13 Phase 11: Reunion with Rita

Dreamworlds is a psionic network that links the dreams of billions of people. Such users of the network are referred to as 'Dreamers'.

Colin is a Dreamer, like his Dad, his Mom and Katrin. Every night, Dreamers put on the Dreamworlds Headband when they go to sleep and share their Dreams with each other in Dreamworlds.

Tonight, Colin, Katrin, Dad and Mom are Dreaming in Nakama World, a Dreamworld where animals become the Comrades of humans. Comrades help Dreamers with all sorts of things, but are especially important to Travelers like Colin, who face many dangers like Wild animals.

It is Colin's second night in Nakama World.

***

"Colin?" a soft voice called.

Eleven years old and halfway between completing a stack of missions for the Sunshine Town Comrade Home and Gym, Colin didn't notice it at first. Skinny, with short brown hair and a very noticeable frown when he was thinking, he had a Traveler's Watch projecting time and town map over his wrist and a yellow badge with a black 'T' on it. On his head was a straw hat, and he had a silver-blue visor resting above his eyebrows.

"Colin!" the voice called again, louder.

Colin turned then, to look for the person who called.

It was Rita. Green-haired and tall for her age (taller than Colin, in fact), she was looking around, scared.

"Are you all right?" Colin asked. "What happened to you?"

"I've been… keeping an eye out for the Green Men." Rita said. "Colin, they took Henry."

It had happened just last night. Men in green armor had been all over the towns and rounded up everyone. They were looking for White Badge Travelers, for the Eight kids who started there that night. Henry had been taken.

"I know. You told me." Colin said. "I'm going to Hot Sands to find Henry's brother and tell him what happened."

"Aren't you afraid they'll come and catch you?" she asked, eyes wide.

"I've got a yellow badge now. They won't know that I was one of the eight who started yesterday." Colin said. He glanced at Rita's badge, still white. "You should get a yellow badge too. Then you'll be safe for a while."

"How?" Rita jumped.

"Three Comrades, and a total of 25 levels." Colin remembered. "How strong are your Comrades now?"

Rita shook her head. "My Arachnid is at 11, and my Venuspot is at 7. I'll need to get more…"

Colin paused. "Need some help? I can…"

"No!" Rita shook her head. "We mustn't be seen together, or they'll suspect you too!"

"I don't think they're even around today." Colin mentioned. "I haven't seen anyone in green armor."

"Colin! Armor can be taken off!" Rita said. "They could be anywhere, and we wouldn't know!"

Colin felt a chill when he realized she was right. "But you're still not captured."

"I've been… careful." Rita said. "I have to go. I have to keep moving. Stay safe, Colin!"

"Uh… okay…" Colin said, but she was already gone.

Rita… she had been a lively chatterbox last night, but tonight, she looked scared into her wits.

She managed to get away last night because Jonah, Alicia and Larry had run off. They, too, were White Badges.

Had they really managed to escape? Those three were experts at getting away from grown-ups, but… those men…

Colin shook his head. {If I could get away from those Green Men, the three of them would have had no trouble at all.}

But… he got away because of Katrin, another of the Eight who made a great sacrifice to save Colin. Those three…

{Those three always had each other and that was all they ever needed. They never needed me… never wanted me around. There's no reason for that to change now.}

Still, Colin kept an eye out, hoping to see some sign of them, that they had made it safely last night after all.

All he saw was Rita, crouching around trying to sneak into an alley without being seen. From where he stood, Colin could already see that her alley was a dead-end.

What was she doing…?

"Yip." Shiro said warningly. Colin's First Comrade was a fast white wolfcat cub who was a lot smarter than you'd expect.

"A trap?" Colin blinked. "You mean, she wants to be seen so that anyone following her would fall into her trap?"

Shiro sighed.

"That's so dangerous." Colin said. "We better…"

Shiro shook his head.

