Upon arrival to Gloria's mind with Phoebe, Crystal, and Clem, we saw that it was a very dark set and that there were a few stagelights. And the crowd started to murmur, it being a whole slew of figments, some being the ones I needed to collect and others being multiple colors. And then the stage director came out.
"Excuse me, what do you think you're doing on set? Can't you see we're trying to run a show, here?" asked my second favorite character in this mind, Becky.
"Uh... there's a show going on?" Phoebe asked, which caused a laughtrack to play.
"Augh! This is ridiculous! Even a child can see that this play isn't happening!" Becky groaned. "Listen, we need some help to get Bonita Solei out of her slump," Becky frowned.
"Okay, there's gotta be something else tied to it, right?" Phoebe asked.
"Yes, actually. She's gotten some stage fright as of late because of some creepy phantom that roams the catwalks, which we need to stop. He only appears when Bonita takes the stage, so you'll need to find a way to stop the phantom before Bonita can appear on stage. Here, take this candle. There's only one way to the catwalks and it's from a prop and a part of the play we need to play, those being The Happy Star and the Horror of Hagatha Home," Becky said. And then the best/worst character in the mind spoke up.
"Which is like choosing between a wooden stake in your eyes, or having a cactus riding on your tongue!" shouted the angry id that was Jasper Rolls. And he then looked at Crystal with a growl. "And you, little duck, look not even close to being ready for anything involving the spotlight! Might as well get your janitor outfit ready now!" he shouted, Crystal then gasping as she then started to cry, me then growling and simply floating all the way to Jasper and growling at him.
"Apologize right now, or I'm beating those words right back down your nonexistent neck!" I growled at him angrily, making my voice go down to the point of sounding like demonic growls for even scarier effect. And Jasper did not budge, but I could sense fear in his mind.
"The young man's words, though fortuitous and frightening quickly diverted into meaningless and disgusting platitudes! One and a half st-" he was about to growl before I then stuffed my hand right into his mouth and down and out through his neck, which only appeared when I did so, him gagging after and for the others down below to gasp at me doing this.
"You'd be wise to tap out and apologize to Crystal and NEVER insult her again, or I'll have Phoebe burn you with a powerful fire. You're choice, Rolls!" I growled at him, the critic then doing the timeout gesture before then tapping out, me sending my arm back out and for the others to look at me in surprise.
"Hagh... cack... rgh... my... apologies... Crystal..." he grumbled, Crystal's tears all but drying up by me doing so.
"If you don't have anything nice to say, look in a goddamn mirror before hurling insults, cuz I could call you a ton of names based on your appearance as well, fatty," I frowned at him.
"Peh, you don't know a thing about talent, obviously. Here, use this if you want to go to the catwalks. It's a play that can assist the main ones. I'm saving the rest... for broadway. Now leave my booth and NEVER touch me again!" he growled at me, which I frowned at how he was spitting on me, which I then spat back at him with a loogie-filled raspberry. I then hopped down to the stage as Phoebe managed to get the candle taken up to the upper balconies and light up the spotlight, which made the play immediately start up, which proceeded to have the actors play their roles. And in the sake of good taste, I'll not go into any of it, as each of the plays were, admittedly, horrible. Only Bonita would be good in the play, so the phantom did have to go.
"That was actually pretty badass, what you did for me, Luke... thanks, a lot..." Crystal smiled at me.
"I don't appreciate bullies, especially the ones that go for as low a hanging fruit as berating physical appearance. No one deserves what you went through, Crystal. I'd probably be in that same position you were in if I had to go through that," I admitted to her.
"Uh, so... what did she go through? Because we knew we had bad things happen to each other, but we never knew what exactly," Clem asked.
"Plastic surgery... someone who I THOUGHT was my friend gave me the worst plastic surgery she could think of, saying it'd be for beauty, but she did it just to make me suffer, as she was jealous of my popularity... and it worked, as everyone hated me when they saw me... only you and Luke have treated me by myself and not my face when you see me..." Crystal sniffled.
