As Raz continued, he learned more of the Doctor’s mind. He fought a Cyberman with a blonde man with a stick of celery on his lapel, beat a Sontaran with a man in a patchwork coat, outwitted a man in a goatee with a man carrying an umbrella with a question mark handle, ran through New York with a wavy-haired man, battled waves of Daleks with a grizzled old man, threw vinegar onto a Slitheen with a man in leather, saw the loss of the companion of a man in a pinstripe suit, nearly tripped over a man with a bow tie tripping over himself, fended off a Zygon with a man with attack eyebrows, averted the Flux with a woman with a long gray coat, arrested Beep the Meep with a version of the man in the pinstripe suit, threw Sutekh into the Time Vortex with a flamboyant black Scotsman, his memory with what looked like the Doctor’s companion was hazy, then finished with fending off Doctor Doom with the Doctor as she was now. After taking care of the last Censor, Raz and the Doctor finally talked. “All those monsters and enemies you fought, the friends you made,” he said as the two settled in the current console room, “the way I see it, if you knew who Gristol Malik was, you’d be putting him back into Psychoisolation.”
“Then, perhaps,” suggested the Doctor, “we go back into the real world and you can tell me who he is and why he’s so dangerous.”
“Yeah, I think I’ve seen enough here. See you back in the real world, Doctor!” The Doctor opened the TARDIS doors and Raz felt himself lifting away from the Doctor’s mind.
Raz blinked and saw that he was back in Sasha’s lab with Sasha checking over his instruments and the Doctor coming out of the trance. He then checked himself over and felt the weight of his body. “Most interesting,” muttered Sasha.
“What?” asked Raz.
“The scanners are saying that she has two hearts,” replied Sasha.
“Well, I DID learn she was from the planet of Gallifrey,” explained Raz. “And that she changes her face often
“An alien shapeshifter?” asked Sasha. “That’s a first for the Psychonauts.”
“There’s more, Agent Nein,” continued Raz. “I saw all her friends and enemies, none of them were Gristol Malik. She hadn’t even heard of the name until today. Her friends here are probably in the same boat.”
“We are!” confirmed Amy. “Now would you let us go?!” Sasha gestured and the restraints holding the Doctor and her friends released themselves.
“Much appreciated,” thanked the Doctor. “Now, how about some proper introductions? I’m the Doctor. The currently angry goth pink hedgehog girl is Amy Rose.”
“Really feel like smashing my hammer on you!” hissed Amy at Sasha.
“And the Twi’lek is Lurra Rus,” finished the Doctor. Lurra Rus put a soothing hand on Amy’s shoulder. “And you two are…?”
“Agent Sasha Nein of the Psychonauts,” greeted Sasha. “And this is my protégé, Razputin Aquato.”
“Hi!” greeted Raz. The Doctor’s eyes widened.
“Raz Aquato himself?! The youngest Psychonaut agent ever?!” she asked.
“You’ve heard of me?” asked Raz. The Doctor grinned.
“We only went through the highlights of my life,” she said. “Let’s say that if we went to specifics, you’d have spoilers about your wonderful future thanks to Sasha and Milla!”
“Wonderful future, hm?” mused Sasha as he took a drag out of his cigarette. He then smiled. “So Milla Vodello and I DO get something right!”
“So what’s my future like?!” asked Raz with his usual youthful exuberance. “Is it really awesome?! Do Lili and I have kids?! Ooh! Do one of us become the Grand Head?!”
“Ah ah! Spoilers,” replied the Doctor. “I can’t tell you the future. That will break the laws of time. Let’s just focus on the current crisis, hm? Who is Gristol Malik?”
“He’s the Gzesarevich of Grulovia,” explained Raz, “my dad’s old home. I’m half Grulovian.”
“Grulovia?” asked the Doctor. “But the whole country was washed away.”
“Well, you can blame Gristol’s parents for that,” replied Sasha. “Raz has had the most experience with him, but he told me and Agent Vodello about it all and how he got wrapped up in the whole thing. What do you say we walk and talk?”
“Sounds fine to me,” replied the Doctor.
