him, Steven managed to breath in and out before he spoke. "No. N-Not right away. It takes time and effort for that to go away."
"True but think about it." The beast retorted. "How long until the next threat shows up to slaughter you and those you care about, and you won't be able to stop it? How long until you have to make that really hard choice and need to murder someone, and you might not be able to bring them back to life like before and decide to leave them for dead?"
This made Steven go silent for a bit. His therapist had such questions during his session with the boy. Steven himself had even asked that question to himself once or twice. He honestly didn't have an easy answer for such uncomfortable queries. What would happen if the hybrid did lose control of himself again and this time his friends and family wouldn't be able to stop him? What if he ended up killing THEM in retribution for trying to stop him? What if when he does lose control and kills someone, he decides not to bring them back and just leave them dead?
Then again, he did need to have some consequences in his life in spite of seeing all life as precious and sacred just his mother before him.
Before Steven could continue dwelling on such questions, questions that he didn't have answers to, out of nowhere he faintly heard a familiar voice.
"Think happy thoughts!"
"Ed?" Steven asked in surprise.
"So, he's escaped that his nightmare trance, has he?" The monstrosity thought to himself. "Impressive but I doubt that it will make much of a difference, I still have the others trapped."
"Think happy thoughts?" Steven thought to himself. Just then, it hit him. "Yeah." He turned to the pink monster in front of him. "I may have turned into you, but I am mentally better now than I was back then."
"Oh, come on Universe, that was pure dumb luck, and you know it!" The monster snapped a bit. "You know that your friends' love for you was the reason that you turned back to normal."
"True but that was because they didn't give up on me like I did to myself during that time." Steven said with a smile before continuing.
As Steven continued to speak, he began to remember the good times he has had with his loved ones.
The time that he, Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl played in that Beach-a-Palooza after a very traumatizing experience that involved multiple versions of the half gem turning to dust in front of them after one of them destroyed a time travel device.
"If they didn't give up on me, they wouldn't have played with me in that band for Beach-a-Palooza after that traumatizing mission to find the hourglass."
He then remembered another memory: It was the time that he, Greg and the Gems went on vacation after the young man had a fight with Connie over him surrendering to Aquamarine and Topaz.
"If they didn't give up on me, they wouldn't have tried to cheer me up by taking me on vacation after I had that fight with Connie."
As Steven continued to remember things, the more his memories began to appear in mindscape. The times when things weren't complicated. When things were fun, and everyone was happy.
Like the time the Gems and he threw a beach party to mend the fences with the Pizza family after a fight with a corrupted Gem caused some collateral damage or the time when Steven's father Greg was kidnapped by Blue Diamond and Steven and the Gems flew the Roaming Eye, they took from the Ruby Squad to rescue him from the Human Zoo that Blue and Yellow Diamond had built for his mother.
"If they didn't give up on me, they wouldn't have helped me set up that party with the Pizza family to help mend because a fight with one of those corrupted gems cause damage to the pizzeria and we wouldn't have beaten that corrupted gem without their help and we wouldn't have rescued Dad from the Human Zoo if they gave up on him or me."
At last, but not least, he remembered his whole monster scenario and how those he loves had come together to save him when he was at his lowest point.
"If they didn't give up on me, I would've stayed a monster forever."
After that was said, the monster slowly began to vanish from the mindscape.
"You're just a thing of the past, I'm looking towards the future!"
"You will never be rid of me! I'm your dark half! Without me, you're worthless! NOOO!" screamed the monstrous form of the hybrid as he faded from the mind!
Steven let out a gasp as he snapped out of the trance he was apparently under. Looking around, he saw Lincoln, Annie, Pony and Hilda standing still in a trance-like state while also seeing Bismuth and Lucy fighting off the sleepwalkers as Ed was shaking Lincoln and Annie vigorously. He now remembered what happened. A strange gas had messed with his mind and made him see his worst fear. Covering his mouth to not inhale anymore of it than he already did, the jacket wearing man looked up and saw a strange machine dispersing the gas into the room.
Knowing what he must do, the half gem summoned his shield and flung it at the machine with enough force to crush with ease.
"Guys!" He called out to everyone. "There are some weird machines around creating this gas! If you can find them, break them!"
"Right!" Ed, Lucy and Bismuth called out.
As Ed, Bismuth and Lucy tore through the seemingly endless army of sleepwalkers to try and get to the machines mind manipulating gas. Steven looked back at Hilda, Lincoln, Annie and Pony who were still in their trances. This was just not sitting well with the hybrid. No one should be forced to live their worst fears in front of them.
But what was he to do? There wasn't any time for him to fall asleep and he didn't have anyone to protect his body while he connected to someone on the astral plane. Suddenly, an idea clicked into his head.
Noticing that most of the sleepwalkers were busy fighting everyone, Steven placed a hand on Lincoln's head and another on Annie's head.
"Lincoln, Annie, I don't know if you two can hear me. There is a way for you to break this trance. Whatever it is you're seeing isn't real, it's a manifestation of your fear. To beat it, think happy memories instead. If you can do that, you'll break out of these weird mind games."
Steven then went over to Hilda and Pony, placing a hand on both their heads to relay his message of how to possibly break free of this fear induced trance that they're trapped in.
Inside Lincoln's mind, it was not looking pretty. Around him was the stone walls of a Scottish castle as there were bones on the grass as Lincoln was backing away in fear from a large, blue, fire-breathing dragon as a Scottish lady by the name of Morag rode on top of it, her hand having a magic scepter in it.
Lincoln however, due to the manipulation of the dream, he wasn't his current self. He was his 11-year-old self.
"Oh, poor Lincoln Loud!" The manifestation of the Louds' worst enemy yet taunted. "If you had just been more appreciative of your sisters. If only if you were special like them, this trip would've never happened!" She then began to laugh manically. "Now that I've taken care of the rest of your family, it's time to-"
Before this fake version of Morag could continue her monologue, a familiar voice could be heard in the area.
"Lincoln, I don't know if you can hear me but there is a way for you to break this trance. Whatever it is you're seeing isn't real, it's a manifestation of your fear. To beat it, think happy memories instead. If you can do that, you'll break out of these weird mind games."
"Steven?" The white-haired teen asked himself. "Think happy memories huh?"
