I didn't know how much time had passed, but when I opened my eyes, I saw that I was in Nein's lab at the Motherlobe and I was surrounded by almost all the other interns and agents, the only ones not being among them were the Aquato agents, Connie, and Hollis. And I saw that Norma was there, right by my side, same with Lili.
"Ah, he's waking up," Lili smiled gently, me smirking at them as I felt a bit sore, and tried to move, finding it was tough.
"Rgh... hey, everyone... how's Nona?" I asked, them smiling at me.
"How are you? That is the more important question, deary," I heard Nona say, me looking to her direction and seeing she had her hand held in Ford Cruller's. "You saved my life... you saved the lives of the Phages... and you saved Norma's life. You're my favorite nephew," she said, me smiling at her.
"That means a lot, Nona..." I smiled at her. I also saw that, of the group, Hailey and Helmut were MIA as well. "Where are Helmut, Hailey, and Edgar at?" I asked.
"They went to Grulovia to try and find Helmut's body in the lake. Liz... er, Hailey has a secret technique, teleportation. One of the few Psychonauts who knows to do it perfectly," Ford smiled.
"Huh... so it looks like I might have that Psychodyssey after all," I smiled widely.
"Not now, hon. You've been knocked out for three days since using the Resurrection Rhombus on Norma to save her. Quite the daring feat, if I might add. I never expected you'd have that at all," Lili smirked as she gave me a kiss on my hand.
"Yeah... speaking of, I'm hungry... do we have my chocolate milkshakes?" I asked with a smile.
"Yes, we have one on standby," Oleander smirked as he gave me the shake, me smiling at how it had been in a nearby fridge and I smiled at how it had a mixture of chocolate, whipped cream, and marshmallow whip within. I started to sip at it and smiled happily. "You're a trooper, Luke Psiwalker. It was an honor to do battle with you, and I hope for many more fights in the near future," Oleander smiled as he then gave me something I was surprised by. A Senior Psychonaut badge. "Welcome to the big leagues, son. You've proven your worth and then some."
"Sorry, but there's only one way I'll become a senior member, sir," I smiled.
"And what would that be, Luke, darling?" Milla smiled.
"If all the interns get a Junior ranking at the least. That's all I request."
"It already happened, Luke. Like, two days ago," Adam smiled as he showed that he had a junior pass on him, same with the rest of the group.
"Sweet... hehe... can I go to sleep for a bit more? Or am I gonna need to move around a bit?" I asked.
"We wanted to take you from here to the nearby hospital to see your family and Connie's," Sydney smiled, me smiling at her swirly eyes.
"Okay... I'll try to move on my own as much as I can, but I still feel as sore as a bulging boil," I smirked.
"Gross," Sam chuckled.
"I agree with my wife on that one," Mrs. Zanotto smirked. And it was then that I was helped out of my bed by none other than Truman, me seeing in his head that it was, indeed, the leader himself.
"You saved my wife, myself, and the entire world from the Deluge of Grulovia and the madman of Gristol Malik. I'm proud to have you on board the Psychonauts, Luke Psiwalker," he smiled at me.
"Thanks, boss... it's okay for me to be Lili's boyfriend, right?" I smirked.
"She already spoke to me about it, and I'm more than happy for you to be with her... and for her to also be in a relationship with Sam Boole... the only thing I'm confused about is that my wife used to be Sam's husband... and all the other rebirth things between all of you," Truman smirked.
"It's a long and convoluted story... I'll give you the rundown on the way to the hospital... want to come with, Milla? Maybe daddy Titus, too? I want you both to join me," I smirked, which Titus smiled at.
"I wish I could, but I've been hired as the new mailman, and it's really backed up right now. I'll join up later, once I get my break," he smiled at me.
"Do good, dad," I smirked back at him. We then went to the hospital from the Motherlobe, which we took a car that was by Otto's lab that was shockingly much larger on the interior, to the point it could hold almost all of us agents within it, but I had to be held in the air by Norma and Lili using telekinesis on me, which I smiled at them as they had me hovering in between the two of them.
"You're gonna need to explain how you get to have a bunch of girlfriends when I'm supposed to have only one," Nils said with a sly smile.
"It was because of me, I started it. I said I wanted to be his boyfriend as well to Connie, and she agreed. Then I also fell in love with Sam when I saw her, and Luke accepted Norma in a relationship after she revealed what Gristol did to her and all," Lili explained. "He didn't do a thing to ask us out, it was us girls who wanted to join in. It's a bit weird, but you'd need to talk to Elka about it."
