Deep Sleep Mystery

01-03 Title Card

## Synopsis

When Klaus discovers that a nightmare-feeding fiend has hospitalized his father, he must travel deep into Dr. Melfton’s subconscious to defeat the creature from the inside and save the scientist’s life before it’s too late.

## Plot

On their way to the hospital, Klaus tries to ask Diane for more info on what happened, but Diane doesn't have any more info to give; the most she knows is that something happened regarding a snake bite.
The two arrive and quickly spot Edwin, who leads them over to the elevator to head up to James's room. Once they're on the right floor, one of the nurses begin to lead them to the room, only for Klaus to sprint ahead in a panic the second he hears the room number. He ends up running smack into one of the doctors that happens to be leaving the room, and quickly demands to be let in to see his father. Diane and Edwin catch up, scolding Klaus for running off, and apologize to the doctor - who responds in disgust at the fact that Klaus is present at all. He only snaps one insult before his colleague, Dr. April Larue, shuts him down. As Dr. Larue apologizes for the situation, Klaus attempts to peek into the room, spotting an unconscious James strapped to the hospital bed and struggling against the restraints. As he stares, Diane asks what's happened to him, and Dr. Larue explains: she explains that the snake that bit James is a creature called Sei Nalga, known more commonly as Dark Fright, who forces himself into his victim's mind and proceeds to torture and twist it until they can't handle it anymore. Worse yet, Dr. Larue warns them that recovery is rare. Before anyone can panic, she asks to speak privately with Klaus for a moment, which he agrees to.
In Dr. Larue's office, once she explains to Klaus that she has a theory that he may be the key to saving James, if he can talk to him one-and-one and coax his mind back out of Dark Fright's influence. According to her, Dark Fright's victims are often beyond saving by the time family arrives, but since James is seemingly actively resisting the creature and Klaus is present to try and talk him through it, they may have a better chance than they normally would. Though he's terrified of the whole situation, Klaus agrees to give it a shot.
They exit the office shortly after, just as Diane and Edwin leave James's room from their own brief visit with him. Diane mentions that he seems a tad calmer than before, which the group hopes is a good sign. Klaus is allowed into the room and left to his own devices, alone with his still-unconscious father. Klaus makes note of the black markings on James's neck, around the snake bite, indicating the infection. He attempts to say some encouraging words, but isn't confident that they're helping like they're supposed to.
A sudden crack of lightning outside startles Klaus where he sits, causing him to jump and spark from how close the intense energy is. The sparks make contact with James, and briefly, the scenery around Klaus shifts to something he doesn't recognize at all. Once his shock subsides, Klaus concludes that he just saw into James's mind, somehow, and gets the idea to power himself up and send himself into his mind more properly to stop Dark Fright from the inside. Klaus heads over to the window to grab enough energy from the storm for his plan to work and proceeds to zap himself directly into James's head, letting his body collapse to the ground in the meantime.
James's mind flashes properly into view again, more stably this time. Once Klaus manages to steady himself, only briefly taking in the odd glassy floor and the black streaks in the 'sky', he gets right to work, running forward and shouting for his father in hopes of tracking him down in his own head. It more or less works, and James all but barrels into Klaus in a panic. The man's relief at the sight of his son quickly shifts into disbelief, however, and he attempts to remind himself that surely this isn't the real Klaus - which Klaus objects to, explaining that he came here to save James. Dr. Melfton isn't as enthusiastic at the statement as Klaus is expecting, instead exclaiming his fears that surely Klaus is just going to get himself hurt, here. Klaus makes it clear that he's not going anywhere until his father's mind is safe, but his lack of a proper plan doesn't inspire much confidence. As they bicker over Klaus's involvement, they hear a loud hiss echo around them, matching with a dark black tinging James's eyes - both of these things signalling Dark Fright's arrival, revealing himself as an absolutely massive snake that towers over the both of them. Klaus is momentarily stunned, only snapping out of his brief stupor when he feels James grab him by the wrist and pull him away, running away from the beast with Klaus in his grip. Klaus attempts to argue, much more keen to fight the creature head on than to flee from it. James is insistent on the matter, however, their argument grinding their escape to a halt. Dark Fright catches up to them easily, and as he attempts to strike, the glass floor breaks beneath James and Klaus, sending them toppling into the abyss below. Klaus mentally scrambles to figure out how to get them out of the situation without sending them right back to Dark Fright above them. Still holding onto Klaus, James manages to open a portal of sorts behind them to send them to another part of his mind, away from Dark Fright - though he doesn't know exactly where. As they recover from their harsh landing, they search the area, seeing doors of various sorts all around them on their new path. Upon investigating, James discovers that the doors seem to lead into his various memories. Despite Klaus's immediate intrigue, James forbids him from entering any of the doors, and they begin their trek forward down the path.
