In the depths of a dark red chamber, Fear remained curled up in a ball, unable to open his eyes as the deafening sound of snoring cut through the air. At first, he had been overtaken by sheer terror upon viewing everything that was locked up in this place. Then, a sense of emptiness began to overtake him, slowly but surely numbing his sense.
If he was to be imprisoned here, then perhaps he deserved it for creating all of those monsters who haunted Riley's dreams. After all, he was the one who hurt Riley by proxy, without even knowing it until now.
—
The glowing emotion and the imaginary friend wasted no time walking down the stairs to the big door.
"What's behind that door?" Joy asked with a low voice, trying not to shiver.
"I dunno what it is, but I heard that the troublemakers get locked up here," Bing Bong whispered. "It gives me the creeps."
They tiptoed in front of the door, the guards distracted by the topic of whose hat belonged to which guard. The pink elephant grabbed onto the handle and gave it a tug, but it didn't quite budge. He tried exerting more strength, and the door made a loud creaking noise.
"Hey! What are you doing out here?!" the guards spun around, directing their flashlights towards the two creatures, who froze in place.
"Uh…" Joy held her hands up, scrambling to think of what to say. "We were most definitely not trying to break out of that place!"
The guards apprehended Joy and Bing Bong, opened the door, and shoved them in.
"Tch. A likely story," one of the guards scowled.
"You better not try to escape from the Subconscious again, or else!" the other guard threatened before shutting the door with a loud bang.
"So that's what this place is called," the imaginary friend realized.
"That's certainly one way to get in here," the bright emotion whispered to her companion. Her glow illuminated the darkness around her as they uneasily descended down the stairs.
"Are these Riley's worst fears?" the pink elephant was quivering in his shoes as he eyed a forest of broccoli to their right.
"I think they are," Joy replied with a shaky voice, spotting another flight of stairs that led further downwards.
What followed was a swarm of menacing insects buzzing overhead, resulting in both of them instinctively ducking.
"What was that?!" Bing Bong shouted.
"I don't know, and I really don't want to know," Joy grimaced.
A whirring noise broke through the buzzing as a giant machine drove towards them.
"That's Grandma's vacuum cleaner! Hide!" the yellow emotion urged, dragging the imaginary friend with her behind a rock.
When the vacuum cleaner faded away in the distance, the two companions resumed their search for Fear. They could feel the air grow colder with every step they took along the way. Up ahead, Bing Bong spotted the source of the chilling breeze.
"An iceberg?" he questioned.
"Look down there," she pointed towards the bottom of the frigid structure. "It's coming from that slushie."
"And it just keeps growing and growing," Bing Bong shivered, watching the iceberg gradually grow in size.
They located a gap in the iceberg and squeezed through it. From there, they heard the unsettling sounds of a snoring beast mumbling about a "birthday girl". The imaginary friend gasped and jumped before trying to hide himself behind the shining creature.
"I don't believe it. It's Jangles," Joy stood wide-eyed, hugging her bag of core memories and feeling her confidence slip away by the moment.
"Joy? Bing Bong? Is that you?" a terrified voice weakly called out, barely audible over the gargantuan clown's snoring.
"Fear!" Joy whisper-shouted, her determination renewed. "We're here to save you!"
"You came all this way for me?" the purple emotion peeked his head over the clown's legs, his nerves completely on edge.
"Of course! How could we ever leave you behind? You're our friend!" Bing Bong found his voice and smiled.
"Oh thank you! I thought this place would be my graveyard," the unnerved emotion dropped to his knees, having lost the feeling in his legs.
Joy and Bing Bong helped Fear up over the clown, and once the latter was ready to stand, the three of them started to make haste towards the exit.
"Wait, if you two managed to get in here," Fear stopped running to speak up. "How exactly are we going to get out?"
The other two halted, realizing they hadn't thought about that.
"Right…those guards won't be letting us out of here anytime soon," the imaginary friend drooped his trunk.
