Chapter 8: Outside, Looking In
"So, you haven't told your brother yet, huh?" Riley questioned as she slid across the garage on one of the wheeled chairs to where her friends were. Hiro and Tip were currently sitting next to each other on the couch, which they had turned to face a television they had set up. Game controllers were clutched in their hands and their eyes were focused on the flashing lights produced by the video game they were playing. Oh, for his part, was next to them, trying to figure out how to work the beanbag chair.
"I….I haven't really had the time," Hiro replied with a sigh and a shrug.
"Haven't you been, like, sitting in here doing nothing all day?" Tip questioned, somehow arching an eyebrow at Hiro despite her focus being entirely on the game in front of her.
"I was working on my microbot design," Hiro argued defensively, glancing away from the game to shoot Tip a glare, "Besides, Tadashi has classes all day and the fact we have an alien living in our garage isn't exactly-ugh."
Hiro growled in frustration and hung his head while Tip rolled her eyes and threw her hands up into the air as the game over screen flashed in front of them.
"Man, we're never going to beat this level," Hiro groaned.
"Not with you driving the Puma, we're not," Tip stated as she looked over at Hiro.
"You want to try?" Hiro questioned with a hint of annoyance.
"I'd love too," Tip replied with a fake smile as Riley giggled behind her.
"Be my guest," Hiro stated as they restarted the game. After a few moments, Hiro's eyes widened in surprise as Tip's brow furrowed in concentration.
"Wow," Hiro said in surprise, "You're really good at this."
"I know," Tip replied with a smirk.
"You practice this a lot?" Hiro questioned.
"Not really," Tip answered with a shrug, "I've always been pretty good at driving, in video games and in real life."
"You've driven a real car?" Riley questioned in surprise.
"A bit, back in Barbatos," Tip explained, her eyes never leaving the screen in front of her, "My mom says I'm a natural. The only problem I really had was reaching the pedals."
Riley chuckled in amusement as Oh finally managed to find a comfortable position in the beanbag chair. Watching the screen, Oh narrowed his eyes in confusion.
"What is the purpose of this activity?" Oh inquired.
"It's a game," Hiro explained, "We have to….um….kill the aliens."
"What is the….purpose of this?" Oh asked nervously.
"Fun, mostly," Tip answered with an indifferent shrug, "And practice."
Slowly, Tip glanced over at Oh, her green eyes meeting his blue.
"The little ones remind me of you," Tip stated with a monotone voice as the futuristic jeep she was driving slammed into one of the aliens in questions, the creature screaming shrilly as it died. Oh shuddered and turned a bright shade of yellow.
Riley rolled her eyes at her friend before turning in the chair to look around the garage. As she did, her eyes fell on the neural transmitter sitting on a nearby workbench, its wires fully encased by metal plating while a band arched across the diameter of the device, looking like it helped secure the device to the wearer's head. Riley could see a few nodes sticking out towards the center of the device and a red light protruded from what she assumed was the front.
"Hey, is this the transmitter thing?" Riley questioned as she rolled over to the workbench.
"Yeah," Hiro replied, not looking away from the video game.
"Wow, you have been busy today," Riley commented as she gently picked the transmitter up, "It looks finished."
"Yeah, I…." Hiro began to say before trailing off as he blinked in confusion, "Finished? What do you-"
Hiro froze in terror as he looked over at Riley, watching as she began lowering the transmitter on to her head. A transmitter that looked wholly different to the one he had seen the night before.
"Riley, wait!" Hiro shouted as she jumped to his feet, his controller clattering to the ground. His warning came too late though as Riley finished placing the transmitter on her head as she looked over at Hiro. Their eyes met for a moment as the red light on the transmitter glowed brightly before Riley's face turned expressionless and her eyes became unfocused. A moment later, Riley's whole body went limp, her head hanging over the back of the chair.
"Riley!" Hiro shouted in a panic, Tip gasping in shock as she dropped her controller to the ground. Turning his attention towards Oh, Hiro's panicked expression turned to one of fury as he reached down and grabbed the Boov by the front of his clothes, finding the alien surprisingly light as he hauled him out of the beanbag chair.
