When Mighty Ray woke up in a large room filled with toys and games with a little girl around seven or eight looking down at him.
"AH!" Mighty Ray yelled as he shot up. "Who are you?!"
The little girl had long red pigtails and was wearing a simple blue shirt and basketball shorts. She had a band-aid on her cheek and was missing one of her front teeth.
"I'm April!" She giggled and grabbed his arm. "You wanna play some basketball? My brothers never let me play with them because I'm short."
"Uhhh…. Sure?" He said.
The little girl dragged him over a full-sized basketball court with stuffed animals in the stand to act as the audience. She picked a basketball and smiled widely.
"Game on!"
Sonia found herself in a long hallway lined with doors, each one with a sign. Some were labeled in English; others were in Chinese and another language that Sonia assumed was Japanese. When she opened one door with Japanese writing, she found a large classroom
"I'M GOING TO ROAST THAT DAMN NERD!"
Sonia yelped and slammed the door shut. She turned around and opened another door, allowing a small golden ball to fly out and flew around her head before flying back in.
"Shin'nyū-sha o tomeru!" (STOP INTRUDER!)
Sonia turned around and saw a black-haired girl running towards her dressed in a white gi. Before the raven-haired girl could react, the samurai girl leaped into the air and kicked her in the head, knocking her down.
"Buta o kau," She said and unsheathed her sword. "Watashi wa anata no shi o jinsoku katsu mutsū ni shimasu." (Stay down swine. I'll make your death quick and painless.)
"I can't understand you!" Sonia yelled and blew the girl away with her tongue.
The girl stabbed the ground with her sword to avoid being blown away. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a black orb and threw it at the ground, releasing a cloud of black smoke, stunning Sonia and making her cough. The ninja girl took this opportunity to strike the final blow. She raised her sword to strike Sonia down, but before she could cut her head off, she heard the sound of a gong behind her.
"Otaku! That's enough, Sonia is not your enemy!" A familiar voice said.
The ninja girl, now known as Otaku, sheathed her sword and kneeled down.
"Alexandria?" Sonia coughed and rubbed her eyes.
Indeed, it was the purple and green-haired version of Autumn from their adventure on Coconut Crab Island, but there were quite a few changes to her since Sonia last saw her. For one Alexandria hair was in a stacked pixie cut with her bang covering her left eye. The manifestation of strength seemed to have aged slightly, appearing to be in her mid-twenties rather than late teens.
What caught Sonia off guard was how Alexandria was dressed. She wore a dark purple bikini top with a pair of green pants with one of the legs cut off just a few inches below her thigh and a purple and pair of green purple boots.
"Props for her sticking to her color scheme I guess." Sonia thought.
"What are you doing here? The human mind is not a playground," Alexandria scolded. "Otaku could have easily turned you into Mystique Sonia cutlets!"
"Yeah, about that, Autumn's been traumatized and isn't waking up," Sonia explained.
"And you thought it would be a great idea to enter Autumn's mind alone?" She asked with her hand on her hips.
"Tempest and Mighty Ray are here too I just don't know where exactly," She said. "Also where am I exactly?"
Alexandria sighed and motioned for Otaku to stand up. "This is the Hall of Obsessions. Everything Autumn's ever liked and obsessed over is in this hall in its room. Everything from Autumn's childhood crushes to her favorite anime and manga. Otaku is it's guardian, nothing comes in and out of here without her knowing. Otaku, go search for Mighty Ran and Tempest. Sonia and I will meet you in the Hall of Memories."
"Hai." Otaku said and ran off.
Sonia looked at Alexia who leaned against a wall and took deep breaths as she held her side in pain.
"Hey, are you okay?" Sonia asked.
"To be completely honest? No. Heikin's spell took a lot of all of us. Otaku and many of the others were almost wiped out completely. Come on, we should get going."
As the two walked down the hall Sonia noticed the large cracks in the walls and doorways were missing doors allowing the things that Autumn had once obsessed over to roam freely. A person was climbing on the walls in a red spandex suit, a blond girl with two bun pigtails on her head was eating ice cream, a brown fuzz-ball with wings floated through the air, and a guy with a weird metal box asking if there were any spirits in the room.
"I didn't realize the spell affected her mind so much," Sonia said as she walked past a black Pegasus eating the carpet.
"Most of this was caused by Twin Masters when he possessed her. Without me here the rest of her brain began to succumb to chaos." Alexandria said. "That why I let him 'kill' me."
Sonia nodded as they turned down another hall filled with portraits of people hanging on the wall, each with a plaque, like the doors from the Hall of Obsessions. Each of the people in the paintings was moving and talking to each other.
