Chapter 14
When we entered Ford's mind, we looked around and saw that we were at the Whispering Rock campfire, which is when we also saw the different totems that needed lit up with pyrokinesis. We proceeded to do so, revealing the different members of the Psychic 7 with the final member being one that made Raz surprised.
"Lucrecia Mux? That's right! I remember that she was in the first three issues, but then she was never mentioned again... but why wouldn't she be mentioned?" Raz asked as I showed the way forward was ahead, us then going through the giant tree trunk and boarding a rowboat as a memory played in our heads.
"30 years ago, the Psychonauts were founded by Ford and the Psychic 7. However, the one member, Lucrecia, had to go back to her home country of Grulovia to assist in a war that was happening there. She promised to keep in touch, and she did for a while... but then, something tragic happened and the entire country became engraved in floods," the mind of Ford said before we then finally arrived at the first part... and saw that it was so fractured, we could only be on one treetop while every other platform was far away and there was no semblance of where to go!
"Oof, this is going to be harder than I thought," I frowned.
"And what exactly was that thought, Rosie Dosie?" Ford asked as we then held a mirror to our face and we saw it was partially there and that he was looking at us through it and our bodies were his, not the heads.
"We need to repair this mind... but I don't know how we could do so unless we did something... drastic," I said, him frowning at that.
"As you said on the way in. Desperate times call for drastic measures. So, what bright idea do you happen to have to repair my mind, missy?" he asked as I smiled.
"Sadly, the one thing you don't want. When we get back to the Motherlobe, we need to... refracture the mind... by removing the Psitanium reliance," I said, him sighing and nodding.
"Just promise that I'll get some people watchin' over my alternate personalities, okay? I don't wanna be left to my own devices for too long in that bad a state," he said, me nodding at that.
"I promise, Commander Ford... okay, pull us out," Raz said, him nodding as we then were yanked out of his brain and we found ourselves right back at the ship, just seeing the Motherlobe coming over the distance.
"So? What did you see?" Oleander asked.
"Yeah, what was it like in the big boss's mind?" Adam asked with a smile.
"Well... as of right now, it's so fractured, you can't even figure out where to go anywhere! So, Ford and Rose came up with a plan that's crazy, but it's the only feasible one we have. We need to have him refractured by removing the Psitanium from his back and having him split into his other personalities," Raz said, which made Sasha frown.
"Hmm... that sounds very troubling... will we be able to do that with ease?" he asked.
"Well, just to make sure that he doesn't do anything nasty, we'll need to have some of us try to go after his different versions and watch over him while we prepare to get to them. My guess is that, he'll be so fractured, he'll lock himself up without anyone allowed to meet him," I said.
"She's not wrong, and I hate that," Ford frowned.
"Okay... so where do we do that, then?" Milla asked.
"We do that when we get him at least one thing that he'll love before we do so. I think he should have at least one piece of bacon from the cafeteria before we fracture him," Kanna smiled calmly, which made the old guy smile.
"I'd be forever grateful for that, Kanna," he smirked as we then finally touched down and proceeded to exit the ship... only to see that a small commotion was going on in the landing strip. It was the Aquato Family circus, including Nona all there, having reunited with Mirtala, Squeepie, and Frazie, them doing a performance just for kicks that made the other interns giggle.
"Oh no," Raz frowned.
"Any laughing at Raz's family's affairs will result in being flung into the river, got it?" I said, the group then shutting up at that immediately. "Yep, thought so," I smirked.
"You're a little too good at that threat stuff, Rose," Gloria smirked at me as Hollis soon arrived alongside Mitsy, them looking at the cricus troupe and looking annoyed.
"We heard there was a commotion going on here. What's happening?" Mitsy asked before seeing the circus group and then sighing. "Oh... the circus... oh, if only I was still Psychic, I'd do that full nelson that Mikhail specialized in," Mitsy groaned in annoyance as Donatella arrived with a smile, doing three front flips before landing in front of Raz and me.
