Those words continued bouncing around in their heads as their parents tried to reassure them that they would help them through this situation. Their bodies began shaking in terror and uncertainty until their mouths opened.

"Fear, a little help here!"

Before their parents' Emotions could react beyond worrying fear, their body sprinted from the room, up the stairs, and slammed the door shut, locking it and slamming the chair under the doorknob. Stumbling about, their body fell into the bed, the sound of the door trying to be opened driving Riley/Joy/Fear to wrap their body in a blanket.

Inside Headquarters, the Emotions struggled to separate themselves from Riley while their mom convinced her dad not to force his way in. After calming down, they finally got themselves back in their heads, Fear and Anger speaking simultaneously.

"Did that ever-?"

"Sadness-?"

Anger motioned for him to continue, which he did with a gulp.

"Um, Sadness? Was that… Whatever happened… warned about in the Mind Manuals?"

"N… Not directly, but they did warn that in periods of intense stress, Emotions could temporarily get themselves confused with their humans. Um… for things to get that intense, to the extent that Riley, Joy, you, Anger, and Disgust spoke and moved as one… It-it can't bode well for anyone moving forward, Inside or Out."

Joy tuned everyone out, soothing Riley as the terrified human centered herself by focusing on the Emotion's voice, imagining her physically holding her which warmed Joy immensely. It took a strange turn, Joy feeling a pinch inside her chest like something wanted to drag her energy out. The heat began burning, intensifying as she focused on comforting Riley through her straining voice and painful tears, ignoring the worried questions from all sides.

With a sudden scream of frustration and release, she slammed her hands on the Console which erupted in a blinding blast of golden light. That light was immediately launched into the column underneath, spreading through HQ and speeding down its length. Simultaneously, Riley felt the pain, desires, dreams, and feelings of Joy as her eyes glowed golden. Her mouth opened in a silent laugh as her hands heated up in a glow, engulfing everything.

When the light dimmed, Riley and the Emotions had to rub their eyes from its intensity, a few seconds passing before they could see again. And what they saw made Fear pass out, Anger roll his eyes as a result, Disgust nod in approval, Sadness stare in surprise, and Joy leap about screaming, doing cartwheels in ecstasy. Riley touched several hockey Memories safely perched on a stand made from hockey sticks in the headboard, with other Memories from her old and new schools above it. Hanging above her bed was the Core Memory powering Possibly Island, while two Memories of her old and new friends were a tower replacing her lamp.

"G… Guys…? Did… Was that-?"

"YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES, Riley! That was ME! You-me-WE learned how Pro-, that's BEYOND Projecting, you guys! Sadness, tell us what that is!?"

They were interrupted by a new Core Memory forming, a mix of Joy, Fear, Anger, and Disgust, starting in the living room and ending when Riley transformed her room. The Island formed next to Possibility, showing a mini-Joy stretching out her right hand inside Riley's mind and Riley on the bed doing the same thing, the surrounding space occupied by a funnel solidifying into something new every few seconds.

"Creation Island."

The Emotions let themselves enjoy the view for a bit before Sadness grabbed the Mind Manuals. The teardrop Emotion glanced from the books to the screen as she frantically flipped through them, throwing them behind her as nothing answered the question. Getting to the last page of the last book, she shakily dropped it, Fear barely grabbing and replacing it with a subdued sigh.

"Th-th-there's n-nothing… We're in uncharted territory, now."

It hit everyone that if things weren't already off the rails with RiJoFe's outburst, they almost certainly would now as Riley could now physically transform her surroundings.

Glancing at her hands, Sadness inched closer to the Console and lightly touched it.

"Nothing happened. Fear?"

As much as he wanted to faint, turn into a statue, or ignore everything, (maybe even all three at once) he knew that was never happening. With the tiniest of gulps, he took large, careful steps toward the Console and touched it.

Still nothing.

"Riley, Joy, what did the two of you do?"

Pausing at Disgust's question, they went deep into thought, Riley's new Core Memory replaying that moment onscreen. Staring at it, Fear and Joy had two separate Trains of Thought as they reached for the Console, touching it simultaneously.

