A/N: TRAIN OF INSPIRAAAAAATION.
Like I said, this follows the first events of the game since they're pretty important, but I freshened things up where I could and glossed over what I couldn't. After this, though, it's time for new happenings! I have another project I need to finish first, so the next chapter might take a bit longer. Still, let me know what you think!
I'm not using a beta reader at the moment so feel free to let me know if anything's off - I'm playing the game from the beginning again as I write so I wouldn't know, for instance, if Lili's a bit more secretive about her parentage.
Alright, so this camp wasn't entirely what she'd expected it to be.
Running away from home had been bad enough, now she stood out like a sore thumb as the only teen amongst a bunch of children. Sure, she hadn't come here specifically to make friends and meet peers, but this still sucked.
This was a nightmare of her own making. It was her own fault... she really should've guessed that when the pamphlet said things like 'inspiring young minds' it could've meant, you know, really young minds. But that stranger had given it to her regardless, so it shouldn't have been a deal breaker. Frazie just sort of wished the little snots would stop jeering and gossiping about her.
Well, at least it wasn't too new an experience. Having three younger siblings she was always around had prepared her for something like this. The campers could giggle and whisper behind her back, but so long as something came of this trip, she'd deal with it. Maybe give someone a discrete pinecone to the noggin if they really stepped out of line. She didn't want any trouble... she'd already caused more than enough.
After that little kerfuffle around the campfire, they'd let her bring her horse into camp and let her tie it up near the cabins. She could easily take care of it during her stay... and likely have to fight off any kids who tried to cop a free pony ride. After that, she'd been assigned to the girls' bunk.
The other campers were a strange bunch. There were cowboys and astronauts, tinfoil hats and gym clothes... Frazie wasn't really surprised that being psychic led to some eccentricities. Though she didn't exactly look normal with her feet hanging off the top of her child-sized cabin bunk, either.
At least in the morning, the drama of the previous night had died down. There was some seemingly normal kids, at least. In fact, one was approaching her right now.
Frazie glanced up from feeding Sugarcube to see a girl watching with hands on her hips. A kid with red haired tied down in twin ponytails, already throwing a question her way. "Did you really ride across the state on a tiny pony to break into a government-secured summer camp?"
"Uh... I guess?"
The girl's keen eyes had been judging her, but now, they softened as she shifted her weight. "You're insane. Buuuut, that's actually kinda cool. That's the most interesting thing to happen at this camp in a couple years!"
Say what you wanted about the Aquatos, but they were definitely interesting. Smirking, Frazie gave her pony a pat and stood up. "Thanks. I wish it felt cooler, though. I didn't know I was sneaking into elementary school... especially when some of those kids are already ahead of me."
"Hey, don't worry about it," the girl said and waved her off. "Some people don't discover their powers until they're adults! You're still way ahead." She paused. "Mostly."
Far behind some, way ahead of others? "I'll take it." Though something the kid said didn't quite sit right with Frazie. "...Wait, you've been here a couple years? How long does becoming a better psychic take?"
"Oh! Don't worry. I just come each summer because my dad is the head of the Psychonauts... it's a good look for me to keep appearing at their program." The girl scoffed, shaking her head. "Though sometimes I wish I didn't have to. Everyone here's so... obnoxious. But you seem neat." She suddenly jabbed a finger up at her. "So keep it that way! I dunno if I can handle another empty head around here."
The girl had spunk. Frazie shook her hands, dismissing the thought. "You've got noooothing to worry about."
"Good. Now come on!" the kid called, motioning for Frazie to follow her away from the cabins. "Coach wanted us all in his classroom first thing in the morning... and you're technically part of 'all', aren'tcha?"
That was right - Oleander had made that morning's plans very loud and clear when he'd roared them into their cabin right before bedtime. "I like the way you think," Frazie said. She held her pony's face in her hands and promised to bring it a treat later before chasing after the kid. "Lead the way!"
All the children were gravitating towards a sloppy wooden ramp leading up into the trees, so that's where the two headed. "I'm Lili," the girl chimed in while they walked. "So what can you do?"
"With my brain?" Frazie thought back to all the minor bits of psychic tomfoolery she'd managed to get away with. "Hmmmm... I'm really good at moving and throwing stuff with my mind."
