"So terribly sorry for getting to you four so late," NiGHTS slumped over apologetically. "I had to get the girls out of there and that unfortunately ate up more time than I would've liked."
"N-no that's totally fine," Cody reassured them. He and the others were still lounged on the ground in recovery mode. Just a few minutes back, they were all practically despondent, but that Helen girl managed to dream up some tea before their eyes and now they were all slowly soothing themselves with its taste.
"It isn't at all," NiGHTS shook off his words. "There's nothing worse in this world than a nightmare. I slipped up."
"Relax. We all got out fine in the end," Loudred guffawed as if the four didn't just experience some of the most traumatizing shit imaginable. In fact, NiGHTS themselves still didn't seem all that convinced, but Loudred's tone was so lackadaisical, they had no choice but to relent. "Where's Klonoa and his friend by the way?" He looked around curiously.
"About that…" NiGHTS slumped more. It was no wonder they seemed so tense if they had another blunder in the bank. "Miss Lolo got caught in the tides and Klonoa ran off to her right before I had the chance to stop him. Sure enough, they were nowhere to be seen."
"Wait, seriously?" Cody choked on his tea, wide eyed. He bounced back to his feet without a second thought. "What are we doing just sitting here then? We need to go back and find them."
Before he could take a step, NiGHTS made a rapid dash towards him and smooshed their puffed gloves onto his shoulders. He was plopped back down just as fast as he was up. "Oh no you don't."
"Wh-what?" Cody blinked, slightly disoriented. "We can't just leave them though! Gwen was there too. She was in a freaking coma!"
"Calm yourself, friend," NiGHTS patted his head. He winced at the act and almost gave an angry glower over how condescending it felt. "That fellow you were yapping at took off with her. I don't sense even a linger of them anymore, so I doubt they're still in a Nightopia."
"And what about—-"
""Of course I wouldn't dare dream of leaving Klonoa and Lolo be. But the four of you are still pretty worn down. Can't have you up and about again."
"Don't worry about it," Loudred tried once more to overpower the jester's insistence with his sheer jovial aura. "We've gone to battle way more messed up than this."
"It's your dream though," NiGHTS flew to his face in their own act of forceful mannerisms. They weren't going to let him brush them off this time. "I'd much prefer you stay here and enjoy yourselves while I deal with this mess."
"I can't…" Cody gaped. "I can't just sit back and 'enjoy myself' knowing they're stuck at a freaky place like that. Are you kidding me?"
"They won't be stuck there," NiGHTS gave him yet another infuriating head pat. "I'll rescue them."
"And why 'you' specifically?"
They all turned to Al. Even barring all the loops and corkscrews, it was no question that he had the most trepidation towards their guide right from the start, and now, he was officially fed up.
"Because it's my job," NiGHTS answered. Contrasting with Al's much more serious tone, they continued to carry on an air of friendly levity.
"And what if this is our job too?"
"No, it isn't," they shook their head. "Your job right now is to dream."
"Look," Al wiped his hand across his face in frustration. "I get that you're here to guide visitors, but why are you being so guarded? You keep insisting on doing things all on your own."
"It's my responsibility."
"And we can help carry the load," Cody tossed his arms in the air, frustrated at how circular this whole exchange had become. "What's the issue here?"
"Why're you being so weird?" Mokona scrunched his face.
"I'm not the weird one. You guys are," NiGHTS giggled, a response that infuriated them further. "Well, I can't just keep dilly dallying here. Off I go now." As they proceeded to fly off into the air, the others made attempts to grab hold of them and halt their exit. But with each attempt, NiGHTS found new and creative ways to morph their already thin and rubbery body away from their clutches. Soon enough, they were up in the sky and fading with the stars. "The park here is a safe space," they made one last callout. "You all and Helen look out for each other while I'm gone, alright?" Even as they shrunk and blended with the night, the rest continued to call out for them with nary an answer all the way to their final departure.
"What is with them?!" Al rubbed his head in irritation. "It's like talking to a brick wall."
"I mean, they're obviously not bad but," Cody bit his lip, both anxious and perplexed. "It's almost like they want to keep us in the dark."
"See?" Mokona chimed in. "They're weird!"
