Chapter 18
After going to the Psychoisolation Chamber, I gave a small ruling that Bill had to stay on the outside of our journey into Compton's mind when we met with him.
"Why?" was his simple response.
"If he gets too stressed, he has a tendency to make heads explode. Your job is to protect our heads with shields while we're in him so none of us get hurt or killed," I said with seriousness.
"Gotcha. Just be careful when going in there, especially of whoever this Monika person is. She seems like a piece of work," Bill said.
"She's a yandere computer game character that knows that much and she is so blind with love, she's willing to kill her competition in the form of her classmates and friends to be closer to the main character, aka, the one who plays the game. I'd think she's a little more than a piece of work," I frowned as we then went to the isolation chamber proper and went to Compton, Lizzie then having the bees emerge.
"Hey, Compton? I got you some bees like you asked," she said as she let them through, and Compton immediately started freaking out.
"EEP! I said just one! Three is too many! No, too many voices at once! G-Get away from me!" Compton said in fear as he burst from the chamber and laid on the ground, holding his head tight, Bill then shielding our heads as I then put the Psycho Portal on his head, and we then went inside. And when we did, it looked slightly normal in the form of the area in the game start, that being the one room with the bell.
"So... what's this bell do?" Pinoko asked.
"D-Don't touch that! It's dangerous! I'm not ready!" Compton said.
"Not ready for what?" Adam asked.
"Dinner..."
"Oh, great! Let me guess, we're the meal, aren't we?" Pinoko pouted.
"No... even worse! Judgement!" Compton gulped as a judge then appeared... and it was wearing the school outfit for the Doki Doki Literature Club.
"Court is now in session!" he shouted as we then proceeded to attack. It was easy when it ones five against one, which ended with him being thrown into the bell, hurting our ears as Compton freaked out.
"Oh no, it's happening! I'm not-" he was about to say before the bell was lifted and we saw that the area we were in... was VASTLY different than what we expected, especially Compton. "Ready?" he gulped at how the entire place looked to be a set that wasn't a cooking show, but instead it was a DATING show! And the ingredients were replaced with different gifts as well as the different areas of preparing food were replaced with wrapping stations instead! And the judges? They were Sayori, Natsuki, and Yuri, but I could tell by looking at them that they were figments of Monika's imagination and under her control. "What in the world... this is... not right..." Compton gulped as we then heard the voice I didn't want to hear.
"Oh, that's truer than you think, Compton," said the voice of Monika as she then glitched around our area before then materializing as her own self.
"Who are you? And what have you done to my mind?!" Compton asked in shock.
"Compton, meet Monika, the biggest yandere bitch you'll ever meet," I frowned, Monika looking at me with a giggle.
"Oh, you know me way too well, little lady. Do tell, who told you that? Was it Naraku? Or was it someone else?" Monika asked.
"I know enough from how you brutally murdered your best friends via hanging, forced suicide, and deleting the entirety of your world from existence just to be in love with me, specifically," I said, her looking at me with a smile, but it soon faded into a frown.
"Oh. I was in love with a girl?" she asked.
"No, that isn't love," Pinoko frowned at her.
"She's right. Love is when both parties love each other through thick and thin and where it's shared on both sides. You, on the other hand? This is lust, where you care for no one's happiness but your own, not caring about who gets in the way," Raz frowned at her.
"Oh, really? Then why would she do nothing about it?" Monika smirked at me.
"I couldn't really do anything about it when you're in another world except delete the game, which I did, since you made it uninhabitable to anyone but yourself. Or maybe I should ask the judges you have here, hmm?" I asked as I then recognized the three judges as being Yuri, Sayori, and Natsuki, who looked annoyed, but then I hit them all with a confusion grenade, which made them freed from her control.
"Go on, friends, tell them how right I am," Monika smirked pridefully... but then?
"How could you do that to us? I thought you were my friend, a best friend! And you mess with my code so that I hang myself! I HATE YOU, MONIKA!" Sayori shouted as she then rushed off the judge's booth and tackled her, which made Monika gasp as she was on the ground and Compton looked at her with anger as she forced the confusion to leave Sayori's mind.
"This is madness! I've met a horrible person in the past, but you're worse than even Maligula!" Compton growled, which made Monika smirk.
"You forget, Compton, I'm inside of your mind. I have full control of everything in-" she was about to say before Compton then started to work and turn the place into a different look, that being a place with beehives and with Cassie right next to him. "... here..." Monika gulped.
