Chapter 2: Night Walk
Just because tomorrow's a school day doesn't mean I can't stay up.
Putting on her jacket, Tabitha looked around the living room one last time before slowly opening the door, wincing when she heard it creak. Her parents hadn't really cared enough to fix the noise, since it really wasn't a big deal in their eyes.
Stepping outside, Tabitha closed the door, tucking the key away in her jacket pocket, just in case she needed it.
Tonight was a beautiful night. The moon was a crescent, and stars were everywhere in the cloudless night sky. Tabitha sighed in bliss, exhaling a bit of cold air.
Walking outside late at night was one of Tabitha's favorite things to do. She had been doing it since she was 12, and her parents had never been the wiser.
One destination was in Tabitha's mind right now: the park. Glancing behind her one more time, she shrugged and started to walk away.
10 minutes of walking was all it took to get to the park. The familiar set of swings swayed gently in the night breeze, and Tabitha couldn't help but smile at her childhood memories. Countless hours had been spent at the park when she was young, and coming here had always been the highlight of her weekends when she was a child.
But as she got older, her love for the park started to gradually fade away. It wasn't until she was older that she noticed the graffiti written near the slide, often saying offensive things.
Hearing the crunch of the rocks under her shoes, she went over to the swing and sat down. She was getting a little big for it, unfortunately. She rocked back and forth a bit, hearing a faint creak of what was holding it up.
Getting older wasn't all what Tabitha expected.
She thought back to when she was younger. She remembered wanting to be an adult so badly, so she could do whatever she wanted without her parents saying she couldn't. But she took all those happy memories for granted, never thinking about how much she would miss them when she got older.
One such memory she loved was the time she tried to build a time machine. She had just watched Back to the Future, and she wanted to travel back in time like Marty McFly. She didn't have her driver's license, so she couldn't drive a Delorean like in the movie. She ended up settling on a cardboard box. She even drew a little Flux Capacitor on the outside of the box. Cutting out holes in the bottom, she remembered running around the house as fast as she could to try to achieve the same amount of speed needed to send her back in time. Her parents shot down her plans, though, saying that Back to the Future was just a movie, and that just because she thought she could travel back in time, didn't mean it was possible.
Any other plans throughout childhood were scrapped by her parents. They always said the same thing: "You're just going to disappoint yourself when it doesn't work."
It eventually got to the point where Tabitha just gave up. She knew her parents were just going to shake their heads and say no, so what was the point? She wondered what would have happened if they never said those things. Would she be different now?
It's always at night when you think about this stuff. When you're alone.
Alone...
That isn't so bad...
...
If she was alone, she probably shouldn't have heard that rustle in the bushes just now.
Probably just a squirrel, she thought, ignoring it. But the rustling continued, followed by a low moan.
Tabitha's eyes shot open. Standing up out of the swing, she tried to locate the source of the noises. Following the rustling, she made her way over to the bushes, where she saw something that made her gasp.
It was a boy, laying on the ground, covered in bruises and bleeding.
Trembling, Tabitha got down on her knees to examine him. He had dark skin, wild hair, and a well-toned body. He looked slightly older than her, but she wasn't completely certain.
"O-oh my god! Are you okay?" She cried out, her voice breaking a bit.
A small whimper came out of the boy. Opening his eyes, Tabitha could see that they were a really vibrant blue. Those eyes looked into hers, trying to identify her.
"Where... am I?"
"Um, you're at the park?" She pointed to the swing set she had left moments earlier.
"I am? ...Wait, I am?" His eyes darted around the park in a nerve-racking manner.
He winced, gripping on to the side of his head. When he released it, Tabitha could see that there was a blood wound there.
"Jesus, are you okay? Do you need me to take you to the hospital?"
"No. I'll be fine. I've been through worse than this."
Tabitha raised an eyebrow.
Pushing his blood-soaked hand on the grass, the boy grimaced and soon collapsed. Tabitha was genuinely worried. How could you get into a situation like this in Lima, Ohio?
Softly grabbing onto his arm, Tabitha did her best to help him up, as slowly and as steady as she could.
After getting his feet on the ground, the boy gripped firmly onto Tabitha's arm to regain balance.
"Thank you," he said.
"You're... welcome. Um, what's your name?"
"That doesn't matter." His eyes scanned the area of the park. "Listen, I need you to do something for me."
"Huh? What is it?"
The boy stared into her eyes with such fierceness, that Tabitha knew that whatever he would say next, he was completely serious about.
