Chapter 17
Upon entering Ford's mailman mind, we found ourselves trapped inside of a very tight compartment, which we then broke free from via struggling to see we'd been trapped inside of a letter, which made Bill complain after.
"Ugh, that was annoying," he frowned.
"Well, we're out, so now let's explore," Raz said as we went forward into the hallway and we saw the giant letters, including the one that was from Lucy to Ford.
"Dear Ford, I've been called back to my hometown of Grulovia to help in the war. Don't worry, I'll be back when it's done, Love, Lucy," I read as we then reached the big room, where we saw a giant Ford robot managing the countless amounts of mail.
"Huh... if we're going to repair Ford's fractured mind, we're going to need to get up to the giant Ford's head, most likely," Bill said.
"Easier said than done, kids," said a voice from nearby, that being a younger Ford on a stamp.
"You have an idea to get there?" I asked him.
"Yeah, but could you get me sent first? I need to be sent to someone very important," he said, me nodding as I picked up the letter with telekinesis... which only proceeded to get into a small pulling match from the giant Ford mailer!
"Hey! Don't steal the mail! It's a federal offence!" the giant Ford bot said.
"I'm not stealing it, I'm hoping to help mail it!" I said, the giant robot speaking after.
"Oh? But there's no one to send it to," Fordbot said.
"Well, we know who to send it to, so could we just help out with that?" I asked.
"Why didn't you just say that first? But be quick, the mail needs to be processed at some point. You've got 6 minutes," he said as he placed the letter in question into the typewriter and our trio then proceeded to fly towards the area in question, me seeing that Bill was assisting by drawing the collectibles right to us with some advanced telekinesis! And when we reached the typewriter in only a minute, we then proceeded to collect the different letters of l, u, c, and y and put them where they belonged.
"It's almost as if the guy wanted to forget Lucy," Bill frowned.
"I don't think that's the case," I said as I then proceeded to write the name Lucy onto the letter, me then waving up to the big robot and him looking at us.
"Hey, Mister Roboto! Letter is ready to send!" I smirked.
"Oh, thanks for the help, little ones," he said, me rolling my eyes at that as he then sent the young Ford's letter... and when he got the letter back from Lucy, he looked at it and then his head exploded off of his body and landed right next to us, followed by the letter floating down to us.
"Lucy is dead... forget about her... Maligula?" Raz gulped at it.
"It's just impossible..." Ford's head said as we then went inside of it and proceeded to pull the shard of glass out of the brain within, me then looking at him with seriousness.
"What was in that letter?" I asked.
"Nothing important... I thought it'd change her mind, but I was wrong... maybe some things are better left untold," Ford said, changing between his personas before then sighing and conjoining together... we then found ourselves in the treetop and proceeded to place the fractured piece of the mirror back where it belonged before then putting the stamper onto the nearby shelf before we were booted from his mind completely, us finding ourselves back in the mailroom after.
"Now we need to get after the other two... the question is, how do we get a senior league card and where can we go to get a person in desperate need of a haircut?" Raz asked as we then exited the mailroom office... only to see that a certain janitor was in front of us and cleaning the floor. And just one look at her hair and I got a bright idea so crazy, it just might work.
"Hey, Bonita," I smirked, her looking at us with a smile.
"Ah, hello my little savior. What're you doing in there?" she asked.
"We're currently trying to repair Ford's mind, as he's fractured into multiple personalities. One of them is a barber and he's only accepting people who need a haircut more than anyone... so... uh..." I said, her then looking at me with a small chuckle.
"Yeah, I guess I do need a bit of a touch-up since the days at Thorny Towers... okay, I'll help you out, love. Could I be introduced to your unique friend?" she asked, looking at Bill with intrigue.
"Uh, this is Bill. He's a Psychic Triangle from another universe. We found him injured inside of a donated brain that we got from Otto's Hall of Brains machine. And said brain is currently in Nick's head. Long story," I smirked as we then went out of the mailroom... only to be blocked by a certain very stern woman at the doorway.