"Damn... I never knew that... that's way worse than what I go through on a daily basis... I just get bullied and ignored by my family to the point I've been burnt a few times... I can always escape if I wanted, like school and this camp, but you have to deal with it every day for the rest of your life... I'm sorry that I've been a terrible friend, Crystal," Clem sighed.
"Hey, don't look so down, kids," Becky said from nearby, me looking at her in confusion. "Here, you can be my AV people. If you find a new script that we can work with, give me the go-ahead and we'll try it out on different plays. And you can also take these, too," she said as she showed off that she had the emotional baggage tags, the bags themselves, AND the first of the memory vaults in the form of Gloria's Troubled Past. And when we saw the vault, Clem gawked at what Gloria had to go through when she was at Hagatha home. Especially the whipping part. And only Gloria was able to improve to the point that she didn't get whipped nearly as much as the other students. And I could see that she hated her parents for sending her there, but not the people, just the action. She hated the manager/boyfriend for sure, though, as he was the one that convinced her mom to do so in order to get rid of her for a marriage... and it only lasted 2 weeks.
"Okay, let's explore to see which of these areas will resonate with these acts. First is the Knight of Joy," I said, us then going around the place while Pheobe stayed at the mood switch and, after a lot of attrition, we managed to find the figments of the place as well as the different parts of the script. And after finding them, we then found the final one being "Goodbye Hagatha Home, which Becky gawked at.
"That's the one for the balloon, I'm sure of it!" she smirked, us then going to the dark version of Hagatha Home's entrance and, when we did, we then got to the balloon and, when we did, we then got to the catwalks, and we heard the voice of the phantom as he was in hiding somewhere.
"Where is that spook? It's time for a Scooby Doo reveal," I smiled.
"What's Scooby Doo? I've never heard of that," Clem asked.
"Oh... uh... something from before I was reborn. A cartoon about a talking dog that solves mysteries, said dog being a coward and almost all the villains being people in monster suits," I said.
"Ah, I got it. Sounds like something Vernon might like," Crystal smirked, us going through the place and, along the way, needing to go invisible to avoid the spotlights in order to get ever so closer to the phantom. And then, we managed to corner him at the end, him growling at us.
"Hsss! Stay away from me, or face the wrath of an angry phantom," he growled, me then going invisible, taking the candle on the counter, and then going to the spotlight, putting it in the oven, and lighting it up. And after, the phantom hissed as I saw bits of him burn in response, him then retreating down the furthest elevator, us following after and watching from afar as the phantom then jumped the whole way to the balcony seat before then taking off his mask as well as a corset that was tightened ala Peter Griffin in the Amish Guy episode so he'd look super thin.
"How dare he! Let's give him a piece of our mind!" Phoebe growled as we then jumped down to the stage and started speaking.
"End of the line, Jasper Rolls! Or should I say, the Phantom!" I shouted.
"What?! How dare you accuse me of being the dashing and dangerous phantom of the catwalks!" he said with passion as I then spoke some words to hurt him.
"Yeah, you're right. The phantom is so handsome, nimble, and thin! He could NEVER be you," I said, that making Crystal gawk.
"OOOH SNAP!" she gawked.
"WHY YOU LITTLE! OF COURSE, IT'S ME!" he shouted at me in anger.
"Then I'd say it's time to beat the words right out of that foul mouth of yours, Jelly Rolls, cause we're not happy with you hurting Gloria!" I growled.
"You may have won that round, but the phantom is nothing compared to the awesome, searing might of an angry critic!" he growled, me frowning at him.
"Okay, then let's do it my way. Insult contest, you and me," I frowned, him smirking at that.
"You are such an idiotic, boneheaded waterhead if you think you could win an insult battle against a critic!" he growled at me, me frowning at me.
"Says you, I skipped grades in English and literature in a previous life, you deplorable, gormless, tedious, chunky, pompous, draining, bothersome, and!" I growled before grabbing him with telekinesis from his seat (he was QUITE heavy) and connecting my fist to his crotch and then yanking at his tender area so hard that he actually sung tenor at an E-Flat above High-C! "STERILE HOBO!" I growled before then slamming his entire body into the ground at least ten times before then slamming his fatass into the same balcony I grabbed him from, the critic groaning in pain before then shrinking to the point he was only 10 inches tall.