He began to think back to the good times he had with his family.
The time that his sisters "helped" him with his bully problem.
"Yeah, I might complain about them sometimes but that doesn't mean I'm not appreciative of them. After all, they wouldn't have helped me when Ronnie Anne was picking on me, even if their efforts did more harm than good!"
As he remembered that day in particular, the fires around him began to disappear. He then remembered another memory.
"If I was unappreciative of my sisters, they wouldn't have thrown me that backyard concert and got SMOOCH involved."
At the mention of that memory, the fires went out completely.
"If I didn't appreciate them, they wouldn't have gotten me that Zombie Bran after their antics got us kicked out that store."
The scepter disappeared from Morag's hand once Lincoln remembered that memory.
"If I didn't appreciate my family, they wouldn't have helped Clyde and I get our comic in that Ace Savvy meet the creator contest."
The walls of the castle crumbled apart, revealing the Scottish town of Loch Loud behind them that this confrontation was taking place in.
"If I didn't appreciate them, they wouldn't have worked with me to find Lily during the whole chore protest situation."
The skeletons glowed in a white color before vanishing... and seconds later the manifestations of Lincoln's family appeared alive and well.
Lincoln looked behind him and saw the unreal versions of his family. He couldn't but smile a bit.
He then turned back to Morag. "Yes, while my family can definitely drive me crazy with their antics, I can tell that their hearts were in the right place. I still love them to the end. And yes, I might annoy them with my somewhat complicated plans from time to time, but they still love me too despite it all." He saw the dragon disappear as he said one last thing to the fake Morag. "Cause that's what we Louds are overall. A chaotic and unintentionally destructive family but we are still a close, supportive and loving family."
"NO!" The fake Morag shouted as she too disappeared. "CURSE YOU LINCOLN LOUD!"
With the fake version of his enemy gone, Lincoln turned back to his current self as the area began to turn white as everything was vanishing. He closed his eyes with a smile as he waited to finally wake up from this nightmare.
Annie backed away as the angry and rather lethal mob surrounded her. She found herself with her back literally up against a wall as the feeling of fear took a hold of her body as she stared at the army of friends that she has, people she didn't know, and other assortments of people around her had their weapons trained on her, preparing to teach her a lesson for her apparent failing at keeping Pony under control.
Speaking of Annie's best friend, he was in a similar predicament as his hooves were drenching their spots on the ground in sweat. Some of the faces in crowd were some that the animal recognized. From some of Annie's friends like their friend who works at a comic book shop Brian, their friend who seems to roll with punches that life throws at him (mostly due to Annie and Pony's antics) Gerry, and Beatrice, a friend of theirs who is for lack of a better word, obsessed with wanting to have Pony to herself.
"So, this how I meet my end?" Pony said to himself.
On Annie's side, she was having a similar thought going through her head. "Surrounded by an angry mob of friends and loved ones and people I barely know who intend to kill me."
She then looked at a person in particular. It was her jock friend (and crush) Heston, who was welding a baseball bat. This was especially scary for her. The thought of her crush being one of the people who does her in. Oh, what she wouldn't give to be in Pony's warm embrace at this point.
Before the mob could advance any further, a voice rang into the duo's minds.
"Annie, Pony."
"Huh?" Pony asked in confusion. "Where did that voice come from?"
"Steven?" Annie asked in surprise.
"I don't know if you can hear me but whatever it is that you're seeing isn't real, it's a manifestation of your fear. Me, Ed and Lincoln just got out this trance by thinking happy memories. Do that and you'll get through this too."
After Steven said his message, his voice vanished from Annie and Pony's minds. The confidence in the duo increased dramatically. At last, a way out of this nightmare and they were going to use it in abundance.
"This isn't real!" Annie and Pony said in unison.
After that was said, the makeshift fence made of spikes instantly vanished as they went back into the earth.
"Annie!" Pony shouted as he ran towards her on all four of his hooves.
"Pony!" Annie shouted as she opened her arms wide for a hug.
A hug that was quickly reciprocated as the owner and her pet/best friend embraced liked they had so many times in the past. and the duo looked towards the angry mob.
"Let's start off with our friends." Annie said, as she then looked to the fake version of Gerry. "Gerry. Yes, we caused you pain with our antics, but you always rolled with it in spite of what we ended up doing."
*Poof*
With a poof of what appeared to be magic, Gerry was back to his normal self.
Pony looked towards Beatrice and talked. "Beatrice, you don't want to hurt me or Annie, we're your friends. Remember when we hung out when Annie wanted you to take care of me?"
*Poof*
In a puff of smoke, the animal loving Beatrice was back to normal.
Annie looked towards Brian and spoke quickly. "Brian, remember when we were trying to help your sister find a job and remember when we saved your store from Scraggle the chicken?"
*Poof*
The chubby nerdy kid was back to his normal self.
Annie and Pony looked at each other with confident smiles.
Their nightmares were about to end.
As for Hilda, the adventurer was standing alone in a seemingly empty void that was comprised of nothing short of darkness. It kind of reminded the girl of Trollberg at night or a bit more accurately, the Stone Forest where the Trolls resided... only completely dark, so dark that one couldn't make anything out.
"Where am I?" She asked herself as she looked around. "What is this place?"
Suddenly the young lady was greeted by the sound of rumbling all around her almost making her fall to the ground.
"What's going on now?" She asked herself.
Suddenly, a flash of white light engulfed the area forcing Hilda to cover her eyes to avoid getting blinded.
After a few seconds the light went away so Hilda could open her eyes.
When she did, her eyes widened in shock.
It was the city of Trollberg on fire just like the one in Hilda's dream as standing it the middle was someone standing in the flames.
"Someone did this?!" Hilda said as she ran towards the person. "Alright, whoever you are. Show yourself!"
Slowly, the person turned around. When the person revealed herself, Hilda was standing still like a statue.
It was another version of her, only with red short hair, and green eyes as opposed to the adventurer's long blue hair and brownish eyes.
"Who are you?" Hilda demanded. "Some kind of clone of me? I've already dealt with past and future versions of myself, so I'm already getting annoyed with this."
"Well, you would be correct Hilda." Her doppelganger mocked as she did a slow clap. "I am a version of you, just one you haven't faced off against."