"What did you do to the transmitter!?" Hiro demanded, shaking Oh for good measure.
"I-I improved its," Oh explained with a panicked voice, "I dooz it to show my gratitude. It should work much betters now!"
"Do you call that working better!?" Hiro shouted as he pointed at Riley sitting comatose in the chair.
"It-It wasn't supposed to work like that!" Oh replied, prompting Hiro to throw him back into the beanbag chair in disgust before rushing over to Riley.
"Riley! Can you hear me!?" Hiro called as he shook the girl by the shoulders in an attempt to wake her, "Riley!"
Looking at the transmitter, Hiro quickly reached for it to pull it off Riley's head. As his fingers made contact with the metal of the transmitter though, Hiro felt a rush of electricity run up his arms. Hiro shook as his muscles contracted painfully, tiny bolts of electricity dancing across his arms, burning his skin and singeing his sleeves. Abruptly, Hiro was knocked away from Riley in a shower of sparks, flying through the air before crashing onto the couch.
"Hiro!" Tip screamed as she ran over to the boy, only to find him unconscious. Spinning around Tip grabbed Oh and hauled him into the air as she shook him violently.
"What do we do!?" Tip demanded, panic and anger filling her voice, "What do we do!?"
Meanwhile,
Riley had no idea where she was.
One moment she had been sitting in Hiro's garage, placing the neural transmitter on her head. The next, she was floating in a black abyss of nothing.
Well, not nothing, she realized, as she felt herself laying against something hard and smooth. Was she on the floor? The next moment Riley realized it was dark because her eyes were closed, a dim light filtering in through her eyelids. As things became clearer, Riley began to hear voices as people conversed around her.
"What do we do!?" a panicked, male voice questioned frantically, "What do we do!?"
"I don't know," a female voice replied, "I didn't even think something like this could happen."
"I don't think anything like this has happened before," a second, morose, female voice stated, "The manuals don't say anything about it."
"What do we do with her?" a third, female voice questioned, "We can't just leave her laying on the dirty floor."
"Yeah, sure, let's just drag her outside then," a gruff, male voice replied sarcastically, "That's a great idea."
"That's not what I was-" the third female began to say sharply before trailing off as Riley's eyes began to flutter open.
"What happened?" Riley questioned, grabbing hold of her head as she realized it was throbbing, using the other to shield her eyes from the light above her as they adjusted, "What's going-"
Riley froze as her vision cleared and she found herself surrounded by five strangers. They didn't look like anyone she knew. They didn't even look human. They're bodies were humanoid, but their features were exaggerated and expressive, and they each had bright, unnaturally colored skin, making them all look like cartoon characters. Her eyes widening and her heart beating faster, Riley took a moment to get a better look at each of the individuals.
One was a young woman, or at least Riley thought she resembled a young woman. She stood roughly as tall as Riley, making her the tallest of the five, with a slim build. Her skin was yellow in color and her hair was a sky blue that matched her wide eyes. She wore a light green, sleeveless summer dress decorated with light blue flowers and her short hair was pulled back into an even shorter ponytail. Her feet were bare and a light blue aura seemed to surround her.
The second female was shorter and stouter than the first with a rounded face. Her skin was blue while her shoulder-length hair and eyes were sapphire in color. She wore a thick, off-white, turtleneck sweater along with navy blue pants. Her tiny feet were covered with black slippers and she wore round, thick-rimmed, dark purple glasses.
The third female stood slightly taller than the second with a slender build. Her skin was a light shade of green while her eyes were emerald in color with comically long eyelashes. Her hair was styled and hung just above her shoulders, a deep green in color except for the streaks of purple that seemed to mirror the ones in Riley's own hair. She wore, a spring green, floral-printed dress along with a stylish, mint green belt and forest green tights. A purple ascot was tied around her neck at an angle and a matching pair of ballet flats covered her dainty feet. Her features were lightly touched up with lipstick, eyeshadow and blush, all pink in color.
The first male was tall and lanky, looking like he could be knocked over by a stiff breeze. His skin was lavender in color and his head was as comically skinny as the rest of his body, with large, bulging, purple eyes topped by thick, black eyebrows. A long, skinny nose extended from his face while his hair seemed to consist of a single, long, black hair that curled in on itself a few inches above his head. He wore a tan and black checkered sweater vest over a powder blue, button-up shirt along with dark purple pants. A magenta bow tie was wrapped around his neck and black, leather shoes covered his feet.