"That's called telekinesis. What else?"
"Thaaat's about it."
Lili stopped in her tracks and looked up at her. "Yeesh."
"Hey, don't look at me like that! My psychic abilities need some work, but I can do this." Frazie lifted her arms high and swung them down, following the momentum into a flawless flip. On her second spin, she shoved off the ground and twirled before landing with a flourish on one of the ramp's banisters. "Let's see one of you braniacs do that!"
"Whooooooa." It was brief, but Lili's eyes dazzled watching her stunt. "You gotta show me how to do that! If you teach me, maybe I can show you a trick or two if the grown-ups won't."
"Really?"
Lili shrugged. "Beats having to deal with the other campers."
"Gee, thanks," Frazie muttered before hopping back down onto the ramp.
"Don't mention it!" A brief climb later and they crested the path up into a treehouse, where the Coach and their classmates awaited. A rusty old fan slowly rotated over the classroom, a small wooden auditorium where the kids gathered in a circle around their instructor. Oleander spotted the two new arrivals and grunted, knowing one shouldn't be here, but not kicking her out either.
Once they'd seated themselves, their teacher started up. "Now that the stragglers have arrived, let's get started! It's time for Basic Braining 101. As you all know, we are the mighty warriors of the mind... which is why our first lesson is always how to get into the mind. You're not fighting any wars if you can't even make it to the front lines!"
Oleander fished around in his pockets, finally pulling out a small door covered in a camo pattern. "Let's see if the newbie here can tell us what it does!" he said, suddenly flinging it Frazie's way.
Startled, she caught it before it beaned her in the face. She peered down at the tiny door and, cautiously, gave it a couple small knocks.
"Ha! You're funny, kid." Oleander roughly swiped it back from her, holding it up for all to see. "This, cadets, is a Psy Portal! The door to the human mind! Literally and figuratively." He reached up and slapped it on his forehead, where it seemed to fit snugly against all laws of physics. "Once you've got one of these bad boys, you're good to go. Got it? Good. Because it's time for the demonstration!"
He reached up and swung the door open, white light pouring out from within the frame. "All of you, get in here! Focus on the portal and let it draw you in! Push your thoughts upwards and outwards!"
The coach seemed to go into a trance. All around the room, kids did as instructed, and fell under the same spell as their heads lolled to the side. He'd said all again - they really needed to work on their wording - so Frazie took that chance to hop in yet again. She took a deep breath, focusing on the little door.
At first, nothing. She squinted, trying to push herself forward like he'd instructed... and then she felt the pull. Like a fishing hook sinking into her lobe, a small tug that grew larger and larger before she felt her vision start to move on its own. She was soaring, her body down below, her consciousness floating in an arc down towards the door.
Her projection slipped inside, and the door slammed shut.
Now entering:
Coach Oleander's Basic Braining
One moment, she was flying. The next, her feet hit the floor. Even for a trained acrobat, the first time entering someone's head was enough to almost make her topple forward before her expert balance saved her.
Now, where were they?
All the campers had entered into a dark room. Aside from a desk and a few photos, it was bare... and had no way out. The only light came from a projector spilling light onto the far wall, and a moment later, Oleander's face popped into it.
"Welcome to the recruiting office, soldiers. And just what am I recruiting you for? The best army in the world... the Psychonauts," he explained with a wave of his hand.
"It's time to get started. And there's only one proper way to do it..." His blown up finger pointed them all out. "I want one of you chickens to sock me on the jaw!"
For a second, Frazie considered it... but it was a small blue brute that stepped up first. Bobby Zilch, the resident bully. "Finally! I've been waiting for an excuse to hit something!"
As if taunting him, Oleander's projection tilted its head up, tapping its chin, just begging for a hit. Grunting, the boy wound his fist up, not one to go easy on a stationary target. "Nyeh!" With as much strength as the tiny terror could muster, he slammed his fist into the wall. To Frazie's surprise, it fell backwards with a creak.
And opened up into a battlefield. The land was torn by fire and artillery, and gunfire constantly rang out.