"Ah, little Pootie! I'm so happy to see you made it here safe!" Donatella smiled as the kids were about to giggle before I gave them the glare, them shutting up after.
"Donna, remember what I told you? We don't like being called Pootie. Call us by our names or just don't say anything at all, especially in front of our fellow interns?" I asked, her then looking at them and for Dion to look surprised and in love with Gisu immediately.
"Ahem, well, this is private grounds, so if you could please move to the Questionable Area to set up your caravan?" Hollis asked, which made Donatella look at her in annoyance.
"What did you say?" she growled.
"If you don't like it, I could burn it right now and you'll just walk on your own," Hollis said, me seeing the tensions rise before I grabbed onto them with telekinesis and spoke.
"Ladies, ladies, how about we compromise, hmm? I'll send them to the Questionable Area with teleportation, caravan and supplies included, and our family that are interns will visit whenever they're off from assignment time? Does that sound better?" I smirked, that making Squeepie smirk.
"Yeah! I wanna have some fun with the barbells again!" Squeepie smirked.
"Oh, deary, that sounds nice, really so, but you know how I feel about that Psychic stuff," Nona said as I smirked at the old lady. It was hard to believe that deep within her brain was where Maligula was from and the ancient memories of Lucrecia, but I knew better than to think that stuff out loud.
"Nona, just trust her? She's an expert at the teleportation trick," Mirtala smiled widely.
"Oh, okay, Tala deary. I can't say no to your cute face," Nona giggled slightly as I then looked at the minds of the three psychic siblings and saw that the only one that had free time was Squeepie as of current, and he wanted to join the circus family for a bit. So I warped him, the three adults, and Dion all to the Questionable Area's bare ground along with the caravan and supplies, which made Hollis surprised.
"You have teleportation mastered?! That's insane! Not even I have managed to find out how to do that!" Hollis smirked.
"It's not just teleportation from long-distance. I can also teleport things from other realities, like so," I smirked as I then teleported something else, this time from my world in the form of three pepperoni pizzas from Pizza Hut, which were freshly cooked and in boxes, meaning I basically stole it from the place.
"Oh my god, that pizza smells delicious!" Morris smiled at the sight.
"From one of the tastiest, greasiest places in the multiverse, Pizza Hut. Their motto is that No One Out-Pizza's the Hut! And two of these three have cheese IN the crust!" I smirked.
"You know what I like, darling," Milla giggled as Bobby then emerged from the ship last, which made Hollis look at him in confusion.
"And who is this young man?" she asked.
"Bobby Zilch is my name," Bobby said with a small smile.
"He's uh, my friend and one of my unofficial students," I smirked, making her frown. "Don't worry, he's not going to be an intern. I basically brought him with us from camp because two reasons. One, I wanted to have a friendly face from the campers to come here with me. And the second, he uh... well, I'll just show you in thought," I said as I then showed her what I'd seen in Bobby's life, that being that his father abused him with beer bottles and violence, because he was ashamed of having a kid from a nun mother, which made Hollis sigh and nod.
"Just make sure he doesn't do any intern work and that he's restricted to the Atrium and he's allowed to join. But he'll need this visitor's pass to do so," Hollis said as she handed it to him and we then went inside and to her office to explain the situation.
"Okay, so what did you find at the casino?" she asked.
"Well, when we arrived at the penthouse the key went to, we found the worst smell in existence in the form of expired and fermented caviar coating the room... something that even my nose recoiled at," Kanna explained.
"Then, we found a secret room behind a picture of Nick and we found a lot of information. One, the one who owned that room had a room filled with Maligula theories and conspiracies, hoping to try and find out her location. Then, we found a bunch of books talking either about Maligula or about how she was misunderstood, and these are what they were," I said as I showed them off... and when Hollis opened up one of them, something popped out that shocked all of us as it literally hopped off the book!