"I'm guessing you're a personification of my fears?" The adventurer asked, still ready in case her other attacked. "Alright, this is quite the adventure to tell my loved ones when I get through this."
Hearing that caused her doppelganger to bust out laughing. "Oh Hilda. Hilda, Hilda, sweet and reckless Hilda. You're so deluded if you think that you're getting out of this one." She mocked. "Though I'm not surprised, you've always been deluded."
"Deluded? About what?" Hilda asked with a raised eyebrow. "What are you going on about?"
"Your lifestyle, sweetheart." Her doppelganger clarified as she circled her other self. "You think that just because you have all these adventures, it makes you special. Well, here's a dose of reality." She leaned in a bit causing the normally fearless girl to back away a little. "You're not special, you're just a woman with a death wish."
"What are you talking about?" Hilda said as she clenched her blade a bit tighter in response to this fake's words. "I don't have a death wish!"
"Oh really?" The other version of the blue haired adventurer asked yet again in a mocking tone. "Then tell me, if you don't have a death wish then why don't you leave well enough alone? Why do you constantly feel like having adventures instead of being a normal person and leave the dangerous and supernatural stuff to experts, not to mention drag your loved ones into it while keeping said adventures from a secret from Mummy dearest?"
"You can't blame me for being curious about the world around me." Hilda said in her defense not having any of this nonsense. "Also, if you're going to be like that, then you would know that I do not "drag my friends into my adventures", they willingly chose to help me." The blue haired teen then remembered her fake's last scolding question. "As for your last question. I honestly didn't trust Mum back then, knowing that she would freak out if I told her what I was doing and I knew it was wrong to lie to her, but I was doing it to spare her from having to worry about me."
The manifestation of Hilda grumbled a bit as the adventurer finished. "And also, yes I may drag my friends into my adventures, they come on my adventures because they care about me if they are willing to risk their lives to whatever the adventure goal is needed to accomplish."
"Well, how about this then?" The red-haired Hilda as a black and red aura surrounded her body.
Hilda shielded her eyes as her antagonistic other took to the sky as a flash of light occurred seconds later.
When the adventurer opened her eyes, she was... unimpressed.
Her fear-manifesting copycat had transformed herself into a giant chimera-looking creature that almost the size of a skyscraper, and had three heads with faces of a rhinoceros, a lizard, and a polar bear respectively.
Hilda just let out a fake yawn. "I've encountered plenty of creatures like that. You really need to do more research if you claim to be me in hopes of actually scaring me."
The other Hilda was insulted. "Alright, time to change tactics." she thought to herself.
It was only then she had an idea.
A flash of light appeared as the doppelganger took on a different form. She really had to put her all into this.
Hilda shielded her eyes to protect her sight once more as the light bathed the dreamscape around her.
A few seconds later, the adventuress opened her eyes again.
What she saw this time caused her eyes to widen as she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Back in reality, Peridot and Tucker finally managed to bypass the security on the dream machine's antenna.
"Okay everyone! Get ready!" Peridot exclaimed.
"And..." Tucker added in.
"Done!" the two scientists said in unison.
The antenna was rumbling for a few seconds before a series of explosions went off. The sound of them caused everyone to stop fighting for a bit as they saw what was happening.
"I can't believe it!" exclaimed Annie.
"The antenna is down!" Bismuth pointed out with a smile. "Those two brainiacs did it!"
The blacksmith gem then turned towards the gas dispenser in front of her, and promptly wasted no time smashing it to pieces.
Steven and Lincoln were back-to-back as they were fighting off some Sleepwalkers when all of a sudden, the two heroes saw them begin to fade away.
"Guys, these sleepwalkers are disappearing!" Lincoln shouted to the others as he lowered his blaster.
Soon enough, all the ghosts began to vanish away. So much so that it was much clearer to see the factory since it was overflowing with ghosts earlier.
Once all the Sleepwalkers in the current vicinity had disappeared, the group went back to the center of the room.
"That takes care of the sleepwalkers." Steven said as he looks upon the sleeping Nocturn, who was still in his pod.
"And those mind trapping gas dispensers are done with." Annie said.
"Now all that's left is-" Pony began but someone cut him off.
"Guys!" Ed shouted in distress.
"What's wrong Ed?" Peridot asked.
"It's Hilda!" Ed said. "Something's wrong with her!"
The others gathered around the two in order to see what the situation was. It was Hilda in a cationic state.
"Hilda?" Annie said before she snapped her fingers in front of the adventurer's face. "Huh, nothing."
Ed grabbed his new friend by her shoulders and began to shake her like a crazy person. "Hilda! Wake up!"
Steven quickly pulled Ed away from the mind frozen victim. "Ed, stop! That's not going to help!"
Despite being shaken like a ragdoll, Hilda managed to return to her standing straight position.
"I don't get it." Lincoln said as he gazed upon the beret wearing blue haired adventuress. "We destroyed the gas dispensers. Shouldn't that have snapped her out of it?"
"Hmm." Tucker began to think as he looked into her eyes. They had that fear ridden expression in them. "I'm guessing this is a sort of "Battle within the mind" kind of deal."
Back in Tokyo...
Danny and his allies were surrounded by Sleepwalkers. They were still fighting valiantly however, but it would only be a matter of time before they get overrun.
"There's too many of them!" Sam said as she was blasting away at one ghost after another using a ghost blaster.
"I agree, Sam!" Jazz said as she kicked away a sleepwalker that foolishly tried to get close to her while she wore the specter deflector. "I hope Tucker and the others stop Nocturn soon!"
"What's taking them?" Dani said as she blasted away several of Nocturn's forces with a ghost ray that she fired from her cupped hands before fatigue finally began to settle in for the young girl.
As for Maddie and Jack, they were back-to-back as the former was firing energy blasts from her ghost fighting bazooka and the latter was punching away at the sleepwalkers with the Fenton Ghost Gloves.
"It's been a while since we've fought together like this, Maddie!" Jack said tiredly as he punched a ghost minion into a bunch of other sleepwalkers.
"Same." Maddie said as blew away some Sleepwalkers as they were sent back to the Ghost Zone once the blasts made contact with their spectral forms. "I'm starting to run out of ammo here!"
Danny was blasting away at the sleepwalkers but even as powerful as the half ghost was, even he was starting to get tired.
