"Are you going to rest here, or move on to base camp?" Kobra Kid asked as he crossed the room back in the direction of where he had previously been sitting in front of the radio. He slid into the booth, looking sadly at the radio. "We were supposed to rendezvous here but..." He tore his eyes away from the device to look at Gerard. "What do you want us to do, sir?"

Gerard's eyes widened. "Me?"

"Yes, oh captain my captain." Fun Ghoul winked from where he stood against the counter.

"I think Jet Star will rather have the news in person." Kobra continued, "If you'd like my opinion, sir."

Okay. What the hell.

Mikey would trip Gerard down the stairs before calling him 'sir'. When they were younger, Mikey almost electrocuted himself just in defiance of Gerard saying it was too late for toast. Sure, with maturity they became closer and more well behaved, but not to the point of Mikey calling Gerard sir.

"Fun Ghoul, can I have a word?" Gerard turned to the dark haired boy, earning a nod in response. He moved back down the hallway they had entered from, and Gerard followed. It was quiet between them until they reached the outside. Dusk was just beginning to fall as Fun Ghoul turned to Gerard. "What's up?"

"What's going on?" Gerard demanded. The look he got in response felt like a punch in the gut; a soft confusion, a mild concern, and a spark that was always there when he looked at Jamia. "This isn't funny anymore!"

"Party, what are you talking about?" Fun Ghoul asked with the shake of his head.

Gerard felt irritation bubble inside of him. "This stupid game! I want to go home, Frank; call it off!"

More concern spilled into Fun Ghoul's expression. "Party, are you still feeling off?" He reached out to touch Gerard's cheek, but the red head slapped his hand away.

"My name's not Party!" He yelled, taking a step back from Fun Ghoul-Frank-whoever he was. "It's Gerard and I'm done with this! Take me back to Brendon's, or home, or somewhere away from this!" He wasn't sure what exactly pushed him over the top, but it was all spilling out now. Frank toying with his emotions. Mikey acting as if he disowned him. Getting drugged at a friend's party. It all made Gerard's head spin.

Fun Ghoul shook his head. "Who the hell is Brendon?" He asked. He shook his head again, reaching out to Gerard. "Party, maybe I should get you back to the main base. Your head-"

"My head is fine!" Gerard yelled again, shutting his eyes tightly. "It just doesn't appreciate being played with!" Gerard snapped his eyes back open to look at the boy in front of him.

That thing, the slightly off look, was crossing over Fun Ghoul's eye. Gerard felt his expression soften as he watched some spark of familiarity pass over Fun Ghoul's face.

"Party!"

Gerard hadn't even realized he had started falling until Fun Ghoul cried out. He landed on the ground with a thud, feeling an immediate dizziness despite not hitting anywhere near his head.

Fun Ghoul was leaning over him in an instant, wrapping his arms underneath his upper torso. "Party, can you hear me?" His voice hit Gerard's ears fuzzily. Gerard shook his head.

"I'm taking you to..." Frank's words became globbed together before Gerard felt his grip on consciousness give out.

When his eyes shot open, he was looking at the roof of a car. Fun Ghoul's car? He slowly pushed himself up to look at his surroundings. Why had he passed out? Before Brendon's party, that was something that never happened to him.

He looked at the driver's seat, but there was no one there. He then turned to the windows, greeted by a new environment outside. There were more buildings here. Gerard turned to the back windshield to see that the buildings stretched down like a small, western town. Some buildings were made of wood or concrete, while others were extremely makeshift. The building closest to the car appeared to be next to a garage of some kind. Gerard could see different car parts littering the ground around large, open sets of doors.

"Good to see you again, Party Poison!" A tapping of the hood of the car and the sudden voice made Gerard jump in his seat. A laugh filled the air before Gerard could lock on to where the disembodied voice came from.

The window across from Gerard held the grinning face of one of his friends, dressed in a black jacket with red and white accents. The boy pushed a hand over his short hair before waving. "Remember me, Party?"

"Tyler?" Gerard questioned as the boy opened the car door.

