Chapter 7
When we went to the shores of the lake, we looked around for a little bit, wondering how to get the Lungfish to come out... but then, we heard a voice from the shrubbery, which me and Raz recognized instantly.
"Raz! Rose!" said none other than FRAZIE! And when I saw her, I was shocked to see that she had a black eye!
"Frazie! What happened to your eye? And why are you here? It's dangerous right now," Raz asked, Frazie sniffing a bit as I looked into her mind... and saw that it didn't go well when she shared the truth. Her and her mother had a big blowup argument that resulted in her getting a black eye. And though I could see that the mother was immediately remorseful afterwards, that's all it took for Frazie, Mirtala, and even Squeepie to leave the circus tent and rush off towards our location!
"Mom hated that I was a Psychic... and then we got into an argument as to why she was so forgiving to Mirtala being one, but not me, which is when Squeepie tried to shut us up by holding us down with telekinesis, which got Dion angry at how everyone but him and mom were filthy, no-good psychics, and then I shouted at him for being so selfish for saying something despicable in front of Mirtala and Squeepie... and then mom slapped me in the eye. I ran off with Mirtala and Squeepie after that and never looked back," Frazie said. And the whole time she was crying from both eyes.
"Where's Squeepie and Tala, though?" Raz asked.
"They're in the shrubs, too. Come on out, guys," Frazie said, me then seeing something come out of the shrubs... and it was holding onto the kids in the process! It was the Lungfish!
"OH MY GOD! LET THEM GO RIGHT NOW!" Frazie shouted as she rushed the giant Lungfish and proceeded to use her psychic fists, but she only got stopped by the giant fish's hand, me then gasping as he engulfed all three of them! I immediately did something reckless and held the beast down by means of a powerful hand against his bulbous head.
"Raz! The portal! Quickly! We need to save them!" I shouted, him doing just that as he then went into the mind, followed by me, but not before I said something to Lili.
"Lili, you and my family keep him occupied! Don't let him go in the water! Raz's family can't swim!" I shouted before entering the mind of the giant fish... and when I did, I saw that, just like in the game, we were all kaiju sized while all of the Lungfish citizens were normal sized. We then proceeded to move forward, carefully grabbing the items we needed to while trying to cause as little damage to the buildings and people as possible while they called me, Raz, and Gloria different, fitting names.
"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! Goggalor has teamed up with Glorititan and Rosalarja! Hide the children!" the citizens cried as we then found the resistance Lungfish, one of them being scared before I spoke to his small subconscious.
"We mean you no harm, little people. We wish to stop the mind control caused by... whatever is controlling the citizens," I said, the scared one speaking after.
"T-That'd be the control tower at the top of town on the island of Skarlowacha. You need to defeat Skarlowachama in battle before you can get there, as she's the one that's controlling most of the citizens. But you'll never be able to do so without a proper shield, because we need to rescue more resistance members from prison before we can get you over the dam," the resistance guy said, Gloria nodding at that.
"And where is this shield at?" she asked, him giving it to her... by means of turning himself into it and it then being shared among all of our backs, us then trying it out and seeing that we could shield ourselves from the fire of the tanks effortlessly with it!
"Go through the tunnel at the north end of town but use the shields while in it to disable the defenses. Otherwise, you'll be fried meat in a second! And we need to rescue your siblings some way or another," the other resistance fish said, us nodding at him as we then rushed down the tunnel while collecting the figments, cobwebs, and emotional baggage. And when in the tunnel, we activated the shields as the lasers came on, which fried the circuits in the tunnel to never be used again! We then went into the prison proper, got the items we needed to, and released the prisoners that we needed to, which they then commandeered the nearby blimp.
"We'll commandeer this blimp to assist you over the dam. But before that, you'll need to get rid of the defenses blocking the path, so we don't get shot down," the one guy said, me nodding as they then went into the blimp and our group then proceeded through the tunnel and out towards the dam, getting the collectibles in the process as a newsflash happened on the way.
"FLASH! Terror on the town! Our beloved city is being attacked by the trio titans of Goggalor, Glorititan, and Rosalarja! But don't worry, our navy has come up with a way to destroy them! We have some electrical tanks to attack from a distance and, if they make it to the dam, they'll need to contend with the monster-defense turret, which is 100 percent monster-proof, according to the navy! Do not worry, this city will be safe!" said the voice of Skarlowachama, her sounding exactly like Mitsy the bitch herself.
Our group used the shield power to effortlessly get through the defenses and destroy the turret, allowing the group of fish on the blimp to fly down to us from above.