"They are a bit, aren't they? But I suppose it's something that can't be helped." The boys all flipped their heads over to the center of the plaza where Helen sat timidly on a bench with a teacup in hand. She had helped nurse them just moments before, but both their outrage and lack of familiarity forced them to shuffle her off to the back ends of their minds.
"They called you a regular earlier," Al addressed her. "Are they always like that?"
"More or less," she replied. "But they do always mean well!" She spoke with the same clumsiness as someone worried they just accidentally ratted out their friend.
"Well, that's the problem, ain't it?" Loudred gave a weak smile as he rubbed the back of his head. "Not really leaving much room to butt in."
"They're weird!" Mokona repeated once more. "They're weirder than weird! They're weirder than weirder than weird!"
"Now that's not…" Helen sighed. She may have been more tolerable of the situation, but these go getters clearly weren't. "There's a good reason for it. I swear it."
"Would you mind telling us then?" Cody asked.
"Well…" She bit her lip and glanced to the side in uncertainty before finally laying it all out. "Nightopia…it's a world of dreams, but it is dangerous. You four experienced it first hand. Nightmares are nothing to joke about. One wrong step and your dream could turn into something dire."
"We get that," Cody let out a disgruntled sigh. "And they think the best way to handle it is to be overbearing?"
"It's not that they think it's the best way. I think they do it out of guilt. Because…" She lowered her head just a bit with stern eyes like she was prepared to reveal a grave secret.
"You ran into Reala, right? Surely you noticed it. How similar they look.
"NiGHTS is a Nightmaren."
A Nightmaren.
What nightmares were made of.
"…So?"
Helen blinked, taken aback by Cody's snip. "Pardon?"
"We literally hung out with a Catholic demon kid. Why should that matter to us?"
"B-but," she stammered as she struggled to justify her friend's grief. "They think their very existence is part of the problem."
"You don't actually believe that, do you?" Al sighed.
"Of course not! But—-"
"Yeah, who cares?" Cody began to stretch his arms and legs. "They're a good guy. Maybe too good for their own good. So what are we just standing here for?" He jumped.
And he jumped again.
"What are you doing?" Al asked in exasperation.
"This is a dream, right?" He jumped once more. "So I can force myself to fly if I wanted to."
"Well, it's clearly not working."
"Oh, I can fly! I can take us!" Mokona exclaimed triumphantly. He leapt into the air and flapped his floppy little ears like angelic wings. The boys cheered excitedly at the feat…only to realize how terrible an idea all three of them grabbing hold of Mokona's tiny form up in the sky was, dream or not. They quickly went mum and Cody resumed his fruitless looking jumping session.
"This isn't going to work," Al reiterated.
"You're only saying that 'cause you're scared of heights," Cody retorted.
"No, I—-ah, AHHHH!" Before he could sour the mood further, Loudred lifted him up from the ground as he too began to hop about, much to Al's discomfort.
"Come on," the larger Pokemon smiled. "No point standing around doing nothing."
It was an interesting sight from where young Helen sat. Cody and Loudred kept bouncing about like madmen while Al snuck in protests between leaps. Mokona meanwhile loudly yipped and yelled like a cheerleader in the background. It was an objectively ridiculous scene, but there was something hopeful as well. She was used to leaving everything to NiGHTS. This was their domain after all. All these dreams she spent being complacent, she often felt the urge to lend a helping hand, but not once did she do it. And then there were these oddballs who were more than willing to literally jump in.
She smiled. "You're doing it wrong."
The boys all stopped what they were doing in surprise as the young tween skipped towards their way and playfully took hold of both Cody and Loudred's hands. The act finally forced Al back to the ground where he looked back at her in both relief and confusion.
"Okay, so we need to all grab each other's hands and crouch down to the ground," she instructed, doing just that.
"Uh, like this?" Cody asked in mild reluctance as he met her on the floor and held onto Mokona's tiny paw pad.
"That's right," she replied enthusiastically, even as she glanced to the other side where Loudred had to hold Al down by force. "Okay," she puffed out her cheeks in anticipation. "On the count of three…
"One…Two…Three!"
