Chapter Text
As everyone falls, they instinctively begin to bring out their thought bubbles to use as balloons. All except for the Aquatos and Loboto.
Colors fill the air below feet, creating little light that brightens the shoes of others and not much else.
Ford instinctively reaches out for Lucy, holding her to his side.
Lucrecia still reaches for her family, worried about them.
“All of you!” Milla shouts. “Think and focus on a thought! It should be able to form and allow you safe landings!”
Augustus closes his eyes, wanting to save all of his family. Suddenly, underneath him, there forms a GIANT scarlet ball that all the family balances on, slowly falling onto one of the floating glass panes.
“Milla, can you do that?” Lili asks.
Milla simply stares at what occurred. “I don’t think anyone else has ever made that before.”
“Augustus, what exactly were you focusing on when you… created that?” Sasha inquires.
“I just thought about protecting all of my family.”
Milla thinks silently for a moment. “Well, I suppose that could lead to a thought bubble that big to accommodate.”
The groups all land on large parts of the shattered glass, floating on top of the pool of black tar.
Except that Loboto had landed much earlier, face down on the glass.
“Is… he okay?”
“I think it merely knocked a few fillings loose.” Caligosto confirms, still squished against the glass.
Everyone fell quiet, as if there was a sort of poison in the air with despair as an eternal blight. Just staring into the goop filled the groups with a sort of dread they couldn’t shake off. Then….the water started to move on its own, as if there was something under the tar, a mound hunched in the water, signaling where the creature was moving.
“Forsythe,” Sasha begins, “do you know what this is?”
The group looks fearfully towards Sasha.
“No.” Hollis answers gravely. “Otto?”
“I…I’ve only seen this in rare cases, but never as bad as this.” Otto mutters. “The largest I’ve ever seen was less than a sixteenth of this amount.”
“Excuse me, but… what is it?” Norma askes.
“Well, it sometimes comes out of emotional baggage, or it can be classified as intrusive thoughts–”
“ It’s his majesty .” Zombie’s voice rings.
“ It’s the monster. ” Camper adds, voice hollow.
“ It’s that snake. ” Jackalope growls.
“ …it’s the one I betrayed… ” Agent’s voice is broken.
The tar laps at the broken glass, starting to come in waves as everyone hears a rumbling coming from the bottom of whatever they were on top of. Though the rumbling only got louder, the glass panes shake. People fight to keep their balance.
Norma is unlucky, falling onto the area where the glass isn’t.
She shrieks, realizing she couldn’t move her legs. The other Junior Agents immediately move in to the edge of the tar and try to pull Norma out, to no avail. Even if they are all working together. Suddenly, Norma starts to feel like she is….moving, but not on her own, she feels like she is being…pulled…Oh no she’s being pulled away….the tide is pulling her away from the group.
Upon realization she holds a tighter grip onto Lizzie, eyes in fear of being let go, she almost drags her sister in too, if it wasn’t for the rest of the Junior Agents, holding them back. A serpent’s tail suddenly rises not too far away from them, and everyone gasps from the sheer height it rose to, before it slams down onto the tar, sending waves back at the Junior Agents, worst of all, separating them from Norma. The Junior agents are unharmed but Norma was covered completely in black tar, she couldn’t move and she could barely breathe. Meanwhile the tail disappears into the murky waters, psychics and non-psychics hold onto each other as the creature swam until its tar-covered body starts to appear and circle Norma, who was now in the middle, stuck in place like a shark circling its prey.
The monster’s body then submerges into the tar. There is silence. Breaths held.
And then a maw opens up under where Norma floated, clamping together as her screams are muffled.
Then there’s silence. No one can bring themselves to make a sound. Nothing but the sound of waves lapping at a shore.
The creature rises up. Horns. A deer skull like head, with glowing orange eyes. Patterns on its face like Raz’s headgear. Neck. A collared chain made of steel and Emotional Baggage tags jingling. Shoulders. Arms. Hands reaching up only to slam back down into the tar or support itself by holding onto the wall. The monster let out a booming roar as it met its new prey.
It lets out a few more huffs, the terrified reflection of the agents being reflected back at them through the lenses. Mouths appear on its body, different limbs reaching out and swiping at the air.
The notebook pad appears
“fig: The Nothing King
“Note: Put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye.”
“NOPE!” Loboto shouts, grabbing Coach’s smelling salts and using them to get the Hell out of there!!! (Sorry folks!!)
Mirtala lets out a high pitched scream at the sight of the mindscape’s final boss, causing this… thing inside Raz’s mind–It was in Razputin’s mind…–to turn its attention to her. Of course, Dion and Frazie stand in front of their little sister, and Donatella and Augustus stand in front of them protectively.
The creature turns to bring its attention to the family, looming over them in a nightmarish way. Even Queepie, a boy apathetic to many dangerous things, looked terrified at this moment. It slithers around, pulling itself through the tar and baggage soup. It was more like a broth actually. Or maybe a stew? Stews are thicker. And had meat in them. Thanks Norma!!
The King had let out a long low and deep growl, focused completely on the small acrobatic family as others tried to climb away using the wall and what little footing they can find.