"Ah! That's what I'm talking about!" Coach shouted, his face now projecting off the debris floating in a hazy green sky. "Now let's GO, GO, GO!"
Before them lay an iron bridge, their path into the military madness that lay beyond. Some of the kids immediately charged, not knowing what to expect...
...And were promptly blown up. Mines triggered under them, launching them sky high.
Frazie's jaw dropped. "What the heck is wrong with you?! These are just kids!"
"Oh, plug up your bleeding heart!" Oleander snarked. "They're fine, they just got kicked out of my mind! If I were you guys, I'd be a little more careful than they were."
The pamphlet hadn't said anything about stuff like this. With his advice in mind, Frazie and the remaining campers decided to take a bit more time exiting out into the battlefield.
The next part of the course was no less explosive. Bombs went off left and right, tearing chunks out of their path forward. They were all cautious enough by now to let the grenades go off before they moved on, at least. As they went, terrifying figures leered out at them in a multitude of colors... but a quick pass through them made them evaporate. Crying suitcases... barbed wire... plants made of meat... all while their instructor barked orders and insults.
If this was what all minds were like, Frazie was ready to clock out then and there.
It was a military obstacle course in every sense of the word, demanding their endurance and agility every step of the way. Frazie was born agile, thankfully, and often ended up ahead of the pack as she zoomed up ladders and leapt across gaps. It almost felt unfair how easily she passed through traps and trials compared to the others, but she tried to even the playing field even as more campers failed around them.
The only thing that kept her heart from beating out of its chest was the knowledge every kid that made a wrong step or fell into the void below would be just fine... and her, too, if something went wrong. Her years of training kept her going strong, though, ahead to the point she'd help some of the other campers across obstacles when she could.
It was earning favor with the kids, but drawing Oleander's scorn. "You're supposed to fight alongside your unit, not baby them! You've got more moves than I expected, and you are wasting them on these Slowey Joeys!"
Frazie was starting to wonder just how successful Coach's military career was if he didn't want teammates saved from a fiery demise, but despite his griping, she and a few of the kids managed to make it to the cockpit of a military aircraft after a few more minutes.
"Maybe there's hope for you pitiful maggots after all!" Coach shouted, his face sprawled across the windshield. "But here's where easy mode stops. Out the plane, on the double!"
Frazie wasn't sure what was worse, that everything until now had been 'easy' or that he wanted them all to go base jumping without a parachute. She'd performed all kinds of death defying stunts way up in the air, but this was straight up suicide.
Everyone else shared her sentiments. "...No takers?" Coach grumbled, shaking his head as everyone crowded as far from the door as possible. "Pathetic. New lesson, then: sometimes, things just don't go your goddamn way!"
Suddenly, the plane door jerked open all by itself, gale force winds howling outside. One by one, campers were sucked out yelling and screaming until Frazie was the last remaining. Her bigger frame let her brace herself against the opening, but before long the suction finally forced her into the open air.
After a moment of yelping and flailing, her natural instinct to try for a safe landing kicked in. Straight as she could get herself, she descended feet first, falling and falling and falling...
...Into a snow drift.
The environment had shifted to blue skies and snowfall, the girl popping her head out of the pile and spitting out snow. "What the...?"
While she dug herself out, the other campers had recovered and looked around. Their next task lay up ahead: a ring of sandbags with sketched figures of skeletal gunmen and tiny babies popping in and out of the ground. "You've made it past the obstacle course, now let's see some combat training!" Oleander shouted from a nearby wall. "Get enough points, and maaaybe I'll let you through."
With the way ahead blocked by a barbed fence, they had no other choice. Frazie may have been in peak physical condition, but she'd never been in a fight outside of a scuffle here and there with her siblings. But she could handle some cardboard cut-outs... right?
Stepping into the ring, Frazie braced herself. As soon as she heard the kachunk of a stand popping up beside her, she spun, leg held high. With a crack, one of the cardboard warriors was decapitated, and then another.
"No, no, no!" Oleander yelled at her. "What part of Psychonauts don't you get, girly? Your mind, use your mind!"
