Chapter Four: Combat Daze

Raz watched as Bobby began to fall, the world beginning to grow slower as his vision automatically focused in on Bobby's eyes. His fear was so apparent, and as his eyes soon passed the threshold of the brainlike platform that they were standing on, the world began to move as normal and Raz was on the move.

As Norma began to run towards the edge Raz had already vanished and used his teleportation to appear right above the orange haired boy, now appearing doomed to fall with him.

"You idiots!" The brunette shouted, watching the two boys begin to fall into the empty void of the collective unconscious. "Sasha's gonna kill me…"

Raz reached his hand out to the boy carefully, going against the speeds of their downfall which ultimately led him to be unable to reach Bobby. There was no time to try and be careful about this, which meant Raz had to go for plan B.

"BOBBY, QUICK, THINK ABOUT THE BRAIN IN THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS!" He instructed, not even giving Bobby enough time to protest as he then nosedived to fall faster, headed right for a collision course with him.

"W-Wait! What are you doing!?" The boy questioned aimlessly, flinching instinctively before Razputin slammed straight into him, latching his arms around the boy as he took one last look at the void of the collective unconscious.

Something was staring back at him. It's eyes were almost a blinding golden color, and the shadowed outline of the creature appeared small and fragile despite the fact it towered over both Raz and Bobby. The creature itself did not appear inherently hostile but just as soon as it caught onto Razputin staring right at it, Razputin had already instinctively activated his teleportation and the two teens were gone.

The massive shadowy creature stood still for a moment as it relished in it's solitude once more, turning back around to blend in with the void of the collective unconscious as Razputin and Bobby reappeared at the brain platform with Norma. As the duo rematerialized, they appeared to have a lack of footing when they returned and thus fell face first into the ground which was surprisingly solid for a brain.

Norma swiftly approached the two as they groaned in sync with a mixture of pain, trauma, and general discomfort with their current positions and situation. "Jesus, were you trying to give me a heart attack!? You guys could have… I don't know! No one's ever been that stupid before!"

The two simultaneously groaned once more, this time at their shared annoyance of Norma's complaints. Razputin, who mind you was resting beneath a rather defeated Bobby Zilch, was the first to collect himself and swiftly shoved the boy above him off of himself.

"Gee, I wonder why we just risked our lives on purpose like that!" Raz questioned rhetorically, shaking his head at the brunette who simply crossed her arms and rolled her eyes in response. "You alright, Bobby? Any trauma?"

"I'm fine, no thanks to you." The brace-faced teen replied, bringing himself to his feet as he took a second to collect himself after falling on his ass. "Jesus, you guys nearly got me killed…"

The young Aquato didn't even bother giving a response as his mind went elsewhere. He quietly replayed the events prior in his mind, trying to piece together just what he had seen in the void of the unconsciousness of the human race. Was there something more to this space? Was it someone's personal demons, or… Was it all humanities shared mental problems?

The beast, although something he surely had never seen before, almost appeared familiar. It was like that feeling of nostalgia, he's felt that presence before, but from who? And when and where had he encountered such a thing before?

Turning towards his associates, he pondered whether or not it was a good idea to inform them of what he had seen. Bobby didn't appear to have any sort of signs of distress like himself (Other than nearly getting lost in the void). Maybe he should look into it on his own before expressing his concerns to anyone, it would be beneficial not to disturb any of the other Psychonauts with non-pressing matters.

"Yo! Rats!" Norma called, breaking the boy out his own head and back to the reality of the situation. He was here to help assess Bob and find the areas that he was lacking. "Come on, we're trying that again. Try not to almost bite it this time!"

"Would it kill you to get my name right, just once?" He mumbled. It wasn't as if she didn't know his name, everyone was aware at this point she just got people's names wrong to get under their skin. Surely she paid more attention to people than that, right?

"Wait, you're trying to have me do it again? I don't know if you missed the memo, but I almost fell into a pit of nothingness!" Bobby chimed in, raising his voice angrily as he pointed outward to the void that surrounded them.

"If you want to give up just because of that then you have no place within the Psychonauts. I take it you'll want me to put in your resignation for you?" Norma was blunt, harsh. She got straight to the point, and although Razputin wanted to speak up with a few words of encouragement, he was just as aware of what she was trying to convey. There was no time to let unforeseen events like this halt your progress, above all else you get the job done. The Psychonauts had no time for those a part of the fear-filled census.

"What!? You can't just-"

"Actually, I'm afraid she's right." The goggle clad teen spoke. His tone was sincere, and almost apologetic. He turned his head towards Bobby, his green eyes almost scarily serious as flashes of his own experience in the field coursed through his mind. There was no time to stop for breaks like that, you keep going until you can't. "It's either you get up there and try again, or your future here with the Psychonauts is over Bobby. This is the difference between camp and real Psychonaut training, we can't take it easy on you just because you fell, or because you're new." He continued. Bobby could tell that he spoke from experience, what had the young Aquato been put through to speak so seriously. "We handle matters that concern the world. If you don't keep up… You'll be left behind, but that's why we're here. You can do this Bobby, just focus and you can make it across."

