Was it because of some kind of hate?
Libera: Thunderbird is scratched out ...
Mike: Huh?
Libera: On that mural ... Where Thunderbird High School is supposed to be is scratched out.
Mike: Oh. I didn't know that.
Libera: You don't go to Thunderbird?
Mike: No ...
I don't understand. I always thought the people you see in your dreams were people you've seen before. This can't truly be a completely random person, right?
Mike: What the hell are you looking at me like that for? What does that school have to do with anything?!
Libera: I don't know, or I don't know yet - Chshhht! - Will you lower your voice?
Mike: Can they hear us, too?!
Libera: I'm not sure, and I don't want to find out the hard way. Listen, Mike, I'm going to tell you everything I know so far, and it's going to sound crazy, but I need you to take it without question, understood?
Mike: What? Fine ... Just shoot.
Libera: We're stuck here without much of a plan. I mean really, really stuck. This mall - all of Crucero Plaza - it's in outer space. There is no ground out the front doors, no parking lot, nothing.
Mike: What the hell are you going on about?!
Libera: I said take it without question, Mike.
Mike: You really expect me not to question that? I mean, I've seen some pretty wild things so far but -
Libera: Mike? Mike. As your friend who you owe your life to, I swear, just listen and trust me. I don't know the why or how, but I know what I've seen with my own eyes. I came here with my sister, Alex, she wandered off somewhere else in the mall, I fell asleep at some point, and I woke up to all this. I looked out the glass, I saw nothing but stars, and then I had to fight off some mannequins that started moving on their own. This is clearly a dream. A nightmare. But I figured out that -
Mike: There is no way you slept through that huge tremor.
Libera: What did I tell you about - wait, what tremor?
Mike: It was an earthquake. Everything shook, fixtures collapsed ... I lost my footing and got stuck on the floor, like gravity was pushing down on me at full force. It really hurt. There is no way you slept through that. You must've been knocked out or something, probably because of the violent shaking. After all that happened, inanimate objects started moving on their own. I'm almost certain I'm dead, and this is some kind of horrible purgatory.
Libera: How could I have saved your life if you're already dead?
Mike: What? Now you're just being a smartass. That's not the point. What this means is that neither of us fully know what's going on, but now we gotta put our heads together if we want to do something about it, right?
Libera: I am doing something about it. I'm finding my sister.
Mike: Alright. How is that going to happen?
Libera: I'm figuring it out as I go.
Mike: We're going to figure it out. I'm a part of this now.
Libera: I can take care of myself just fine, actually.
Mike: And now you're walking away from me. Look, I'm sorry if I shattered your worldview or something ... You were trying to figure out why all this freaky stuff is happening, and I didn't fit into that. But you have to accept that you're not the only one this is happening to. I don't think I have to clue you in on this, but what's happening is really scary. We don't have to be friendly with each other if you don't want, but you have to get out of your own head and we have to work together if we want to find everyone else, like your sister, and get out of here.
Libera: Fine. You win.
Mike: I'm not trying to win anything! Look, how about this: If we have to find your sister and anyone else, we have to take out those cameras, right? In the Lagoon Saloon gift shop they sell toy guns and ammo pellets, like yours.
Libera: We can't go to the Lagoon Saloon, though. You know those two big collumns that frame the Checkered Record? The one in front of the Lagoon Saloon collapsed. It's impossible to climb. I've tried.
Mike: How quick you forget, Libera. There's two of us now.
Libera: Whoa ... What even is this ...?
Mike: What? What's the matter?!
Mike: O-Oh God ...
Libera: Is this still the Lagoon Saloon? I see some shelves in the water ...
How is this even possible?
I see things like this and I just go back to thinking this is all a dream.
But now Mike is here ...
My friend.