She, Cody, Mokona, and Loudred all went up on cue, but their leap came to a faulty halt. The four nearly tripped over themselves over the botched jump, and the cause of it, Alakazam, looked awkwardly at his still grounded feet. His knees were bent slightly, a sign that he had considered joining them, but decided against it at the last second.
"Dude, come on!" Cody groaned in annoyance.
"S-sorry," the Pokemon mumbled.
The group made two more attempts, but both fell through all the same. Both times, Al kept falling off halfway through while the others grew more pumped with each stumble. One would think they would grow discouraged, but it only made them more eager to succeed.
"I can't do this," the psychic type gulped. "Just let me stay on the ground, please."
"Don't worry. You can do it," Helen smiled.
"Yeah, think about NiGHTS, Klonoa, and Lolo," Loudred added.
"Uhm, uh, um," he sweated profusely. The finger cage he and the other Pokemon formed grew grosser by the second.
"You can handle space 'cause it's just floating, right?" Cody leaned over. "Once we're up in the air, it'll be the same thing."
"Yeah, fly, fly, fly!" Mokona chanted.
Alakazam gulped. He closed his eyes as they all restarted their positions. Crouched down, hands together, and holding it all in with bated breaths, they waited for Helen's voice.
"One…Two…
"Three!"
They jumped, all five of them. They were up in the air.
"Holy cow, we're actually flying," Cody gasped in slow shock and awe. He let go of Mokona's paw and stared at his palm as he swatted at nothing, taking in the moment and making sure this was real. Of course, this was supposedly a dream world, but…it felt real. That's all that really mattered.
Having been freed, Mokona flapped his ears joyously as if he were celebrating his friends" first experience in embracing this larger than life feeling. The tiny tyke laughed and laughed, and Loudred joined in the excitement. Al timidly opened his eyes, an act that was both terrifying to him and full of adventurous wonder. Helen beamed at their small accomplishment. But this was merely a means to something greater. She took another large breath, and with all the power in her tiny body, she heaved the chain of hands forward and further up into the starry night like a slingshot. Her hands let go, and the four heroes were headed off into the night.
"Take care of yourselves!" She cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted to the distance. "And make sure NiGHTS does too!"
And they faded off within the stars and beyond to the unknown.
oOo
The situation wasn't deep in the pits just yet, but it was just a few careless teeters away from nose diving off the tip. In the realm of nightmares, an enormous ship mixed in with the sky that was somehow both simultaneously pitch black and smothered with unearthly psychedelic hues. The red jester, Reala, lay front and center at the deck and proudly guarded over his bounty—-a runaway "princess" and her supposed savior—-who were both tightly secured to the mast with rope. Heartless Pirates and Nightmaren alike gathered around him in a drunken stupor while a sizable platoon of more bite sized ships accompanied the cruiser in the sky. Waltzing one's way into the scene would be like charging headfirst into a den of lions. And that was why when a certain rival jester made their way through, Reala couldn't help but grin madly at their foolishness.
"Reala," NiGHTS floated along with a stern stance, their back straightened and their arms crossed, but their voice carried the same naive confidence they always had. It only made Reala's v-shaped grin narrow further. "I don't suppose you plan on letting Klonoa and Miss Lolo go?" The two in question squirmed around at the mere mention of their names.
"You come here alone with nothing but a foolhardy question?" He mockingly chuckled. "I knew you were stubborn, but I didn't take you for a prideful imbecile. I know you rescued the Keybearer. He alone could do more against this army than you, and yet you decided you'd rather take this all on your own?"
"Stronger or not," NiGHTS shot back. "Anyone can fall prey to nightmares."
"Are you talking about me?" He laughed once more. "My, how kind of you to give me such credit. Or is this another boastful pat on the back? After all, you and I are one and the same."
"You know," NiGHTS moved their hands to their hips and bent over just a bit to shake their head. "If we really are the same like you say, you could use your powers for good. Perhaps start with freeing those two?"
Reala responded by siccing one of his seahorse shaped Nightmaren henchmen over. The creature came throttling towards NiGHTS at full force, and NiGHTS met its impact in kind by taking hold of its fin and twirling it in a ballroom waltz before its entire body was Paralooped away. "Well," NiGHTS raised their arms in an expression that both feigned amusement and showed genuine exasperation. "Can't say I didn't try."