"Giant monster friends! We have a way to get you over the dam! Jump on the blimp and you can hang on the overhang above the top of the dam! Make sure it's one at a time, or you'll be falling and hurting your butt on the way down," he said, me looking at Raz with a smile.
"Better idea. Shape of, a giant pizza moth!" I said, me then turning into what I wanted to, that being Mothza Supreme from Bugsnax. I then flew over the dam, followed by my sister doing the same by turning into Ho-Oh from Pokemon while Raz went the final way, us getting the luggage while he did it the boring way.
"Lucky ducks," he frowned at us.
"No, try Phoenix and... uh... giant pizza moth," I said, before smacking my face. We then proceeded through the next series of streets, destroying some of the ships and the tanks while grabbing the next set of baggage, cobwebs, and figments before we then reached the split in the path, one leading to the big bridge and the other leading to the railroad.
"I'll go to the bridge, you two can handle the railroad," Raz said.
"Got it, Goggalor," I smirked with a wink, him giving me a disapproving grunt as we then split up and proceeded to get the items before then meeting up in the final part, which is when we got another news interruption from the queen bitch herself.
"FLASH! Goggalor and his equally dangerous giant waifus are getting closer to the island of Skarlowacha. But never fear, for the air force has decided to join in! If anyone wishes to step in to join the fight, Skarlowachama promises that your deaths will not be in vain and that your children will be looked after by the military," the queen bitch said, me being disgusted at how she was saying shit that China would say. "I CAN HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS, YOU FUCKING BITCH!" she shouted, me gasping at her shouting that before I then shut my mind completely from her intrusion before then taking care of the air force with help from Raz and Gloria. When we finished, the resistance brought in two different tanker ships, which we then proceeded to jump across towards the island, which is when the bitch came back on again, me leaving my mind closed as she spoke.
"Ugh, it pains me to say that the Navy, Air Force, and Military have all failed to stop the trio of gigantic menaces from reaching Skarlowacha Island. Since the situation is dire, Skarlowachama herself has kindly decided to protect the almighty Skarlowacha Tower. If the remaining citizens promise to throw a parade in her honor, Skarlowacha promises that the city will not be destroyed," the bitch said as we then went into the town and we heard the mind-controlled citizens shout in shock and saw some point in the air behind us.
"Look! It's Skarlowachama! We're saved!" one of the fish people shouted as we then looked behind us and I proceeded to turn myself into a spiky shield, as she was rushing at me. And when I did, I managed to skewer her to the shield, which made her screech in absolute pain! And even more so when she saw the nasty surprise that I'd placed on the spikes with just a quick thought.
"AAUUUGGH! POISON IVY?! YOU SON OF A BITCH! GET IT OUT OF ME!" she shrieked in pain as I then turned myself into my original self, before then grabbing her very itchy body and then turning myself into an even BIGGER creature, that being the monstrously large Ginormica from Monsters VS Aliens, me then winding up and throwing Skarlowachama's body through the top of the tower, sending all of it to come crumbling down as she then was sent back towards us from the explosion that came after, her laying on the ground as I put one toe on her.
"UGH! FINE! Keep this stupid overgrown guppy for all I care! I've already won! I have the brain of a little girl, and I will use it to-" she was about to finish before Raz started to laugh. "What's so funny?" she growled.
"You have the brain of a little girl! HAHAHA!" Raz laughed as she then complained.
"I HAVE IT IN MY LAB! One that you should know very well, miss Future Vision. And if you think I'm flubbing, look at my eyes," she said, me doing just that and... what did I see? I saw something that made me surprised. She wasn't just any Psychic... no... she was the REASON I had been sent to this world! And not only that, she planned to take the brain of a particular girl that she KNEW I had a fondness for. FROM A DIFFERENT UNIVERSE! And she was planning on using her brains to rule the world with a super-powered think tank!
"You. Took. HER. BRAINS?!" I asked, me seeing that it was my favorite female character from any video game ever. It was Pinoko Blackjack, aka, the 18-year-old with the body of a toddler from the Blackjack manga!
"Yes, I did! And since she was already psychic in a world with even FEWER than ours, AND her exposure to the Psitanium, she will rule the world with ease! If you fail to reach her by morning, her brain will be gone, and I will burn her body along with the asylum! I WILL HAVE THE LAST LAUGH!" she shouted before laughing maniacally as her visage failed, me looking at Gloria and Raz as we then were sent back to reality, me seeing that the giant fish was on the beach and, when we were back to normal, he then proceeded to barf up Raz's siblings, him then hugging them, and then regretting it due to the fact they were coated in spit and stomach juice.
