Chapter 21
After managing to get past at least 30 angry beehives with our mental shields, we then managed to reach the house at the top of the hill of bees and we saw that the area was kind of run down, but still classy.
"Hmm... are you sure that Cassie is here? It looks a bit deserted," Compton said with concern as I looked around... before sensing around and seeing two people. One was Cassie and the other was the paper fiend himself. And both in the same body, both in the upper levels of the house.
"I think I can sense her, and the Naraku invite that's in her," I frowned as we then went up the staircase and we saw that Cassie was dressed in a very honey-like dress that was coated in brambles and ivy, but not the whole way.
"W-What the... I thought you burned it!" Pinoko asked with concern as she hid behind me.
"That's not the SCP, Pinoko. It's Cassie, right?" I asked, the person then turning around and looking at our large group before then taking off her mask... which showed that her left eye was yellow... and her right was pure black.
"Try again, little lady. I'm the prestigious performer of dimensions!" said the voice of Dimentio from her mind, me frowning as I saw the others were shocked at the voice that came out, minus Gaster.
"It appears that someone will have to go in there and separate the duo, hmm?" Gaster asked before then summoning four tendrils that grabbed and held onto Cassie's arms and legs so that Dimentio couldn't move a muscle!
"HEY! No fair! I call cheating!' he shouted at us as I then sent the Psycho Portal to his head and had it open.
"Okay, for this one, I think we should bring half of us," I said, the group nodding as I then had myself, Raz, Lili, Compton, Bill, Gisu, Milla, Adam, Pinoko, Sabrina, Alma, and Norma. And when we were inside of Cassie's mind, we saw that we were in the area of the library and that, aside from the Librarian, we were in front of a giant Dimentio, who was just as flat as the other sides of Cassie's archetypes, him looking at us with a smile.
"Why hello there, little ones. Now even more literal, is it not?" the giant clown asked as I simply used Pyrokinesis and proceeded to burn his face, him then gasping and then patting his face out of the flames before then reaching down and grabbing me with his giant, flat hand and holding me in front of his giant face.
"HEY! Put her down you creep!" Raz shouted as the others then looked ready to attack. But I was unafraid, Because of one thing. I had already gotten the upper hand with my own special power.
"You're going to pay for daring to burn my pretty face, literal little lady!" Dimentio growled at me as the others looked behind him and were shocked at what was going on behind him.
"Is that right, little man?" asked a giant creature that then grabbed Dimentio with just two fingers, which made the others gawk as I then was freed from Dimentio's hands and flew back down to the others. What kind of creature was it?
"N-Not little! Why is there a giant gnat?!" he asked in shock at the sight of a version of me that was tall enough to be able to have her head reach the Psychic 7 area at the top of the library. And as for her voice?
"You will no hurt my friend, little man!" the giant me said, her sounding like a stereotypical giant with a bruiser voice, which is what I always had imaginations of whenever I got bullied for my short height in the past. And the others in my group looked at her in shock.
"Whoa... too big..." Gisu gulped as Dimentio then tried to break free, but the giant me then proceeded to rip off Dimentio's arms and legs, meaning he couldn't do anything! And he then shouted in pain so loudly that we got the attention of a couple of Cassie's Censors, but instead of attacking us, they proceeded to swarm Dimentio until he was completely coated in them and then he was completely erased!
"Wow... that was crazy," said the voice of Cassie, me looking around until we then heard a small rattling from the case underneath us, me then looking in and seeing that it belonged to the Librarian, and that she was trapped in the case with the writer Cassie.
"Um... hi... which of you two is the Cassie I know?" Compton asked in confusion when he saw them.
"Neither. The one you're used to is myself, the author, the counterfeiter, and the teacher combined. But that stupid papery demon captured us and trapped us in this case. He made it so that we can't get out until you can get the counterfeiter and the teacher to act as the keys. You have no idea how much I hate this," the librarian said.
"Oh, come now, missy, we can look on the bright side. At least we managed to get you back to your normal self," the author said with a smile.
