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[MSDEViN92]

Evergreen Forest. It was, as its name suggested, a large, lush forest amongst the many dreamscapes of Nightopia. The massive thicket thrived with life. All manner of birds, in every shape, size, and color, flocked in the canopies. Deer nibbled at the tall grass, rabbits darted in the undergrowth, and squirrels scrambled up and down the trunks of oaks and redwoods.
...And a young boy was unconscious at the foot of a tree.
He wore a loose green-and-white T-shirt with a paw print mark on one shoulder, worn brown jeans, and white-and-brown sneakers. A knapsack was slung across his back, and his glasses were slightly askew. Beneath strands of shoulder-length black hair, his face was tanned and freckled. As he opened his eyes, the same green as the trees around him, they widened in shock.
"...Wh-Where am I?"

---

Meanwhile...

---

It was yet another sunny day in Canvas Valley. The plains marched on for as far as the eye could see, waist-high gold grass blowing gently in the wind. Colorful sprigs of wildflowers dotted the hills, and in the middle of it all stood a curving, rocky wall. The wall had given Canvas Valley its name, as it formed a half-circle around several clumps of flowers, making it look like an artist's palette from above.
A young girl was laying on a rock in the middle of the valley. She was pale, and had a long, thick black braid, dressed head-to-toe in black and purple. A bag was strapped around her waist.
Slowly, she pushed herself up, trembling slightly...
"...Ugh...Wh-What happened...?"

[Deraj]

"Oi! Get back here, you old fart! I ain't gonna hurt ya! Much..."
"Hoo! How stupid do you think I am?!"
"Honest opinion, or sugarcoated?"
Frostbite, a blue, catlike Humaren, was weaving through Evergreen Forest, chasing down the Dream Guide, Owl.
"Come on! You're a Scholar, right? Think of it as Nature at work! Cat eats bird, Cat fills stomach, Cat goes to sleep, rinse and repeat!" Frosty says, still chasing Owl down. Now, Frosty could have ended this LONG ago, but the thing was, he wasn't actually hungry. He was just doing this because he could.
"Yes, well, I never was partial to the food chain!" Owl says, ducking into a hole in a tree.
Frosty smirks, landing on the trunk of the tree, and sticking his arm in. "I got you now... HA!" Frosty grabs a fistful of feathers, and yanks out... A sparrow. "D*mn. Close. Oh, well. Better than nothing I suppose."
Frosty jumps out of the tree, shrieking sparrow in-hand, and opens his mouth to bite off it's head, when he spots the Dreamer staring at him.
"Oi. What're ya staring at?" Frosty asks, in a cheesy Brooklyn accent.

[Nyclone]

Nyclone, while this was happening, happened to be in Canvas Valley, looking at the scenery from the Black Wings, until he spotted the girl. "What the? I should go down and see why she's just standing there." He said, as he dove for the ground beside the girl. When he was about to crash face first into the ground, he flapped his wings, and landed on the goround. "Hello, there. Why are you just sitting?" He asked, collapsing his wings into its stationary egg form.

[MSDEViN92]

Aspen recoiled quickly- although this simply resulted in him hitting his head against the trunk of the tree.
It- it looked slightly different than the others, but...it was one of THOSE things, he knew- the things that had been chasing him before...
"B-Back off!"

---

Lydia's reaction wasn't much different. She fell clean off of the rock with a small shriek at the sight of Nyclone, nearly crushing a few curious Nightopians who had been examining the current events.
She looked from the angel-like creatures to the stationary egg form, and swayed badly, as if she were going to faint.

[Nyclone]

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you like my fellow Nightmarens. I only landed from my flight to help." Nyclone explained, Trying to help her."And they might not want another life or death expirence." He said, as he lifted the Nightopians, with them laughing playfully as they were being lifted.

[Deraj]

Frosty smirks, pitching the shrieking sparrow over his shoulder, and it quickly flies away. "What? You actually think it's gonna be that easy? Uh-uh. I may have gone rouge, but that doesn't mean torturing dreamers like you hasn't stopped being fun."
"The Lad said, back off!" Owl says, getting between Frosty and Aspen.
"Oh, not you again!" Frosty sighs, putting his hand over his face. "I thought you where still over there, cowering the the bushes."
"Yes, well, cowering or cleverly avoiding detection is a matter of opinion." Owl says.
"Yeah, and while you try to salvage your pride, I'm gonna eat the kid." Frosty says, pushing Owl out of his way.

[MSDEViN92]

"Y-Y-" Lydia began shakily, but a sudden, sharp screech from overhead caused her to duck back down into the shadow of the rock, cowering.
The Nightopians wailed, as well. A massive, Nightmaren bird was diving right at them, its eyes hungrily fixed on the Dreamer.

---

Aspen's entire body went numb with shock. Torture him? EAT HIM?!
Thankfully, the impact of Owl's body with his side managed to jolt him back to Earth...or wherever he was.