The optimist glanced back towards the clown, seeing the only way out of the prison they were stuck in. Fear caught on to her idea and frantically covered his eyes with his hands.
"Ohnonononono, that is just asking for us to get smashed into smithereens!" the purple emotion wailed.
"Are you absolutely sure there's no other way past that door?" Bing Bong urged.
"I can't think of anything else," Joy admitted, approaching the huge clown. "Stay back, you two. I'll go and wake him up myself."
squeak*
The yellow emotion honking Jangles's nose got him to awake from his slumber, rising to his feet and towering over the three creatures, all of them backing up in terror.
"H-hey Fear, Bing Bong!" Joy stuttered, raising her voice for the clown to hear her. "D-did you h-hear about the p-party that's going on o-out there?"
"P-party? W-what party?" Fear stammered, confused at her words.
"You know! It's s-supposed to be a b-birthday party!" the bright emotion emphasized.
"Did you say 'birthday'?" the enormous clown questioned, a smile stretching across his face.
Jangles took a step forward, rattling the cave they were in, and the three companions broke into a sprint, running away from the abomination following them.
"And there's going to be cake, and presents," Joy continued.
"And games, and b-balloons," Bing Bong added with haste.
"A BIRTHDAY?!" the colossal clown whipped out a large mallet, cackling maniacally.
"MERCY!" Fear yelled at the top of his lungs. "HAVE MERCY ON US!"
"Just follow us out of here!" Joy shouted out as everyone made haste towards the door.
—
The guards outside the door to the Subconscious were still trying to figure out who the hat belonged to.
SMASH!*
They screamed at the sound of the door being blown apart by Jangles's mallet and fainted on the spot. Soon, the trio sprinted up the stairs, with the impulsive clown climbing his way out.
"AHAHAHAHAHA! WHO'S THE BIRTHDAY GIRL?!" Jangles screeched.
He proceeded to lumber towards Dream Productions, sending a surge of panic through Fear.
"NO! STOP!" the purple emotion shouted at the top of his lungs, pointing back towards Imagination Land. "THE PARTY IS THIS WAY!"
He sprinted towards the area in question, and Jangles changed course, following the unnerved creature with his mallet raised in the air. Forced to think on the spot, Fear sprinted in between the clown's legs just as the mallet slammed down on the ground with such force that it made him jump. Once he had dashed far, far away, he watched the clown go to town on Imagination Land, but didn't have the time to catch his breath, as the sky above and around them spontaneously brightened up.
"Riley's awake…" Joy quickly realized what was about to happen because of that. "THE TRAIN! We gotta get back on it!"
Everyone managed to climb aboard just as the Train of Thought started its engines, proceeding to move along the tracks.
"Ha ha!" Joy let out a proud laugh. "We made it! We made it!"
Fear collapsed onto one of the seats in the train, completely spent.
"That was," he gasped out, having to pause to take a breath. "Way too close."
"Who's on our way back to Riley?" Bing Bong hopped around ecstatically.
"We are!" the joyous emotion joined the imaginary friend in a victorious dance together.
The exhausted emotion wondered how the others still had the energy to celebrate, but he didn't want to ruin the mood after everything they had been through, so he silently watched them with a tired smile, grateful to finally have the time to cool down.
—
Sadness and Disgust awakened from their slumber, stepping down the stairs and heading into the main room. There, Anger was pacing around with an impatient glint in his eyes.
"Finally! That unicorn dream was making my teeth rot!" the red emotion grunted. "Now I can tell you guys about the next best idea I managed to find."
"Wait, before that," Sadness interjected. "We should check up on Honesty Island first, just in case."
They gathered around the window and saw that the island still remained yellow and purple, with uneven structuring on the latter side.
"Things aren't getting better at this rate," Disgust sighed. "How are we gonna fix that?"
"Well, we can't touch the core memory," Sadness urged. "None of us are Joy, so we wouldn't be able to restore its color. And if it falls out, we could lose Honesty, just like with the other islands."