“Crully!” Lucy protests as Ford tries to pull her away.
“Lucy, I won't let you fight on your own again!” Ford tells her. “The last time you did…Even if it was for yer family…”
Otto nods to part of the cliffside, and tries to get a footing on a small but spiraling path around the walls of the subconscious.
Other Psychonauts begin to do the same, Hollis and Oleander getting the Junior Agents up, trying to get Lizzie away from the edge of the tar especially, while Milla and Sasha manage to get a hold of the path first before using Mental connection to grab the kids up.
As their older relatives make their way closer to the kids, Sasha passes the children onto the more experienced Psychonauts.
Augustus speaks, words shaky but he tries to steel himself and comfort his… his son. This “Nothing King” is a part of his son after all
“Razputin, it’s okay… we-”
“ YOU'RE NOT SORRY!! YOU RUINED MY LIFE!!! ”
The scream sounds like a mixture of voices, barely recognizable… but that did not sound like Razputin.
“ YOU MADE ME HATE MYSELF, SO I HATE YOU!!! ”
The Nothing King’s yell is childlike, but it shakes the entire area. Many of the escaping Psychonauts almost fall, others helping bring them back on their feet
“ That's not true!! They- They didn't mean to!!! ”
A small voice rings out, Zombie crying as he is worried for the family who loved him and saved him.
As if on cue, 6 undead looking… Things…. crawl out of the muck trying to heave themselves onto the glass pane platforms. The Aquatos know instantly what they are.
“Oh come on they're BACK?!” Frazie yells, angrily staring at the clawing figures.
“Who are ‘they?’” Sam asks.
All of a sudden, what appeared to be a large moth or butterfly trying to come out of the tar pit, grabbing Sam’s ankle and trying to drag her down.
“SAM!” Dogen cries out, trying to reach for his sister.
The creature drags Sam across the glass pane almost into the tar until Morris leaps down onto it. He uses Mental Connection to drag her away and suddenly the moth-like creature explodes into spatters of tarry goop.
Ford blinks, relieved his Psi-blast got that thing instead of hitting one of the youngins.
Gisu and Lizzie soon jump down to join Morris, and Adam goes down as well.
“What are you doing!? Get back here where it’s safe!” Hollis demands.
“These things are at least floating above this shit!” Lizzie points out.
Mirtala covers her ears after hearing that.
The spatters of the creature retreats over to the base of The Nothing King, and his majesty glances down at it.
Just then a singular censor door forms from the side of the creature, where everyone else can see… Another Raz?
He certainly looks like it, though he’s wearing a ripped up suit and had knuckles that looked exactly like Heavy Censor brass on his gloves.
The King immediately locks eyes with the Raz-looking censor.
The censor stutter-steps on its glass.
The monster charges towards it.
“ Fuck .” The censor manages to say before it is suddenly snapped up in the creature’s jaws.
“NOT AGAIN!” Camper cries from above. “You monster! ”
The nightmare growls. “ SHUT UP, ” and strikes at the wall with the end of its tail.
Debris begins to fall from the walls of the subconscious onto those trapped. The cages above are shaking wildly.
Camper shrieks and huddles against the metal bars in a fetal position as the cage swings from side to side. It commanded with Norma’s voice coming from one of the mouths that had formed on its body’s side. “ You deserved that, after All Of You Betrayed Me And Left Me Here To ROT!!! ”
The Junior Agents were used to Raz’s pranks involving vocal mimicry. This is not that.
“ Then again, You do know how it feels to be betrayed…right Agent Aquato? ” The King glares at Agent's cage above. The plastic toy does not reply. He only shrinks against his metal cage, looking almost ashamed of himself.
“Th-that’s definitely not her!” Lizzie splutters.
His majesty lets out a roar and dives back underneath the tar. The glass panes floating on the tar began to rise up towards the area above.
“Whatever it is, it’s trying to get Raz's consciousness!” Lili shouts.
“Well then, we’ll have to get up there first and seal it again!” Milla tells the rest of the group.
The group starts to climb up higher, and Adam noticed just how fast the tar was moving up. “Uh… Guys, I… don’t want to make anyone panic but… I think doing this is going to lead to a worse situation.”
Others closer to the tar, like Oleander and Hollis, looked down and nearly jumped. The path was being eaten up by both the tar and the smallest of the tar babies.
There was a loud schlorp! Hollis immediately leaned forwards, trying to see who may have fallen into the tar, only to see Sam on what looks to be a shinier part of the tar. She gives a thumbs up “‘m okay!” She confirms.
Hollis holds onto her chest like she had a heart attack.
“I trained for this in the air force.” Oleander proclaims as loud as he can. He grabs Hollis by the wrist and begins to plummet, “DOWN DOWN DOWN ALL YOU DO IS DRAG ME DOWN!!!!!”
Hollis is dragged down with him. The two land on another glass pane that cracks with their impact.
Oleander pauses, looking down at the crack alongside Hollis
“That wasn't my fault.”