The second male was the shortest of them all, barely coming up to the first female's waist. His skin was a bright red in color and he possessed a blocky physique with a flat, bald head and crimson eyes. He wore a white, collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a tie with a red and grey zigzag design hanging from his neck. Along with the shirt he wore a pair of dark grey shoes and burgundy slacks held up by a brown belt.
There was a silence as Riley stared up at the five strange beings while they stared right back at her, all six of them wearing matching expressions of surprise. Then, the silence was broken as Riley let out a scream. The five beings jumped back in surprise, the tall male letting out a shriek even higher pitched than Riley's and jumping into the other male's arms. Scrambling away across the floor, Riley managed to get her feet under her and stood up as she quickly took in her surroundings, briefly noting the second male dropping the first unceremoniously to the ground.
Riley was in a single, large room made of a substance that resembled linoleum, but was warm to the touch and grey in color, looking darker due to the dim lighting of the room. The architecture of the room was smooth and rounded with no sharp corners to be seen, the vaulted ceiling looming above. One wall was dominated by a large, oval screen, television static dancing across it. A large control panel was set up facing the wall, long enough for multiple people to use and covered in dozens of brightly colored buttons, switches and levers. The wall directly across from this was occupied completely by large windows through which Riley could only see a cloudy night sky. At the center of the room, some sort of panel lay in the floor, multiple lines of bright yellow light running from it to the windows. Directly across from Riley was a wall covered in shelves occupied by large glass balls that glowed yellow, green, blue, red and purple as well as a few mixtures of two or more of the colors. The wall behind Riley was occupied with bookshelves filled with what looked like manuals as well as what looked like computer chips and light bulbs. A doorway in the same wall led somewhere Riley couldn't see.
"W-Where….Where am I?" Riley demanded, pressing her back against the wall as she looked around wildly, "What am I doing here? Who are you people?"
"Okay, Riley," the yellow woman said gently as she cautiously approached the girl, "It's alright. It's….we're not going to hurt you."
"How do you know my name!?" Riley demanded, growing more agitated, "Who are you!?"
"I'm….I'm Joy," the woman answered with a smile, "And I….well, I've known you your whole life."
"What….What are you talking about?" Riley asked in confusion, "I've never met you before."
"That's true," Joy agreed with a chuckle, "And I don't think you were ever supposed to."
"What….What are you talking about?" Riley asked in confusion, "W-Where am I?"
"Riley you're…." Joy paused as she mulled over her words, "You're inside your own head."
"...What?" Riley questioned, twice as bewildered as before.
"This, all of this," Joy explained, motioning around at the room before pointing at her head, "Is in here."
"What are you talking about?" Riley inquired, looking at Joy like she had grown a second head, "I'm not stupid. I've gone to school, I know what a brain looks like. This is not a brain."
"It….It's a little more complicated than that," Joy answered, holding up her thumb and forefinger for emphasis.
"Then explain it to me," Riley insited.
"I….I can't," Joy admitted nervously.
"What do you mean you can't?" Riley questioned, her confusion giving way to annoyance.
"Well, you know how you know how a computer works but you really don't know how it actually works?" Joy questioned, earning a nod from Riley, "Well, it's kind of like that."
"This is stupid," Riley growled, "I'm not in my own head. The last thing I remember-"
"Is putting on the neural transmitter," Joy finished for her.
Riley's eyes widened in shock.
"How….How did you know that?" Riley questioned.
"Because I saw it," Joy answered indicating towards the static-filled screen, "On the screen."
Riley didn't say anything in reply, so Joy turned away and jogged over to the other wall before taking one of the orbs off the shelves. Walking back, she held it out to Riley, showing its purple color to her.
"Here, look, this is a memory," Joy explained, "It was the last one to come in before everything went crazy."
Joy moved to hand the orb to Riley but the girl shied away causing the woman to pause. Joy thought her options over for a second before placing the orb on the ground and rolling it over to Riley. As it reached her, Riley stopped the orb with her foot before hesitantly reaching down and picking it up, her eyes focused on the others as she did.
