Hall of Doors
"Hah hah hah HAH! Nice job, Pitch!" André cackled gleefully. "I can't believe you swiped all their Chiptoons! If this were a game, I'd say you used a cheat code!"
"I must admit they presented a challenge. But any challenge becomes easy once you know the strategy." Pitch smiled proudly. "Now then, I shall be the one to present these to His Majesty." He turned in the direction of the library's portal.
"Wait a second, Shady!" André flew in his way. "Now ain't the best time. Darkrai's son came back for another round, and he brought some friends with him. If we bring the Chiptoons now, they might get swiped."
"Well, that presents a problem. But I can't just hold onto them, or else those brats will track me down."
"'Guess you shoulda dealt with Marshadow while you were at it! Ya messed up there, haha!"
"Shut it, Fly! I'll just send these to the Nightmare Generals. Those kids will never be able to recollect them all! MONKEYS!"
Sand Monkeys formed from his Blacksand, screeching and dancing madly. Pitch tossed a Chiptoon to each of them. "Bring these to the Nightmare Generals at once! I'll be keeping this one for myself." He held up the yellow Chiptoon collected from Celeste. "I can feel the chi from within it… This Chiptoon contains Jirachi's Wishes. This should help me terrorize her."
"What about me, Pitch? Don't I get a Chiptoon?"
"Of course not, you couldn't even grab them yourself. You should focus your efforts on crushing those girls and seizing Marshadow."
"Yeah, well who needs ya?! There's still one Chiptoon left, so while those brats are tryin' to get them back, I'll take that one for myself! Hehehehaha!" The Black Lum flew off with determination.
"His voice is a nightmare." Pitch scoffed. "…" He looked to the Sand Monkeys. "And what are you still doing here?!"
The monkeys shared confused glances and pointed at their Chiptoons. "Oh, right, we don't know where the generals are. We should give them a call." He pulled out a sandy cellphone.
Other dreams
Cigar Stacks was a dreamscape of cigar-like smokestacks fuming up the sky. The stacks were being strangled and broken by black brambles, causing the smoke to shroud the ground. Terry Stork was forced to hold his breath in the smog. "Now I see… This dream was built from your own frustration." Äs Nödt spoke through the smog. "You despise your mother's smoking habits to the point where it's all you can think about in your own slumber. How do you stay awake after a night of such anxiety?"
Terry silently growled in anger, trying to search for the general, but he couldn't see a thing. He sank into a Shadow Veil before the brambles could stab at him, but Nödt could sense his presence via Terry's fear and stabbed at the ground.
…
Chimney's dream was Train Reign, an endless field of countless trains that roll into infinity. Unfortunately, the trains had come to a dead stop, their wheels crumbled. Chimney herself was trapped within a single train, with nothing to eat but mounds of dead Gonbe. She refused to eat at all costs, not until she were free. But as she felt her dreamself starving, it felt all the more real.
…
Loser School was a dreamscape where Lee Andrew used to be the coolest kid in school. It was easy considering that all the other students couldn't do jack; they were always tripping, dressed sloppily, and breaking everything they touched, making Lee look cool in comparison. However, the school had seen an unusual surge in talent with the Nightmare infestation, so the losers began bullying the former star student into humility.
…
Football Land resembled a football field that was as big as a country. Denny Whitby and the dream inhabitants had the ability to run with super speed and throw their footballs for miles. Sadly, Denny suddenly felt a leg cramp, and his fellow players followed suit. "OW! I-I can't move… what the heck…"
"AAAAAHH!" There was a scream as Denny looked over to Leanne Grayson, running as a herd of nightmarish dragons pursued her. "Leanne! I…" He desperately tried to run to her rescue, but his broken legs prevented him from barely moving an inch. "I can't…I can't… save you…"
"This is quite a shame." A calm voice spoke. Denny looked to the empty audience stands, seeing a tall, thin, and ghostly figure. His spatial body made him similar to Darkrai I, with several long and curved tails at the base of his cloak, a red-eyed white face, and purple curled goat horns. "The dreams of this boy and his friends are all plagued by the same nightmare. Perhaps I should turn attention to the less tragic KND operatives."
"Who the heck are you?!"
