Day Dream and Nightmaren

Written by Dan Slott
Art by Patrick Spaziante, Manny Galan and Harvey Mercadeocasio

In order to protect the second dreamer, Snuze and Elliot decide to take out the First - Level Nightmaren during the day while she’s awake and far from the drema world. Only problem is that for Elliot to do this he has to be asleep himself. The problem is solved by NiGHTS taking over Elliot’s waking body.

Elliot’s school is on a class trip to the Twin Seeds’ museum, and so is Claris’s. NiGHTS instantly recognises the second perfect dreamer, but she doesn’t know him from Adam. During the tour, NiGHTS takes the microphone from the tour guide and starts telling Elliot’s assembled classmates all about the history of Nightopia and Nightmare, causing them to question his sanity. Little does he know that in another wing of the museum, Roger is doing the exact same thing, though putting a more positive spin on Wiseman. Why? Because it’s not Roger. Reala has shanghaied his body, leaving Roger trapped in Nightmare, where he is also beginning to question his sanity. Wiseman is explaining that he has swapped bodies with Reala when Jackle flies in through an open window with Napp as his prisoner. When the Nightopian refuses to offer any assistance to the Nightmaren Lord, Jackle uses a fusion spell and a nearby Hallow, to turn Napp into a Mepian (half Nightopian, half Nightmaren), shifting his allegiance to the dark side. Napp spills the beans about the rift between realities, and Wiseman instantly send a Shleep into the Waking World to lull Claris to sleep so he can steal her red dream energy.

In the museum’s cafeteria, she is discussing ‘Roger’s’ recent bout of public speaking with the human clothed Reala, accidentally revealing to him her dislike of fish, which Reala files away for later use. NiGHTS sees the Shleep enter the cafeteria, heading straight for Claris. His attempts to subdue the Nightmaren leads to a food fight. He slips in some of the debris, and is knocked out. This is fortunate for Elliot, who has just come face to face with Jackle in the Dream World, but leaves Claris unprotected in the waking world, and she soon finds herself in the Dream World, trapped in a giant goldfish bowl with Gulpo.

NiGHTS abandons Elliot to help Claris, leaving Elliot to face Jackle alone. NiGHTS isn’t too happy about this, so decides to let Claris help herself by drawing a musical note on the bowl’s wall, and makes his way back to Elliot. Claris sees and understands NiGHTS clue, hits a high C, and shatters the bowl. But it’s like going from the frying pan into the fire when she finds herself face to face with Clawz and Wiseman. Meanwhile, Jackle is trying to tempt Elliot into giving up his red dream energy by offering to make all his dreams come true, but Elliot won’t hear a bar of it, and together he and NiGHTS turn the tales on Jackle.

Unknown to NiGHTS, Wiseman is offering Claris the exact same deal, only due to her relative inexperience with the Dream World, she accepts…and awakens to a smiling ‘Roger’, who hands her an invitation to sing the soloist spot in the upcoming production of Twin Dreams. And Elliot wakes up, believing the whole thing to be a dream.

In Nightmare, Wiseman laughs as he admires his newly won red dream sphere…