Well, next had to be someone, and that next someone was Mirtala! She jumps down, bouncing on her hair as she lands and somersaults back upright! She's here to have at least a little bit of fun, And she waited for the adults to make sure it was safe!
Donatella barely flinches. After seeing a lot she’s… Kind of gotten used to seeing hard to believe things. It is refreshing to see at least one of her kids trying to cheer themself and maybe even the others up with their tricks.
Next is Queepie, who does a little flip onto the platform that makes Mirtala cheer!! She is still his big sister, so she likes when he does something with her. She raises her hand for a high five like she and Raz do a lot, but Queepie merely stares up at the rest of their family, waiting for them to join.
Dion pushes past his parents, jumping to the platform to scoop up Queepie and Mirtala before quickly hopping to the next glass pane. He doesn’t want to get in the way of others jumping next, and he for sure doesn’t want the littlest to get trampled! There wasn't really a trick done, but he was going for practicality anyways.
More of the disgusting zombies try to grab onto the glass pane groaning. One of them grabs Dion's ankle only for him to kick the Mirtala looking creature in the face.
The other, which looks like him, begins to try to crack and break apart the platform that the trio are on. It causes the glass pane to tip towards the other tar baby.
Dion grabs up his little siblings and does a backflip onto another glass pane.
Frazie jumps down as well running across the glass to get to her brother.
There’s a loud hiss behind her, and as she jumps to one glass shard, the one behind her explodes as the Nothing King headbutts into the other one and sinks into the tar.
Helmut, who was holding onto Lili’s hand, picks her up along with Compton, one under each shoulder. “Alright. Nobody panic.”
“Too late!” Jackalope shouts.
Then, it’s like there's the sound of a xylophone. Up ahead on the path, a Panic Attack forms. The she-beast gives a big grin to the victims she sees.
Augustus and Donatella grab each other’s hands and both jump down and away from the creature.
Milla takes Sasha by the sleeve, giving them a little boost to get ahead! Milla begins to float, holding onto Sasha tightly.
Lili wriggles out of Helmut’s arm and runs over to Dogen, grabbing his hand and running where Sasha and Milla were. Lili tries to summon her own Lev-ball for them both. However, she can’t levitate like Milla can, drifting down at a higher rate as she tries to hold onto Dogen and land safely on a platform made from the glass.
Bob jumps down to land right next to Lili, with Helmut and Compton landing beside them on the same platform.
Lucy, seeing how Lili scrambled out of Helmut’s grasp, grabs Otto’s hand and uses his weight to help her out of Ford’s grasp while also dragging him down to the tar below, landing on a very controlled part of the tar and guiding it over to one of the larger glass panes.
Lizzie jumps down as well, using her Cryokinesis to freeze some of the tar as she lands. “Come on!” She calls the other Junior Agents to follow her.
While Gisu and Morris stay levitating in the air, Adam drops down, nearly breaking the ice. Lizzie uses her Cryokinesis to fix it. Sam drops down as well, this time holding her baby brother. Adam gives her a surprised look, which Sam answers by pointing up to Helmut, who was now floating while holding both Compton and Lili.
The Panic Attack’s whole body rattles as she tries to dive and slash at Adam, only for Lizzie to once again use her Cryokinesis to freeze the air around it, engulfing it in an ice cube. The Panic Attack curls into herself, and is suddenly gone.
“Did that do it?”
The Panic Attack teleports to one side of the arena, showing five different versions that grin maliciously. She’s managing to stay above the tar, as if it doesn’t want to suck her in. She suddenly becomes one again, shooting out a batch of five flaming skulls all aimed towards Lucrecia.
Lucy does her best to control the tar to take the blow. “Ugh, I hated fighting these things. Especially in Compton’s mind.”
“Yes, well at least that gave us some experience fighting them, didn’t it?” Otto smiles at his old friend.
“Go Nona! Go!” Mirtala cheers.
The Panic Attack disappears. She suddenly reappears beside Adam, slashing at him with her scythe-like claw.
Adam staggers and uses his Yo-yo to grab a hold onto the wrist of the claw. From above, a thorny burr like thought bubble crashes into the Panic Attack’s body. “Nice shot, Gisu!” Adam compliments.
The Panic Attack once again teleports. When she reappears, she has her sights once again on Lucrecia Aquato, serving up the flaming skulls–
Otto’s amulet flashes and suddenly the Panic Attack is in slow motion.
The psychics seem to know what to do now that the creature is near stationary. A flurry of PSI-shots barrage the creature until it reforms into purified aggression for PSI-Blast shots.
The inside of the pit rumbles with a growl. Two mismatched hands that Milla is all too familiar with as appendages from a Nightmare come up, tossing the shattered glass panes that had sunk down into the air.
One arm that resembled a personal demon comes up, suddenly flicking one of the panes towards Ford.
Ford teleports away, leaving the glass pane to embed itself in the side of the pit’s upper walls.
Ford calls out: “Lucy, this is why we should have stuck together! To help each other!”
“You were trying to do the work for me!” Lucy chasitises.
“YOU TELL HIM, MOM!” Augustus agrees.