"I am Nocturn, the Ghost of Dreams. (From Danny Phantom.) Unlike my Nightmare associates, I attain nourishment from the pleasant dreams of mortals. This helps to pave the way for Nightmares, but there's hardly anything nourishing with the Protoon in shambles. But it will have to do." Nocturn flew down and impaled his tendrils into Denny's football players. Denny watched in horror as the players shriveled up and were absorbed into him. "AAAAHH!" Nocturn was suddenly covered by pancakes drenched with hotsauce.
"Keep your gross tenta-thingies off my brother!" declared Lulu Whitby, Denny's chubby and darker-skinned sister.
"The brat from the Pancake Palace! How did you get here?"
"Those blue long-nosed things helped me! Denny, have this!" She swiftly tossed a triangular pancake piece with green syrup into Denny's mouth.
The cramp in his leg seemed to subside as he stretched back to full energy. "Thanks, sis! Let's knock this ghost back to sleep!" Denny donned a pair of boxing gloves, the knuckles loaded with springs as he blasted Nocturn away with the first punch.
"Sleepwalkers! Attack them!" A swarm of chubby green ghosts with stitched eyes appeared, the siblings working together to fight them.
Nocturn was a mortal man who died eons ago and became a ghost. His Zanpakutō allowed him to enter dreamscapes and harvest their power, an ability he uses for his own gain. However, his soul was destroyed several times until he became unrecognizable from his former self.
Nocturn's cellphone began to ring, so he answered it. "What is it, Pitch?"
…
Moody Lake was a vast, reflective lake of marble white towers. The Beldam was crawling up the side of a wide tower on her metal spider-legs when she received a call. "Hm? You're sending the Chiptoons to us? I don't see a problem with that. I'm at the Moody Lake right now."
"Good. I'm sending a monkey there now."
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have a boy to dollify." Beldam hung up and resumed her ascent up the tower. Her metal webbing crossed and connected all the towers, leaving little room to escape. The sky was filled with dark clouds, as if a storm were approaching.
Beldam reached the top of the tower, seeing Harvey Harper melancholically sitting on his bed. "Hello there, sweetie. You look awfully upset about something. Perhaps I can help you-"
A sudden BURST blew Beldam off the tower, the Nightmare crashing through some of her webbing before hitting the top of another tower. "…?!" The dreamscape's owner stood powerfully atop the higher tower, a bright and big red flame enveloping him. He glared down at the woman with pure malice and spite, and even from this distance, she could see those enraged eyes perfectly up his ushanka. "What…what is this… vile hatred?! AAAAAAAHHH…!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOM…
A bright red explosion towered higher than all the marble towers combined. The light of deep anger shone upon the dreamscape.
A deep crater of ash replaced the top of Beldam's tower, and all her webs crumbled away. A few burnt pieces of the doll-like spider and half of her lifeless head remained. "I'm not in the mood." Harvey said. "Sigh…I guess something's happening to the Dream World. No wonder I can't wake myself up."
"Eee! Eee! Eee!" A Blacksand monkey climbed atop the tower to find Beldam. "Eee…?"
Harvey glared at the chimp holding the Chiptoon. "…eee…" It was about to turn and leave—Harvey burned the sand with Anger Fire. He picked up the pink Chiptoon. "Hmm…this looks like the Protoon. Huh…"
Beldam was created by Darkrai II. She went rogue in her desire to steal children's eyes and convert their bodies into dolls. Beldam fled from her creator and sought refuge in a sub-dimension of a small house, preying on any folk who moved there. She was eventually exposed by a girl named Coraline as Darkrai located and arrested her. Recently, she was freed by Pitch Black as they entered the Dream Realm in preparation for Darkrai I's return. In the end, she encountered a nightmare of her own…
…
Sunni Chariton's dreamscape was Wonderland, inherited from her ancestor, Alice. As giant spears rained and impaled her dream, the Filipino psychicbender conjured a giant Psy-Sphere and fired it at her foe. Wizeman (from NiGHTS) was a giant being composed of a blue cloak, a spiked metal crown, and six floating hands with eyes on each. He had green jewels on his collar. Wizeman grabbed the Psy-Sphere in his six hands, compressed it, and popped it like a balloon.
"I can sense you have strong Imagination… but you haven't the will to use it." Wizeman spoke, seeing the hundreds of giant dead bodies that formed beneath the spears. They all resembled either Mikaela or Darcy Chariton. "Imagination is ruined by fear and despair."
"I can still imagine your demise!" Sunni declared, imagining the ground erupting with lava from beneath him. Wizeman cast dark power from his hand eyes and turned the lava into water, willing it to spray in Sunni's direction at a freezing temperature.