"O-Oh! Miss Hollis... what's up?" I asked, her looking at Bill and then at me, with a very stern look on her face.
"We need to talk. Raz, you're free to do what you want for now, but I need to talk to her and 'Solomon' right now," she said, me frowning in defeat.
"Okay, fine... is it roughly a hundred feet to a private area?" I asked, her nodding as she simply teleported us into her office and I saw that it was roughly 89 feet away from Raz as of current. "What am I in trouble for this time?"
"You're in trouble for being incredibly brazen in your efforts. Combatting Bill Cipher of all people, the one who nearly destroyed an entire multiverse, all on your own? You have no idea how much danger you put yourself in," she said, me frowning at that, mainly because Bill looked concerned at what she spoke.
"Ugh... I'll say this now to get it out of the way. Bill basically arrived out of nowhere in a donor brain I put into Nick's body. And if not for me knowing his weakness to unicorn hair, then I definitely would've died from a sneak attack. Not just me, but the owner of the brain as well," I said, Hollis frowning at me.
"So how did you manage to 'reform' him, as Norma put it?" she asked, me frowning at how I was ratted out when I told her not to say a word.
"Note to self. Find Norma and give her a full nelson for being a rat..." I groaned to myself. "I reformed him by using a weapon that previously defeated him, a memory gun from the world he almost destroyed. With it, I managed to erase every single memory he had for his entire life. And he doesn't want to remember any of it, which was proven when we were confronted by another villain called Mal while in the mindscape," I frowned.
"Mal? You mean Maligula?" she asked.
"No, Mal as in an evil alternate persona from another person from another world. And from both him and Bill, the latter being before I erased his mind, they both claimed they were summoned by Naraku," I said, Hollis frowning at that before then showing me a paper.
"They aren't the only ones," she said as she showed a list of different reports from what Otto had sensed from one of his inventions. "Numerous of these so-called 'mindscape demons' are popping up in different peoples' psyches if they're asleep. Compton Boole was one of them, and there are also three more. Two of them are deep in the Forgetful Forest and the latter is the one inside of Truman's body. And from what Otto's machine described them as in the order I listed, the one is a very creepy teenager with a school uniform, the second is some weird entity, the third is a jester made of paper, and the fourth is a white-haired man with a ring hanging from his neck," she explained, me gulping at the knowledge, me knowing exactly who each of them were.
"So... we have Monika the glitch witch, Giygas the Psychic Alien, Dimentio the Traitorous Jester, and Yami Bakura the Shadow Game Player... yep... now I know we really are pressed for time," I said, her nodding at me.
"Each is said to give their victims extreme sleep paralysis and a lot of stress. We know that they are only set to get stronger with every night, so I suggest going out and defeating them while trying to find out how to stop Maligula for good," she said, me nodding at her.
"So... I know I asked to not be told about what I did in the past... but how evil was I?" Bill asked, me sighing at that.
"Evil enough to petrify an entire town physically, not mentally, and then use their bodies to build a throne for you to sit on," I said, that making him surprised.
"That... sounds terrifying," he said.
"Yes. Of all the different villains I've seen or heard of, you were one of the strongest and one of the scariest. I'm just glad that you now know right from wrong," I said as I looked in his mind just to see what was in there, and I saw he was truthful in what he said. That he was concerned about how much pain he inflicted on others and wondered if I'd ever literally kill him. And shortly after I did so, I sensed that Raz had emerged from Ford's mind and that the barber Ford had been reformed.
"Okay, is that all, Hollis?... Or am I not allowed to go into these minds without a plan?" I asked, her frowning at me.
"My ruling is this. From now on, if you go inside of the mind of one of those four individuals, you are required to bring three other interns with you for backup. Don't bite off more than you can chew, got it?" she said, me nodding at that as I then sensed around and saw that the closest interns were Pinoko, Adam, and Lizzie, the three of them being in the atrium as of current.
