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[InTheNightlight]

DaRKNES had overheard. "What? Blow it up!? ARE YOU CRAZY OR SOMETHING!? You can't just blow it up! You actually think Wizeman would just make it so unstable that a pack of dynamite would destroy it? If so, Selph would have thought of that LONG ago! He must have put SOME sort of force-field or booby-trap on it. I was created with Selph's DNA. So I know how to destroy the Staff. Our only choice is to gather all the Ideya. But first, we must free NiGHTS! Before they get to Wizeman's Castle!" DaYZ was watching a small TV screen. It was really a communicator that he and NiGHTS sent thoughts to one another.

"They're still on their way. It gives us enough time to heal before saving him." DaYZ says.

[Deraj]

Frosty pauses. "How does that even work? ... Nevermind, I don't even wanna try and pick it apart. Hey, Nyclone. Can you open a one-way sort of TV set portal thing on where the Golem is? I just had a thought."
Nyclone does as he is told.
"Why?" Dusty asks. "Nothing is going to happen. We're moving thou-" Dusty shuts up as the ground in the picture, frame by frame, slowly begins to explode. Nearly a minute later, the group caught a glimpse of one of the Golem's weapons retracting back into the hole.
"Oh, no!" Dusty says.
"Yeah, that's what I thought. The Golem's not too happy about us- Well, Reala, now- having the Staff." Frosty says. "We'll have to deal with him, too. And if we're not too quick... Well, we may see an old Level-One friend of ours again as well."
Dusty asks the obvious question. "Who?"
Frosty remains silent for a few moments. "Well, the odds against it are pretty high."
"What are you talking about?" Dusty asks.
Frosty remains silent for a few moments. "Nah, never happen. Forget I said anything."

[nightdreamer]

Illusia looks at Frosty with annoyed look on her face. "I think he's talking about Selph. So what's the plan now since we have to get past that walking death trap just to be able to rescue NiGHTS after we've healed up enough to do so? I pesonally would rather deal with Wizeman than with Selph."

[iNSOMNiAC]

Reala grins at the three other 'Maren with him. "Our job here is down for now. Lets head back home and lock up our prizes...Then we'll go after those brats." Somni nods excitedly. "Was a clever idea to send me back Sir, very clever indeed." Puffy and Jackle roll their eyes and start to head back towards Nightmare. Reala follows, with Somni not far behind. "Hmph, I have to admit, you nabbed NiGHTS a lot faster than I thought you would've, iNSOMNiAC." The grey 'Maren laughs nervously. "Oh? Really? Hah, well, I outta give myself a pat on the back then!"

[Deraj]

"Ha, you wish I was talking about Selph." Frosty mutters, streching. "What I have in mind makes Selph look like a little girl."
Frosty pauses. "There's a thought. All-powerful demon, rivals Wizeman in pure strength, and it turns out Selph is a little girl in disquise. Wouldn't that be hilarious?"
"Well, what are you thinking about, then?!" Dusty asks.
"ULTRAViOLET." Frosty says. "NiGHTS' original form." Frosty begins pacing back and forth. "Recently, NiGHTS has been having a bit of a temper. I think it's UV surfacing again. 'Course, NiGHTS is too strong for that. But if Wizeman gets a hold of him, weeell... It's possible that he'll forcibly rip UV out of NiGHTS, and they'll exist as two seperate entities. ... Until UV kills NiGHTS, anyway."
"That's impossible." Dusty says.
"Uh, bimbo, this is a dream, remember? I myself have ripped a Dreamer's darkside out of him, and have had the Dreamer killed by it. Don't tell me what's impossible and what isn't." Frosty says.

[InTheNightlight]

DaRKNES just stares. "Y'know, that's an actual good theory. But if U.V. DOES get out, The Dreaming Realm would be destroyed anyway. Plus, if enough destruction is caused, both this world and The Waking World would be in grave peril."

"What do you mean?" DaYZ asked.

"In Nightopia's Frozen Bell section there is a huge glacier. It conects Nightopia to the ground, as not to go into the upside down tower. Underneath it are rivers and even seas of magma! If anything punctured it, the magma would rise, thus melting all the ice. The world would be thrown into the Twin Seeds Tower, along with Wizeman, The Staff, and ULTRAViOLET. The very backbone of both worlds would shatter. The end of the world would be the result. And death and carnage are the only two factors that would come of the end of it all..." He paused. "I think that that's U.V.'s first target..."

DaYZ whispered to Frosty. "Sheesh, where've we heard THAT before?"