"How about this, young Monika," I said as I then proceeded to produce multiple items on me, those being a noose, a knife, and a big hammer, which she looked at in confusion. "I show you what kind of pain you inflicted on your supposed friends, and see how you like it?" I asked as I then forced the rope around her neck and had her go into the air, her then choking from the feeling as she lost air, her trying to fight it, but then I stabbed her in the side with the knife, her shouting out a gasp of air as I let her fall down on the ground, her breathing in and out before I then took the big hammer and slammed it to her arm, breaking the bones and for her to scream in pain.
"AAUGH! OKAY! I GET IT! STOP RIGHT NOW!" she shouted as I saw her form start to glitch heavily before then healing her wounds and laying on the ground, me looking at her with a frown. "J-Just do it... kill me now... if this is what I did to them... I don't deserve forgiveness..." she sobbed as Cassie's memory looked at her with seriousness.
"Compton, look at this poor thing," she said, me looking at Monika and simply shaking my head.
"Pathetic," I frowned as I then simply picked her up with telekinesis and simply had her look at me in the eyes. "You're right, you don't deserve forgiveness. Especially for what you did to your friends... but I am more lenient than most would be," I said as I simply produced one thing, that being my personal cell phone from my world, which she looked at in confusion.
"W-What's that?" she asked.
"A mode of transport. A second chance. Simply go in this phone and I'll allow you that second chance," I said, her sniffing at me and simply touching the phone and going inside of it, the entire mind of Compton Boole returning to its normal state shortly after, but with Compton looking more comfortable.
"I feel... slightly free... but I'm still a nervous wreck... how can I talk to Cassie like this?" he asked as I simply said one thing.
"Compton, that's what I always think about whenever I'm in a stressful situation... and you know what I do to combat it?" I asked, him shaking his head no. "I always think back to this specific song from where I come from," I said as I then changed the mind slightly to play the song. Peace and Tranquility, lyrical version, from A Hat in Time, given lyrics by Man on the Internet.
"~When it gets too hard to do it on your o-own...
Welcome back to the no-judgment zo-one...
When it seems that you just can't pick up the slack...
Time to take a breath you really should rela-ax...~" the start of the song sung, Compton looking to be calming down at the sights of the colors around as well as the dance that I was doing, that being the Hat Kid's signature dance.
"~Life is hard, life is mean and full of stre-ess...
Take a breath and you can do you're very be-est...
Welcome to where nobody expects a thi-ing...
Chill out here about peace and tranquility...
You don't have to prove yourself to anyone
No one is around to help, no one stares, no one to judge
You've earned second chances, release all that tension
In a trance, swing your arms, you should be dancin'...
Unclench the muscles so ti-ight...
Take a step back from the fi-ight...
Go ahead and rub your eye-es...
To the beat so synthesi-ized...~" I sung, him then seeming to be very calm after, having locked this memory into a personal vault that appeared, me smirking at that.
"Thanks... I finally feel relaxed... for the first time in ages..." Compton said, us then leaving his mind with a smile and for Monika to then speak from the phone when we were back in the world we lived in now.
"Okay... this feels similar to the world I was in prior... but I can talk through it? This feels... weird," Monika frowned from inside the phone.
"Yeah, that's what I felt like when I was suddenly sent into Raz's mind when he was born," I admitted to her.
"That sounds worse," Monika said, but then Compton spoke to the bees.
"Haha, yeah, that sounds like Cassie... is she doing well?" he asked, me then listening to the bees to see what they said.
"We need to help her, though. Her and Bob both," the bees said, which made Compton surprised.
"She and Bob are in trouble? From what?" he asked.
"Scary monsters are guarding them," the bees said.
"Scary monsters? Are you sure they're not other animals?"
"No, they're definitely scary monsters, Compton," I said to him. "Specifically, SCPs," I frowned, him gasping at that.
"SCPs?! How are those monsters in this world? I thought they were just scary ghost stories!" he said, me nodding.
"And it's because of a person that wants to stop us from finding and defeating Maligula. A villain that was controlling Mitsy's mind for 20 years, that I defeated in battle, and he basically summoned multiple different psychic villains to invade different minds, with Monika being in yours and Bill here being in... Helmut's," I said, which made the others in my group shocked.
"Helmut?! THAT's the one who's in Nick's body now?!" Adam asked in shock.
"Imagine I never said this, because I promised him that I wouldn't tell anyone but Psychic 6 members, which Compton is... speaking of, Compton, we need to un-fracture Ford and he's not allowing anyone to see him in the bowling alley unless they have a senior league pass... can I have one? We promise to save Cassie and get rid of those monsters," I said, him nodding at me.
"Yes, and I do believe it's time that I speak with Agent Forsythe. I know that forest like the back of my hand and these bees can tell me the exact locations of these monsters. We need to form a battle plan in order to defeat these monsters. But do tell, which ones are they?" he asked.