"So, all you can imagine is hatred? Even so, I relish in such nightmares! I will have your mind before long!" As he clasped the white Chiptoon in one of his hands, Wizeman changed Wonderland into a gigantic rap studio. Sunni's ears were pounded with awful lyrics packed with swear words, with Wizeman's hands working six discs at once. She tried to imagine Wonderland back to normal, but was struck by discs in the form of shurikens.
Created by Darkrai I over 300 years ago, Wizeman is one of his strongest generals, having served him by creating his own brand of Nightmares. Like Nocturn, he can absorb the positive aspects of a dreamscape, as well as manipulate dreamscapes to his whim.
…
Inkworks resembled a giant factory with dim ceiling lights, created simply based on Jerome Winkiebottom's paperwork duties. It was under attack by a round, balloon-like jester called Donbalon, one of Wizeman's creations. Using his extendable arms, Donbalon struck all the items in Jerome's factory and swelled them up like balloons, which were all sent at Jerome. While it was a fear he was rather embarrassed by, Jerome was afraid of balloons ever since a bad incident at a fair, during his childhood. As hundreds of balloons begun exploding around him, the traumatic memories came bursting back into his mind.
…
Dimension Land was a lone asteroid that possessed a portal machine connecting to countless worlds, each representing the many races of the universe. The portal had suffered a terrible malfunction as Nebula was desperately trying to get it back under control. To make it worse, the opposite ends of the portal were firing deadly lasers that were burning through and destroying all the worlds. But behind her, a large broccoli monster was trying to strangle her mother, so Nebula turned attention to shoot Space Lightning at the Nightmare. While she managed to hold him off, a cluster of large centipedes began crawling around the portal controls and biting it to pieces. Nebula returned attention to them and tried to shoot them off—"AAAH!" She was shot in the arm by a Blacksand Arrow.
"What a burden you've placed upon yourself." Pitch Black crawled out from under Nebula's bed. "Having to earn and maintain the loyalty of so many followers, knowing that some despise you and others hold high expectations. Even the weight of past regrets torments your dreams."
"Oh, I get it. You're some kind of nightmare villain and you're the one doing this."
"You're quite mistaken. The one who caused this nightmare is none other than Marshadow!" Pitch cast a wave of sand, Nebula warping above in evasion before shooting Starbursts down, which Pitch blocked with a Sand Shield.
"You mean the Nightmare Firstborn?" Nebula suspected he would awake soon, remembering Index's info from a few days ago. "But why… did he do this?"
"Shouldn't you be more worried about yourself?" Pitch shot a barrage of arrows up, one of them scratching Nebula's shoulder. "After all, if I destroy you here, you won't wake up in the real world!"
"Like I don't fight for my life every other week! No matter how big of a burden it is, I will keep leading my operatives!" Nebula rained a Star Storm onto Pitch, the Nightmare swiftly evading the stars. "AAAH!" The broccoli monster stretched its arms up to grab Nebula.
"There was a time when I felt such commitment. But that piece of me died a long time ago." Pitch's sand spread around him like a vortex as Fearlings rose up like mist. "Which is why I'm here to haunt you now…"
Zathura; 1.5 million years ago
"I'll be back soon."
"Promise?"
"On my soul."
Located in the center of a black hole, Zathura was a planet that was well sought for its resources. In one corner of the planet, the Cragmites were invading for their spacebending technology, but in another, the Nightmares ravaged the land for its Star Bits.
Kozmotis Pitchiner was among Zathura's greatest heroes, piercing many a Nightmare with sand-made arrows. Sandbenders were a rarity on this planet, but Kozmotis was nonetheless a natural at the art. He had no desire to fall to these monsters, for the promise he made to his daughter was still clear in his mind. He promised that he would return, and he would keep his promise, as he did after returning from every other battle.
"There! That should be the last of them!" Kozmotis declared once the last monster had fallen.
"General Kozmotis! We have to return to the palace immediately!" a shorter soldier yelled as he ran up to the white-skinned general.
"My thoughts exactly! Won't Emily be thrilled to hear of my success!"
"No, sir! The palace is under attack!"
"Attack?!"
"I think this was a diversion, sir!"
