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bcdrawsandwrites · 1 year

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[ID: A Bad Things Happen Bingo card. Various prompts are marked with a half-brain (prompt requested but not filled) or full-brain (prompt requested and finished) symbol, while the “Communication Suddenly Cut Off” prompt specifically is marked with a full brain symbol. /end ID]

OKAY! So here’s my second fic for my second @badthingshappenbingo challenge!

I am currently NO LONGER OPEN FOR REQUESTS. I have enough to work on to get a bingo! I MAY decide to reopen prompts later if I want to keep going after finishing these fics, but for now, I am closing requests!

This fic is for @pinkygrocket! Thanks to her and @jaywings for beta-reading!

[ID: A Psychonauts fanfic banner on a black-to-gray gradient background. On the left in white text it says “Prompt #2: Communication Suddenly Cut Off.” On the right is an animated purple figment a glittering psitanium crystal cluster. /end ID]

Prompt: Communication Suddenly Cut Off Characters: Razputin Aquato and Sasha Nein Warnings: Mild claustrophobia, (SPOILERS: blood, minor injury)

---~~~---

Mission Notes:

Meet Ford for new mission debriefing!

Pack gear for ULTRA COOL NEW MISSION!

Double-check AWESOME MISSION GEAR THAT IS TOTALLY NOT GOING TO BE BORING!

Board COOL MISSION HELICOPTER FOR INCREDIBLE DEATH-DEFYING MISSION!

Travel into the DEEP WILDERNESS for DANGEROUS, IMPORTANT MISSION!

count rocks

Raz glared down at his notebook, tapping his pen against it.

Nope, there really was no way to glamorize this.

With a dramatic sigh, he TK'd his pen and notebook into the open backpack that sat at his feet, one strap hooked around his foot to keep it stable. It wasn't his old backpack, but a much larger one equipped with camping gear, as well as various tools Otto had supplied him with for the mission. He considered triple-checking his gear to make sure he had the counting device thingy, the experimental psychic tent shield, all the food, his sleeping bag, and everything else. But there wasn't much of a point when they were already on their way there. Frowning, he zipped the bag shut.

Is everything all right, Razputin? asked a voice in his head.

Looking up, Raz caught Sasha's gaze from the seat across from him. He was still getting used to the sight of him in exploration gear rather than a lab coat. "This isn't some secret mission," Raz said, raising his voice to try to be heard above the helicopter's blades. "We can just talk!"

Yes, but this is easier than competing against the noise of our transport, or bothering our pilot by speaking over the headset.

Well, he wasn't wrong. Raz shrugged. I dunno. I was all excited to go out on a new mission—(especially with Agent Nein! he added to himself)—but we're just... counting rocks.

We're surveying the levels of psitanium and its effects in a small area of Canadian wilderness near the Coast Mountains.

Yeah. Raz leaned back in his seat, fixing Sasha with a deadpan look. Counting rocks.

Sasha tipped his head. Do you believe our mission is unimportant?

I dunno. I just thought we were supposed to be... saving the world? Helping people? Fighting inner demons and all that?

Certainly. And this is helping people, in a way. TKing a cigarette out of his pocket, Sasha stared at it for a moment before thinking better of lighting it within a helicopter, and pocketed it again. Psitanium is a volatile substance that can have strange effects on nonpsychic humans and wildlife.

I know, I know. Agent Cruller already went over this with us.

Then you understand how dangerous psychic wildlife is to an unprepared person.

Yeah, but... Raz gave a vague, useless gesture with his hands. We're not saving people's lives or anything. A thought struck him, and he sat upright. What if we encounter a lost explorer who's in the clutches of a telekinetic grizzly bear?

Sasha raised an eyebrow. You wish to discover an innocent person in danger to make the mission more exciting?

Wincing, Raz slumped back in his seat. ...No, not really.

Hmm. Think of it this way: The only information we have about this area is a rough idea of where it is, as well as some vague reports of unusual phenomena—glowing rocks and strange animals, likely psitanium and the animals it has affected. It's our job to expand on that information so that it is available for others to reference. In that way, we are saving people before they are put into danger. Does that make sense?

Yeah, it does, but... He looked up, spreading out his hands in exasperation. It's counting rocks.

Sasha chuckled, shaking his head. Measuring the area and levels of the psitanium deposit, but yes. And don't worry, you'll learn to appreciate tamer missions like this. Nature can be quite beautiful, and we’ll be far away from any of the noise of civilization. As you remember, sometimes isolation can be a good thing. He let Raz dwell on that for a moment before continuing, Not to mention, you need some more experience filling out mission paperwork.

Raz groaned, holding his head in his hands. That paperwork for getting a passport was bad enough...

You'll get used to it. It's not so bad. I did plenty of survey work when I first joined the Psychonauts, after all.

Raz perked up. Really?! What kind of—

The helicopter swerved.

Grabbing at nearby poles, Raz and Sasha managed to stabilize themselves as the helicopter did the same. Raz gave Sasha a bewildered look. What the heck was—?

"Sorry about that, Agent Nein." The voice of the helicopter pilot speaking over their headsets broke through their thoughts and they looked up. After a brief uncomfortable pause, he continued, “I’m… a bit behind on maintenance, but I wasn’t expecting her to do that.”

That’s encouraging, Raz thought with a frown.

“Regardless, we're approaching the marked area. There's nowhere to land, so once we're low enough I'll put down the ladder—"

"No need," Sasha replied through the headset. He stood up, TKing his own backpack behind him. "Just open the door and let us know when we're at a safe area to land."

“Crazy psychics…” the pilot muttered, not caring that Sasha or Raz could hear him. He then raised his voice again: "Roger that."

Raz hopped down from his seat, slipping the backpack over his shoulders. Feeling the helicopter shift beneath him, he grabbed a nearby pole to stabilize himself. Are we there?

