Panting slightly, I kick a Nightmare forcefully in the stomach; it flies backwards, slamming into a brick wall that branches out further into a dark alley. Standing on its slimy and purple legs, it darts its way toward me, big monstrous hands outstretch to grab me. The monster punches me onto the cement floor strong and it kicks painfully. As I try to squirm out of its grasp, its distorted eyes look upon me. I stare into them and break free. I elbow the Nightmare and a vast hole forms on its forehead and absorbs its entirety; it slowly diminishes into thin air as though it was never there, fighting me. I hurriedly touch the screen of the Porter on my wrist and I warp inside the room at once. I can see white nursing beds around me; I must have teleported inside the clinic’s west wing because it is the west nurse who rushes towards me, dabbing around my wounds which oozes tiny droplets of my blood. The man in the grey suit and tie sitting in one of the chairs, Mr. Waters, asks me tentatively,

“So?”

“I’m okay; I got rid of it.”

“You did quite amazingly too, in my opinion, Liam. Cheers.”

Then he enters. Perfect timing. That lame excuse for a teammate, Daren. He holds his hand, smiling as though he doesn’t know. I reluctantly shake it, glaring angrily at those light blue eyes that showed nothing but arrogance. I release my grip; he flattens his blond hair as to make an impression on Mr. Waters. I can almost hear myself snort; he can never impress that man. No one ever had. Then I ask myself, “Why do I bother to put up with it at all?” I’m, more or less, better than him at everything. Well, maybe he is better than me at archery. And in magic. And in sword combat. He’s patient too unlike me. Okay then, he’s greater than me in some aspects of being a Dream Fighter and he might not be that annoying but still. He’s an idiot. Last year’s partner was less irritating but I guess I can’t complain now. Besides, teamwork is teamwork and we need it as much as everyone else does if we actually want to survive in the Gateway.

“Not quite great if you ask me Mr. Waters. I’d say he’d only be able to add 20 points to the system tops.”

Yes. He’s a jerk.

“Anyways, I guess that’s all for today. Go home. We need you two to rest as much as you can. The inter-school competition starts tomorrow; remember, it lasts for a month. But you know that quite well especially you Liam so go and rest. Now.”

Mr. Waters shoos I and Daren and shuts the door in front of us so loudly that I may as well think the people in the conference room, which is a floor below, flinch in shock. Sometimes, I do wonder if the old man is really an old man. I turn and run down the white stairs, holding on the carefully painted rails, when Daren calls out. Great. What would he want to talk about? Hm...Let’s see. Tease me more about my successful attempt to destroy a Nightmare when he could not even kill a Shifter? Pathetic. I walk toward him,, muttering repeatedly under my breath the word, I just described him as. Pathetic.

“What?"

“I just want to say that you will not get in my way in this competition. Understood, Liam?”

Speaking of cooperation and teamwork, we have everything but those. I don’t know why but I nod. I make a mental note to bang my head on a wall. He scurries away in the other corridor. I climb down the stairs and head home. Even if he’s quite an idiot, we have to work together for the sake of keeping the Dream System alive and working or else the government will take it all away. That’s the real purpose of the competitions anyway, to prove that we actually love and use the system for “social” purposes. I remember when they first introduced it in school years ago; I didn't know anything about the alternate universe by then. I thought it was all a big joke, the alternate universe being able to wish dreams of the hologram people in it into existence and us having to rid that world of bad dreams, Nightmares. It turned out it wasn’t a joke; that they were serious about us becoming some so-called “Dream Fighters”. Every day after that, we started to learn more about the universe and accepted that duty. And here we are now, trying to protect it from getting shut down. But there was one question that stuck to my mind.

“Why did they make the system if they actually want to get rid of the dreams that were wished into existence in it? What is the purpose of even having us fight these things?”

That question is still there and I have yet to find an answer.