"Right… we'd fall into that trap ourselves." Colin frowned. "We can't just leave her like that. Who knows what she'll get herself into?"

Shiro twisted his head at Colin.

"Katrin saved me by giving me a Comrade. Maybe if we caught something and give them to her before they are bonded… we might be able to save her." Colin said.

Shiro shrugged. But he glanced at Raiki, the blue kitten Katrin had given Colin last night. Raiki sat very still, very quiet, and did not look back.

"Or we can give her Meek." Colin realized.

"Mik!" Meek protested. She was an orange Lynxmouse with a good nose. Lynxmice were very common but not usually popular because although they grew very quickly, they usually weren't much help in a fight. Meek was great at treasure-hunting though.

"Just kidding." Colin said, petting her. "Let's go to the riverside. Watergulls may be hard to find, but Rainducks are everywhere."

Catching a Wild One required three steps. First, he had to defeat it with his Comrades. Once defeated, the Wild would be unable to move until he touched it.

Second, he had to Tame it. To do that, he'd have to touch it. When he did touch it, it could either run away or stay. If it stayed, it was Tame - he could carry it or tell it to follow him.

Third, if he wanted to bond that Tame as a Comrade, he would have to bring it to a Comrade Home to be registered. They would need to go to the registration room, and put their feet (or flippers or paws or such) down next to each other on the black registration plate. After that, it would officially be his Comrade.

Colin's plan was simple; fight and defeat one of the many Rainducks at the river, then while it was still a Tame, let Rita take it to the Comrade Home to be bonded.

Not anyone could tame just any Wild. There were all sorts of questions involved, from what the Wild liked, to the kind of Comrades he already had to the way they had fought to goodness knows what else. But Colin had been able to Tame Rainducks before, while he was still a white badge; he should still be able to now. Besides… while fighting Rainducks, he just might meet another Wild Watergull.

But there were no Watergulls around today. All Colin found was a Rainduck. "Shiro…"

"Yip." Shiro said, and dashed forward.

"Wuark!" the duck flapped its wings hard as Shiro approached. Colin saw ripples in the wind as it flapped, and Shiro dodged aside.

"Yip!" Shiro said, lunging in with his tail.

"Wuark!" the duck tried to peck Shiro with its beak. "Wuark, wuark!"

"Yiyip!" Shiro answered, closing his teeth around the duck's foot, and slapping its face with his tail again. "Grrrr."

"Wuark!" the duck protested, trying to kick Shiro away. It flapped its wings again.

One more slap from Shiro's tail ended it. The duck dropped down and stayed very still, looking at Shiro as if in protest.

"Yip." Shiro said apologetically. "Yip."

Colin shook his head. "I'm impressed. This Rainduck is a lot stronger than the ones we fought before."

He scanned it.

Wild

Abilities:

HP: 0/51

MP: 11/28

Str: 15

Sta: 18

Spd: 15

Int: 10

Wis: 9

Wit: 7

Total: 74

Traits:

Feathered Flight

Water Essence

Independent

Stubborn

"Another 'independent'?" Colin shook his head. "I keep finding these types for some reason. I wonder if that 'stubborn' trait is the reason why it was harder to catch."

"Yip." Shiro told Colin.

Colin frowned. "We wanted one for Rita… but why don't we let this one join us? We can catch a second one for Rita."

"Yip." Shiro agreed.

Colin hesitated before touching the Wild Rainduck they just caught, but for some reason, now that he intended to bond her, he felt more confident that she'd be willing to stay with him rather than fly off.

He was right. When he touched her, she got to her feet and said, "Wuark!" at him a bit rudely, but she stayed.

"I should feed you. Your HP is totally gone." Colin pulled out four cans of tuna. "Shiro, Meek, Raiki… you too."

That left him seven cans in his backpack. Colin realized another reason why Dreamers couldn't go around with so many Comrades; carrying food for everyone was heavy. Not just that; buying food for everyone would be expensive.