NOTE: In Sonic The Movie, Knux says the same thing...almost...

[Deraj]

"This is only if Wizeman gets his hands on NiGHTS to begin with, remember." Frosty says. "No need for 'End-of-the-world' talk just yet. Besides, I don't think UV is stupid enough to kill himself and his 'Master' anyway." Frosty swishes his tail over his wrinkling nose, as if to fan away an offensive odor. "Besides, UV is the obedient one. It's NiGHTS that's the rebel. No way in h*ll that'll happen."

***

Reala pauses, and turns around. "Did any of you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Puffy asks.
"A deep rumbling... Like an explosion. Jackle. Clawz. Puffy. The three of you check it out. iNSOMNiAC and I can deliver the Staff and the Traitor to Master Wizeman ourselves."
"How do we know you won't steal the credit?" Clawz asks. "You pinned the blame on Frostbite for a mistake the BOTH of you made, and now, he's one of the biggest thorns in our side since NiGHTS! If you can pin the blame, you can definitely steal the credit!"
"Whose side are you on?! Just go!" Reala snaps, pointing at the rising dust-cloud.

[iNSOMNiAC]

Somni laughs nervously..Surely that wasn't the Golem thing that was guarding the Staff. There's no way it could've caught up to them. "How rude of them to think you'd be so dishonorable and steal all the credit...Bah. That lot always seems so jealous of you, Sir!"

[Deraj]

Frosty crosses his arms, using his tail to bat around a shard on the ground. "Almost completely healed already." Frosty says, looking at the portal.
"We can't leave just yet. We're good to go, but just a little while longer could mean the difference between nearly dead, and completely dead." Dusty says.
"I know that!" Frosty says. "Just bugs me. I know we're not ready yet, but I want to go kick Reala's spandex-covered a** now!"
"Reala's still a Level-One, Frosty. You've got to be patient." Dusty says.
"Patience is for monks. And so is silence." Frosty says, his tail swishing erratically. He was already going back to his normal, impatient self. He wanted to fight, and Dusty could tell that it was best that he shut up before he made himself a target.
"... How much longer...?!" Frosty mutters impatiently, looking at Nyclone.

[InTheNightlight]

DaYZ began tinkering with something he pulled out of his vest. It was a small robotic NiGHTS robot. It looked exactly like NiGHTS, except smaller and flew using tiny jet shoes.

"Guys, I think I can keep an eye on the maren and NiGHTS using this!" They stared at the mini-NiGHTS.

"What is it?" DaRKNES asked.

"It's a NiGHTS robot. It can send us back info on what the maren are doing. It's also useful for destractions, pushing switches that we can't and various other uses. Nyclone, could you open a one-way portal so we can send this through?"

[Deraj]

"I don't like robots..." Frosty mutters. "Too easily hacked. Tiny ones are too easily smooshed, too. Besides, there's still the time difference. Wait until we're out. How much longer until we're good, Dust?"
"I'd say about ten more minutes and we'll be good to go." Dusty says. "Not much longer."

Ten minutes later, the group was back in the Transition.
"That Golem sure isn't subtle, is he?" Frosty says, looking at the large footprints the Golem had left.
"Where is he?" Dusty asks.
"A mile in that direction, facing down three Level-Two Maren. Presumably Jackle, Puffy and Clawz." Fig says, pointing in the direction the footprints lead. "If we move quickly, we can bypass the battle and maybe head off Reala and iNSOMNiAC before they hand over NiGHTS and the Staff."
"Then what are we waiting for?! DaYZ, your robot! Use it to scout out the area ahead!"

[InTheNightlight]

"Got it!" He pulled out the droid and sent it flying ahead. "What a second...look at this, guys." He rewound the film the bot sent them and froze one of the frames. "What is that? To the bottom left of the Golem?" He looked close. "It looks like...Helen and Will? What are--? Never mind! I can contact them through the robot!" He instruted the robot towards the dreamers. "Psst, Will, Hellen!" He whispered. In a couple seconds, Will and Helen faced the source of the sound. "Hello?" Will asked.

"Hey, guys! What are you doing here?" DaYZ asked. "That thing is dangerous! Follow this robot to our location."

"How do we know we can trust you?" Helen asked.

