Chapter 30: Addison's Dilemma

After walking for a few minutes, they found themselves across a house.

"That house looks familiar. Even though it has no neighboring houses, I know that house. That's Addison's house."

"It looks nice."

"Come on, let's go in."

Raffy walked towards the door and knocked, but nobody answered.

"Maybe no one's home."

"If this is your friend's dream, he is in there. There's no possible way that this house would be here if it wasn't dreamt by someone."

"You're right."

Once again, Raffy knocked on the door. This time, the door opened by itself.

"Raffy, maybe we shouldn't go in."

"That opening door seems like an invitation for us to come in. Well, why don't we?"

They entered the house and looked around for any sign of someone. Unfortunately, no one was around on the first floor.

"How about we leave now Raffy, I feel like something's watching us."

"Let's try the second floor."

"Raffy..."

"Don't be afraid, you're with me. I'm not letting anyone hurt you."

"Well, if you say so."

Raffy lead the way as Cassandra followed him closely. Raffy went up the stairs and recognized the two doors on the left and right.

"Let's go here. This is Addison's and Ton-ton's room."

"Raffy, I really feel awkward inside this house."

Raffy knocked on the door and someone quickly answered him.

"Go away! I'm not letting you in here! Go away!"

"Relax Addison. It's me, Raffy! Let me in!"

"Raffy?"

"Yes, let me in, I think my friend is feeling dizzy. Let us in Addison."

Addison opened the door just a bit to check whether it is actually Raffy that is standing outside. Once seeing that it is Raffy, and with someone, he quickly opened the door and let them in, and hurriedly closed it.

"What's going on? Why are you so uneasy and why are you panicking?"

"It's a long story."

Then suddenly, something banged hard on the door, very hard. Raffy and Addison were stopped by the knocking on the door behind them while Cassandra was still looking paranoid. Before anybody could move again, there was another knock on the door, but this time it was twice as hard as the knock before.

"Who's that Addison?"

"Don't...don't you open that door. They want...want to...eat me."

"What? What are those things outside the door? Answer me Addison! Is that why Cassandra's feeling uncomfortable here?"

"They're all around the house. On the ceiling, on the floor, on the walls. They're everywhere!"

"Just tell me what those things are before they get to us!"

"Cockroaches! Giant cockroaches! They want me Raffy! They're just waiting for the perfect chance to strike!"

Then suddenly, there was a loud bang and the head of a cockroach was stuck on the door.

"Don't let them get me!"

"I won't!"

Raffy blasted the head of the cockroach with fire and burned it. Unfortunately, he didn’t know that even if cockroaches lose their heads, they can still live.

"That won't work. They can live without a head; they can even live without eating for months. But I think they're hungry now."

"Then I'll just roast all of them. Stand back."

"What are you going to do?"

Raffy placed his palms on the hole made by the cockroach and blasted a fire wall to protect them from the cockroaches inside the house.

"You've got to wake up Addison! This is just a dream. Damn...I forgot that you have to face your fears in order to wake up. Looks like this one's going to be tough."

"Raffy! The windows!"

Raffy looked over at where Cassandra is and saw that a cockroach is trying to break into the room. While blasting magma into the house, he used his other hand to burn the cockroach crawling outside the house.

"They're too many; we need an insect repellant or something of the sort."

"We've got some, it's in the bathroom, but it is downstairs."

"I'll fend the cockroaches off, you get the repellant."

"Are you crazy? I'm not going down there! There's too many of them. There's no way I can get back here alive!"

"All right then, tell me where it is and I'll get it."

"You can't leave us here can't you?"

"Well, what do you want me to do? Just go down there; I'll fend them off for you."

"How about her?"

"She'll be fine."

Raffy waved his hand and made a fire wall around Cassandra.

"Won't she get burned?"

"If I want to, yes. But I placed that so they can't get to her. Now let's go!"

Raffy opened the door to make sure that nothing's outside. Once he made sure it was clear, he signaled for Addison to go down the stairs. As soon as Addison stepped out of the room, the cockroaches started to crawl up the stairs.

"I thought it was already clear!"

"It was, until you got out. They really want you that bad don't they?"

Raffy blasted each cockroach with fireballs but it couldn't hurt them. It only made them retreat for a while.

"Now is our chance to get down while they're gone."

Raffy climbed down the stairs as Addison followed him very closely. When they reached the first floor, a new batch of cockroaches arrived from every direction. Raffy blasted them off as Addison searched for the repellant in the bathroom.

"Where is it?"

"It's not there! Mom must have moved it somewhere."

