L'ecole d'Idiots

Okami watched her in fascination, ignoring the panic that welled up inside him.

~ = ~

Justin nodded, thinking of more ways to bring down a wall, like with a jackhammer into the foundation, or a bulldozer right into it, or a wave smashing it like a tsunami and causing a building to collapse, or an avalanche of snow bringing a home to the ground.

"Shit I can't-"
Leah scrambled back from the wall and grabbed Okami, sending both of them crashing backwards as the wall exploded with the force of a bomb. She clutched her head, moaning. God, that felt horrible, like something had broken inside of her.

~~~

Camden whooped in triumph as the wall shattered. He gave Ju-Okami a thumbs up as he slowly made his way to where two figures were laying on the ground.
Great. I hurt a girl.

Okami gasped as he was thrown backwards, clutching her arm, still iffy after his nightmare. His mind swam dizzily and he fought the urge to puke as two figures loomed over them.

~ = ~

Justin glared down at the two, gaze lingering on the boy. Because he was just too damn familiar for someone he'd never met.

"Who are you?"

Leah felt another attack of coughs coming on. Dammit, this wasn't supposed to be happening while she was Dreaming!
She crouched down and fought for breath as she hacked up what felt like all of her internal organs. She wasn't surprised at the blood dripping down her lip when she was finally done. She looked back up at the figures above them. So it was the blue kid who had found them. And....a noob. This would be interesting.

~~~

Camden rubbed his eyes. He really hated to see girls in pain. But he couldn't afford to show pity.
"More importantly, why are you two here?"

Okami instantly steeled his expression, though his eyes never left the brunet's face, who quickly looked away. He knelt closer to Leah's ear and whispered "Good or bad?"

He heard her mumble something that started with a "b" bt kinda ended up like "blaaaahh". Still, he took it as "bad" and shot up, hoisting her into the air and into his arms, then, morphing into the gigantic, midnight-furred wolf he was, ran off with Leah on his back, not looking back.

~ = ~

Okami gaped as the huge wolf/dog thing bolted off, way faster than he could ever run before turning to Camden, shocked.

"Can we do that?!"

Leah closed her eyes and focused on helping Okami go faster. She still didn't want to show him the Nightmare realm. That would be disastrous...

~~~

"We can do whatever the hell we want, "Camden grinned, grabbing Justin by the arm. They reappeared just inches away from the black wolf and his passenger. Oh lovely. They were seconds away from being knocked over...

Okami lept into the air, absolutely careful to the highest degree not to hit the brunet. The blond didn't matter. Which was why he didn't care as his paw connected with the guy's head, throwing him to the ground.

~ = ~

Justin jumped and rushed to pull up his new "friend", watching the wolf run to only disappear. Seriously. Just like that. One moment, it was there, the next, gone.

He scowled.

"Great..."

Leah giggled weakly. Her strength was finally beginning to come back. Slowly.
~~~

Camden rubbed his head frowning. ....Why was his hair all oily feeling? And short? ....Right. He looked like James right now. Camden morphed back into his preferred form, already walking forward to catch up to the wolf.
"Come on, we can't lose them."
A few more steps forward and they had caught back up to the wolf, somehow matching his lightning pace through walking. How did that even work?

Okami growled before finally giving one last burst of energy, sitting his eyes and hearing a loud "pop!". Unsure of what exactly he'd done, Okami peeled open an eye and looked around.

...

Shit.

~ = ~

Okami stomped angrily, the pop having hurt his ears, before sneering in the direction that they once were.

"And what wasthat?"

Leah sighed heavily, seeing what Okami had done. Great. Time for some explaining after all...
She slipped off his back and stood with minimal tremors in her legs. The black fog pretty much hid her hips down from view anyway, so it didn't really matter.
"This is another Realm. The uh...Night Realm. It seems pretty creepy and scary at first, and it's probably the most dangerous realm, but if you know what you're doing, or if you have an excellent guide like me, then you'll be fine, " she explained lightly, hoping to relieve his obvious doubts about this place.

~~~

"....That would be the sound of an amateur Lucid discovering how to travel to another Realm without previous training..."

This was not good. At all.

Okami nodded mutely, still a wolf, head lowered and backing away slightly from nothing in particular. Just everything.

~ = ~

"What does that mean? Is he some sort of god or something?" Justin whipped around, bewildered. "Is he, like, omega Lucid? Or something?"

He tugged restlessly at his hair. "Come on, man, gimme something!"

Leah sighed as a wind began to pick up. A high pitched howling began to fill the air.
"Will you guys please cut it out? He's a guest, not food."
The howling died down a little, but the wind only picked up in strength, like it was trying to topple them over.
"I said cut it out!"
Well, at least the howling stopped.

~~~

"....He's...Obviously more powerful than most Lucids are when they first become Lucids. Definitely more powerful than I was. A few Lucids can usually figure out that kind of stuff without help, so I don't think he's all that unusually powerful. On a scale of 1-10.....He's probably a six and a half, maybe a seven...But because he's just learning, I could easily overpower him. We just need to find out what Realm they went to..."

Okami shivered, standing firm against the wind.

~ = ~

Justin nodded, looking at where they once were.

"... Does that usually happen? I mean," He turned. "Do you usually feel like you know someone you've never met down here?"