As she stood back up, Riley looked down at the orb and was shocked to see the image of herself putting on the neural transmitter before going limp in her chair.
"W-What is this?" Riley gasped in shock as she dropped the orb, sending it rolling across the floor, "How did-"
"It's like I said," Joy replied with a soothing voice, "It's a memory. We create and collect them here. In your head."
Riley seemed to think over everything Joy said to her for a moment, the girl calming slightly.
"O-Okay," Riley choked out, "Say I believe you. How did I get here? Did the transmitter do this?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Joy stated with a helpless shrug, "It makes sense though. When you put it on, everything shut down. When the lights came back on, you were laying on the floor where we found you."
"So, what is all this for, anyway?" Riley questioned as she looked around again, "What do you do here?"
"Well, like I said, I'm Joy," the woman stated with a smile, "Specifically, I'm your Joy, Riley."
"My….Joy?" Riley questioned, "Like the emotion?"
"That's me," Joy replied cheerfully.
"And the rest of them?" Riley questioned, glancing at the other four standing a short distance away.
"Your other emotions," Joy explained, turning and pointing to them individually, "Sadness, Anger, Disgust and Fear, to be specific."
Riley looked over at the emotions, who were watching her wearily. After a moment, the blue woman, Sadness, gave her a small wave. Smiling, Joy waved them over, prompting the emotions to gather around Riley.
"Alright," Riley said, running a hand through her hair and letting out a shaky breath, "So you guys are….my emotions. And you do what in here?"
"We run things basically," Disgust spoke up with a shrug of her shoulders, a snooty tone to her voice that Riley felt was always present.
"You….control me?" Riley asked in shock.
"No," Sadness replied, her voice morose, "That's your Conscience Core underneath Headquarters, which houses your logic and free will. That's basically what you are. Normally, at least. We just offer ideas."
Riley blinked at her in surprise.
"I've read all the manuals," Sadness explained, glancing at the shelves of books.
"Do all people have set ups like this?" Riley questioned.
"We think so," Joy answered with a shrug, "More or less. We can't read other people's minds after all."
"I don't get it," Riley said with a sigh, "If we have all these doctors and stuff examining brains. How have they never found any of this before?"
"It's kind of a metaphysical thing," Sadness answered with a shrug, "It goes beyond just biology. It's kind of hard to wrap your head around."
Joy and Riley both snorted in amusement at Sadness' unintentional pun causing them both to giggle and smile at each other.
"So, since you guys don't know how I got here, I take it you don't know how to get me back out?" Riley asked.
"Not a clue," Anger confirmed with a shrug.
"I'm sure it will wear off or someone will take the doohickey off your head and everything will be fine," Joy reassured her.
"Or you'll never get out and be trapped in a permanent vegetative state for the rest of your life," Sadness added.
"Or that," Joy agreed, visibly irritated at the other emotion.
"Oh, I knew we shouldn't have put on the transmitter," Fear moaned, "We've seen sci-fi movies. We've read comic books. Experimental technology always leads to stuff like this!"
"I don't get it though," Riley spoke up, "It's not experimental. Hiro was using known tech. He was just reworking it. But I doubt anything like this ever happened before."
"Unless he's not the one who built it," Fear gasped.
"Oh," Riley stated, her eyes wide with realization.
"The alien!" Anger growled, and Riley noticed the air above his head shimmering with heat.
"He must have added his own tech to it!" Fear cried, "Oh, I knew we shouldn't have trusted him!"
"Oh man, he's probably sucking your brain out through your ears right now!" Disgusted shrieked, making a face that reflected her name.
"We're going to die!" Sadness wailed as she buried her face into her hands.
"Guys! Guys!" Joy shouted, waving her hands around to get the other emotions' attentions, "We're not going to die. If Oh was going to do something, I'm sure he would have done it by now, right?"
The others calmed as they considered Joy's words.
"I guess you're right," Disgust relented with a hint of embarrassment.
"Besides, Hiro's there," Joy added with a knowing grin, "Do you think he'd let anything bad happen to us?"
