Once our group entered the mind, we looked around and we saw we were in a room with a projector and it smelled weird.
"So, this is it, is it? The beginning of our training," Frazie smiled.
"It smells like the dentist office. There's not going to be a dentist here, is there? I hate them," Mirtala frowned.
"Now now, Mirtala, hate is a very strong word," I smiled at her.
"Indeed, we need to be prepared," Connie said before the projector played the sight of Oleander speaking to us.
"This here's a staffing quarters, cadets! Now here comes the next question. You ready for war? Or are ya gonna chicken out?" he asked. And of our group of myself, my siblings, Connie, and Elton, only one spoke up.
"Oh, me, sir! I'd love to chicken out right now!" he said, me smiling at him.
"Easy, little man. Let me show you how ready I am," I said as I then proceeded to punch the wall with my psychic slap, which made us emerge into a war zone, which the others looked at in shock.
"Oh dear, this looks dangerous..." Frazie said as Elton ran forward and fast.
"CHAAAARRRGGGEEE! ! !" he shouted before he then stepped on a mental mine and, afterwards, he was flown very high before he then landed on the ground and he groaned. "Ow..." he groaned before a white flag appeared above his head.
"What kind of messed-up obstacle course is this?!" Frazie gawked.
"It's a warzone obstacle course, that's what it is, Frizzie Lizzie! Get going, and fast. If you make it to the end, you get a Basic Braining badge! That is, IF you can make it to the end! Most newbies don't do it first try," Oleander said, me smirking at that.
"Just gotta watch out for danger, and we can get through this EASY," I smiled as we then moved forward, me then halting the group as I saw that there were some lights in the ground.
"Guys, avoid those ground lights. Those are mind mines for sure. Avoid them like the plague," I spoke, us then avoiding the small lights on the way as we then happened to see a figment.
"EEP! Scary monster!" Queepie gawked at before hiding behind me.
"Ahaha, no that's not a monster, little man! That's a figment of my imagination. Figments are completely harmless, but too much inside of someone's mind can lead to mental cobwebs. If you see any figments that look like a singular color like this one, grab it and you can add it to your rank. Each time you get enough of 'em, you'll get a rank up! Getting more ranks will reflect it to the other campers, as well. If the entire camp happens to get to rank 100, then all of you will pass, but the ones with the most ranks to their lonesome will be given the honor of becoming Junior Agents," Oleander said, me smiling at that.
"Then we gotta collect all of these as soon as possible," I smirked as I then proceeded to touch the figment... and when I did, everyone in my group gawked at how, after I did so, a whole slew of figments started to automatically gravitate towards me!
"HEY! Where is it going to?!" I heard Bobby ask from ahead of us as my entire group then proceeded to grab the figments that flew right to me, which Oleander was surprised at.
"How did you do that?" he asked.
"I... don't know. I just touched the figment, and it made all the others come to me," I said, him then speaking after looking at me and Connie closer.
"And how come you and miss Phage look... taller?" he asked.
"Because of me and her being a bit more unique than the others. This is our true age, but when we were 30 years old, we were somehow reborn as infant psychics with our same mindset," I explained.
"Ah, I see. Very odd indeed. I think only one instance has happened before of someone being like that, it being Lili's mother, Fiona Zanotto," Coach said, me nodding as we then went forward some more, us then seeing that there was some emotional baggage ahead of us as well as a tag to go with it. "This is emotional baggage. Everyone has baggage of some kind, mostly from repressed thoughts or bad experiences. Just collect the tag for the corresponding bag and then, once you combine it with the baggage, you can alleviate the trauma from the mind and get some points to your ranks... I wonder if your magnet powers would work for them, too?" he asked, me then simply touching the tag and, afterwards, all the tags came right to me! And when I put the tag on the bag... nothing happened. Only the one bag got its tag.
"Welp, that's the answer. It works with bag tags and it works with figments, but it does not work with the baggage itself. Maybe it's too heavy for my mental magnet?... My Figmagnet," I smirked, which made Connie laugh out loud while fading in and out of invisibility.
"Hehe, good one," Coach snickered as we then moved to the next part in time to see that Bobby was angry at us and looking at us from above the hole in the ground.
"HEY! I think I saw something cool down THERE!" he frowned, me then smiling at that.
"Okay, why don't you go down there and grab it?" I asked, him then frowning, which only turned into fear as I then picked him up by the hair.