Luckily, something akin to a miracle happened.
As Valerie blasted away at the ghosts surrounding her and her friends, to her surprise they suddenly began to disappear.
"Hey guys, check it out!" the ghost hunter said. "These sleepwalkers are disappearing."
Sam held onto Danny once he landed back on the ground in exhaustion as he said. "Thank God, Tucker and his team did it!"
In the skies of Tokyo, the sleepwalkers were vanishing by the tens, then hundreds, then thousands.
Once they have all vanished the sky was clear to see once more.
"Guess, that's that then." Sam said as Danny got off her shoulder after taking a few breaths in.
"Maybe, but just in case it's not." Danny began as he turned to everyone. "Let's regroup with Tucker and the others in Trollberg."
Everyone agreed as they began their departure from the Japanese city and towards the Scandinavian one.
In the mall, the still tied up Marra were conversing amongst themselves.
"Well, this sucks so much!" said Scarlet.
"Agreed." agreed Harper. "But looking back on it. I feel like we deserve this!"
"You realize you're to blame for this, right Scarlet!" Isla said, placing blame on her friend.
"Excuse me?!" Scarlet shouted in anger. "Last time I recall, we all made that decision!"
"Yeah, but we only did because it's what you wanted to do!" Kelly said in anger.
"I..." Scarlet said before she suddenly heard Harper scream in pain.
Looking towards her, she saw a purple mist leave her friend's body.
"Well, I'll be damned." Kelly said in shock.
"They actually did it." Isla said in bewilderment.
"So that means my powers are..." began Harper.
After a few seconds, Harper's extra powers were gone, and she was no longer in pain.
"Wow." Harper began. "That was intense."
"I wonder if they can beat Nocturne." Isla said.
"It's going to be a hell of a fight." Kelly said as she looked up at the ceiling as they pondered this.
Within Hilda's mind...
Hilda was frozen still as she stared at the site in front of her.
It was man that was seemingly into the 30 to 40s age range that was dressed in a strange black colored robe with a same-colored hood which was covering his head and face. For some reason, Hilda didn't seem to recognize him.
Noticing this, the hooded figure removed his hood. The adventurer's eyes widened in shock as it finally dawned on her to who this man was.
That kind smile that grazed his face...
That blue hair on his head...
"D-Dad?" Hilda said as her eyes began to tear up.
"Hello my daughter." The man said with a seemingly nice smile.
Hilda quickly launched herself into a hug as she embraced her "father". While the adventurer was crying tears of joy, unknown to her, the man was smiling rather evilly.
"It's alright my child." The middle-aged man said in a soothing tone as he manifested something in his hand.
It was a knife, but not just any knife. While it looked like an ordinary kitchen knife, it was red in color with a lightning bolt insignia on the handle.
"Everything's gonna be alright... in 3... 2..."
Hilda looked up and saw the shadow of her father. It quickly dawned on her what he was about to do.
Before the man could stab the adventurer and before the adventuress could react to this attack however...
"HEY FAKER!" shouted a voice. "GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!"
The two turned to the left and saw a man.
It was the same man. However, this man had a blue colored mustache to match his blue-colored hair to cause some distinction from the other man. As for his attire, he was wearing a brown fur coat, a red and white striped shirt, a pair of dark blue jeans and brown shoes.
Hilda was surprised.
It was her real dad. It was really him! This made the girl feel like a big fool for not noticing the distinction between the two men.
The man tackled the fake doppelganger to the ground and began to lay a bunch of punches to his face before the faker kicked him off his person.
"Where did YOU come from?!" the attempted assaulter said at the intruder.
Brushing off the dust, he responded in a rather casual manner. "I was just thinking about how my daughter was doing and suddenly I end up here."
This got Hilda rather confused. This was a complete 180 from the fake man's personality. The fake father was manipulative and chose to be gentle for the blue haired teen to let her guard down. This guy on the other hand was casual in spite of the current situation (kind of reminded the girl of herself in a way) and willing to fight for his daughter (it kind of reminded Hilda of her mother quite a bit).
"Guess I'll take care of you before I dispose of this brat's mind." said the fake man as he drew his knife.
"Hey!" The real man said getting a bit mad at his copycat for what he just said. "Don't you dare badmouth my pride and joy. You're going down for sure you insane psychopath that looks like me!"
He then summoned a sword much how Hilda did, only this sword was really different. For one it was a bit longer in the blade's length, and the blade was marigold in color and had images of Johana and Hilda on it, and the tip was in the shape of an eight-sided star that was colored in pink.
Without another word, the two men charged at each other.
The robed man struck first with his knife, only for it to be easily parried by the sword of his real-life counterpart. The facial hairless double refused to give up as he attacked with a flurry of rapid slashes with his dagger which while they were easily blocked by his opponent, the ferocity of the slashes caused him to back away as he was beginning to lose some ground.
Hilda was standing there as she didn't know what to do. Sure, she could assist her dad, but she figured that he had it covered. But when she saw that her adventurous old man was backing away, he figured that he needed help and fast.
So, she rushed in there like she was crazy.
Back with Hilda's father and his fight, he was literally had his back against the wall. While he didn't notice while he was fighting his fake copy, the reality around them changed. It happened so fast that neither he nor Hilda noticed that it happened.
"Time to be rid of you, you annoying pest!" said the manifested copycat as he readied his dagger again.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his little girl running towards the two, causing him to smile. Turning towards his copy once more, he said. "I think it's time for you to go."
Before he could react, the duplicate of this adventurer was tackled from behind by the girl who he trapped in her head and forced to the ground.
"I think you've overstayed our welcome, you evil twit!" Hilda said as she closed her eyes and focused her mind.
"C'mon sweetie, you can do it." Her father said in encouragement as he readied his sword in defense of his daughter just on the off chance that his monstrous faker tried anything.
The double wasn't worried as he readied his dagger again as he laughed a bit. "What can you do?"
As soon as he said, his eyes widened in shock as he felt himself sinking. Looking down, he saw that a black hole had manifested beneath him. "What are you doing?!"
"Getting rid of an annoying pest who doesn't belong here!'" Hilda said as she used her mind to speed up the process.
"NO! You can't do this you stupid girl!" The copy of the adventurer's father shouted in disbelief as he struggled to get out to the black hole's grip. But alas, it was for naught. "I'm the Ghost of Dreams, you can't do this to me!"
