The Glade and Its Glitch: Book 2 Allies or Enemies

Chapter 7

Still in the dream world, Jay was running. He ran around piles of scrap. The dream would break every now and then but it was fairly stable. It wasn't as bad as Jay's dreams of Nadakhan. Those would break every few seconds, and the spazzes were like hiccups. They wouldn't stop, they were relentless.

They made Nadakhan say the same things over and over. It caused Flintlocke to move closer to Jay. When the dream broke, it was as if Flintlocke had teleported back and he would advance again. Dogshank's laughter looped and seemed to go on forever, even when Jay woke up he could still hear it.

As Jay thought of the pirate's laughter, he heard giggles sound from behind him. Lucky for him, tiny Jay heard them as well and turned. Jay couldn't see anything or anyone. But as he searched, he heard the giggle again. Tiny Jay whirled around and the dream broke harder than before.

Jay had expected to see a person, a human, he'd be glad to even see Dogshank. Anything as long as he knew what it was. But when he turned, all he saw was a black glitchy void. The colors from the world around the void blurred and streaked as if whatever was there was being smudged out of existence. It giggled again.

Finally breaking free of the curse of not being in control. Jay pulled himself away, separating him and tiny Jay.

Falling to the ground Jay looked up at his smaller counterpart and the nothingness. Tiny Jay just laughed back and followed the void as it moved.

Older Jay clambered to his feet and ran after them. He wasn't running for long, the dream just kept breaking. But the black blur and small Jay seemed, surprisingly, unaffected. Scraps of metal and tires flew off of their piles. They nearly hit Jay but he dodged them as he followed his younger self.

Soon, Jay fell behind. The child version of himself and the void started moving faster. Even the lightning ninja couldn't keep up. Jay doubted even the master of speed would be able to keep up for long.

The flying scrap started to come from the piles directly next to him. Jay began to panic despite knowing that this was a dream, he still felt like he needed to protect his younger self.

As Jay made the decision to stay with tiny Jay and protect him from the void, A fridge came out of nowhere. Jay ducked, but the door flew open. It smacked him square in the face and the world exploded.

~~~

Jay sat bolt upright, panting hard. The dream had come out of nowhere, Jay knew that dreams typically formed from past memories. But he couldn't think of any time when he'd met a black void, or been hit in the face with a fridge.

Zane burst in through the door. "I heard a noise."

Hitting his head on the headboard of his bed, Jay yelped. "Whoa there Zane, mind knocking first? You're gonna give a guy a heart attack."

"Highly unlikely. You are in excellent health and are not at risk of cardiac arrest. But you do seem to be quite afraid."

"It's an expression, Zane. And I'm fine, just a bad dream." Jay rubbed the back of his head.

"Would you like me to get Nya? I know the two of you often comfort each other after nightmares."

"We don't- well I guess we do sometimes... Uh Nah, I'm comin' out. I just woke up and I should go hang out with everybody. I missed you guys while at the junkyard."

Zane smiled, "We missed you as well Jay. It's good to have you back home."

Jay slung an arm around Zane's shoulder. "Let's go say hi to the others."

The two ninja walked out into the dining room, Kai and Lloyd were sitting next to each other. Nya sat beside Kai, but as Jay walked in, she stood up and came over.

"Sleep well?" she asked.

Shrugging, Jay hugged her, "Somewhat," he leaned down and spoke quietly into her ear, "Just dreams again."

"You ok?" She pulled back and matched Jay's volume.

He nodded, but in reality, he was still a little uneasy.

"Jay! Good to have you back brother," Kai stood up and clapped Jay on the shoulder. "How're your parents?"

"Good, good, they're good. Junkyard's holdin' up well," Jay smiled, he let go of Nya and made his way over to the table. Zane handed him a bowl of noodles and told him to eat.

Knowing better than to anger or disobey Zane, Jay decided to obey. Taking the seat next to Lloyd, Jay began to eat his noodles. "Any change with Cole?" He asked between bites.

Zane shook his head, "He's stirred, but other than that there's been no activity. However, he hasn't gotten worse, so that's a good thing."

"We have to stay strong," Lloyd said, pushing his empty bowl forward. "Master Wu wants us to train more together. Maybe even with Soar. I told him to meet us down in the training room later today. Any of you guys up for a few rounds?"

Jay raised his chopsticks, "I'll do it. Been resting long enough, let me finish breakfast, and then we'll go down."

"Deal."