"But if we just give up, then that island's gonna stay that way. And this is where my idea comes into play!" Anger grinned, before adding, "That sounds like something Joy would say."
He dragged his hand across his forehead with a groan. "Okay, I need to stop doing that."
"Anyways, what's your idea this time?" the green emotion questioned, letting out a yawn.
"It's just a simple idea," he stated before turning to face the blue emotion. "Actually, it's not so much my idea as it is yours, Sadness."
Sadness's eyes widened upon viewing the blue Idea Bulb Anger held up, recognizing what it entailed. "That idea…I made it when Mom and Dad refused to let us visit the amusement park in Minnesota. Meg wanted to go, too, but her parents also said no."
"They never told us why they wouldn't let us go," Disgust sighed. "It wasn't like we were grounded or anything like that."
"It was supposed to be the time of our lives! What are they, the anti-fun police?" Anger growled.
The well-dressed one rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't know."
"Anyways, this idea doesn't involve running away, and I do mean it this time," the hotheaded creature explained. "We simply take the day off to go visit Dizzy Land. That amusement park shouldn't be too far from here."
"Doesn't that mean skipping school?" the bespectacled one pointed out.
"School's not going to make us happy anytime soon," Anger reiterated. "Besides, it's just one day of us having a good time."
Disgust slowly nodded her head. "As long as it's nothing too drastic…yeah, let's go with it."
The melancholic emotion tilted her head downwards, not liking the choice she was about to make, but feeling that they didn't have any other options at this point. "I just hope this idea doesn't come back to bite us."
"It's decided then," he held the blue light bulb out. "You do the honors, Sadness."
She tightly gripped the base of the bulb in her hands and gently set it down on the console's Idea Bulb holder. The bulb lighted up in a bright, blue glow before screwing itself in and lowering in place.
In the real world, Riley felt compelled to open up her laptop and search for a bus route to Dizzy Land.
"She took it," Disgust noted. "If this doesn't make us happy again, I don't know what will."
"We'll need a bus ticket to get to the park," Sadness realized. "How are we going to get the money for that?"
"Mom's purse," Anger responded without hesitation.
The fashionable one let out a shocked gasp. "You wouldn't."
"That's stealing from Mom!" Sadness objected. "We could permanently ruin Honesty Island if we do that!"
"Hasn't it been ruined enough already?" the fired up creature seethed. "Besides, they're the ones who got us in this mess to begin with, so they deserve to pay for it. Now where was that memory…"
His attempt to bring up the memory of the purse resulted in a certain jingle replaying itself.
"SHUT UP!" he bellowed, pounding his fists against the console to silence the gum commercial and making the other two emotions flinch. Once that was out of the way, he tried several more times, but kept coming up short.
"Are you freaking kidding me?!" the enraged emotion growled. "Why isn't the purse memory coming up?!"
"Can't we just ask Mom for some money and say that we need it for a gift or something?" Disgust proposed.
"Hmm…I guess we can do that," Anger agreed, calming down. "There's souvenirs at Dizzy Land, so we're technically not lying this way."
—
Joy stood close to the open doorway on the Train of Thought while Fear laid down across one of the seats. Right beside her was Bing Bong pointing out several other locations, notably mentioning Deja Vu several times.
She turned back to face the purple emotion with a gentle smile. "Hey, nice job getting Jangles away from Dream Productions. That was surprisingly brave of you."
"Brave, huh?" Fear wondered. "That's the last thing I'd ever call myself, but thanks."
He let out an exhausted sigh. "It still worries me that we weren't able to send our message to Headquarters."
"I know, but look on the bright side: it won't be long before we're home!" the shining emotion proclaimed. "Once we get there, I can set things right and bring the old Riley back."
One of the memories in a crate caught Bing Bong's eye, and he held it up to get a closer look at it.
"Huh. Was Riley always this small? She's not going to fit in my rocket as she is now," the imaginary friend remarked.