"Her mind, her rules!" Her father said with a chuckle as he waved him goodbye. "So long specter!"
"Damn you, Hilda!" The false man shouted he vanished into the black hole as he disappeared from the girl's mind. "Damn you and your father! NOOOO!"
Without a second, the antimatter portal fazed out of existence and finally disappeared.
Now that her worst fear was gone, Hilda fell to her knees from exhaustion before saying. "Woah, that was something."
"That was amazing!" Said her father as he walked up to her and helped her up. "I know you could do it!"
"Thanks." Hilda said before realizing she wasn't alone. "Wait, is this really you, Dad?" She then poked his arm, and to her surprise, her finger didn't go through his arm. "Woah, it is you!"
"It's nice to see you again, Hilda." Said the man as he was quickly embraced by the teen girl.
"I... missed you." The girl said with tears in her eyes.
With tears in his eyes as well, he embraced his daughter. "I missed you too, my blue haired angel. So much."
The mindscape was quiet, the only sounds that were heard was the sound of sniffling of a father and daughter being reunited even if it's not in the real world.
Back in reality...
Everyone has gathered around Hilda as they waited in anticipation for her to come back to her senses.
"I don't get it!" Peridot said in confusion. "We destroyed those gas dispensers and those spectral spirits vanished."
"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure she beat her worst fear by now." Annie said as she waved a hand in front her fellow female face.
"Yeah, she should wake up by now." Lincoln said as he was just as confused as his friends were on this situation.
Suddenly, Hilda's eyes began to tear up as they began to stream down her face, surprising her newfound friends.
"What in the heck!" Bismuth said in shock.
"That's new." Pony said in concern.
"Interesting." Lucy said as she stared at Hilda's face. "Something emotional for her must be happening within her mind, thus preventing her from waking up."
"Okay, so we can't wake her up physically and I doubt any of us can go into her dreams." Ed said as he gripped the sides of his head in worry as he began to freak out. "What if she's stuck in the forever?!"
"Wait Ed, that's it!" Steven said, getting everyone's attention as he said sat down on the ground. "I'll use my powers to go into her dreams and try to wake her up from the inside."
Suddenly, the ground began to shake as they saw the pod containing Nocturn inside began to malfunction.
"Oh no!" Tucker said as he readied his blaster.
The glass casing began to crack before it finally burst open, sending shards of the material everywhere. Steven quickly summoned a bubble around his friends to protect them from the hazardous assault.
From the smoke, were a set of eyes. Red, and very pissed off eyes as the invoker of the night, the shutter of shut eye, the fabricator of the 40 winks and the stealer of sleep finally emerged from his sleep.
"You... insignificant bed bugs have made me cranky." Nocturne began as his hands glowed blue with dream energy. "I think that it's about time make you all take a permanent dirt nap!"
Dispelling his bubble Steven summoned his shield and spoke to his enemy. "Nocturne. It's over. We destroyed your machines, we escaped from those nightmares you put us in, those helmets you made are broken and the people your goons put them on are waking up, and you've lost a lot of your power. I suggest you stand down and go back to wherever it is that you came from."
Nocturne just chuckled before he then spoke. "You have a point hybrid, it is over. For all of you!"
Lincoln then looked back to Hilda in concern before he got in between her and the giant ghost as he glared at Nocturne. "I think we can take him."
"You're right Lincoln." Tucker said as he aimed his blaster. "He was weakened last time. I'll have no doubt it'll be the same result again this time."
He fired a shot at the ghost, forcing him back a bit and blowing a hole in his torso and dispelling the energy. But to their surprise, the hole quickly repaired itself.
Once it was repaired, the dream ghost laughed manically before responding. "You really think that it was going to be that easy! You thought I didn't learn from last time?! How foolish!"
"What did you do?" Tucker said as he readied his blaster again as the rest of the team got into fighting positions for the inventible fight to come.
"Well, let's just say I made a deal of my own to gain some new powers of my own in exchange for putting the whole world to sleep." The apparition said in braggy tone of voice. "The only way to take them away to beat me and send me back to the Ghost Zone. And with that blue haired annoyance out of the way for now and none of you having anything to send me there, I can grow more powerful the more I remain in this realm. I'm essentially a god among all of these worthless lifeforms!"
"Hilda, please wake up!" Lincoln thought to himself as the giant lunged at the team.
"Here he comes everyone, look alive and awake!" commanded Bismuth as she turned both of her hands into giant hammers, readying herself and rallying the others to be ready.
Back in Hilda's mind...
Hilda pulled away from her father as she finally ended the hug. "Okay, there's a lot that I want to ask you about."
The father wiped away his tears and shook his head. "Hilda, as much as I want to spend all my time here with you, we're both on a timetable. We both have places to be."
"That's true." The teen said in agreement.
"But let's make time then." Her father said with a smile.
"So, what's your name for one." His daughter asked.
"Anders." Her father answered before responding with a question of his own. "How's your Mum?"
"She's doing well, she misses you a lot." Hilda said before she suddenly became quiet.
"Are you okay?" Her dad said in concern at his daughter's sudden shyness.
"It's just..." Hilda began nervously before she responded in a quiet and uncertain tone of voice. "Why were you... never there for us?"
"What?" Her dad said in shock as he didn't quite hear her. "Could you say that again?"
With tears in her eyes, she shouted again. "WHY WERE YOU NEVER THERE FOR US?!"
"Hilda, I-" Anders attempted but his angry daughter refused to hear in it.
"Mum barely talks about you!" Hilda began to get some stuff of her chest as she ranted as she pounded her fists pathetically against the older man's torso. "I didn't talk about you because I figured that you were either dead or something! Now that I know that you're alive and out there somewhere, it brings even more questions! Where were you when Mum and I had to move to Trollberg?! Where are you now for that matter?! Where were you when I had some dangerous adventures there like when I went through time even though I was grounded that day or when I was turned into a Troll against my will after me and Mum barely managed to escape from the Stone Forest with our lives?! Do you not to be around us that much that you now show up when I'm danger?!"