As they travel more or less in silence, James and Klaus are still disagreed on their goal. To James, he wants to find a way out for Klaus so he can be safe. To Klaus, he's trying to find Dark Fright so they can kick him out. Eventually, Klaus offers the idea of searching through the doors to find Dark Fright again, but it's immediately shot down by James. Klaus argues the point further, first attempting that the exit could be behind a door as well, then shifting to the point that he'd expect James to be more curious about it all and take the chance to explore. James changes the subject to ask why Klaus is so insistent about staying in his mind, though the question shifts into wondering how Klaus possibly managed to get into the mind in the first place. Klaus dances around the explanation to avoid outing his identity and his powers alike, and thankfully, James is satisfied enough with the answer.
Their conversation is swiftly interrupted at the sound of Dark Fright approaching once again. Klaus readies himself for a fight, but is thrown off by James becoming disoriented due to Dark Fright's presence. Klaus shifts his attention to helping James not totally collapse - and Dark Fright takes the distraction as a chance to strike, whipping them away with his tail and sending them flying into one of the doors along the path.
Inside the memory door, Klaus waits a moment before stirring, not wanting to alert Dark Fright again before they could properly recover. As soon as he's able, he jumps back to his feet and checks on James, who manages to recover from the rough landing as well. The memory around them is dark and dusty, and James isn't certain where they're at - which Klaus guesses must mean it's a fuzzy memory. As they try to figure out where they are to catch their bearings, Klaus, sick of not being able to use his powers without risking his identity, suggests that they take advantage of the fact of them not being in reality right now and try make themselves a light by willing it into existence. James, though skeptical, gives the idea a shot; to his surprise, it works, and he's able to summon a small flame in his hand. Klaus, briefly gloating, follows up by illuminating his own hand with electrical sparks, now that he can play off how he can use his powers here. Now that they can both see, they investigate the area around them to find a way back out, discovering that they appear to be in a hospital room. Klaus questions James on it, who responds by explaining that there was a point where he was in a coma for a short while, in the past. The explanation prompts Klaus to look around even more, leading to him coming across a figment of James from his time in a coma in the hospital bed. Once he recovers from the shock of seeing it, James realizes that it doesn't make sense that they can see his body if it's his own memory, which should supposedly be seen through his own eyes. This leads him to believe that Dark Fright is fabricating the memories himself, as he likely can't actually alter a true memory; this way, he creates them so close to the original that James's mind believes them to be the real deal, and that way he can alter them as he pleases to break James down faster.
Though the realization is helpful in figuring out how Dark Fright is messing with him, James concludes that it isn't much help in getting them back out of the memory and refocuses on the task at hand. Klaus suggests that James try and recreate how he opened the passage to land them in the hall of memories in the first place, especially now that they've seen James can bend his mind's reality to an extent. He agrees, and gets to work at trying to open a way out.
Before they can escape, Dark Fright bursts in and attacks, lunging right for Klaus and pinning him to the wall. With him stuck, Dark Fright begins to taunt him, giving James ample time to sneak up behind and attack Dark Fright before he can hurt Klaus any further. The sneak attack works, stabbing his tail and drawing his attention James's way, dropping Klaus from the wall in the process. James and Klaus tag team against Dark Fright, but James's confidence wavers fast, much to Klaus's dismay. Klaus continues the fight, breaking one of Dark Fright's teeth and sending him into a fury. Dark Fright quickly pins them both down, but freezes before actually moving to finish either of them off, noticing how terrified James is. The sight makes something click in Dark Fright's mind, and the snake cackles before flinging them back out of the memory with a cackle, claiming that James's mind will be his in no time.