Just about, Sasha replied, facing the door. Prepare yourself.

Nodding, Raz pulled his goggles over his eyes, and Sasha did the same with his own pair.

The next few minutes passed like a few dozen as they waited for the helicopter to get closer to the ground. Finally, the pilot called to them again. "All right, get ready. I'm opening the door in three, two—"

The door opened, and the sound of the helicopter's blades blasted into them like an explosion. It briefly reminded Raz of the airplane he'd been on in Basic Braining, but this was... well, real.

Before he could dwell on that for much longer, Sasha removed his headset and gestured for him to approach the door. Raz removed his headset, shoved his helmet back onto his head, and looked out. As far as the eye could see was a green sea of trees, rolling under a silver sky and over jagged snowcapped mountains. Raz’s jaw dropped. He'd seen plenty of forests and mountains before, but not from this height. This was high, even for an acrobat. It was like the high-dive in Nona’s mind… except this wasn’t a mind.

"Uh—"

Sasha put a hand on his shoulder, and Raz tipped his head up to meet his gaze. When Sasha nodded at him, he nodded back, and they turned down at the ground again. Finally, Sasha leaped from the helicopter, Raz following half a second later.

Cold wind streaked past Raz and whipped against his jacket as he zipped past his senior agent. Gritting his teeth, he held his right hand upward and snagged a thought bubble, which caught him in the air, slowing his descent. He leaned to the left to maneuver past a tree that was a bit too close for his liking, and gave a start when something else drifted into his field of vision: Sasha, "standing" perfectly straight and moving at a leisurely pace toward the ground as though taking an invisible elevator. A moment later, Raz's thought bubble popped, and he dropped the last few feet to the ground below, Sasha landing a few seconds later.

Overhead, the sound of the helicopter faded as it began its journey back to its base.

"Are you all right, Razputin?" Sasha asked, lifting his goggles.

Raz stood stock still as what he'd just done sank in. "Th-that..." With a shaking hand he pulled his goggles back onto his helmet. "...was so cool!" Grinning, he looked back up at Sasha. "Wait until I tell Lili I got to jump out of a helicopter!"

"Not so boring now, hm?" With a smile, Sasha TK'd a map and a compass out of his backpack and unfolded it before the two of them, Raz standing on his toes to get a better look. Marked on the map was a red X—the coordinates the helicopter pilot had been instructed to drop them off at—as well as an area a short distance north of it that was circled in red, a few question marks surrounding it. Sasha glanced between the map and compass a few times before turning in the correct direction and TKing one more item out of his backpack: a handheld blue-and-gray piece of equipment that featured an antenna with some psitanium-infused bulb at the end, a couple handles, several buttons, a keypad, and a screen.

Recognizing the device, Raz brightened, TKing his own out of his backpack and looking it over. "Right, the Psitanium Surveyor Mk. 4!" he exclaimed, turning it in his hands. "We're supposed to input our current coordinates into it, right?"

"I see you remembered Otto's instructions," Sasha said with a nod. He flipped the device on, eyeing the map one more time before he keyed in a few numbers. "That's correct. Be sure to get the numbers exact." With that, he moved the map closer to Raz.

"Got it." Raz hit a switch on the side of the device, whose screen lit up with purple text prompting him to input the coordinates. Looking between the map and the number pad a few times, Raz punched in the digits, double checking them before hitting the enter key.

The numbers were replaced by a large purple check mark and a cheerful chime, before the screen then displayed a message that read, "Beginning survey!"

"So... now we walk?" he asked, looking back up at Sasha.

With a hum of confirmation, Sasha moved the map back to his side before marching north through the forest.

Following Sasha, Raz surveyed his surroundings. Now that he was on the ground, the sights were a lot more familiar. Not that he'd ever been to this particular forest, but his family had traveled far and wide, and he'd seen his fair share of them. The sky was overcast and cold, the trees and grass spread before them were a dull green, and the mountains looming in the distance sported a cold blue-gray. Frowning, he snatched the map from Sasha's telekinetic grip, looking over the circled area—miles away from those mountains. "Man, too bad the psitanium deposit's not in the mountains."

"Thank goodness. That would make our work a lot harder."

"I guess." It might've been cooler, though. Sighing, Raz moved the map closer to Sasha, who accepted it back into his telekinetic grip without looking. The forest was quiet, other than the occasional distant caw of a bird and pine needles shuffling in the breeze. Raz fidgeted with the device in his hands, rubbing his thumb over the buttons without pressing them.

"So uh... you were saying you did survey work before?"

"Yes, many times," Sasha answered. A fallen log loomed in front of him, and he lifted his feet off the ground, levitating over the obstacle before landing on the other side. "It's typical work for new agents."

"But you're not a new agent now."

"No, but you are, and you need a senior agent with you."

Raz tipped his head in interest. "So who was your senior agent you got paired with?"

"Otto Mentallis, of course."

Eyes widening, Raz hurried up to Sasha's side. "Wow!" he exclaimed, and Sasha glanced down at him. "What was it like working with him back when—"

Sasha's foot caught against a stray tree root, and he let out a startled cry as he stumbled.

Raz was quick to catch him before he fell, his TK hand grabbing Sasha's backpack before it dropped on top of him. "Sorry!" he cried, helping him back upright. "I'm sorry, Sasha, I didn't mean—"

"It's all right, Razputin," he said tensely, brushing himself off. "But perhaps now is not the best time to engage in idle conversation."

Wincing, Raz nodded before hanging his head. "Understood."

They continued in silence for some time. Sasha checked the map every so often while Raz glanced down at his device a few times, waiting for any sort of change, and then looked back up at Sasha. He couldn't help but notice how out here in the wilderness, Sasha’s shoulders were tense and he constantly checked his feet to make sure he was hovering over any obstacles. He'd always looked a lot cooler in the comics, but here in real life, he was out of his element. Granted, an untamed forest was a far cry from a sleek enemy base, the Motherlobe, or even the Whispering Rock campgrounds. He needed to be a bit more careful out here.