"EEEK!" Milla actually screeched when the creature hopped out and started to fly around. It was a Regret, missing the anvil and flying around the office like a moth!
"What the hell is a Regret doing in the real world?! I thought they could only exist in the mindscape!" Sasha gawked as he looked like he was going to shoot it with a Psi Blast, but I immediately protected the Regret with a shield, which made him surprised.
"Hold your fire, guys! It doesn't look like it has anything to attack with and it looks... frightened, maybe?" I asked as Smallbrina then arrived from the outside of the office and she looked around before then looking at the Regret.
"Huh? Is that right, little lady?" she asked, which made the Regret start speaking in its gibberish speak and for the others to look at her in confusion.
"Is she... talking to it?" Sam asked in surprise.
"Uh huh... you're not in her mind right now, that much I can say... pardon? Okay, I'll tell them," Smallbrina smiled before looking at us. "This little Regret said that she was summoned from Maligula's mind by a man called Naraku and his partner Gristol Malik, who owned that book... and when they couldn't understand anything she said, they locked her in the book. She's very scared because she's never been in the real world before."
"You can understand Regrets?... I wonder if you're able to understand other thought entities when in someone's mind?" Hollis asked.
"Maybe I could interact with an experiment or two in the Brain Tumbler?" Sahsa smiled before the Regret spoke some more.
"Hold it... she's now saying that she senses Grsitol in a higher room in this complex... she's scared. She wants to be protected from him, because she fears Naraku... but didn't we get rid of Naraku?" she asked, which made the Regret surprised before then fluttering down to and landing on Smallbrina's shoulder. "Oh?... You want to join me for helping defeat Naraku?... Okay, then. I think I'll call you Chingling," she smirked as she then went out of the office and for Hollis to look at us with seriousness.
"Grstiol is in a higher room in this complex?... No... It couldn't be that-" Hollis was about to say before I hushed her.
"Hollis, we need to tell you one more thing about what we've found out," I said as I showed her the rest of the findings, that being the birth certificate and picture of Nick, but with the name Grstol Malik. "It's sad to say, but Grsitol Malik is currently in control of Truman's brain... but we are not to tell anyone about this, especially Truman's body. If we reveal too much too early, we risk a lot of problems in the future. We need to try and combat this by befriending the enemy and finding out what he wants... especially since we need to un-fracture Ford in order to find out where you-know-who is being kept at," I said, her smirking at me, though I could see sweat pouring down her face.
"I see now why Olie considers you as a commander instead of a student. Your strategies are ingenious... but how do we un-fracture Ford?" she asked.
"Sadly, the only plausible way I can think of is to remove the Psitanium supply so he becomes refractured, and then going through the different alternate personalities' mindscapes in order to put him back together... but we made a promise that he'd get at least one more piece of bacon before we did so... in fact, I think that while I do that, you guys can enjoy this pizza as your reward for a job well done... and, hey, for the cherry on top," I smiled as I then warped in some soda bottles and cups from my world as well. "What's a pizza party without soda?" I smirked.
"Does that mean that you could supply the place with food? That IS one of our biggest expenses here," Hollis smiled.
"Sure I can. But in moderation, since I don't want people to starve in my world, I might need to get food from other worlds as well," I smirked.
"That's very fine," she smiled at me. We then had myself, Ford, Bobby, and the circus family go outside of the office before I then warped a piece of fresh bacon from my world to Ford's hands, him sniffing it and smiling.
"Oh, maple bacon... I sure am going to miss enjoying you when I'm sane..." he said as he then ate it up and then, after, he unhooked the Psitanium deposit from his back and he then ended up looking around in confusion before then warping away... and much like in the game, his mind was currently working at the mailroom, the bowling alley, and the hair salon.
"Yep, he's already gotten fractured without so much as 10 seconds after being separated," Frazie frowned.
"So where IS he, then?" Bobby asked, me pointing out the areas in question.