"Oogh... I hate fish smell..." Squeepie groaned as Mirtala then hugged me very tight, along with Raz.
"It was so scary!" she cried as Frazie then looked at Lili and us before looking at the fish.
"Huh? You're serious?" she asked, me then looking at the Lungfish and seeing what he was saying.
"I was controlled against my will by the monstrous woman at the asylum... I thank you, little brave ones, for rescuing me. I will help you in any way that I can," he said, me then nodding.
"We need to know the exact location of the asylum. We're going to take that b-word down," I said, censoring myself around the more innocent minds of Mirtala and Squeepie, as both were too young to know what swear words were.
"If you look out from this exact spot," he said as he stood to the left of the boat shack, aiming parallel to the door. "-and go out by roughly 900 feet, you will find the asylum's shores," he said, me nodding at that.
"Should we ask for assistance from the teachers? Maybe tell them that the monster of the lake has been pacified?" Lili asked, me sighing at that.
"The latter, yes. As for the former, no. I do not want anything bad to happen to Pinoko," I said, her looking at me in confusion.
"Who's Pinoko?" both she and Frazie asked, me looking at the distance and managing to see said island, though it was faint, as it was dark out by now.
"She's a girl from another universe, one that I actually knew of, but only because it was confined to a manga. AKA, a japanese picture book," I said, Mirtala tilting her head.
"That's weird... but what happened to her?" she asked.
"One of the heads of the Psychonauts, named Mitsy Skarlowey, has gone off the deep end and is holding her hostage. And I don't think Pinoko can fight back, due to her being even shorter than Squeepie... see, she used to be a vestigial twin, before a doctor removed her from her sister and used surgery and miracle work to make her her own person. And even though she looks like a toddler, she has the mind of a mentally unstable 18-year-old and the temper to match... and when she was still attached to her sister, she prevented any doctor from removing her, because she would force them to cut themselves instead of her with psychic stuff," I said, that making Zeke speak.
"So, to put it in easier terms, your biggest bully from high school has become a mad scientist bent on world domination, and is holding a little girl from another universe hostage with plans to use her brain to rule the world? So why hasn't she done so yet?" he asked.
"When I was in the Lungfish's mind, she appeared as a titan called Skarlowachama. And she told me that, if we don't save Pinoko by sunrise, then she's going to take her brain and then burn her body... and if what I think is happening is right," I said as I sensed to the asylum, and my fears were confirmed. The entire asylum had a big shield of mental mind protecting it from outside intrusion from psychics, meaning I couldn't teleport anyone there or back. "Yep, she's prevented us from teleporting there, even to the shores. In order to get there, we'll need to do something different," I said as I then went into the water.
"And what would that be?" Frazie asked as I then shaped myself into a tugboat, which made her confidence shatter. "Oh no, I'm not going on that lake! You know the curse we have in the Aquato family!"
"Curse? You do know that curses don't exist, right?" Lili asked in confusion.
"What are you talking about? A rouge family of psychics cursed my family to die in water, which would kill all of us if we even stepped foot in it," Raz said.
"Then why am I not being killed right now?" asked the voice of Squeepie as he was in the water up to his head, which made Frazie freak out, but she then saw that he was swimming without any worries.
"The curse... is a fake? Then... why would dad and mom tell us that?" she asked, me then sighing.
"I have two ideas. One, they said that while rigging the death of Augustus's family to prove that fact, or the second, they were given false memories to make them think that was the cause. But yes, it's fake. If it were real, then Raz would've drowned 3 years ago whenever I started to teach him how to swim in water in our dreams," I said, Raz smirking at that.
"Huh, that's very complicated... okay, if this is how we do it, then let's go there in style," Gloria smirked as she then entered the water... and turned herself into an even bigger boat, this one being a speedboat powered by an air fan. "Come on and climb on, all of us," we said, them then doing so as I gave a message to the others in the camp.
"Everyone in the camp, I have an official status update," I said, them then listening to my mind as we boated forward. "The kidnapping creature has been pacified. It was a mutated Lungfish that was mind-controlled to kidnap people and take them to the asylum on the island, where the villain resides. But now we have a new problem. The island is barricaded by psychic energy, meaning no one can use teleportation to get there, or simply levitate the whole way to the top. The campers are allowed to be free, but as for the teachers, I will let you know when you can arrive for an attack. Me and my group HAVE to get to the top before sunrise hits, or an innocent girl will be brainless AND her body will be burned by the villain," I said, that making Sasha speak to me from afar.