The Palace of Lunanoff was situated on a mountain with towers shaped like crescent moons. Kozmotis's eyes flooded with despair as the Nightmares lay siege upon it. "EMILY!" With thoughts of his daughter's safety at heart, Kozmotis raced to the castle, but hundreds of Nightmares fought to oppose him. His strength waning from the endless forces, Kozmotis looked in the distance as a gigantic moon ship seemed to rise from the ground. He recognized it as the Moon Clipper, the royal family's personal vessel. It was expected that they would evacuate in the event of such an emergency, but only one thought lingered on his mind: "Is Emily on that-"
He couldn't finish his thought before a green, laughing troll Nightmare shot him in the back with a laser.
…
…
"Mwahahahaha! So, this was the Lunanoff Family's greatest general." The Nightmare King's long-nailed fingers slowly closed in on Kozmotis's half-awake body. "I had hoped to turn their child into a beautiful Nightmare, but I can only do with you, it seems."
"M-my daughter… what's happened to my daughter?!"
"I couldn't say, my little friend. Perhaps the Lunanoffs took her with them, or they left her behind to die."
"RELEASE ME, you monster!" Kozmotis squirmed in the king's hold. "I have to find them! I have to save…"
"I will bring you to them, my friend. I will let you see your daughter again. But in return…" The king squeezed Kozmotis like a sponge, the whiteness spurting off his skin like juice, "you belong… to me…"
…
His white skin had been reduced to a dull gray, using his newfound fear-induced sandbending to slay the Zathurian nobles. As the Nightmares reaped the land of its Star Bits, Pitch managed to take one of the Lunarian nobles hostage. Knowing the Lunanoffs possessed Lunarian blood, he suspected they had fled to their ancestral home.
Using the hostage, Pitch navigated the Lunar Field and arrived at Lunaria. He found where the Lunanoffs had docked and attacked their refuge. Nightmares were naturally weak to Moon Chi and thus couldn't enter, but Pitch's Zathurian heritage helped him to survive and his sandbending was still strong. Tsar Lunar XI and Tsarina Lunar, Lunarians in royal attire, were unable to fend off their invader as his Blacksand loomed above them.
"When you fled the palace that day… did you take my daughter? Did you take Emily?"
"We're sorry, Kozmotis." Lunar XI replied. "They came for our son. We couldn't stay to search for your daughter… we had to escape with all that we could."
"Then what became of her?!"
"Perhaps she is still on Zathura. We will help you find her, Kozmotis! Just please… don't let those monsters take our son."
"Sorry… but my loyalty died with my soul." And so, the corrupted general struck them down with his Blacksand.
Pitch scoured Lunaria until he could find the Lunanoff Prince, but was intercepted by the prince's loyal guard, Nightlight. Ultimately, Pitch and Nightlight destroyed each other, and by the time Darkrai I rebuilt Pitch's soul ages later, it was too late. The Lunanoff Prince would start a new life on the planet, forsaking his past and becoming untraceable; and Zathura itself would seem to disappear from the face of the universe. Even if he wanted to search for his daughter, he couldn't. And besides… would she even want to see him now? Would she sleep well knowing what a monster he's become? He could never return to his former identity… He now existed as Pitch Black, a servant of Darkrai the First.
Present time
"AAH!" In the midst of his reminiscing, Pitch was punched by a fist of sunny gold sand.
"Pretty weird for a Nightmare to be daydreaming in the middle of battle." A snarky girl's voice spoke, her bare feet marching down a stairway of gold sand.
Pitch glared at the intruder. She had freckles, black hair under a purple bucket crown, and purple pajamas. "Is that Dreamsand? Are you another Bubble Dreamer?"
"The name's Shelly, dweebo!" the Beach Queen declared with a wave of sand. "Little Jessie couldn't beat you himself, so he got me to help!"
"He was following me?!"
"Don't worry, I told him to let me handle it. Time to knock the sand off your shorts!" Shelly threw a large Sand Fist that Pitch sliced in half, shooting arrows at the girl. Shelly dodged left and conjured three Sandballs to swirl around her, kicking them like soccerballs. They whooshed around Pitch before hitting his head, back, then legs as he fell over, allowing Shelly to kick a wave of sand that forced him away. Pitch summoned Blacksand Horses to charge at Shelly, which she countered with sand-made Shell Knights. Pitch rose up on a sand pillar to shoot Shelly from over the carnage, but she swiftly skied around and threw Sandballs at the general.
