After the chaos that occurred in Headquarters had sent Joy and Sadness into Long Term Memory. The two needed a plan and they needed it quick. As they journeyed through the maze of memories they came across two Mind workers. However, Joy was appalled that not only they discard old memories that Riley doesn't care to remember, they also send the annoying gum commercial jingle up to be recalled. That gave Joy an idea.
"Say, if you can recall that memory, do you think you can recall these?" Joy asked with hope in her voice.
"Whoa, those are brighter than we typically see. What are they?" One of the mind workers will ask.
"They are Riley's core memories. They are responsible for her Personality Islands. If they're not in their holder, then Riley will lack personality."
"How old is Riley now?" The other mind worker will ask, looking closely at the core memories.
"She's 11. Why?"
"All these memories are back when she was a toddler."
"Yeah so?" Joy is getting annoyed.
"So, maybe you guys should help her make new memories."
"We don't need to make new memories if we can get these sent back up to Headquarters. So please, do that!" Joy loses her temper shoving the orbs to the mind workers.
"Ok, ok, you don't have to get so testy about it. It was a just a suggestion, geez." One of the mind workers will grab the memories and place each one on the shelf and then he will push them through to be recalled back to Headquarters.
Back in Headquarters, the other emotions struggle to comprehend what happened yesterday, but suddenly, something happened. The memory of Riley being a goofball will appear on the main screen.
"That memory is for Goofball Island." Disgust will say in complete shock.
"We got to get that back in the holder." Fear rushes to grab the core memory.
"Wait you moron." Anger will shove Fear out of the way.
"What was that for!?" Fear tries to recover from the assault.
"Did you completely forget what happened yesterday? Sadness touched a couple of memories and she made them sad." Anger explains gruffly.
"Wait do you think we have the ability to change Riley's memories? Just by touching them?" Fear asks in a timid voice.
"We can't take that chance Fear. We have to be careful not to touch these ourselves." Disgust will advise.
"Ok, so what can we do?" Fear asked dumbfoundedly.
"I have an idea, but you'll have to do it Fear." Anger will say, looking toward his purple co-emotion.
Anger will leave the room and soon will return with a tall ladder and a set of oven mitts. He will tell Fear and Disgust to set up the ladder.
"Ok Fear get up there and grab the memory with the oven mitts."
"But I'm afraid of heights."
Anger will grab the purple emotion by his vest and pull him down to his level. "I don't care about your stupid fears, you big scaredy cat. You have to do this for Riley. She needs to be happy."
Fear will swallow hard and grab the oven mitts from Angers hands. He will slowly reach the top of the ladder and grab the memory orb. He then will climb down and place the orb in the holder.
"Whoa, look at that! Goofball island! It came back." Disgust sees the island that had totally collapse a day ago, reappear in a shower of sparkles.
"Ok, one down, four more to go." Anger will growl at Fear.
Pretty soon each core memory will come down from being replayed and each one will be grabbed by Fear and carefully placed in the holder.
The emotions will stand in satisfaction as they see all the islands are all there and functioning.
"Well that's one job done. But Joy and Sadness are still not here. Riley can't be happy without Joy." Fear says with apprehension in his voice.
"If we know Joy like we do, she'll come up with a plan to get back to headquarters." Anger smiles a small smile.
"That's the last one. Thank you for your help." Joy says to the mind workers.
"Wait Joy, what about this core memory." Sadness holds out the core memory that she made.
"No Sadness, there's no telling what kind of island that core memory will make." Joy refuses the sad core memory.
Sadness will just look defeated holding onto the memory she created.
"Glad we could help, but maybe you should consider creating new core memories for Riley." The mind worker will say.
"Yeah whatever, do you know how to get back to Headquarters?" Joy will ask.
"Have you tried the Trian of Thought." One of the mind workers will answer.
"Of course, why didn't I think of that. How do we get to it?" Joy will ask, but just as she does the mind workers are already gone, onto their next task.
"That was rude. Oh well, we'll figure something out." Joy will say as she starts to make her way through the maze of memories.
As the two work their way through the maze, they will hear someone talking. Joy will follow the noise and she sees a pink elephant creature stealing memories.
Once the creature will see the two emotions he flees. The two will follow him until they reach him. He is in a hiding position. "Excuse me." Joy says at the figure.
That startles him, he tries to create a diversion, but he then crashes into a rack of memories.
Joy will look at him intently. "Wait, I know you."
"No you don't, I get that a lot. I look like a lot of people." The pink figure will stagger up to his feet.
"No, I do know you." Joy will say, then gasp. "Bing Bong! Riley's imaginary friend."
"You really do know me?" Bing Bong asks.
"Well of course! Riley loved playing with you. You two are best friends. Oh, oh, you would know. We're trying to get back to Headquarters." Joy is ecstatic to someone that could help.
"Headquarters? You two are from Headquarters?" Bing Bong will ask. Wondering why these two are here.
"Well, yeah. I'm Joy and this is Sadness."