The other emotions quickly agreed with Joy's sentiment, earning a bemused smile from Riley.
"You guys seem like big fans of his," Riley observed with a chuckle.
"And you're not?" Joy grinned as she turned back to Riley, who had the decency to blush and avert her gaze, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she did so.
"Yeah, uh huh, I thought so," Joy said as she pranced over and poked Riley playfully in the side, "You are, because he's awesome."
"And cute," Disgust added, causing Riley to blush brighter.
"I should have figured you guys would approve," Riley stated as she looked away from her emotions.
"Well, duh, how could we not?" Joy teased, "Did you see that birthday party he threw for us?"
"Or when he stood up to that police guard in jail?" Fear added.
"Plus, he really likes all our ideas," Sadness added with a small smile that Riley found adorable.
"He's pretty great," Anger agreed.
"And cute," Disgust added for a second time.
"We've had a lot of big things happening around here because of him," Joy stated with a grin.
"What do you mean?" Riley questioned.
"Well, it doesn't seem like you're going anywhere for a little while," Joy observed before taking Riley's hand, "Why don't I show you?"
Without waiting for an answer, Joy reached down and took Riley's hand before dragging her over to the windows. As she reached the windows, Riley gasped at what she saw, resting her hands against the glass for support. The room she was in, Headquarters as the emotions had called it, was actually at the top of an enormously tall tower made out of the same material as the rest of the room. The tower stood at the center of a large pit which Riley could not see the bottom of. Across the chasm, Riley could see numerous structures, from what looked like a movie studio to a maze of giant shelves, all connected by a train, with a great desert carrying on to the horizon past them. What caught her attention though were the seven towering structures that stood between Headquarters and solid ground, looming out of the pit like the building she was in, but not as tall, each connected to it by a long cable.
"What are those?" Riley questioned, indicating towards the structures.
"Those are your Islands of Personality," Joy explained, "They're the central aspects of your personality. They make you, you."
"Wow," Riley said with a grin, "What do you represent?"
"That one," Joy said, pointing towards the central island, "is Family Island. It represents how important your family is to you."
Riley smiled as she looked at the structure, dominated by a statue of a mother and father hugging a young girl, though Riley could see other images she associated with her family, like the family car, the trampoline they had back in Minnesota and their new house in the shadow of the Toji Gate Bridge.
"Next to it, you'll see Friendship Island," Joy went on, pointing to the island to Family's right, "That one represents how important your friends are to you."
"They recently put in a section for friendly disagreements," Anger added.
Riley's grin widen as she looked at the island, dominated by the image of two girls smiling at each but also covered in hearts, rainbows and other friendly imagery.
"After that, we have Honesty Island," Joy stated, pointing to the island to Family's left, "That one shows your integrity and desire to do the right thing."
Honesty Island was dominated by what looked like a Greco-Roman temple on top of a high hill, though Riley also noticed other imagery that brought ideas of honor and justice to her mind.
"After that we have Goofball Island," Joy explained, "That one is your fun-loving and silly side."
Riley giggled at the island, covered in flashing lights and zany images, including a large, animatronic sign depicting a clown head getting bonked on the head by a hammer.
"And over here is Hockey Island," Joy continued, "That's, as you may have guessed, is the side of you that loves hockey."
Riley followed Joy's gaze to the snowcapped island that had a hockey rink shadowed by a large trophy and hockey stick rising above it.
"And that brings us to our newest additions," Joy announced.
"How new?" Riley questioned as she looked over at Joy.
"They formed after we came to San Fransokyo," Joy answered with a grin, before indicating towards one of them, "First, we have what we've taken to calling Idol Island."
Looking to where Joyce was pointing, Riley could see an island that was largely purple in color. A statue of what Riley recognized as a nine-tailed fox loomed over the island, a smaller statue of a young woman straddling a motorcycle.
"Is that….Go Go?" Riley questioned in surprise.
"Well, of course it is, who else would it be?" Disgust spoke up, earning a quirked eyebrow from Riley, "Come on, she's the coolest person we know. Trust me, I keep a list."
"So, that's about how I look up to Go Go?" Riley questioned.