Another glass pane is flicked, this time towards Milla. It nicks her as she does her best to make sure Sasha isn’t hurt by it. She can feel a chunk of her mental health deteriorate from her, but she holds onto Sasha anyways.
Another one hits her in the shoulder.
“Camilla, let go!” Sasha urges.
“I need to keep you safe!” Milla rejects. She winces as another glass pane hits her. And another.
Hollis latches around Milla's waist with mental connection and forcefully drags her down, the Mental Minx landing gently onto the glass pane below as another misses her.
Gisu and Morris stuck together, even if they were both levitation experts they had two different sets of levitation skills. If Gisu got a little too close to slipping on the edge, Morris would manifest a sideways bounce pad to help bounce her back. If Morris felt his lev ball pop, Gisu would swoop in to substitute it with one of hers. The two of them worked on climbing up the glass panes with the other agents. They had to admit, neither of them would have Ever thought that the kid they hazed would have This in his mind. And they contributed to it! Somehow. It was a bit confusing on how. But violence breeds violence, and the cycle continues.
Adam takes notice of Gisu and Morris using the glass panes lodged in the sides. "That's it! Gisu, Morris, can you taunt that Nightmare creature into tossing more panes at you?"
" I HAVE A NAME! " He roars. " I AM THE NOTHING KING! " The deer skull launches upwards, trying to headbutt Adam and the glass pane the Junior Agents are on.
“DAMN RAZ!!! YOUR MIND!!!” Morris yelled out, trying to make a joke in this Desperate situation as he started to manifest More bounce pads around the Nothing King. The bouncepads made it hard for him to move, even if he slithered over them as best he could. He even got close! That is, until Morris manifested the BIGGEST bounce pad any one had seen from him! The velocity of the Nothing King backfired, sending him flying backwards into a wall. His horns got lodged, as he yelled for his minions to attack these BASTARDS.
As he tries to throw more glass panes at gisu and Morris, the panes either miss them entirely, or are deflected by Lev-balls or bone pads.
A tar creature resembling Norma tries to scramble onto the glass pane Lucy and Otto are on, but Lucy easily washes it away.
However, on the other side, another groans.
Otto can barely focus enough to blast the facsimile of his friend's face.
"Otto?" Lucy immediately picks up on his worry.
"I want to get put of this pit, fast Lucy."
Lucy smiles and grabs his arm.
"D-don't tell me you can still-"
Lucy suddenly jumps into the air from a thought bubble she didn’t even need to charge, Otto letting out a shout of surprise until they land.
The Psychic Seven all land by Lucy, Helmut still carrying Compton and his Great Niece.
The Aquatos all start to jump and hop over the glass panes, followed by the Junior Agents. They all manage to get up to the first glass pane, and Sam reaches down.
Dogen is next to jump, but… he can’t. He’s tearing up, shuffling his feet and looking up at the next jump
“It's too far!! My legs are too little!!”
Sam tries to reach her arms down, but she can't reach him even if he tries to reach up. A small panic sets in, before Sasha reaches down to assist Dogen.
Sasha, even if he may not be the most athletic person, makes the jump easily because he's 7’7. Dogen has a vice grip on Sasha, before being set gently beside Sam.
Milla follows not long after, expertly floating up. The Junior Agents are up next, with Morris manifesting them a jumping pad for easier mobility. For everyone behind them too of course. Lizzie struggles to jump, her boots almost slipping through the jump-pad, but Adam helps her up. She’s still reeling from Norma being… absorbed? Something like that. All she knows is her sister is being impersonated by one of Raz’s personal traumas or something.
The tar rumbles as everyone tries to flee, and arms try to scrabble onto one of the glass panes, pulling it under as it seems to reach up for the remaining few.
As Bob and Helmut jump off of it with the help of their friends reaching out with telekinesis, a two headed zombie lets out a hiss of “raaaaazpuuuutiiin,” as it drags the glass below.
In an unfortunate turn of circumstances, Mirtala happens to look down at that moment. What she sees is a goopy combination of her and her little brother, conjoined and mutilated. The tar below glows with mismatched glowing holes of different colors resembling eyes. She lets out a shriek, startling everyone around her as well as prompting a loud roar from His Majesty.
“ BE QUIET YOU BRAT!! YOU'LL SEE WORSE THINGS HERE AND I’LL MAKE SURE OF IT! ” Norma’s voice screeched out of it.
The loud roar shook the sides once again, some of the platforms cracking and breaking off in some pieces. Adam lets out a yell as his foot slipped, finding himself plummeting into the tar.
“ADAM!!” Morris calls out, wheeling to the edge, his face twisted in horror as he watches what he thinks was the mental death of his friend.
A hand resurfaces, Adams head popping up with his familiar green hair! He was swimming or… something.
“Keep going!! I’ll figure a way out!!”
Next to Morris, Hollis worries as she tries to make a mental connection rope to pass down to him.
Nearby, a goopy pompadour could be spotted gliding through the tar almost like a shark's fin. The zombie Dion jumps out from the tar and wraps his hands over Adam’s face. Adam’s screams are muffled as the false acrobat drags him down, distorted laughter of Dion’s echoed for a moment before Adam was fully dragged in.