"Heart Scorpion, Tunnel Monster, Shy Guy, and Siren Head," Monika said, me then doing a double take at the last one mentioned.
"S-S-Siren Head?" I asked in surprise.
"I thought that 682 said there were three! What's Siren Head?" Pinoko asked.
"One of the tallest SCPs, one of the hardest to find, and one of the scariest. It's as tall as the trees, has amazing camouflage, and can use sounds from its sirens to confuse its prey... where is he?" I asked, Monika speaking at that.
"It's currently in the Forgetful Forest. If what I remember from the meeting with Naraku when he had all of us in a room, he told Siren Head to strike when you attacked the other SCPs that were guarding the others... so we need to choose which one is the best to attack first," she said.
"Heart Scorpion is the only logical one... but before that, we need to get everyone into a meeting. It's time to prepare for battle," Compton said, me nodding as we then rushed out and I teleported us to the Motherlobe before then having Raz go to the bowling alley and I then gave a mental message to the different agents in Forsythe, Oleander, Sasha, and Milla.
"Attention all Agents! I need to gather everyone to the mailroom; all Agents and interns need to report to the mailroom. We have a situation, and we need to prepare for a big battle!" I said to them, me then getting the response of all of them arriving, including the interns. "Raz, your mission is to go and bring Ford back to his senses. I'll relay the plan and we'll get to work when you get Ford pieced back together," I said, him nodding at me. And once all of the group were assembled, I then led them to the mailroom, and we made our lair in the main office.
"Okay, I think I know what's going on. We have to deal with the issue arising in the Forgetful Forest, right?" Hollis asked, which made the interns look surprised.
"The Forgetful Forest? Why would we go THERE of all places?" Sam asked in concern.
"For one reason. Dangerous monsters are in that forest called SCPs, which I have recently learned there are 4 instead of 3," I said, which made Oleander gasp as he looked in my mind before then showing the pictures to us.
"Okay, so these are the creatures that we need to defeat!" he said as he produced them from his mind via projecting their images like a PowerPoint presentation. "First is 058, the Heart Scorpion. A short-range attacker that attacks with its tentacles, the speeds of which can slash through bones," he explained, which made the kids gulp. "Next is 3663, the Tunnel Monster: A monster in the form of a kid in cardboard boxes. He can teleport anyone to a tunnel across the entire world and, if angered, can produce a banshee scream that asphyxiates people with cardboard in their lungs," he explained.
"That sounds scary..." Norma gulped.
"Not as scary and dangerous as 096, Shy Guy. A monster that is creepy to look at. And if you look at its face, we're all dead. If anything sees its face with their eyes, the monster will not stop until you're dead. He's the only one that I need to take care of by teleporting him to another universe, one where he won't be able to kill people," I said.
"And what about Siren Head? I don't think I've heard of this one," Hollis frowned.
"According to Rose's memories of what she read from her world, which seems to know a lot about other worlds, Siren Head is a former SCP because of it technically being impossible to contain effectively. Despite this, it has immense camouflage, the ability to use voices against us from its siren mouths, and it stands at roughly 100 feet tall. Taking it out with force is impossible as it is a partially spectral entity, so we need to teleport the beast to another world," Oleander explained.
"That sounds very troubling... from what I've read on those ridiculous sites, Siren Head is so camouflaged, not even a Psychic can find it without a very powerful mind. Our best bet is to have Rose sense for it while the rest of us try to go after the other monsters. Which of them is the closest to our position in the forest?" Sasha asked.
"It's not the forest, but deeper within, the area being Green Needle Gulch," Compton said, which I saw he was still speaking to his bees. "The starting place of the Psychic 7... and its end as well," he frowned.
"What do you... wait... Psychic 7? I thought it was Psychic 6?" Sabrina asked in confusion.
"No, lass, he meant Psychic 7 for good reason," said the voice of Cruller as he appeared with Raz, who looked pretty troubled. "It's because the final member, Lucrecia Mux, is the one that was the 7th member... it's time to tell you all something that shouldn't be mentioned to anyone, especially to Raz's family," Ford said, us then nodding at that.
"Spill it, Ford. WHAT's going on?!" Bobby asked in annoyance.
"Back in the day, before the war of Grulovia, the Psychic 7 found Green Needle Gulch and started to expand our minds and psychic powers... and with Otto's invention, the Astralathe, we managed to experiment on our psyches... but it only led to tragedy for poor Lucy. After she used it, she was called back home to help in the war... and then, it broke her mind... it turned her into a monster. A monster that was on the cover of issue 42," Ford frowned as he showed the comic in question, which made the group gawk.