"I'm a friend of NiGHTS. He's been kidnapped and we could use your help! We'll explain once you get here." DaYZ explained. Will and Helen tiptoed away from the Golem and followed the bot.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What the?" Jackle noticed the robot and caught a glimpse of the dreamers. He distracted the Golem. "Hey! Now ya see me!" He closed his eyes and mouth and threw off his mantle, gloves, boots, and hat. "Now you don't!" He hurriedly swooped away, grabbed his clothing again and flew away without a sound. He found the dreamers and maren at the Transition. He saw DaYZ quickly send his robot away, and it flew away at light speed.

"Well, well. What have we got here? Rouge maren, and one of which is the brat that smashed me and the others into a tree! Well, now it's payback!" Jackle let out his trademark laugh.

"I've got an idea." DaYZ whispered. "Jackle? Why DO you work for Wizeman and Reala? Do you like to?"

"Whaddya THINK? I'm an invisible, crazy, maren!" Jackle sneered.

"You didn't answer my question. Are you happy working for them?" DaYZ frowned.

"You know what? You're right, I'm not. I actually kinda hate Reala, bossing me and the others around..." Jackle's rather non-existant shoulders drooped as he thought up a lie. "Why do you work for them?" DaYZ asked.

"Because...I don't know...I've always been kinda jealous of all you rouge's, actually...Free to do what you want, having fun whenever you want...It gets kinda boring, over at Wizeguy's Palace..." Jackle put on a dramatic act while his brain kept thinking how to make them believe him. "I mean, Reala's been mean and aggressive ever since NiGHTS left, as if he wasn't already...I mean, he pushed me into my own Jack-in-the-Box once. I've still got the scars to prove it! Wanna see?" He asked, beginning to lift his cape.

"NO!" DaRKNES said, panicked.

"So why don'tcha become a rouge, like us?" DaYZ asked.

"Because Wizeman says that anyone else who defies him will look like what happened to Selph! I DON'T WANNA BE TRAPPED IN A STICK! I'M CLAUSTRAPHOBIC!" He yelled, acting more insane than usual.

"Well, the others and I are rouges and WE'RE still here, aren't we?" DaYZ pointed out, gesturing to Frostbite and the others. "So, c'mon! The more the merrier!" He grinned.

Jackle's eyes grew wide. "JACKPOT!" He thought. "Y'know, that's a good idea! YOU HEAR ME WIZEMAN! I WORK FOR YOU NO MORE!" He struck a dramatic, heroic, sky-pointing pose.

"...Don't EVER do that again..." DaRKNES stared.

[Nyclone]

"Okay, I think the best course of action would be to dismantle the golem, piece by piece. Without it's equipment, it is fairly weak. Probably weak enough to go for the kill." Except for the that statement, Ny was fairly quiet, thinking over what they should do.

[nightdreamer]

Illusia looks over at Nyclone. "What do you have in mind? And How will that help us catch up with Reala and the rest...and just how much help are we recruting?"

[Deraj]

Frosty swishes his tail. He had no time for dealing with Jackle, but... "I'm watching you, Clown."
Frosty pulls out one of his replicates, and tosses it to the ground. It quickly changes into a 3-Dimensional map, based on the footage the NiGHTS-Bot had collected.
"Okay... Here we are, and there's the Golem. Wizeman's castle is over in the left corner there. I can sense the Staff from here, putting Reala and iNSOMNiAC nearly fifteen minutes from Wizeman. Twenty-five, if the fawning crowds of Level-Threes decide to stroke Reala's ego a bit."
"What do you plan to do?" Dusty asks.
"First, we take down the Golem. By now, Puffy and Clawz have called for reinforcements, so we may have a bit more trouble than we bargained for, there. However, each side will be fighting on two fronts, one of them being the Golem, and the rest being the other Nightmaren, so we should have a bit of unintended help taking down the Golem. I'm not too worried about them. We'll still probably outnumber them."
"And the castle?" Dusty asks.
"Break in the same way I broke out." Frosty says, grinning. "Violently, with big explosions and lots of fancy attacks, taking out every Level-Three and Level-Two that tries to get in our way."
"But you were powered up with potions when you broke out!" Dusty says.
"It's alot easier to break INTO that place than it is to break OUT." Frosty says. "And besides, we're in a group. We'll have to support eachother, but it'll be relatively easy compared to the Golem. ... Unless UV and Selph get unleashed. Then there's no force on Nightmare or Nightopia that'll be able to bail us out of it. On the upside, we won't have to face down the new world order." Frosty smirks at this.

***

Reala looks upon the familiar terrain, and smirks. "Not far now. In fifteen minutes, NiGHTS and Selph will no longer pose a threat to Master Wizeman, and he will rule both Realms."