"Addison, just dream of another repellant, a big one. After all, this is your dream, you can make anything happen."

"You call this a dream? More like a nighmare."

"Call it what you may, but you still have control over it. After destroying Somnus, you can now take over your dream and turn it into the way you want it to."

"Somnus? Who is that?"

"It doesn't matter! Just dream of another can of repellant! Hurry!"

"But..."

“Just try it!"

Addison tried as hard as he could to make a can of repellant appear out of thin air as Raffy still fends off the cockroaches.

"It's not working!"

Then Raffy was caught off guard as a cockroach started to fly towards him. In fear that Raffy might get hurt, Addison magically created a repellant appear into his hands. He quickly sprayed the cockroach to save Raffy.

"Wow that was awesome!"

"You were right, this is just a dream, and I can handle these guys."

"Would you mind if I borrow that for a second?"

Raffy took the can from Addison and lit up a fire on his hand. As soon as the cockroaches entered the house through the front door, Raffy sprayed the repellant through the fire creating a massive explosion of fire heading towards the cockroaches. After which, the house was burned but they were okay. Cassandra went down from the room and checked if everything was okay.

"Now, that wasn't so hard now was it?"

"No...but cockroaches are still disgusting."

"You said it."

Addison smiled and vanished. Cassandra looked healthy again as her being uncomfortable was removed because it was caused by the cockroaches.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't that much of help this time."

"It's all right, so was I. It was Addison who saved me instead of me saving him."

"Life is funny that way."

"You're right. We must get going now, we still have to save Ramch and Jessie."

"Okay."

Raffy and Cassandra went out of the burned house hoping they would also get out of the dream world safe and sound.

Chapter 29: The Trickster Got Tricked

After the sandstorm subsided, they were now in a circular arena.

"What place is this?"

"This place is where the real fight will begin. For round three, since it is a tie, is a fight 'til death."

"What? Why didn’t you fight me during the first round? Why now?"

"You really are a simpleton are you? The first two rounds were tests for me to determine your strength and accuracy. Since you have no weapons, you will rely on your strength and you must be accurate enough to hit targets with your fireballs."

"You...you really are a trickster."

"That's what I am, I can't change that. Besides, I like tricking people. Now shall we begin? This round will have no rules whatsoever. The game will end if one of us give up or die."

"What will happen if one of us gives up?"

"Well, since giving up is like losing, the winner will have to kill the loser isn't it?"

"Don't worry, I never give up."

"That's what they all say."

"The round will begin when the buzzer sounds."

Raffy didn't know what to do. He thought that he had somehow outsmarted Somnus but he ended up being fooled. After a few seconds, the buzzer sounded and their fight begins.

"Are you just going to stand there? Very well then, I will be the one to go first!"

Somnus flew up into the air and sprinkled the whole arena with golden sand.

"What are you up to?"

"You’ll see."

After a few seconds, the whole arena is sparkling like gold.

"Now, you'll see my true power."

Somnus smiled then suddenly; there were copies of him surrounding Raffy.

"Maybe you're forgetting that we are in the dream world. This is my territory, you can't win against me."

"That's what you think."

Raffy exploded blue fire that burned the copies of Somnus around him. After doing so, he lashed his arm towards Somnus. Doing so, he created fire that flew from the ground that headed directly for Somnus.

"Impressive, maybe I've underestimated you."

Somnus easily evaded Raffy's fire by sidestepping to his right and he quickly returned fire by returning Raffy's fire to him.

"Do you really think that fire could hurt me? My element is fire and that came from me. There's no way you could hurt me."

"Oh really?"

Somnus raised his hand and the fire grew golden bright. It also grew five times its size. Raffy quickly reacted by creating a fire wall. But this wall was not enough to stop the fire and it was broken, throwing Raffy many yards away from where he was.

"You used my attack against me."

"Why? Is there something wrong with that? I did say from the beginning that there would be no rules didn't I?"

Raffy still didn't know what to do, he was too weak from the two tests Somnus did on him and his injury from the attack was taking effect on him. He was running out of time when he heard a voice in his head.

"Raffy, this is Cassandra. Don't be frightened. All Somnus can do to you is manipulate your attacks. This is the dream world and unfortunately, once you launch and attack, it becomes part of the dream. You, on the other hand, are not part of the dream and so am I because we didn't enter the dream realm by sleeping."

"What now? Are you just going to stand there staring blankly into space? Or do you want your friends to die?"

