As the Train of Thought chugged along the tracks that took form along the way, Joy thought it would be a good time to address the elephant in the room.
"So, about Honesty Island…" she had her eyes on Fear as she spoke. "Why is half of it suddenly purple and jagged?"
The nervous emotion stiffened up, scrambling to think of how he should respond to that.
"I've never seen one of those islands do that," Bing Bong commented. "Then again, I never thought they'd shut down and collapse one by one."
"Riley's losing parts of herself every time that happens…" Joy trailed off. "But I still can't help but worry about why Honesty is changing even though its core memory is still there."
She froze, realizing what she had just said. "Wait…the core memory…"
"I TOUCHED IT!" Fear blurted out, swinging his arms out in front of him. Joy and Bing Bong instantly had their eyes upon him.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I was the one who put the core memory back in place before we got sucked out! I didn't think that I'd end up causing the island to become all messed up!" the frantic emotion confessed, hanging his head low.
Despite the sounds of the train moving forward, the atmosphere remained in silence otherwise.
The first to speak was Joy. "If I'm being honest, I had a feeling that this was the reason why. The purple color kind of gives it away."
"How are we going to fix it, then?" Fear had to ask, still keeping his eyes on the floor.
"I…I don't know," the yellow emotion admitted with an unsure frown. "Changing the core back is out of the question with how much the island has changed by now."
"That said," she turned her frown upside down. "You prevented Honesty's core memory from getting sucked out with us, which means it's still up and running unlike the other islands. So maybe it's not entirely a bad thing that you ended up touching it."
Fear was left speechless at Joy's response. He had fully expected her to chastise him for doing exactly what he wasn't supposed to do, and instead, she not only let him off the hook, but even acknowledged that things might have turned out for the better because of it.
He wondered if she had more to say to him beyond that, but before he could think things over, the sky blacked out, and the train came to a screeching halt as the tracks ceased to materialize.
"Hey! Why aren't we moving forward?" Joy asked.
"Riley's asleep, so we're on break," the engineer Mind Worker explained.
"The train doesn't operate while she's napping," Bing Bong reiterated as they hopped off the train.
"We're stuck here until morning?" Fear stressed. "We can't wait that long! Perhaps we should–"
"Don't stress out over it," Joy advised before pointing out, "Remember that nothing bad can happen to Riley while she's asleep?"
"Oh yeah…that's right," Fear nodded along in realization.
"And look where we're at," the yellow emotion faced the building ahead of them.
"Dream Productions!" the imaginary friend beamed.
"How's that place going to help us?" Fear wondered.
Joy grinned as she felt herself growing more excited by the moment. "You know how one of us does Dream Duty every night?"
"Yeah. Though I've only done it a few times," Fear glanced downwards shamefully. "I kept making everyone wake up when I wasn't supposed to."
"Well…" the optimistic one gave a dazzling smile, snapping her fingers. "This is our perfect chance to make Riley happy!"
"How do we do that?" Bing Bong asked.
"It's simple! We go in while the Mind Workers are filming tonight's dream, and we turn it into a birthday party," Joy explained her plan.
The purple emotion shuddered. "That means directly interfering with Riley's dream! We could risk waking her up and making her feel more stressed when it's the last thing she needs!"
"Okay, maybe that could happen," the cheerful creature acknowledged. "But Riley needs to be happy more than ever! So, you guys with me?"
The pink elephant gave an enthusiastic thumbs up. "I'm totally on board with that plan! This'll also let me see Riley again. She's gotta remember me once I show up!"
Fear, still feeling a bit of guilt over tainting Honesty Island, gave a slight nod. "Alright…I guess we can try."
Joy spun around on her foot ecstatically with everyone on board. "Whoo-hoo! Let's go!"
She ran ahead, pushing the doors open, and her companions soon followed her in.
—
"This place is so huge!" Joy smiled.
"Hmm, it looks smaller than I thought it would," Fear observed.
Bing Bong marched up to several movie posters, eyeing one of them in particular. "'I Can Fly'? I wish I could do that!"
The nervous one turned his head away from the posters and took several breaths, keeping his eyes on the lookout for the room where the dream was being filmed.