Nils then looked at Elka and simply held her hand, which the Doom girl smiled at him. "If you really want to, Nils, I'll allow you to ask out other girls, but you need to let me know if you want to pursue anyone first, got it?" Elka smiled at him.
"Thanks... I learned a lot on how to treat girls from Luke already... especially how he risked his life to save Norma... I saw the entire scene from his mind when he was sleeping... it was beautiful and selfless. He deserves that senior status," Nils smirked widely.
"I don't feel like a senior... I feel more like middle-age," I smirked, which made a good number of us laugh out loud as some didn't get it.
"I don't get it, to be honest," Adam admitted.
"He's 10 years old, but when he was born, he remembered everything from a previous life when he was 30, same with Connie and everyone else that's been reborn thus far... he claims that his baby years were the most awkward... same with mine," Sam smirked.
"And me, don't forget me," Sidney said. "Or Milla... or Mrs. Zanotto... Mister Titus, Tia... yeah, it's getting confusing to me now."
"It's confusing me just as well," Hollis smirked. "Once we finish with this, I'm going to request that I have at least two days of off time. That is alright with you, right Grand Head Zanotto?"
"Of course it is allowed. I still need to get my bearings, but once we finish the trip to the hospital, we can consult about everything else that needs done," Truman said with a smile. We then finally arrived at the hospital and, after we all got in, we then were led to the room that had the Aquatos and Phages at, me seeing that Mrs. Phage was currently in surgery to get her burns treated and that Sodus and Butter were currently getting a hair transplant, as their hair had been hurt in the process. And guess who offered to give up her hair in order to give it to them?
"You're a very brave girl, Connie, giving up your hair to make them get theirs back," I smiled at my original girlfriend, her smiling, even though she had her head invisible for the very reason of her head now being bald.
"I just need to invest in a wig and I'll be fine," she smiled back.
"I offered first, but Connie stepped up instead... I'm so proud of her," Vincent Phage smiled, which I nodded at as I saw he was still upset, same with Augustus and Donna, for their own reasons.
"Can we talk to each other in private, Lucas?... I need to get some things off my chest," Augustus asked, me nodding as we then went out of the room and I led him to the bathroom, where we spoke to each other in the most private room in existence.
"What're you thinking about, dad?" I asked, him sighing at that.
"I'm remembering almost everything about my mother, Marona... and my dad, too... I don't even know which memories are my own anymore, and which ones are real or fake," he admitted, me sighing and nodding.
"I know what you mean, dad, I've been through it before," I admitted as I then gave him a hug. "I had an identity crisis of my own when I was in a previous life... I was 10 at the time, and I learned that I wasn't even a Zelinsky at that time... I was adopted, same with every kid in my family, and my original parents were criminals who gave birth to me in prison," I said, him looking at me in surprise. "I even tried to meet with them... and when I did, I almost got killed, as a group of criminals saw me as a plaything, and I almost died. If not for the police, I'd have been raped at 10... I had quite the crisis then, and I still have nightmares about it," I admitted, which dad sighed at.
"I see... so what are you saying?" dad asked as I smiled.
"Everyone has their own baggage, and everyone has problems that are unique to them. It just takes a strong will and a strong mind in order to sort them out and grow into a better person. Sure, Ford may have done all that stuff to us, but he was only doing it to keep all of us safe... to keep the world safe. What he did was wrong, but two wrongs don't make a right. We all agree on that, right?" I said, dad sighing and nodding.
"I know that, son... what should I do, then?" he asked.
"In my opinion, it takes a good man to forgive something minor. It takes an even greater man to forgive the unforgivable. Sure, Gristol may have been a jerk and he almost tried to rule the world, but even though I still hate his actions, I don't hate the man himself. He's delusional and that's why he had those ideas in his head. He did a lot of shitty things, but only because he thought they were the right things... and even though he's going to go to trial, I'm going to try and have it so he doesn't get killed. He needs to learn, not die," I said, which dad smiled at.
"You are quite wise to forgive that man for doing all those horrid things, Luke... okay, I'll try to talk to Ford about this... may I request you stick close to me when that happens? I need to know what to say if I can't think of anything positive," he asked, me nodding at that.
"I can do that and more, dad... and maybe we can have a party when we're all done with this hospital stuff. I can try to get us some more supplies to get the circus back to the way it should be, since Hailey knows how to teleport things," I smiled widely.
"And Hailey is the ice girl, right? The sister of Norma?" he asked.