"Listen carefully, he doesn't know that I'm a telepath, and so did I until a few minutes ago. You have nothing to worry. The people that Somnus got in his hourglass aren't your real friends. They're just illusions he made to trick you. Fortunately for me, the bubble I'm contained in cannot block psychic waves so I can talk to you. Here's what you're going to do to beat him..."

"It's that simple? How come I didn't think of it before?"

"What's simple?"

"This!"

Raffy again lashed his hand toward Somnus to create another towering inferno.

"That trick wouldn't work on me twice. It didn't even work the first time you did it."

Unexpectedly, Raffy's towering inferno started to grow golden bright like before when Somnus did it.

"What are you doing?"

"A taste of your own medicine."

After the fire grew golden, it left the ground and it was shot above.

"Ha ha ha, you can't even control your own fire."

Raffy just smiled and Somnus felt a bit awkward. He looked above to where the fire is shooting at. The fire that shoots from the ground is creating a large fireball above them. After the fire on the ground was consumed by the fireball, the fireball above began to shake.

"Sorry to do this to you. But I have to destroy that beautiful face of yours."

The fireball became white hot and shot a thin but very powerful line of laser toward Somnus. But he evaded Raffy's attack once more by sidestepping to his right.

"Is that all you've got?"

"Unfortunately for you, no."

"What? Why you...why...why can't I move?"

Raffy placed his aphonic lava to Somnus' right while he was looking at the accumulating fireball before. Raffy noticed that Somnus sidestepped to his right before and thought that he would do it again.

"Now, where were we? Oh, right, I was just about to kill you."

"He he he, kill me and your friends will die."

"I doubt it. See, it turns out that they were just illusions and my real friends are still out there in the dream world. So, if you don't mind..."

"How did you..."

Before Somnus could finish his sentence, Raffy shot another laser at Somnus. This time, all of the fireball is consumed to make sure that Somnus is dead.

After the fireball is gone, every inch of Somnus is destroyed. What was left of him was a pile of golden sand that was blown by the wind. After which, Raffy was returned back to Joed's dream, so was Cassandra.

"So how are you? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. That was a great job you did."

"Well, I couldn't have done it if you didn't clear things for me."

They saw the gates of the cemetery open that revealed a new cutoff point.

"Guess that's where we're headed then."

Raffy and Cassandra walked side by side towards the cutoff point, yet to find out whose dream they will be heading next.

Chapter 28: I Lie...I Cheat...I Win

"Raffy? Where are we?"

"I don't know, I can't see a thing. Here."

Raffy snapped his fingers and like a lighter, fire appeared on his thumb.

"What is this place? It is like the opposite of the void. This place is all black."

"So, do you like the dream world? The place you visit every so often. The place where everything can happen to your will?"

"Where are you? Show yourself you coward!"

Then, a piece of candle was lit on the right side of where they were looking. Then another was lit on the left side. After which, several candles were lit quickly heading towards where Raffy and Cassandra are. The lights revealed a majestic room filled with piles of sand. The sand sparkles as if it was gold dust. The room was almost half the size of a football field.

"Where are you?"

"Looking for me?"

Raffy and Cassandra turned around and saw a masked figure sitting atop a chair embedded with feathers and sparkles like gold.

"Do you like my place? I designed it myself."

"You. What have you done to my friends?"

"You mean these three?"

Somnus slowly raised his hands, followed by an earthquake. Beside him rose three giant hourglasses with people inside them.

"Addison! Jessie! Ramch! Let them go now!"

Raffy attempted to attack but he was stopped by Somnus.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You see, these hourglasses not only tell the time, but also the life of your friends. Now, I will let them go if and only if you beat me.”

“Sounds easy enough.”

“Raffy, don’t do something rash. Somnus is a trickster. He will do all kinds of tricks to win.”

“Oh, what have we here. One of the infamous daughters of King Triton. Since you’re not Frella and definitely not Quirella, I presume you’re Cassandra.”

“Leave her out of this.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I will.”

Somnus again raised his hands and sand began to encircle Cassandra.

“Cassandra!”

The sand encircled her faster and faster. After the sand stopped, she was now trapped inside a transparent crystal-like orb.

“Raffy help me!”

“Isn’t that fun? Now she cannot help you. As an added bonus for me, I captured Cassandra, which means that I will be praised by Queen Quirella. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Wonderful for you maybe. Now let them go!”

“Now, now, let’s not be hasty. How about we play a game?”

“All right. If I win, you let them go!”

“But if you lose, I get to keep Cassandra and your life.”

“That’s not fair!”

“Oh, it is but unfair to me. If you win, you will get three prizes, but as for me, I only get two. Now which one is unfair?”