"Understood, I'll go and recruit some right now, then," I smirked as I warped myself and Bill to the area in question and then saw the trio were talking to each other.
"So... you tried to go to college to prove you were an adult, but the stress was too much for your tiny body?" Lizzie asked her.
"Yeah... that's why I want to study under Master Rosie. So I can control my emotions and make it through preschool and beyond," Pinoko smirked as I then cleared my throat and the trio then looked at me before then gawking at Bill.
"Oh my gosh! What the heck is that thing?!" Pinoko asked in fear as she hid behind Adam and Bill looked conflicted at her reaction.
"Uh... this is Bill," I said, Adam and Lizzie looking confused at that.
"Didn't Norma say that it was dangerous to be near this guy?" Adam asked.
"Norma needs to shut her friggin' mouth," I frowned, causing the sister of Norma to roll her eyes. "She ratted me out to Hollis and I just got chewed out for it... but she also told me that there are other different dangers in the minds of other people, one of them being Compton Boole," I said, Lizzie gawking at that fact.
"Oh my gosh! Compton's in danger?!" she asked as Raz then finally joined in with Gloria and I saw that her hair had been shortened greatly and that she had gotten some much-needed cleaning to it.
"There are 4 different people if you include Compton that have a foreign psychic entity in their mind. The brain we found to give to Nick's body had Bill in it as well as another entity called Mal, who Bill warped away into the mind of a squirrel," I said, Adam snickering at that.
"Better hope he doesn't run into Sam, then," he smirked. "So why tell us this?"
"Because Hollis gave me the ruling that, from now on, I need some people to join me if I were to go to their minds to help them out. And I was thinking you three could help in going to Compton, for the reason of getting him to get out of Psychoisolation," I said.
"Well, we could always try to get some bees from the Forgetful Forest... if you don't mind having to contend with the Green Needle Witch," Lizzie said with her usual creepiness.
"Green Needle Witch? What's that?" Raz asked.
"Deep in the Forgetful Forest, the Green Needle Witch waits for intruders. And when she finds little kids like us, she approaches them silently... and then hugs them," Lizzie said creepily.
"That doesn't sound too-" Pinoko was about to say before getting cut off.
"And the hug skewers them against her thorny skin, their blood squirting from their bodies... and they are never seen again, hehe," Lizzie said as Bill and I groaned.
"Then when we go to the Forgetful Forest, we form ourselves into a circle to prevent getting ambushed," Bill said.
"That's a good idea, the only problem is that the only way there is through the mines, since the highway is only for vehicles, which we don't have," Pinoko pouted.
"Not a problem for Bill. He can have us levitate the whole way there," I smirked.
"It's true, hehe," Bill said happily as we then went down the elevator to get to the quarry, where we then went past the receptionist and went outdoors, where we saw that Frazie and Mirtala were by the jet and looking out towards the mine in the distance.
"How do we get over there without touching the water? We don't want to risk anything involving others finding out the truth, big sis," Mirtala asked as Frazie then spoke.
"We can wait for Rosie and Raz to show up, can't we? They'll be here eventually," Frazie smirked as I then decided to have some fun.
"Sooner than you think," I said right behind her, that making her jump and try to Psi Blast me, which I shielded from, her growling at me.
"I told you to stop doing that!" Frazie complained to me.
"We can help you get to the mines. Most likely to get to the Questionable Area, right?" I asked, them nodding at me.
"Getting back from there was the easy part, but getting there on our own isn't nearly as easy," Mirtala pouted.
"Then leave that to our resident triangle to assist," Adam smirked as Bill then had us levitate the whole way across the water and through the mines until we reached the area in question (funny pun) and we then heard something coming fromt he building nearby.
"I'm telling you that I need help getting back at that bitch!" I heard a familiar voice say from the building that made me smirk.