With negotiations definitely doomed, NiGHTS charged right towards the deck like an arrow spinning towards a bullseye. Reala's Heartless and Nightmaren army made attempts to jump at them, but they gracefully maneuvered through it all and stole a pirate sword along the way. Finally within Reala's vicinity, they made a valiant knight stance and moved forward into a one-on-one battle. Reala had himself drawn out a sword, and the two clashed and clanged back and forth like swashbucklers. With each careful turn and twirl of their legs and feet, NiGHTS inched their way closer and closer to Klonoa and Lolo, hopeful that the swings from their duel could help shred their ropes. But with each minute nudge, they could sense their audience growing, ready to cave in at any second. It was just as Reala said. It was foolish to come alone knowing just how many of these creatures were there. And yet they stood their ground, fought, and…heard a strange string of sounds.
Were those screams?
Whatever it was, clearly Reala wasn't in the know either. They both stopped in their tracks in stunned silence. The screams grew by the second until finally…
…They heard a massive thud at the mast. Somehow, against all odds, that Keybearer and their friends had figured out how to fly. And he and his friends were not good at it. Cody, Al, and Loudred had attempted to make a dramatic landing on deck only for their lack of balance to cause them to crash land and slide off the walls of the ship and into the depths below. NiGHTS, Klonoa, and Lolo looked on in sheer horror while Reala burst into hearty laughter.
"Did I really just say that boy was stronger than you are?" Reala choked, nearly in tears while his opponent was stone cold and petrified. "I must apologize. Even you wouldn't be as stupid as—-"
"Hi."
Everyone jolted like they had just stood next to a lightning strike. Right between the two jesters, a pure white rabbit thing flapped its wing-like ears without a care in the world. The rabbit's allies in the area were ready to call out his name in confusion while Reala was ready to break his composure and snatch him while he had the chance. Neither however were quick enough to stop Mokona from unleashing an almost laser like burst of magical energy from his forehead gem. The crowd was sliced, Klonoa and Lolo were cut free, and Reala was left frothing over how quickly things turned south just like that.
It was chaos. Reala struggled whether to focus his attention on Mokona or his loose captives, and his miniature army was left rumbling around in disoriented manners if they weren't already writhing in pain. NiGHTS saw an opening and raced right over to the edge of the boat where they grasped desperately to the railings, ready to search for even a shred of evidence that their precious visitors were safe. Luckily, they didn't even have to search at all. For the moment, they looked down, the trio were just a few feet below, smiling at their friend in anticipation. NiGHTS's anxiety was replaced with glee. They really were worried over nothing.
NiGHTS turned back around. The scene hadn't gotten any less hectic, but he did notice Reala's hunt for Mokona had grown more fierce. At that point, he was practically slicing the wind trying to take the tiny furball down. NiGHTS let out a slight giggle and threw their sword into Mokona's hands. "Have fun," they encouraged him.
Reala was ready to shift his focus back to his rival, but the newly armed Mokona was too busy waving around his toy in front of the evil jester's face. NiGHTS flew right off the ship deck and down below where they morphed into their long and graceful eastern dragon form. Cody, Al, and Loudred were proud passengers on this ride, and Reala could do nothing but sneer ruefully as they drifted away from him to focus on decimating the surrounding fleets.
Reala's pale face grew as red as his ram horns under his mask. He swatted off Mokona, ready to chase his arch nemesis, but was blindsided by the force of one of his own men slamming on to him from the side. Klonoa had grabbed a nearby Heartless and shot right at him using his Wind Bullet ring. At this point, Reala had enough. In his fit of rage, he too transformed into an eastern dragon and completely tore apart the ship as he made his rapid ascent. The cruise liner that was once hauntingly massive in size had been broken apart like it was nothing. Cracks and crevasses split it all into separate islands of boarded surfaces and steel rooms. Some Heartless and Nightmaren survived on their land, some were lucky enough to have been born airborne, and others plummeted unceremoniously to the depths. Looks and preservation were no longer a concern to Reala. Nor were his duties and loyalties to Maleficent. All he cared about now was to best NiGHTS.