"I feel like I'm watching two beach bullies." Nebula remarked, dodging the broccoli monster's arms and shooting Starbursts at its face. "I guess I'll leave it to her for now. As for you, I take it you're supposed to be that green dude who killed Mom." Granted, Nebula didn't remember that man's name, only that Cheren called him "Broccoli Dude" as a passive joke.
"Pitiful little protector couldn't save her dear mum." the monster sneered, drawing a katana from a stalk of celery. "Imagine what else I could've done if she hadn't-"
"I would've beaten you easily if we weren't in such a tight area!" Nebula cut him off and trapped him in five layers of Space Blocks, exploding them. The monster endured with charred pieces of himself, Nebula shooting Starbursts in defense against his cuts.
"Why didn't you warp us out of there? Or summon any of the other operatives to help you? There were plenty at your disposal in that very room, but instead, you chose to wait!"
"Whatever!" Nebula struck him with a jolt of lightning. "At least somewhere out there, my mom's knocking you creeps back into whatever hell you crawled out of!"
Chamber of the Protoon
Darkrai II clashed Exor against his father's claws, chipping off the god's left middle nail. His minions Bowyer, Mack, and Yaridovich attacked Darkrai I from all angles: Bowyer's arrows turned his head to stone, allowing Mack to stab down and smash it with pogo-stick force, but the king smacked the pogo-sword away after the fact. Yaridovich pierced spears into the king's right wrist, but was blown off by Darkrai I's Scare Scream.
A huge sphere of light shimmered above the king: it was Rayman's golden fist, grown to an incredible charge before smashing down on the king's horned crown. The Holy Nightmare hacked saliva from the attack, but Darkrai I suddenly flew above Rayman and conjured a tornado, swallowing him up and sending him away. It was then that NiGHTS, a thin jester with big blue eyes, a purple and white uniform, and a red gem on their collar, soared up the center of the tornado and drilled the underside of the king's head. An extra mouth appeared underneath and chomped NiGHTS inside, and Darkrai used his other mouth to spit NiGHTS miles away.
"Instead of fighting me, shouldn't you worry about your precious Kids Next Door?"
"No matter how dangerous your Nightmare Generals, they are nothing compared to what the KND have faced!" the younger Darkrai vowed.
"Yes, some of them are stubbornly unafraid of my generals… but they'll have something to fear before long."
Other dreams
"Ah, pardon me." Nocturn said with a smirk. "Did I forget to show you children something?"
"Show us what? Your ugly goatee?" Lulu retorted.
"Sleepwalkers? If you would." With a snap of his fingers, two Sleepwalkers landed before the Whitby siblings.
They unzipped their bodies like sleeping bags as two bodies fell out of them. "?!" They were unmistakable as Lenny and Ogie, their parents, with snapped necks. "M-M-M-Mom? Dad?!" Lulu stuttered.
"It's a dream, Lulu! I-It's just a dream!"
"You're quite mistaken." Nocturn spoke. "I invaded their dreams first and dealt away with them. I'm usually not a fan of such unpleasant dreams, but whatever weakens your spirits."
"AAAAAAAAHH!!" The siblings charged at Nocturn with greater ferocity.
"Or perhaps I was mistaken!!"
…
The dreams of Sarah-Jane and Gary-Lou Jones were invaded by a Dream Chimera, a dark-red bipedal creature with the heads of a lion, goat, and cobra. When the Nightmare arrived in Sarah-Jane's dream, she was horrified to see the head of her brother spat out from the cobra's mouth.
…
The Swan's Paradise was the extravagant dream of Bon Clay Jr. where swans could dance all day. Hordes of Hoodlums invaded the dream and shot all the swans. Bon Clay was in the midst of a battle with Hoodlum officer, Master Kaag, who controlled a pair of giant stompers. In spite of Clay's swift movement, he was shot in the legs by hidden snipers, allowing Kaag to stomp and pulverize the swan.
Madotsuki's House
Images of Wonderland, Moody Lake, Football Land, and Dimension Land flickered through Madotsuki's window as Marshadow rested in her arms. "So, the Chiptoons wound up in four different locations?" April asked. "And not only that… I recognize some of them as other operatives' dreams. We went to see them, remember? Like Harvey's dream."
"Oh, yeah." Mado replied. She remembered being visited by Harvey after she was adopted by her new family.
"Hi, Madotsuki. Do you… remember me?"
"Um…I don't, sorry. Are you one of the KND?"