"Don't remind me... if not for that no-good jester, I'd still be wanting to take charge of all of us," the librarian said.
"And said jester was summoned by a no-good demon that wants to make me pay for doing him in," I frowned.
"I can imagine that he views you as his biggest threat, as your archetype mastery has just shown... can you make a different one that isn't so... gigantic?" the author asked, me smiling at her as I then had the big girl retreat into my mind and for another one to come out, this one being the same size as me, but her being extremely bored and uncaring for one reason.
"Hey... anyone wanna brood?" she asked, which made Norma smile, as she looked compltely gothic, much like Lizzie was.
"I didn't know you had a gothic phase," Norma smiled.
"I would've said that I didn't know that you were strong enough to have a gigantic archetype such as that," Milla admitted after, me smirking at that.
"Tsk, yeah, that's because we've had 10 years of practice and stuff... being stuck in a baby gives plenty of time to practice..." my gothic archetype said with an uncaring mood, me smirking at her.
"The other versions of us are past those doors and inside of special books. Be careful, because that jester guy still has a couple of his own archetypes guarding both of them," the librarian said, me nodding as we then went out to the areas. I used the gothic archetype to open the door to the left and had my group head to the counterfeiter, this group consisting of myself, Milla, Adam, Sabrina, Bill, and Alma, the latter one being one I didn't expect, but when I asked, her response was simple.
"I need to make sure that you were telling the truth," is what she said, me sighing at her. Sure, she could definitely hurt me, but she couldn't kill me, lest she lose her title in the Psychonauts. Regardless, our group then went to the upper levels of the area until we then found the magical book, us going inside of the pages, getting the figments within and outside the book until we eventually found the area of the counterfeit Cassie.
"Excuse me? Miss Cassie? We have to ask if you're okay or not?" I asked, the page then turning from the other side and me seeing that she was there.
"Shh, keep your voice down. The clown is watching from afar," she said, me nodding as Adam spoke.
"The one that was guarding the librarian and the author was defeated, so we can handle the other one in charge of watching you... and we need you to free the two archetypes," Adam said, her frowning.
"I can't do that even if the clown leaves. I need some evidence against my boss. Get rid of the clown, find the evidence against her, and I'll join you, got it?" she said, me nodding at her.
"You got it. We're gonna bring the house down," I said, her rolling her eyes at me as we then found ourselves in the area of the giant port town, where we then saw that there was a boss waiting for us in the form of an equally large Dimentio, this one looking to be him, but with an occult look to him.
"Ah, the worms have come out of hiding to meet the end of days!" Dimentio smirked widely as I frowned at him.
"Yeah, no, I know the perfect archetype from my brain to combat you," I said as Dimentio then proceeded to try and attack me with some magic shurikens, which I dodged as my archetype was created, her being dressed in a cloak of white with a cross on her neck and a bible in hand.
"Um... what is she going to do?" Smallbrina asked for the others as the archetype then proceeded to open the bible and proceed to shackle Dimentio down into the water before doing something that made him start to feel pain. What did she do? She started to exorcise the demon!
"The power of Christ compels you! Oh demon, leave this plane of existence and go back to the deepest recesses of hell!" she said... or at least, that's the basic translation. Because she was really speaking in tongues and reading actual bible passages to harm and exorcise the demon, the only way to get rid of demonic possession. And after enough work, Dimentio's occultist side had been completely detained and destroyed, having evaporated into ashes after a minute of this.
"Huh, pretty impressive... now if only I could've been sent to the other side," Alma said as I frowned at her.
"That is one thing I don't know how to do... and even if I did, I doubt you'd go to the good side," I said, her sighing at me.
"I know. But I don't care. I'd rather be gone from the mortal realm and go to the other side, no matter how much I'll suffer," she said, me sighing at that.
"But I don't want you to suffer. You've already suffered enough, and I do feel responsible, despite not knowing anything until recently. Had I known that my grandfather was such a horrible person, I'd have tried to find out more and destroy whatever machine he had that linked with the Astralathe and sent you here. Maybe then you could've been able to have some peace," I frowned.