"ACK! PUT ME DOWN! MY HAIR IS NOT TO BEEEEEEEE-" he shouted the last word in fear as I let him go down the ditch and he landed on the dirt right next to Lili, who pouted at him. "Touched... aaaggggnnnn..." he groaned before a white flag raised above him.
"Thanks, he's very loud and annoying!" Lili shouted up at us.
"You're welcome, Zanotto, Lili," I smirked, her frowning at me.
"Stop looking at my mind!" she frowned.
"Don't need to, I already did last night at the campfire!" I smirked at her as we then jumped ahead, getting the other baggage as well as a couple mental cobwebs before we reached the long minefield and that Dogen looked at it in fear.
"Oh my... this looks very scary..." Dogen admitted.
"Don't worry, Dogen, we can assist," I smiled as I picked him up from underneath with my psychic telekinesis and carried him and my allies across the minefield to the other end and for Frazie to then start climbing the pole while I went through the minefield like it were cake.
"Huh, impressive job, rookie!" Oleander smirked as we then boarded the plane and, after all of us were inside, the plane got turbulence as Elka, Nils, and Vernon were on the plane as well.
"Plane's goin' down, soldiers! Gotta take those parachutes and jump for it!" Oleander commanded, everyone of our group, which included Elka and friends, grabbing a parachute and going to the door.
"You know, this kind of reminds me of a story about my mom's dog... only it wasn't a dog, it was a cat. And then-" Vernon was about to finish before I opened the door and we all started to jump out and Vernon tried to finish his story. "-the cat started to bark... it was a dog after aaaaaaall!" he shouted as we then flew down and I then counted down for all of us.
"ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR! LET IT LOOSE!" I shouted before I pulled the cord and held onto the straps, everyone of my allies doing the same and all of us having a good landing right by the punching minigame.
"Okay, cadets, time for a test of speed, strength, and reflexes! I overheard you and Bobby make that bet earlier, so why not turn this into a contest?" Oleander smirked as he made the minigame arena bigger! "Your task is to attack the enemy soldiers, but don't attack the innocent children. Any of you who get 30 points in only 45 seconds will rank up by 10 ranks! And for every five down, you'll get 8, then 6, 4, 2, and none for anything less than 10. Got it? THEN LET'S RUMBLE!" Oleander smirked, me then slamming my fist into the button and for our group as of current attacking the different targets, me using my powers to get the soldiers quickest and easiest, while second place was Elka, and third being Frazie. Despite that though, we each managed to get to the 30 mark by the time we had ten seconds left, aside from Vernon, who halfway through started to tell another story.
"I still remember the day that I saw bigfoot. He didn't really have that big of feet, though. He was very hairy, though, and he was wearing underwear that had cornchips in it... wait... that was my dad," he said, us then proceeding to leave him be as we got our different ranks up and our entire group, which now included Nils, Elka, and Dogen out of the place and to the next place, where we saw we had to open a memory vault.
"Ah, that there's a memory vault. They contain personal memories of key points of someone's life. Go on and open it, Luke Psiwalker, since you're impressing me the most," he said, me then opening the vault and seeing the sight of his fake ass experience of being accepted into war, me smiling at that. "Ah, a good memory for sure! Cherish it as I have," he said, me nodding at that. To laugh at, definitely, as he was portrayed as very tall in the memory.
"I will," I smirked as we then got to the next part, where we had to hide behind cover from a giant turret!
"I can't do this! This isn't what I was expecting at all!" Queepie shouted, Nils then speaking to him.
"Oh, don't worry about it, little guy! If you die in someone's mind, all that happens is that you get booted out and back to your own," Nils smirked.
"And you pee your pants, that too," Elka smiled.
"Uh, yeah, thanks for ruining it," Nils frowned as we then moved through the different cover points and then, at the end, we reached the cannon and climbed up it before I then slammed through the top and entered into a large slide. It was quite lonely without the figments that I'd collected with my allies, but hey, at least it helped make it easier!
"Alright, newbies! You're impressing me a lot so far! But now comes the tricky parts of the mind! Time to do the highwire and wall climb portion of the Basic Braining! Get to the top for a gorgeous view!" he smirked, that making Frazie smile widely.