"Ford is currently holed up in the bowling alley, the hair salon, and in the office of the mailroom. We need to find out how to get into each place before doing anything else... I frowned.
"Well, if we could get a new brain into Nick's body, then we could get into the mailroom without issue... but what of the other areas?" Tala asked as I then sensed the other two Ford Crullers and saw the same issue. The one Bowler Ford was preventing anyone unless they were in the Senior League and the Ford in the salon was only accepting those that DESPERATELY needed a haircut.
"From what I can sense, the Bowler will only allow senior members and the Barber will only allow people who need a haircut desperately... Bobby?" I asked, him shaking his head no.
"Oh, NO! You are not getting rid of my hair! It makes me UNIQUE!" he said, me nodding at that.
"I thought not. So we need to go and get to exploring... but before that, we need to visit Truman's office," I said.
"Why?" Raz asked.
"We need to warn Lili about the photos we found in the room... and I want to see if I can find out who is really in Truman's mind," I smirked.
"Good thinking. I'm going to go watch over the Ford at the Mailroom and keep Nick's body from getting hurt," Tala said with a smile.
"I'll handle the bowling alley and let you know IF I can find out anything that can HELP!" Bobby said, me nodding at him with a smirk.
"And I'll keep peeking into the salon to see what he deems as desperate haircuts... and if he even THINKS about doing anything to me, I'm zapping him," Frazie smiled.
"Wouldn't want you to lose all that curly hair," I smiled at her.
"Damn straight," she smiled back.
"No swearing in front of Tala, please?" Raz frowned.
"It's okay, big bro! I know not to say those words at all. And if I do, you'll always know," she smirked at us.
"And she'd get punished with no pretzels for a week," I smiled.
"Exactly," she pouted before they then dispersed and Raz, Gloria, Jenna and I did the same thing, us going to the nerve center, where we saw that Lili was leaving the upper levels and that she looked to be down in the dumps.
"Lili? What's up?" I asked, her sighing with tears in her eyes.
"While I was up there, I tried to see if I could read the thoughts of dad... and I couldn't," she said, me being confused.
"You... couldn't?" I asked.
"No, I couldn't... Whoever is in dad's body must have had some kind of upgrade to his mind, because I can't get through! And I know my dad's brain is inside of that case handcuffed to the body, but how do we find the fingerprint to activate it?" she said with tears as I then sighed.
"Lili, I think you should take this," I said as we handed her the photos that we'd gotten from the Luctopus suite, her looking at them in confusion. "We found these two photos in a Deluginist base at the casino. We think that, whoever is in your dad's mind has actually had ties to not only Naraku, but also Gristol Malik. And we think that they view you as a threat," I said, her sniffling at that. "Just... promise that you'll stay safe, okay? We don't want to lose you," I sighed, her nodding and giving me and Raz a hug before then giving us a paper of her own.
"I think I know of a special mushroom in the damper caves of the Questionable Area. If you can get me a couple of them, I should be able to delve into the mind of my father through the case. But don't tell anyone about this project, got it?" she said, me nodding at her. Our minds were protected, and we were speaking with them to prevent the nearby people from hearing us. We then went into the upper levels and went towards Truman, who was laying down on the bed and I then said something.
"Mister Zanotto? You doing okay?" I asked, him staying completely still as I looked in his mind. And it was, indeed, like a steel trap, almost as tough as mine!... Almost. I actually managed to hear his stray thoughts as he laid down.
"I need to keep faking it... at least until that Raz character shows up alone..." he said in a stray thought as I then spoke.
"We know you're faking it, Truman. And we are alone here," I said, him then groaning and opening his eyes before looking around and then at me and Raz.
"You... who are you? And why are the females half-visible?" he asked us.
"I'm Rose, this is Jenna, and this is Gloria. We represent the psychic prowess of Raz here. Without us, he's not able to do much but acrobatics," I smiled.