"Lolo, hold on," Klonoa called over to his friend as he caught her wrist right before she had a chance to slip off the now slanted deck. He flapped his ears carefully to the nearest empty ship debris, and the two were left to carefully survey the situation.
"Thank you so much," Lolo smiled as Mokona followed them over to their platform.
"Yeah, you really saved our butts back there," Klonoa laughed.
"Yup, yup, no pro…" Mokona's eyes lingered towards the he was out searching for his friends, but once he did, he saw an image that was almost uncomfortably close to that moment on the fake Tokyo Tower. Two eastern dragons duking it out while chaos loomed. It was a sudden shift in tone enough to worry even the two who hardly knew the rabbit at all.
"Hey," Klonoa bent over. "Are you okay?" All he received were shakes and shivers in response, and before he could get a chance to get anything more, their break time was over and both Nighmaren and the flying Aeroplane and Air Soldier Heartless began to swarm over. With Mokona in a petrified state, Klonoa and Lolo were left to defend their spot in peril.
Over on the flipside, things had started out simple. NiGHTS took the trio out on a joy ride and rammed and scattered the smaller ships that were spread throughout the space. Loudred and Cody happily blasted and whacked at any incoming monster that was unlucky enough to fly near them. Al unfortunately had used up all his courage and had defaulted to his cowardly state and clung desperately on to NiGHTS's scales once more. It was a shame he couldn't have joined in on the fun because surely they would've been wiping out Reala's forces much quicker if they had his telekinetic abilities to fall back on.
Loudred was originally the first to notice Reala's impending path. NiGHTS's agility was unfortunately the main trade off for their current size, and no matter how loudly the Pokemon called out to them, there was no real way to avoid the red dragon that rammed violently towards their side. Their ride then quickly shifted over from an adrenaline pumping cruise to a full on clash, the very image Mokona and the other two had seen. At this point, there was no point fighting off the smaller army. In his rage, Reala himself was doing a good job killing off his own allies, and Cody and Loudred's efforts were better spent joining Al with holding on for their dear lives.
"Hey!" Loudred spied the situation Team Mokona was in. "They're getting mobbed over there."
"You're not…" Cody was forced to speak out in between swings. "You're not gonna try to jump off in the middle of this, are you?"
Oh, yes he was. "Alley oop—"
He let go of NiGHTS and was immediately knocked over by the force of Reala's fly-by strike. The force was enough to hurtle him over to his destination, but it was also enough to completely disorient him and make him effectively useless. The creature mob continued to cluster, and it was an unfortunate twist of relief when Reala's tail was swung right in their direction. It was even more friendly fire on Reala's part, but in exchange, their safety platform was gone for good, and everyone was scattered.
Klonoa clasped on to Lolo's reach immediately. He attempted to fly them to any remaining platform nearby, but the extreme gusts of wind that accompanied the dragon fight kept continuously flinging them every which way. Their voices echoed, mixed, and faded within the mayhem as the two screamed and called each others' names as almost a form of comfort in the strange trap they were stuck in.
Mokona was lucky enough to bounce on to Loudred shortly after the blowout. The Pokemon instinctively picked him up and lightly shook him awake. Mokona was still in the process of recovering from the nightmare shock, but there just wasn't much time and at all to accommodate him. Loudred could spy Klonoa and Lolo slowly drift away in the distance, and there was no time to lose.
"Hey, buddy," he shook Mokona again. "You doing okay?"
"Mmm?" Mokona hummed groggily.
"I'm really sorry, but we gotta—"
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
Mokona had once again caught sight of the dragon duel, but rather than clamming up, he launched himself into a full-on fight or flight mode. He swung his sword wildly like a drowning cat clawing for air, and he shot out random spasms magic every few seconds. It wasn't the most ideal situation, but right then and there, he became Loudred's shield against the still bountiful Heartless and Nightmaren that separated them from their allies. Now it was only a matter of fighting against the wind itself as he began to wade his way over.
Back on NiGHTS's back, little had changed. The jesters were still at it, and Cody and Al were still clinging on tightly. Perhaps it was in a fit of morbid curiosity from all the tumbling and clanging, but Al made the completely audacious move of taking his head off the scales to look up. First of all, it was horrifying. Second of all, a lightbulb lit.