Landing outside of the memory, Klaus is quick to jump back to his feet like before, immediately insisting that they need to figure out where Dark Fright is going to strike next. James, however, immediately puts his foot down, demanding that Klaus leave his mind immediately. As the argument escalates, James quickly raises his voice, only to promptly backpedal and apologize, attempting to explain that he didn't mean to. Klaus assures that he understands, and takes the chance to try and appeal to the fact that his erratic behavior is due to Dark Fright, and that they need to stop him before it gets even worse. James, in panic mode, still refuses, telling Klaus that Dark Fright is trying to get James to hurt his son, which is something he's too scared to risk. Before long, Klaus gives up on trying to convince him and determines that he'll get rid of Dark Fright and save James's mind alone, speeding away before James can object.
After a short while of speeding down the hall of memory doors, Klaus eventually slows down, trying to piece together a proper plan on how to track the villainous snake down. He spots a shadow sneaking under one of the doors that are in rougher shape and quickly deems it to be Dark Fright fleeing, prompting him to follow after the shadow, into the memory.
Inside, Klaus tries to gain a sense of his surroundings like before. He comes to the conclusion that this must be his grandparents' house, and slowly makes his way forward, keeping an eye out for Dark Fright. He's distracted when he spots the figures in the memory; a man who he knows must be James's father, Harold Melfton, and a younger version of James himself. Watching the memory play out, Klaus is very quickly disturbed at the sight of how Harold treats James, harshly berating him over essentially nothing. Before Klaus can fully back out of watching the memory, Dark Fright finally catches his attention, drawing him into the living room in the memory - closer to the action. Klaus argues that Dark Fright is surely making this up just to freak Klaus out. The snake explains that he cannot fabricate a memory from scratch, only replicate them; thus, this memory is very, very real. As he says this, the tension in the memory itself hits a head with Harold hitting James to the floor, instantly distracting Klaus from Dark Fright. Instinctively, Klaus shouts at Harold to leave the young James alone, despite the fact that he can't actually interact with the memory. Phasing through the man only makes him more upset, and Dark Fright's laughter behind him doesn't help.
What finally snaps Klaus from his anger is James - the real one - arriving, grabbing Klaus's attention as he says how he was looking everywhere for him. Klaus, still upset, asks why his grandfather did what he did, which leaves James at a total loss for words. Behind them, Dark Fright erupts into laughter, tearing the memory down as James's panic begins to spiral, feeding into it as he announces what James is feeling: How he fears what Klaus will think of him, now, let alone if he explains any further. Dark Fright's eruption manages to refocus Klaus's concern, and he attempts to calm his father back down, to no avail. In James's blind panic, he accidentally claws into Klaus's back, which effectively gives him the last push Dark Fright needs to send him over the edge. As Dark Fright emphasizes his fears of hurting Klaus further, the snake blocks James's perception of his son, stopping Klaus from snapping him out of his stupor. To strike the final blow, Dark Fright snaps up Klaus, supposedly 'killing him' in front of James and putting the final nail in the coffin. As Dark Fright snaps down on Klaus's body, Klaus feels himself being forced back out of James's mind shortly after.
Klaus is ejected out of James's mind as a small mass of sparks, being all but launched into the ground. He quickly sees that James is significantly worse for wear, in the real world, screaming in agony and pulling against the restraints and doctors around the table trying to calm him back down, the black markings around the snake bite having spread significantly further than they were before. Klaus scrambles for a solution, unsure on how he can stop Dark Fright. As he thinks, briefly kicking himself for being the reason James got so bad, he spots his own body in the hospital room as well; still out cold, and currently accompanied with an extremely worried Diane and Edwin. The sight reminds Klaus that James is panicking so much because he's worried; how, normally, his protective side would come out if Klaus was being threatened, not just his fears as he had just seen. This brings Klaus to realize that Dark Fright must have been blocking James's protective side from rearing its head, and thus if Klaus can reawaken James's usual protective subconscious, than he'll fight back much harder and Dark Fright will have no chance. With this new plan in mind, Klaus gathers energy from all around the room so he can get back into James's mind - which he manages to do successfully. His reentry causes a small shockwave that startles the doctors around James, and also catches Diane and Edwin's attention, who realize that Klaus must be up to something to help his father and hope for him to stay safe.
Klaus reenters James's mind like a bat out of hell, and immediately notices how much worse his father's mind is looking already. Shaking it off, he gets to work calling out for Dark Fright to challenge him. Dark Fright arrives, quick to tease Klaus for returning when the situation is already this far beyond repair. He summons forth what's left of James's mental self, who has become a shadowy husk, totally obedient to Dark Fright. The snake orders James to attack Klaus, which he immediately obeys, pinning Klaus down despite Klaus's attempt to quickly talk to him to snap him out of it. When James continues not to listen, Klaus uses the glass floor beneath them to his advantage and breaks it, sending them both falling just like before to get James as far away from Dark Fright as possible. As they fall, Klaus tries to summon somewhere for them to go, just like his father did, and manages to do so; summoning a door that he and James fall through.