"I can, too!" Raz frowned at me.
"Fine. Teleport a pizza slice here, then. I'm sure Truman's hungry," I said, him then trying... and failing. "See? Allow me," I smirked as I warped a pepperoni pizza slice to him and he looked at it in confusion.
"Um... wow... it smells... amazing," he said, me smirking at that.
"I bet it does," I smiled as I then handed it to him, and he proceeded to eat it... and his eyes going wide in wonderment after was perfect. After all, Nick had NEVER had anything other than caviar from what I knew.
"Wait... what did you just think?" he asked, me then gasping and yiping and shutting my mouth. "You... know who I am?" he asked, me smacking my face in annoyance.
"Oh my god... how can you sense my thoughts? We were told that you weren't psychic, so how?!" I asked, him frowning at us.
"That, I do not know... that's why I've been faking being Truman," he said, me shutting my mind from any knowledge. "All I remember was a dark visage of some man... and then, I felt my mind enter Truman's. And for some reason, I can't stop thinking about Maligula ever since," he said, me frowning at that and looking at his mind... and I was shocked. He... was truthful! In fact, his memories showed that, though he was who he was while at the casino, he met Naraku around 10 years ago in Mitsy's body and was given partially Psychic powers... and only recently did he get his mind sent into Truman's because of that fact! And not even he knew of how to get into the lockbox to get to Truman's brain!
"Oh my god... you were also a victim of Naraku..." I gawked.
"Y-Yes, yes, that's it! I remember that name! After he met me, I felt my mind slipping... he showed me about Psychics and promised me that I'd get my throne in the future... but then, just 5 days ago, not only do I wake up in Truman's head, but my own body is completely missing... please, you have to do something for me," Nick said as he looked me in the eye. "Please, don't tell anyone about this. But I know that Maligula is coming back. I saw a vision when sent to Truman's body... in only 4 days from now, she will break free and destroy everything... I know what happened to Grulovia because of seeing your progress so far. That it was destroyed by Maligula herself... do NOT let her do that again. You need to stop her before it's too late," he said, me gulping at that. This was NOT what I expected at ALL!... But it also was much better than the actual game... sort of?
"I promise, Nick. We will keep this secret... but can you at least open up to Lili, too? She's so worried about her dad, she's reduced to a crying mess... at least let her know that you're a victim of Naraku as well?" I said, him nodding at that.
"When she visits next, I'll let her know, but only if she's alone," he said, me smiling at that as he then gave Raz something special. "Here, I know you need to bring Ford back to his senses, so I'm giving you full presidential access to the Motherlobe and the surrounding vicinities. I trust you can do it. Bring back Ford, reunite the Psychic 6, and defeat Maligula... I know my mind will be at peace if you can do that. Only then will I feel free enough to return to my old body," he said, me nodding at that.
"You got it, Nick... or... uh... what do we call you?" Jenna asked.
"You already know my real name, so just call me Gristol," he said, me smirking at that.
"I'll call you Gzar, then," I said, him gasping at that. "Being able to be this humble and knowing what is best for others instead of himself? THAT is the mark of a true leader. I'm sure that, if your citizens would see you today, they'd be very proud," I said, him smiling at that.
"Thanks... and thanks for the food... it tasted better than any caviar I've ever had," he smirked, me smiling at that.
"You're welcome. Sweet dreams, Gzar," I smiled as he then laid down again and Raz looked at me with a smile. "What?"
"Nothing, just admiring your ability to kiss feet and schmooze," he smiled at me.
"Oh hush, Raz. We need to go find some people to help out and find the Psychic 6! First, we need to see if we can find Lili and see if we can find out where her uncle Bob is or if she knows the location of any of the other Psychic 6. We already have Otto at the base, so we need to find the rest," I smiled.
"But what about Helmut? Isn't he... dead?" Raz asked.
"Not from what I saw in Ford's head. I'll explain further when we leave the base," I smirked at him.