[iNSOMNiAC]

Somni giggles softly behind his mentor's back. "Master Reala, do you think...Do you think Wizeman will promote me because of this~?" He seems a little giddy, swishing his body back and forth slightly in the air.

[Xero]

Heading out from the direction of Wizeman's castle, it wasn't long before Ghost stumbled across Reala & Somni. Seeing that they had successfully captured NiGHTS and the staff, he figured there was little for him to do in the way of helping Reala. He was both slightly annoyed and thankful at the same time. He didn't feel like working with Reala anymore, and he was wondering if Reala would stab iNSOMNiAC in the back the same way that Reala did to him. He calmly relayed both his question and his mission to Reala, waiting to see if there's anything that he could do.
"Wizeman sent me to assist you in capturing NiGTHS... but it looks like you've taken care of that. What happened to Claws, Puffy, & Jackle?" Ghost floats in front of Reala, waiting for an answer as he tries to maintain his cool in front of him.

[InTheNightlight]

"I've sent them towards the collumn of dust that appeared a few minutes ago. I have no idea what happened to them. I'm only completeing the orders that I've had ever since those two brats freed NiGHTS from the Ideya Palace. I'm also giving the Staff to Master Wizeman, with the help of iNSOMNiAC here." He pointed to Somni.

------------------------------------------------------------

Back at the Transition, they had started to run towards Wizeman's Castle. "The footage indicates that Wizeman's Palace should be on the other side of these tracks. Then it's just a straightaway bobsled down to the bottom. After which, we shall enter the borders of Nightmare. It's gonna be tough." DaYZ said. He smirked. "Last one down is a Rotten Nightopian Egg!" He called back to the others. He hopped into the air and transformed into a bobsled.

"Oh, YOU'RE ON!" DaRKNES changed into a bobsled and sped down the slopes.

Jackle grinned. "That looks like fun!" He put on a fancy Persona Mask and also morphed into a sled. "WA-HOOOoooooooooooooooo!" The others heard Jackle screech with joy until they heard a THUNK! and an 'OW!' right after it.

[iNSOMNiAC]

Somni grins devilishly at Ghost in a sort of 'in your face' way, but says nothing. The grey 'Maren is awfully full of himself right now. He happily hovers behind Reala, still clutching the chains around NiGHTS.

[Xero]

Ghost's hands clench tightly into fists, as he shoots Somni a look that reads "Just give me a reason."
He nods at Reala's response and begins to head in the direction of the dust pillar.
"I'll make sure that everything's going alright then... leaving Jackle alone probably wasn't the best plan. I'll also see if I can stall the ones who freed NiGHTS... if they're still there, that is." says Ghost as he heads off, content with almost having told Reala off. It didn't take him too long to reach the dust pillar, but he decided to remain out of sight until he found a reason to be seen.

[Deraj]

Frosty smirks, running along the thin line without transforming, almost as if to show off. The track itself was only two inches wide. Any misstep would end him, but it wasn't as if he'd never done it before.
"Remember, we're going after the Golem first! We don't need any uninvited guests! Those of you who want to try and secure the palace for us, go on ahead, but don't do anything except provide a distraction!! Am I clear?!"
Dusty nods. "If all you need is a distraction, I'll take any volunteers, and we'll provide one h*ll of a distraction for you! How you you guys like to be turned into an army of Golems, complete with weaponry? You won't be full strength Golems, but you will be pretty formidable!"
"Oh, sure, you guys have fun, while we get the cr*ppy job!" Frosty says, grinning. "Luna, you go with Dusty! You'll just slow us down otherwise! Jackle, you go with Dusty as well. It'll be best if they don't know about your betrayal just yet."
Luna and Jackle nod, beginning to trail after Dusty.
"The rest of you, decide now, because the Golem is coming up on our right in a few seconds!" Dusty shouts.

Frosty quickly jumps off of the track, creating hundreds of ice shards as he falls. Frosty lands on the Golem's back, and the shards either embed themselves in the wooden parts of the golem, or glance off of the stone and metal bits, heading toward Puffy and Clawz.
"Frostbite!" Clawz hisses.
"Always with the dramatic entrance, hm?" Puffy says.
"Reala ditch you?" Frosty asks, smirking as he slides out of the way of one of the Golem's six hands.
Clawz suddenly giggles insanely, dodging one of the Golem's arms, before climbing onto it and making a run for Frosty. "We can bring his corpse in for Master Wizeman, and get credit, even if Reala steals it from us for the Staff!"
"For once, darling, you're making some sense!" Puffy says, floating up into the air and beginning to make a dive for Frosty.