"Wow... that was incredible! Everyone, give him a round of applause!" Becky shouted, the crowd then cheering out loud as Bonita then finally came out of her dressing room and looked at Becky with a smile.
"I'm ready now... let's do it," she said (with a male voice) and, afterwards, the play proceeded as it SHOULD, with Bonita revealing her inner beauty and the light that shines in the heart of Bonita. And we could barely hear a peep from Jasper as, when the light appeared, he just kept shrinking and shrinking until he was less than a millimeter tall.
"Thank you, newbies. You saved the show," Becky smiled at us.
"All in a day's worth for a Psychonaut," Clem smirked widely and genuinely as we then left the place and went back to our own minds via the smelling salts, where we then smiled at how Bonita looked at us with a smile.
"I feel... like a brand new woman! I think it's time that I retire while I'm still young... here, you can have this, my little saviors," Bonita smiled when she saw our group and gave us the trophy, me seeing it was a trophy for best theatrical actor of the year 1978, which the others smiled at as I kept it in mental storage.
"Okay, now we should be clear to go inside the asylum itself. I just hope that we don't find any more dangerous people in the process," Phoebe said, me smiling at her as we went into the building itself and, when we did, we saw the sight of Fred and him obviously fighting a battle in the mind with another.
"Haha! Attack! - No, retreat! We can't do it! - Ve vill vin zis var, yet! - We can't win anything, just let me back in control!" Fred groaned at his mental ancestor before Crispin spoke.
"Hush, Fred, you're making a ruckus again. I am the orderly, and I run a calm, peaceful asylum," he grumbled softly before we heard a shout from above, followed by a panting flying out of an upper window. "Oh, look, you broke Mister Teglee's art therapy session again," Crispin said.
"Aha! Monsieur, laissez-moi vous aider à gagner!" the Napoleon persona shouted in French, me frowning at that as we then moved through and I looked at the others in seriousness.
"Okay, this is creeping me out... wait... more brains!" Quentin gawked as we then grabbed the brains in question and, after we found the brains of Bobby, Benny, Maloof, and Mikhail, we then had to decide something. We had to decide who we'd switch with in terms of the others.
"I think we'll exchange myself and Quentin back to camp and you can then bring back three or more of the others," Phoebe smiled, her then kissing Quentin in the process.
"I'll go ahead and bring in Kitty, Franke, Lili, and Connie, then. And when the other kids are rebrained... choose three who will join us in the head worlds," I smiled, them frowning at that.
"So we need to choose either Bobby or Benny, too? Why?" Quentin asked.
"To see if I can teach 'em some lessons, just like I taught the rest of you... and to learn more about them," I smirked.
"Good point. Maybe Bobby could be nice in the future, he just needs the right push," Tia smiled. "And before you ask, he's been coming here every year for the past three years, and he's been a bully even back then," she frowned.
"How did you know, though?" Crystal asked as the band duo went back to camp.
"I've been sneaking into this place ever since I was 6, stealing food and sleeping in secrecy in the outhouses," she smiled.
"Gross," Crystal groaned.
"Agreed, that is gross. Why not under the stars or even on top of a roof or something?" I asked.
"The former is because of the dangerous psychic animals outside at night and the latter is because the roof is bumpy and has nails jutting out in places. The outhouse is the best choice for me so I can avoid detection," Tia smiled as we then went to Fred and, knowing we needed the strait jacket, we waited until Franke, Sydney/Kitty, Lili, and Connie appeared, where I decided to bring all four of them into the mindscape with me.
"Sacre bleu! I've been hit!" Fred shouted in shock as Napoleon, us then going into the mind of my second favorite mind in the game, where we would meet the tall-legged man in the straitjacket pajamas. And this time, I'd be going in with my girlfriend, her sister, the sister's girlfriend, and my second girlfriend... man, I just had to wonder if this was all a dream at times.