Grovecityfan: Greetings Psychonauts and Psychonauts-obsessed lunatics(like me). I have a very special Chapter Three just waiting to be read and ahem REVIWED! Now for the story, but first a dedication to my reviwers, two very talented and optimistically critical people… FluffleNeCharka and psychonaut madz. Thanks for the reviews guys! Now… the story!

Chapter Three

An Interesting Brawl and the MindMaze

Sal stared at the glowing silver moonlight flowing through the window by his bunk. He thought and thought, about the course, the tank, Olliander and his…unusual mind, the treehouse, the "tiring class" in store for him tomorrow, and most of all, Monica. Since the conversation in Olliander's mind a few hours ago, he couldn't get her out of his head. Eventually, he drifted off to sleep, but not for long. He woke up to flashlights on, kids rolling and running, pillows flying, and most importantly, the girls were in the boys' cabin.

"What the-?" Exclaimed Sal in confusion. "What's going on!" Any other day, he would know what was going on, but he had just woken up from 3 hours of sleep and was still a little groggy.

"Yeah! This is so AWESOME!" Exclaimed Jake, taking a pillow to the face.

"Tell me about it!" Said a dark-skinned boy in a hockey jersey named Dave. "Sal, join in on this! Boys against girls!"

"All out extreme pillowfight!" Yelled a boy named Greg, forgetting his homesickness and throwing his sleeping bag across the cabin. They didn't have to tell Sal twice, he was out of his bunk and armed with two nerf balls before you could say "You Cheated!" He threw one ball at a blonde girl he didn't know, and barely had time to duck from a pillow thrown by a dark-haired girl named Kitty. Right after his "evasive maneuver" however, he was hit with a pillow in the chest full-force by you-know-who… Monica. He doubled over and she shrieked,

"YES! Haha, Sal you okay?"

"Yeah," He said, catching his breath. "Wasn't expecting that one."

"I guess I do seem to catch people by surpri-'' She was cut off by Sal throwing the pillow right back at her. She fell over, into a heap of mattresses that had "slipped" off the bunks.

The fight raged on, feathers covered the air, limiting any line of sight other than 2 feet in front of you. The noise level was so high, you couldn't hear a whisper unless you were the one whispering. The situation was perfect, the time was perfect, all in all it was the perfect time to ask Monica. Sal faced her and…choked.

"Hey, Sal!" Shouted Dave. "Regroup over at the boys' bunks!"

"REGROUP!" Yelled Jake. Sal was in the process of regrouping when it dawned on him, where's Doug? He found him lying under a bunk safe from any attacks.

"Doug, you okay?" Asked Sal.

"Yeah, Sal, I'm fine. I just… I don't wanna get in trouble. I remember the last time we had a pillowfight…" He broke off. Sal didn't want to know what happened "last time".

"Well, fine with me, I'm going back in." He ran back out into the commotion and, seeing a clear shot, he fired his second nerf ball at a girl named Maddy, hitting her square in the knee.

"Whoa! Who threw that? Never hit a woman while her back is turned!" Suddenly, a shadow appeared in the doorway.

"FORD!" Yelled everyone in unison.

"Scatter!" Cried Greg. Ford Cruller walked into the cabin and, noting the situation, looked around calmly and said,

"You kids get back to bed, now. You'll have plenty of time to flirt at the bonfire tomorrow night. It's 4:30 now. Try to at least get some sleep." He walked out with his trademark limp, and the dazed kids immediately went back to sleep.

The Next Day…

Mila was doing her rounds with her cymbal again, in attempt to wake the sleepy kids of Cabin 4 up.

"Come, children! Rise and shine!" She cried cheerily. "Today iz a beautiful day for a nice hike in the woods!"

Sal got ready, as usual, faster than the others, and meditated. He didn't really know how to meditate, but he figured sitting with his legs crossed and humming was a good start.

"Salvatore," Said Mila smiling. "Real meditating is very different than from what they do in movies."

"Oh, uh, well… hehe." Sal stuttered. She rather took him by surprise.

"Start by clearing your mind, focus all of the mental energy into one place and keep it there." Sal swallowed all of his thoughts, concerns and emotional baggage (not much considering he was 12 years old) and cleared his mind.

"You see," Continued Mila. "Meditating is a very important part of all mental ablilities. It helps you get a grip on yourself. One should always be in total control of their mind." Sal continued meditating, occasionally making a light grunt.

"Oh how I love children." Said Mila with a sad sigh.

Eventually, all of the kids piled out of the cabins and followed Mila across a few hiking trails and bridges, and eventually made it to the GPC area. For the whole hike, Sal tried to think of ways to not choke again in front of Monica, but nothing seemed to come to mind. It was like one minute he was completely confident, and the next he was edgy and nervous. That wasn't like him.