It exploded in both colors, Riley's mind and mouth flooding with terror as Joy disappeared.

She found herself huddled next to her bed, still wrapped in the blanket. Sobbing harder than ever surrounded by a dome of spikey flames, she only focused on keeping everything and everyone-.

"Riley?"

Her Train of Thought crashed as she heard Joy's voice nearby, over the roar of the flames, her frantic parents' voices, and the banging door standing firm. Sniffing, she forced herself to form a hole in the dome, seeing the Emotion exactly how she was Inside, only Outside and roughly her size.

"Riley."

She was kneeling before her, extending a hand unbothered by the flames, tears about to fall.

"I'm here. Your Joy is here."

Sniffing, she hesitated and slowly reached through the hole, barely grazing Joy's skin. Her encouraging smile remained unchanged. Gulping and seizing the small amount of courage found, she firmly grabbed Joy's hand, who pulled her into her arms. The moment they hugged the dome vanished, and she continued sobbing into Joy's shoulder, holding her as her sole lifeline.

The other Emotions were at the end of their nerves as everything piled up. Fear wasn't one of them. As he already was one, he passed that stage and was now the poster boy of Zen, much to Anger's burning frustration.

"HOW ARE YOU SO FUCKING CALM WITH THIS INSANITY ERUPTING AROUND US!?"

"Because, my dear Anger, I've already burned out my daily quota of, 'Fear Freakouts'."

"BULLSHIT! YOU'VE NEVER HAD A QUOTA BEFORE!"

Bending down ever so slightly, the gleam in his eye made Anger slightly lean back, a flicker of his name in Anger's eyes.

"Stop cursing, Anger. These are unique times. And you're doing nothing to help Riley or Joy."

Releasing a deep breath, Anger turned with Fear toward the screen, hearing Riley softly sobbing and Joy gently singing while stroking her back, slowly rocking back and forth on the bed.

"… It's quiet out there."

Turning as one to the one who spoke, Fear was slightly nervous. All turning simultaneously to the screen, Joy had seemingly also heard Fear. They felt her hold on Riley shift into something firmer and more protective as the girl's grip tightened, leading to another unexpected event. The Console glowed in Joy's colors, an outline of the Emotion emerging. Looking at her body as if seeing for the first time, she shook herself and gazed determinedly at the screen while finishing her gentle release of Riley from her terror and fear.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, she backed away from Joy after a final, tight hug of thankfulness. Turning toward the unmoving door, still locked and blocked, they slowly left the bed and approached it. Joy took the initiative, silently removing the chair, then sitting on it and focusing on her- Riley's, mother's Joy. She saw she'd taken up post outside the door, while her husband had...

Oh.

OH, SHIT.

"We need to get out of here."

Projecting what she knew to HQ, the rest of the Emotions freaked out while Riley subdued their worst with Joy's help.

"Wh-what's going-."

"Your parents are calling 911. Your dad is on the phone, and they're telling them to keep you inside and calm until they arrive. If needed, they'll tranquilize-."

She cut herself off with a subdued, fury-filled growl, her hair beginning to burn blue as she continued whispering.

"We don't need that! We need to prove that we exist, and for them- ALL OF THEM- to stop mistreating you!"

Calming down, she gazed into Riley's eyes and spoke confidently, as if trying to reach her True Self.

"Come on, you've got this!"

Gulping while nervous confidence slowly swelled within her chest, she looked at her hands before clenching them, shakily breathing. In turn, Joy extended her own, skin brightly glowing.

"Our Riley."

Looking into the seemingly endless pool of support and excitement that was Joy's eyes, she grabbed her hands. They were warm. Soft and firm. Caring and loving. Above all, confident.

"Our beautiful, confident, caring, creative, exciting, and… And…

Your MY Riley.

And you've got this."

The first nod was tiny, but the next was firmer and the third was rock-solid, even as Family Island finished collapsing and another sprung in its place through the Core Memory of this moment. The centerpiece was a statue of them, the other Emotions a head shorter and surrounding them in support.

"… I'm not about to complain."

The other Emotions looked at each other and rolled their eyes, as indeed, Anger's statue was yet another head shorter than the rest.