[InTheNightlight]

DaYZ and DaRKNES reappeared, sliding towards the fight at high speed.

"Uh-oh, LOOK OUT! WE CAN'T STOP!" DaYZ yelled to the others. He hit a bump in the path and flew towards Puffy. They collided, knocking her away from Frosty like a pinball. "WHAT'S WITH ALL THE DANG CARTOON REFERENCES!?" He screamed, spinning through the air and morphing back into a maren. DaRKNES was able to avoid the bump and slid straight into Clawz. He noticed a cliff coming up and stopped, the forward momentum throwing Clawz over, a whistling noise and a poof was what they heard as Clawz fell. "Why do we keep on doing things all like Loony Toons?" He glanced over the tall ledge.

[Xero]

Witnessing them battling with the Golem, he saw that Puffy and Clawz were getting their butts kicked... and it appeared that Jackle had defected to the side of Frostbite, though he wasn't battling with them yet. Luckily, he'd been able to go around the two transformed maren and the medical maren, and had begun running towards the group that was battling the Golem; hoping to tip the odds in Puffy & Clawz' favor... not to mention actually gain some bloody credibility for once. He hopped onto the ice line, as he began going down it as if he were grinding on rollerblades. As he reached the end, he jumped and flipped off, using his "phase" power as he did so and going straight through the Golem, landing behind it. By now, others had probably seen him, so he began running towards the edge of the cliff that Clawz had been knocked off of to see if the Maren was even still alive. Then he realized he was standing on the edge of a cliff with his back turned to people who were probably going to try to kill him; so he headed back towards the Golem. Seeing Puffy attempt to recover from being nailed by DaYZ, he ran towards DaYZ and jumped in the air, attempting to kick him.
"Well hello there. Did you count on Wizeman's reinforcements?" he said in a childlike but sarcastic manner while he was in mid-air.

[InTheNightlight]

DaYZ grunted as Ghost punted him right in the gut. "Bloody h*ll, he's strong!" He thought. He jumped back up from his landing point and missed Ghost by an inch. "DRAT!" He yelled.

DaRKNES was busy beating the snot out of an army of Kircles as they snapped their claws at him. An army of Kircles would probably equal at least 100. "Come an' get me, you good-for-nothing rejects!" Suddenly Jackle appeared, rolling down the hill. He had obviously lost his persona and rolled down from 3/4 way up the hill, as all they could see of him was his horns. "Um...help?" They heard his muffled voice.

[Deraj]

Frosty creates a few pellets of Absolute Zero energy, and wraps them into ordinary shards, embedding them into the Golem's wooden parts. He then embeds a replicate into the Golem's stone back, and jumps off. It would only take a few minutes for the shards to overload, supplied with the replicate's energy, but Frosty doubted that the explosion would take out the Golem. Still in midair, Frosty throws a few shards at Ghost.
Ghost smirks, holding out his hand, almost as if to block the shards. However, instead of blocking them, the shards simply... Dissapear.
"What the-?!" Frosty mutters in surprise, landing.
Ghost's hand glows an eerie ice blue, and he charges at Frosty.
Frosty, still shocked by the fact that his shards had simply disappeared, had almost no time to react. He took the punch, his stomach area becoming iced over by the strange blue energy. Frosty slides a few feet backward from the impact, before he realizes what had happened.
"What are you?!"

[Xero]

Ghost smirks, replying as he throws a high kick at the side of Frosty's head.
"Would it seem cliche if I said "your worst nightmare?"" asked Ghost, as Frosty seems to snap out of his shock just in time to duck the kick. He jumped back and began charging the ice energy again as Puffy joined him at his side.
"About time we got some backup, Ghost..."
As the words left her mouth, one of the shard embedded arms of the Golem caught Ghost and the shard actually cause the Golem to lift him up by the shirt, about 10 feet in the air. "And it looks like we still need some backup..." she mutters, as Ghost phases and drops back to the ground.
The next thing he knows, Frosty is charging at him, several ice shards in hand as he yells at the white maren.
"Enough of this... I don't know what the heck you are, but you're going down!"
Ghost just rolls back and catches Frosty's arms, planting his foot on the cat-like maren's gut and tossing him backwards, judo style. He gets up and shakes his head. He takes a fighting stance as he awaits to see who else will attack him.