“Fine. What games have you in mind?”

“Ooohh, this will be fun. We will play three games, best two out of three. Of course, I will decide which games those are. The first game will determine which one of us is faster and more accurate.”

Somnus snapped his fingers and a sandstorm occurred inside the room.

“Wha…what is this?”

As soon as the sandstorm subsided, they found themselves in a different place. It looked like a modified firing range. Raffy and Somnus were on other sides of the range.

“Where are they?”

“Who’re they?”

“You know who I meant. Now tell me where they are!”

“Hey, relax. I am keeping them away for them not to disturb our game. Don’t worry; I won’t hurt them…yet.”

“Why you!”

“All right. I will explain the game. First, there will be no powers allowed. It would be unfair for me since I can only control dreams and you have “fire” power. Is that okay with you?”

“As if I have another choice.”

“Good. In front of us, there will be people walking then as the time goes on, they will be running. You will only be shooting the ones who glow with a yellow light. If you hit one, you will gain a point. However, if you hit the ones with a red glow, a point will be deducted from you. Understood?”

“Clear as water.”

“Okay. Now, instead of powers, we will be using these.”

Somnus waved his hand and a crossbow appeared in front of both of them.

“These crossbows never run out of arrows. Therefore, we can hit the targets as much as we can. Are you ready?”

“Let’s do this.”

“Oh, one more thing. There will be no trial or practice session. Once we begin, there will be two minutes for us to hit as many as we can. Now let’s begin.”

A loud buzzer sounded and people started walking from the left and from the right of the range. Raffy and Somnus started shooting the people. Unfortunately, for Raffy, he shot the red glowing person first. Nevertheless, this did not stop him from trying his best.

Raffy finally got the hang of playing the game when he saw an arrow flying towards him and quickly dodged it.

“Hey! What was that all about?”

“I’m sorry. I forgot to tell you that you could hit any target you want. Even your enemies. Once you’re dead, I will be the winner.”

“You cheater!”

“So? What’s new?”

Raffy answered back with a shot but instead of hitting Somnus, a red glowing person walked right in front of the arrow and got hit.

“Don’t forget, this is a game of speed and accuracy.”

There were only thirty seconds left and Somnus was leading by ten points. Raffy tried to catch up while dodging Somnus’ cheating attacks but there was just no time left and Somnus was better than he was. The buzzer sounded again and the game was over. Somnus won the game by fifteen points.

“Well that was fun isn’t it?”

“You won this round. I’ll win the next one for sure.”

“Well you should, or else they die.”

Raffy can see that Somnus smile at him. Somnus once again waved his hands and another sandstorm occurred, bringing them to another place.

After the sandstorm subsided and Raffy can clearly see, he saw that it was a room with holes of different sizes on the walls. The room is divided by a line on the floor.

“Now, the second game will be a game of strength and endurance. As you can see, there is a line dividing this room and neither you nor I can cross that line or he looses. Rocks will fly out of the holes on the walls. Depending on how you want to do it, you may smash the rocks, dodge it, or just receive the blows they will be bringing you. Those rocks will fly out in no certain order from those holes and it may vary in speed now and then. As our game approaches its end, many rocks will fly out of these holes simultaneously so it is quite impossible to dodge them. Rather, you should just endure the blows you receive.”

“Is that all?”

“The goal of the game is to smash as many rocks as possible within five minutes. Let me just remind you that some rocks of the rocks are heavy. And when I win this game, you and your friends will die. So, do you have any questions?”

“No. Let’s get this over with so I can defeat you.”

“You sure seem to be confident. Let’s see where that confidence of yours will take you.”

“He might use some tricks so I should be careful. I must save them so I must win or else they will die. He should have a taste of his own medicine.”

“Let the game begin!”

The buzzer sounded and rocks of different sizes and speeds flew out of the holes and towards Raffy and Somnus. Raffy, thinking before of cheating Somnus, spotted a fast rock that seemed heavy approaching him and redirected it towards Somnus. He did not expect that Raffy would do something like that so he was not able to dodge it. Even though it was Somnus who got the point for the rock, Raffy knows that he was able to weaken him somehow.

“I was not expecting you to do something like that.”

“I know, that’s why I did it.”

“You’re new to this cheating game, let me show you how it is done.”

Somnus caught a rock and threw it against another rock.

“Is that what you call cheating? I’d rather ask a teacher how to cheat.”

“I’d look carefully if I were you.”