“ Oh, what the fuck. ” Dion whispers, fists balled in a mixture of fear and disgust. Dona and Gus didn't even try to lecture him about language, because that was a “what the fuck” moment.
There was a stutter of a growl, almost like a chuckle that turned into Adam’s voice. “ Did you know that the brain itself can’t feel pain? ” The Nightmare rose up, neck extending to Coach Oleander. “ I suppose… that’s why I could throw myself around after you forced it out. What do you think about that, ‘Lil Oly?’ ”
Oleander suppresses a shudder, Milla resting her hand on his shoulder for support.
“Oh come ON!! That’s low hanging fruit, even you should know Your Bastardness!!” Jackalope sneers, his mechanical body making scraping sounds against the bars. “You should know to reach for better insults, after all you’ve got your mothers neck!!”
The serpent growls, and from its mouth shoots out a Personal Demon. The crying thing strikes the cage and explodes. His majesty makes a mocking noise at the wind-up rabbit before sinking back down with a large wave of tar.
The wave hits the lowest platform, mostly only hitting the side, but a hand reaches out to snare a certain Booles ankle. Sam is dragged, Dogen still holding onto her hand and trying to keep her from sinking in.
“NO NO NO!! STOP IT!! LET HER GO!!!” Dogen wails, his small stature giving him no advantage or leeway to help keep Sam afloat.
“Dogen please- just let me go!!” Sam gasps, Compton rushing to hold Dogen from falling in. Sam is consumed fully, hands covering her face and hair as she is pulled under.
Dogen’s hand is almost ensnared as he refuses to let go of his vice grip on his sister, but thankfully his grandfather pulls him back in time.
“She's - She's okay… we’re only in Razputin’s mind, it was just her projection…” Compton murmurs, trying to soothe the whimpering child.
The Nothing King’s stupid little mouth starts to pop out of the tar, him rising up again with even More power! Consuming some psychic prodigies boosts your own power vastly.
Sam’s voice is the most prominent one as Nothing King speaks again. “ Are you guys aware that a snake's lower jaws can dislocate, allowing them to eat something that is 75% to 100% larger than their own head? ” As if demonstrating, the jaw on Nothing King opens up wider and wider.
Dogen lets out a small sob, covering his face in terror.
“YOU'RE NOT MY SISTER!!!! STOP IT!!!”
Lili jumps down to Dogen, even if it's ill advised. She would be here for her friend. Nobody hurt Dogen and got away with it.
The others around them keep moving, but Dogen is too afraid to move. He can't do it, just like the minefield.
“ I can't do it!! I just can’t do it!! ”
Others try to rush to him, only for Nothing King to cut them off as he curls his body around the two children. The serpent king turns to them, oddly gentle with how he bends down.
“ You’re Okay… Yes you can. ” He spoke in a gentle tone, Sam's voice to be exact, with a little bit of Adam. He looked at them both, oddly fond of them.
“ Don’t you dare lay a claw on them!! ” Agent shouted, holding onto the bars of his cage.
“ Oh I won't, if they take my deal. ”
“And what is it?” Lili asks suspiciously, raising an eyebrow and putting her hands on her hips, standing between Dogen and his majesty.
“ Y’know, I’ll even extend it to Agent! How kind of me. ” Gristol’s voice leaked in there. Oopsie.
Agent winced at that, but leaned forward a bit. Even Dogen let his hands come down from his face.
One of the insect-like Nightmare claws reaches out to Lili, gently caressing her cheek.
She gulps down what feels like vomit and suppresses a shiver.
“ I won't hurt you… IF you join me. We can be friends again! Just like old times, right Agent? ”
Agent seems to blanch at the remark, fingers loosening from the bars. His other hand begins to reach down, as if almost trying to agree.
“Join you?” Lili growls. “Join you!? You–”
"Please Raz just stop!!! Stop it!! You're hurting us all- you're hurting yourself and- and its hard to watch!! We- I wanna help you!!! Like how you helped me!! And held my hand when things got scary!”
Dogen was close to tears, and the Nothing King paused…. There was a genuinely sad look in his eyes, leaning down just a bit closer to his friends…
A Psi blast.
Sasha had let out a powerful blast to the Nothing Kings temple, the skull cracking on impact with a Roar from the King. Dogen and Lil clung to each other, Dogen yelling Something very rude at Sasha. I can’t say what its too mean.
Compton lets out a gasp, and surprisingly, Lizzie springs into action. She doesn't know what she's really doing. It's pure adrenaline fueling her, but she jumps .
The blue-haired witch lands onto the Nothing Kings skull HEEL FIRST, puncturing his skull even if just a little bit.
“Going after your friends? What a lame move!!” She huffs, before realizing where she was.
“LIZZIE YOU MADMAN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Gisu yells up at her, baffled. Hollis feels her hair getting greyer by the second.
“I DON’T KNOW!!” She yells back, face twisted in terror
She hears Norma's voice yelling at her, just like old times.
