One Little Spark: Part 1

Chapter 25

          The Abiteth barely misses its catch as it reaches for the Dream Machine. One large swipe from its spider legs would be enough to slice the Dream Machine in half from the balloon to its wheels and suction pipe. The one leg swishes past it the Dream Machine, blowing the afterburning of its wind against it and tumbling it sideways. The wind tumbling it into losing its balance to stay afloat affects the passengers onboard. The reaction has made Dreamfinder fall off of his chair and onto Rachel. His eyes widen at the sight of Rachel's granted wish she secretly wished for from her necklace.

          Above him, at Rachel's feet, he sees a metal weapon in her hands with a handle, six barrels and a trigger: a mini gun. Cold and black was its image. It has a built-in rocket launcher at the center and is carried like an assault rifle. Where the heck did that thing come from, Dreamfinder thought to himself. Seeing it in Rachel's hands it must be hers. The shine of the sun reflects onto the gun and brightens onto Rachel's angered face. Her eyes are squinting from the sunlight, her brows are crunched down and wrinkled, her hands are tightly gripped onto the gun, and her teeth are clenched with great irritation.

"Get behind me, Dreamfinder!" Rachel shouts. She stomps to the side of the Dream Machine. Loaded and ready to shoot she lifts her left leg to the railing and shouts, "Eat led, Crab-Gut!"

"Rachel!" Dreamfinder also shouts.

          But Rachel ignores him and pulls the trigger. She aims the gun in a circle as the R.I.P. bullets shoot out rapidly from the gun and they fly straight toward the mouth of the beast. Each area of the Abiteth the bullets hit immediately blasts into a crater of organic gush and mush. The monster shrieks in agony falling back from the bullets. Rachel's screams are also muted from the Abiteth's. A few of the bullets have already hit four of the Abiteth's eyes and chip off most of the decayed teeth from the mouth.

          Meanwhile, Alex and Figment are trying to keep the pipes and steam engines cooled off. It had become difficult, however, since the Abiteth's attempts to thwart the Dream Machine has put them in a more wobbly position. Back and forth to two friends are being tossed around like a salad. Some of the pipes are beginning to break off and spew out some dream steam followed by a whistling sound. Alex takes out a wrench he had brought from home and tries to screw the pipes back into place. Poor Figment is hanging onto the rail for dear life as he is being swayed in all directions of the air screaming.

          As Rachel continues shooting at the beast, Dreamfinder struggles to get back to his seat and the controls to the air ship. He rolls away from her and crawls back to the side of the seat. His arms grab the farther side of the chair and he quickly pulls himself up. Planted back where he is needed to be, the Dreamfinder pushes and pulls the left lever forward and the right one backwards. The balloon of the Dream Machine grew bigger with more air lifting everyone higher and higher away from the Abiteth monster. Doing this has stabilized the aircraft despite the winds of the Abiteth's legs swooshing them away from it. Rachel withdraws her firearm as the Dream Machine pulls her away from her reach. Just as she does, Alex and Figment return to her and Dreamfinder to see what is happening.

"Yeah! How do you like that?" Rachel shouted.

"Uh, Rachel..." Dreamfinder spoke in a nervous tone, "I know that we're in a serious situation here but was the gun really, well...necessary?"

"You want a giant spider-squid monster to jump up and kill us?" Rachel asked.

"Yikes!" Figment exclaims. "It's even scarier like this than before."

"That's because it's bigger!" Alex confirms. "That size is big enough to destroy all of Iyra City lickety-split!"

"Or any sort of city for that matter." Dreamfinder added.

"Maybe an entire state if it gets angry or hungry enough." said Rachel. "But at least we're high enough now."

"Don't jinx it!" Figment shouts.

"How? We're going high enough for it not to reach us, aren't we?"

"We ought to." said Dreamfinder. "A high temperature like this should make us ascend higher. If this were colder temperature, we'd be going up much slower."