A pause washed over them as Norma nodded in agreement with what Raz said. She hated to admit it, but he was right, this wasn't the same kind of playing around that they experienced at camp, hell, Oleander wasn't even a real threat back then. This was something entirely different, something a lot bigger than themselves.

"...Fine." Bobby finally omitted, taking a deep breath as he clenched his fists to keep them from shaking. "I'll get through this, and I'll do a better job than either of you. That I can guarantee."

Both Norma and Raz shared a look before grins spread across their face, almost as if they relished his declaration.

"Now that I'd pay to see!" Norma exclaimed excitedly, nudging Raz playfully who smiled with agreement. "Say, after this we might have to introduce him to hazing."

Raz smirked. Any chance to get back at Bobby for being such a prick back in the day was always welcome. "Now that's something I can get behind."

"Doesn't saying you're gonna haze me just ruin the whole point of hazing?" The brace-faced teen questioned rhetorically, rolling his eyes as he was suddenly apported back to the platform that he'd have to levitate from.

"You know the drill, Hair boy! I'll make sure to keep quiet this time, so do your best!" Razputin called out to him, giving his own vote of confidence to ensure that he'd be able to make it as a Psychonaut. The two surely had some petty feuds they needed to work out, but at the very least they could show respect for one another.

Bobby could feel a small bead of sweat run down his forehead. He wiped his brow clean before taking a deep breath and once more taking the risk of attempting to clear the gap. The dark abyss beneath him filled his body with fear, but his heart beat too quickly to let him succumb to it, so unlike before, Bobby was able to just barely clear the gap, having to grab onto the mounds of the cerebral platform in order to fully make the trip, but he succeeded nonetheless.

"Shoddy work, you'll still need a few more years before you can even hope to clear that gap better than us, but… Not bad, Poppy." Norma congratulated, adjusting her glasses with a finger as they sat on the bridge of her nose.

"It's Bobby."

"Whatever, Barry."

Bobby simply stared at her with annoyance painted all over his expression. She really just didn't care, did she? He couldn't tell if it was mockery or if she was just that bad with names.

"You did pretty good, Bobby. Next time try to land on your feet though." Raz teased, earning an eye roll from the orange-haired teen before he continued, "Well, I guess all that's left is your Psychic Hand-To-Hand. Norma, do you want to take over for this one?"

"Why would I want to waste my energy on some human snot rocket?" She replied, questioning the boy rhetorically as she rolled her eyes and crossed her arm with a huff. Her attitude was certainly worse than usual, perhaps some added stressors must have been seeping into her daily interactions.

'Probably best to just not push it…' Raz thought to himself, sighing softly before he turned his attention to Bobby. "Alright, might as well get this over with… Rules will be simple, Bobby. I'm gonna take it easy on you, first to submit is the loser. You won't be graded on if you win or not-"

Bobby quickly interrupted as he got into position across from Razputin. "Yeah, yeah. I don't even need you to hold back, I'm winning this easily, dork."

"Yeah, that's what they all say…" Raz mumbled, sliding his goggles back over his eyes as he took a stance and prepared himself for Norma to announce the start of the match. His opponent seemed confident, but Raz knew better than that. He was hiding his own unease, he had no idea just how much experience Raz had acquired over the years, experience that had led to him being one of the top performers in the academy and the foundation as a whole. His ability to quickly learn psychic techniques left him unparalleled to most of his peers, some even called it the second coming of Truman in his prime, but Raz made sure to shut that rumor down every chance he could.

The pink skinned brunette made her way between the two who stood at a distance to one another, turning to each combatant before giving instruction. "Alright! I want a good clean fight, everything goes except for anything lethal. That includes nut punches, we don't need a repeat of the Licht incident."

"What's the Licht incident?" Bobby inquired, earning a shared glance between Norma and Raz who seemed to be too uncomfortable to even mention a single detail of the aforementioned incident. "Don't ask. Got it."

"Anyways, when I say go I want you two to give it your all. And make it snappy so we can get on with this, alright?" Her snob-like requests of finishing the assessment with haste were really beginning to weigh on the two teenage boys, but luckily they'd be able to get their frustrations out with a good ol' fashioned Psychic fistfight.

"Sure you don't want to tie your hair back before this? Might get in the way, hair-boy." Razputin taunted, earning a growl of annoyance from his opponent, yet despite his grievances he took Raz's advice and pulled out a hair tie to tie his hair back out of his face. "Ready when you are, Norma."

"All good here, too." Bobby added, glaring at Raz who simply matched his gaze with a confident expression. He knew he'd win in this fight, he was sure that everyone else knew as well, but he was more than excited to see how well Bobby would perform.

The brunette nodded, raising her hand into the air in order to signal the two steel themselves for the battle that was about to commence. The two boys never let their eyes stray from their opponent, they were focused and practically forced to settle some sort of score with a mental battle before the battle.

