A Dimension in Time

Reoccurring Nightmares

☆*:.｡. Chapter 16 .｡.:*☆

Reoccurring Nightmares

Walking through the forest as a collective group wasn't an easy task over a long period of time. The ribbon haired child squeezed out so she could punch in the code to teleport back to the spaceship. It was enough time to reflect on how things were so far. The snowflake-clipped girl the last time she had to sit around and wait, it was at the beginning of summer at the early start of June. They sat around in the Training Arena from The World InBetween for nearly two and a half hours! It was insane, but that insanity was something special, something Dawn missed. It was a time when she hadn't experienced what she experienced now. And it was also the last time she saw her family in person. Now it's the start of July, in Subcon Forest, waiting to get back to the spaceship. It had been awhile since she talked with Bella on a phone call, last time she did a video call with her... was after Alpine Skyline in Mafia Town. When Alpine Skyline was saved from the illness that spread from the infectious flowers (somehow, though magical means thanks to the Time Pieces) altered the Alpine Goats in such a way that it made them hostile instead of their quiet and docile nature. Dawn remembered how their frightening red eyes reminded her of the evil ice queen. She never wanted to see eyes like those EVER again... but it was fruitless to wish for something as unnerving like glowing eyes to disappear off the face of the universe. Yet the Nomads generously thanking them with food and supplies made the end of it memorable.

Dawn then recalled another trip during this adventure, the Arctic Cruise, the break that felt so good. The Walrus Captain treated them with a great amount of respect, perhaps it was because they treated him with respect as well. The Captain was like the older mentor Dawn never knew she needed in her life. A grandfather-figure so to speak. He might've been depressed from past experiences, but it seemed like their presence eased things up for him on the ship. The snowflake-clipped girl fondly recalled talking with the Captain, talking about whatever came to mind. The Captain personally thanked Dawn for her and her friend's help on the ship. Even offered to let them come back to Arctic Cruise for half the price once tickets were selling again. And that's when it happened: the shipwreck. The cryokinesis prodigy remembered panicking when the cruise ship took sudden turns, going straight for an iceberg. One of the seals fumbled for the radio dispatch until the captain took over and asked who was stealing the ship. After that, things became an abrupt blur. When the snowflake-clipped girl regained consciousness, all she found was ice cold waters, waters not even she could stand. Even with her abilities. Then another thought came to mind: Hat and Bow, they weren't with her! They were still somewhere IN the ship! Shouting, Dawn could still hear how she frantically hollered out her friends names when looking for them, nearly making her legs freeze into popsicles from falling into the moat so many times. When she finally found them, her legs were blue as ice. Bow was the one who suggested that they'd go back and help those who were having trouble getting out. An idea Dawn was antsy about but they did it nevertheless. The trio were dangerously close to freezing over once they went back for others still on the ship. Even though Dawn had some immunity to low temperatures, Hat and Bow didn't. It was hard to convince the captain to come even though he was trying to go down with the ship. After all of that, it wasn't the worst of it.

Nyakuza Metro was a nightmare. Hat Kid was nearly ran over by a cat train and Dawn had to yank her out of the way. The top hatted child said it was worth it, to where the ribboned child giggled in agreement. But Dawn still had to explain the rules of what NOT to do in a metro. Besides that predicament, there was something more important than nearly getting run over by a cat train: The Empress. The Empress ruled the underground organization Dawn comedically nicknamed "The Nyakuza." She ruled that domain with an iron fist- erm— paw. Her presence alone was enough for Dawn to not trust her, especially when she effortlessly stole the Time Piece they took back. The sphinx cat even took away the teleporter they had on hand and barely allowed them to catch a break! So Moonjumper barely knew where Dawn even was at that point in time. The gang members didn't talk to them that much, they mainly chatted with each other. Some were nice enough to let them buy food, drinks, clothes, a baseball bat, and other cool trinkets! Plus, it was with a currency Dawn was more familiar with, that being dollars. It was the same type of currency the snowflake-clipped girl's home dimension used. Besides the cash, the shops also used the other kind of currency that was scattered about in this dimension, aka Pons. What happened at the end however... was the part Dawn still gets nightmares on. The group had to double cross the most terrifying feline in the world to get the Time Pieces and the teleporter back. They were unfortunately unsuccessful, she caught them faster than any of them had ever anticipated. As punishment, the yakuza leader placed a major bounty on their capture. Dead... or alive. The calm hour had now transformed into a rush hour. They were hopping down cat trains, running away from Nyakuza members, and... eventually the Empress herself joined with the fray a gigantic rocket launcher! The blows from the rockets were fast and with the amount of cats chasing them, it was difficult to multitask; making the Empress miss her deadly accurate shots, conducting the missed shots to unblock exits and avoiding capture from the cats, it was all too much! In the midst of the chase, they were at a dead end. Dawn had to sacrifice her safety and buy Hat and Bow some time, guaranteeing their escape while hers remained uncertain. Fighting off hordes of enemies was a difficult task, some even tried to drug her with chloroform! Thankfully they were unsuccessful in the attempts in doing so, but they were extremely close in succeeding multiple times due to the fight starting to wear Dawn out.