The rock Somnus threw caused a reaction with the other rocks. The rock that he hit flew in another direction and again hit another rock. This went for quite some time while Somnus and Raffy are still smashing and dodging rocks. After a few seconds, the rocks that were hit by Somnus’ rock seem to be flying towards Raffy. He didn’t know what to do so he had no other choice but to endure it.

He did acquire many points for enduring the blow of the rocks, however, he was weakened by Somnus.

“And that is how cheating is done.”

“You…”

Knowing that there are only a few seconds left, Raffy quickly redirected a couple of rocks towards Somnus but he was able to dodge both of them.

“Is that all you’ve got?”

Raffy quickly drew a large fireball and threw it at Somnus’ mask. He was not able to dodge it in surprise and it destroyed his mask.

“He he he…”

“What are you laughing about?”

“That was one cheap trick…and I like it.”

The buzzer sounded, which means that the game is over.

“Congratulations, you win this round.”

“It’s all thanks to what you’ve done. Now show me your face!”

Somnus slowly brought his head up and looked at Raffy.

“J…Ji…Jiggy?”

“I don’t know who this ‘Jiggy’ person is but this is my face. It’s beautiful isn’t it? Now…for the last game. I’ll make sure that you lose this time.”

For the last time, Somnus waved his hands and a sandstorm came that will bring them to yet another place of battle.

Chapter 27: Werewolves! (Saving Joed)

Then as they walked on, they finally saw the cutoff point of Francis' dream. As soon as they stepped into the other dream, Francis' dream vanished.

"What happened? That didn't happen before."

"I have a bad feeling about this Raffy."

"Where are we anyway?"

"I just hope it's another dream, not the void that we were in the first time we went here."

"This place doesn't look like any void. This is way creepier than that void."

They were in a cemetery lighted by a full moon above their heads. The trees that surround them are all dead and some of them have skeletons hung on them.

"This looks like a set for some horror film."

"Does this remind you of any fear of your frieds?"

"I don't think so. I don't know them that well actually."

Suddenly, a rustling sound came from behind them.

"Raffy! What was that?"

"I...I don't know. Just keep close."

Then rustling came from behind them again.

"I do not like this nightmare Raffy, not at all."

Then Raffy saw a shadow from behind one of the trees.

"Cassandra, follow me quietly."

They slowly went behind the tree to see who it was.

"Joed? Is that you?"

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!"

"Whoa, it's me. It's Raffy."

"Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry, I thought you were the one making those rustling sounds."

"Where? Where did you hear it?"

"Right over there behind those bushes."

"What? We better leave, fast!"

"Why? What is it? What are you staring at?"

"Umm...Raffy, I think we better leave."

"What is it Cassandra?"

"Lo...look!"

Raffy saw what Cassandra and Joed was looking at. It was a strangely big wolf standing on its hind legs.

"Is that what I think it is Joed?"

"Yup. That's a werewolf."

Raffy tried to get closer to the werewolf to talk it out of eating them.

"What are you doing?"

"Wait. Let me just try this thing that I saw in a movie once."

"It's too dangerous! Don't be foolish."

"Just trust me Cassandra."

Once Raffy got about 12 feet away from the werewolf, he tried to talk some sense into it. But the more he talked, the more the werewolf looked hungry and angry.

"Raffy, what was that movie that you talked about before?"

"It was 'A Thousand and One Tales of Bugs Bunny'. Why?"

"You idiot! Run!"

Suddenly, the werewolf started howling. Everybody started running out of the cemetery with hopes that the werewolf will stop following them.

"Is it still following us?"

"I don't know. Just keep running Cassandra!"

"I don't think I can run anymore."

Cassandra tripped but Raffy managed to catch her.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Wait, where is the werewolf? Do you see it anywhere Joed?"

"No. I think I found its weakness. Look."

Raffy looked in the sky and saw that the full moon is being enveloped by the thick clouds.

"But that cloud isn't going to stay there forever, we better keep moving."

They walked towards the entrance of the cemetery as Cassandra noticed something.

"Hey Raffy."

"Yes?"

"Isn't it that every dream has a cutoff point?"

"I believe so. Why'd you ask?"

"Because I think the cutoff point is coming towards us!"

Raffy looked at the entrance of the cemetery and saw it disappearing along with the ground.

"Uh oh. Joed, you have to wake up. This is all just a nightmare!"

"I...I don't think I can."

"No! You can do it!"

"I...I don't know how."

"This is much different than the others'. We made them go back to the real world by helping them conquer their nightmares. But I think this nightmare's going to conquer us."

"We have another problem guys."

The cloud that enveloped the moon before is starting to reveal the moon once again.

"This is bad. Real bad."