The energetic creature let out a gasp upon seeing who was in the director's chair. "No freaking way! Rainbow Unicorn!"
The happy emotion glided towards the mythical creature to chat her up while Fear walked past them as he continued searching, with Bing Bong trailing him. Not long after, he found a door leading to Stage B. Above it was a red light flashing over a sign displaying "DO NOT ENTER WHEN LIGHT IS FLASHING".
"Huh. Wonder what that's supposed to mean," Bing Bong shrugged.
"Oh no…it says 'do not enter'," Fear slowly backed away. "That place could be dangerous for us!"
Joy caught up to them, having noticed Fear acting scared upon seeing the sign.
"Fear, I know you can do this," she encouraged. "We're not gonna turn into a bunch of weird things just by going in there! At least, I'm pretty sure we won't."
That didn't exactly help the unnerved emotion settle down as he watched the imaginary friend open the door, letting Joy walk in before entering along with her. He rapidly turned his head to his left and right, paranoid that someone was out there watching. When he was sure that no one was in sight, he tiptoed his way to the door, inched it open, and quickly stepped in.
They were all now backstage, with the director Mind Worker giving out orders to her cast and crew.
"Set up the classroom set. Today's memories are in, and all this work is cut out for us. Riley dumped her best friend, got stung by a bee, had a miserable day at school, fouled someone at tryouts, and quit hockey. That's the script for tonight," the director stated.
Meanwhile, in HQ, Anger was combing through all of the Idea Bulbs they still had in the storage.
"It's taking forever for the dream to start up, so I may as well follow my own advice and not waste time waiting around," the crimson emotion grunted to himself. "Now, which one of these ideas will make us happy again…"
Back in Dream Productions, Joy, Fear, and Bing Bong made their way into the backstage room once all of the Mind Workers had departed to set the stage for the dream.
"So…how exactly are we going to do this?" Fear wondered, scratching his chin with his index finger. "We can't just show up on the set as ourselves. The reality distortion filter could make us look like a bunch of monsters to Riley, which would scare her for life!"
"Just leave it to me!" Joy gave a wide grin, doing a quick survey of the room. Her eyes darted towards a closet and she yanked the door wide open, revealing a purple dog costume and a yellow costume shaped like a fanny pack.
"You guys remember Bloofy's House?" she asked her companions.
"Oh, that show brings back memories," Bing Bong smiled. "Riley would wake up early just to catch every episode aired on TV. The dog and his pouch would always ask us what item to use to solve the problems that they'd come across."
"I know, right? I loved how interactive the show was!" the cheerful emotion praised.
"Interactive?" Fear questioned. "I had no idea who they were supposed to be talking to."
"But I'm getting off track here," Joy addressed. "What we're going to do is dress up as the characters from that show, and as I said before, throw a birthday party."
She tossed the fanny pack costume to the nervous one. "Fear, this one's for you!"
"You want me to go onstage?" the timid emotion flinched. "My stage fright is gonna ruin the whole thing!"
"Hey, as long as you remain positive about this, you won't ruin anything. If nothing else, just do it for Riley. Okay?" the bright emotion persuaded.
"...okay. For Riley," Fear agreed.
He took the time to analyze his costume, taking note of the many, many different items that came bundled with it. It didn't help that the head was way too oversized for him.
"When I call out for Pouchy, that's your cue to go up," she instructed.
"It's kind of weird that you two are going to be in opposite colored costumes," the imaginary friend remarked.
"That's just because Bloofy has more lines than Pouchy does," she explained.
The optimistic emotion handed the pink elephant her bag of core memories before proceeding to get dressed in her costume. "Before I forget, Bing Bong, make sure you take good care of these memories."
"You got it!" he nodded with a smile.
—
Anger took another sip out of his coffee mug, absolutely bored out of his mind.
The Mind Worker acting as the "teacher" could not be acting more stilted if she tried. Then the "scary" parts rolled in with Riley's teeth falling out and having no pants on. It was all so predictable and monotonous and are we at the end of this snoozefest yet?!