"Hilda please understand that it isn't like that!" Anders said as he held his hands up in defense. "I really did want to see you and Johanna but-"
"Bullocks, Dad! Nothing short of total bullocks from what I'm hearing from you!" Hilda said through her angry tears before she felt sadness sink in as she fell to her knees. She then said in a scared tone. "Is it because of me? Am I the reason you're not around us?!"
"No!" Anders instinctively said, spooking her. Realizing this, he got down on one knee and gently embraced his saddened daughter. "Hilda, it's not your fault. It was never your fault! Meeting and marrying your Mum and having you were some of the greatest moments of my life! I wanted to be around you guys! I wanted to watch you grow up! I really did, it's just that there were some unfortunate circumstances that prevented me from doing so."
"Like what?" Hilda said through her tears. "What circumstances that made you abandon us for so long?!"
That question hurt Anders, but he figured that's what his daughter thought. He stood his ground and decided to ask her something.
"Hilda, have you ever heard of the Multiverse?" He asked.
This caused Hilda to pause a little. Sure, she's traveled through time before and not to mention that she had heard of other worlds from her time in school before, but she honestly thought that those worlds were all in the Milky Way galaxy where they all were. But other universes, that was something entirely new to her.
"No, I haven't." Hilda finally admitted. "But what does the Multiverse have to do with this?"
"I think it's better if I show you." Anders said with a smile as he held out a hand for her to take.
Deciding that she needed answers, she took it.
The two closed their eyes and focused their minds.
After a few seconds, the father and daughter opened their eyes To Hilda's shock, a widow of sorts had appeared in front of her.
"What's this?" She asked.
"This is a vision from the past." Anders said, still holding on to his daughter's hand. "My past with your Mum as you were coming along."
The two said as the events of what transpired played out before the two.
17 years into the past...
It was a bustling American city. Cars were going up and down the road at fast speeds almost like racing speed and it was busy as heck. For one couple in particular, it was just another day for them.
Anders had his arm around his wife Johanna who was now 5 months pregnant with their healthy soon to be future daughter.
"It was just another day in the big Apple for me and your Mum. Just the two of us walking around trying to see how to provide the best future for our little angel." Anders narrated with a smile.
The two soon-to-be parents were chatting as they walked down a street.
"So, Johanna." Anders began. "Do you think the city could be a good place for our baby?"
The soon-to-be mother began to think about it. "Hmm, well I think this city in particular given how big it is. And it she's developed your sense of adventure, it's gonna be hard to try and rein her in when gets that adventurous itch."
"Well if she develops your stubbornness, it's going to be even more hard." The soon-to-be father said with a chuckle.
Unknown to them, they were being watched by someone, or rather something from the shadows.
"That was when we were attacked." Anders said.
"Wait, you were attacked?" Hilda asked. "Who would attack you guys?"
"Not by who, by what." Anders said as he remembered what happened next.
Back in the time window, what was stalking the couple finally its move as it jumped down in front of them.
The startled couple got a good look at the creature. It was almost like a living shadow as its skin as black in color, but it was almost the size of the couple individually. It suddenly manifested claws on its hands.
Anders quickly got in between his wife and this strange anomaly. "What is that thing?!"
"I don't know but I don't it wants to make friends!" Johnanna said as she covered her belly to try and protect her unborn daughter.
Before either of them could react, the bizarre creature lunged at them. Thinking quickly, Anders put his fists up and managed to punch the creature in the face, sending it backwards.
The creature undeterred from his prey fighting tried something else. To Anders' and Johanna's shock the creature began to multiply itself into various copies.
Feeling overwhelmed, Johanna spoke. "Anders, we need to get out of here!"
"I agree but where can we go?!" Anders said as the two were now surrounded by these shadowy monsters.
"We were surrounded I honestly thought that was it for us." Anders narrated once more.
"What happened?" asked Hilda.
The swarm of shadowy, dark creatures charged towards the two almost eager to tear them apart.
Feeling like this is the end the two embraced each other.
"I love you Anders!" Johnanna said she could feel the shadows closing in on them.
"I love you too Johanna." Anders said as he tightened his hold on his hold on his pregnant wife. "Both you and Hilda! I promise I won't let them take either of you!"
As he said that, something shocked them all happened.
A bright, white light illuminated from Anders' right hand, casing the swarm to pause.
In his hands was...
"Your sword came to you?!" Hilda said in shock as she turned to face her father.
"Yep." Anders said with a smile. "My love for you and your Mum was what caused me to summon my sword of will to me to protect you both."
"Sword of Will?" Hilda said in confusion.
"That's what they're called. At least to me anyway." Anders explained. "We don't really know who created them or why people like us were able to summon them but what I do know is that it takes a strong emotion to summoned it. Like love for instance." He then said teasingly. "Like the love you have for that Lincoln fellow. Starting to have your first crush on him, aren't you?"
Hearing her dad's teasing tone caused Hilda's cheeks to turn red almost immediately as she tried to come up with a response. "W-Well. He-H-He was in trouble when we were fighting the M-Marra. I couldn't let him d-die on m-me! And I do not have a crush on him, we just met after all! It's rather a bit soon to call it that!"
"True but then again that's how I felt when I met your Mum." Anders said with a loving sigh. "Boy, was I in denial bad back then."
Deciding to drop this conversation for Hilda turned back to the window as she shouted in embarrassment. "What happened next?!"
"After I took care of those things, the weird day wasn't over yet!" Anders said regaining his focus as he chose to drop the subject for now.
Back in the past Anders had just finished destroying the swarm of creatures.
"Okay, that was probably the weirdest thing I've seen in my life." Anders said as he panted.
"I'm just glad those things are gone." Johanna said as she rested on his shoulder.
"Me too." said from a voice behind them. "Thank goodness you two are alright."
Startled Anders quickly pulled Johanna close to him as he readied his blade. "Stay back, I'm armed!"
The person in question was wearing a white colored robe with a hood covering his face.
"And who are you?!" Anders demanded.
"It's okay, I'm on your side." The man said as he removed his hood showing his face.
It was someone of a somewhat extraterrestrial origin as he had gold-colored skin and blue colored glasses only in style that blind people use. He had a large elephant trunk for a nose and a purple watch with an hourglass insignia on it to tell time.
"I apologize for not arriving sooner, this city is large even with the power of light." Said the stranger in a somewhat New York style accent. Noticing that he hasn't introduced himself, he spoke again. "Oh, where are my manners? My name is Cole. It's nice to meet you two."