"Then why are we going slower than faster?" Figment asked.

"Perhaps there is something colder around here that's causing it." Alex guesses.

"That may be relevant." Dreamfinder agrees. "But what could be holding us down?"

"Uh...guys?" Rachel interrupts.

"What?"

"Trouble at four o'clock!"

          Below them, the Abiteth opens its mouth wide revealing the blood-rot teeth and long whipping tongue. Its fore legs spring the creature upward to the back of its shell. Out of its mouth the monster begins to gargle a gruesome purplish-green pool of goop. The monster then starts shooting the goop into big blobs at an incredible force like a cannon. Some of them have hit the Dream Machine and its balloon and have once again started tossing the four friends out of balance. One of those blobs have hit up to the bottom side of the balloon right above them. Falling onto their skin it drips down onto them in very sticky drooping drops twice the size of a man's fist. The very touch of it is enough to chill a bear into hibernation during the summer. Surprising screams are shot out from the Dreamfinder and his friends.

"Agh! It's cold!" Figment shouts.

"But how? It's over a hundred sidkas out here!" Alex points out.

"Sidkas?"

"To the humans, a hundred sidkas are referred to as a hundred degrees."

"Very neat! I'll be sure to put that in my vocabulary."

"Focus. Please!" Dreamfinder shouts.

"Wait a minute! I think I might know the answer to this!" Rachel shouts.

"The sidkas?" Figment guesses.

"No, the goop itself! This is the same goop we were covered with back in the cave...or shell or whatever it is and—"

"Aw gross!" Alex exclaims with disgust.

"Moving along, when that happened did anyone notice how cold it was getting in there?"

"I did feel a sudden chill go up my spine when I breathed that gas and while I was sleeping." Figment admits.

"I...That-that's right! Me too." Dreamfinder also said. "But what's that got to do with right now?"

"Hear me out..." Rachel began, "you know how a bear hibernates through the winter because it's so cold to live through, or how some reptiles become sleepy in the cold, or perhaps how we're not as motivated to do anything without sunlight? Cold temperatures can most of the time lead us to be a lot more dormant to do anything at all. So when the creature infected us with the gas and this goop—"

"Its fashioned itself into a kind of tranquilizing drug to weaken our senses," Dreamfinder realizes, "therefore gradually sending us into what it seemed like a lackadaisically, yet strangely heavy suspended animation into our demise as a dietary organic fodder for its appetition!"

"What?" everyone exclaims in confusion.

"Drug us to sleep so it could eat us." Dreamfinder clarifies.

"Yes! Ten points for Gryffindor!" Rachel shouts.

"Thanks...I think. But I still don't understand where you're getting at."

"Think of it this way: you just said that colder temperatures would make the balloon not rise as high or fast enough. We were just flying higher from the monster up until it started shooting that goop at us."

"And if that's the case, then maybe..." Dreamfinder gets up and looks to the side of the balloon frantically. His eyes widen as he sees the goop from the Abiteth sizzling onto the fabric. He then confirms, "By George, Rachel, I think you've got it! It's the temperature of the goop that is making up rise slower, or worse yet, shrinking. So long as the creature keeps shooting it at us, we'll all be sitting ducks!"

"Well now that we've solved the goop mystery, how are we supposed to defeat this thing?" Alex points out.

"Hmm...hot deserts..." Dreamfinder then starts to brainstorm an idea thinking "cold cave...freezing goop...I can only assume that this creature is very much warm-blooded. It hates the hot desert sun out here and its cave-like shell is the only source of cold temperature out here."

"What are you thinking, Dreamfinder?" asked Figment.

"If there is a way to get that thing out of the shell and into the sunlight, its chances of surviving it are between very slim to none."

"And just how are we going to get it out?" Rachel asked.