"Yeah. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, I guess. I mean… my head's still pretty fuzzy, but…"
"That's good." Harvey lowered his head, eyes shaded under his ushanka. "I…I really am glad you're okay."
"You look upset about something."
"It's nothing. I just remember… what happened three years ago. I've never been more stressed in my life, and after I thought I failed, I…"
"About that… what exactly happened to me?"
"You don't want to know."
"But you've all been doing so much for me. You're all trying to be my friends, but I have no idea why! I'm so confused!"
"It's better that you don't remember, okay? And if you're confused, then we'll quit bothering you."
"But I feel like… I need to do something to repay you."
"Sigh…if we ever need you for anything, we'll call you. Just promise me something."
"What?"
"Don't join the KND and enjoy your life. I don't want you to suffer like we do."
And eventually, Harvey did ask her for help, during the Pirate Wars. But before that, Madotsuki helped them during Halloween, when the faint images of her past began flickering in her mind. "I wonder…" April thought aloud. "Maybe some Dream Spirits were able to take the Chiptoons from Pitch and bring them to those operatives' dreams for safekeeping?"
"That sounds too easy." Marshadow said. "What if they were given to other Nightmares, and they just happened to be in those dreams?"
April smiled and giggled. "In that case, those Nightmares were in the wrong dreams at the wrong time. They don't stand a chance against the KND!"
"You think so?"
"Pretty sure." April shrugged.
"That's not very assuring!"
"Either way, let's try not to overwhelm ourselves. Let's just look for the last Chiptoon before the Nightmares get it."
"I've been trying to, but my head gets kinda staticky. I can only get a clear read on the other four."
"I need to step out for a minute." Madotsuki set Marshadow on the bed and walked away. "My head kind of hurts."
"But we need your window thing to show a picture!"
"You don't need me to actually track it, right?"
"Mado, is something wrong?" April asked.
"I'm fine, I just need time to think for myself…"
Madotsuki stepped out of the house and into the darkness of her dreamscape. Indeed, this is how her dreamscape always appeared since the loss of her memory. Perhaps there was more to it beforehand, but she wouldn't know. All it was was a dark valley with nothing remarkable. The faint light that shone from the crescent moon was slowly being enveloped in shadow.
She let her mind wander as she walked forward. She didn't want to go too far from the house in case April and Marshadow called for her, but it's not like she could lose her way. Harvey sounded so dire back then, and ever since, she had been more curious about her past. It would be so easy to ask April and remember it all, but with how serious everyone was making it feel, she wasn't sure if she should. But if she never learned, this feeling would keep eating away at her mind. Before her, her dreamscape was so empty and dull, and her heart felt empty because of it.
"…Huh?" The darkened moon began to cast an eerie red glow. But though the sky reddened, the land was still dark. …Except…
A red orb appeared amongst the darkness. It had electrical currents inside it. "Is that… a Chiptoon?" Madotsuki approached the floating gem. "It…it couldn't be the last Chiptoon." But she couldn't just leave it alone without checking. Madotsuki reached for the red Chiptoon—"AAAH!" A force of power blew her away.
You mustn't remember… You mustn't. You cannot lose your happy ending.
"Huh? Who said that…" The redness began to fade away, shrouding Mado in darkness. She worriedly searched around, but couldn't even find her house.
…
"Hmm… Madotsuki's been gone a while." April said. "I think we should go look."
"Yeah. I'm still not getting anything."
April twisted the doorknob to open the door… but it was jammed. "Hey, did she lock us in?"
"I dunno." Marshadow hopped off the bed and jumped to grab the knob. "Hnnnn!" He struggled to turn it, but it was stuck tight. "Darn! Maybe I can squeeze under here!" He dropped and tried to squeeze himself under the door. April cringed at the tight-looking feeling, hearing him stretch like a piece of rubber… but with one last pop, he forced himself under all the way.
"Ah…okay." April blinked in confusion.
Madotsuki wandered lost in the dream; it wouldn't be weird to assume she had fallen into a nightmare. She turned around a dozen times before something caught her eye in the darkness: a train car.
Madotsuki curiously approached and entered the car. As soon as she shut the door, the car began rumbling as Mado could feel it moving. The inside was completely ordinary and almost sort of relaxing, traveling on a quiet train in the middle of the night. Someone was sitting in the left seat reading a newspaper, so Madotsuki took the right seat. There was a newspaper beside her, so she picked it up. "…" The front page had a hand with an eye in its palm, but the writing sort of resembled hieroglyphics and was indiscernible.