"No way... Lucrecia is Maligula?... I... I feel so sorry for the poor thing," Milla said with sadness.
"And in order to prevent Maligula from coming back, he had to lock her memories away by using the Astralathe... so, he... altered her mind... and my dad's," Raz said, me seeing the anger on his face before he then calmed down.
"Wait... Lucrecia is your relative?" Norma asked in shock.
"And that's why I gave them the false memories of the water curse. Because Maligula excelled in Hydrokinesis, if she were to come into contact with a large quantity of water, it'd bring out the darkness within... and I'm only telling you of this because of the issue of these creatures that this demonic Naraku has summoned not just to the gulch, but even inside of minds like Compton's and mine," Cruller said, me being confused at that.
"Uh... your mind?" I asked as Raz then showed off that he had a criminal trapped inside of a telekinetic bubble. And this criminal in question was actually from another world again! Only... it was one that didn't have much danger to them.
"Is that... a ghost girl?" Lili asked in confusion as I simply looked at Raz with seriousness.
"Um... Raz? What is Erma the cute ghost doing here?" I asked, the girl looking at me with her big dark eyes with sadness on her face.
"Cute ghost? She tried to kill me in there!" Raz frowned.
"No..." Erma said. "I... try... warn you... dangers... more... in gulch... than them..." she said, which made me intrigued.
"What other dangers are in that gulch besides the SCPs?" I asked her.
"WD Gaster... and GIFfany," she said, me gulping at that.
"Who?" Bill asked.
"I know who both of those are, and I don't like it... Gaster is a monster who is basically unkillable as he technically doesn't even exist... and GIFfany is pretty much a different, more insane version of Monika, to the point she can actually interact with the real world and possess electronics to try and hurt people," I frowned.
"So we have 6 monsters, then? And how do we defeat them without getting hurt?" Sasha asked.
"That is why I assembled all of us here, to go over the map and the locations of these monsters," I said, Erma then producing said map instantly with her ghostly mind as well as the haunting areas of each one. "Huh... impressive, Erma. Remind me to get you a cookie when this meeting is over," I said, her smiling at that.
"Oreo please," she said, me nodding as I saw that the haunting areas for each of the monsters were all in the gulch and that there were X marks over the two we'd already taken care of, those being 173 and 682.
"Alright, according to the map, the Tunnel Monster will be directly next to the Astralathe and GIFfany is hooked into the Brain Tumbler in the very same room, most likely as a trap. What we'll need to do is get GIFfany into a USB drive using my Electrokinesis powers so that she's effectively trapped forever, while also trying to console and talk down the Tunnel Monster. This will most likely cause Siren Head to come running, as he was told to engage when we're preoccupied with other monsters. When this happens, I'll take care of the big guy with teleporting him away to another universe that he can't escape from, which I know the perfect one for him." I spoke.
"And which one would that be?" Bill asked.
"The only place I feel he can't escape from, that being the bottomless pit of darkness from the Pokemon world," I said, Sabrina gasping at that.
"I think I know that area! It's said to be a place in an alternate plane of existence where darkness resides... and if you get stuck in the deepest parts of that pit, you can never escape," she said with seriousness.
"Indeed. And as for Shy Guy, he'll be teleported to a world where there are no more humans, only robots, the world of Soma," I said with seriousness.
"And when engaging Shy Guy, we do as you say and approach while walking backwards and then get a bag over its head so we don't risk its rage. And then that leaves us with Gaster and Heart Scorpion, the former being at Compton's old managerie and the latter being at a towering vine tower, most likely Bob's current location, given how attuned he is with plant life," said the voice of Nick, which was the mind of Helmut.
"How did you know that, Mister Nick?" Gisu asked.
"For one reason. He's my husband," he said, which made Milla and Hollis gasp.
"O-Oh my God... Helmut Fullbear?! Is it really you in that mind?" she asked.
"Yes, it is. I feel I should assist in these dire straits, but we need someone to take charge here, and I feel that myself and Hollis should stay behind while you kids go out to war," Helmut said, them nodding.
"Okay... I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty scared," Kanna admitted.
"Well, if we can succeed in this, you'll all be officially promoted to Psychonauts instead of interns. But I understand if some want to stay behind," Hollis said, them nodding and all agreeing.
"We're going, then?" asked everyone but Bobby, who looked to not be interested in the slightest.
"Yes, we are. Hollis, Helmut, you're in charge of looking after the place and Bobby while we go out. We will go over the strategies on the way," I said, us then moving out effective immediately.