In this new area, which is a mix of several locations at once, between their current house, the hospital, and James's childhood home, as well as other things Klaus doesn't recognize. Now that they're far away from Dark Fright, James isn't quite as deep under the snake's control, but remains erratic. Klaus takes a seat with his back to his father, slowly talking him through his lasting fear over hurting Klaus before. Their talk does manage to snap James out of Dark Fright's control, the darkness coating him disappearing as he realizes that it's Klaus that he's talking to. With his father back to his old self, Klaus quickly explains how James needs to stop focusing on his fear and start getting mad and fighting back. To his relief, James agrees, his mind far clearer now than it was before.
As Klaus and James prep themselves for a fight, Dark Fright bursts in, furious to see that James has been freed of his control. After Klaus takes the chance to tease the snake, the final fight begins, with James using his control over his own mind to summon fire and weapons while Klaus fights with his familiar electric powers, the pair quickly overwhelming Dark Fright. The moment Dark Fright is able, he pins Klaus, attempting to draw him under his spell. As Klaus resists, Dark Fright's attempt is officially stopped by James stabbing him in the head, shocking him into releasing Klaus again. With Dark Fright distracted by the sword in his head, Klaus deals the final blow, knocking the snake down for the count. Dark Fright attempts to retaliate one last time before Klaus shoots him one last time, finally defeating him.
As Dark Fright disappears, Klaus quickly begins celebrating, and James finally allows his body to relax in a wash of relief. Around them, the mental world begins to fade, now that Dark Fright is gone. James takes the last few moments to express his gratitude, telling Klaus how proud he is - alongside a warning not to take that as an excuse to be reckless. James continues by explaining that he doubts he'll remember this when he wakes up, and tells Klaus that he knows he'll have questions for him, but asks him to try and be patient with him, as he promises to explain everything to him properly one day. Though Klaus hesitantly agrees, he can't help but as about his grandfather again, to which James tells him he has far more important things to worry about than to pay him any mind. With one last farewell, they mental world fades off.
Back in reality, Klaus is once again ejected from James's mind, this time immediately rushing back over to his own body. Once his energy is in him again, he awakes with a start, unintentionally scaring Diane and Edwin in the process. The moment he's able, he's looking to know how James is doing, despite Diane and Edwin's assurance that he should be taking it easy. Still, Klaus is more concerned about knowing that his father is definitely okay. Off to the side, he does see James begin to stir, though he's quite groggy and disoriented for the time. At his bedside, Dr. Larue warns him to take it easy, and promises to explain things once he's more present.
Once he can see his father is awake, Klaus rushes over, hugging him tight in his relief. James is evidently confused, especially as Klaus says that he's glad he's alright, reciprocating that he's glad Klaus is alright as well, even if he doesn't fully understand what's happening. This prompts Dr. Larue to remind Klaus that he should also be taking it easy, as it turns out that when his electrical form escaped his body, his body didn't take it particularly well. According to Diane, they found Klaus's body on the ground, apparently convulsing. Even with this knowledge, Klaus reassures them that he's alright, and that he can explain things to Diane and Edwin later.
Despite being cured of Dark Fright's curse, James is told that he has to stay at the hospital for a few days to be monitored, though he isn't thrilled about the idea. During his stay, Klaus pops in to visit, striking up a conversation with his father to see how he's doing. James admits that he's still weirdly anxious, and wishes he remembered more from what happened, but ultimately tells Klaus not to worry too much about him. Klaus changes the subject by asking a question that he thought of when he saw how James fought in his mind: What sort of powers James would want if he had any. To his surprise, he doesn't really get an answer. Instead, James claims that he wouldn't want any powers at all. After pushing the question only makes things more awkward, James redirects the question to Klaus, who smugly answers super speed. With the light mood restored, they continue on, keeping each other casual company for a while longer.

## Appearances

### Main Cast

Klaus Melfton/Lightning Dust

James Melfton

Dark Fright

### Cast

Diane Shernall

Edwin Dowley

Harold Melfton

Dr. April Larue

## Trivia

* fun tidbits

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