Monday, February 1, 2021

Nightmare in Dream Land




 "GIRUU GIRUU GIRUU!!!"


A tail lashes out, slicing her cheek. Warm, dreamy ichoor drips down, the massive flying tadpole laughing with rapid "GIRUUS!" as he lashed again and again. He wasn't as successful when he wasn't ambushing her, the dream dweller quickly shifting her form to a mecha ram to tank the hits.




"And hello to you too, Gillwing," says Doremy Sweet as she shifts back, the massive lizard thing soaring past her, thinking she'd remain in the bulky form forever and smashing into a wall that rippled on impact. "You and your master know it's absolutely futile to challenge me, and yet-" Gillwing flew up into the air, into what appeared to be the vastness of space, before coming down on Doremy, the baku yawning as she effortlessly molds the emptiness into a horde of sheep to distract him- "-both of you continue your efforts. Don't you two have better things to do than bother me in the Dreamscape?"


The dragon gave a loud scream into the night, the world around them warping into a neon-lit city and frightening off the sheep for good. His voice distorted until it sounded closer to Godzilla, Doremy quirking an eyebrow before the monster fired off an Atomic Beam.


"Oh. That's a problem, isn't it?"


She was wreathed in flames and pushed into a building, which promptly exploded as all buildings are wont to do. Thinking fast, she twisted her form to match a Nightmaren above all Nightmaren, the gold-wreathed, three headed squirrel-dragon, with one head replaced with a more ram-faced Doremy. Gillwing was hardly detered: Godzilla was Ghidorah's eternal nightmare, an everlasting thorn at his side. As long as Doremy kept that form, there was absolutely no way she could win, especially as he used his long tail to grab a tower and smash one of the heads in with it.


They screamed before golden bolts flew from their mouths, barraging Gillwing's face before Doremy rammed her head into him. The other two heads latched onto his neck with their two buck teeth before they managed to rip the head off. There was plenty of ichor  that spewed out, Doremy licking her lips in anticipation and opening her mouth wide to eat, wider than what was ever humanly possible.


She immediately regretted it as Gillwing sprouted another head midchomp, the baku choking on it before an Atomic Beam pierced through her body. Her golden form dispersed, Doremy coughing and hacking but the Nightmaren refusing to leave her alone, bashing, smashing, and blasting her all the while.


Pain surged through her with every attack. Annoying, so absolutely frustrating. Who would have thought that a tadpole who was so easily destroyed by a fellow nightmare would grow a brain in his attempts to kill her? They weren't exactly much of a thinker, or at least, from all of her previous battles against him, he proved to be merely a thorn at her side. Always so dumb to leave the tail exposed for the ripping. Clearly, someone had been teaching him new tricks for this mission, and she didn't quite enjoy the thought of that. If he got too clever, he might actually win and put her down... for a little bit. But just a bit of time, just one opportunity, and his master would expand on his territory in the Dreamscape, inching closer to dominating and ascending to Master of Dreams. 


And as the current 'Queen of Dreams', Doremy was not keen on being dethroned, especially when her entire kingdom was in danger.


Battered and worn, Doremy shrunk to the size of a mouse and scampered off before Gillwing tried to smash her again. The dumb dragon made a confused noise, thinking she simply disappeared. A smirk formed on her little mouse-y face: At least he still had the brains of a gnat when it counted most. She waited patiently, watching as the dragon landed and looked to and fro, trying to sniff her out. She crept closer and closer to him as he exposed his tail, slowly shifting into her normal form, her dress replaced with overalls and red sleeves, her long sleep cap now with a big D on the white brim.


"GIRRAH?" Gillwing boomed as Doremy grabbed him by the tail and swung him round and round, his eyes spinning in their sockets until he was too dizzy to think. 


"So long, Gay Wing~" Doremy said as she let go, the monster crashing into several buildings. She could hear his weak, feeble cries as he flew up ,several times smaller than he was when he first arrived. She transformed into a Ram Mecha again, aiming her cannons and firing off Mazers to weaken him further, the tadpole shrinking and shrinking until he was so very tiny from regenerating with his tail. He tried to summon up a portal and escape, ready to try again some other day-


"How bold of you to assume I'd let you escape after beating me to a pulp." Gillwing squeaked as Doremy teleported in front of him, licking her lips like a hungry lion. "Its been a while since I've dined on a Nightmare. Perhaps if you kept being the dumb lizard you were,  you'd get to live several years longer.


Enjoy your endless nightmare, Gillwing~"


She opened up her mouth and sucked him in, sucked the entire neon dream in, the tadpole screaming into the night. He clutched at a  building with his teeth, to no avail: this entire  dream would be absorbed, devoured with him in it.


All returned to darkness, to the vast emptiness of the Dreamscape. Doremy gagged a little and shook her head, frowning as her stomach disagreed with her.


"Who knew that Gillwing would teach me how it feels to have heartburn," she grumbled before she summoned her pink orb and formed it into a hammock. "Least he's dealt with. But..." She leaned back and stared into the bubbles forming in space, visions of dreams arising as sleep claimed mortal minds. "If someone taught him those tricks, then cleverer Nightmaren will rise to face me, and perhaps defeat me... Or perhaps he's gained an ally somewhere, someone to give him inspiration. Too many possibilies, and all lead towards the same path."


Another bubble appeared before her, expanding into a scene of monsters bursting out of a closet, bursting from under the bed, escaping a dream within a dream to stir fear into the heart of their dreamer. Doremy's brow furrowed, her frown deepened.


"A world of never ending nightmares," she said quietly. "A fate I cannot prevent alone. Not as he stands to gain power."


She sees a speck in one bubble, turning her head and reaching out, beckoning it to her side. Like a crystal ball, she watched as a curious Kitsune wandered an empty city, searching the slums for some sort of clue. 


A smile formed on the Queen of Dream's face as she watched.


"As one pebble stands to make several ripples in a pond, perhaps The Traveler will be the catalyst, the domino that brings forth Nightmare's demise..."


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