"Get up," he ordered Cody.
"What?"
"Get up and run!"
Cody too looked up to understand just what the hell his friend was just suggesting he do. Reala and NiGHTS were ready to ram into each other head first.
"Get up, run, and jump!"
He did just that.
He ran across the length of NiGHTS's body and leapt right around the time the two dragons were ready to connect. He could feel his body grow lighter as Al fought off his fear to guide Cody through the remaining distance with his telekinesis. And once he landed on Reala, he continued to run, with his Keyblade out and grazing against the enemy's skin. Sparks practically flew out of the newly formed wound.
Reala and NiGHTS had been knocking themselves into each other this entire time, but this body long cut was what finally did him in. Reala yelped in pain and was forced back into his normal form. He retreated down to a ship platform to catch his breath, but Cody had followed him down and immediately started to have at him. Black fizzling orbs started to form around his fists, and he snarled as he began to respond to his current opponent's efforts with a flurry of dark energy balls being flung his way.
Al perked up. His plan had succeeded. "All ri—"
To his horror, NiGHTS also decided to switch back into their original body. At that moment, he completely forgot about his newfound flying abilities and could feel himself begin a massive freefall. Luckily, NiGHTS wasn't going to just let that happen. They caught hold of both his hands, performed a Paraloop, and sent him swinging towards Loudred's direction. With the object of Mokona's fears now gone, the rabbit had gone ahead alone to aid Klonoa and Lolo which left Loudred wide open to continue Al's flight and throw him right in Reala's direction. Al of course was scared shitless the entire time, but at the very last second, right when he and Reala were about to meet, he mustered enough courage to send a Fire Punch right across the enemy's cheek, knocking Reala off and away from Cody.
Meanwhile, just like how Mokona's terror left alongside the dragons, so did the massive winds that carried Klonoa and Lolo around. Mokona finally caught up to the two, and seeing how exhausted Klonoa looked after keeping his ears up for so long, he attempted to have both of them hold on to him as he guided them to a safer location. But while so much had left with the dragons, so much had also come back. Much of the surviving Heartless and Nightmaren populace had returned with a vengeance, and they had their eyes on the princess. Mokona did all he could to fend them off, but his tiny plush-like body was eventually battered off. Klonoa and Lolo were left once again to fend for themselves, and to keep them from falling to uncertain doom, Klonoa had no choice but to cycle between his own worn out cabbit ears and the monsters' attacks themselves to keep them afloat.
Reala took notice of their plight. With his own fight that had been fueled by selfish pride turning horrifically against his favor, he tried to turn his attention back to capturing them. But at this point, he was too far into the battle for the others to let him go. NiGHTS themselves was the first to get in his way, and having his nemesis pop up right in front of his face was enough to distract him once more. The two flew sporadically throughout the battlefield duking it out as they made a rapid fire succession of transformations. If NiGHTS turned into a train engine, so did he. If NiGHTS turned in a living sword, he followed. If NiGHTS turned into something as innocuous as a kite, boy was he going to find a way to turn into a deadly version of that.
At some point, Loudred had sneakily hitchhiked atop NiGHTS, who was transformed into a phoenix-like creature, and started to combat Reala with Supersonic waves each time the two Nightmaren made contact. His plan worked the first time around, but Reala's sheer stubborn fury willed him to fight against his headache and ramp up his finicky movement. It was tough enough aiming atop NiGHTS's constantly morphing form, but it was impossible with Reala attempting to go beyond his peak.
Reala's face grew all the more twisted with each second. His grin narrowed into a tiny acute angle, and all of it was out of delusion. The very moment he lost his cool and snapped, it might as well have been over. But it's always been him and NiGHTS. It's always been these two mirror images either trying to shatter or piece together the other half. Could he have saved his ass if he actually followed through with the task at hand instead of falling to his eternal obsession? At the very least, he would've been able to see Mokona's body shoot right towards him.
Mokona had attempted to free Klonoa and Lolo from their living cage once more, but things went as well as they did the first time around. An Air Soldier ruthlessly punted him across the sky which turned him into a spiky needle ball as he continued to hold on to his sword. Reala was in a Phoenix form, matching his opponent, and the moment Mokona rammed into him, the blade made a clean slice across one of his wings.