"I want you to pretend this never happened, and that you never saw me."
Tabitha blinked. "Wait, what? What are you..."
"No, I can't explain," he spoke softly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "It's too risky, and I don't want anyone else to get involved if I can help it."
Tabitha jerked back, forcing his hand off her shoulder. "You're starting to scare me. Tell me what's going on, right now!"
The boy sighed. "I suppose you deserve to know. After all, this affects your world."
"Affects my... world?"
"The truth is, I'm from-"
The boy shot straight up and turned around, his body stiff. Tabitha could see his eyes were wide in alert.
"What the hell are you-"
"They're here. Run!"
Grabbing onto her arm, the boy ran, with Tabitha struggling to keep up.
"God, what the hell? What are you doing? Let go of me!" She tried to wriggle out of the boy's grasp, but he was too strong.
"Be quiet, they'll hear you."
From behind them, Tabitha heard another voice. The voice was monotone and sounded oddly robotic.
"Prisoner number 1210 has been identified. Preparing to recapture."
Daring to look behind her, Tabitha couldn't believe her eyes.
A group of six small robots, each with one red eye, were following them, and they were quickly gaining speed.
"Wh-what the hell are those?"
"Those are Trashbots," the boy said, as if he were used to this sort of thing. "Prisoner retriever models, to be exact."
"Trashbots? Are they after you?"
"No shit. Who else would they be after?" He groaned, rolling his eyes.
"No need to be an ass about it!" Tabitha wailed, still struggling to keep up with him. The Trashbots were getting faster, and she could hear a faint hum behind him.
"God, you're slow. Do I need to give you a piggyback ride?"
"Are you serious? I can do this!"
Sighing, the boy pulled Tabitha closer to him and flung her over his shoulder, his speed not decreasing in the slightest. She was caught off-guard, to say the least.
"Hey!" Tabitha lifted her head to look at the Trashbots, and saw a faint red light glowing from one of the bots' eyes. One by one, the other eyes started to light up. Tabitha gulped.
"Hey, uh, the robots' eyes are glowing," she said. The boy did not reply.
"Are you even listening to me? I said-"
"I heard you! God, do you ever shut up?"
"Do something about it, then!"
A laser suddenly shot out from one of the eyes, narrowly missing Tabitha's head. She squealed. More lasers started to follow, and it was only a matter of time before one of them hit her or the boy.
"They're firing at us!"
"I'm aware of that. Hold on a second."
Still keeping a tight grip on Tabitha, the boy made a sharp turn to the left, and into the forest. The lead robot skidded to a halt, causing the robots behind it to crash into it. A loud clunk reverberated around the park, and Tabitha breathed a sigh of relief. The boy started to slow down after he was sure that the robots were disoriented enough to not follow them. He eventually stopped, taking Tabitha off of his shoulder.
She had a pounding headache, and felt dizzy once she was situated on the ground. Tabitha regained her balance and glared at the boy in front of her.
"What the hell was that?!"
The boy scoffed. "That's the thanks I get for saving your life?"
If looks could kill, that boy would be dead. Tabitha groaned loudly, her cries bouncing off the trees and causing nearby birds to fly away.
"Listen here, you douchebag," she said under clenched teeth. "I didn't go out for a walk in the middle of the night for this to happen. I demand an explanation!"
"Oh, explanations? If you wanted an explanation, you could have just asked. Jeez..." He tapped his chin in thought.
"Are you sure you want me to tell you? I don't if you'd be able to-"
"Yes, I do!" Tabitha whined. "Just hurry up and tell me already!"
"Fine, fine." He cleared his throat.
"First of all, my name. You asked earlier. You can call me Z."
"Z? Like the letter?"
"Yeah, just like that. Now, back to what you interrupted. You see, I'm... not from around here. I'm... not of this world, to be more specific."
"...You're fucking with me."
"Look, if you don't stop interrupting me, I'm not going to continue the story. Be quiet for two minutes, if that's even possible."
Tabitha stifled a groan, rolling her eyes.
"Like I was saying earlier, I'm not from this world. I'm from another version of Earth, in an alternate universe from yours. I didn't learn this until recently, when I was visited by a group of four strangers. They told me that I was in danger. That my world was in danger. I didn't believe them at first, but that's when the ship fleet came in. There were hundreds of them, and I couldn't believe it. So I went with them on their ship.
"On the ride back to their universe, they told me that the armada of ships belonged to the League of Nexus, a group of villains gathered from around the multiverse."