Man, even the fact that he was on a mission with Sasha Nein didn't help make things any more exciting—not when he couldn't even talk to him, anyway.

After half an hour of silence and still nothing from either of their devices, Raz stopped in his tracks. "This is taking forever! Do we really have to keep walking until these surveyors find anything?"

Sasha stopped as well, looking back at him. "Yes. They'll alert us to the presence of psitanium nearby, and we can start mapping out the perimeter of the deposit."

"Yeah, but we don't even know where it is, other than maybe somewhere north of where we landed." Raz swung his hand out to gesture at the forest. "We could be wandering for hours!"

There was a tinge of exasperation to Sasha's voice as he turned around. "What else do you propose we do, then?"

"...Good question." Putting a hand to his chin, Raz scrutinized the forest around them. There were a lot of normal-looking trees, some hills to the west, some fallen logs scattered around... and a familiar chattering nearby. Raz perked up. "I got it!"

After setting his equipment down, Raz sorted through his backpack and pulled out an oatmeal-raisin granola bar. He peeled the wrapper away and shoved it back into the backpack, then transferred the bar over to a TK hand and peered around the forest. All right, where are you...

Another chittering noise answered his thought, this time closer than before. Raz strained to hear it—to actually hear it, the way Oleander or Dogen could, or the way he could understand Harold. Squirrels were close enough to rats, right? And he could understand that one squirrel on the jet when he used clairvoyance on it, so this should work, shouldn't it?

It took a lot more concentration than he was expecting, but eventually he was able to make out a few of the words: Smell? Smell good? Food?

"That's right, my fluffy little friend!" Raz called out. "This is good food!" He paused, rubbing his chin. "If you like raisins, anyway."

Give it! The squirrel—one with gray fur rather than the reddish-brown ones Raz saw around Whispering Rock and the Motherlobe—finally reared its head, skittering out from behind a tree, but balked at the sight of Raz and Sasha. Uh-oh!

"Wait, it's okay!" Raz held up his hands while moving the granola bar closer, but still out of the squirrel's reach. "We're not gonna hurt you. We just want to ask you something—then you can have this!" He waggled the granola bar. "Can you help us?"

The squirrel stood still for a few agonizing moments, its gaze fixed on the granola bar. Its nose wiggled. Food smells good.

"Taking that as a yes. Okay, so, can you tell us where we can find funny glowing rocks?"

After a few seconds of silence, the squirrel fluffed up. Bad rocks! Very bad! Not good for eating. Many-color-rocks bad. One-color rocks worse!

Raz raised an eyebrow. "Many-color-rocks? No, we’re just looking for purple ones.”

What’s purple?

Raz tipped his head back and rolled his eyes. “Nevermind—can you just tell me where the glowy rocks are?”

Flicking its tail, the squirrel chattered something Raz couldn't catch, though he got the distinct impression it was doing the squirrel equivalent of muttering under its breath and calling him "stupid" in several different ways. But finally it sat down on all fours.Toward sunset. Yes. Bad rocks!

"Toward sunset?" Raz repeated.

"To the west, then," Sasha replied, and Raz looked back at him. "We'll have to keep an eye on our map as to not get lost, but it's as good a lead as any."

"Great!" Grinning, Raz turned back toward the squirrel. "Okay, you can have your—"

The squirrel sprang forward, snatching the granola bar in its mouth and bolting out of sight.

"...food." Sighing, Raz dismissed his TK hand and pulled his backpack over his shoulders. He picked up the survey device and approached Sasha again. "Let's go?"

"Yes."

They resumed their trek through the forest, this time heading west to the hillier region. The terrain was rougher here, and Sasha took to constantly levitating in order to avoid tripping on the uneven ground. He checked the map repeatedly, along with the compass and his own survey device, and Raz got the feeling he wasn't happy about being out in this area.

Just as Raz opened his mouth to suggest they turn back, a two-note tone beeped from their equipment, and the bulb attached to them lit up a bright purple. Eyebrows raised, Raz looked down at the screen, finding it now displayed their current coordinates, as well as a new reading: "Psitanium power count: 7 ottos.”

"Impressive!" Sasha said with a small smile. TKing a pen out of his backpack, he marked their position on the map. "Excellent work, Razputin. It seems your informant was good on his word."

Raz pumped his fist.

"Now that we've reached part of the border of this territory, we can begin the survey proper."

Oh, right, this part. Sighing, Raz held out his device. "So we're marking the perimeter, right?"

"Yes. Then once the perimeter for the deposit has been marked out, we can move inward."

"All right, I can take care of that pretty quick!" With the thought of rapidly knocking out this mission lifting his spirits, Raz summoned his levitation ball, prepared to charge forward.

"Wait!"

Raz paused, balancing on one leg. "Don't worry, Sasha! If you can't keep up, you can just stay put and I'll meet you again when—"

"No, Razputin. The survey device can't detect the psitanium levels that quickly. This must be done at a walking pace if it's to be done accurately, and an accurate assessment in the area could mean the difference between life and death for travelers. Not to mention, we need to keep an eye out for any potential anomalies."

Groaning inwardly, Raz dismissed the lev ball, dropping to the ground with a thump. "Walking pace, got it."

As they used their devices to help them determine where the perimeter was, Raz kept an eye out for anything unusual. About ten minutes into their journey, he spotted just that: a lumpy, faded brown object that stood against the green foliage. "Hey!" Nearly dropping his survey tool in his excitement, Raz crouched down to inspect the object, noting the straps on it. "I think this is someone's old backpack!"

"It seems to be." Sasha hovered closer. "It's certainly seen better days."

