My first actual NiGHTS fanfiction. And yes, I view NiGHTS as female and will be referring to NiGHTS that way. You have been warned.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in here so far.

Reala paced his throne chamber restlessly. Wizeman was dead and gone now. He was the ruler of Nightmare now.

He sat in his throne with a growl. He needed a partner. Much as he hated to admit it, life would be easier if he had someone to help him. That was why NiGHTS had been created, wasn't it? They had been a highly effective team before she had betrayed them. When she was as ruthless and feared as he was, and the only creature he had ever called his friend. But then she'd ruined everything.

She had been careless and foolish. While swiping an Ideya of Courage from a Visitor, instead of taking it, making a clean getaway, and hardly letting the Visitor know what hit him, she'd gotten sloppy. She'd been just a little too slow, and the dreamer, in an attempt to fight back, had touched her. The result was the two of them accidentally dualized. Reala wasn't sure what happened to her mind in that event, but he did know she had changed. Afterwards, she refused to take any Ideya, or refer to Wizeman as "Master", not even to his face. She would vanish without ever letting him know where she was going and return always empty-handed. He had tried to talk her out of this new mindset, but she was still as stubborn as she always had been. Then came her outright betrayal, when she had attacked him outright. To protect a Visitor, no less!

He still had her Persona. He held it in his claws and looked at it almost wistfully. He would love to see it worn again, but by whom? NiGHTS was out of the question, of course. The only Nightmaren who could come close to wearing it was Jackle, and he was…well, Jackle.

If you want a new partner so bad, why don't you make one?

The thought startled him, yet made perfect sense. Why didn't he? He was the ruler of Nightmare now; nothing could stop him.

Nothing but the fact he didn't know the first thing about creating Nightmarens.

Fortunately, that could be fixed. Wizeman was sure to have kept a record of what he made, and how it had been done. He just had to find it.

"HEY SIR CHECKERBOARD! LOOK WHAT I FOUND!"

Reala jumped and almost slipped off his throne. Jackle popped up right in front of him, waving something around in one of his floating hands.

Reala sighed. "What…is it, Jackle?"

"I found something coolio! Check it out!" Jackle thrust the item in Reala's face. "It's a log of all Master Wizeman's creations!"

That floating collection of card-obsessed orange laundry had uncanny timing. Reala smirked. "Really. That is very intriguing. May I see it?"

"Give me a present first."

Reala snarled, waving his clawed fingernails in Jackle's face.

"Here ya go!"

He threw the book in Reala's lap and zipped out. Reala picked it up and began to flip through it, eager and a little awed. He started to skim the pages for the processes of creating monsters. He knew he didn't want any third-level as his second-in-command, and most second-levels were idiots or tried to be too sneaky for their own good. He passed at the sight of an illustration showing himself and NiGHTS. He smiled. "Perfect."

Ooh, what did Reala find? What's he going to do? I'm not entirely sure either!

Review, please?