"Easy!" Figment exclaims. He suddenly imagines himself wearing a puffy vest and a bucket hat decorated with fishhooks. At his side appears a small bucket of worms squirming all over each other like tiny snakes. And in his hands, a fishing rod comes out with a rubber grip on the handle and vast length of a fishing line. As his transformation materializes, Figment immediately reacts to his plan saying, "We fish it out!"

"Hmm...that sounds a bit barmy on the crumpet," said Dreamfinder as he brushes his beard with a finger and thumb, "but that might just work."

"Uh...that sounds like a great idea in all, Figment," said Alex, "but don't you think we're going to need a much bigger and much sturdier rod to catch that thing?"

"Hmm...you're right, Alex. Hey! Maybe we can use the Dream Machine as a fishing rod!"

"You mean put a trawling net on the bottom of the airship to catch it and pull it into the desert?" Rachel suggested.

"I don't know what trawling means, but I understood the rest of what you've said. So yes!"

"This could work!" Dreamfinder agrees. "Imagining one to become real should be easy enough. The only problem is how we can get a trawling mechanism under it without getting hit by that beast."

"I can keep shooting at it." Rachel offered.

"Personally, Rachel I'd hate for you to do that some more, but I guess that's the only line of defense we've got."

"So it's settled then. I shoot at the beast, while you two lower Dreamfinder down and under the Dream Machine so he can install it."

"Not to complain, but I don't know if Figment and Alex can carry me so far down."

"It's true." said Figment. "The first two times I tried to carry Dreamfinder he's much too heavy for me to carry both alone and with help."

"Which isn't to say I'm overweight or anything like that."

"I'll go." Alex volunteers. "Dreamfinder may be heavy, the trawler might be too heavy for Figment to carry, and next to Dreamfinder I'm the only other person who knows who to use a wrench and a hammer."

"I'm heavy?" Dreamfinder barks, realizing Alex's use of words at him.

"Alright, you guys get on it." Rachel orders. "I'll go deal with this creep."

"Right!" Figment and Alex say together.

"Hey Alex!"

"Yeah?" Alex replies.

"Be careful." said Rachel with her eyes slightly loosened from the determined scrunch on her forehead.

          Giving a nod back Alex joins with Dreamfinder and Figment to prepare the trawling net, while Rachel prepares for her second round with the desert monster. Both Figment and Dreamfinder tie some ropes around Alex extra tight so he would not fall off the ship. The last thing anyone wants is to become the creature's lunch.

          But as Figment puts in the finishing touches on the young Katkin, Dreamfinder runs inside the cabin and to his room. On each side of the door are shelves full of a variety of books, most of them about scientific theories and mechanisms over the ages. He drags his finger across the lines of books until he quickly pulls out a book he found most suitable for this event. The title cover read "Gone Fishin': The History, the Methods and the Mechanics of Fishing" with a picture of small picture of hundreds of small fishing boats on a lake. Each of the fishermen sat in their boats with their lines dangling in the water with only one fish swimming around by itself. Seeing how the cover is printed looks a little misleading since they added a history section, the artist technically should have put in pictures of old boats from different time periods.

          Dreamfinder could think critically about this, but this is not the time. He flips the pages abruptly, nearly ripping a couple of them in the process. Finally, he finds a picture of a machine that pulls and lets go of a giant net. On the top of the first page it reads "Trawling Nets." This is just what he needs! Dreamfinder takes the book and runs back to his friends where he finds Figment already lowering Alex to the underside of the Dream Machine. Upon arrival, his brain whirls with the image of the trawling net from the book to appear in his hands. Being a Dreamfinder, whatever thought runs in his mind so long as it is pure and well focused, that thought turns into reality. Dreamfinder thinks hard and pictures the trawling net in his mind. In an immediate response, the net appears in front of him along with the winding mechanism to pull and let go and fell to the floor with a loud thud. Taking what is left of the rope, the Dreamfinder straps up the mechanism with it facing upside down and the net wound up. He then ties the ropes into loops on the railing at the side of the ship, puts the end of the rope under his foot, lifts the mechanism and then starts lowering it to Alex, who is already underneath the Dream Machine.