Lifting it off the ground, Raz winced; he had to agree. From a large hole chewed in the bottom of the backpack tumbled out a few granola bar wrappers and animal droppings. "Yeah, some animals got to this. There's still something inside, though!" He set it down and unzipped a smaller pocket, and his eyes lit up. "Woah! Check this out!" Using TK he pulled out a clunky square object that reminded him of his Otto-Shot camera. "It looks like some agents were sent here before us! Were they Psychonauts? Or—wait, no, probably the Gastronauts! What kinda spy gear is this?" He looked back at Sasha, only to blink at the slight smile on his face. "What's so funny?"

"I'm not sure I would consider a polaroid camera 'spy gear,'" Sasha remarked.

Face flushing, Raz shoved the camera back into the backpack. "Right..."

"Nevertheless, you may have found something noteworthy. Does the backpack contain any developed photos?"

Raz's face brightened again as he dug through the bag. After a moment he TK'd out a handful of black-and-white photos, but frowned at their state. Many of them were chewed up, some to the point where they were completely unsalvageable. "Yeah, but it looks like the animals got to these before we did." Flipping through them, he saw a few photos of people (unrecognizable thanks to the damage), a photo of some deer a distance away from the camera, and a dark photo in which only some large crystals were visible, embedded into rock. "Huh! Looks like they found psitanium," he said, holding up the last one.

"That seems the case, though that doesn't appear to have been taken in the forest." Sasha's glasses narrowed. "Perhaps a cave?"

"Oooh! Are we going to explore a cave?" Raz asked, finally standing up. He TK'd the last photo into his own backpack.

"We might encounter one later, after inspecting this perimeter. Though hopefully it's not too rough of a terrain... I wasn't planning on doing any spelunking."

"It's not too bad. The caves in the quarry were pretty cool!"

"Hmm."

Now in much higher spirits, Raz resumed his trek. Maybe this mission would be exciting after all.

---~~~---

Three and a half hours later, it was not more exciting.

They'd found nothing notable past the backpack—not even a cave.

Not that it was terrible, but this was definitely the most boring mission he'd ever been on. Even when he was just collecting cards, scavenger hunt items, and mission-critical assets around the camp and the quarry, he was still running and jumping and making use of his acrobatic skills. Here, though, it was a lot of walking. A lot of walking back and forth, too, to make sure they were marking the perimeter of the psitanium deposit correctly, with one of them staying outside the perimeter and one within. Sasha did the tedious part of marking the map, at least. But in the past few hours, the most exciting thing had just been occasionally switching places to shake things up a bit. As much as Raz itched for something to happen, there were no anomalies so far. There were the occasional animals, but none they encountered were psychic. In fact, most seemed to stay far from the perimeter.

There hadn't been much talking, either, aside from Raz letting Sasha know his current readings, or Sasha occasionally announcing that they would stop for a brief rest. As it was, Raz gave a start when his senior agent spoke up: "And that should do it."

"Huh?" Raz moved closer to Sasha, standing up on his toes to look at the map. "Do what? Are we done?"

"See for yourself."

The map was TK'd down to Raz, who immediately brightened at the sight of a complete (but very wonky) circle on the map. "Oh, finally! Now we can explore this area, right?"

"Yes, though remember that we'll need to maintain our walking pace in order to keep our readings accurate. Make note of any anomalies, as well."

"No sign of those yet," Raz muttered. "But... didn't the reports we got say something about psychic animals?"

Sasha lit a cigarette with pyrokinesis, smoking it as he mused. "They did. There were reports of people encountering strange, terrifying creatures that they could not identify. However, keep in mind that most of the reports come from explorers, many of whom often exaggerate their claims. As well, so far our psitanium readings have been fairly low. It may not be affecting the wildlife as much as the psitanium levels at, say, Whispering Rock affect the animals there." When Raz heaved another sigh, Sasha looked down at him again. "Nevertheless, there's a chance of something turning up. On one of my own surveys I encountered psitanium-enhanced cockroaches."

"Wait, really? What were they like?"

"They glowed purple, and were annoyingly resistant to psi-blasts."

"Oh." Raz blinked. "Cool! Cockroaches that are even more invincible than normal."

"I suppose, though not enjoyable to encounter in one's backpack."

"Blegh." Raz stuck out his tongue, then shook his head. "Well, I don't want that, but it'd be cool to see literally anything."

"We certainly won't see much by standing around." Sasha nodded to the north and began levitating out in that direction, Raz following suit. "We still have several hours before we run out of daylight. It will be good to cover as much ground as we can before then."

"And then we can whip out the tents and tent shields!" Raz exclaimed, TKing the latter device out of his backpack to look it over. It was bundled up into a ball right now, but it was supposed to create a psychic force field comparable to a psi-shield around the tent. Otto claimed it did, anyway. "Do you think these things work?"

"Hopefully, but if not, I believe we have enough power between the two of us to protect against any aggressive wildlife."

Okay, he didn't want that either, but hopefully surveying this new area would provide some amount of excitement.

Unfortunately, this part of the mission was nearly as dull as the last part, walking (what felt like) near-aimlessly through the woods as their survey tool continued to pick up readings around them. What made it slightly different was the fact that occasionally, purple shards dotted the ground, and thin lines of purple gas bubbled out of cracks in the soil here and there. The sights weren't as common as the ones at Whispering Rock, but it was something, at least.

However, it was not enough to stave off Raz's boredom. The sensations he'd experienced had started off subtle, but now he felt like his skin was crawling, like his muscles were about to explode, like his mind wanted to start setting things on fire if he couldn't move soon. He swore he hadn't gone this long without running since he'd passed out for nearly twenty-four hours a month or so ago. He almost wanted to ask Sasha if they could stop for another bathroom break, if only for an excuse to run somewhere—

The snap of a twig rang out through the woods.