Tabitha raised her hand, fearing that talking at any moment would stop Z from telling the story.
"You're not in school. What is it?"
"What the hell is a multiverse?" She asked.
"It's multiple universes in different instances. For example, our universes make up a very small part of the multiverse. Who knows how many there are?
"Before we were able to get back to the fours' world, they were attacked by a League ship. They captured me, and from the sounds of what the guards said, it seems like the four got away safely. After being stuck there for a few days, I managed to escape with one of their escape pods. It wasn't easy. I picked a world to be transported to, one so ordinary that the League wouldn't try to disrupt the peace. I guess I was wrong.
"The pod ejected me away from my landing point, and I ended up in the park. I was there for about ten minutes before you found me. What were you doing out so late, anyway?"
"I like to take walks at night."
"Oh. Well, now that we've got the explanation out of the way, could you help me find my pod?"
"Hold on, I still have a few questions. How is my world involved in this, exactly?"
"The League of Nexus's goal is to rule the multiverse. That includes your world. They will stop at nothing to achieve this. Any more questions? There will be a pop quiz later."
"Ignoring that last comment. Anyway, who rules-"
"The League of Nexus? Lord Nexus, who was conceited enough to name his squad after himself. It really tells you what kind of person he is, huh?"
"Last question, I promise. What other kinds of universes are there?"
Z shrugged.
"I dunno. I remember one of the strangers saying something about movies or books or something, but it's been a while, so I can't remember."
Tabitha blinked, not sure if she heard things right.
"Hold on, what do you mean?"
Z shrugged yet again. "How should I know? I think they said something about different universes being based on different movies and books, but like I said, it's been a few days since I've last seen them."
"Wait wait wait... You mean to tell me, that in another universe, Harry Potter is real?"
"I guess so."
"What about Gravity Falls?"
"I would assume so."
"Kirby? Powerpuff Girls? RWBY? Sailor Moon?"
Z sighed. "Jesus Christ, shut up. I don't know anything about this. I didn't even make it to those guys' universe before I got captured."
Everything Tabitha had known until this moment had crashed down in an instant. All those thoughts as a child had come true. Everything suddenly made sense.
Your life is about to change.
That's what the dreams meant meant. That's what they always meant.
This was the moment she had been waiting for.
"You seem shocked. I'm just gonna... Go find my pod. Bye." Z started to walk away.
"Wait!" Tabitha shouted after him, covering her mouth afterwards.
Z turned around. "Yes?"
"I'm... coming with you. I mean, I want to protect my universe. It's where I live, after all."
Z shook his head.
"You just want to meet your favorite characters."
"N-no!" Liar. "If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to come with you."
"But it will be too much trouble. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into. You'll probably just run away at the first sign of danger."
Tabitha rolled her eyes. "Just like you did with those robots back there?"
Z growled. "That was different!"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming with you whether you like it or not! So lead the way, Z!"
To Tabitha's surprise, Z chuckled.
"You're feisty, I'll give you that. Alright, you can come."
"Really?" If Tabitha were in an anime, her eyes would be sparkling.
"Yes. Now help me find my pod before I change my mind. It should be somewhere over... there."
He pointed to a glowing blue light that was somewhat close to them.
"Let's hurry. We don't want to take any chances with any more Trashbots that may come soon."
The two started to walk to the light. The closer they got to it, the more it started to fade. When they finally got to it, the light disappeared.
The pod was somewhat small and cracked, and looked as if it could only hold one person. With someone as burly as Z, Tabitha doubted she would fit.
Z clicked his tongue. "Thankfully, I ripped out the tracking device, so the Guild shouldn't be able to find us."
"Hold on. That ship looks a little small. Will I be able to-"
"Fit? Eh, probably not. There's only one seat. But you could sit on my lap if you wanted."
"Seriously? That's kind of... weird."
"You don't really have a choice in the matter, do you? Unless you want to turn back now, of course."
"No way. I'll... sit on your lap."
Z laughed. "I'm not exactly looking forward to it, either."
He crawled into the opening of the pod, situating himself on the single seat. He patted his knee, motioning Tabitha to go over and sit there.
"This is ridiculous..." Tabitha grumbled as she sat on his lap, knowing she didn't have any choice.
Z shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he tried to reach for the buttons around him. It was rather difficult with Tabitha blocking most of his view.
"Hey, um... What's your name?"
"Tabitha."