Tyler pouted. "Aw, I was hoping you'd at least remember your flirtatious favorite, Silent Strike. Is my ass really that forgettable?"

Of course. This was less and less of a joke with every person he came into contact with. Tyler wasn't this way at all, at least, not in front of the main group. He usually just observed quietly, unless the topic of something he was passionate about came up.

This flirty version of Tyler came from Gerard's imagination. During one of his failed attempts to move past his crush on Frank, Gerard had caught the tiniest bit of a crush on Tyler.

Going from one taken guy to another; Gerard's brain worked in the stupidest ways imaginable.

"Right, Silent." Gerard shook his head, "I-I'm sorry..."

"No sweat." Silent Strike offered Gerard a smile before extending a hand to him, "Now that you're up, though, we should really check you out. More than I do already." He winked.

Gerard felt his cheeks heat up as he reached out to take Silent Strike's hand. He made his way out of the car, letting Silent shut the door behind him.

"Angel will take a look at you, sir." Silent smiled with a gesture towards the garage. There must have been a questioning look on Gerard's face, because Silent Strike shuffled his feet before clearing his throat. "Ah, Gasoline Threat Angel, sir. Our head mechanic and kind of medic."

Gerard nodded, trying to remember who that was. He followed Silent to the garage, where a faint conversation could be heard taking place.

"This is the piece you needed, right Angel?"

"Here, unscrew my hearing aid to check."

Hearing aid? Gerard immediately remembered who that killjoy was based off of. When he and Silent Strike rounded the corner into the garage, two figures with dyed hair stood with their backs to them.

The first was unmistakably Josh's smokey blue hair. Here, Gerard assumed his name would follow along with the trend of his characters so, he would be Ghosted Disturbance. Next to him was a girl with shoulder length teal hair. She was wearing a tan set of pants and a matching tank top. Ashley or, rather, Gasoline Threat Angel. She wore a pout on her face as Ghosted Disturbance fiddled with a small device.

"How's it looking?" She asked while making gestures with her hands.

Gerard couldn't help but silently chuckle. Ashley had been so insistent that her killjoy be hard of hearing, just like her. She wanted representation that Gerard was happy to write in.

"Maybe I lost my hearing during a battle." She suggested, excitedly, as she spoke to Gerard in the back of their math class. "Like, during a mission, she gets hit right here." She slid her finger along the skin around her ear, "The shot nearly kills her and takes out a good chunk of her hearing."

"Sounds sick." Gerard grinned, writing her suggestions down.

Ashley was an ace in the school's mechanic program, hence her role in his story. She was actually the closest to her character in personality.

"Try it, Angel." Ghosted Disturbance said, holding the small device out to her.

She took it, pushed her hair back, and began to adjust it in her ear. The skin around it was a mixture of red and deep purple tones. Gerard's eyes widened as she flinched when her fingers brushed the area.

"Let me." Ghosted Disturbance spoke softly. He stepped forward, delicately brushed her hair behind her ears before locking her gaze. She held the ear piece out to him, smiling up at him.

"Keep it in your pants until we're all in the bedroom." Silent Strike rolled his eyes.

Ghosted Disturbance laughed. He finished helping Gasoline Threat before turning to Silent.

"She gets googly eyes, can I get a kiss, Ghost?" Silent winked before giggling.

"Seeing as I haven't seen you since before I got back from my supply run..." There was a smirk teasing on Ghosted's lips as he wrapped his arms around Silent to pull his body close. Silent's cheeks flooded with pink as Ghosted caught his lips in a swift kiss.

Gerard shuffled his feet a bit awkwardly. Talk about a third wheel moment...

"Party! You're alright!" Gasoline Threat exclaimed when she saw him. She hurried over to him and hugged him tightly. "I was so worried when Jet Star came back without you!"

"I'm okay!" Gerard exclaimed, though his breath had been squeezed out by her tight embrace.

"Don't trust him, he couldn't even remember about my name!" Silent exclaimed. He and Ghosted must have pulled apart.

Gasoline Threat eyed Gerard with suspicion. "Are you having memory trouble?" She questioned, "How hard were you hit?"