"Tell me about it, Joed. Hey, how about we use our powers to destroy the monster? After all, it's only one."

"Great idea."

"Better power up you guys. Here comes the werewolf. Or should I say, werewolves."

The moon revealed two werewolves behind the trees. Once Raffy saw this, he powered up and transformed. Joed, however, could not.

"What's the problem?"

"I don't know. I can't use my powers."

"Raffy, I think Somnus is preventing Joed from using his powers."

"But how come I can use mine?"

"It's because you are not dreaming, or something like that. You came from the real world into this dream. Somnus has no control over you."

"Then I should do this alone. You guys stand back."

"But..."

"No buts Cassandra. Leave it to me."

Raffy then hurdled towards the monsters while throwing balls of fire. His transformation gave him amazing speed and agility that he can easily avoid the attacks of the werewolves. While Raffy is fighting the werewolves, Joed introduced himself to Cassandra, in an ungentlemanly way.

"Hey there sexy lady. I'm John Edward, but you can call me Joed. Have we met before?"

"I don't think so. Do you think we can help Raffy fight those monsters?"

"He's big enough, he can handle himself. You know, you have very beautiful eyes when the moon illuminates them."

"Thank you. But I really think we should help Raffy."

"Let's not talk about Raffy. Let's talk about us. How about a date, then afterwards, maybe something more intimate?"

Cassandra looked disgustingly at Joed.

"Hey, hey, don't look..."

Joed was interrupted by Cassandra’s hand. She slapped him on the face so hard that he fell to his knees.

"What was that for?"

"Talk to me like that again and I'll slap you so many times that you will not be able to recognize your face in the mirror. Now, stop flirting with me and think of a way of helping Raffy!"

"All right, all right. Sheesh. Hey, isn't it that everything that comes in the way of the cutoff point that you're saying is vanishing?"

"Yes. Why? What do you have in mind?"

"Raffy will blast the werewolves towards the cutoff point so they will vanish."

"That's a brilliant idea."

"Raffy!"

"What is it Joed? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"We have an idea on how you can destroy the werewolves!"

"Yeah? What is it?"

Raffy put a firewall around the werewolves to give him time to hear the plan.

"Is that it? Sounds simple enough."

"Yeah, simple enough for a simpleton like you."

"You better hurry up Raffy, the cutoff point's almost here."

Raffy waited for the firewall to subside and hit the werewolves with a blast of his flamethrower attack.

"Now Raffy! Do it!"

As soon as the firewall revealed the werewolves, Raffy blasted them with fire into the cutoff point.

"Raffy, you missed one!"

"What?"

Raffy and Cassandra was caught unaware of the escape of one of the werewolves that it had enough time to attack Cassandra.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh!"

As the werewolf was about to attack Cassandra, Joed picked up a large branch of a tree and swung it powerfully, enough for the werewolf to fly into the cutoff point.

"Umm, thank you."

"No problem. By the way, sorry for the way I acted before."

"That's okay. After all, you saved my life."

"Hey guys! Are you okay? Nice swing Joed."

"Hey Joed, you conquered your fear! You actually placed your life on the line to save me."

"You're right Cassandra, he did it."

"I couldn't have done it without your help. Thanks."

Then Joed slowly vanished and went back to his bed.

"Raffy, we have another problem."

"What is it? The werewolves are gone and Joed's safe, what other problems are there to take care of?"

"That one."

Cassandra pointed to the cutoff point that heading towards them in a very fast pace.

"I don't think we can stop that thing from coming near us, or even avoid it."

"Then what are we going to do?"

"Let's just hope that wherever that thing's dropping us, it is not with the werewolves."

As the cutoff point neared them, Cassandra held Raffy’s arm tightly. Raffy on the other hand, feeling Cassandra's fear and his, hugged Cassandra to brace themselves on what was going to happen next. As soon as the cutoff point passed them, they disappeared.

Chapter 26: That's What Friends Are For (Saving Pinggoy and Francis)

Even though they are still far away from Pinggoy's dream, they can hear him scream.

"Whoa, Pinggoy must be dreaming some nightmare for him to scream like that."

"Your friend sure can scream."

"You have no idea how that scream can severe the insides of your ear."

They ran towards Pinggoy who is standing on top of a block. Something below him is wriggling.

"What do you think are those things below him?"

"I don't know. Let's get closer so we can see."

They continued running towards Pinggoy and were surprised to see what the wriggling creatures were.

"Are those kittens?"

"I think so. But why is Pinggoy afraid of them."

"They are adorable. How can such adorable little kittens scare him?"