          The young Katkin sees the net with the winding mechanism lowering to him. He swings a little to grab it. A smile lights up on his furry face when he does. Alex pulls it back to his position where an unused spot of the underside is left bare. Out of his pocket Alex pulls out a weird fob that is as big is his hand. The fob opens up into a compatible battery powered hand drill. And with any luck, the screws would fit perfectly into the little holes that will keep the mechanism intact without falling. He puts the upside down winding mechanism against the underside and starts drilling the screws in the holes.

          The gun has been reloaded in time before the Abiteth jumps into the air again and take another swipe at the Dream Machine. The only advantage to that, as Rachel could see, is that the weight of the giant shell the creature is living in adds a lot of weight for it to fall down much faster. It would be a much greater advantage for the shell to actually break and reveal the creature's much smaller size if the surface ground were made of concrete instead of just sand. As the Abiteth reaches up to the airship with its eyes darting at the girl with the weapon, Rachel loads the gun and starts shooting again. She manages to blast off a couple more eyeballs into gush and mush making the Abiteth cry out a terrible shriek. Its tentacles barely miss grasping onto the balloon that keeps the Dream Machine afloat. The shell it houses in begins to fall first pulling the creature down with it. From what looks like a very long way down from the Dream Machine, it may be just a short fall for the creature to hit. When it hit the ground, the sand dunes puff up into very large dust clouds. All seems quiet at the moment. Not another cry or any sign of movement. The Abiteth has got to be dead now. Perhaps that was all there was to it.

"Is it dead?" Rachel murmurs. "Did I kill it?"

          Yuna, who has been hiding in the sapphire necklace Rachel wished for the gun from, flies out of the necklace swiftly without giving the Dreamfinder any notice of her presence to join Rachel. She sits on the farther side of Rachel's shoulder where none of her friends would see.

"Yuna?" said Rachel. "Is it dead and gone yet?"

Without thinking, Yuna replies "No. You've only just made it angrier."

          But then Rachel watches the dust clouds move slightly in a quickening pace. It's not over yet. The creature is still alive within the sand. Rachel pulls the trigger from the mini gun, but no bullets come out.

"Damn it, I'm out!" Rachel growls.

          Suddenly, without warning, the Abiteth shoots out more of its freezing goop. Only this time, they are coming out in much larger sizes than the last batch. The purple-green colors of the goop are reflecting from the sunlight as they zip straight towards Rachel and her friends. One of them makes a hard splatter onto the side of the balloon, sending the Dream Machine flying backwards. Alex was halfway through with attaching the mechanism to the bottom of the airship when it happened. The forceful wind has the Katkin waving and dangling away from it like a flag. He grabs onto one of the steam pipes while trying to keep the mechanism up from falling by the tips of his fingers. Figment and Dreamfinder fall back also where Dreamfinder loses his hat off the side of the airship like back in Iyrilia. Their hands are still tightly holding onto the ropes that are supporting Alex and the trawling net.

          Seeing the Dream Machine taking a large blow from its goop attack, the Abiteth takes another jump out of the giant dust cloud. Its mouth opens wide enough to gobble the entire Dream Machine whole. With the creature soaring fast up in the air the fears of the four friends begin to rise up even fiercer than before. The goop in the Abiteth's open mouth gargles wildly. Rachel's eyes widen at the sight. She throws her empty gun at the monster, hitting it on one of its working eyes. As it starts to fall down again blinded, the Abiteth makes an accidental shot out of a goopy ball straight at Rachel, but Rachel doesn't move. She is frozen with fear. Dreamfinder, who had recovered from the blow, watches the creature make its maneuver happen. Figment loudly calls out to his creator, but Dreamfinder ignores it. He quickly jumps to his feet and runs straight to Rachel. Just as the goop is about to touch Rachel, Dreamfinder makes like a human shield, pushes Rachel out of the way and gets blasted off and covered in Abiteth's gruesome goop. A small chunk of it, as big as a man's fist, gets into Dreamfinder's mouth and he swallows it.