Joy took the memory in her hands, feeling nostalgic upon replaying it. "Oh, this one takes me back. This was Riley's first big playoff game with the Prairie Dogs, and everyone was just so excited. Seeing her teammates lift her in the air and cheering while she laughs along with them is just…I love it."
"Yeah, that day was a lot of fun," Fear agreed before an uncertain glint appeared in his eyes. "Although…"
"What is it?" Joy wondered.
"There was so much at stake with that game! It all came down to one last shot with just a few seconds left, and Riley, no, we blew it! If something like that ever happened again…" Fear paused, realizing what he was doing. "Ugh, I didn't mean to freak out over this. Sorry."
The cheerful emotion's smile remained intact. "Don't worry about it. We'll keep working on it once I get things sorted with Riley, okay?"
"...sure."
—
Riley got dressed in a black long-sleeve shirt and gray pants and headed downstairs to find her parents seemingly waiting for her.
"Morning, Riley!" Dad greeted.
"Hey," Riley half-heartedly greeted them back before following up with, "I need some money for today. It's for a gift."
"A gift? Who's it for?" Mom wondered.
The blonde kid hesitated, briefly pondering over how to answer without arousing suspicion.
"Someone special, I guess," she stated.
"Oh, has our Riley made some new friends already?" Dad asked. "Or is there a lucky guy out there?"
"I think so, yeah," Riley replied.
Mom took out her wallet, handing her daughter a twenty dollar bill. "Here you go. Don't spend it all in one place, okay?"
"Uh-huh," Riley acknowledged, pocketing the bill and heading out.
"Stay safe out there!" Dad called out after her.
"We love you!" Mom followed up.
The blond girl paused when she heard the sound of her parents making monkey noises. With one last glance behind herself, she caught sight of their joyful faces, stopping in the middle of the doorway momentarily.
She shook her head with a sigh and walked away from the house, determined to arrive at the Dizzy Land park.
—
The unsettling sound of rumbling filled the air as the Train of Thought approached Honesty Island.
"What?!" Fear's eyes snapped wide open. "What's going on?!"
Joy scrambled to the door, quickly catching sight of what was happening. "The island! It's splitting apart!"
A crack formed in the middle of Honesty Island, cutting between the yellow and purple half. Both sides proceeded to drift apart, and the purple side was coming dangerously close to the supporting beams holding the train up.
"AGH! That island's gonna derail the train at this rate!" Fear exclaimed.
"What do we do?!" Bing Bong spun his head around frantically.
"I don't know, I don't know!" Joy shouted, her mind going blank.
Seeing both of his companions panicking got the purple emotion to scream out the first word that came to him.
"JUMP!"
Just as the purple half of the island crashed into the supporting beams, everyone took a leap of faith, escaping the Train of Thought right before it was thrown off the rails. The locomotive collapsed into the Memory Dump as the three companions were now in free-fall.
"Hug me!" Fear yelled, his voice starting to grow hoarse.
Once the glowing emotion and the pink elephant clung onto the unnerved creature, he snapped open his bowtie, and out came a parachute, slowing their descent.
"No way! You brought a parachute with you?" Bing Bong gasped.
"I had it just in case!" the unnerved emotion hollered, steering everyone towards the yellow half of the island.
They all landed, the parachute dropping down over them. Once they had pulled the parachute off their heads, everyone looked back at HQ, now desperate for an alternate way back.
"No! That train was our only way back home!" Joy shut her eyes, frustrated and upset.
Bing Bong scratched his head, confused. "What in the world is happening up there?"
Fear glanced down at himself, and what he saw reignited the panic in him.
The ground underneath him had turned purple, and was beginning to spread across the rest of the yellow half of the island.
A/N: I'm estimating that there will be 3 chapters remaining to this fic. Also, I wanted to get this chapter out by Halloween due to the scary theme of the Subconscious, but then Super Mario Party Jamboree came out, and I got hooked on that game for the past few weeks. Now I'm wondering what a Mario Party-esque game with Disney/Pixar characters would be like…