Raz froze, his mind full of blind, paralyzing terror, as though he were looking into the maw of a monster and unable to move away from it. His breathing picked up, his heart pounding, only for a thought to strike him—the emotion wasn't his. It was like when he could sense the hunger pangs when he CV'd into a hungry fish guard, or when he felt the crackling anxiety of the squirrel in the jet. On top of that, there was something speaking in his mind, but the words were jumbled and confused and heightened in panic.

"Um, S-Sasha?" he stammered, and Sasha stopped, turning back to him. "I-I don't think we're alone!"

The senior agent lowered himself to the ground, stepping closer. "What is it? Can you sense something?"

"I-I think something's sensing me! And... trying to talk to me?" He placed a hand on his forehead, trying to reach out, but he couldn't CV into something he couldn't see. He looked in the direction where he'd heard the twig snap, but if something was there, it wasn't visible to him. "I-I dunno where it is!"

Sasha was looking around too. "Can you try talking to it?"

Why hadn't he thought of that? Shutting his eyes, Raz spoke up within his mind: Who are you? I can't understand you!

The presence in his mind seemed just as confused, but no less afraid. Even so, it seemed to compel him to look in a specific direction.

Opening his eyes, he turned toward the east, but could still see nothing out in that direction. What is it? Can you show me—? And before he could ask anything further, he let out a startled cry, for the foreign voice shouted into his mind before abruptly fleeing. Meanwhile, in the direction he'd heard the twig snap, there was the unmistakable sound of something darting through the woods in the direction opposite of where Raz was looking.

"Interesting," Sasha remarked, staring after the noise.

"What is it?" Raz looked up at Sasha, then back where the noise had come from. "Did you see it?"

"A deer of some sort fled from here. Is the presence still in your mind?"

Looking down, Raz rubbed his head. "No... it went away at the same time the deer must've left."

"Fascinating!" Sasha smiled down at him. "Razputin, I believe you've encountered a clairvoyant deer."

"Ohhhh!" Raz brightened. "That's probably why I couldn't understand it. But..." Frowning, he looked back toward the east. "It was scared. Really, really scared."

"Not surprising. Deer tend to be fearful of humans in general."

"But then why would it try to talk to me at all? It felt like it was trying to tell me something."

"Hmm, you might want to speak to Agent Boole or Morry about expanding your zoolingualism skills," Sasha said, turning toward the east as well. "Could you gather anything from what you sensed?"

"Well, it wanted me to look this way," Raz said, pointing out into the forest. "But when I asked if it could tell me or show me what was out there, it kinda yelled at me, I think, and that's when it ran away."

"Perhaps it's frightened of something out in that direction." Pulling up his map, Sasha scrutinized the marked area. "There doesn't appear to be anything remarkable out that way, but it may be data that wasn't fully recorded." Moving it away, he let out a thoughtful hum and took a drag from his cigarette. "Clairvoyant deer... that would certainly explain the reports from the terrified explorers."

"Do you think they're protecting this place?" Raz asked. "Maybe there's something there they don't want us to find."

"Unfortunately for them, exploring this area is part of our mission." Stepping back up into a hover, Sasha began moving toward the east. "If there's something out there, it's our duty to make note of it."

Raz nodded, only for something to click in his head, and a smile crossed his face. "A psychic mystery!" Grinning, he broke into a run ahead of Sasha. "We're investigating a psychic mystery!"

"And also conducting survey work!" Sasha called after him, and Raz skidded to a halt with a groan.

The two continued in this new direction, occasionally looking at their survey devices. Though forced to move at a walking pace, excitement surged through Raz’s bones. This is the kind of stuff that gets into True Psychic Tales! If they don't publish the Whispering Rock thing, they'll have to publish this one!

"I suppose you're happy you got your wish, hm?"

"Uh!" Raz jumped, straightening his back and holding a hand over his head. He looked up at Sasha in alarm. "I-I didn't think you could read my mind?"

"No, but I can read that smile on your face quite easily," Sasha remarked with an amused smile of his own. "I'm glad you get to have a bit of excitement on your first survey mission."

Raz gave an embarrassed laugh. "Well, you know, all work is important work for a—" Sasha's words sank in, and his jaw dropped. "First?! You mean I'm gonna have to do more of these?!"

"Weren't you just saying that all work is important work for a Psychonaut?"

"Well, yeah... but is there at least any survey work where I can run around?"

Sasha shrugged. "I suppose you could take that up with Agents Zanotto or Forsythe later."

"Yeah, maybe." Sighing, Raz continued onward. "Well, at least we still have this psychic mystery to solve!"

"Indeed." Sasha resumed hovering alongside him. "I wouldn't get your hopes up too much, as it's possible it could merely be a predator the deer feared, or perhaps a larger concentration of psitanium that's too much for them to handle."

"Yeah, but what if it's not?" Raz pointed his finger upward. "It could be an anomaly, like you said before!"

"The clairvoyant deer you encountered was an anomaly in and of itself. But yes, it could be."

Grinning again, Raz looked down at the surveyor. "I don't think it's a larger concentration of psitanium, anyway. It looks like these things are detecting even lower levels of psitanium in this—"

The device's screen flickered and the bulb on its antennae flashed.

"Uhh..." Raz blinked. "Is it supposed to do that?"

Sasha's glasses narrowed as he stared down at his own survey device. "Strange..."

Curious, Raz crept forward, keeping an eye on the device as it continued to flicker. A few more steps forward, and it began to emit a quiet, garbled noise that sounded like a mix between static and beeping. "Sasha, I think something's—"

The device emitted a few loud, frantic beeps before the screen went dark and the bulb turned off. Raz flipped the switch on and off a few times, but nothing happened. Glancing over at Sasha, he found his device to be doing the same, flickering and beeping before shutting off.

"That should not have happened," Sasha murmured, staring at the now-dead device before him.

Raz turned the device around, skimming it for some form of instructions, but found nothing. "Well that's not good." Wincing, he TK'd the device back into his backpack and looked back at Sasha. "Did we fail the mission?" he asked in a small voice.