          The taste and after of the goop is so disgusting it has left the poor man hacking and choking until tears flooded his eyes. It tasted like vomit mixed with the smell of lamp oil, gas and sewage. And the worst part is that it tastes even more terrible when it's cold. Dreamfinder tries to throw it all back out over the side of the Dream Machine, but it wouldn't. The goop had solidified into a tacky blob in his throat. The more attempts he has tried, the worse the taste gets onto his taste buds.

"Agh! Blegh! Gross!" Dreamfinder cries.

"Dreamfinder!" Rachel yells. "Dreamfinder, are you alright?"

"Ack! Yeah. Yes dear, I'm alright."

"What? What'd you call me?" she asks.

"Uh...I called you 'Rachel,' Rachel." said Dreamfinder awkwardly. Underneath the goop, his cheeks begin to blush again.

"Okay...gross! You've swallowed a bit of that stuff."

"You don't have to tell me twice."

"Will you be alright?"

"I do hope so. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I am. Thanks." Rachel smiles.

"Good." said Dreamfinder.

"Dreamfinder! Rachel!" Figment calls out from the other side of the Dream Machine.

"Are you guys okay?" Alex shouts.

"We're fine!" said Rachel. "At least, I hope Dreamfinder is."

"I'm good!" Dreamfinder confirms. "Are you almost done, Alex?"

"I've got about a screw or two to go." said Alex as he wipes the sweat off his forehead with his arm. "I need a little more time."

"Okay! I'll keep the Dream Machine moving for a while until you finish. We can't have another blow get us."

"Are you sure, Dreamfinder?" Rachel asked in a worrisome tone. "You look like you're turning a little pale."

"I promise you I'll be fine, Rachel." Dreamfinder says as he attempts to climb onto his pilot's seat.

          The Dreamfinder's jacket and dress coat is completely drenched as it squishes at the sound of his arms moving. His hands and shoes give out a splattering noise as he tightens his fists and takes one step after another. The goop slowly drapes down from head to toe forming a trail behind Dreamfinder up to his seat. Much of the goop is covering his face it's tangling the hairs on his head, his mustache and his beard. Dreamfinder has made sure his mouth stays completely closed until he needs to breath again, though he fears that his breaths would catch a taste of the goopy smell both through the mouth and the nose. It was best for him to hold his breath for a while.

          Clickety-click did the levers sound when Dreamfinder push and pulled them for the Dream Machine to moved. A much riskier move for him to do is decrease the air inside the balloon for it to go lower. Not only will it get it closer to the Abiteth's reach, but also increase the chances of running out of air from the freezing goop. Up and down, left and right the Dreamfinder had made it go tossing everyone else on board like a salad. But it only made the goop he swallowed into his body much sicker.

          All of the Abiteth's shots have done it no good to hit its target. The Dream Machine keeps dodging them without fail since it hit the Dreamfinder. This has only made the creature a lot more agitated than before, a lot more than Rachel shooting at it.

          Finally getting the trawling net attached to the Dream Machine, Alex tugs onto his rope. The little dragon Figment received his signal and immediately pulls the Katkin boy up. As Alex pops his head over the flooring on the side of the ship, he sees Dreamfinder completely covered in the Abiteth's broth. He vomits over the railing and watches it fail fast down to the sandy surface below. Figment pats Alex on his back for his comfort.

"Well," Alex begins as he finishes his little sickening scene, "I got the net attached, what now?"

"Dreamfinder?" Figment calls out.

"Here's the plan...I've already imagined hooks to be connected to the netting." said Dreamfinder with a gargling tone in his voice from the goop. "We have to get close enough to that thing, drop the net, and once it gets tangled in it we pull it out of it shell and destroy it!"

"Sounds like a plan to me!"