Gerard shrugged. He honestly had no idea; he wasn't part of this world for that experience.

She pushed her lips out to the side. "You seem different." without warning, she stood on her toes and lightly knocked her knuckles against his head. "Really took a hard hit."

"Aw, stop teasing, Angel. That's my job." Silent winked.

Angel just continued to look over Gerard's face. "Something's different..." She whispered. Her tone had become distant and almost dazed. Gerard let his eyes trail over her face.

There was something suddenly off about it. Her expression had shifted so quickly...

"Where's Fun Ghoul off to?" Ghosted asked, making both Gerard and Gasoline Threat jump.

Just like that, the strangeness of her expression was gone.

"If Party's here, he can't be too far off." Silent teased as he leaned against Ghosted's side. He yawned, shutting his eyes. "Probably talking to Jet Star..." He added with a mumble.

"Jet Star and Fun Ghoul, where are they?" Gerard asked.

"Sir, with all due respect, I should really look after you a bit." Gasoline Threat looked at Gerard with worry, "They'll be around soon enough."

Gerard shook his head, "No, I really need-"

He was cut off by a loud siren cutting through the air. Silent stood upright immediately while Ghosted and Gasoline Threat's eyes widened.

"Not today, Party." Ghosted said before bolting to the garage doors. He grabbed at a looped chain that hung from the ceiling, slowly cranking down the large doors.

Silent Strike bolted to the other side of the room. He jumped up and grabbed at metal paneling that came down to cover the small windows.

"What's going on!?" Gerard exclaimed.

Instead of immediately responding, Gasoline Threat grabbed his arm. "This way, sir." She said before tugging him across the room. He followed blindly, realizing he was being lead to a door on the side of the garage. He somehow managed to keep pace with her as she flung the door open and ushered him inside.

It was much darker here.

Where the previous space had been lit by natural light, this place was cast in darkness. Gerard attempted to step forward, but was obstructed by something.

"It's a shelf maze in here, Party." Gasoline Threat panted. She nodded her head to the side, "Just follow behind me, okay?"

Gerard nodded as she started off, walking to her side before moving forward. "What is this place?"

"Mine, Ghost, and Silent's home." She replied, quietly. "You really dont remember?"

Gerard wasn't sure if he had ever written interior details. He certainly couldn't remember this place. "Maybe I did take a pretty hard hit..."

They continued navigating the shelves. Even in the dark, Gerard could see the shelves were full of different items; boxes, trinkets, and most things in between were scattered everywhere. They did pass a gap in shelves big enough for a mattress to be placed on the ground. It was covered in messy blankets and pillows and the lower sections of it's surrounding shelves seemed to hold more personal items.

"This room is always safe during the toughest dust storms." Gasoline Threat said as they stepped into an open space beyond the shelves. Slim rays of sunlight poked through boarded up windows with metal reinforcements.

"So, that alarm was for a dust storm?" Gerard asked.

Gasoline Threat nodded. She pointed to a couch and told Gerard to sit. "They've been getting especially bad lately." She said, softly.

"What about Fun Ghoul and Jet Star?" Gerard asked, "Will they be safe?"

"As long as they're inside, yes." Gasoline Threat looked back down the hallway they had come through. "It takes more than a dust storm to take out a killjoy." She looked back at Gerard. "Do you need anything, sir? Water or food?" She asked.

Answers would be nice. "I'm fine, thanks." He smiled.

Gasoline Threat crossed her arms. "Then you should rest. If you have a concussion, I'll wake you up every few hours."

Gerard shook his head, "I'm not tired-"

"All due respect, sir, but you're under my supervision and I say you need it." She gave him a stern look, "I don't know how to help your memory at the moment, but it'll help other things."

Her air of authority made Gerard refrain from argument. He rested on the couch, watching as Gasoline Threat moved back down the shelves.

This game was becoming more terrifying than frustrating. He was originally sent to preestablished elements of his world, but this garage interior was nothing he imagined. He hadn't even considered what to put here, yet here it was all on its own.

Just thinking about it made Gerard's eyes droop. Before he even knew what was happening, he was asleep.