"The paper changed publishers about a year ago. It hasn't been the same since." said the person to her right.
"Oh…ahem, hey, do you know where this train is heading?"
"It's not heading to a pleasant place. In fact, I never imagined it would run again at all. Look ahead and tell me if you still want to go."
Madotsuki stood and walked to the windshield. In the far distance was a titan of unspeakable terror. It was black and drooling red from its mouth, with a wave of red hair. Its many hands were gripping white hills-
Madotsuki began panting in horror, immediately throwing open the door. The train stopped instantly as she got off, running in the opposite direction. She didn't know what that monster was, but she wanted to run as far as possible. Her escape was fruitful, for the monster was drawing further. "Madotsuki…Madotsuki, wait…"
"Madotsuki!"
When she thought she was hearing the train-rider's voice, it became Marshadow's. Madotsuki turned around again and saw the Firstborn coming. "Marshadow…"
"April got stuck in your room! You didn't try to lock us in, did you?"
"…" Before she could answer, that horrible sight returned: the closer Marshadow drew, the monster in the distance grew wider and wider. "GET AWAY!" Madotsuki cried, running from him.
"W-what? Mado, what's wrong?"
"Just stay away from me!"
"But…" Marshadow stepped backward a bit. The monster steadily shrank with the growing gap between them.
Madotsuki caught her breath before processing the situation. Did she just yell at Marshadow? She didn't mean to, she was yelling at the monster. Madotsuki should've called to him and apologized… but if she did, the monster would just come closer again. Looking at Marshadow, then at the monster… she could hardly find a difference in her feelings. Both were making her so… afraid.
"Madotsuki… what's wrong? Did I make you mad?"
"I…I…" Why was she feeling this way? Why did the Chiptoon appear in her dream? The previous Chiptoons contained the fears of the dreamscapes' owners, so was Madotsuki feeling her own fears? She didn't even know what those fears were. "Is this… my past?" That was the only explanation. Whatever that foul creature was, it was a part of her past. The past so horrific that the KND erased it. After seeing that… did she really want to remember?
"Um…okay." Marshadow bowed his head and walked away. "I'll… leave you alone then."
"…" Mado bit her lip in guilt. As afraid as she was, Marshadow didn't deserve her scorn. "Marshadow, wait! I…"
But he had already disappeared. The monster disappeared, so her heart should feel at ease… but Marshadow was gone, so her heart felt empty. She liked Marshadow, and the feeling of him riding in her shirt window made her feel warm. But she was also terrified of him. She loved him… and was terrified. But why?
"Madotsuki." The train-rider's voice spoke. She turned, and there stood a black-bodied man with a white head with black hair and no mouth.
"Who are you, anyway?"
"My name is Sentimental Komuro Michael Sakamoto Dada-sensei. But you may call me Masada."
"I will definitely do that. Wait… Masada… that name sounds familiar."
"It was Halloween when we last spoke. But it was only a moment ago when I finally regained my physical form. I've only existed as a figment of a memory. …But you don't remember me, do you?"
"N…no." Mado sighed and hung her head. "I don't know… if I want to remember… I feel like if I do, I'll be destroying all the kindness the KND have done for me. There must be a reason they made me forget."
"Perhaps there is. I wouldn't remember myself. But what I do remember… is that you have already come to peace with your past."
"I have?"
"Yes. But one's fears do not easily go away. If what happened to you is too unspeakable, then the memory will always torment you, no matter if you learn to move on. Perhaps you are happier without your memories."
"Then why do I still feel so empty?"
"Maybe there is more to your past beyond just fear. In sacrificing the dark memories, maybe you've also lost the warm memories. Not that I would remember…"
"…" Madotsuki faced in Marshadow's direction again. Or rather, she assumed he went that way. Madotsuki hurried that direction, slowly making out a set of shapes. Rectangular shapes. …They were 12 doors of distinct designs, set around surreal Mayan designs on the floor. This place felt familiar, and yet it did not. "That monster was terrifying… I don't want to remember it. I had an awful past. How could I have any warm memories from something so terrible? What could I be forgetting that I want to remember?"
She didn't want to remember the monster, but was there something special that she did want to remember? She had to know… but the question was, which door does she go in? Maybe she had to check them all. So, she started with the first one.