"Tabitha. Can you see if you can find a button that says "repair" in big white letters?"
"Yeah, it's right here. Do you want me to press it?"
"If you would be so kind."
Pressing the button softly, Tabitha jumped a bit as the pod buzzed to life. Lights illuminated the small space she and Z were in, and a faint whirring could be heard, signaling that the machines were functioning. The pod's broken glass started to materialize and rebuild out of thin air, almost as if it were magic.
"Whoa..."
"Pretty sleek, right? Do you see a screen in front of you?"
"Yeah, it's being projected on the glass."
"Can you navigate to the travel menu?"
"Hold on, let me try to find it." Tabitha said, trying to understand what she was doing. There were a lot of options, and it took her a while to find which one to select.
"Alright, I'm in the menu right now."
Z hummed in thought. "Do you see a list of universes?"
"No, I - Wait, it just booted up."
"Okay, I need you to use the search feature to find a universe called 'Mori'."
Tabitha's jaw dropped once she saw the list of universes. Several familiar names filled her eyesight. Adventure Time, Ghostbusters, Minecraft...
"Z, you were right! There's a ton of places from movies and books!"
"That's great and all, but you need to focus right now, or I'm kicking you out of the pod."
Tabitha couldn't even argue; she was too mesmerized by the sheer size of the list.
"Mori, right? How do you spell that?"
Z was silent. "Crap, I don't know. I think it was... M-O-R-I."
Tabitha typed in each letter as Z said them. Only one universe popped up. Clicking on it, she read the description.
"Universe-0002, also known as Mori. Mori is a universe ruled by an oligarchy of four young people. Mori is often considered a perfect utopian society, with the Rulers of this universe making sure everyone living there is happy with their life."
"That sounds about right," Z said, sounding almost bored. "Go ahead and click on the travel button."
Tabitha was beyond excited. She felt as if everything in her life had lead up to this moment. Her hands were shaking as she slowly, slowly, reached over to press "Travel".
"Destination selected. Preparing to travel on chosen route."
The inside of the pod glowed with a light blue hue as it started to rise up in the air. Tabitha leaned forward, pressing her face on the glass to see everything below her as the pod went higher and higher.
Suddenly, the pod stopped, floating in midair. A loud noise, like someone was booting up a computer, filled the general area around them. That's when the pod shot up into the sky, moving at an incredible speed.
Tabitha's heart started to pound. "Z, what's going on?
Z appeared unfazed. "It needs to go at a specific speed. When you combine that with the technology this pod possesses, you get inter-dimensional travel."
The pod flew faster and faster, higher and higher. Tabitha noticed that the outside of the pod (from what she could see through the glass) was producing a strange, flame-like glow in a multitude of colors. She could only hope that it was supposed to be doing that.
Suddenly, a blinding light filled the two's vision, and the pod felt like it was slowing down a bit. Eyesight returning, Tabitha and Z both gasped.
Surrounding them was a colorful, beautiful land. The sky was a dark purple, and the red crescent moon shone brightly in the sky. Tabitha couldn't help but marvel at how beautiful it looked.
The pod's speed decreased, lowering down onto the ground. The two were greeted with a large castle in front of them. The castle looked as if it came from a fairy tale, fit for a king and queen. It was truly a magnificent sight, one Tabitha thought was only in movies.
The pod's glass opened, letting in the crisp night air. The air was fresh, fresher than anything Tabitha felt back at home.
Leaping out of the pod, with Z following suite, only one word could come to Tabitha's mind as the castle stood in front of her.
"Wow..."
Z looked like he was surprised too. I guess even serious people like him have something to be impressed at, thought Tabitha.
Z looked to Tabitha, a small smile forming at the corners of his mouth.
"Well, what are we waiting for?"
Tabitha couldn't help it; she smiled, too.
"There's no turning back, Z. Let's go!"
Running towards the door, two guards stopped her.
"What business do you have with the Rulers of Mori?" The shorter one said.
"W-well, I..."
Both guards' eyes widened when they saw Z. He was still bleeding, but he didn't seem to be hurting.
"Yo," he said, raising a hand to wave.
"Zinedine Shear? How did you-" The taller one started to say, but was cut off by the shorter guard.
"You may pass, Shear. And I suppose this young lady may pass with you as well."
The two guards moved out of the way, letting Z knock on the door.
Opening the door was a character very familiar to Tabitha, with black hair, light skin, and a tooth gap through his smile.
"Hiro Hamada, is that you?"