"It's more about how you want to be like her," Joy explained before her smile turned mischievous, "And it's not the only island that focuses on a certain person."
Confusion coloring her features, Riley looked towards the last island, the sight of which quickly caused her face to heat up. The island had many heart designs similar to friendship island, though other features were mechanical and robotic. They were all centered around a statue. A statue that looked exactly like Hiro.
"We call that one Romance Island," Joy whispered with a giggle as she leaned up next to Riley, "I think the statue is a very good likeness."
"It does show how cute he is," Disgust agreed a little dreamily.
Riley blushed brighter and smiled shyly before turning her attention away from the window, focusing on Joy, tucking a hair behind her ear as she did so.
"So, why are they connected to here?" Riley questioned.
"Because they're all powered by your Core Memories," Joy explained.
"What's a Core Memory?" Riley asked.
"They're the most important memories you have," Joy elaborated, "Memories of events that have defined your life."
Walking away from the windows, Joy pranced over to the panel in the floor before touching it with her foot. This caused the panel to rise up out of the floor, revealing a container that held more of the glass spheres, though these ones shone brighter than the others she had seen.
"These things are my most important memories?" Riley questioned as she walked over, the other emotions following behind.
"Yep!" Joy replied, "Each one powers a different aspect of your personality. Here, look!"
Joy pulled out a sphere, colored a swirl of yellow and blue, and handed it to Riley. Riley's eyes widened as she saw herself being hugged by her mother and father inside the police station, the image playing out in front of her like a movie.
"This….this is the family one, isn't it?" Riley pondered aloud in awe.
"It is," Joy agreed, "I really like that one."
As she spoke, Joy rested a hand on Sadness' shoulder, the other emotion smiling up at her.
"I thought you said only two of these were new," Riley observed, turning her attention back to Joy, "This is only from a few weeks ago."
"What we found out recently is Core Memories can be replaced with ones that the same values," Joy explained, "Your old ones were made when you were, like, three and, well, you're just not the same person anymore, are you?"
"Guess not," Riley agreed as she placed the memory back and looked over the others. One, a yellow and red memory, showed her playing hockey against her friends. A yellow memory depicted her laying on the ice with Tip and Hiro, laughing brightly. A red and purple memory displayed the image of her in the alley the night she had met Hiro, bodychecking one of the thugs who was going to beat him up. A green and yellow memory presented Riley with the image of Tip and her at school, goofing around so much she caused the other girl to laugh and spew milk out her nose. A yellow and purple memory depicted her on the back of Go Go's motorcycle, gripping the other girl tightly as they rocketed down the street. The final memory, also purple and yellow, showed Riley and Hiro talking, before she took his hand and kissed him on the cheek.
"Wow," Riley said with a smile.
"Yeah," Joy agreed as she touched the top of the container, causing it to slide back into the floor, "They're all pretty special."
"Yeah," Riley said absentmindedly as she looked down at the panel. Reaching out, Joy gently took Riley's hand, catching the girl's attention.
"Come on," Joy grinned as she nodded towards the control panel, "Let me show you where we work."
Nodding, Riley followed Joy over to the control panel, the other emotions following before fanning out to what Riley realized were there designated spots at the control panel.
"So, this is where you guys put your inputs?" Riley questioned as she looked over the complicated controls, "This seems like a lot."
"It's way better than the one we used to have to share," Disgust spoke up.
"You should have seen the one you had when you were first born," Joy snorted, "It was literally just one big button. Now, I have buttons for every different kind of laugh you do."
"I have a knob that dictates how much you cry," Sadness added quietly, earning a small smile from Riley.
"I have switches for fear, panic, mortal terror and general anxiety," Fear spoke up as well.
"What about you, Anger?" Riley questioned as she turned towards the shortest emotion, "What do-"
Riley cut herself off, her eyes widening as they fell on Anger's section of the control panel.
"Is that….every swear word I know?" Riley asked after a moment.
"Yeah," Anger chuckled, "They haven't let me use them yet. I'm pretty sure that button over there lets me combine two or more. Isn't the English language grand?"
Riley didn't comment as she walked over to where Disgust was standing.
"You know, if I had guessed what emotions would be in control of my head, I wouldn't have guessed Disgust would be one of them," Riley commented before quickly adding, "No offence."