"How are we going to get closer to it?" Rachel asks. "It looks even more annoyed at us than before, let alone we've escaped from becoming his snack."

"We're just going to have to force our way down there." Dreamfinder suggests.

"At the jaws of the beast?!"

"You've got any better ideas?"

          Rachel didn't say a word. The expression on her face looks a lot more guilty and shameful than anything else. Of all people, only Dreamfinder could really tell. A short moment of silence came about for Rachel to think it over, but not a single idea has come into mind. There is no other way to defeat it.

"No, I don't." said Rachel. "Let's do it."

"Alex!" Dreamfinder exclaims. "I need you and Figment by the net. When I give the signal, you let the mechanism unwind and drop the net. Got it?"

"Got it!" Alex replied.

"Rachel, you stay next to me and hang on!"

          Again, not a word comes out of Rachel's mouth. It has become obvious how worried Rachel has become over Dreamfinder's well being since the Abiteth shot at him. Hearing her host say how he will "be fine" apparently isn't convincing enough for Rachel to take in. For once, she decides not to object. Instead she holds onto Dreamfinder's arm, despite the sickening touch of the Abiteth's mush. At first, she flinches due to how cold the goop is. It squishes through her fingers and soaks through her gloves. Her eyes cringe at its consistency, but she restrains herself and keeps holding onto Dreamfinder.

          The Dreamfinder quickly thrusts both of the levers forward. The Dream Machine rapidly goes faster diving straight down toward the creature's beak. Closer and closer it gets. The tension builds up faster than all of Dreamfinder's, Rachel, Figment's and Alex's rising heartbeats combined. The little dragon and the Katkin grabbed each other's arms, bracing themselves for this intense moment. Rachel grasps tighter onto Dreamfinder arm up to his shoulder. Surprising enough for Dreamfinder, Rachel's touch is beginning to warm up his arm through the cold extract. At the same time, however, it is not become as surprising to him since she has already warmed his heart from the beginning. Feeling her hold on to his arm in that manner has brought him to the point of smiling. His courage has risen to great lengths, allowing himself to believe that this maneuver he intends to get done will all be worth it.

          Finally, as the Abiteth shrieks ever so loudly, the Dream Machine has reached a very close distance to it. Dreamfinder and Rachel put on their goggles; the wind blowing at their faces are becoming too much for them to see straight. Watching the creature coming much closer to them has gotten Rachel ready to starting screaming in fear. Who could blame her really? Dreamfinder holds up his free arm for Alex and Figment to see, signaling for them to get ready to let the net go.

"Ready...a-n-n-n-n-n-n-d...NOW!" Dreamfinder shouts abruptly.

          As they hear Dreamfinder's signal go off, Figment and Alex let go of the ropes. Then Dreamfinder pulls the levers back towards where the Dream Machine rises directly up and over the beak and through two of the pillaring tentacles that could easily slap the whole thing down and bring everyone to their demise. But just as the Abiteth snaps its beak and misses, the hooks catch onto the beast's eye sockets and the net entangles the tentacles with it. As the monster shrieks in pain from the hooks, Dreamfinder turns the Dream Machine into a circle to keep it entrapped and retreats it back towards the direction they came from. Trapped in the net, the Abiteth is being pulled away from its shell. The boiling sun begins to burn its flesh into a leathered jerky, or worse yet: a steamed crab, making the pain more agonic. But the creature tries to fight back by reaching its legs through the net and crawling away. The Dream Machine is abruptly being pulled back. The winding mechanism is about ready to start breaking off. The Abiteth is just too strong to beat. Suddenly, Dreamfinder thrusts both of the levers towards him. In an immediate response, the Dream Machine begins to rise to the sky like yeast. The plan works out with a great success; the Abiteth is pulled all the way out of its giant shell. The creature cannot escape now that it is completely exposed to the sunlight and trapped in the net with no opening it could squeeze out of.