"Ronda Rousey, The Rock, Charles Martel, Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Tepes/ Vlad Dracula), Gordon Ramsay, JK. Rowling, Jackie Chan, Satoshi Tajiri, Walt Disney, Rick Riordan, George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Carrie Fisher, Pablo Picasso, Rebeca Sugar, and Robin Williams? Who are these people?" Sonia asked.
"This is the hall of heroes. Every one of them has inspired her in one way or another. There even some familiar faces you might recognize." Alexandria explained.
Sonia stopped in front of a portrait with a plaque that read: Rebeca Sugar.
"How did you inspire Autumn?" she asked.
The woman smiled. "I inspired her to not be ashamed of her sexuality and to come out to her family as bisexual."
"I inspired her to brighten people's lived with laughter." Robin Williams said.
"That woman can fight!"
"To stand up for your family/beliefs/country."
"To be creative!"
"Your disabilities do not limit you!"
"To excel in all that you do!"
"To not limit yourself!"
"TO KICK ASS!"
Sonia was taken back at what all of Autumn's heroes said. No wonder Autumn was so influential, she had some pretty good role models.
"We inspire her to be the best she can be." A group of familiar voices said further down the hall.
Sonia and Alexandria walked up to a group portrait of First Squad, Tempest, Second Squad and Commander Apetrully, all smiling. Sonia had to fan her eyes to keep from crying. She had no idea Autumn thought of them like that.
"There's one other painting you should see," Alexandria said and turned her around.
The last painting was of nine people, all of whom looked very similar to Autumn. Fo
"Is that her family?" Sonia asked.
All of Autumn's brothers had dark skin, dark brown eyes and black hair, one of them had he pulled back in a man bun, the other three had buzz cuts and one wore a US navy uniform, and the other two wore US air force uniforms.
The older men in the painting were probably Autumn's dad and grandfathers. Two of the men, who Sonia guessed were Autumn's dad and his dad because they looked so much like her brothers. Autumn's dad wore a US army uniform while her grandfather wore Cherokee warrior robes and a headdress. The other people must have been Autumn's mom and her parents. All of them had the same red hair, freckles, and green eyes. Her grandmother and grandfather both wore police uniforms while her mother wore a US Air force pilot suit.
"She…. She looks so much like them," Sonia said. "Does she miss them?"
"Immensely," Alexandria said. "Come on."
The two came to the Hall of Knowledge, and unlike the Hall of Heroes and Hall of Obsessions, the walls were lined with file cabinets and bookshelves that recorded everything Autumn had ever learned and experienced.
What worried Sonia was that many of the shelves were burned and file cabinets were destroyed or on fire, or both.
"Did Twin Masters cause this too?" Sonia asked.
"No this is from Fu's potion," Alexandria says.
"Fix fix fix fix fix fix …"
"Hmn?"
Sonia turned around and saw a little blue and white robot running around putting things back on shelves and putting out fires.
"What's that?"
"Anxiety," Alexandria said. "Also known as A9ZITY but I call her Annie"
"FIX!"
"Sonia! Alexandria please help me!" Mighty Ray yelled as he ran down the hall.
"Wait don't go!" The little girl yelled as she chased after him.
Alexandria quickly scooped up the little tyke.
"April, what have I told you about chasing people?" Alexandria asked.
"But he stopped playing with me…." The little girl cried. "He's a meanie!"
"Am not!" Mighty Ray yelled.
April whimpered and started crying more. Sonia slapped Mighty Ray upside the head.
"We're here to fix Autumn, not traumatize her more!" She yelled.
"Wait that's Autumn?!" Mighty Ray asked, shocked.
"Well part of her," Sonia explained. "From what I can guess all these characters are parts of her personality. Alexandria is her strength and leadership abilities, Otaku is her courage and discipline, Annie is her anxiety and April is what I'm guessing is her childish side."
Mighty Ray nodded and went over to the little girl a kneeled.
"I'm sorry I made you upset," Mighty Ray said.
April smiled and hugged Mighty Ray. "That's okay, I forgive you cause you're my friend!"
Mighty Ray hugged back.
Suddenly the ground began to shake, and shouting could be heard down the hall. Mighty Ray picks April up as Alexandria growled and took out her whip.
"Shit they got out again…" Alexandria growled.
"What is that?" Sonia asked a horde of shadowy figures raced down the hall.
"Mighty Ray take April and run," Alexandria said.
Mighty Ray nodded and ran off with the younger version of Autumn. Sonia looked at Alexandria with a worried look.
"What are they?!" She asked as the shadows got closer.
"Autumn's Demons."