"Whenever you go into the mind of the old bat, when you defeat Maligula and the demon Naraku, you destroy that damn machine, got it?" Alma growled, me nodding at her.
"Of course. It's what caused all of this madness to happen in the first place," I said with seriousness back to her. During this time, we'd split up once again to find the evidence pieces, me and Alma going to the area by the waterfall and getting the first piece, that being a receipt that was filled with frivolous spending with tons of 100-dollar bills that were fake. We then left the place and I then decided to check in with the team that was going for the teacher.
"Hey, Raz? What's the status of going for the teacher?" I asked, him responding after.
"She's safe and we got rid of the Dimentio that guarded her. He was one that represented something involving mind control, so we had to prevent him from doing so and defeating him with some of Pinoko's own mind control, which was too much for him," Raz smirked.
"Tell Pinoko I'll give her a cookie when we're done," I said, him nodding as our group had gotten done with the evidence gathering and we then went to the counterfeiter and gave her the evidence, me seeing the other two pieces were in the form of some legit counterfeit bills and a death threat that was sent to a government official that was hoping to get against the boss.
"Thanks, this should be enough," she said as she then handed them to a snake cop and he then smirked.
"Yep, this is sssome good dirt! Definitely enough to blackmail them," he said.
"B-Blackmail? I thought we were going to arrest them?" the counterfeit Cassie asked.
"Trust me, if we can blackmail them, we can get them to pay usss for protection. And if they don't cough up the real money, then we can rope the lot of 'em," the snake cop said as the counterfeit Cassie then unfolded herself from the book and hopped in my pocket.
"Good enough. Let's get outta this nut house," she said, me nodding at that.
"Let's dance," I smirked as we then left the book and we found ourselves back in the library, where we saw that Raz's team was already there.
"Okay, time to free the other two... I sure hope there aren't anymore problems that will happen," Milla said as the counterfeiter and the teacher then combined their forms into a key and opened the lock, getting the two others out of their prison and them smirking.
"Ah, the sweet taste of freedom," the librarian smiled as we then jumped down next to them.
"All in a day's work for a Psychonaut," I smirked as my other two archetypes smirked after.
"Yes, indeed... can we go home now? Get some pizza?" the gothic me asked.
"I'd much prefer to meditate on the situation, maybe get some prayer in," my Christian side said, making Raz smirk and shake his head. He wasn't a believer, but I was, even after everything we'd been through. But then, before we could have a happy ending, we then were sent to a completely different part of the brain we were in, this one being a black void that I recognized fully. It was the final arena in Dimentio's game!
"Aw, how cute. But you forget that I am a master of illusions. And I, the final archetype, am the one in charge of the Chaos Heart! So, shall we get started?" Dimentio asked as he then appeared in front of us in the form of his final form, but with the head of a heart instead of Luigi's head! "Now I have all I need... to become the KING OF ALL WORLDS!" he shouted as the music then started, me then responding by singing my own version of this song as we then proceeded to attack.
"~Up and down on your Merry-Go-Round!
Destination is underground!
Now you'll find that you're part of the grind!
Let's throw down, because you're hellbound!~" I sung angrily as my four other archetypes entered the fray. As for the fourth of them, it was in the form of what I imagined myself in my own world, that being a psychic that could see the future, but also was a judgement giver to those who deserved it, using her psychic strength to attack him! And I could tell that Dimentio was feeling pain as we did this, me then singing the next part.
"~We perform, we are not the norm!
The mind is stronger than the sword!
Cocaphony of battle horns
Proclaim your life is horrid!
Onward we go, to your final show!
(Our will burns bright, with the fire alight! And our perfect world, will always last! You don't have the last laugh!)
You lit the fire... now watch it burn! You never learn!~" I sung as we managed to make him reverted to just his heart head and I then smirked as I then proceeded to use my light powers with my judge and Christian sides against the heart head, as we could tell it was the Chaos Heart incarnate.
"~Now you're done, your will is gone! Take a bow as the curtains fall down!