Raiki still didn't eat much.

Colin turned to her. "Are you all right, Raiki?"

Raiki shifted and turned away.

Colin took that as a bad sign. "Raiki… I'm sorry."

Raiki didn't move.

"It's not your fault, really. It's mine. If I hadn't been so careless… you might still be with Katrin."

Raiki said nothing.

"It must be hard, being given away by your Traveler." Colin tried. "But… well…"

What could he say? Cheer up? After what just happened to her, Colin felt that she had every right to be upset.

"Sorry." He said again, but it didn't seem enough.

"Yip." Shiro went over and nudged Raiki. "Yip."

Raiki turned to Shiro. "Mew."

"Yip." Shiro nudged her one more time, then turned to Colin. "Yip."

"What can I do?" Colin asked.

Shiro shook his head. He sat down next to Raiki, and put his head over hers. They had both been bred by Michi and were already friends before they bonded Colin and Katrin. It was them, in fact, that started Colin and Katrin on their first real adventure together.

They spent their last hour on Dreamworlds with Farmer Edward and his farm Comrades last night. Ed had offered them both a place to leave their Comrades for the day when they Woke Up, and they had made his farm their Home Base.

"Wark." The Rainduck had finished up her tuna. She eyed Raiki's share, but Shiro stepped in and very firmly shook his head. "Yip."

"Wuark." The Rainduck protested.

"Mik." Meek scolded the Rainduck.

The Rainduck turned away and fluffed her feathers at them. Colin scratched his head. "Maybe bringing her along wouldn't be such a good idea, after all…"

Shiro, Meek and the Rainduck all turned to him and protested at the same time.

"Yip!"

"Mik!"

"Wuaaark!"

"Okay, okay. Let's go find another for Rita." Colin said.

Shiro sniffed around, then turned to one side. "Yip!"

He was off before Colin could ask him what it was.

"Let's go see what he's after." Colin told the rest of his Comrades and picked up Raiki again. He threw away the empty cans and Raiki's leftovers, making sure she understood that what was given to her wasn't going to be given to anyone else.

By the time Colin reached Shiro, the wolfcat had already fought and taken down another Rainduck. This one had fainted outright. It woke up when Colin touched it, and didn't run away either. Colin brought it along with him as he went back to Rita's alley.

He tapped his watch. "Rita… are you still in that alley?"

He stepped out in full view in front of it.

Rita gasped. "Colin? How did you find me?"

She stood up and approached him with her Comrades. "What are you doing here?"

"Aren't you going to catch more Comrades to get to yellow badge?" Colin asked her right back.

"Sure. As soon as I know nobody's following me." she said.

"How long were you going to wait in there?" he asked.

"Another hour." Rita said.

Colin shook his head. "Forget it. I caught two Rainducks. You can have that one." He pointed.

"Are you sure…?" Rita stared.

"Yeah. Let's go to the Comrade Home."

***

Aoi was surprised to see him again so soon. The blue haired Chief Breeder of the Riverside Town Comrade Home had awarded him his mission rewards just an hour ago. "What happened to your trip to Hot Sands?"

"I haven't started it yet." Colin said. "I've got a Rainduck to register. Rita too."

"Rita…" Aoi looked her over. "You look terrible. What happened to you?"

"Nothing… and I want to keep it that way." Rita said, looking around furtively.

Aoi frowned. "Is this about the Green Men?"

Colin nodded.

"I see." Aoi said. She, too, had met the Green Men. "You seem to have a plan to help her. What do you intend to do?"

"Get her to yellow badge." Colin said.

"That's all…?" Aoi shook her head. "Let's get you and your Rainducks bonded and see how far left she has to go."

Colin went first, putting his foot down on the black plate as his Rainduck did the same. Once registered, he turned to the Rainduck and asked, "What's your name?"

"Wark." She replied.

"Welcome to the team, Warc." Colin said.