"Is that a bee?!" one of the "students" shouted, pointing towards a "bee" that was less flying and more waving up and down as it got closer and closer to the screen. In the span of just a few seconds, the entire screen was full of yellow and black, with buzzing sounds playing all over.
In other words, just another cheap jumpscare to put up with. What's next, they say that one line that he heard a million–
"OH NO! NOT THE BEES!" the "students" all cried out.
And there it was. The frustrated emotion let out a sharp grunt, pounding the console with his fists.
Backstage, while the three companions were waiting for the right opportunity to enact their plan, the purple emotion had a thought cross his mind and decided to voice it.
"So who's going to be on Dream Duty tonight?" Fear asked, keeping his voice low.
"Sadness and I usually handle it, so she should be the one watching us," Joy answered quietly.
"That makes me feel a bit better about this," the nervous one took a breath. "And also, maybe we should let her know that we're on our way back so that the others don't do anything reckless while they're waiting."
"Oh yeah, that's a good idea, Fear," Joy smiled.
She peeked into the door and dragged her costume's mask over her face. "Okay guys, it's time to party!"
On stage, a two-dimensional purple dog suddenly jumped onto the scene from the doorway.
"Stomp like an elephant, scurry like a mouse, make your way down to Bloofy's House!" the purple dog recited the jingle.
"What in the world?" the dream director was left speechless, rapidly flipping through her script.
"Don't tell me…" Anger leaned onto the console and held a finger up to his chin.
"Hi, friends! I'm Bloofy, and it's so good to have you here today," Joy as Bloofy introduced herself.
The "students" all stared blankly at the newcomer, none of them making a sound.
"Today is a very, very, very special day. We're gonna need your help to make our girl happy again. Who's that girl, you ask?" the cartoon character asked the audience.
Another period of awkward silence followed.
"Let's ask our special guest over there," Bloofy pointed right, and on cue, Bing Bong arrived on the scene.
"Hi Riley, it's me!" the imaginary friend cheerfully greeted the camera before proceeding to dance around the set and sing his theme song.
"There's two of them now? Please kill me," the red emotion groaned.
"Bing Bong is correct! Our girl is none other than Riley!" the purple dog announced.
Bloofy followed up by asking Bing Bong, "What do you think we need to make Riley happy?"
"A party!" the pink elephant triumphantly answered.
"That's right! And my pouch has just the thing for that. Say it with me everyone! Oh, Pouchy!" Bloofy called out towards the audience.
"Oh, Pouchy!" Bing Bong joined in.
If they were in the real world, crickets would've been chirping at this moment.
The dream director brought out her walkie talkie. "They're interrupting this dream. Call security!"
Soon after, a yellow pouch creature floated in.
"H-hi everyone, I'm Pouchy!" the pouch hastily introduced himself.
"Pouchy, we need some decorations for this party. Do you have anything for that?" Bloofy asked.
"Ah…yes! I have lots of items, heheh. Which one will work the best?" Pouchy opened his mouth and roughly dragged out a bunch of items. "A tomato? A frog? Or, uh…exploding dynamite?"
"The exploding dynamite, obviously," Anger sarcastically quipped.
Bing Bong turned towards the yellow pouch. "Hold on, none of those items are going to work. Let me try!"
The imaginary friend stuck his hand in Pouchy's mouth, pulling out a confetti popper. Anger couldn't help but smirk at seeing Pouchy squirm from this.
"Hey!" Fear as Pouchy struggled against the pink elephant's hand. "You can't just shove your hand in my–"
The pouch was cut off as the sound of something cracking rang out.
"Oh boy," Bing Bong paused in his tracks. "That doesn't sound good."
Anger nearly choked on his coffee upon seeing Pouchy's jaw dislocate. The living pouch's mouth was now twisted into an unrecognizable mess.
"The mouth! It's broken!" Fear hastily whispered to the others. "What do we do?"
"We keep going. The show must go on," Joy whispered back.
Joy as Bloofy took the popper and twisted the bottom of it, releasing the confetti inside.
"Yay! We did it, everyone!" the purple dog cheered, dancing in place and pulling on a nearby rope to send a bunch of balloons floating upwards. "Let's all sing the we did it song!"
