Minoru’s first thought: COOL! The Chinese-looking girl from around the corner was focusing hard on something, if Minoru didn’t know any better he’d say she was constipated by the way she concentrated. But still, despite the girl’s young appearance, Minoru was instantly drawn to her, she was cool, a bit silly, yet obviously strong. For some reason, Lin reminded Minoru of someone. Lin looked like a girl he knew… with rainbow-dyed hair.

But so far, Ryoko hadn’t noticed her yet, so Minoru took that for his advantage. Though he didn’t have a particular joy in letting someone else fight for him, it was certainly preferably than to reveal her position by pointedly staring at her. Minoru looked back at Ryoko who was laughing like crazy because of his antics, although he was, himself, a bit off he knew for certain that it took a special brand of crazy to enjoy Minoru’s presence.

Just then, Lin decided to strike. Minoru almost cheered for the Chinese warrior… until Ryoko conveniently ducked as the arc of fire flew toward him. Minoru’s eyes widened and he let out a squeak as the flame crashed into him, enveloping him in tongues of fire. He heard Ryoko talk to the Chinese girl but he was still too busy being covered in fire to pay attention. 

Minoru shut his eyes tightly and let out a scream… that abruptly stopped as the pain subsided. Minoru opened his eyes and looked around. He wasn’t in the Factory anymore. He was in a beautiful garden with a massive red oak tree right behind him. Minoru looked at his arms, expecting to see them charred or horribly scarred but he was fine, again, why was he okay? 

Did he die this time? Probably but that death felt too… quick. Minoru expected a big theatrical showing of his death, not pain one moment then nothing the next.

“You aren’t dead idiot…”

Minoru looked up and noticed a glowing white/green… thing descending from the skies. He had the face of a mouse and a tiny bipedal body but his ears extended out from his head like two long scarves. Minoru instantly recognized who it was. 

“Terriermon!” Minoru cried, grinning with delight. “You’re real?! OH, OH, is this a vision? Some sort of prophecy you’re giving me to indicate that I’m the One who has to stop Agent Smith? Or maybe I have to gather a rag-tag team of misfits in order to destroy the establishment! Or—“

Terriermon brandished a large baseball bat from thin air and smashed it over Minoru’s head, breaking the bat perfectly in two. Minoru writhed in pain as Terriermon unemotionally stared at him in perfect pain. Finally, after a few moments recuperating, Minoru sat up violently, glaring at Terriermon.

“What was that for?!” Minoru yelled. “That REALLY hurt!”

“Your voice was really annoying and I had the sudden urge to kill you,” Terriermon said with a friendly smile.

Minoru rubbed his aching head but his glare subsided. “Okay, so, who are you? Other than mean. And where am I?”

“I’m your conscience, of course,” Terriermon answered smugly. “And this place? It’s really hard to explain in a single RP post, so I’ll be dropping hints with every response.”

“Wait, I’d rather you just tell me straight-up,” Minoru complained. “The tension build-up is nice and all, but in terms of character growth—“

Terriermon slammed his broken bat into Minoru’s head again, this time completely shattering the instrument and making Minoru bleed from the top of his head. Despite the extensive injury, Minoru still sat up suddenly, yelling at Terriermon, “SERIOUSLY, ENOUGH WITH HITTING ME! What kind of conscience wants to kill the person they help?!”

“Anyways, we’ll only have a few moments before this ‘into-the-center-of-the-mind’ sequence gets old,” Terriermon interrupted. “So, I’m here to give you some advice.”

“Fine. What?”

Terriermon cleared his throat and pulled out a scroll from, well, thin air again, unfurled the paper and began reading, “Minoru, you need to survive. We can’t maintain this connection any longer, if you ever want to get home, survive.”

“Wait, what?” Minoru said, his head beginning to hurt but this time it wasn’t from his recent intimacy with the bat. It felt like some shadow in the back of his mind was burning with pain… the part of his mind that held his memories.

“No time to explain! You need to wake up,” Terriermon told him cheerfully. “I wish I could give you your full strength, but you’ll have to settle for the half-finished version.”

“Half-finished verison of what?!”

Terriermon smashed another bat into his face. 

Minoru opened his eyes and the flames dispersed. He didn’t remember when he did so, but he was now standing up. Despite having recently been struck by lightning, attacked by a crazy woman, and set on fire, he looked perfectly fine. Even the injuries he suffered from the dude in his first post disappeared.

Then the other dude showed up. Again, the back of Minoru’s mind was buzzing with memories that should’ve been there but weren’t! Minoru glared at him, instantly reminded of some other androgynous guy who sexually harassed someone he really cared about.

“How will you fare now, Crazy Lady?” Minoru asked with such a cool voice that no doubt he impressed everyone within a 25 mile radius. “Now that you’ve awoken the Mad Magician!” Minoru put his hands up on his face in a sentai-inspired pose. “MUAHAH! THERE IS NO WAY YOU’RE COMING OUT OF THIS FIGHT ALIVE!”

There. He bluffed! Although Minoru wasn’t sure how he was healed from his injuries, he knew it wasn’t something he could grasp so easily. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have to, maybe the new dude could throw himself at Ryoko and leave it at that. Minoru just wanted to thank the Chinese girl for her help, she didn’t have to jump in and risk her neck for him but he wouldn’t let that go in vain.