“ YOU PEST!! GET OFF OF ME!! YOU CAN’T DO ANYTHING TO HURT ME!! NOT ANYMORE!! ” The King snarls and swings his head around wildly. Lizzie only screws her eyes shut and clings on with a forced grip on it's skull as the Nothing King starts to ram his skull into the walls of his own prison in an effort to make the teenager let go. Meanwhile rocky debris fell in the way of the others who were trying to climb up and escape. Agents and family alike clung onto each other, trying to shield themselves from being squashed by the Serpent King.
The Nothing King lets out a frustrated roar, before flinging a now exhausted Lizzie into the air. He opens his jaws wide to snap shut around her. Lizzie was also now gone too.
“WE’RE BEING PLUCKED OFF ONE BY ONE!!” Morris yells out, sticking close to Milla.
As Compton grabs Dogen up, Bob grabs his Great Niece’s hand.
“She…she’s also…” Dogen looks up to Compton, trying not to cry.
“She was very brave.” Compton tells him as the two are lifted up by Cassie’s Telekinesis.
“It’s my fault…” Dogen’s throat tightens.
“No. No. It’s not–”
“ It is~ ” Lizzie’s voice teased.
“ If you had just taken the deal, she’d still be here. ” Norma’s voice continued.
Dogen clenches his eyes shut. “BE QUIET!”
There was a screech and the sound of an explosion. As the creature retreated, there was a singular horn floating in the tar, spilling out more.
“I would say ouch, but I don’t feel bad for him one bit!” Camper puffs his ghostly cheeks out, crossing his arms “That was a good aim, Dogen!! Good Job!!” Camper looked over to his fellow aspects, seeing Agent across from him and…
Agent’s hand still lingers outside of his cage, his breaths uneven. He could… go back. They’d be friends again. He can hear–
“Agent?” Camper asks.
Agent looks back to Camper’s questioning eyes. He looked over to Zombie, still sobbing over those monsters that the Nothing King put into their home. He glanced over to Jackalope, still looking weak and frail.
And what of Warden? Of Imp and Fae? What would become of them if he left?
Agent takes a deep breath. “I’m here, Camper. I’m here.” He reached his hand no longer down to Nothing King, but trying to reach for Camper.
“ TRAITOR! ” The tar roars. A tail forms and slamming down on the surface of the tar, like a child throwing a tantrum. Waves the size of almost tsunamis were reached, this time Hollis doing her best to hold onto the last two Junior Agents.
The tar pulls like the tide, a force of nature that cannot be stopped.
“nononoNO-” Hollis gasps, her hands grip slipping on the two as their levitation bubbles popped. They are becoming one with Him.
She looks distraught, but two others try to join in to save the two falling. Dion reaches for Gisu, and Milla tries to hold onto Morris.
The tar is more powerful, even a seasoned Aquato with the strength of a bull could pull someone back up. Dion’s grip slips and he falls against the wall with his back making a loud THUD . Even Milla, Superstar Agent Vodello, The MENTAL MINX!! She can't hold onto her Junior Agent, even as Morris tries desperately to cling onto her.
Milla can't let her hand be sucked in, not when Sasha had tugged her away.
“Stay calm, remember, Morris is okay, he is alive, he was only dementastrated.” Sasha speaks calmly to the shaken woman, an arm around her shoulder to guide her away from the edge.
“ AAAAACTUALLY!!! I TOOK A PAGE OUT OF MY GOOD FRIEND LUCKY'S BOOK!! THEY'RE STILL HERE, YOU JUST CAN'T STOP THEIR SUFFERING!! ”
Hollis visibly pales, and Coach Oleander stares at her with a knowing look. (He knows what you are.)
Dion is also shaken, but Frazie immediately shakes him out of it with yelling orders
“ALRIGHT PEOPLE LET'S GET MOVING ONE TWO THREE WE CAN'T SIT HERE AND MOPE!! WE GOTTA HELP POOTER!!” She cups her hands around her mouth, everyone springing back into action. The Aquatos especially are now taking it to help others get up higher, as now the platforms are smaller and less stable.
Dion grabs Lili up with one arm, the other scooping up Dogen. It was a practiced motion that only an older sibling could do really. Lili glared up at him, “Don’t you hate Raz??” she scowled, Dion giving her a weird and kinda scared look.
“I don't know what he told you- but I apologized!! And I'm doing my best, Okay?!”
Dogen gives a solid nod. He understands. “It's a siblings thing, Lili.”
Lili rolled her eyes, scoffing and looking down into the tar… She sees movement, just under the surface-
A hand grabs at Dion's ankle, him tripping and falling face first. He definitely lost some mental health from that, but so did Dogen and Lili. He tried pulling away, getting up somehow when he was holding two kids in his arms. “Who the fuck-”
He looked down, seeing the girl of his Nightmares.
“C’mon Dion, why don’t you come with me? Lets leave your DUMB BROTHER and his little friends behind!!”
It was a twisted version of Gisus voice, one that sent chills up his spine. But his reaction was instant, foot raising up and kicking back down onto her tar head. She let out a scream, his foot stuck in the tar. A psi blast from Someone helped him get out. His nose started bleeding. But Dion had to get these kids the FUCK out of here!!