[Deraj]

Frosty flies up and backwards from Ghost's throw, landing on one hand, before pushing off again, jumping further backward, before landing on a boulder. Frosty smirks, leaning his head first to one side, and then the other. Many cracking sounds could be heard.
"I'll admit: You're the first real challenge I've had in a while!" Frosty says, creating two ice shards. The "獣" Symbol was roughly scratched into one, while "竜" was scratched into the other. "But... Ghost, is it? You'll be seeing a tunnel, and a big, bright light in a few seconds. If you have any sense, you'll go toward it."
Frosty looks at the two shards. "I've never really ever had to use these before, but, what the h*ll? The World is ending soon, might as well take them out for a spin!"
Frosty takes out his other Replicate, and merges it with the "竜" shard. "You really should feel honored. Even though I'm not using these at either full strength or full size, one, since you're only an Ideya-Maren, and two, I don't feel like tiring myself, or my replicate out, I rarely take this technique out for a spin. I may as well, turn you and Puffy, and especially that Golem there into target practice. But, first things first."
"What are those shards?!"
"Pre-Charged Shards, locked into one technique. You could say it works like a sort of summon, but in reality, it's just a normal technique that eats up a lot of energy, just to start it up. So, charge that energy into a single shard, recover that energy on your own time, and use it in battle later. ... Maybe it's better that I just show you, hm?"
Frosty tosses the "竜" into the air. Suddenly, like a noodle ball, the shard begins to unfurl and grow into a 25-foot chinese dragon-like creature, made completely of ice. In its center, you could see an almost transparent verson of Frosty.
"I'm aware it's a bit short, but its full size is much more impressive, trust me. Although, it's full size requires both of the replicates and myself to operate properly..." Frosty shakes his head. "Nevermind. Go after the rat!"
The dragon complies instantly, diving for Ghost, its jaws wide open.

[Bannipper]

The dragon made of ice froze still. It then turned on its master, as if being controlled by another being from a far distace. "All hail Sciimer..." chanted the ice dragon in a trance. Jackle, whom had picked up (and put back on) his persona mask, was face to face with the dragon. "ALL HAIL SCIIMER!!" roared the dragon. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" screamed Jackle, doing the cartoony eye thing and jaw drop as he did so. And soon the golem was chanting the same exact thing: "All hail Sciimer" "SINCE WHEN COULD A GOLEM AND A DRAGON MADE OF ICE SPEAK?!?!?!?!?!?!" cried Jackle, running like a maniac away from the ice dragon. "WE ARE PLACING YOU UNDER ARREST," chanted the ice dragon and golem, "ALL WHO INTERFERE WITH MASTER SCIIMER'S AGENDA WILL BE FOREVER THWARTED. SURRENDER PEACEFULLY, AND YOU WILL ALL BE SPARED. IF NOT, THEN WE MUST TERMINATE YOU. ALL HAIL THE GREATEST NIGHTMAREN FORCE EVER MADE: SCIIMER: THE LORD OF NIGHTMARE." Then, eyes appeared in the shadows...eyes that were yellow and cold...eyes with a hint of blood-lust in them...and eyes that made Jackle scream like a little girl, and hide behind Puffy...and eyes...that scared everyone in the room...even Frostbite... "Hahahahaha..." chuckled a terrifying voice, "Friiz...Swizz...Book them, as the police say..." "YES SIR," chanted the golem and Ice Dragon, descending upon the group like owls, and Friiz (the newly named ice dragon) spitting out Frostbite, so that it may join the others.

[Dreamer#96]

{Delete}

[Bannipper]

Meanwhile, A lone white, green and blue maren named Bannipper was staring at the night sky. He was alone once more, as he always was now that his beloved Isabelle was gone. "Isabelle..." said Bannipper, "I will avenge you...I promise..." He then heard a noise. He hid, thinking it was Sciimer or Wizeman trying to find him. This was actually Donbalon and Chamelan talking to each other about something. Bannipper eavesdropped on them. "You think I'll ever find a good woman?" asked Donbalon. "Me, I can't wait to find somebody who can beat me at poker and rummy," said Chamelan, "Oh, by the way, I heard this juicy rumor recently. They're saying that the ghost of that Selph guy is haunting Nightmare and Nightopia. He's causing havoc on a large scale. HAVOC, I TELL YOU!!" This angered Bannipper. He loved his brother, with all of his being. Them talking badly about him was making him mad. He didn't like that. Not one bit. He finally came out of hiding. "Oh, hello there," said Donbalon politely. "What's a Level-2 Maren doing here?" asked Chamelan. "I was going to ask you the same thing," answered Bannipper. He put his right thumb and trigger finger between his eyes, and closed them tightly. "I know where to go now," said Bannipper, flying towards his destination. Donbalon looked at Chamelan, whom was looking Donbalon. They then looked at Bannipper, who was probably too far away to see clearly. "You think we should follow him?" asked Donbalon. "Yup," said Chamelan, "I think he's hiding something." "I'll come," said Donbalon, "but if I don't end up meeting a chick whose as obese as I am, then the trip won't be worth it." "It's not like he's a rogue maren or anything," said Chamelan. Little did they know, Bannipper was a rogue. And he was going to get to the bottom of things, one way or another.