"And I told YOU to get me CRUSHED NUTS! Now you better do what I tell you, mister Mal, or you're gettin' a spoon shoved in your questionable area, UNDERSTAND?!" we heard Sam yell shortly after, me smirking at how the squirrel in question ran out of the building and immediately started to crush the nuts, me knowing well enough to not engage and to go down the path with the others.
"So... that was Mal, huh? What was he like before?" Mirtala asked.
"Well, Mirtle, Mal used to be a part of someone who had multiple personality syndrome, and he used to be the evil side of a man called Mike. And he used this evil side to get to the finals of a television show like Survivor, only to be banished and erased by Mike after he absorbed all the other personalities he had... but then Naraku, again, invited a bad person into someone's mind, that being Mal," I frowned.
"So who was the owner of the brain you placed in Nick?" Pinoko asked, Raz about to speak before I shushed him.
"Hush, Raz. Remember what we said, it's not to be discussed except with the higher-ups," I said, Pinoko pouting at me.
"Why can't I be told? I'm big enough!" Pinoko said in annoyance.
"It's not an issue of old or young, it's an issue of respecting the guy's wishes. He told us not to tell anyone but other members of the Psychic Six about his true identity, so that's how it stays," I said, her then stomping her foot on the ground as we walked into the Forgetful Forest and we found the beehive.
"I don't like not knowing the truth," Pinoko frowned.
"This is another lesson you need to learn, pupil. You can't always get what you want. That's a lesson that everyone has to learn. Even your sister had to," I said, her then frowning and simply sitting on the ground as we formed the circle near the beehive while I then grabbed a jar and trapped a bee in it, only to get three instead.
"Huh, three for one special," I smirked as Lizzie spoke.
"Uh... g-guys?" Lizzie gulped as we looked where she was... and we saw her. The Green Needle Witch was approaching us... but unlike in the game, it was approaching in a different manner.
"W-Whenever I blink, she gets closer! I-I'm really friggin' scared right now!" Lizzie said as I then told them all something in their minds.
"I've seen something like this before... I need to ask you to start blinking with one eye at a time as I look into this thing's mind," I said, them nodding as they kept eye contact with it while I then delved into the mind to see what was in it... and the image I got only confirmed my fears.
"The friggin' statue SCP... of course," I frowned.
"What's an SCP?" Pinoko gulped.
"Something I didn't believe existed... the one in question is a statue that stays still when someone looks at it, but if it is not looked at, it moves extremely fast with the aim to snap your neck... though in this case, it'd probably skewer us instead. So, we need to destroy it," I said as I then used Pyrokinesis on the witch image, it proceeding to burn up a lot... before it then shrieked loudly as I saw that it started to move by collapsing on the ground and convulsing all over before then exploding into a bunch of spikes, me shielding all of us from the blast as I could sense it. The creature was dead now. I no longer sensed it.
"C-Could it be that... Naraku did that?" Adam asked with a bit of a shakiness in his voice.
"I do not know... Naraku may be a powerful demon, but I highly doubt he'd want to work with the monsters of the SCP Foundation... especially since most of these creatures could kill anything without a second thought... let's just hope we don't find 682... he's the toughest and most hate-filled of all of them," I said... and then I heard a voice.
"Is that right... little human?" I heard a very scary voice say as Bill then turned my head for me and I swore I felt my heart sink into my feet. "Putrid... disgusting humans... tell me why I should let you live," he said, me shivering in place as Bill then looked like he was going to do something, only for me to halt him.
"Bill, whatever you try to harm him with, he will not get killed by it. He's basically immortal," I said, but my voice was filled with fear, mainly because of the fact that this SCP was strong enough to live in acid with no ill effects. "I-I know you don't like humans... the ones from my world, especially..." I said, him growling at me saying that.
"Especially them... the fools, thinking they could contain me... I will not be happy until all of them are dead..." he said, Pinoko saying something after.
"Couldn't you be happy in a world... without humans?" she asked, that making the giant lizard growl and hiss before then looking at her again.
"A different world... with no humans... there is such a thing?" he growled, me nodding at that.