"Hurry, boy! Run for it! He's not too far from here!"
And with that, the bird flew off.

Although a good part of him wanted to ask WHO wasn't too far from here, Aspen certainly wasn't gonna sit around and be devoured.
He took off after Owl, running for his life.

[Nyclone]

"Why is it that every time I try to make friends, Wizeman gets in the way?!" Nyclone asked himself. He shot a huge beam of lightning at the bird, nearly killing its rider and burning off most of its wings. I gave a loud shriek, and flew off. "GOOD BIRD!" Nyclone taunted at the bird as it limped through the sky. "Sorry about that. Wizeman's still got bounty hunters on me. It probably just went for you because you have Ideya."

[Deraj]

Frosty smirks, taking two of the shards of ice floating behind him into his hands, and places the tips into the ground. "This will be fun. Replicates, go to work."
Suddenly, the two shards of ice vanish into the ground, and Frosty smirks, casually walking into the forest, taking the fast way to Aspen's eventual destination.

[MSDEViN92]

Lydia quivered, unable to draw her eyes away from the retreating monster.
"Wh-Who's Wizeman? ...And what do I-I have?"

---

"Where are you taking me?!"

"To a friend of mine who can protect you, and hopefully give that ruffian a well-deserved beating! Hoo!"

"That's what I want to know. And why should I trust you, anyway?" What if this talking bird was only leading him into further trouble?

"Because it's either we find NiGHTS and be saved, or face that Nightmaren and be DINNER."

[Nyclone]

"No need to be nervous. Wizeman controls all of Nightmare, and he causes them. Ideya is the life essense of your soul, and if he gets it you'll become one of his minions: The Nightmaren." Nyclone said grimly. "Be careful when you speak of him, though, as all of nightmare would love a promotion and a brethren, so remember this proverb always: Judes is always watching." He said in an even more grim voice, but wispered it aswell.

[Deraj]

"Oh, I don't know..." Frosty says, sitting on a nearby boulder, picking at his fingernails. "I may just keep you as pets."
"HOO!! How did you-?!" Owl shrieks, completely caught off-guard.
"Run." Frosty says simply, giving them a hungry look. "Run as if your lives depended on it. ... Which they do, by the way." Frosty says, creating several shards of ice.

[MSDEViN92]

"..."
Lydia began to quiver from head to foot.
"...Th-...This i-isn't happening..."

---

Aspen would've run, but he was frozen in fear. He stared at the ice shards.
"W-Wake up..." he whispered to himself. "G-Got to wake up..."

[Deraj]

Frosty smirks. "You really think it'll be that easy, Dreamer? Don't think so." Frosty slowly approaches Aspen, magnifying the terror he was imposing on him. "You'll keep on running until I decide that I'm bored, and then I kill you, imprison you, or even eat you. This World that your mind created is beyond your control, Little Dreamer. Now run, before I dispose of you here and now."

[Nyclone]

"I'm afraid it is, young Dreamer. You can't get caught by Wizeman aslong as you're in here, or you'll be proclaimed dead in the Waking." Nyclone said, yes, grimly.

[MSDEViN92]

"..."
Lydia fainted.

---

"You know, I think it wise that we actually take his advice," Owl whimpered.

Aspen was already off and running.

[Nyclone]

"Crap." He said bluntly. He tapped her forehead with a small jolt of electricity, guessing that it would wake her up.

[Deraj]

Frosty smirks. As Owl and Aspen ran, they didn't notice a small rock that had been kicked up hitting Frosty in the face. Suddenly, a crack developed on Frosty's face, almost as if it where a mask splitting. It was one of Frosty's Replicates. The replicate quickly self-repairs the crack in the mask.
'Better head to the end-point.' The Replicate smirks, vanishing instantly. He knew there was another Replicate further up, ready to scare the living tar out of Aspen and Owl, so his job was done.

[MSDEViN92]

"Hoo! This way, my boy! NiGHTS is just ahead, don't you worry!"

Aspen could tell that Owl was trying to reassure himself as much as he was trying to reassure the dreamer. But he didn't care. He kept running.

---

Lydia awoke with a small yelp of pain.

One of the Nightopians frowned at Nyclone. "I don't think shocking her is gonna make her feel better, Mister..."

"G-Get away from me," she whispered, scrambling away. "Y-You're gonna chase me, just like the other ones did-"

[Deraj]

"Oh, NiGHTS is ahead? Really? Haven't seen him in a while." Frosty says, appearing out of the trees ahead, standing on an overhead branch. Owl yelps in surprise.
"Surprised to see me? Come on. After I pulled the 'Appear out of nowhere' trick once, you're still surprised?" Frosty asks, shaking his head in mock disappointment. "I'm dealing with an easy audience, here." Frosty sighs, before pulling some shards out of thin air. "Oh, well. Let's make the entertainer be the entertained, shall we?" Frosty throws the shards at Aspen's feet. "Dance, Dreamer Boy, dance!"

