Dynamite

Chapter 14: Lucid Dreaming

"Come on," Nathan thought. "This has to work. I can't let the leader Dubleka do this to me. I have to learn how to do this."

It'd been a week since he told Emma that he was the last Dubleka and the leader Dubleka was going to use him to take over the world. In that week, Nathan warned his mom, dad, and older sister about him going to be controlled. Nathan and Emma also warned Jess, Tony, Nicole, Gavin, Ethan, Adam, Jake, and Rose. Every day, they'd meet at Jake and Rose's apartment to discuss what to do and how to stop the leader Dubleka from taking over Nathan.

There was one solution that they were able to think of: lucid dreaming. It would be difficult, but it could possibly work. It was the only suggestion they had, besides a Plan B in case that didn't work.

Lucid dreaming is when a person is dreaming, but they're aware of what they're dreaming and can control their dreams. Everyone had decided that since the leader Dubleka was going to take over Nathan's mind, and he'd have to enter his dreams in order to communicate with him, lucid dreaming was the best solution.

Nathan practiced lucid dreaming every night. He also, coincidentally, began to have terrifying nightmares. It made lucid dreaming harder, even though it was already very difficult to master. Sometimes he was so terrified that he wouldn't want to fall back asleep, but he'd force himself to continue practicing. Although his lucid dreaming skills got better, he couldn't control his dreams fully. He had to be able to master that skill in order to mentally fight the leader Dubleka out of his mind forever.

He had 17 days left. His days of freedom and lucid dreaming practice were decreasing. He had to make every day worth living and every night worth lucid dreaming practice. His fear continued to give him terrible thoughts throughout the day and hand-shaking nightmares in the night. Another night came, and Nathan felt like there was something he wasn't doing right. He was lacking motivation and confidence.

The instructions he found online gave him an easy trick to fall easily into lucid dreaming. He had to lay straight on his back and stay completely still. After about 20-30 minutes he'd begin to lucid dream. It sounded simple, but it wasn't. Especially to have a non-patient mind like Nathan. He stayed lying in his bed for what felt like hours with his eyes lightly closed.

Soon, pictures started to form. Shapes and designs of different colors danced around in the darkness. He felt like he was at a Las Vegas show of some sort, with large colors bursting everywhere. Soon, the colors stopped, and an image of the leader Dubleka started to piece itself together like a jigsaw puzzle.

"Come at me," the hologram of the leader Dubleka growled. He punched Nathan over and over again.

"No, wait!" Nathan thought. "This is a dream! I can control this!" He tried to throw a punch back, but it felt like his arm was glued to the side of his body. He tried harder to break his arm away from the side of his body. The leader Dubleka hologram slammed Nathan to the ground. Tentacles grew out of the Dubleka's body, and a large screech roared from his mouth.

"Come on!" Nathan thought angrily. "Why can't he just burst into a million pieces?! Wait... that's it! If I can't defeat him by fighting, I can defeat him by controlling the outcome of the dream!" Nathan thought really hard... he mentally focused on the vision of the Dubleka splatting into a million pieces... until he heard a bursting sound. In front of him, the leader Dubleka hologram had bursted into a million pieces. The many pieces of the leader Dubleka changed its form and became glop on the ground. Then it dissolved, leaving Nathan alone.

Then a jolt of energy shot through him, and he woke up. He sighed, wiping the sweat off his forehead, satisfied with the progress he made that night. He suddenly felt hope, reassurance, and determination.

"Wow... I did it," Nathan thought happily. "If only that was the real Dubleka. But still... with practice, this real fight with the leader Dubleka will be easy!"

The leader Dubleka's spirit was watching over Nathan. The spirit chuckled. It was a small, light chuckle. Then it turned into a larger snicker. Then it exploded, like dynamite, into hysterical laughter. The laughter was insane, loud, and long.

"Wow, if he thinks that junk is going to defeat me, he's in for a real treat in 16 days," the leader Dubleka thought.