Dion double checks the kids, assessing if maybe they did it, but they simply look at him with their big ol' autistic eyes. (Like TBH-creature, but Dion doesn't know what autism is. He's undiagnosed.)
He sets the two of them down then leaps up as he sees some of the older folks helping Mirtala and Queepie up.
Lili closes her eyes and picks up Dogen with her purple TK hand.
She has to stay still, but she knows Dogen isn't as fast. If she can just get him to Sasha and Milla, they'll be able to take care of him.
There's another roar, right by Lili's ear.
"LILI!" Sasha, Milla, Hollis, Morceau, Compton, Helmut and Bob, Augustus, Otto, and Ford all call out.
Helmut leaps down, trying to jump in the way, only for tar to push both Helmut and Lili up and away from the NK's head.
Lucrecia smiles as she knows her friends and family are safe. Then she's dragged down by the thing she once feared long ago.
“LUCY!” Ford cried.
NK opens its jaw wide. "I AM THE DELUGE OF GRULOVIA!"
The Aquatos all pale, the younger siblings having death grips on their older siblings.
Queepie and Mirtala started to tear up a bit, Queepie hiding his face in the big collar of Dion's vest.
Oleander claps his hands. "MOVE MOVE MOVE, SOLDIERS!" He uses a green TK hand to shove Donatella along.
"He's right! Come on!" Donatella calls back. She grabs Frazie by the elbow.
Hollis gives Morceau a dumbfounded look. "How did she not snap at you???"
Oleander smiles smugly at Hollis. "I have training them more than other Psychonauts dare to approach. I have gained a tighter and tough bond with all of them."
"I can see the top!" Dogen’s voice announces.
Sure enough, all of their climbing has paid off. They can see the cages swinging above them.
Others begin to climb out as tar babies leap but fail to grab any of them.
The Nothing King lets out another screech and begins to try to scale up the walls. His many arms protrude out of his body to dig into the psyche’s walls as the larger arms reach to pull him. Rather than his body coming away from the tar, the tar starts to grow with him, threatening to unleash whatever horrors in there into the conscious mind.
Some of the Agents begin to shoot down Psi-blasts, but Cassie shakes her head. “Oh we can’t beat him like this.”
Augustus glances around, then comes to a realization. “Aquatos? Devil’s Firehose, again. Let’s get our Razputin back.”
Working like a well oiled machine, the Aquatos begin their tower upwards to Zombie. Following their logic, the other groups set to work as well.
Milla and Sasha both float up, with Sasha blasting the bars that free the ghostly Camper.
There’s an explosion of the bottom of Agent’s cage, allowing him to land in front of the Psychic six with his knee and fist on the ground before he looks up at them with determination.
Oleander and Hollis both use their Telekinesis to pry the bars open and Jackalope suddenly leaps through, ready for a fight.
The others look startled, ready to blast this creature.
“BUNNY!” Zombie runs over to Jackalope as soon as he’s freed, hugging the side.
Jackalope, despite his eyes and mouth permanently open, almost seems to smile at the gesture, letting out some little happy grunts that sounded like honks.
“Please… please don’t hurt him.” Camper floats in front of Sasha and Milla.
“He’s here for protection,” Agent explains. “He’s dealt with… with Nothing King before.”
Jackalope turns his attention to Agent, a grim look on his face. “Agent… you know what we have to do.”
Agent opens his mouth to protest, but realizes it would be a waste of time. He grabs the hands of Zombie and Camper and presses his own forehead in between Jackalope’s horns.
There’s a flash, and then…
Raz is there. The real Raz. The Raz everyone knows.
The entire mind rumbles and Raz glances down into the pit.
“Oh… he’s a lot bigger than I remember.” Raz’s voice is teetering on frightened and Augustus goes over to kneel next to Raz, also staring at the beast.
“Now, you know son…”
“This is my mind.”
“So
you
are the strong one here.”
Raz and Augustus squeeze their hands together.
“I trust you to use this well, son.” Augustus takes a few steps back, and lets his power charge Razputin up.
Frazie and Queepie follow, along with Donatella, Mirtala, and Dion giving what they can.
Morceau follows after, along with Milla, Sasha, Lili and Dogen. Then Hollis.
Ford closes his eyes and allows his own powers to assist Raz, letting the rest of the Psychic Six give their energy.
As Nothing King tries to lunge out towards Raz, Raz falls back with an elbow drop to Nothing King’s face, cracking its deer skull.
The sounds of Psychic backed punches can be heard even as Raz beats the Nothing King back into the subconscious.
There is a screech, and then Raz floats back up, carrying something. Plopping down those who were lost in the tar, the Junior Agents look worse for wear. But they’re safe now.
He lets out a sigh and seemingly falls back into his four part self, Camper now back in his wooden puppet form and Agent back to being around the same height as Dion.
Zombie lets out a bit of a yawn as he leans on Agent.
“Guys.” Jackalope snarls as he stares at the rhombus hole.
The Nothing King is tiny, barely the size of someone’s palm, but still hissing and snarling. “EVEN AT THIS SIZE, I AM STILL A THREAT!” It growls in a mixture of Gristol Malik’s and Raz’s voice. “I WILL DESTROY YOU–!”