[Xero]

Ghost's eyes widened as the dragon began advancing on them again. He looked over at Frosty, and could not believe what he was saying.
"How about a short truce here? I don't feel like getting captured by this psycho today and I'm sure you feel the same."
The Dragon lunged at both Frosty & Ghost, as Ghost literally threw Frosty out of the way, before allowing the dragon to bite him... or at least it looked that way. As the dragon brought it's head back up, Ghost was still standing there. His body was slightly transparent, meaning he had phased and the Dragon had bitten air.
"Is that all you got?" Ghost mocked, grinning and jumping back away from the dragon.

[Bannipper]

The Selph ghost appeared, just as the yellow eyes that scared everybody vanished. It morphed into what looked like a demonic Level-1 Maren. It was still like a ghost, so nothing could kill it.

The Nightmaren had a yellow and black jester hat, which pointed to the sides, and then in front, like an evil dragon. His hat was striped, and above it was a floating ball of red flames with a yellow sphere generating the fire. He had yellow eyes, with slits as thin as toothpicks, and small bugs crawled on them, like decaying flesh. Speaking of which, despite his General Grievous-ish persona mask covering his face (the mask was lead grey, by the way), his decaying face was still visible, especially since his neck wasn't covered at all. He had Freddy Krueger claws that were Chinese white in color (with gray metal blades, of course), and the cuffs on his arms were brown and gray. Three blood red garnets were on an iron necklace-like neck plate which was molded into him, and, like his arms, the upper part of his torso was red and yellow, with the middle stripe being a dark gray. The rest of his body was black, with only a few yellow and red markings on him. He had a red Jack o' Lantern mouth and eyes, the mouth of which seemed indented into his stomach, like a second mouth. Or, was THAT his MOUTH?!?! Only time will tell...

"It has been so long since 'the time'," said the demonic Maren, "Ah, yes. Have no fear...Sciimer is here...Soon, it will all be over very shortly..."

[Bannipper]

Donbalon and Chamelan were following Bannipper until they got lost, which by coincidence, was right where Sciimer and everybody else was. "I told you we should've taken that road to the right!" said Chamelan, furious that he was lost. "Well, it was your idea to follow that blue and white thing!" argued Donbalon, "And besides, I never saw one girl like me while following that guy, so this WHOLE trip was a big fat waste of...time..." Donbalon had just spotted Puffy. His possibly black heart was aflutter. "Woof," said Chamelan, "Why are you so obsessed with the fat ones? Okay, Donbalon, I think we may need to--Wait, where did he??" "BONZAI!!!!!" Donbalon cheered, attempting to crash down on the ice dragon Friiz. "Good lord..." said Chamelan, "Wait a minute...Who's that wierdo ugly thing with the cape? I'M THE MANLY ONE WITH THE CAPE, NOT THAT WALKING SOCK!! THE BEST CARD GAME HE CAN PROBABLY DO IS 52-PICK UP!!!" He charged at Jackle, accidentally disorienting the golem Swizz while doing so.

[Deraj]

Frosty smirks, raising his hands. The dragon stops in place, almost as if fighting for control of itself. Suddenly, it shatters, the replicate inside deactivating. "I don't care who you say you are! No Grim Reaper Wannabe is going to scare me!" Frosty throws the "獣" shard into the air, and it transforms into a large, wolf-like beast, which Frosty quickly jumps into, taking control. "It's small, it's fast, and at this size, it's nearly impossible for anyone else to try and take control of it away from me!" 'At least in theory, anyway...' Frosty thinks, landing on all fours.
Suddenly, Frosty sprints toward Sciimer, leaping into the air, before beginning to rotate at an extremely high speed, almost turning himself into a sort of drill as he dives down at Sciimer. "I'll rip you to shreds!"