"Here comes more confetti!" the pink elephant beamed.
"Wait wait wait!" the yellow pouch protested. "My mouth's not safe to–"
The imaginary friend continued to yank out more poppers, aiming to set all of them off at once. Suddenly, Pouchy's mouth snapped shut, causing Bing Bong to cry out in agony.
"Hahaha! This is all kinds of messed up, but it's the most entertaining thing I've seen from these dreams in a long time," the hotheaded emotion laughed his head off.
The pink elephant instinctively yanked his hand out, the instantaneous motion making the yellow pouch fall backwards, tipping over the set wall.
"They're guilty of trespassing and interrupting this dream! Stop them!" the dream director ordered.
Bing Bong, thinking fast, pulled Joy behind a set piece while Fear struggled to stand up as he frantically spun his head around, his view obstructed by his costume's head getting tilted.
"I-is the dream over?" he asked, remembering that he still had an important message to deliver.
Before the purple emotion could do so, however, the dream director ordered the camera operator to pan away from the scene, capturing the sight of Rainbow Unicorn sneaking off with a tray full of cupcakes. Right after, the guards forcibly restrained him and yanked his costume off. Joy noticed that the sleep indicator had tipped two-thirds of the way to the end marked "Awake" and was slowly creeping onward.
"Uh-oh…" she muttered softly. "Riley's gonna wake up at this rate if things continue like this."
"You! We have a warrant out for your arrest!" one of the guards snapped, recognizing who he was.
"Me?!" Fear yelped. "What did I do?!"
"You're the one responsible for all those troublemakers running around Riley's mind," another guard accused. "Take him away at once!"
"Wait!" the unnerved emotion protested. "Let me speak to–"
Two of the guards hauled Fear off as Joy ditched the Bloofy costume and took the bag of core memories back from Bing Bong. The sleep indicator flicked back to "Asleep", making the positive emotion ease up, but not by much.
"It's over already? Just when it was getting good, too!" Anger growled in disappointment.
—
The yellow emotion and pink elephant snuck out of Dream Productions and stealthily trailed the guards who were dragging Fear off down a flight of stairs, towards a giant wooden door.
"NO! Please stop! I didn't realize that I was the one who created him! You have to believe me!" he begged, flailing his legs.
"You're just digging your own grave, pal," one of the guards dismissed the panicking emotion's pleas.
"I'll do anything you guys want! Just don't throw me in there!" the unnerved emotion cried out.
"Meeting the monster you made seems like a fitting punishment for you," the other guard replied.
The guards opened the door up, tossed Fear in, and slammed the door shut.
"Oh, this is bad!" Joy brought her arms against herself, worried. "We need to save Fear before Riley wakes up!"
"This is my fault. I screwed up the dream, and now they locked him away in that dark place. He didn't even get to finish delivering his important message," the imaginary friend looked down in guilt. "I'm scared of the dark, but it's gotta be even scarier for him down there."
The shining emotion glanced around, finding the stairs to get down to the tall door. "We haven't a moment to lose, Bing Bong. Let's go."
—
With Dream Productions experiencing technical difficulties, Anger went back to inspecting the Idea Bulbs. Upon catching a glimpse of a blue filament light bulb with a pointy tip, a triumphant grin spread across his face.
"Aha! This idea is exactly what we need!"
A/N: I always found it weird that in canon, Joy and Sadness were entirely focused on waking Riley up to start up the Train of Thought, which makes it seem like they forgot that they could've just waited for Riley to wake up on her own since according to Joy herself, nothing bad can happen to Riley while she's asleep. So I changed things by having Joy be motivated by trying to make Riley happy after the girl's been very unhappy for the past few days without Joy around and also trying not to wake up Riley this time.
I thought it would be cool to feature references to Bloofy and Pouchy from Inside Out 2, so here it is! A different dream sequence acted out by the different trio!
This chapter was originally going to cover the Subconscious, but it was getting longer than I expected, so it will be covered in the next chapter. Stay tuned, because the plot picks up significantly from now on.