Reala whirled in pain and panic. His body was still prettty sore from Cody's body-wide cut, and this not only created new wounds but opened old ones. With him flopping and flapping in place, Loudred successfully hit him with another direct wave of Supersonic, and the headache he manically ignored completely took hold of him.
He swirled once more in the air before reverting to his jester form and crash landed on to another loose ship deck piece; one that Al happened to have been camped on. His form change had temporarily mended his wounds, and with his balance screwed and his vision wobbly, he valiantly countered the Pokemon's Shadow Ball attacks with his own nameless black orbs. Just as it seemed he was about to get back on his feet, SMACK, Mokona came back. And Al's Shadow Balls sent him off once more to a lower platform.
Now, it was Cody he and his disoriented ass were up against. Though at this point, it was basically over. Aching and addled, his movements were embarrassingly sloppy as he stumbled around and countered the boy's attacks. Even Cody himself could feel how anticlimactic it all was. Because the finishing blow wasn't one big, flashy slash or intricate wring of the hand. No, all he had to do was a simple medium strength tap to the forehead…
…Timed to the ear shattering fireworks.
In the background, NiGHTS had transformed into a massive skyrocket and set off the explosion of an entire holiday's worth of fireworks. That was it. Reala was done. The pain, the headaches, the noise, it was all too much. He knew when he was bested, and now was the right time to retreat.
What about the princess? The orders from that hag?
Man, screw that. She could deal with it herself. He had lost once more to NiGHTS, and that was enough to count this entire Heartless endeavor a failure.
With barely a blink of an eye, he was gone. Cody was completely taken aback by his leave. His eyes darted around, worried that he'd be hit by a sudden sneak attack. But nothing ever came, and as NiGHTS, Al, Loudred, and Mokona floated calmly onto his platform with celebratory smiles, he knew it was over. The fireworks had killed off the last of the Heartless and Nightmaren. The dark and desolate sky was lit up brilliantly by the floral bursts. At that moment, the skies of nightmares looked no different from those of dreams.
While the tired fighters enjoyed their show, Klonoa and Lolo also excitedly basked in the light and colors from their own separate platform in the distance. The festivities had killed off the creatures that had held them captive, and after an arduous journey, the two were finally at peace.
Or so they thought.
If it weren't for the fireworks, maybe they could've heard her come in from behind. One moment, the two were peacefully gazing at the spectacle their friends had made. The next, Lolo was dragged by the upper hems of her dress off the ground and into the clutches of a certain contemptuous girl.
"Got you," Heather smiled evilly while her captive struggled.
"Lolo!" Klonoa called out to her in renewed fear. Just like they had done back on Reala's pre-destruction ship when they first arrived at Nightopia, the two quickly grabbed and summoned out their respective Wind Bullet and staff, prepared to make a break for it. But just like before, their opponent was quicker on the draw. A bright pink streak zipped past the two as Heather effortlessly smacked both Lolo's staff and Klonoa himself off the platform. The last thing he could hear before Heather whisked his friend off and away through the black portal she came through was the semblance of Lolo's voice attempting to make out his name.
Not again! He thought to himself in his descent. It was all back to square one. Things couldn't end like this. As he fell further down, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, and once again…
…His trusty friend, the "wind" itself" swayed him away from his doom and right through the same portal just before it blipped out of existence.
The fireworks continued to rage on, and the others continued to watch idly in awe, none the wiser. In the end, maybe NiGHTS and Reala really were a lot more alike than either would be happy to admit. If they had both actually paid attention to the task at hand instead of each other, maybe they wouldn't have ended up where they were now…
oOo
It was an understatement to say that things were awkward back at the park. On one side, Cody, Al, Loudred, and Mokona all stood slanted, biting their lips while their eyes wavered off as they hoped to find anything to occupy their mind rather than just being there. On the other, NiGHTS floated around with their head up in the clouds and their face obscured by their massive glove, like they were in complete disbelief over this entire outcome, and Helen who simply twiddled around her fingers as she looked downward with furrowed brows. She had expected to see her friends in triumph when they returned only to be met with all this.