[Bannipper]

"You would only be hitting nothing, you little brat," growled the pure evil Sciimer, Frosty going through him as if he was never there, "What you all are seeing is my after image, something that I made that can shapeshift into Selph to make him look like the villain. The real me is with Wizeman...CONTROLLING AND MANIPULATING HIM LIKE A PUPPET!!!!" Everyone froze. And Donbalon comically fell on Jackle. "mmmmm," "mmmmmed" Jackle, whom was trapped under Donbalon's girth. Chamelan was laughing at Jackle, for he was oblivious to what had been said just then. But then he realized what was going on and stopped.

[Xero]

Ghost looks at the projection, which had taken the form of the legendary maren, Selph.
"In that case, if you can hear me, kill Reala for me!" he yelled sarcastically, smirking a little bit.
Now, he wanted to determine whether or not this thing had any energy whatsoever. He'd have to get close... if this thing was real in any way, it would be giving off energy, and if it did... maybe he'd be able to get some energy of the legendary Selph! After all, even a shapeshifter would have to have a similar amount of power in order to take the form of Selph... he slowly began his approach towards the phantom.

[Bannipper]

That's when Bannipper appeared at high speeds. "GET AWAY FROM THAT GUY!! HE'LL KILL YOU!!" he warned Ghost. He soon tackled Ghost like a football player. "Just as I planned," said Sciimer, "Having my afterimage shapesift into your brother was just the thing I needed to get you out of hiding, you little old hermit. Finally, we may finish things, things that started hundreds of years ago. Time to bleed, boy!!" Chameloan froze. He knew who this being was now. "That's Sciimer!" said Chamelan, "He's a Doom Reaper! A Level-0! He's even tougher than Reala!!" "So, you know about my replacement?" asked Sciimer, "Personally, I find it rather hard for ANYONE to replace someone like me...someone who is superior to even Wizeman himself, that lazy old buzzard! I can sense that Reala is nearing Wizeman's location. I will have to save the time when I mount your head on my wall for another time. I've got a world to destroy!" His laughter was a fusion between Crosstitch and Heath Ledger's Joker (with a hint of Rez put into the mix). The sadistic Sciimer was PURE EVIL, of not crazy (to the furthest extent possible). This was going to get rather nasty...and really fast, too...

[Xero]

Ghost jumped to his feet, brushing dust off of his arms and shoulders. He glared at Bannipper.
"You better have a d*mn good reason as to why you just did that! It's not like I wasn't aware of what I was doing and you just cost me my only chance to..." he stopped, realizing that he was both ranting and revealing his idea.
Forget it. I'm gettin' back before Reala does. 'Cause As much as I'd love that Sciimer guy to rip Reala in half, I've gotta warn 'em." He looks back at Frostbite, phasing just in case he decided to pursue him in that ice wolf.
"Hope to fight you later Frostbite... looks like you could be a real challenge."

[InTheNightlight]

"Aw, COME ON! Am I EVER gonna be able to use my powers?" DaYZ complained as Ghost left sight. "Well we've wasted enough time here. I'll use my robot to check on NiGHTS...OH NO! The data sent back shows that NiGHTS and the Staff are only 15 minutes from the Castle! C'MON! We've gotta hurry!" DaYZ panicked.

[Deraj]

"It was fifteen minutes ten minutes ago!" Frosty says, growling. He glances between Ghost and the Golem. "We've got no more time to waste here! Regroup at Wizeman's castle, ASAP! Forget the Golem and go! The Absolute Zero Bomb I set up should keep him frozen in place for a while, anyway!" With that, Frosty takes off after Ghost, quickly catching up to him.

***

Reala smirks. "Are you ready, iNSOMNiAC?"

***

Dusty looks between the few people who had followed him. They had run into trouble getting here, in the form of a few Level-Threes, but Dusty had taken them out with little difficulty. "We made it just in time. Ready to make a mess?"
Fig and Luna nod.
Dusty takes out his flute, and begins playing.
Slowly, Fig and Luna begin to grow into Golems. As that spell finishes, Dusty takes the energy pill, and begins another one. His Summoning Spell. Except this time, he puts much more energy into it. As the spell appears on the ground, all nine summons appear. At first transparent, but then solidifying.
"Destroy Wizeman's Castle, and recover the Staff and NiGHTS! Nine, you keep Six under control! The Rest of you, fan out!"
With that, Luna punches through the wall they had been hiding behind, letting the Summons loose.
"Go, now!"

***

"What the devil?!" Reala says, watching as all h*ll breaks loose.