          Shortly thereafter, the Abiteth has been proven far too heavy for the Dream Machine to carry up any higher. The mechanism breaks off of the underside dropping the monster down to the desert sand and causing the Dream Machine to jump higher with a rocketing launch. The monster lands onto the sand with a loud thud forming another giant dust cloud. Then with sun shining brightly onto it, the monster rushes out of the cloud screeching its painful cries throughout the desert air, but there is nothing that can help it now. The entrance into the shell is broken into thousands of pieces blocking any access to get inside. Steam has begun to sizzle out of the creature's flesh as it is being burnt to a crisp. There is no escape or refuge for the Abiteth to run to. Even jumping into the cool oasis was not going to do it any good. Finally, the sun has gotten into its inner organ and completely fries it to its death. The other parts left of the creature is its ashes flying across the desert winds and its legs becoming as dry as wooden logs. The Abiteth is no more.

          Landing the Dream Machine safely back down to the ground, the four friends jump off and investigate the monster's carcass. It is fruitless for any of them to say that the creature is definitely gone for good.

"Alright!" Alex shouts with glee.

"We did it!" Figment cheers. "We defeated the creature!"

"Yes, and such a tough one." said Dreamfinder as he wipes off more of the remains of the Abiteth's goop from his head.

          Suddenly, Dreamfinder notices his top hat tumbling back towards him. Bumping into his legs, Dreamfinder crouches down and retrieves it back.

"Seriously, dude, how does your hat keep coming back to you after every intense battle we win?" Rachel asked.

"It...it just does, Rachel." Dreamfinder replies. "It seems it has become a lot more attached to me than I am to it."

"It's like Indiana Jones! Whenever he survives a battle or a great escape while losing his hat in the process, it just...keeps...coming...back! Ha! It's hilarious! Really!"

"Is everyone okay? No one's hurt or anything?" Figment asks.

"I think we're okay." Alex confirms.

          But as Dreamfinder attempts to put his hat back on his head, he unexpectedly screams and cringes down to his knees and wraps his arms across his stomach. Sweat begins to form on his forehead. He cannot tell what is happening to him.

"Dreamfinder!" Rachel shouts. She rushes to his side clasping her hands onto both of his shoulders. "Dreamfinder! What's wrong?"

"Oh no!" Alex exclaims.

"I-I-I-I don't know...I just...felt a sharp pain rushing inside me...I'm...I'm so cold..."

"Dreamfinder, look!" Figment cries as he points toward his creator's face.

          Some of the goop on Dreamfinder's face isn't coming off. In fact, it's growing! The pieces of the Abiteth's residue are growing into patches of blob and infecting the Dreamfinder's skin. He then rips off the buttons off his dress coat and white revealing to him and his friends more of the spots growing larger and larger.

"Ah!" Rachel screams in terror.

"What's happening to you, buddy?" Figment asks with great worry.

"It has to be the goop from the creature." Alex suspects. "There must be a high level of toxic acid that could either be burning or freezing his insides."

"Guys...I don't...feel...so g-o-o-o-o-d..." Dreamfinder says slowly.

"No Dreamfinder, no!" Rachel shouts. "Stay with us! Guys, help me pick him up!"

          As Alex and Figment rush to grab Dreamfinder's legs, Rachel wraps her arms under Dreamfinder's. The Dreamfinder's blue eyes are blurring very fast. He could not even tell that Rachel is shedding tears. Nevertheless, he looks straight them enjoying the tenderly light brown color of her pupils.

"You're gonna be okay, pal!" Figment assures. "You're gonna be fine."

"Ra...chel..." Dreamfinder weakly speaks as he weakly tries to lift one of his arms to touch her cheek, but fails. His eyes fall and blink heavily to get if he could get one last look of his friends and Rachel's face, but his vision gets worse and worse from the blurriness. All he can do is hear Rachel speak to him.

"Hang on, Dreamfinder." Rachel speaks softly. "Hang on..."

Dreamfinder blacks out.