"Very few, but I do know some worlds that fit that description. The choice is yours," I said, him growling at me before slowly approaching on all fours and sniffing me with his tongue, hissing in the process... and I could smell the acid all over his body.
"Before you do, I should tell you... the demon sent three more of my fellow monsters to this area... and gave us the instruction to get rid of intruders. You may have defeated 173... but there is still the heart scorpion, the one who hates his face, and the tunnel monster," he said, me gulping at the fact that the three other monsters were each equally dangerous, but for their own reasons.
"Okay... I'm going to teleport you to another world, now. What do you feel about a planet full of water?" I asked.
"Very well," he said, me then teleporting his body to the world of Subnautica in an instant. I had a feeling he'd be right at home on the ocean planet with no human life.
"So... on a scale of 1 to 10... how screwed are we right now?" Lizzie asked.
"A scale of 1 to 10? Probably 34? The ones he mentioned were an SCP that attacks with tentacles and is in the shape of a heart with a scorpion tail, then the second is a big and lanky monster that, if it notices that someone sees its face, it goes berserk and kills without remorse... and the final is a monster in the form of a little kid with a cardboard monster outfit that attacks in dark tunnel locations. But if outside a tunnel, any who hears his screams will get their body filling with cardboard until they die from asphyxiation," I said with fear.
"Couldn't you just warp them away?" Raz asked as I then tried to sense them in the forest... and found that they were further in, to the point I couldn't sense them! All I could tell was their locations. And it seemed that they were each blocking the ways to our desired locations. The Astralathe, Bob's tower, and Cassie's location, guarded by the Tunnel Monster, the heart scorpion, and the face hating monster respectively. But other than locations, I couldn't get into their minds, and I knew why.
"Dammit... Ford wasn't kidding about this forest! I can only get their locations and nothing else because of how big of a psychic dead-zone it is! It's even harder than trying to sense the inside of MY mind!" I smirked, me then blocking it for Adam, Lizzie, and Pinoko to try and get into my mind, even Bill tried! And they looked to be straining at the effort.
"Ugh! I can't get into that! It's so well-protected! But... where are they in there? And didn't I hear that there were two people in the forest? Are they in danger?" Lizzie asked.
"From what 682 said, the other SCPs were given the simple instruction of getting rid of intruders. And since they're all monsters, I know that we can kill them without remorse... except the Tunnel Monster," I said.
"But... I don't want to die from choking," Adam frowned.
"It only happens if he's outside of a tunnel and in direct sunlight for an extended time, and it only happened one time. And that one time was on the day that his former best friend died, something he doesn't even know about... plot twist, the Tunnel Monster used to be a kid like everyone of us was at one point. But then, because of contrived coincidence, he became the Tunnel Monster and forgot everything about who he was prior," I said.
"That's sad to hear... but what do we do, then? Could he be reasoned with?" Pinoko asked.
"I'd love to play 20 questions, but I suggest we get back to the Motherlobe. Before we do anything else, I need to report this to Hollis, or else she'll never let me hear the end of it," I said, Bill speaking after.
"Yeah, she's scary," Bill said.
"Norma said you used to be scarier than any monster she'd ever heard of... but after being in direct danger right there? I feel nothing could top the fear of knowing I was this close to death," Lizzie gulped.
"And no one would blame you, Lizzie," I frowned. "Because I was also terrified... those two were arguably some of the most dangerous singular SCPs. Another dangeorus one is a statue that, if someone looks away from it, it kills them by blowing up their insides before then appearing on their chest. And if it were loosed, it could have the potential to kill the entire world. It was said to be one of the toughest security jobs at the entire facility for that reason," I frowned.
"So were they from your world? Or not?" Raz asked.
"Not even I know... maybe it's in a world vastly similar to mine, but with these monsters being in it?" I frowned as I then had our group teleport away to the Motherlobe, since I could sense that Mirtala and Frazie were at the caravan with the other circus members. And when back, I immediately warped Hollis to our location, her looking at me in shock.