"HAH! It's just like the acrobat routine back at the circus! This is gonna be so easy!" Frazie smiled as she then showed off her skills on the trapeze, followed by the rest of us in the group, though I did need to help the less athletic Nils and Dogen up the climb with my mind.
"Thanks, but why are you helping us, sir?... Not that I'm complaining, just asking," Nils said as I also saw he was eyeing up Connie at the same time.
"Ey! Eyes off my girlfriend, bud," I said, him then being surprised at that.
"Oh, sorry, didn't know she was taken," he admitted.
"Anyways, we're helping each other because us Psychics gotta stick together. Unless they're jerks like Bobby was, then I don't care at all," I said.
"Poor Elton though, he shouldn't have ran full steam ahead," Connie sighed as we then got the rest of the way up the walls, collecting the cobwebs with our dusters as well as finding the second memory vault, which was of Oleander trying to get into all the branches of the military and him being kicked out of all of them for being too short.
"HEY! Who said you could snoop around in that vault?" he asked, me frowning at him.
"Sorry, but if it makes you feel any better, I used to have a member of my family who was a member of the FBI, and he was actually only 4 foot tall," I said, which made him confused.
"You mean from before you were reborn, right?" he asked.
"Yep. And he was accepted because, despite him being short, he was insanely good at not only keeping secrets, but his small size was perfect for stealth. So, if he was accepted and you weren't, I can only assume it was for a reason OTHER than height alone, so don't spread rumors, please?" I asked, him frowning at me.
"Peh, fine, still, don't tell anyone about it, got it?" he frowned.
"We promise," all of us said as Nils then went to Elka and did something that made her gasp. He touched her chest, me then going to him and grabbing his arms and putting them on his backside.
"Thank you, Lucas. Ugh, do you even KNOW the meaning of the phrase 'not the right time,' Nils?" Elka asked.
"It's how it always worked in the movies," he frowned.
"Yeah, movies that are only for adults. Trust me, I should know. You shouldn't get your morals from movies and television shows. Because that's not real life at all," I said to him.
"Oh, what do you know?" he asked me.
"You should really listen to him, Nils. He actually got arrested in his previous life because he touched a girl's chest when he was a teenager," Connie said, me groaning at that.
"You just HAD to go there, Connie?" I frowned.
"Sorry, sorry, just had to tell him the consequences," Connie said.
"Arrested? Why? The movies said girls like being touched," Nils said.
"And as I said, the movies are fake as all get out," I said. "Imagine it like you're playing a game. Would you go out and knife someone because that's how you win a video game? Or would you know that it'd get you in big trouble?" I asked, Nils then gawking.
"O-Oh... I... I get what you mean now... damn... I really need to learn, don't I?" he asked.
"Yes, yes you do," Elka said with a frown. "I'm willing to help you learn, but if we're going to work out, you need to hold off on the touching, grabbing, and kissing until I say so, got it?" she frowned.
"Okay, I can do that... and what of others?" he asked.
"Not likely, either one person or none at all. Girls don't like being shared with affection. Trust me, it'll be even worse than being arrested if you get a bunch of girls mad at you," Frazie smirked at him.
"Okay, let's keep going," Nils said as we then reached the next part.
"Uh-oh, it's the part that I failed at last time. The trapeze wires," Elka said, me then smiling at that.
"Here's how we do it, guys. Watch," I said as I then proceeded to hold onto the swing with my arms and proceed to swing back and forth before jumping to the next, doing the same and jumping to the other side with ease.
"Just imagine it like you're doing the monkey bars at the same time as a swing. And when you want to fly off the swing, just let go, but be prepared to grab the next one," I said, Elka then breathing in and then jumping forward, her then imagining as I instructed, her then gawking at how she was moving forward and back at a good speed, her then letting go and about to grab the next one, but her hands were about to slip off before I assisted with my telekinesis, her then sighing in relief after and jumping to the other side to join me.
"Whew, thanks for that, mister Luke... I can call you that, since you're an adult, right?" she asked.
"Yes, you can," I smirked as the others did just as Elka did... and though Dogen had to resort to asking to hold onto Frazie, all of us got across the trapeze wires and then reached the grind rails.
"Okay, ride these rails down for a prize!" Coach smirked, me then doing so with the others.
"Last one there's a rotten egg!" Dogen giggled as we then flew down the rails, slapping any soldier statues that popped up along the path until we finished at the end with me actually being in third position, having been beaten by Nils and Mirtala with the former being in first!