The Doctor and her friends were officially cleared and brought on as freelance helpers to the Motherlobe. “So Gristol’s parents,” the Doctor was summing up, “pushed Lucretia Mux to the breaking point by making her the general of war, Maligula. Maligula tried to knock away the protestors, but her hydrokinesis resulted in the death of her sister, Marona Aquato, and sent her over the edge, flooding and destroying all of Grulovia, then Ford Cruller brought her back and altered the Aquato family’s memories so that she lived as Raz’s Nona instead of his great-aunt so that Maligula would never surface again, but parts of her past were coming back and she convinced you, Raz, to go to Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp to start the ball rolling in freeing her fully. Gristol, meanwhile, disguised himself as Nick Johnsmith the mailman and put his brain into Grand Head Truman Zonatto’s head while locking the brain away, then you rescued ‘Truman’ from the Rhombus of Ruin and tried to find out who kidnapped him in the first place, then you fixed Ford Cruller’s mind after it was shattered in the psychic duel with Maligula and tried to lock her away again with the Astralathe, but it failed thanks to Gristol in Truman’s body interfering, and Maligula rose again, but you entered her mind and managed to help Lucretia face Maligula and bring an end, then you put Truman and Gristol’s brains back into their proper bodies, and to finish it off, you put Gristol in Psychoisolation.” The Doctor took a breath. “…Have I missed anything?”
“…No, you pretty much got it,” replied Raz.
“Lucretia’s reconnecting with the Psychic Six and we’re keeping it under wraps as best we can,” said Sasha.
“So how did Gristol get out?” mused Lurra Rus. As they talked, Raz saw a young woman approaching them. He groaned.
“Norma, will you beat it?!” he complained. “We’re working on Gristol’s escape here!”
“…T…V…” mumbled Norma. Raz blinked.
“…What?!” he asked as worry crept into his mind.
“Raz?” asked Amy.
“Sasha-!” yelped Raz. Sasha looked into Norma’s ear.
“…Brainless!” he said.
“Oh no!” groaned Raz. “Gristol must have found that sneezing powder!”
“Could somebody fill us in?” asked the Doctor.
“Those with psychic powers,” explained Sasha, “can survive without a body.”
“That’s true of all species, even us Time Lords,” replied the Doctor.
“There’s a special sneezing powder,” said Raz, “that can make anyone sneeze with enough force to eject their brain from their body. It somehow works on non-psychics and keeps them alive, though not as long as psychics.”
“And Norma here encountered that same sneezing powder?” asked Amy.
“It’s the only explanation,” replied Sasha. “And Gristol must have had it smuggled to him.”
“So why not use it on Terryl?” asked Raz. “She still has her brain, last I heard.”
“Indeed, why not Terryl? It makes no sense,” remarked Sasha.
“…Unless Norma was part of his scheme in the first place,” mused Raz.
“Why?” asked Amy.
“Norma always grumbled that our promotion to Junior Psychonauts was underwhelming,” replied Raz. “Maybe he played on that?”
“…But that would mean she visited Psychoisolation in the first place,” mused the Doctor. “…Perhaps we should ask Terryl some questions.”
“Not a bad idea,” agreed Sasha.
“I’d be careful, though,” warned Raz. “She’s a bit…intense.”
The group arrived at Psychoisolation after informing the medical ward about Norma being brainless in the most literal sense. They met with the receptionist, Terryl. “HI!” she greeted, eager to talk to people. “Agent Nein! So good to see you! For a while, I thought the Psychonauts forgot about me!”
“Terryl, we need to ask you a few questions,” said Sasha. “It concerns Gristol Malik and Norma. Has she visited Gristol at any point before the breakout?”
“…Well, no,” replied Terryl, confused. “She only arrived on the day of the breakout and she was somehow overpowered by Gristol. He took advantage of her and decked her. I had to get medical staff over to fix her.”
“Decked?” asked Raz. “As in a punch? But her brain’s missing! No one can punch that hard, not even psychics!”
“Something just isn’t adding up,” muttered the Doctor. As she pondered, everyone heard someone rush into the building.
“LET ME IN! LET ME IN!” begged a voice.
“Gristol?!” yelped Raz. Gristol Malik then crashed into the group. He then grabbed Sasha by the arms and shook him, fear plain in his eyes.
“It’s all gone wrong! You need to let me in!” he babbled.
“Gristol, what ARE you talking about?” asked Sasha. “Did one of my experiments-?”
“Trust me, I WISH it was you!” insisted Gristol. “But it’s not! It’s his classmate! The rat! The schemer!” He pointed at Raz.
“Rat? Schemer?” asked Raz. “Who are you-?” The earth then shook. A metal hand then tore the front of the building off, door and all! The metal hand belonged to some giant robot with a brain swimming in green fluid!
“Ah, here to witness my work, Raz?!” asked a woman’s voice. Raz goggled in horror.
“Norma?!” he yelped.