The censor that looks like Raz from before suddenly slams down what looks to be one of the cages that the other Raz-es were trapped in.
“No.” Warden smiles.
Agent walks towards Warden, only for both Warden and Jackalope to stop Agent. Agent looks to them, and back to the hissing Nothing King.
He almost looks like he could cry as he sees the itty bitty size of the Nothing King.
What it once was, it no longer is.
“I think… we’ve done enough here.” Hollis tells the rest of the group that traveled in. She pauses, glancing to the ground, before looking back at the five (six? That creature didn’t look like Raz…) other Raz-es. She walks over to them. “Are you… going to be alright for now?”
They all glance at one another, the younger looking ones looking between the Razputin in Psychonauts uniform and the one that look like a Heavy Censor. The Rabbit, meanwhile, keeps looking at Hollis… she thought… its nose was facing towards her.
They all begin to nod, then look at her and nod in sync. “Yeah, we’ll be fine for now.” Jackalope answers. “A lot of reconstruction will need to be done but I think we can handle it.”
Agent takes a few steps forward. “I want to…” He gulps, a knot forming in his throat. “Thank you. For helping us. For… helping Raz. Even–even if a lot of the stuff we’re still working through…” He gulps again, and Camper takes his hand.
“We’ll be better now.”
Zombie takes his other hand. “Mhm. Better now.”
Agent squeezes both their hands, mostly to reassure himself. He takes a professional stance. “If there’s any way I can continue assisting you–all of you, any of you–please let me.”
The first audible breath is from Norma, who opens up her smelling salts. Lizzie follows after, along with the rest of the Junior Agents and the Booles. While Ford is looking over Lucy, the rest of the Psychic Seven begin to leave. Hollis opens up her own for Morceau, then herself. Sasha and Milla stay, having their smelling salts for those of the family, and allowing them to have their own interaction with Raz.
“Raz, we saw…” Dion tries but can’t say anything.
Donatella steps up. “Razputin. What we saw in your mind. Of your feelings for us… I’m… I’m so sorry I made you fear us. I’m so sorry I pushed you too far. My son. Mio figlio …”
Zombie jogs over to hug Donatella around her legs. “You’ll be here to visit, right?”
Donatella hugs the little Zombie plush boy. Her son used to be this small… fitting so perfectly cradled in her arms.
“…Why does this feel like a goodbye hug?”
“I’ll never leave you, my son.”
Ford and Lucy step in front of Agent, who is at attention. Ford gives him a tired look, then it gently becomes a smile. “We’re proud of you, boy. You’re gonna be the best the Psychonauts have ever seen. I guarantee it.”
Agent is fighting the urge to bite his lip as his eyes get hot.
“Are you gonna cry?” Jackalope asks.
“No.” Agent reassures, though his voice cracks.
Lili walks up to Camper, and holds his hand. “Hey uh… I’m still… new to this whole girlfriend thing but… I… like to be around you and… I want you to like being around me too. Okay?”
Camper nods vigorously. Then he looks to Agent with bright eyes. “Oh, if Lili waits just a bit, then she can see the Crush!” Camper cheers.
Agent raises an eyebrow. “The what–”
A creature made of hearts suddenly glomps Agent, tackling him down to the ground and purring.
“What are you!? Gghk! ”
The Crush jabs one of its heart shaped hands into Agent and he suddenly giggles. “ Lili~ You’re so pretty~ and cool~ and awesome~ and tough~ ”
Lili blushes. She pulls out her own smelling salts. “I-I think my dad is calling me–”
She leaves the mind and The Crush also poofs out of existence.
Agent stares blankly for a moment. “That was humiliating…”
Lucy smiles and shrugs. “Nothing that I haven’t seen already. You should have seen how bad the crushes were when Helmut was in Bob’s mind.”
Ford laughs, remembering the old days.
“Aww, Pooter, you didn’t tell us you had a girlfriend!” Frazie teases, happy to go back into the old routine.
“Frazie, this is partly why I didn’t want to say anything until the right time!” Agent declares, getting up.
“We should also leave.” Sasha tells the family, pulling out the smelling salts. “We have… to make a report on this.”
One at a time, the family is sent out to leave, with Sasha and Milla being last. Without saying goodbye, they let the salts bring them back to the waking world.
“Let me out… Let me out…” There is scratching at the Thinker Print door that Truman hears.
Truman opens the door with his Thinkerprint, and Loboto bolts out. Truman looks back into the room, seeing a… lot of psychics in the room with Raz having the Psi-portal on his head. Some of them are still groggy after their extended stint in Raz’s mind. Truman had expected them outside of the mind five minutes ago.
Finally, the rest seem to astrally project back into their brain. They look back at Raz.
The closest to Raz are Lili and Dogen, who immediately hug their friend. This is followed by his family scrambling over to join this group hug, mainly worried about Raz himself.
Truman looks over at Hollis, who looks genuinely terrified of what she saw.
“That bad?”
“We need to make…
several
changes in Junior Agent Aquato’s schedule.”