"HAHA! That was awesome! This is the furthest we've gotten so far!" Nils smirked.
"Yeah? Well, rookies, toughest trial still awaits," coach smirked as we went down the road (we'd already gotten all the baggage and cobwebs handled) and we saw our next part was... "Ah, the giant spinning room of spikes and death. If you can make it through, heh... ha. HAHHHAHA! Oh, who am I kidding?! You're never making it through this one!" Oleander laughed, Queepie then pouting and picking all of us up with his mind and sending us the whole way to the other side (coach wasn't watching) and then, I assisted the little strongman the rest of the way with my own telekinesis, us then arriving at the next part of the Basic Braining... and seeing that no one was there.
"Hello? Anyone here?" Mirtala asked, me then seeing the hallway to the right, me then going inside of it and going down, seeing that, for some bizarre reason, the blueprints weren't covered. And when I saw them... I saw that the blueprints were not only for the think tanks... but it was not even by Coach Oleander! It was by another man called "Masked Caviar" and it was signed by that guy's name and Doctor Loboto's! But once I committed it to memory, I then got angrily yanked from the room and sent the whole way to Oleander.
"HEY! Just what do you think you're doing in there, buddy boy?" he asked, me then frowning as I simply showed both him and the others in my current group about what I'd seen, knowing how big a risk it'd be if I showed it to Oleander as well... and afterwards, he gasped as he then grumbled a bit.
"Is... Is someone trying to control coach's mind?" asked a new arrival, me seeing it was Lili.
"Hmph. I will say this much to you. Not a word of what you saw in there to anyone else... it's hard to explain... I can't deny those orders, because if I did, then I'd be mind-controlled on my own," he said, me nodding at him. "And the Psitanium deposits around here aren't helping either. If I do anything nasty, just prove your worth like you did in here and you can be the best damn Psychonauts this world has ever seen!"
"You got it, coach. We just need to be careful from here on out. We stick together and tell no one else, right guys?" I said, everyone in our group nodding at that.
"It's not like anyone would believe us anyway," Nils sighed.
"Well, using your comradery and teamwork, all of you managed to reach the end of Basic Braining! And you, Luke, impressed me the most! Such compassion and teamwork for your fellow cadets! All of you get Basic Braining badges and I'll be sure to keep close tabs on you, Luke Psiwalker. Man, such an awesome name! Why couldn't I be called that?!" Oleander smirked, me smiling at that.
"Ehehe, it's just a nickname I came up with, nothing too big," I smiled humbly as we all then got our different merit badges for winning and I then left the mind via some smelling salts that were provided to me from Oleander, him then handing me and the others a fresh supply.
"Good job, recruits. Those smelling salts'll get ya out of a mind the moment ya sniff 'em. And they're Psychonaut approved, same with the cobweb dusters, and will follow your astral projections into someone's mind," coach said, me nodding as we then heard the bullies behind us.
"You made us look bad in there, you brats! Bobby's gonna make you pay for that," Benny said before Bobby pushed him out of the way.
"THIS changes NOTHING! You may have won this round, but we're still on TOP! Understand, little big boy?" Bobby asked, me frowning at him.
"Okay, on top of what though?" I asked, him then frowning. "Oh, I know. On top of the dung pile."
"OOOH! You got him good, big bro!" Mirtala giggled. And at that moment, Sasha Nein appeared from behind Bobby as he spoke.
"You'd better watch yer back, circus freaks! I'm gonna beat all of you for showing us up!" he smirked, Lili then smirking for us.
"Really? And who might that be behind your back?" Lili spoke as Bobby then smirked.
"HAH! Like I'm gonna fall for that?! There's nobody behind my back!" he sneered.
"Are you sure, Bobby Zilch?' Sasha asked, which Bobby then stiffened up and simply sidestepped his way to the winding bridge as well as Benny. "Your skills in Basic Braining have impressed me, young Aquatos. I think I'd love to try and run some tests in my secret lab," he said, me smiling at that. "But of course, this isn't part of the curriculum, and I'm not really allowed to invite you, but if you were to simply stumble into my lab accidentally, what could I do? Oh well, just take this," Agent Nein smiled as he then gave me a weird button. "Your powers exceed most of the other students, young Lucas. But isolation can lead to great things, so long as the proper tools are used," he said before then floating down to the ground, me smiling at that.
