"Kat" said Minor with a shaky voice.
*Well, I suppose I shouldn't rest just yet, Minor would worry too much.* Using her tail as leverage Kat threw herself to her feet. "I'm fine. A bit low on demonic energy… and that could be a problem in the future"
"How big of an issue" asked Minor
Kat shrugged "Well, I can function, but it seems I need my flames to attack nightmares, so… depends. I could fully recover with that relatively calm memory, so if we get another one of those it will be no trouble"
Minor pursed her lips "I'm sorry, I can't really stop this. I mean… we could wait maybe? It might cause issues though"
"That's fine" said Kat "I'm fully mobile, so I can just run away, the issue will be stopping whatever interference the Nightmares try to run"
Minor bit her lips as the scene started to fade to blackness "I can maybe hold us in the scene change for a few minutes"
"Hmmm" mumbled Kat. *That might not be a bad idea. If I was a bit better with my energy management, I could probably take those guys out with a lot less. Like maybe, crazy idea Kat, just throw fire on them instead of running in yourself*
*It works well against real opponents, and you certainly have been a bit hesitant. But abusing your demonic regeneration isn't a good idea when you need to coat yourself with fire, and any damage you take is a right pain to heal.*
*Ok. Now with the internal criticism out of the way.* "How hard is it to keep us in transition"
Minor bit her lip and tilted her head to the side "It… isn't so bad. It's somewhat hard to explain. I guess… it's sort of like holding your arm outstretched. It doesn't seem so bad, and the first thirty seconds are super easy.
"But the thirty fifth second is a killer and it only gets worse. For me, I can maybe do… two minutes? Maybe three if I really push it" said Minor
"Two minutes should be plenty" said Kat *I won't be full. Maybe like… halfway? Bit less? Depends on the regen rate here in the dream I guess, but that plus even a bit of time in the memory should be enough.*
"Ok" said Minor with a nod.
Kat let ten seconds past "How distracted can you be for this?" she asked
Minor shrugged "It's really not hard, so… a bunch?"
Kat nodded "Ok, well, in that case I was wondering. How come we've only ever seen one Nightmare at a time"
Minor tilted her head to the side "Actually… that's a good question. I'm not sure. I've only ever seen one at a time, but I have seen them in separate memories. And they don't normally look the same, so I've always just called them the Nightmares… but now that you mention it"
Minor got a thoughtful expression as she considered the possibilities "Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't Nightmares, but instead THE Nightmare. I don't think it changes much… except you did just flash freeze one… hmm.
"Does that mean it's gone? Is there one less nightmare in the world or did you just slow it down a bit? Or is there no longer a Nightmare at all" said Minor
"Hmm, I'm going to say it, or they will be back" said Kat
"Why?" asked Minor
"Well, it fought me, but it was more concerned with messing with the memory. Something that is easy to damage, or only exists as a few beings would probably care more about staying alive. It didn't seem surprised I could damage it… unless turning into a mess of ink counts as surprise" said Kat
Minor pouted "That isn't what I wanted to hear but sadly you seem to be right. I was always the one running so -ugh"
"You alright" asked Kat
"This is just… a little harder than I thought" said Minor with gritted teeth. Kat could see her whole form vibrating as if it was about to come apart.
"Hey, it's ok" said Kat, checking her reserves and finding them to be at around a third "I've got plenty back don't hurt yourself"
"No… no I got this" said Minor, but Kat could see the edges of Minor's figure started to blur.
Kat walked over to her and wrapped her in a hug, before spinning her around. Breaking Minor's concentration and advancing the scene. When Kat let her go, she was pouting but Kat payed it no mind. *I'm not about to let her hurt herself, or perhaps cause serious damage if she was underplaying it. Not for just a little bit more demonic energy.*
As the scene coalesced, Shizuka was noticeably older. Not that she hadn't been aging before, but now it was a clear jump. Whereas the first few memories were from baby, to toddler, to child to… well still a child, but one of perhaps 10 years instead of five.
It was a familiar scene to Kat, Shizuka was practicing with a series of icicles surrounding her. It was only the two, but they orbited her perfectly. Sometimes Shizuka would change the patterns slightly, bobbing them up and down, or in circles as they rotated.
The environment though was slightly different. It was still clearly a training area of sorts, but Shizuka was now likely in the palace gardens. She was sitting on a small platform, probably meant for balancing on one foot but was large enough for her to sit.
She was in the centre of a pond, and the water beneath the pole seemed to be circling it as well, perhaps part of Shizuka's training, or a side effect she was trying to eliminate, Kat didn't know.
Kat herself was floating over the water… which was strange because she wasn't flying, it seemed to almost be a solid surface, but only towards the outer edges. Looking around Kat saw the rest of the gardens.
She was surrounded by various trees and shrubs, none above head height except for a few notable exceptions well off into the distance. The garden itself seemed to be divided into four sections, one for each season, summer autumn winter spring, with Shizuka in the middle with the pond connecting them all.
Each corner had at least one tree in the centre. The spring and winter had multiple, but autumn and summer had just the single tree as a centrepiece. The summer tree was a strange golden tree full of leaves, that shifted in an invisible wind.
The grass in the area looked somewhat like small wheat stalks, giving off a very vibrant gold whenever Kat so much as glanced towards it. The winter section was more subdued, with a line of trees heading towards the centre.
They seemed to be pine trees of some kind, looking a bit like Christmas trees. Each one increasing in height the further you got from the centre. The corner of the winter area seemed to be taking up by a number of small bushes with various coloured berries, mostly blue.
The spring area was full of sakura trees in full bloom. There was practically nothing else, but considering how spectacular the sight looked to Kat's eyes, she wasn't going to complain. There were benches scattered throughout as well, and while the trees didn't seem to be in full bloom, there was a few pink spots on each tree.
The final section, autumn, was closer to a forest than anything else. There were flowers everywhere, and trees in any available space. It was just spread out enough not to look dreary and the bright flowers went a long way to help that.
Kat wasn't actually sure what made the autumn section autumn, and would have discounted the whole seasons thing entirely if it wasn't for the massive signpost that labelled them as such.
*Well, whatever, it isn't exactly like I can critique their decorative choices.*
That was when Kat saw Minor tense up. "Nightmare?" asked Kat
Minor nodded, as a golden haired fox walked around the corner and into view. "Oh no" said Minor
"What?" asked Kat
"Well…" said Minor "We have a problem. I remember this. I was awake enough for it to be part of my memories as well and… that guys has to be the nightmare but he was actually in the scene"
"Shit" said Kat. *We are going to have to let this play out then huh. How will I know when to interrupt if the Nightmare is around for the whole thing and playing a key role.*
Kat took a deep breath as she watched the clearly smug fox walk towards a training Shizuka "Hey, did he always look like a sleezy scumbag?" asked Kat. *I swear he has enough grease on him to keep a car running smoothly a decade*
"Yeah" said Minor sadly "That's exactly how he looked.
"Well… I guess they weren't going to keep it easy" said Kat