"You can't go there on your lonesome! It's sure to be fraught with danger!" Sasha said as I spoke back at him.
"I can, and I will. We read up on the Psychonauts, and I know well enough to know that, if you attack a fellow Psychonaut, then you'll lose your status and be kicked out of the organization! If you attack her first, then you'll only be hurting yourselves," I said, him growling at me.
"Dammit, you're right," he frowned.
"Don't worry, darling, we can continue to watch over the little ones, you just focus on saving the world. If you can dethrone her and save the little one that she's kidnapped, we'll make you a Psychonaut for real!" Milla said with a smirk.
"Well, if you're making us a Psychonaut, you're also doing the same for Lili Zanotto, because she's joining us as well as some of Raz's family, who also ran from the circus after an incident," I said as I showed them the incident in question, which they were surprised at.
"Why're you having less-experienced Psychics join you on that hellhole of an island? That's just asking for trouble!" the coach asked in annoyance.
"To be lookouts, in case we need to go into peoples' heads. Trust me, they can handle that much," I said, them frowning at me.
"Just be careful, young'ns Exercise caution above all else and expect the unexpected. That's the code of the Psychonauts," Cruller said as we got within 100 feet of the asylum.
"We're getting into the asylum now, so I'll be offline for a bit. When you hear my mind again, no matter where it is, then you can come join us for the attack," I said, them agreeing before then getting cut off as we hit the shore. Me and Gloria waited for the others to disembark before we turned back to normal, us then climbing the walls, but not before I found something on the ground on the way up, which I held tight, knowing that it belonged to Pinoko. It was an 'anniversary' gift that the doctor of the manga gave to her, which she was pissed at when she got it, before finally accepting it. Why? It said 'to my daughter, Pinoko'. Emphasis on DAUGHTER. She insisted she was married to him, which was very funny, but also worriesome... I had to hope that the little lady was okay.
We then got to the gate, where we saw the most infamous, yet most tragic character in the game scrawling stuff on the wall.
"Excuse me, mister?" Zeke asked from Lili's mouth, which was just Lili's voice with an accent. Which accent? The one area that we came from, Tennessee. And when Boid saw us, he looked at us in shock.
"W-Who are you?! Are you with the milkman? Who sent you?" he asked, me speaking at that.
"We are not with the milkman. We want in the asylum to save a little girl," I said, him then speaking.
"Save a little girl? T-That doesn't fit at all! Could it be that I've got it all wrong?! Oh, now I have to start over! I need to find out who the Milkman is... only he knows where the key is at!" he said, me then looking at his pocket and seeing he literally had it inside of it.
"Your pocket," I said, him looking at me in confusion.
"What?"
"The key. To the gate. It's in. Your pocket," I said, him then inspecting it and then opening the gate, him looking shocked at the gate opening up for him.
"Oh my god! How did you know?! Are... are you the milkman?" he asked, me smacking my face.
"Who is this milkman and why are you so obsessed with him? I've heard of unhealthy obsessions, but this? This is a bit much," Lili asked.
"All I know is that he's dangerous... and that he's always watching, but I don't know from where! I need to find him before he breaks free," he said, me looking at Lili, Raz, and his siblings before speaking the truth.
"I know who the milkman is," I said, Lili looking at me in surprise, while Boid gasped at that in a small squeal.
"You do?! I knew it! You work for him!" he shouted.
"No, I don't! Ugh! It's hard to explain, so I'll do it in baby terms," I said as I then started to speak to him in small words. "You very unlucky. You get fired from job, you go crazy, you burn job, you get sent here. Then, you get new job, but brain gets controlled by boss. If hypnotism kicks in, the Milkman in your mind takes over. Milkman was told to destroy Asylum if it invaded. And that not good, because innocent girl held captive at top," I said, him then looking at me and nodding at everything I said as I showed him what happened from the different memories that were in his mind.
"How... how do you know so much?... Are you with the government?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah... like, I know you're an amazing Psychic, but how did you know THAT much?" Mirtala asked as I sighed.
"Something that must not be shared to anyone, especially other Psychics. Do you swear to defend my secret to the day you die?" I asked, the others nodding as Boid then thought a bit before nodding as well.
"Okay... I promise. Tell me, please," Boid said with eagerness.
"Because... much like Pinoko, who is being held captive... I knew of everything in this universe before I even came to it. Because, in my world, it was a series of video games..." I said. And now I had to answer quite a lot of questions.