"Why are you two doing out here?"
"Good question. Care to fill that one in Sadness."
"Well without you Riley will never be happy. We can't have that. We got to get you back."
"Well I just came across some mind workers that said I need to take the Train of Thought."
"I know exactly where that, is follow me."
The three will journey to the Train of Thought. During this time the two emotions will get to know more about the unique imaginary friend from Riley's childhood. Joy promised the lovable pink creature that when they get back to Headquarters, she will make sure that Riley will remember Bing Bong. Unfortunately, Bing Bong was hoping for more. Hoping to at least play with Riley one last time.
The train ride was a pleasant experience. They reach Headquarters rather quickly. They'll depart the train and enter headquarters. "Hey everybody! We're back!"
The other three emotions will gather around Joy. They have some many questions for her and they were so glad that she was back. Once the commotion died down they will turn their attention to Bing Bong.
"Bing Bong!" The other three emotions will say in unison.
"He's here because I owe him a favor." Joy will let the others know about what she had to do to get back.
"So, we have to make Riley remember him?" Disgust will ask.
"Absolutely. Bing Bong will you care to join me." Joy will motion the elephant to a shelve of ideas. She'll reach into the shelf and pull out an idea. But just as she is about to put the idea into the console she will be stopped by Sadness.
"What is it Sadness?" Joy will ask wondering what's going on.
"I've been reading the mind manuals and there was a part I found that states that Riley at her age right now should not have an imaginary friend." Sadness will say with regret in her voice.
"But, Bing Bong loves Riley." Joy's demeanor quickly fades from happy to sad.
"I know Joy. But it's not normal for Riley to have an imaginary friend at her age. Once she starts growing up she'll have to let go of childish things. So, she can be a mature adult."
Joy will swallow hard, her eyes becoming misty with tears. She must fight the urge to cry. "So, what will happen to him?"
"He's been around for this long. He'll still exist, but he has to know that Riley is growing up." Sadness will look down, not making eye contact with Joy. "You'll have to tell him."
Joy will start crying, this is so hard for her. "Ok, I'll tell him. But first I got to make a call."
Once Joy is done making her call. She will go over to Bing Bong. No words are exchange and she will just hug him.
"Whoa, Joy, what's wrong?" Bing Bong doesn't know what's going on.
Joy will tell him that Riley isn't supposed to have imaginary friends at her age. That he will stick around in Riley's mind and that it's not normal for Riley to have an imaginary friend as an adult.
That makes Bing Bong very sad. He doesn't like the news, but he wants his little girl to grow up. He understands what is going to happen to him.
But Joy has talked to Dream Productions to create a dream for Riley and that will give Bing Bong a chance to say goodbye.
The Trian of Thought will come back to pick up Bing Bong. He will thank everyone for their kindness. He will hug each one of them. Giving a stronger hug to Joy. He will board the train and wave everyone goodbye.
As night falls Riley will be a sleep. The emotions gather together to see what dream Bing Bong and Dream Productions had made.
The dream will start running. Bing Bong will appear. He's standing in front of a black screen. His voice is quiet as he says this. "Hi Riley, It's me Bing Bong. You probably have forgotten me a long time ago. But I never forgotten about you. You were my best friend. We had a lot of fun you and me. But now I know you are 11 years old. You're growing up and even though you will never remember me, I will always be there in the back of your mind."
The emotions look at the dream intently. It's starting to get to them, each emotion is trying to fight back the urge to cry. Except for Sadness she started crying at the first sight of Bing Bong on the screen.
He will continue his message. "But just know I will always love you and you will always be my little girl."
That will finally be the last straw, each emotion will break down.
"I love you Riley. I can't wait to see what you are going to be when you grow up. You continue being a good kid ok?"
Just as the emotions can't take anymore of the dream. Bing Bong will start to sing.
"But his words aren't full of enthusiasm and it sounds like he is talking rather than singing.
"Who's your friend who likes to play? Bing Bong, Bing Bong. His rocket makes you yell "Hooray!" Bing Bong, Bing Bong. Who's the best in every way and wants to sing this song to say. Bing Bong, Bing Bong!"
The lights will dim as he says one last thing. "Goodbye Riley."
As time went on, the emotions worked to do all they could for their girl. Joy even took the advice of the mind workers made new core memories. By exactly one year since Riley had moved to San Francisco, her core memory holder is filled with different core memories of her time in San Francisco. Now the emotions can hang their heads up high that they have helped their girl adjust to her new life. She has new friends, enjoys her new school, and loves being in San Francisco. It was a rough start, but now they can smile in satisfaction that she is a healthy and happy 12 year old girl.
I hope you guys like this story. I wanted to explore the plot hole that was brought up in the film. That yes, the core memories could be recalled. I also wanted to try to make a final scene for Bing Bong, one where he still exists. It was still a kick in the throat, but it was worth it.
I will be happy to say that I will go back to writing chapters for High School is a Strange and Scary World.