"Hey! Wait! You didn't tell us where your lab was! Is this a test?" Queepie asked, me then fake-thinking about it.
"You know, he said something about isolation... back before I was reborn, there was a thing called solitary confinement, a form of torture where you're isolated from the world. Is there anything like that in camp?" I asked.
"Oh, I know what that is," Nils smirked. "It's the Geodesic Psychoisolation Chamber. It's basically solitary confinement for psychics. It's been shut down ever since production, as it was deemed as too extreme to use on kids and only willing adults are allowed in them," Nils smirked.
"Well, there we are, that's gotta be where Nein's lab is! So let's get going, but we should definitely keep an eye out fro challenge markers and cards," Frazie smirked as we then moved out of the treehouse and we all agreed silently in thought to each other in our current group that we wouldn't say a word of what we found out to anyone and we'd only speak of it to each other and coach.
"Yes, agreed... but to think that someone was able to do that to him of all people... it's insane to think of," Lili gawked.
"What's insane to think of, Lili?" asked Kitty, who she and Franke were blocking our way to the parking lot and main cabin. "What was someone able to do to coach?"
"I was able to look into his mind and see a very dark secret... one that actually scarred him as a kid," I said, which I then shared the exact memory in question... and the duo then gawked at what I showed them.
"Oh... my god... that's absolutely horrible! Coach's dad killed his pet bunny for no reason!" Kitty gawked.
"Yeah, I saw that memory of him during the campfire last night, and I accidentally shared that memory with every one of our group and with coach when we passed Basic Braining together," I explained.
"Yeah, it was kind of surprising to us, too," Elka admitted... before then then gasped at... something.
"Elka? What's up?" I asked, her sighing.
"It's one of my future visions... haven't had one since I got to camp... it said something bad was going to happen here... it was kind of fuzzy, but it involved a fish, a manatee, and a creepy dentist... and that the lake was involved," she said, which made Queepie and Mirtala scared.
"Don't have us involved in that, then. We can't swim. It's a curse of our family. We were cursed by a rival psychic group to one day die in water," Mirtala said with concern.
"Well, having a boater's license would make you safe, but we should still keep that in mind," Lili said while rolling her eyes as we then passed by Kitty and Franke before Franke spoke.
"H-Hey! We were supposed to take a toll, not get mentally scarred!" Franke shouted at me, me simply giving them something from my mental storage, it being a duo of cake pieces that I'd saved from the cheesecake factory I visited during one of my more recent shows. "Uh... what?"
"Cheesecake?! SWEET! Thanks, Luke!"
"Anytime, kids," I smirked at them as we went down the path.
"Kids? I know you're an adult, but you're a kid too, right?" Lili frowned at me.
"I may be a kid now, but I'm still an adult... but even as an adult, I had quite a carefree and childish heart. And the main reason that me and Milka/Connie couldn't escape being reborn in these new bodies is because... well, I was on house arrest because I attacked a cop... and only because the cop was going to have Connie, who was black, get out of the car and disrobe or she'd get shot," I explained, which Elka gawked at.
"Oh god... that's horrible! You have my respect for doing that, sticking up for your girlfriend like that," Elka smirked at me. And then, after finally getting across the entire bridge, we then were stopped by Cruller in his ranger getup.
"Hold it now, sonnies. You expect to join the scavenger hunt without a list?" he asked, him then giving our group a list each. "Find everything on this list before camp ends and you'll get some upgrades to everyone's rank. Four for 8, four for the whole lot," Cruller smirked as I saw that the items on the list were... confusing. A lot different than in the game. It included a game controller, a joystick, a penny from 1913, an old sword hilt... a deer head?
"Wait a minute... these were all the things in my house!" I said, but Cruller had already vanished.
"Where'd he go? Man, that old man sure gets around fast," Frazie gawked.
"He's gone a bit cuckoo for Coco Puffs since a big event way back in the day. The event was on True Psychic Tales issue 42," Lili said, me then looking at her and her frowning. "What? What's with the look?" she asked.
"Nothing, just thought that me and Connie were the only ones who loved games and comic books," I smirked.
"Hmph, whatever... but yeah, let's go visit the cabin first so we can get some breakfast," Lili suggested, us then going there happily. We did need some food, and it had to be warm food, not the refrigerated stuff in my head.
