Nextgen Kids: Legend of the Nine Newborn

The Dreamverse, Night 10: The Great Protoon

If there's one thing great about 2020, it was the Year of Remakes! We got a ton of remakes of classic games, such as Rayman Redemption, Spongebob: Rehydrated, Persona 5 Royal (English), Xenoblade: Definitive, Pikmin 3 Deluxe, Super Mario Sunburn, and even Thousand-Year Door: Hero Mode is on the way! Oh, and Mario 3D All-Stars, but the release of Sunburn totally nullifies that. XD And naturally, Origami King was an amazing game!

Night 10: The Great Protoon

Cigar Stacks

Terry Stork made it to a safe area of the factory where the ventilation system helped to filter the fumes. He was given time to recover his stamina, but he was suspicious that Äs Nödt hadn't found him, yet. He had access to a camera network, but the villain was still untraceable through the smoke. If only his sister were here, she would easily be able to trace this guy's sound. "Cough, cough...cough, cough!"

Terry heard coughing through the monitor and looked for the source. He saw the silhouette of someone through the smoke, on their knees while brambles seemed to bind their arms. "Wait... who is that?"

The smoke cleared away enough to reveal her form: Virginia Stork, Terry's mother. Forced to breathe the toxic fumes, Ginny glared at another figure through the smoke: a woman with a dreary expression and gray gown, her face wrinkled from all the cigarettes in her mouth. "Cough...who the heck are—cough...you?!"

"Isn't it obvious?" Äs Nödt asked, emerging from the fumes. "It's you. This is how your son imagines you."

"That's mom?!" Terry gasped, watching the scene. "My real mom?"

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Ginny shouted. "Cough!"

"You know this is the Dream World, don't you? I just brought you from your dream to your son's. He despises you so much that his entire subconscious is dedicated to that hatred. And a dream built on spite is a life full of anxiety! Kehehehehe!" His eyes curved in glee, and he grinned behind his mask. "I do enjoy these types of dreams! Imagine if more people could travel the subconscious and learn the spiteful feelings that others have for them. Would it compel those people to change, or would it create a rift between them? How do you feel now?"

"Cough, cough! I feel like taking these thorns and, cough, choking you!"

"Why don't we just choke you instead? You're the object of your son's frustration. Do you think if you die, then his dreams will grow more pleasant?"

"I know MY dreams are about to be more pleasant!" At that instant, a shadier version of Ginny leapt out of the smoke and ripped Nödt's spiked mask off from behind. It then shoved the facewear down his throat, forcing Nödt to choke as the spikes pricked his throat. His hold weakened as Ginny was able to escape the brambles, landing a firm SPANK to his hind. Nödt flung away as he hacked the mask out.

His mouth was exposed, robbed of lips with red veins around the hideous jaws. Nödt stretched more brambles from under his robe, but Ginny sank into a Veil once her shadow rejoined her. She sprung up to punch his jaw, but he dodged back and returned to bite her fist. Ginny kicked him away and broke free, but the bite caused holes to appear on her arm. Smoke rose from them, with the scent of cigarette. She was struck by Nödt's brambles, causing more smoke to emerge. Ginny tried to hold her breath and became a bat, dodging his thorns in the air before dropping down to stomp his forehead. Her shadow, Talia grabbed his head and tried to twist his neck, but Nödt withstood the pain and smacked her off.

Nödt stretched his thorns to swing up to a higher platform. He began to shoot thorns at the half-vampire. Ginny tried to fly up, but the smoke emitting from herself plus the air around her caused her to drop. "My thorns can morph your body into the form of your fear or worries. You choose to smoke, thinking it will ease your stress, but in reality, it's merely a reflection of your own stress. Or has this recent revelation shed a new light to your conscience?"