[Nyclone]

"Call me Nyclone, young Nightopian, and that shock was hit to where it would awaken her." He said to the Nightopian. "I'm not going to chase you," Nyclone then adressed Lydia, with a chuckle. "I'm going to help you, help you avoid Wizeman, help you keep your Ideya, and help you overcome your Nightmares." He gave his speech, hoping to knock some sense into her, and start an adventure.

[MSDEViN92]

"I-I want to come home," Lydia said, her voice quavering. "Please. I'm scared, and..."
She looked around at the valley.
"It's so beautiful...but it's all going to burn...all of it...and f-fall away..."

---

"What the- Aah!" Aspen staggered back, barely missing having his foot impaled. He was left no other choice than to scramble out of the way of the flying shards. "Hey! Ow! Quit it!"

[Nyclone]

"It's not going to burn, if you don't want it to. And, sadly, the ironic thing is, you are at home, So while you're in here, let's make the best of it." He said back, trying to ease her nerves.

[Deraj]

As Aspen scrambles away, Frosty smirks, letting him run away.
A sudden dead, almost puppet-like look flashes through Frosty's eyes. The Second Replicate. The replicate touches his ear, almost as if it where turning on a Bluetooth phone. 'The target is entering the ambush zone. Also be advised that NiGHTS is somewhere within the area.'
'Noted. Get in position.'

[Deraj]

The real Frosty smirks, calmly walking out of a clearing further up. He calmly stares down the barrel of the Magnun, smirking. Suddenly, both of Frosty's replicates jump out of the forest on either side of The Black Wind.
"You should know better than to interrupt a sadistic cat when he's messing with people's minds." The real Frosty says, crossing his arms. "Especially when I out-number you three to one." A sudden blur surrounds Frosty and his replicates for a flash of a second. If The Black Wind had noticed it, it would be pretty easy for him to guess what had happened. They had switched places.
The Frosty in front of him shoves his arm down the Magnun's barrel. It was clearly one of the two replicates. "Now, are you really crazy enough to shoot like this, what with some guy's arm plugging up your barrel? Some guy who, might I add, has two friends right behind you, ready to inflict some serious pain?"

[Deraj]

Frostbite spits blood at the back of The Black Wind's head as Ifrit disappears, and his replicates shatter, reassimilating in their inactive crystal form. "Oi! You! Macho! I don't know who the h*ll you think you are, but you don't just come in and start causing trouble on an 'End-of-the-World' scale!!" Frosty suddenly calms down, smirking as the replicates very slowly begin to heal his wounds. "That's Wizeman's job."

[MSDEViN92]

Aspen was as still as a statue, staring numbly at the events that had transpired.

---

Lydia went to say something-

- and then a sulfur-yellow claw laid itself on her shoulder.
"Or, you could ditch this reject, and come with me, instead..."

[Nyclone]

"For your sake, you might want to back away from the Dreamer, Jac...Re...what was your name again?" Nyclone asked.

[Deraj]

Frosty stares coldly at the Black Wind, trying to figure out what the h*ll was up with him.
'He says he has all five of his Ideya, so he's a Dreamer. Obviously Lucid and aware of the power he can unlock. If I decide to take him out, I'd best do it soon, while his gun is in that inactive state... No, actually, he interests me, even if he isn't aware of the concept of fair play. ... Of course, since when have Nightmaren ever played fair? Hmm... I'll keep an eye on him, and a gun behind my back, with this one.'

[Nyclone]

'I'm already there trying to comfort the Dreamer. There's a Nightmaren trying to hurt her.' Nyclone thought back.

[Nyclone]

'To tell truth, I'm not sure. I can't remember if this is Reala or Jackle. Might want to hurry, as it can still drain Ideya, regardless.' Nyclone thought back.

[Nyclone]

"Nice move, Kuori!" Nyclone yelled over the Nightmaren screams, but when the smoke cleared, Kuori had vanished, and in his place a siple note. Nyclone picked it up and began reading it. "Sorry I had to go so soon, but this is my goodbye." Nyclone read, begining to tear up. He placed it in his crystal, and glared at the Nightmaren trembling over being shot by Odin, but his eyes were litteraly plasma pearls. "My friend just dissapeared, and I'm holding you responsible." Nyclone said in a very seious manner.

[MSDEViN92]

"The name is Reala," Reala replied flatly, glaring at Nyclone. "And I think the Visitor is coming with me."

"Wh-What do you mean?" Lydia whispered.

"I mean...I'm taking you to a safe place, kid. Look at this goof." He gestured to Nyclone. "With all those stories about nightmares and such, trying to scare you. I'll take you to a fun place, where you can relax, live free...Would you like that?"

"...Yes..."

---

Aspen, unsure of what had just transpired, sank down to the ground again.