"And she's my sister from when I was in my previous life. She's trying to find Helmut's body in the sheet of ice in Grulovia, as well as see if there were any more people that could be salvaged from the area... speaking of, when we get out of this bathroom, I need to contact them and see how it's going," I smirked. After we then returned to the group, dad went over to his family and gave Nona a hug as I saw that Maloof was giving a knuckle bump to Bobby, which I smiled at.
"Truce, Bobby?" he asked.
"Truce," he smirked back. And then Sam spoke with a smile.
"I'd like to ask if we can have a family photo when we all get back together, please Luke? Not just the Aquato's and Zelinsky's, but the Phage's and the Porter's as well," she asked, which I smiled and nodded at her.
"But of course, we can. And it'll have the backdrop of the waterfall in the Questionable Area," I smiled.
"Good idea, that is quite the landmark," Mrs. Zanotto smiled at that, as Lili then went to me and gave me a kiss, followed by also giving a kiss to Sam, which I smiled at her doing so with a blush.
"We've got quite the party to plan for when Helmut's body is saved," Lili smiled at me with a wink, me blushing at that. After all, she was 13, and I was technically 40 and 10 at the same time.
"Kisses, hugs, and possible sleeping together with clothes on, but nothing more, okay, Lili? I'm not of age yet in terms of body," I smiled at her.
"Yeah... shush about it, for now, though?" she asked, me seeing the others were smirking and/or giggling at us speaking about this. We then waited at the hospital for about 2 hours until we got the notice that Hailey and her team had finally managed to find Helmut's old body trapped in ice and that it was still the same age as it was when he was frozen! And after heating the body to the point it was unfrozen, we then placed Helmut's mind in it and we had to be prepared for anything that might go wrong... luckily there was only one bad thing that happened.
"BUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRPPPPPP!" he burped super loudly after getting his brain back in. "Hoogh, I didn't know my body's been holding in a burp for that long! Haha! I feel young again!" Helmut smirked, him then looking at Bob, who was quite amused, but also worried, which upon reading his mind, I could tell why that was. He was jealous how young Helmut was. "Don't worry, Bob. There is a way for you to be my age again, but it might come with complications," Helmut warned, which I then heard Elka gawk at, as we had started preparations for the party.
"You mean the Time Bubble? From what I learned from my mom, it can be used for fast-forwarding, stopping, slowing down, or rewinding time for something or someone else, but if it's for the first and last options, it could lead to possible side effects if it's done the wrong way," Elka frowned.
"Then it's a relief that nothing bad happened to you when Tia used it on you in the Milkman's mind," I said, her nodding at that before Tia spoke.
"Listen, I know how to do it the best," she said after carrying a large box from the food storage, it being filled with honey jars. "I learned how to do it as good as I possibly can from my mother in this world, who happens to be a part of the Psychonauts in Britain's branch. And even with my expertise, if I rewind time for Bob too far too quick, he might end up getting lost memories or possibly getting bad side effects like a broken brain, similar to what Ford had."
"I'm willing to try it out. I'm prepared for the consequences," Bob said, Tia nodding as she then used the Time Bubble on Bob Zanotto, rewinding time for him until he was about 40 years old again, being the same age as Helmut Fullbear. And afterwards, he looked around and then at Helmut.
"It... It worked flawlessly! I feel young again, Helmut! I'm-" Bob was about to finish before he then had a bad sound come from his stomach. "U-Uh oh... I feel something coming upstream... BLARGH!" Bob barfed up a ton of beer and bile, me gawking at how it was then sent from a flume from where it came from all the way to the bathroom, all by our newly discovered hydrokinetic Psychonaut warriors in the Aquato members! But even then, it was enough to fill up the toilet all the way to the brim!
"What was that and why did it look so gross?" Lili asked with her holding her mouth shut with her hand, looking queazy herself.
"I think that it may have been all the booze that was in his system from then until now... all of it being expelled after I rewound his time... I forgot that it was a different effect if the person happens to have alcoholism," Tia admitted.
"Well... that's gonna haunt my nightmares for awhile... I'm never touching a drop of beer again!" Bob gagged after.
"It doesn't need to be given up entirely. Just drink once in a while and that's alright with me. Just don't lose control like before, Bob," I smiled at him.
"Yeah, I guess ya got a point there, Luke. I have a lot to live up to you, still," he smirked. We then proceeded to get the rest of the party set up, me making sure that Agent 33 was able to attend, as well as Loboto, Crispin, and, even though he was our captive, I even invited Gristol to attend, but only if he was handcuffed to my Augustus and Donna, him not liking that fact, especially since he was going to be sent to jail for life... my insistence, I told him, that he didn't end up getting the chair and die for his crimes. And he did smile at that, but he didn't say a word.