Rita registered her Rainduck too. Hers was at six levels, making a total of 23 levels between her three Comrades.

"Almost there." Aoi said. "Colin… do you remember the honey bear?"

"The one in the cave behind the Comrade Home?" Colin asked. "Is it still there?"

"Yes. I think it would be a good place to train a bit."

The last time Colin met the bear, Shiro and Meek had been enough to defeat it. Between all of Rita's Comrades and his, he felt sure they would have no trouble.

He was right.

"Shiro…" Colin began, but he was already on the move.

"Arachnid One! Venuspot Two! Rainduck Three!" Rita called all her Comrades with names and numbers. "Attack the Honey Bear! One, webbing on the legs…"

By the time she said that, Colin's three Comrades were already in all-out attack. Warc's wings were sending ripples of wind into the bear, Meek was clawing at it, and Shiro had already hit it from three different sides.

"Two, Flying Thorns on the face! Three, Wind Gust…"

The bear kept trying to hit Shiro, as it did before. In the exactly same way as before, it ended up hitting itself.

"…on the… huh?"

It was over before she finished giving orders.

Colin felt pity for the bear. They did attack it in its home, after all. Poor thing probably just wanted to sleep.

Rita went over and touched the bear.

"Rita…!" Colin jumped.

The bear jumped too. It roared and immediately took a swipe at Rita.

"Wuark!" Warc was suddenly there, blocking the bear's paw. "Wuark!!"

The paw hit the Rainduck. The Rainduck pecked at the bear. The wolfcat and the lynxmouse joined the fight all over again.

{When a Wild refuses to be Tame, it goes back to full HP…} Colin realized.

"Eeek!" Rita shrieked.

Her three Comrades waited for her to give instructions.

"That stupid bear!" Rita scolded.

Shiro dodged the bear's paw and slammed his tail into its nose.

"He took a swipe at me!" Rita barked. "I'm gonna…"

"Rita! Are you going to help or not?" Colin asked.

Rita stared at him for a moment, then turned to her Comrades. "Hit that bear with all you've got!"

Colin didn't think a command like that would work, but surprisingly, it did. Rita's three Comrades used the same attacks they did before, and almost at once, the bear fell.

Rita's badge turned yellow, but she didn't seem to notice. She went forward and poked the bear again.

The bear roared and tried to paw her as before.

"RITA!" Colin gasped.

"Hit it with all you've got!" Rita told her Comrades.

"Grrr." Shiro complained, but he joined the fight for the third time. Meek and Warc too.

Once more they defeated it. Once more Rita poked it.

The bear roared and the fighting went on.

{Rita's scared and angry because of the Green Men. At this rate, she's going to fight the bear over and over again…} Colin realized. {I have to stop this.}

He saw her getting ready to poke it yet another time. He saw her waiting… waiting…

"Shiro…" Colin glanced at his wolfcat.

"Yip…" Shiro told him. "Yiyip…"

Colin waited.

"Yip… yip…" Shiro said. "YIP!"

Colin knew what that meant. He leapt forward before Rita could move.

And touched the honey bear.

"What did you do that for?" Rita was furious.

"You were torturing it." Colin pointed out.

"It took a swipe at me!"

"Me too, but fighting it once is enough."

"I'm here to train, right? Why not fight it over and over again?"

Colin pointed. "You're already yellow badge. You're safe from the Green Men."

"But… I could have trained my Comrades…" Rita began.

"Not on this bear, please." Colin requested. "This bear… kinda saved me before."

Not exactly, but he did hide out in this cave for a while.

"It seems to like you." Rita said, with a sniff.

It was true. Rita had poked it as a yellow badge too, but the bear hadn't been willing to turn Tame.

When Colin touched it, however, it stood still. It didn't paw at him or anyone else. It just sat there. "Rawl."

{If I leave him here, Rita's going to torture him the minute my back is turned…}

"Come on." Colin sighed.