He then held out his hands. While still skeptical the couple each shook his hand.
"Okay, Cole." Began Anders as he slowly lowered his sword. "What are doing here? Did you send those things to attack us?"
"No! Of course not!" The big nosed man said defensively. "Me and my friends have been fighting them too."
Johanna decided to cut in. "Excuse me but don't you two think we can continue this conversation somewhere more privately."
Looking behind him Cole noticed some people were overhearing their conversation.
Clearing his throat, the mutated man cleared his throat. "Of course, lead the way."
With that the trio walked down the street deciding to continue this conversation in a more private location.
Back in the mindscape the window suddenly closed and disappeared.
"What happened?" Hilda asked confused as to why the window.
"I'm afraid that's all I can show for right now." Anders said.
Suddenly the world around the two began to shake.
"What's going on?!" Hilda asked in surprise.
"I think you're about to awaken my darling daughter." Her Dad said bittersweetly.
"No, I don't want to go yet!" Hilda said as she clutched onto her father with all the strength she had. "I just reunited with you!"
"I'm sorry Hilda, but you have got to wake up." Her old man said as he embraced his little girl. "Your friends on the outside need your help."
The adventurer's eyes widened in realization. She was so caught in her reunion with her dad that she completely forgot that Nocturne was attacking her home.
"But don't worry Hilda. We'll meet again sooner than you realize. Just remember that I'm out there in the Multiverse" Anders said. "If you're curious ask your mother for more details about what happened."
Suddenly Hilda's body began to vanish.
"I love you dad." he said.
"I love you too my pride and joy." Anders said. "And for what it's worth, I'm really sorry for not being there for you. From the bottom of my heart."
A flash of light appeared, bathing everything in its glow.
Back in the real world...
Hida's eyes blinked a bit as she took in her surroundings. She was still in the factory sitting on the floor. As an added bonus those sleepwalkers were gone from the looks of it.
"Are you awake now?" said a voice.
Looking to her left, she saw Lincoln with a small smile on his face. alongside Annie, Ed, Pony, Lucy, and Lincoln with equally small smiles on their faces as they were glad that she was awake and now that she saw that Danny and his team have arrived as they were blasting away at Nocturne. She also saw that Steven was standing in front of them as he protected her and their friends with a giant shield that he created.
"Well, Nocturne is finally awake and is now he's currently beating us around like toys." Lincoln said as he gestured towards the fight in front of them. "He said that the only way to beat him is send him back to the Ghost Zone, which I'm guessing is his home. We've been hitting him with everything we've got so far but nothing seems to be working!"
"What makes it worse is that can't do any lasting damage to him." Lucy said, adding to their odds of success in this fight.
Hilda looked towards the fight as she saw Danny blasting energy blasts at his dream absorbing opponent. To her surprise, she saw that he was able to heal himself almost instantly. She also saw Jack, Dani, Maddie and Jazz alongside Sam, Valerie, and Tucker blasting away at him with their weapons but even those did barely anything.
All they were doing was at best, slowing him down and at worst, exhausting themselves and wasting their ammunition.
"This is new." was the only thing the adventurer could say.
"I know right." Annie said in agreement.
"He's like a juggernaut." Pony said to Annie. "Those guys are a pain to deal with in video games that you play Annie."
"Nocturne is like that the blob from the movie "The World Eater"!" Ed said as he was ready to jump into the fight as well despite the hopelessness of the situation.
"It's nice to see your finally awake Hilda, but we can't keep going like this!" Steven said having overheard their conversation and while he was happy that the adventurer was awake, the team needed to focus on the current problem. "We need to think of something before we're all exhausted! I'm opened to any ideas!"
Hilda looked towards the fight then down looked at her lap, noticing that her sword of will was still there in her hands. How long was she out?
She quickly shook her head and regained her focus. Now wasn't the time to get distracted. The team needed an idea to turn the tide and judging how troubling the fight was going, they needed an idea and fast.
So, the adventurer closed her eyes as the others tried to pull their heads together to try and come up with a plan themselves. But unfortunately, they were just as stumped as to what to do.
As for the battle itself, Danny was running out of quips to say. "Hey, dreamer, what's the matter? Scared to take our attacks because you can heal?"
"You tell him son!" Jack cheered as he fired a ghost hurting rocket at the mass of ectoplasm.
"At least I'm not finite like you tiring fools!" Nocturne said, unconcerned about the condition that his body was currently in due to its healing factor.
"I wonder how long he can go on dream energy?" Valerie said, firing away her blaster at her big opponent.
"Who knows?" Dani said as she joined her cousin in blasting away at this giant pest with her powers, to no avail. "I'm going to pass out soon if this keeps up!"
"Same here!" Danny said as he breathed out an ice breath from his mouth.
Suddenly, Nocturne fired lasers from his eyes which were red in color as they easily melt through the ice breath.
Danny screamed in pain as he was sent flying backwards. Luckily, Danielle managed to catch him.
"You okay, cousin?" She asked.
"Yeah, but this isn't getting us anywhere." Danny said as he began to think. "We obviously can't weaken him."
Can't just use the Fenton Thermos on him."
"We could but it's not going to work." Maddie said, running up to them. "We usually use the Thermos to trap a ghost once its weakened enough."
"So, that's it then? We're out of luck?!" Danielle asked.
"Don't be so sure." said a voice.
The three looked and saw Hilda and the other 5 with her running towards them.
"Hilda, you're awake!" Dani said as the two new friends fist bumped. "Nice!"
"I think I have an idea, but I'm gonna need all of your guys help to pull it off." The adventurer said with confidence.
"What would that plan be?" Maddie asked, still firing her blaster.
"Just make Nocturne is restrained and I'll do the rest!" Hilda commanded, brandishing her sword once more.
"Sounds like a plan!" Danny said, ready to put this plan into action.
"Let's do this!" Dani said as she and her cousin flew into their air.
Flying towards Jack and his friends, the half ghosts quickly whispered the plan to them.
"You can count on us!" Jack eagerly said as he prepared to fire his bazooka again.
"Actually, why don't you get the Ghost Gauntlets instead?"
"Hmm, of course!" Danny's father said as he ran towards the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle.