Frazie paused and looked around. While most of the children were letting others do the hard work, Bobby and Lili were rearing to hit stuff, the two kids punching and swinging at anything that popped up. But their fists weren't connecting. Instead, energy flew from their blows in the shape of hands, extending their reach and turning boards into splinters.
She had to adapt quickly. "It can't be much different from how we entered the portal, right?" she murmured to herself. She sucked in a breath, eyes shut. Direct her energy outward, push it into her limbs...
Frazie went again, leaping and kicking and pouring all her focus into striking out, imagining her leg stretching and smacking the target.
It didn't work. Not the second time, either. She just kinda landed awkwardly as the cutout mockingly sank back into the ground. She was reeeeeally out of practice.
But that was why she was here, right?
She kept trying, again and again. A few of the kids giggled watching her punch and kick at nothing... up until a dozen tries later, when a glowing red foot flew out of her own and crushed a standee's face in.
"Yeah!" It was exhilarating, this small success. Laughing, the acrobat got more into it, spinning and rolling as she attacked her targets. Some of her blows still didn't work, but the more she tried, the more she got her projection to work. All the while, a couple peppy campers cheered the fighters on louder and louder.
"GO, GO, GO!"
"FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!"
"SCORE, SCORE, SCORE!"
"KICK, PUNCH, IT'S ALL IN THE MIND!"
"You guys aren't helping!" Frazie shouted between leaps. "You really aren't!"
Soon enough, all the cutouts disappeared back into the ground when they hit their quota. "Not bad, not bad," Coach called. "But don't think I didn't notice the slackers! Your rations just got cut. Now get moving, go, go!"
Some of the kids groaned, and then moved on once the gate restricting them blew open. It only got more hectic from there. Hiding from gunfire as they crossed snowy fields full of snowmen and bunnies before they ended up back in the military wasteland once again. Riding planes and rails and trapezes, which Frazie excelled at. It was like that last bit was made for her.
By the end, though, most of the kids couldn't handle the rigorous physical requirements even if they excelled in the mental. By the time Frazie passed through a saw-lined room of rotating logs, she was all alone. She landed on a small circular stage, looking around.
Not for long, though. She only caught a brief glimpse of a strangely clean hallway off to the side before Oleander popped into existence, in the flesh. Sort of. In the mind? Whatever.
"You made it to the end, soldier! Color me impressed. You've got moves, kid." The commander raised a brow. "Where ya from?"
Frazie just chuckled and rubbed the back of her head. "Would you believe the circus?"
"It'd certainly explain all the monkey hoo-hah I just witnessed." With a snap of his fingers, a small patch materialized in Oleander's hand. "You might not be here officially, but I'd say you've more than earned this."
The merit badge gently floated across the gap between them, affixing to her shawl. She lifted it up to get a closer look; it was a small green pin with a little brain on it. It was tacky, and yet it meant a lot. After all Frazie had been through, it felt like a trophy, and she beamed with pride.
"Does this mean I'm getting the hang of my powers?" she asked when she looked back up.
"Heck no! I saw you take your good time empowering your strikes, and I could do that when I was in diapers! Great dexterity, though. There might be hope for you yet if you train hard." Oleander scratched his chin. "Might be use for you yet, too..."
Frazie threw her hands down, growling. "Ugh. Whatever. Can I leave this nightmare already?"
Wordlessly, Coach just raised a hand, and Frazie once more felt her essence being pulled away and flying through the nether. The wartorn landscape faded away, melting back into reality.
Frazie jolted back in her seat. She was exactly where she'd been before, surrounded by children groaning from overexertion and memories of getting blown to bits. It was like she'd never left, just taken a seriously distressing nap.
"Class dismissed." Oleander gave them a salute in the center of them all before once more falling into a trance. "Now if you'll excuse me... I've gotta get the last few rookies out of my brain."
Those that weren't too dazed to move or still in their coach's mind started to file out, exhausted. While Frazie remained sitting to catch her breath, she caught something lingering in the corner of her eye.
Somehow, the merit badge had materialized in the real world. She had no idea how that worked, but seeing the little pin on her chest gave her hope. A small sign that she could conquer the challenges in this camp and come out a better psychic. If she could prove she could handle the rigors of training, maybe they'd waive her parents' permission.
She needed to get more of these.
