With everybody on edge trying to get Will & Celeste back there are a lot of obstacles to jump through.

For Joyce, this obstacle represents her ex-husband Lonnie, while Jonathan and his newly formed friendship with Nancy must face the dual threat of the creature in the woods, as well as the social consequences their innocent relationship faces from Steve and his sidekicks' jealous mob mentality.

Meanwhile, Hopper stares into the proverbial abyss, and his willingness to descend into uncharted territory initiates a late-life heroes journey, as he faces past and future demons. Mike and Dustin square off against their schoolyard bullies in what could be a do-or-die showdown. Finally, El rages against her internal scars in the memories of Dr. Brenner. The fork in her road leads to torment in isolation versus weathering the storm with her new alliance in Mike, Dustin, and Lucas.

When Nancy got trapped in the upside down Jonathan was screaming "Nancy" ad infinitum while wandering through the dark forest. Likewise, Nancy scrambles through the forest in search of Jonathan.

However, Nance now hollers from the "upside down": the alternate dimension that appears to rest parallel with the town of Hawkins, Indiana.

Nancy runs into "the monster", and must elude the beast in a hair-raising cat-and-mouse close call.

Fortunately, the teen duo doesn't give up on each other and through the luck of the tree portal, are able to hear and hone in on one another. Jonathan pulls Nance through the mini-hole and back into the natural world. In a rad reaction, Jonathan observes the unnatural as the tree grows back together over the portal. Whoa.

Hopper goes to the Byers residence, Hopper shows up incognito due to the bug from his apartment and, you know, the world gone topsy-turvy.

The next morning, he and Joyce drive to a payphone where Hopper obtains an address related to a missing girl cold case. Nancy also plays detective, applying her scholastic knowledge of the animal kingdom to deduce the predatory nature of the creature she caught gnawing on deer in the wild. Points go to Nancy for paying attention in class.
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Meanwhile with half of the party.

The breadcrumb trail follows the combined but also adds depth and backstory to El's origin. The missing girl's aunt lays it on way too thick in terms of an on-the-nose plot exposition, including a rhetorical question about whether Joyce and Hopper "read Stephen King" as well as calling the El experiment "a weapon to fight the Commies".

In terms of satisfying mystery, way too much information is given away.

The younger boys rally up for another outing as well. Dustin's infectious optimism brings Mike and Lucas back together, despite Lucas's reservations.

As a result, Mike and Dustin head out to look for El, while Lucas travels separately to look for "the gate" to the Demogorgon world (where the boys have deduced Will & Celeste are hiding).

The boys shout at one another in conflict, Mike turns to or supports El in conflict, and El almost always uses her telekinesis (e.g. "magic") to remedy conflict.

Having accidentally hurt Lucas in the junkyard, El's alone and isolated once again. She spends the night in the forest, where a dream flashback relays Dr. Brenner's familial manipulation of her over time inside the cold industrial facility.

Further flashbacks show El forced to reengage the alien creature telekinetically by continued isolation sessions in the deprivation tanks.
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Mike's POV

Dustin and I were looking for El before we heard a noise. "El?" I questioned. But it wasn't El it was.....Troy & James. "Hey there frogface." Troy had a knife in his hand.

"Crap, Mike run!" Dustin said before taking off. I sprinted right behind, and before we knew it we were at the quarry.

We were running until Dustin got a cramp but if we didn't stop now we would be dead as we ran we didn't see James then he came sprinting towards us and we stopped.

I grabbed a rock and Dustin grabbed a stick and we're ready to strike, "Stay back!" I shouted. I threw the rock at James but it missed. Great, my aim had to be terrible at this very moment great just great!

Dustin swung at Troy but then Troy held his knife up to Dustin's neck. "Let him go! Let him go!" I yelled.

Troy was telling me to jump in the quarry or Dustin would lose his teeth, "Mike don't do it think about Celeste!" I didn't listen I didn't want one of my best friends to die.

"Mike!" I jumped but I wasn't falling it was like an invisible force was keeping me from falling to my death and I knew exactly who it was...El.

She saved me, I floated back up to Dustin and was dropped on the ground we all looked to the left and saw El walked forward with a bloody nose indicating she used her powers.

El pushed James to the ground and broke Troy's arm and they ran off. Then she fell to the ground unconscious. I called her name again: El. "Mike.....I'm sorry." She said while crying.

"Sorry, what are you sorry for?" I ask.

"The gate.....I opened it."

"I'm a monster."

"No, no El you saved me, you saved me." I pulled her into a hug and then Dustin made it a group hug.
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The End of Chapter 6