"So, uh," Cody began with a barely formed smile in a very ill advised attempt at levity. "We…" What little semblance of smile he had quickly fell. "We really blew it, huh?"
"Don't just say it," Al bent over and groaned. "We already feel bad enough."
"That was all for nothing, man," Cody looked downward with a crestfallen mope.
"I already told you to shut it," Al groaned once more.
"It's true though."
"Not quite," NiGHTS interrupted. They had finally shifted out of their more defeated stance and into their more familiar playful stride. "If it weren't for you all, I probably would have been a goner back there." They bent over into a theatrical bow, one arm to their chest, the other to the sky. "You have my thanks."
Cody and his friends looked at each other with blank faces. It was an over the top gesture fitting of the dream jester. In fact, seeing it was almost just as awkward as the pity party they were stuck in. But they were right. They didn't go just to rescue Klonoa and Lolo. They also went to make sure a certain stubborn someone didn't get themselves killed. And at that front, they smiled knowing they succeeded.
"Now then," NiGHTS bounced back upwards and tapped their chin in thought. "I'm afraid I don't sense those two here in Nightopia anymore. It looks like this as far as I can go on my part. But…" They nudged their head expectantly towards the four. "I'm sure your lot can take it from here."
"And we're sure you won't give either," Helen grinned expectantly.
"Don't worry," Cody chuckled. "In fact, I've got a sneaking suspicion we'll be finding them sooner than later."
"Yeah!" Loudred added. "She's one of the princesses, right? We're heading towards the baddies' homebase, so we can get back to the rescue mission as soon as we wake up."
"Then we shouldn't keep them waiting, should we?" NiGHTS laughed. "I think you've all had a decent enough nap. Perhaps it's time you all woke up now."
"Can I keep the sword?" Mokona swung said sword around with glee as he bounced repeatedly.
"Can he not?" Al grumbled as he backed away, too dangerously close to Mokona's swinging range for comfort.
Cody stretched out his arms and placed them behind his head in a resting position. "Well, we all dream here, so…" He flashed one of his signature cocky grins. "We'll see you around?"
"Definitely," NiGHTS nodded. "Next time, I'll make sure you all have a nice and proper dream. But for now…" They pulled Helen in closer like a doting family member. "This one here's still got a few hours before she's due to wake."
"Take care, everyone," the girl happily waved goodbye.
After everything was said and done, the group took their leave through the plaza gates. The further they strayed from the park, the more they could feel their minds wander, as if they were drifting off to sleep. But this was the land of dreams themselves. It was more accurate to say their consciousnesses were slowly beginning to piece themselves back together. The lush forest setting faded like the break of dawn. With each step they took, the bountiful flora, dirt paths, and cobbled rocks bled into streams of white until right at the end, right at the middle, there stood but a single lone boulder in the sea of blank thought.
A boulder with the distinct mark of a keyhole.
Cody pointed his Keyblade forward, and then, even that was gone.
…
…
…
"Finally back up, huh?"
Huh?
"Or I guess you're still working on it."
She was back. Gwen was safe.
Or at least the fake Gwen in his head was.
Last rem stage I think, he replied in thought.
"Good. We're just about there. Can't be slacking now."
He knew he should be worried for the actual her, but…despite everything, hearing this bizarre version of her his own mind invented was comforting all the same. It had become routine. Something he expected.
Just the two of them conversing in his thoughts.
Plus one intruder.
A little girl spoke.
"You're here."
…
…
…
It was like the shock of hearing the third voice was the final key to knock him awake with shock, but that wasn't quite it. In fact, when he woke up, it was pleasant, and he felt fully refreshed. With how terrible his sleeping habits had become these past few months with the endless barrage of bizarre prophecy dreams, it was a feeling he'd nearly forgotten altogether.
Cody stretched his arms and yawned. Apparently, he was the last to wake. With his senses fully up and running again, he could hear Mokona bemoan his lost sword that had failed to make the jump over to reality. He could hear Al mumble to himself over how well rested he felt despite the constant terrors that plagued his stay in Nightopia. But most importantly, he could hear Loudred call out to all three of them to look at what was right in front of their ship.
They had arrived.