"Let's show this ghost dreamer what happens when you wake up a couple of cool peeps like us!" Valerie said as she began to use her hoverboard to fly around the ghost, firing her blaster that was installed into said board at the ghastly giant.
"Nocturne unknown of what they were planning, just laughed as he said. "You think your little slingshots can stop a tidal wave?"
"That's right, get distracted." Danny said to himself.
As for Bismuth and Peridot, they were guarding the RV once the fight started. They tried to fight, but their powers didn't do much to Nocturne. Peridot was rummaging through it to find something to help out in the fight and Bismuth was outside guarding both her and the RV.
"Bismuth!" Jack said as he ran up to her. "Great job protecting the RV." He noticed her some sounds coming from inside the RV. "Is Peridot in there?"
"Yeah, she trying to find something to help out." Bismuth said as she looked inside the vehicle. "So far, she can't find it."
"Well, we might have an idea that might stop Nocturne, but he needs to be restrained first." Jack explained. "And there's a few gadgets in there that might help us."
Back at the fight, Nocturne gathered as much dream energy as he can as raised his hands to the sky as an energy ball began to form and grow in size. While wasn't worried in the slightest, he was getting rather bored playing with them. So, as he would say, it was time to say goodnight to them.
"It's been fun, but I think time to put you all to bed for good!" Nocturne said as he prepared to launch the ball of energy when suddenly...
"Dream on you ghastly clod!" shouted a certain voice.
Looking towards the right, he saw Peridot and Bismuth as the former was armed with a fishing rod. But what he didn't know was that this fishing rod was different.
Peridot launched the white colored line towards one of Nocturne's arms, wrapping it around his arm and the hook sinking into his ectoplasmic structure.
"Ow!" Nocturne said in surprise.
Before he could try remove it, someone from behind him shouted out a battle cry, getting his attention once more.
It was Jack armed with the Ghost gloves, coming towards him like a boulder as he grabbed onto his enemy's other arm. Landing on the ground, Jazz, Maddie, Tucker and Sam helped the Fenton father try to restrain him as the ghost's attack has literally vanished into thin air.
"Now's our chance!" Danny said as he and Danielle shot out their Ghost ice breath.
Their combined abilities froze Nocturne's tentacles, and the ice was going up fast.
"Hilda, whatever your plan is, now's the time to do it." Annie said.
The adventurer acknowledged this as she gazed at her sword again. "Let's hope this works."
Pointing her weapon at the ghost that caused all of this, she closed her eyes.
She needed to focus her mind. Since force can't stop Nocturn, maybe sending him away could do the trick.
In response, the tip of her sword began to glow.
However, due to the power of this magic it was becoming difficult to control.
Hilda opened her eyes and saw her sword was going wonky again.
Pony and the others noticed this. "C'mon let's help her."
Annie grabbed a hold of Hilda's right arm as Lincoln grabbed the adventurer's other arm holding the sword to assist in her aim. Ed got behind the three and placed his arms on each of Annie and Lincoln's shoulders. Pony wrapped two of his hooves around Ed's midsection with all his might as Steven placed his arms on Ed's arms, bracing for the potential impact.
Looking towards Hilda, Lincoln said. "We got you Hilda, let's end this nightmare!"
Nodding her head at him with a smile she readied her spell.
"BANISHA!" she shouted as she fired it as a white colored beam of light emerged from the sword's tip!
Noticing this, Nocturne fired his lasers from his eyes once more.
The beams connected. Everyone braced themselves at the struggle of energy continued.
"Fall asleep!" Nocturne said, increasing his power.
However, the light of Hilda's sword refused to falter.
"Begone from our world, spectral menace!" Hilda said as she refused to give up! "Back to the Ghost Zone with you!"
At last, Hilda's spell broke through the lasers as it went in between the ghost's eyes. Upon contact, the magical beam created a big portal behind him, which was green in color as it was a one-way ticket to the aforementioned Ghost Zone. Which was quickly sucking him in.
"No, no you can't do this to me!" Nocturne said as he tried to desperately to remain in this realm by grabbing onto the floor with all of his strength. "I am the dreamer of dreams, the inducer of sleep, the ruler of the night! You can't win!"
"Just did!" Hilda said. "Now it's time for you to face your worst nightmare!"
"Say Hi to Walker for me!" Danny said as he blasted Nocturne's hands, causing him to release his grip on the floor.
"Curse you all! NOOOOOO!" were the ghost of dreams said as he was finally on the other side of the portal as it was closing.
Once it was closed and vanished, Hilda's sword stopped producing the magic from the tip as she panted from exhaustion.
"We did it!" Peridot cheered as Bismuth laughed in triumph.
"We did it together and it was great!" Steven said, referencing the time that he bubbled the Cluster with Peridot's help as he joined in hugging his two friends.
"Man, I can't wait to tell Lapis about this!" Bismuth said with a chuckle. "She is not going to believe this!"
Lincoln looked towards Team Phantom and lent out a hand towards Danny. "Danny, I just want to thank you guys so much for your help."
Taking his hand and shaking it, the hybrid ghost hero responded. "No problem, but I think who you should really be thanking are the red-headed brainy and her brawny pet over there." He said, pointed towards Annie and Pony. "We wouldn't have even been here if they hadn't called Fenton Works when they did."
Lincoln looked back at his friends with a smile on his face. He couldn't that they actually managed to do it. After meeting each other in the dream realm as they were all trapped there, waking up and reuniting in the real world and meeting Danny and his family and friends, they actually managed to defeat Nocturne and his sleepwalker army.
Man, the rest of the Loud family is going to flip their lids once Lincoln and Lucy tell them about all of this once they get back to their home in Royal Woods!
Annie and Pony were going to have a lot to explain to their parents once they got back to Pickleton. It was going to be quite hard trying to convince them of such concepts like ghosts being real.
Steven, Bismuth and Peridot couldn't wait to tell the other Crystal Gems about this. It's going to be quite the story to tell.
Ed can't wait to tell his friends and family back at Peach Creek about this adventure.
That was when Lincoln got an idea.
"Hey everyone." The 'Man with the Plan' began gaining their attention. "What do guys say that we have a sit down with our families and tell them about this?"
There you have it, folks! The fight against Nocturn is over! Now it's time for the epilogue! See you all next time!