As soon as Norma's hand dropped from it's position, Bobby rushed forward while creating the psychic manifestation of his hands that he'd use to throw a punch towards Raz, but just as soon as he laid his eyes on Raz's position the boy was gone, he had vanished.

Bobby however, wasn't so easily fooled and figured that the boy had used his teleportation in some form and quickly put his guard up, keeping his eyes peeled for any sort of movement or psychic energy shifting in his surroundings.

Suddenly he felt a shift in energy above him, lifting his head to find his opponent he would see that Raz was already preparing to use his own hand constructs in order to slam his fists down on the boy's head, but Bobby was lucky enough to have spotted him and dived out of the way.

Raz sucked his teeth in annoyance, of course it wouldn't be that simple to land a cheap blow like that. "Alright then, cheap tricks won't work. Guess I'll go for technique!"

Raz used his hand constructs as a foothold in order to launch himself towards Bobby once more, not giving him a chance to recover from his dive as he went for a right hook straight towards the boy's chin. Bobby, suddenly feeling afraid out of his mind, instinctively rolled out of harm's way and went for a light jab with his psychic constructs.

Raz was impressed, he was able to react rather quickly despite the circumstance and even come out with some retaliation. Bobby was no pushover, and that made Raz feel a little better about this whole fight. He'd get to show off a bit!

"Not bad, but you'll have to do better!" Raz instructed, swiftly diverting his jab to the side in order to disorient him before throwing out a jab of his own with his constructs, landing a clean hit right to Bobby's nose.

"Agh! Fuck!" The orange haired boy exclaimed, quickly bringing his hands to his nose protectively before he had a chance to realize that he'd just put down his defenses and given Raz the perfect opportunity in order to strike once more.

Without another word or thought passing through his mind, Raz instinctively threw out another punch, successfully striking the brace faced teen directly in the stomach before going for a two piece combo as he threw out his fist for a second time with the intent to strike his opponent in the chin hard enough to rattle his brain.

Bobby was so close to his own defeat, he could feel the blood pouring from his nose, and the aching of his stomach after receiving such a devastating blow to his abdomen, but this was a Psychic battle, and in a psychic battle you don't need to be in close quarters in order to fight back!

Bobby swiftly slammed his foot onto Raz's toes, crushing them in the process before creating some distance between the both of them. Raz was quick to recover, gritting his teeth in order to deal with the pain while also letting out a low groan of pain, but it was too late. Bobby had created space between them once more, but this time he would be sure not to make any hasty moves that would get him more beat up.

"I gotta admit… You really pack a punch, Circus Freak." Bobby relented, holding one hand to his stomach as he used the other to wipe the blood from his nose. "But you won't be getting anymore hits on me! You're going down!"

Raz scoffed at the boy's declaration. He seemed to fail to realize that Raz was holding back, but getting into a scrap like this was definitely the kind of action he was hoping for on his first day of Senior year. Seems today wouldn't be so bad after all!

"Y'know, I could do without your cocky spiel. Either get your butt kicked, or quit acting so high and mighty and back up your claims!" Raz replied, disappearing once more due to activating his teleportation, but with a different approach in mind. Raz wouldn't try the same trick twice, he knew better than to give someone the advantage, so instead he'd try a trick he learned while initially figuring out his teleportation ability.

Bobby, upon losing sight of Raz, directed his attention upwards once more, expecting the boy to appear from above like before, but suddenly felt a strong strike right to his side. He glanced around at his surroundings, yet found nothing, but right when his attention was elsewhere…

Another strike, this time to the back of his head. Bobby rubbed a hand along the spot that was struck, hissing in pain as he once more kept his eyes peeled for his opponent. He was getting a grasp on how this would work, Raz would pick a random direction to attack from and try to land a swift blow in order to weaken his guard enough to make him submit. A solid plan, just as long as your positioning wasn't too linear.

"There!" Bobby shouted, attempting to predict Razputin's next place of origin, yet he was wrong and suffered for it with a strike clean to his cheek. If he didn't shape up, he wasn't going to win. "Argh! Fuck!"

Raz suddenly appeared in front of the boy, making it seem like he was going to hit him once more, smirking as Bobby instinctively flinched in an attempt to shield himself, but as he glanced at the area before him once more, Razputin was gone. Bobby was angry, uncharacteristically so because of one realization.

Raz was toying with him.

Hey all, this one took a bit, didn't it?

Sorry about that, wouldn't you know, it's pretty hard trying to come up with fight scenes.

Anyways, I hope you guys have been enjoying the story so far, the small few of you that actually do read this story.

As such, I though it might be a nice idea to try and invite some of you that feel like it to a discord server where we can gather, hangout, and maybe just discuss things here and there. I want to create a safe place for likeminded people such as myself, so if you feel up to it, please feel free to join, I implore it.

Here's the link: /MfXt3qJcgA

And as always, I hope you readers enjoy this chapter, and I hope to see you again for the next (As well as in the discord server!).