"ACK! What the?! Could you not do that?!" Hollis asked in annoyance.
"I need to tell you something, Hollis. Naraku is at it again, only this time, it's ten times worse than the dream demons!" I said, her looking at me in seriousness after.
"Go on," she frowned.
"When we tried to go to the Forgetful Forest to get some bees for Compton, to try and cool his head so we can go in his head to solve his dream demons, we encountered the Green Needle Witch herself!... Only not the same," I said, Hollis's eyebrow raising at that. "It was possessed by a creature from another world, that being an SCP," I said, Hollis gasping at that.
"Y-You mean... tell me everything right now," she said, me gulping. She knew?!
"The one that was possessing the witch, which was covered in needles all over, was SCP 173, AKA the neck-cracker statue that moves fast if you blink," I said. "I managed to tell them how to avoid getting killed while then setting it on fire, killing it... only to be cornered by 682," I said.
"682?! What the hell?!" Hollis asked aloud, but it was weird as we were in the reception area of the Motherlobe.
"Yeah. The fear was able to be felt in the air as it looked at us... but I managed to quell it by teleporting it to another world where humans don't exist... but he warned us about three more SCPs that are deeper in the Forgetful Forest. Their numbers are 058, 3668, and 096... aka Heart Scorpion, Tunnel Monster, and Shy Guy," I said, that making Hollis start to sweat on her body.
"Y-Yeah... and are the other two people... Bob and the other one you mentioned... are they in danger of them?"
"From what 682 said, they were all summoned by Naraku and given the simple instruction of 'kill any intruders'. So I think they'll be okay... but what's not fun is that they are all guarding three important areas. 058 is guarding Bob's place, 3668 is guarding a tunnel that I could sense was full of psychic energy, and 096 is guarding the house of the second person... but we need to warn you of the fact that the Forgetful Forest is a dead-zone for Pscyhic powers, so going deeper in means that our powers will not be able to be sensed by others. I was only able to get general locations and nothing else," I said.
"Should I call for an attack on them?" she asked, me frowning at that.
"Think, Hollis. Each of them is dangerous, but none more so than 096. If they go in without a plan, they're all going to be killed before they lay a handle on the monsters within. So, I suggest that, when we un-fracture Ford completely, I go with him and Sasha to the forest with no one else. Before we go into the minds of the two in there, we NEED to get rid of the SCPs first and foremost. I can teleport two to another universe, but the only one we have a chance to outright kill is the Heart Scorpion. The Tunnel Monster could probably be consoled and reasoned with, and Shy Guy is practically bulletproof and was able to kill an entire platoon of soldiers even after its legs were gone, which he regenerated soon after," I said, Hollis sighing.
"Fine. The moment I think we're in the clear, Naraku pulls another sneaky trick. He really did think of everything he could to hurt us. We're already losing money, we don't need word to get out that we have literal monsters patrolling the Forgetful Forest," she said, me sighing.
"At the very least, let me tell the others in my family? They're the closest ones there and I don't want them to get hurt," Raz asked with concern on his face.
"Only them," Hollis said before looking at our allies. "As for you four, I expect you to forget everything that happened, okay?" she said.
"I wish I could... I'm going to have nightmares for weeks... I've never been that scared in my life!" Lizzie gulped with a shiver.
"S-Same... when we're done with Compton, I need to spend some time with Blackjack... I want to see if we can sleep together," Pinoko said with concern.
"Let's go to the Psycho Isolation chamber, then. That's where he's at," Lizzie said as we then left the place, but not before Hollis stopped me with some words.
"Good luck... and God speed, Rose. Pull this off, and all of you are Psychonauts," she said, me nodding at that. "Don't tell them that."
"My lips and mind are sealed," I said, her nodding as I then followed after the others with seriousness. I just had to hope that Monika wouldn't be nearly as dangerous as those horrid SCPs.