Up and down on your Merry-Go-Round your life is done, your time is done!
Bold to assume that you would have the last laugh,~" I sung as the heart and the jester had finally evaporated completely, me smirking and laughing afterwards, which made the others look at me in surprise and for Norma to smile.
"That... was... awesome... an amazing performance!" Norma smirked widely at me.
"Thank you, thank you, I'm here all night," I smirked as the Cassie's then finally took a bow of their own and the world then returned back to the library before the four of them then formed back into the full version of Cassie, which we looked at her with a smile.
"That's the Cassie I know... are you okay now?" Boole asked, which she smiled at him.
"Yes, I'm okay now, Boolie... so, I heard that you needed to get my bees under control?" she asked, us nodding as we then went out of her mind and down to the area in question, the Astralathe, where we then had her and Compton control the bees to leave the place and go to a different hive, which made me smile afterwards.
"Finally! Those dumb insects are finally gone!" GIFfany said with annoyance as she then did something that made me shocked. She, once again, tried to ram into the Astralathe to go inside of it!... But she slammed into it again for one reason. She still had the cuffs on her! "Oww... dammit..." she groaned, as I sighed.
"Still haven't learned your lesson, huh?" I asked as she then looked at me in fear.
"D-Don't come any closer! I-I was just... uh..." she was going to say before I looked in her mind and saw it for myself. She was going to try and plug herself into the Astralathe so that she could bring some more reinforcements to this world! And in the form of multiple monsters at Naraku's demand, all of them being SCPs!
"Nope, no need, I saw it for myself. And I do believe that, just for that, we should place you under arrest," I said, her whimpering at that as I then had her go back to Sasha and Milla, them taking her away as I then looked at them.
"Go get Ford and bring Nona here. It's time to use this machine to go into her mind," Raz said, Alma, Compton, and Gaster all going to go fetch them as I looked at the others and then at GIFfany.
"Okay, why are you trying to keep working for that bad guy, GIF? I thought you said you were on our side," Monika asked as she pouted at that.
"He said he'd get me a boyfriend and that's what I want! It's what I was made for!" she said in annoyance as I frowned. I then simply looked at her mind and then saw that her mind had actually been tampered with so that she was an obsessive yandere when, in the past, she used to be someone who was more akin to a nice girl in a real dating sim. As in, very kind, very nice, and incredibly shy. And who would be the one to edit it but Naraku himself! I sighed at this.
"This might sting a little," I said as I then did something that made her gasp. I proceeded to re-link her mental connections from outside the mind so that she would be who she was prior. It took a bit of work, but after going at it for roughly 3 minutes, more than enough for the others to return, I'd gotten her to be connected as who she was prior... but with the memories of who she was.
"I... w-w-what have I... b-been doing..." she asked before looking at me and immediately putting her head down.
"Yeah, what did you just do?" Morris asked.
"Simple. She used mental connection on her. But didn't Hollis say that was not allowed?" Lizzie asked as I sighed.
"She did, but I could tell that her mind was already messed with prior. This? This is who she's supposed to be. Very, very shy and actually nice and considerate. And you can thank Naraku again for turning her into who we're used to seeing," I frowned.
"I-It's true... h-he controlled me... l-like I was a puppet... I... I'm sorry... it's my fault... I was the one to bring all the others here... through the Astralathe... because of him..." she said, me sighing at that.
"You're forgiven," I said, her sniffling a bit of glitchy boogers after as I looked at Gaster and said something.
"We're going to need to have some protection when we go inside of Nona's mind, G-man. Can you and our friends protect myself, Ford, Raz, and Lili as we go inside of her mind to combat the demons?" I asked, him nodding at me.
"But of course, I can. Just know to expect the unexpected and prepare for what is not there," he said, me nodding. He may have sounded creepy, but his words were definitely very wise and smart. We then had Nona go inside of the Astralathe before Ford then activated it, managing to get her mind to work as we then went into her brain via a Pyscho Portal. It was time for the grand finale of the adventure. And I had to hope that nothing would happen involving Gristol and the Yami Bakura within him.