"Let's find out."

Raffy went a little closer to talk to Pinggoy.

"Hey, Pinggoy. Are you all right?"

"Raffy? Is that you? Please help me. These things are hideous."

"Hideous? What made them hideous?"

"They look scary to me okay? I just don't like them!"

Cassandra walked towards the kittens and took one.

"They're so cute!"

"What made those creatures cute? Who are you anyway? Would you like to introduce me, Raffy?"

"Oh, sure...Pinggoy, this is Cassandra. She's Queen Frella's sister. And Cassandra, this is my friend Pinggoy."

"Nice to meet you Pinggoy."

"Nice to meet you too. Now would you two please help me out of here?"

"Why don't you try coming down from there and touch these kittens."

"Are you insane? They might scratch and hurt me."

"No they won't. Look, Cassandra's holding one and she's okay."

"They're really not that bad. They are so adorable I could hug them all day."

"So? What about it Pinggoy? I have known you to be someone who takes chances. Why not take this risk? You've nothing to lose."

"Well..."

"Here, if you don't like to touch the others because you're afraid they might hurt you, take this one. I have been holding him for quite some time and he hasn't hurt me yet."

"All right. But if he scratches me even once, I'm going to kill you Raffy."

When Cassandra was about to hand the kitten to Pinggoy, it snarled at him and attempted to scratch him. Cassandra took the kitten away so it would not hurt Pinggoy.

"Is that what you call safe?"

"I...I am sorry. I didn't know he was going to do that."

"Why is it that these damn kittens hate me?"

"Maybe because you hate them, that's why they hate you."

"I had enough out of you. Don't you dare speak to me again!"

"Hey Pinggoy, don't say things like that. She was just trying to help you. Besides, I think she is right. Tell me, do you hate kittens?"

"Yes. I don't like them. Don't ask why, I just don't like them. I'm more of a dog person."

"Then that's it."

"What's it?"

"You do hate them just like what Cassandra said. Maybe if you try not hating them, they would not hurt you."

"But how can I do that?"

"I am really sorry about what happened before. But if you try again, I know that he wouldn't hurt you anymore."

"How do you know?"

"Trust me."

"Well...okay."

Cassandra slowly handed the kitty to Pinggoy. Pinggoy closed his eyes and cleared his mind of all the scary things that he thought cats might do to him.

"So? Did I do it? Am I holding the kitten?"

"Yes! You did it Pinggoy!"

"Oh thank you very much Cassandra. You too Raffy."

"So, do you think you can now get down from that block?"

"Of course."

Pinggoy slowly stepped down from the block while still holding the kitten Cassandra handed to him.

"Guys, thank you very much."

Pinggoy walked away together with the kitten and he and the kitten slowly vanished.

"So I think he's now back in his bed?"

"Yes. Just like Paolo. Who do you think is next in this sequence of dreams?"

"I don't know, I can't hear any scream for help."

"Let's just walk ahead till we see the cutoff point of Pinggoy's dream."

Raffy and Cassandra walked and walked until they hear some voices.

"I think we're near him."

They ran and saw that the dream cuts off to a theater. They heard people shouting rude things at someone on the stage.

"Let's hurry up. I think whoever he is; he's in a lot more trouble than Paolo and Pinggoy."

"I think so. Those people shouldn't be shouting such horrible things."

They hurried past the audience and onto the stage. There, they saw Francis singing, only, he does not have any voice.

"Hey Francis, are you okay?"

Francis looked at Raffy and smiled. He mouthed “Raffy! Help me...I don't have any voice.”

"I'm sorry? What is that?"

"He has lost his voice."

"What? So you mean to tell me that he's afraid to lose his voice?"

"Yes."

"Well, that makes sense; he can't stop himself from speaking."

Francis punched Raffy in the arm and took a pad and a pen from the stool beside him.

"I might be dumb but I'm not deaf you idiot!"

"You're dumb? I have always told you that. But you never seem to admit it till now."

Then suddenly, a tomato hit Raffy's face.

"Hey! Stop that!"

"Raffy, I think we better go to the back stage before any more tomatoes hit your face."

Once they were backstage, Francis hit Raffy on the head.

"Hey! What was that for?"

Francis wrote on his pad again and showed it to Raffy.

"Dumb as in 'cannot speak' not dumb as in 'stupid' you moron!"

"Sorry! So Cassandra, how do you suppose we can help him?"

"Well, the only thing we can do is help him get over his fear."

"But how can we help him get over his fear of losing his voice?"

"Well, I don't know actually."