Leah began glowing a bright blue. In seconds it surrounded both her and Okami. The wind completely died down, as if it were pained by the presence of the glow.
"Need I remind you all that I'm capable of destroying you just like the Lucids? He is a guest and will be treated as one. No funny business," she called loudly.
She turned to Okami and smiled brightly, trying to reassure him.
"Don't worry. The ......Nightcreatures are perfectly reasonable. They just like trying to pull a lot of pranks....yeah a lot of pranks..."
As if on cue, the darkness of the realm lightened into a daytime scene. A sunny day in a small village with clean cobblestone streets and small shops.
Leah sighed. Were they really going to-
People began appearing, one by one. An old man and his wife, both walking hand in hand, smiling at all the trinkets in shop windows. A small group of children playing ball in the street. A pregnant woman stepping into a dress shop. So many people, going through their daily routines in oblivious contentment.
And then the sun turned red, screams filled the air, and a blink later, corpses flooding the street and crimson blood, flowing like a river, torenting straight to-

"When I say no funny business I mean this kind of shit too!"
Leah angrily swept an arm and the street faded back into the hollow darkness of before.
"I am so sorry you had to see that- I don't even know what to say," she whispered, trying to keep her voice from shaking. Dammit, this meant it would be that much harder to get him to trust her. Some Nightmares just had no tact...

~~~

"...Not usually. Sometimes you'll see people in here that you've seen when you're Awake, but with the exception of other Lucids, it's nearly impossible to see the face of a person you've never seen when you're Awake...But that's usually either Nightmares messing with you by using your own memories, or your own mind playing tricks on you. It's hard to say. There's like, no logic when you're Dreaming, I've come to find."

Oddly enough, Okami merely changed back into his human body and shrugged. She might as well know.

"I've seen worse than that."

He was still shaking. Never liked the cold, really, and the freaky wind had set off a couple of "dude, run" alarms in his head. But the village scene was more like another memory, one that he had grown accustom to.

~ = ~

Justin frowned. "Cause that boy really hit a mark with me, and I don't know why."

Leah's brow furrowed in concern. She went quiet for a moment, not sure if she should voice her thoughts. She sighed and tried anyway.
"Does...does it have to do with that other dream?"
....Okay maybe this wasn't the best Realm to have this discussion in. That left the Training Realm, a realm she had never dared try to break into, the Lucid realm, a place she definitely wasn't going to try to go to, or....no way. Not the Bound Realm. That place was even creepier than here.
"Let's finish this discussion later, this isn't really the place. Don't want anyone overhearing you," Leah said quickly, glancing around suspiciously. The Realm was eerily still and silent. Yeah, the Nightmares were listening very, very closely. Bad idea to bring up his nightmare here...maybe when they woke up would be a better time.... assuming he even remembered turning Lucid for the night...

~~~

"Well I've always found that when something sticks out as important to you, it is definitely something worth looking into. I get the feeling we're not going to find him tonight...tomorrow might be another story, so keep your eyes open."

Okami nodded, swallowing thickly. "How do we get out of this one?"

~ = ~

"Wait.."

Justin froze.

"... Weren't they those the two kids that got in trouble today?"

"Well. Depends on if you want to wake up at 4 in the morning or stick this out. I personally am a bit of a grump in the morning if I don't get enough sleep, but if you aren't comfortable here I totally understand. This Realm takes a bit of getting used to."
Even she knew that was a bit of an understatement. The Nightmares had made her cry more times than she could count before she had finally become strong enough to handle them.

~~~

"...Whoa they are. Good memory. I guess this means we could always try tracking them down at school..."

He looked around, a bit unsteady on his feet. Figures switching would be different here.

'I'd rather not wake up. Classes starting tomorrow and whatnot."

~ = ~

Justin grinned wryly. "Hey. Maybe we share some classes, eh?"

"My thoughts exactly," she sighed.
There was whoosh as a dim light filtered in from above and new surroundings emerged. A large, now hideously bright, classroom filled with rows of desks and dark, shadowy figures sitting in each chair. Suddenly she and Okami were sitting at their own desks, on opposite sides of the classroom.
They really don't know when to stop...

~~~

"Yeah, let's hope. If we don't share any classes, it's gonna be nearly impossible to find them in this maze of a school."
He wasn't feeling too optimistic about it though. The Lucid stuffed his hands in his pockets, biting his lip.
"Well...I guess we could go see if they went to the other two Realms that I have access to...I just really doubt they'd be there..."

"Okay..." He voice cracked, expression slightly panicked. "Now what..."

~ = ~

"Is that a good idea? I mean, the dude turned into a dog or whatever." Justin pursed his lips. "Maybe the chick can do worse."

She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. The girl began glowing again, with a bright intensity that she hadn't used before. The scene faded instantly. She smirked, a rare sight to behold.
"Now, we try to keep ourselves entertained until it's wakey wakey time. Ever tried flying?"

~~~

"The guy looked like he had no idea what the hell he was doing and the girl...still not sure about her. But she's pretty amateurishly trained I would say. She didn't even know how to block a direct attack on her little wall. I think I can handle her. If I can't, then I can always call in another Lucid to help."
Though the idea of stooping to that pathetic level was....unpleasant to say the least.

"Uh, on a plane, yeah." he scratched the back of his head. "Couple other times to but it wasn't ever really me who was doing the flying."

He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, fingers intertwined.

"Why, can I?"

~ = ~

Justin sighed heavily. "If that was amateurish, I'm screwed."

Leah's only reply was to grin before grabbing his hand, sort of jumping into the air. The ground fell away below them as they floated without support or really anything keeping them airborne.
"It's like in Peter Pan," she giggled, dragging him behind her as she kicked her legs like she was swimming, making them go faster.

~~~

"Hey, you got me at your side, and I can help you learn what you need to know to become a Lucid. Lucy obviously wants you here for a reason...Hopefully. I might as well show you how to survive here. But first, I think we really should try to track those two down..."

"Woah, woah, okay, yeah, I never saw that!" Okami flailed about, expression panicked, before slowly tipping backwards. He moved his arms in a circular motion frantically.

"Someone, help, I can't fly this blasted thing!"

~ = ~

"Yes, track 'em down, track 'em down." Justin frowned. "How."