"Well..." Sasha TK'd his survey device into his backpack as well. "Otto may be able to save the data we gathered from one of our devices—though it will be an incomplete survey—and we did manage to mark the perimeter of this place."

"What do we do now?"

"Locate the cause of the disturbance." With that, Sasha continued forward. "It may have been something environmental."

Nodding, Raz started to follow Sasha, but paused. "...Hey, Sasha, since we're not surveying anymore..."

Sasha glanced back at him, then sighed. "Very well, Raz. You may run."

Raz brightened, bolting ahead of Sasha on a lev ball. "FINALLY!" he exclaimed, grateful for the rush of air that whipped past him as he barreled through the forest, moving into what appeared to be a much hillier area. "Now let's see what's—"

He'd barely gotten a few yards forward when he skidded to a stop, faced with something he hadn't expected. "Uhh... Sasha?"

A moment later, Sasha was at his side, and the two of them looked up at the massive cave entrance that yawned before them. Small psitanium crystals dotted the walls of it, but not enough to light the inside.

"I'll bet that disturbance came from somewhere in here!" Raz exclaimed, pointing a finger upward. "There isn't much psitanium out this way, but maybe there's a big psitanium rock in there that messed up the devices." Remembering the photo, he TK’d it out of his bag and compared it to the cave entrance. “The photo showed some pretty big crystals! The ones out here are small, but I bet they’re bigger deeper in the cave.”

Frowning, Sasha TK'd a flashlight out of his backpack, indicating for Raz to do the same. "Possibly, but let us be cautious nonetheless."

Raz pulled out his flashlight and followed Sasha into the cave, swinging his light this way and that and marveling at how the shadows moved. Most of the caves back at camp or at the quarry had some sort of lighting to keep them from being impossibly dark to navigate, so this was a new experience. Though aside from that, there wasn't much of interest here other than the tiny psitanium fragments that were scattered across the walls and seemed to thin out the further they went. Otherwise it was wide, chilly, and damp, with water dripping from the ceiling somewhere deeper within.

And what sounded like a distant rumble.

Raz stopped. "Did you hear that?"

"I did." Stopping as well, Sasha shone his flashlight further in, but the beam failed to illuminate anything out of the ordinary. "It could merely be things shifting within the cave... or an animal. Or perhaps a person."

"I hope it's not that last one." Raz shuddered.

"It's not likely," Sasha said, moving on. "We've received no reports of missing persons in this area."

It wasn't long until they reached a fork in the cave, one cavern being significantly smaller than the other. Raz examined the two paths before looking back up at Sasha. "Do you think we should split up here?"

"Splitting up is not an ideal strategy in this circumstance," Sasha remarked.

"Yeah, but do you really want to duck through this?" Raz stepped into the smaller fork. The ceiling was only half a foot over his head, and Sasha frowned.

"...No." Breathing out a sigh, Sasha shook his head. "Very well, but please keep in constant contact with me via telepathy. Let me know immediately if there is a problem, and I will do the same." He paused, then turned around, TKing a handful of psitanium fragments out of the wall and into a small pile on the ground between the two tunnels. "In case one of us has to turn around, this will mark the fork in the cave. It may be easy to miss otherwise when backtracking."

"Sounds good to me!" Grinning, Raz darted into the smaller tunnel, while Sasha took the larger. "I bet there's something cool down here!"

The tunnel led him downward, growing narrower and darker the further he went. No more psitanium crystals marked this place, and he placed a hand on his temple to make a note of that to Sasha.

Here as well, Sasha replied. The amount of psitanium has dwindled to nothing, at least on a surface level. There could be more, but we have no way of knowing without our surveyor devices.

Or a dowsing rod!

Ach, those things are a pain to use.

It's not too bad, unless you're doing it at night. I'm not a fan of getting set on fire. He paused. …Isn’t it kinda weird though?

No, not enjoying the sensation of being set ablaze is quite normal.

No, I mean, the photo showed really big crystals, but we’re not getting any more here.

Oh. Yes, that is strange. But it could be as you said, and that there are larger crystals deeper within the cavern.

That makes sense. They kept moving, Raz finding he had to duck as he explored further. This tunnel's just getting narrower. What's it like on your end?

Only slightly narrower in width, but no change otherwise.

That's too bad. It'd be neat to find money here. Raz grinned as he sensed the slight annoyance on Sasha's end. Okay, okay, sorry, couldn't resist. But we could find treasure down here!

Possibly, but I doubt it would be the cause of the interference.

Yeah, you're probably right. Feeling a twinge in his neck, Raz winced as he continued to duck in the narrow tunnel. Fortunately, it opened up a bit more a few feet later, and he let out a relieved sigh. Okay, got enough space here to stand again. How about you? He waited a moment, and when Sasha didn't reply, he sent out another message: Sasha?

Oh, sorry. I was focusing on... something.

That was weird. What did you find?

I'm not sure just yet. I can feel something up ahead, but...

Raz's eyebrows raised in interest. Really? I wonder if there's something further up on my end, too! For a moment he closed his eyes, trying to sense anything up ahead, but there was nothing he could hear or smell, or even sense telepathically. Man, I'm not getting anything. Can you give me any details on what you're getting on your end?

Silence.

Frowning, Raz sent a stronger signal. Sasha! Are you listening?

When Sasha answered, his mental voice was distant. I... yes, I am... …but... something... …is...

Something about the reply made Raz shudder. Is everything okay, Sasha? He waited for a few moments before sending out another urgent message: Sasha?!

Still no reply came, and Raz swung his flashlight around the enclosed space, whose walls seemed a lot closer than they had before. Unseen moisture dripped around him, and he swore he could hear a low groan in the depths of the cavern. Or was that just his mind playing tricks on him?

And then Sasha's reply came, somehow both deafening and eerily quiet at the same time, like a distant scream: Razputin, get out of here now!