The kids walked through the GPC and into Agent Nein's lab.

"Here they are, Sasha." Said Mila with a blush.

"Thanks again for leading them, Mila." Said Nein, smiling. "As you can see, I've been very busy."

"Hey, Sal," Whispered Dave. "D'you think Nein and Mila have a thing for each other?"

"I dunno, maybe." Replied Sal. "They seemed like they were…flirting."

"Exactly."

"Alright, kids." Said Nein in his calm voice. "Today you will be taking a tour of my mind." Several kids groaned. "Don't worry, it isn't nearly as terrifying or disorganized as Coach Olliander's mind. We aren't very much alike, you see."

"I hope not." Whispered Kitty. Agent Nein took out the mind portal and attached it to his head. The kids were immediately plunged onto a huge white cube.

"This," Explained Nein. "Is my mind." The kids looked around in astonishment.

"This is it?" Asked Maddy.

"Well," Replied Nein. "All of my thoughts, feelings, and memories are stored safely inside this cube. But enough about my mind, we need to focus on improving yours." He mentally conjured up some multicolor antique flower vases. "You might already notice that some things in the world are so extremely evil that they have to be destroyed." The kids nodded. "These vases are a perfect example. Today, I will teach you to focus all of that young, restless energy into a PSI Beam." He explained to them the ins and outs of the PSI Beam, and sent them to work on the targets, in this case, antique vases. After an hour or so of that, Nein put away the vases and said,

"Very nice, very nice. You have done better, so far than any of the other cabins." Some of the kids cheered. "But you aren't done yet. You will each be maneuvering through a highly complex maze. Anyone and everyone who makes it through this maze without losing all of their astral projection layers will receive the Marksmanship merit badge. You may begin." With a wave of his hand, a maze each of the six sides of the cube appeared. Sal ran to the maze, and began going through it, until he encountered a group of little men with white coats and X stamps.

"What are those?" Asked Sal in surprise.

"Those, my friend," Said Kitty. "Are Censors. They protect your mind from anything that doesn't belong. In this case, it's us."

"Yeah," Explained Doug. "A hit from them really stings." Sal blasted it with his PSI Beam and continued until he found himself in an intersection. Censors came at him at all sides, but Sal thought fast with a Palm Bomb. He continued running, but came to a dead end. When he turned around to go back the other way, a Censor ten times its normal size with "NO" written across his knuckles blocked the way. Sal blasted it but it did seemingly no damage to the huge Censor. It let out a quick jab which threw Sal against the wall. Doug was right, he thought. A hit from that really does sting. The Censor raised his fist again. Sal closed his eyes, ready for the impact, but it never came. When he looked up Monica was standing over him with an outstretched hand. The Censor was knocked out and leaning against the wall of the maze.

"How did you do that?" Asked Sal, letting Monica pull him up.

"Just another thing they teach you here." Said Monica.

"Thanks for the rescue." Said Sal. "Does this make us…friends, now?"

"Sure." Said Monica, sounding like she had been waiting for that question for a long time. Another herd of mini-censors approached them, but Sal fought them off with PSI Punches.

"Let's go," He suggested. They split up and finished the maze quickly, having gone through most of it already. Sasha Nein was waiting for them when they finished the maze.

"Well, when I said you had done better than the other cabins, I didn't know you were this good." He said appreciatively. "Everyone here passed the maze with flying colors. I'm proud to say that all of you have received a Marksmanship merit badge."

Sal was prouder than Nein. In only three days of being at Whispering Rock, he already had the Basic Braining and Marksmanship merit badges. With help, of course, from Monica.

After they got their badges, the campers made their way to the bonfire area for a late night celebration.

Meanwhile, on the Banks of the Whispering Rock Lake…

"You better have a report for me, Nein." Said a hooded man with dark features. " Or I'm going to be very angry."

"I know man, I know." Replied a man with basically the same features as Sasha Nein. "I've got the report, even though it wasn't necessary to stakeout. I am his brother after all."

"Good." Said the hooded man. "How about you, Vodello? Got the report yet?"

"Yes, I have the report on Mila." Responded a woman with similar features to Mila Vodello. "It was tough, that Cruller guy really keeps lookout."

"Well, I guess it runs in the family then." Said the hooded man. I'm like that too. But now that we've got the intel, we're ready to start taking out the Psychonauts, and Whispering Rock is our first target. Get some sleep, we have a long day of scheming ahead of us." Sasha's brother and Mila's sister disappeared into the darkness, awaiting the day that all Psychonauts would be wiped out…for good.