Rise of the Nightmares

Chapter 10

About another week had passed by ever since Bowser's vain attempt to try to kidnap Kate one last time. Oddly, the Koopa King never came back to try again to kidnap Kate, and if that wasn't strange enough, then the fact that Eggman never came on his own solo attempt to kidnap Kate was also weird. And to top it off, no attacks from the two acting as a team ever occurred at all. It was as if nothing happened a week ago.

Though while things were peaceful, that didn't put an end to the uneasy feeling that was in the Mushroom Kingdom. After Bowser's last attack, the Toads were on edge. They only came out if they had business to attend to, or jobs that they had to perform. Other than that, they remained in their homes, as if hiding out of sight would keep them safe. The streets of the kingdom were quieter, and it felt oddly eerie to see the kingdom appear so empty.

That didn't stop the princess's guests from performing their usual rounds to patrol the castle and the Mushroom Kingdom. Even if it had been a week of peace, they were doing their best to remain on guard and be ready in case an emergency took place. Though as the week went by, the patrols got harder and harder to perform, and that was mainly due to the weather.

The cloudy skies weren't clearing up anytime soon. In fact, the white clouds had now shifted to a shade of light grey, and if that wasn't enough, the air was getting colder. Most of the Toads who were bold to venture out of their homes now wore jackets all day every day. Even some of the Mobians who normally wouldn't wear any jacket, such as Sonic, Tails, or even Shadow, had started bundling up a little to combat the cold air.

During that long week of uneasy peace, Kate had been anything but at ease. It wasn't because of the chilly weather or the fact that she nearly got kidnapped yet again. It was the worrisome fear that the time to face the creep who had been bent on coming after her was coming near. And after having a nightmare of her own friends turning against her, she wanted nothing more than to be near them almost all the time. Whether it be for meals or for training in the castle gardens, Kate felt relaxed only if her friends were in her line of sight.

Kate's behavior seemed to be worrying her friends though. Though they kept her company during the day, they could sense that she was anxious for what was to come. Mario and Sonic seemed to be the most worried, for they loved the human as if she was their sister, and she even was brave enough to talk to them about her nightmare she had after their short lived victory. The other who was most worried was Knuckles, for the echidna was, after all, Kate's boyfriend. But it was more than that. Knuckles wanted to make sure that he was there for her when the time to f ace her destiny would come, but he didn't want to treat her like a damsel in distress since he knew how tough she was.

One chilly morning, Kate woke up before the sun was even up. If it could even be considered as daylight, for the sky was cloudy yet again, and the light grey hue made it hard to tell if it was even sunrise. Feeling restless and unable to sleep again, Kate got up and hurried to her bathroom to ready herself for the day. Being on a schedule was one of the only things that could keep her at least the slightest bit calm, and she wanted to do some training yet again. As she got up, she was careful to be quiet, for she took a quick glance over at the floor. Ever since she had her nightmare of the others turning on her, she had been asking Mario and Sonic to stay with her at night while she was asleep, so the boys laid out some sleeping bags so they could be near her.

Kate made a sad face as she glanced over at the two she loved as if they were her brothers. She was grateful for the two being by her to take care of her, and she hoped that whenever the creep would come, he wouldn't dare hurt them.

Kate made her way to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Now that she was alone, she rolled her sleeves up and checked her right wrist. The bug bite still wasn't gone, but she couldn't tell if it t was getting better or getting worse. It still looked like a circular bite mark from the size of a human, but at least thanks to the medicine that Dr. Toad gave her, it wasn't as itchy as it was before. At the very least, she hadn't been scratching it, so surely that must mean that it'll go away soon.