What?! Raz's breathing picked up, quick and shallow. Sasha, what's going on?! What's wrong?

Though the reply was immediate this time, it was even more distant, only a handful of words making it out to him: —danger—leave—help...

The last word echoed in the silence.

No, Raz thought frantically, holding his head in his free hand. No, no. Sasha?! Sasha, answer me!

The thought never left his head. Their psychic connection had been severed, and Raz was alone in the cave.

His heart hammered in his chest, and without a second thought he spun around, running back the way he'd come. He moved so quickly that he nearly forgot to duck in the narrow portion of the tunnel, which would've put an end to their mission in an instant. Sasha, can you answer me? he called out again. The mental message went nowhere.

Heart now pounding in his throat, Raz kept running as fast as he could with the heavy backpack on his shoulders, only to skid to a stop at something that caught the corner of his eye: the small pile of psitanium that Sasha had placed on the ground to mark the fork in the cave. He turned around, now facing the tunnel Sasha had entered. "I'm coming, Sasha!" he called out, summoning a levitation ball and charging in. "I won't leave without you!"

Once again Raz swore he heard a groan somewhere in the depths of the cave. Swallowing down his anxiety, he willed himself to move faster.

As Sasha had stated, there wasn't much of interest here. The cave didn't immediately grow narrow in width—though the ceiling of the cave grew taller further in—and instances of psitanium grew fewer and farther between until they disappeared entirely. Yet the further he traveled, the harder it was to stay steady on his lev ball... but that was powered by positive thought, which he didn't have a whole lot of right now. Gritting his teeth, he dismissed the lev ball and charged on foot.

To his surprise, he spotted something farther down the tunnel—something... glowing? But what could be glowing in this—

Raz gasped. Sasha's flashlight!

"Sasha!" he called, willing himself to run faster. Yet the further he got, the more dazed and lightheaded he felt. It's... it's just anxiety, Raz told himself, smacking the side of his face. Keep it together! Sasha's in danger!

The light up ahead was growing larger, and brighter, and his vision swam just trying to look at it. A heavy stone formed in the pit of his stomach. Was this how Compton felt before he started to manage his anxiety better? "H-hang on, Sasha...!"

The light grew brighter, and it felt like an age before Raz realized he was no longer running. It was getting harder to walk, almost like he was trudging through a swamp. Though he still felt lightheaded, his thoughts were clear. What's going on...? This... can't be right. Our flashlights aren't that bright.

Remembering he was holding his own, he looked down at it, then at where it shone, only to give a jolt when he realized that while it was on, its beam was not lighting the cave. Instead it was the brightness ahead, bathing the walls of the cave in an unearthly yellow glow.

Wait—yellow?

Recognition shot through Raz's mind like a psi-blast, and the sheer horror of it allowed him to regain control of his senses. He picked up the pace again, charging headlong through the cavern.

It wasn't a flashlight. It was psilirium.

Some of the crystals were jutting out of the walls up ahead, as the psitanium had, but these were larger, and growing moreso deeper into the cave.

"Sasha! Sasha!" he called, only for another low rumble to answer him, and the wicked yellow light grew ever brighter.

Raz willed his legs to move faster, but his foot caught on something and sent him crashing forward, his flashlight clattering on the ground. "Agh!" he cried out, sprawling on the cave floor. Shooting an angry glance over his shoulder, he was about to vent his frustration on the rock he'd tripped over, only for the words to die on his tongue.

His foot was resting against a large camping backpack. Slowly, he turned his gaze, and found a tall, thin figure crumpled on the ground a few feet away. He might have looked sickly, but it was hard to tell in the harsh yellow light. What was apparent though was the blood dripping from a wound on his forehead, corresponding with a smear of blood on the floor—he'd hit his head when he'd fallen.

"...Sasha?" he gasped. Shakily he crawled on all fours up to the figure, grabbing him by the shoulder and shaking him. "Sasha, answer me!"

A weak groan escaped his throat, and nothing more.

"Please, please!" Raz cried, shaking him harder. When his senior agent failed to answer, he tried to summon a TK hand, only for his vision to swim and his nausea to spike. He shut his eyes, willing the nausea to stop. "I-I can't carry you, Sasha, you have to wake up!"

The cave rumbled around them, and Raz looked up, noticing that the psilirium crystals felt a lot closer than before.

"I-I think this place is caving in!" In desperation, he put his hands under Sasha's shoulders and stood up. "I've gotta get you—"

The cave groaned, and Raz raised his head.

A deer skull, one of its antlers broken off, grinned at him in the over-brightness of the psilirium in the distance. All at once Raz realized this part of the cave was scattered with bones.

And the crystals moved.

The hairs stood on the back of Raz's neck, and he looked slightly to the side.

Due to the bright, burning glow of the psilirium around him, he’d failed to notice until now the four large pillars of something—white stone of some kind, he thought, rather than the dark black and brown of the cave, shining golden in the light, psitanium crystals jutting out of them. Yet parts of them were covered in soft brown patches as well? One of the pillars shifted closer, and at the base of it were two large black stones—no, not stones, two halves of a hoof—with yellow crystals growing between them. Following the pillar upward, Raz found it connected to something else also covered in... brown... patches...

Two bright yellow somethings stared down at him. For a fleeting moment he hoped they were more crystals, and that his eyes were playing tricks on him.

A mouth below the lights opened, and an earth-shaking bellow erupted from its throat, which glowed a hellish shade of gold.

With a scream, Raz staggered backward, somehow managing to keep a grip on Sasha's limp body. He dragged him backward, his gaze still trained on whatever was looming over them. Its barrel-shaped chest heaved around the psilirium crystals that jutted from it, and slowly its long head tilted, resulting in a hideous scraping noise across the walls of the cavern. Off to either side of its head were enormous antlers, also merged with psilirium crystals.