"None taken, you'd be lost without me anyway," Disgust said as she looked up at Riley, "As you may have noticed, I'm a little more nuanced than the others we have around here."
Riley didn't miss Joy rolling her eyes or Anger shooting Disgust an annoyed glare in response. Turning back to Disgust, Riley looked at her panel and found a display screen that the emotion was tinkering with.
"Wow, you weren't kidding about the list thing," Riley observed, running her eyes down the document ordering everyone she knew by coolness.
"I have all sorts of these," Disgust explained, "Including a list of fashion ideas you should check out."
Riley was surprised by the idea but she quickly found it interesting.
"I always did kind of want to pay attention to fashion more," Riley commented with a shy smile.
"That's what I like to hear," Disgust stated with a smirk, "We're in the big city now, can't get by just wearing jeans and sweaters anymore. Love the hair by the way."
Riley brushed some of her purple locks behind her ears as she noted the ones in Disgust's own hair.
"I can see why," Riley answered with a bemused smirk.
"Hey, she's my idol too," Disgust stated with faux defensiveness.
Chuckling, Riley turned away from Disgust and looked over the control panel again. As she did, she noticed something.
"Hey," Riley spoke up, pointing towards the center of the control panel, "What's that?"
"That's the puberty button," Joy answered before shrugging, "We're not sure what it does yet."
"No, not that," Riley replied, pointing again with more emphasis, "That."
Looking in the direction Riley was pointing, Joy's eyes widened in surprise as they fell on what the girl was motioning towards. Before Joy, right next to the puberty button, was another button that stood out from the other. Unlike the other buttons, which were mechanical, this one almost looked organic, a spongy orange sack rising out of the control panel.
"I-I don't know," Joy stammered in surprise, "It wasn't there before."
"It wasn't?" Riley asked in surprise.
"No," Sadness confirmed.
"What does it do?" Anger pondered.
"Well, there's only one way to find out," Joy replied with a shrug before she started reaching for the button.
"Don't touch it!" Fear wailed, "What if it kills us!?"
"It's not going to kill us," Joy reassured him.
"It looks gross," Disgust commented, seeming to turn a more sickly shade of green.
"I….will agree with that," Joy stated before reaching out for the button again, while she looked over at Riley, "What do you think?"
"Push it," Riley stated after thinking it over for a moment, "If it just appeared, it might have something to do with me being here."
"You've got it," Joy replied before pushing the button, which made a wet sound as she pressed it. As soon as Joy was finished pushing the button, the screen before them suddenly sprung to life as the static disappeared. Before them was what looked like the image of Headquarters, though the walls were bright, cleaner and more futuristic looking. The image seemed to be looking out through the other Headquarters' screen, displaying five emotions working furiously on their control panel, to seemingly no avail. Riley noticed that the emotions were much like her own, though the Joy was a male with unruly hair with the Fear appeared to be female, who was currently running around like a chicken with its head lopped off.
"What…" Joy began to say in confusion, "What is this?"
"It's another Headquarters," Sadness answered, her eyes almost as wide as her thick-rimmed glasses.
"Yeah, but one designed by Krei Tech," Anger commented, "Look how shiny it is in there!"
"I think they might be unconscious," Disgust spoke up with a worried tone.
"Are we….are we looking into someone else's head?" Fear questioned in shock.
"Not just any head," Riley whispered in horror, "This is Hiro's head."
"You sure?" Joy questioned in surprise.
"His Joy looks just like him and look at the design," Riley said, motioning towards the screen, "It screams Hiro."
"If that is Hiro, then he's unconscious," Sadness stated, "Maybe hurt."
"If he's knocked out," Fear gasped with sudden realization, "Then who's going to help us?"
Slowly, the emotions turned and looked at Riley, hoping for some sort of answer from the girl.
"I-I don't know," Riley whispered as she covered her mouth with her hands, "Oh, what did you do to us?"
A/N: Another chapter that I had to cut in two after it got away from me. There's just so much to talk about! Told you guys I was bringing in the emotions! Hope you like how I did it! As always, feedback and critiques are always welcome, so please review! Later!
