Chapter Text
Izzie grunts with exertion as a tri-tipped blade clashes with her own, the Grimspawn in front of her cackling. It isn’t laughing for long, though, as she performs a spin and sends it tumbling. It tries to pick itself back up, but she slashes before it can, the evil critter disappearing in a puff of what she can only assume is pure, concentrated evil. Briefly, she wonders what it tastes like before realizing it probably isn’t a good idea to try and ingest nightmare powder.
Two more Grimspawn falling to the ground on either side of her and dematerializing in the process catches her attention. She looks over to see Mateo and Z-Blob kicking butt, the green slime creature in its larger mech form as it punches and kicks Grimspawn. Mateo is doing what he can too, spearing and whacking at the beasts with a pencil the size of a baseball bat.
Blue arrows soar through the air past them, and Izzie tracks their path back to Zoey flying atop Zian. She pulls back her bow and fires off three more in rapid succession, nailing all three Grimspawn she had been aiming for.
“Woo-whoop! Nice shot, Zoey!” Izzie hollers at her. Zoey looks at her with a cool gaze before giving a smile and a thumbs up.
“A little help over here?!”
Izzie turns around to where she had heard the distressed cry, finding Cooper surrounded by Grimspawn. He’s trying to beat them back with his wrench, but they have him outnumbered, and a Grimkeeper is fast approaching from behind.
“I got you, Coop!”
Mateo charges towards him, dreamcrafting a blaster to fire at the crowd of Grimspawn. Z-Blob steps over them all, gunning straight for the Grimkeeper, which it locks hands with as the two tussle. After a few pushes, Z-Blob shoves it away and punches it right in the chest, sending it toppling over. At the same time, Mateo wipes out the last of the Grimspawn that had formed a horde around Cooper, then runs to his side. The blonde smiles.
“Thanks, Mateo.”
“No problem, dude. Now let’s finish this!”
They throw themselves back into the battle and Izzie takes that as her cue to do the same. The battle is practically over already, though, the Grimspawn that had been attacking the village they were protecting now turning tail. Izzie laughs with relief as she watches them run away, feeling victorious.
“The day saved once again byyyyy… The Dream Team!” She cheers. Cooper and Mateo approach her, Mateo still firing off a few stray blasts at the retreating Grimspawn.
“Isn’t it technically night? You know, since we’re all asleep and dreaming,” Cooper points out. Zian lands in front of them, Zoey hopping off and looking between the three.
“Time here is weird. It’s better not to think about it.”
“Raaah!”
All of them look behind them to find their final teammate, Logan, who is in his tiny blue form and carrying a Grimspawn over his head. He throws it on the ground and the thing shrieks before scrambling to its feet and running away.
“Yeah, you better scram!” He yells after it. Izzie giggles, finding his temperament entertaining.
“Does he always have to be like this?” Zoey groans, to which Cooper turns and shakes his head.
“Does he have to? No. Will that stop him? Definitely not.”
Izzie snorts at that. She’s tempted to add fuel to the fire and defend Logan, claiming that he simply cannot control his warrior spirit, but she catches something moving in the corner of her eye. A Night Terror emerges from behind one of the small huts by Logan, its claws drawn and eyes narrowed in contempt. Izzie gasps— How long has there been a Night Terror here? Did it corrupt any villagers while they weren’t looking? She can’t believe they hadn’t noticed it.
Mateo seems to have spotted it too, his eyes widening.
“Logan!”
“Huh?”
Their friend turns, but it’s a moment too late, and the Night Terror swings its arm. It smacks him, sending him careening through the air before smacking into the side of the hut it had been hiding behind. Izzie’s blood turns to ice. It just touched him with its bare hands.
“No!!!”
She raises her sword and throws it with all of her might. It shoots straight towards the Night Terror and lands right on target, piercing it. The thing screeches, flapping its tattered wings and fleeing from the village like the rest of its cohorts. Izzie’s sword turns to sand in the process, no longer within range of her.
She doesn’t care about that, though. Izzie runs towards Logan, who is laying on the ground and moaning in pain. In a puff of sand, he turns back into his regular self, then sits up. Sure enough, a splotch of black has formed on his side and is quickly spreading.
“L-Logan! Are you alright?” Cooper asks, hands hovering over him, as if he’s not sure whether it’s safe to touch him or not. Logan sucks in a breath.
“Does it look like I’m alright?” He retorts as the black splotch convulses and grows. Izzie opens and closes her hands, panic surging through her.
“What do we do?! How do we help him?”
“We need the Edison Ray!” Mateo exclaims, quickly pulling out his Dreamie Screamie. He presses a few buttons before speaking into it. “Dr. Oz, come in Dr. Oz! We need you here, fast!”
All that comes through on the other end is static. Izzie curls her fingers into fists again.
“Why isn’t he picking up?!”
“He won’t be able to come here in time anyways,” Zoey points out. “He’s all the way back at your Landing, remember?”
“No- No, no, no no no!” Izzie cries in between short, hyperventilated breaths. “This can’t be happening, it can’t!”
“Logan, hang in there, alright?” Cooper tells him, voice strained. Logan only grunts in response, the darkness has consumed over half of his body now, having spread across his right arm and his entire lower half.
Izzie watches in growing horror as her friend drops to his knees, clutching his torso with both arms and curling in on himself. The darkness is growing by the second, and she knows he won’t make it, that by the time she can say anything else he’ll already be a Night Terror—
“No… NO! RAAAUUGH!”
Without warning, Logan shouts, peeling his arms off of himself and digging his nails into the dirt. Dream sand begins circling him as his form shifts, his skin turning blue and his body shrinking. Izzie blinks, baffled. It doesn’t stop there, because soon enough, Logan is back to his regular size and shape. Then his arm shrinks, and his head, then they’re both back, suddenly his leg is larger, his skin normal, the darkness churning, churning.
All four of them have backed away by now as the sand becomes a whirlwind around Logan, who is continually shifting and growing and shrinking in ways she can hardly describe. All the while, Logan is making some sort of noise, a bizarre mix of yelling and hissing that changes in pitch and volume every so often.
“Wh-What is happening ?!” Cooper exclaims, his voice cracking.
“I… I don’t know!” Mateo responds before calling out to their friend. “Logan!”
Suddenly, the sand is sucked into him, his body glowing as he throws up his arms. Izzie has to raise her arm over her eyes to shield herself from how bright it is, squinting through her eyelids before—
Poof.
Just like that, Logan is gone. The four of them stand there for a moment in quiet, baffled shock. Then, Mateo speaks.
“Did… he wake up?”