A... deer? No—a moose. A giant moose, somehow bigger than the elephants Raz would see in other traveling circuses, somehow fused with psilirium crystals. Some parts of its flesh had fallen away, leaving exposed muscle and bone, particularly close to the crystals.

Once again the moose opened its mouth wide, wide, straining at the flesh holding its jaws together and letting out a bellow that pitched upward into an echoing scream. It took a step forward, its crystal-encrusted hoofs shaking the ground and its antlers scraping against the walls.

"G-go away!" Raz cried, still fighting to drag Sasha backward. Out of habit he put his hand to is temple and tried to fire a psi-blast at the monstrosity, only to stagger as another wave of nausea hit him full-force, his vision swimming. "Rrrrghhh...!"

The moose tilted its head further, angling its antlers so they were less impeded by the cavern walls. Its jaw hung at an unnatural angle with the tilt of its head. With a deep bellow, it took another step forward. Then another.

Raz strained to move faster, but it was already getting hard to carry Sasha without being able to use TK. His entire body shuddered when he realized he wouldn't be able to use TK at all so long as he was anywhere near this thing. "Oh gosh...!" he gasped, voice hitching. "Sasha, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked for a more exciting mission, or dangerous animals or—"

The moose let out another ear-splitting shriek.

Raz's vision blurred, and he grit his teeth, heaving Sasha's unconscious body backward a few more feet. It was surreal to think that mere minutes ago, they'd been on a harmless survey mission, and now he was facing down his own death. "I wish we were just back out in the forest, counting rocks and setting up a tent and—"

Gasping, he dropped his bag from his shoulders and rifled through it, his hands fumbling with the broken survey device and other obstacles before he found it: a ball-shaped object. "This better work, Otto!"

Raz clumsily turned the sphere in his hands before he spotted a button, which he jabbed with his thumb. The device sprang from his hands, spreading out in a semi-circle shape in front of him and Sasha and emitting a faint purple light over itself.

One of the moose's hooves jabbed at it. The forcefield flashed, and the moose let out an enraged roar.

Grabbing Sasha again, Raz continued moving backwards, faster without the camping bag weighing him down. Before him, the moose grunted and frothed and roared as it kicked and butted against the forcefield, which flickered more and more with every blow. "Come on, come on...!" Raz grunted, glancing down at the unconscious form in his arms. "Please, Sasha, you have to wake up, I-I can't keep carrying you...!"

The moose reared up on its hind legs, its front hooves slamming into the shield.

CRACK.

The shield shattered, and the moose charged.

"No!" Raz screamed, turning around and gripping the shoulders of Sasha's coat behind him as he broke into a run. "No, no, no!" His vision was too blurred from tears and psilirium sickness to tell him just where in the cave he was, but he prayed he was close to the entrance. But just how was he going to outrun this thing in the open forest…?

The stomping of the monster's hooves against dirt and stone grew closer, the glow from the crystal infection dancing off the cave walls.

Suddenly, the entire cave seemed to lurch as a tremendous crash filled the air, and Raz screamed, barely managing to keep on his feet as he charged full-tilt away from the noise. Hearing a terrible groaning somewhere behind him but no further noises of being chased, Raz turned to see the moose staring at him, its head lowered and its antlers jammed against the walls of the cave, now too narrow and low for it to proceed. A laugh bubbled out of his throat, high-pitched and terrified, and it continued as he charged onward, dragging the still-unconscious Sasha behind.

It took a moment before he realized the purple lights dotting the walls and ceiling had given way to stars lighting the sky overhead.

Raz gasped in the cool night air, finally releasing Sasha and sinking to his knees. Crickets chirped around him, and a bird called in the distance. Wind rustled the hair that stuck out from his helmet and stung at his cheeks.

"Sasha?" he whispered, turning around and grasping Sasha's shoulder again. The senior agent's clothing was covered in dirt, and beyond the cut Raz had already seen, what little exposed skin he had bore scratches and bruises. "Sasha, please wake up, I'm s-sorry, I..."

Tears dripped down Raz's cheeks, and he covered his face in his hands.

Something stirred at his side.

Gasping, Raz looked up to find Sasha easing himself into an upright position with a groan. "Sasha!" he cried. Somewhere in the back of his head he knew this was not professional Psychonaut behavior, but he couldn't help himself, and he threw himself into Sasha, wrapping his arms around him. The older agent groaned, but did not protest otherwise. "I-I'm glad you're okay...! I'm sorry, I shouldn't have wished everything would get more exciting, I should've just been happy about the boring mission, I—"

Sasha wordlessly wrapped an arm around him, and he went silent. With his other free hand, Sasha massaged his forehead for a moment, then drew his hand away, only to give a start at seeing his glove covered with his own blood. Breathing out a sharp sigh, he unhooked a radio attached to his belt and turned it on with a crackle. "It's all right, Razputin," he murmured, turning the radio to its proper signal. "We're getting out of here."

Once the helicopter pilot had been sent for, the two of them sat in silence, only broken by a quiet hiss from Sasha as he felt the cut on his forehead again. Raz winced. "I-I should use some first aid on that cut, but our backpacks are in the cave with... that thing."

Sasha leaned back, but did not release Raz. "You got us out of there with our lives. A few wounds is a small price to pay for that."

Feeling the senior agent's gaze upon him, Raz looked up.

"...I would be dead, if not for you and your psilirium resistance."

The words crashed through Raz, dragging him back down to the ground with them. This wasn't like exploring a mental world, where the worst that could happen was getting kicked out of someone's mind—this was the real world, where the worst that could happen was...

"Thank you, Razputin."

The concept of one of his heroes praising him would have normally left him over the moon. But now Raz could only nod silently before staring out into the vast wilderness, numbly awaiting their rescue.

#razputin aquato #sasha nein #psychonauts #psychonauts 2 #bad things happen bingo #my art #my writing #fanfic

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