But you can bet that he spoke to me when I offered him a slice of chocolate cake early before the party started. "Why are you being... so nice to me?" he asked in confusion as I gave him the cake to eat.
"You need to learn how to interact with people the right way. Step one, kindness. I could've very easily sent you to get executed for what you did, but I let you get jailtime instead. And I could've made it so that you weren't going to be able to join the party, but I want you to experience it as well, just so long as you're kept on a leash. And I could've let you starve like Norma and Hollis wanted you to, but I decided to give you some food. And I'm going to bring you food every day against their wishes because I want to show you the best in commonfolk," I said, him frowning at me but still eating the cake regardless. "Also, before I leave, just wanted to let you know one thing. I think that caviar tastes disgusting," I said, him giving me a glare at that as I then left and he then grumbled at my last statement... but I could tell from sensing from afar that when he ate a piece of the cake, he'd found a new favorite food.
Once the party started in full swing, I then shared the gist of what I wanted to sing for the Psychodyssey performance with Helmut and the Whispering Rockers, and all three were all in on the performance, with me playing my electric guitar, Quentin on the drums, Phoebe on the keyboard, and Helmut singing the words. We then were introduced on stage at the top of the Atrium by Ford.
"Attention everyone at the Motherlobe! It's time for a Psychodyssey performance from Luke Psiwalker, Helmut Fullbear and the Whispering Rockers, Phoebe and Quentin!" Ford smirked, the entire Motherlobe of agents cheering as the smoke appeared and I proceeded to step out on stage with the other three. And when we did, we proceeded to play the song Sweet Victory. The full version by Glen Eisley and made immortal by Spongebob. Phoebe played the first notes on the keyboard as Helmut then sung the words.
"~The winner takes aaaaall...
It's the thrill with one more kill...
The last one to faaaall...
Will never sacrifice their will!" he sung, before I then played the guitar alongside Quinton's drums for the next part, which the entirety of the agents and Junior agents looked on in shock, especially with the tons of colors that came from our bodies in the process.
"Don't ever look back! On the world closing in!
Be on the attack! With your wings on the wiiiind!
Oh, the games will BEGIIIN!
Cause it's SWEET! SWEET! SWEET VICTORY, YEAH!
And it's ours for the taking! It's ours for the fight!
And it's SWEET! SWEET! SWEET VICTORY! YEAH!
And the one who's last to fall!
The winner takes aaaaaall!~" Helmut sung as our group kept playing, me seeing Gristol's eyes light up from our performance, the pupils welling up with tears from our performance.
"That's my Lukie! WHOOHOO!" Nona cheered happily as Helmut sung the next part.
"~You dont' win no silver...
Oh, you only lose the gold!
You push with a fever!
For your time keeps tolling on!
Against all the odds! Against all your pain!
Your back's to the wall, with no one to blame!
Wild hearts won't be taaamed!
And it's SWEET! SWEET! SWEET VICTORY, OOH!
It's ours for the taking! It's ours for the FIGHT!
And it's SWEET! SWEEEET! VICTORRYYYYYY!
And the one who's last to faalll!
The winner takes AAAAAAA-AAAAAA-AAAALLLLL!
TAKE IT!~" Helmut sung with so much passion as I then got to my favorite part, the epic guitar solo, me playing it perfectly as I thought of the exact way to play it, the Psychodyssey shining like a rainbow all throughout the Motherlobe as the crowds went wild!
"I LOVE YOU, LUKE!" I heard Lili shout from the crowd.
"I DO TOO!" Connie shouted as well.
"~AND THE ONE WHO'S LAST TO FAAAAALLL! ! !
SWEET! SWEET VICTORY! ! !
AND IT'S OURS FOR THE TAKING!
IT'S OURS FOR THE FIGHT!
AND IT'S SWEET! SWEET! SWEET VICTORY, YEAH!
AND THE ONE WHO'S LAST TO FAAAAAAALLL!
... the winner takes aaaaaaaaalllll...~" the song finally ended, with the crowd cheering crazier than any point in the song, me smiling widely at that. It was the perfect performance. One to usurp all.
"That. Was. Amazing!" Phoebe smiled as she then hugged Quentin tight, and they shared a kiss as well.
"But don't worry, kids. This is only the beginning," Helmut smiled, me nodding at that.
"Yeah, I know. And I'm ready for it," I smirked back at him. I'd have the rest of my life to live in this world, after all, so I had no rush.
Oh, and if you're wondering how I wrote this whole fanfic down when I was stuck in another world, brain stuff can do a lot, especially when combined with Otto's machines. Yep, that's something, isn't it? XD