While the three of them are thinking how to bring Francis' voice back, the audience was getting restless.

"Why are they getting that restless? Why can't they just go home?"

"I'll check on them and ask them to leave."

As soon as Raffy opened the curtains, he was shocked to see the audience turn to monsters one by one.

"Umm...guys, I think we should leave...Now."

"Why? What is it?"

Cassandra looked outside and saw the monsters. The monsters saw them and started to go after them.

"I think they saw us Raffy."

"You think?"

"The only way to make them go away is to make your friend wake up. And to do that we must help him get over his fear."

"Well good luck with that!"

Raffy glanced over at Francis and saw that he's terrified.

"I'll hold them back. You help Francis get his voice back."

Raffy went on the stage and faced the monsters.

"You monsters better get back if you don't want to get hurt."

Raffy still did not know how to transform to his guardian form like what happened before in the volcano.

Raffy fought the monsters one by one by throwing at them fireballs.

"Damn! I can't hold them off like this. I need to transform to my guardian form. But how!"

While Raffy's fighting the monsters on stage, Cassandra tries to help Francis get his voice back.

"This is your dream right? So you can stop the monsters."

Francis, still shaking, took his pen and wrote on the paper.

"I know that this is my dream, but I'm not the one doing this. I won't do anything to hurt any of my friends."

"If that's the case, then who's doing all this?"

"I don't know. The only thing I remember is singing in front of the crowd. Then the place suddenly blacked-out. When the lights were turned back on, I couldn't sing anymore."

"Could it be that Somnus is changing the audience to monsters?"

"Hey guys! I'd really appreciate it if you could just hurry it up!"

Raffy's still fighting the monsters. They don't seem to be hurt at all by Raffy's fireballs. They seem to be invincible.

"Francis, listen to me. You're the only one who can stop all this."

"But I don't know how."

"Try shouting or talking or something. Just talk and you can save all of us."

While Cassandra tries to help Francis, Raffy thinks of ways to lure the monsters away from them.

"If I could just do my firewall again. Here goes nothing...Firewall!"

Pillars of fire began to fence the stage. Unfortunately, some monsters got through his firewall even before he cast it. The monster caught Raffy by surprise and scratched him.

"Ouch! Get away from me you monsters!"

Raffy continuously threw fireballs at them. However, he is getting weaker after every throw.

Francis is now crying not only because of losing his voice but also because he's the reason Raffy's hurt.

"Francis, come on! I know you can do it! I've known you long enough to know that you don’t give up easily!"

Suddenly, two monsters held Raffy tightly by his hands. While he is being held, another monster went in front of him holding a metal bar that came from the railing of the stairs.

Cassandra tried to fight the monster but she was just no match for them. As the monster gets closer to Raffy, Francis tries to speak. He tries as hard as he could so he can save Raffy.

Just as the monster was going to smash Raffy in the head, Francis remembered the words Raffy said. His words echoed through Francis' head. Then he shouted as hard as he could.

"Raffy! No!"

Then suddenly, everything changed. The monsters were now gone and they were now in a different place. The place was more bigger than before and the audience are just coming in from the doors.

"Francis, you did it! You saved me!"

"No, actually, it was you who saved me. Thank you."

"Well, Cassandra and I will be sitting in front and we will watch you sing."

Raffy and Cassandra went down the stage and sat in the front row. The host of the concert announced Francis and everybody applauded. Francis sang for a short while as he slowly disappears along with the audience.

"I didn't think I'd get to know your friends this way. Your friend sure does care a lot for you."

"I guess so. He was always hanging around me. I find it irritating most of the time. But I think it was his way of showing how he cares."

"By hanging around you that much?"

"I don't know exactly. I don't want to think about it anymore. The important thing is we saved Francis."

"Don't forget Pinggoy and Paolo."

"You know, you were really a lot of help. I don't know if I could have done this without you."

"Stop it! You're making me blush. We'd better get going. I think there are more of your friends ahead."

"Okay. By the way, I really meant what I said. You were a big help."

Cassandra smiled and walked side by side with Raffy as they went out of the theater.

"Raffy, aren't you hurt?"

"Not anymore. Seeing that I helped Francis and all, it made me feel a lot better."

"Are you sure?"

"And then there's you."

"I said stop it! You're really making me blush!"

Cassandra slapped Raffy's arm lightly and smiled.

"Ouch! That hurt!"

"I thought you're not hurt anymore?"

"Well...I...never mind."

Raffy and Cassandra kept on walking and hoped to see the next dream soon so they could get out of the dream world. They have no idea that the challenge for them is just beginning.