We are all nothing more than ragdolls as we all spiralled through the portal. In our rush to escape the wrath of the police, we all just jumped in without a second thought. This made us lose all control. Even Galacta, Gladius and Jenny couldn't straighten themselves out, so we were all completely helpless.

"We are so dead!" Zomboss cried.

"I am already tired of all of this!" Manolo yelled, "I just want a break!"

Izzy, contrasting against all of our frustration, worry and fear, was cackling madly as she performed and less midair cartwheels. "This is the best thing ever!!!"

"Of course you find this fun!" Ralph yelled. "But what else would I have to expect."

"C'mon, Stinkbrain!" Vanellope suddenly shouted. "Live a little!" She shot by all of us, her and the Trolberg trio riding on Majima's back like he was a surfboard. They all roared with laughter and joy as they all barreled down the way like a bullet.

"Kid!" Ralph attempted to straightened himself out, and once he did, began to make a swimming motion. "I'm coming!"

I shared a look with Gladius, and we both shrugged. He then readjusted himself, and I quickly grabbed hold. The others all followed after, pulling out wings or their main modes of transportation, and following after the yakuza and girls.

Luckily, they did get that far ahead. In fact, they were frozen in place, unable to move.

"Oh no!" Gladius cried. Before any of us could hit the brake, we were all frozen alongside them. Everything went to silence.

"Gladius, what the heck is happening!?" I shouted, my mouth and eyes unaffected by the freeze.

"Think of it like a forced stoplight", he explained, "A universe is passing in front of us, so the tunnel forces all those inside to stop when they get to that point."

"Well, this would have been nice to know… oh, I don't know, AS SOON AS WE ALL JOINED YOU!?" Majima shouted in anger.

"All of you, relax", Galacta Knight spoke, "Gladius confirmed from his explanation that this is only temporary, so we will be back on our way soon." Maple, who rested on the knight's back, made a noise of agreement. Just then, right in front of us, a large mass could be seen slowly moving past us. It was far too difficult to really tell what it actually was, but it was massive. Just as it was directly in front of us, it stopped, and we were all blinded by a sudden bright light.

"What the fuck?!" "Ahhhh!!!" "I'm blind!!!" "ACK!!!" "Sweet Mother Hubbard!" We all screamed in shock, only to be sucked into the light, finally being unfrozen.

~X~

We all were spat out of the tunnel and right into a small pond. I held my breath as my full view filled with water, and quickly rushed to the surface. I burst from the surface, taking a deep breath in as the moonlight from above filled the sky above. The others who all fell into the pond with me all followed, with Vanellope, Hilda, Twig, Alfur, Majima, Steve and Star all sputtering water out their mouths. The others, meanwhile, all had crashed just on the shore of the pond, with Izzy, Maria and Manolo all getting tangled in a dead looking tree, and Ralph, Jenny, Galacta, Gladius, Maple and Zomboss all crashed on the ground around it. Gladius had, once again, been embedded into the tree's trunk.

"Oh c'mon!" The sword yelled indignantly, flailing his wings around in an attempt to free himself. "Why does this keep happening?!"

I climbed out of the water, hunching up as I felt the cold wind pass over me. Those who fell into the pond followed after as Izzy flipped out of the tree and pulled the sword free. "There you go, Glady!"

Gladius dusted himself off, and gave the redhead a slight bow. "Thank you, Isabelle." Izzy gave an exaggerated salute.

I smiled at them, only to jump slightly when I felt a presence wrap around me. I looked over my shoulder to see Star, Marco and Majima had all huddled up with me, trying to beat the cold that was affecting them.

"Th-th-this suck!" Star shivered.

"I haaaate this", Marco added.

"Grow up, you pussies", Majima spat, "It's not that bad." He was met with a swift slap across the cheek, courtesy of Star.

I rolled my eyes with a slight smile, leaning in a bit more to the Echo Creek residents. We all, however, shouted in fright when a sudden gust of warm air nearly blasted us off our feet. I squinted to see Jenny had opened her chest into a heater, and aimed right at all of us who were in the pond. Sans Steve, who was left unaffected by the water.

"What the hell!" Majima yelled, being knocked off his feet as Jenny finished blasting us. He quickly stood back up, straightening his coat. Me, Star and Marco all gave him a smug smirk. "You saw nothing."

Poor Twig's fur pooped up, so Hilda was quick to help him flatten it back down.

I snorted as I flattened my hair, Gladius coming up to my side. I noticed he was looking upwards, seemingly in shock. "What the heck is up?"

"The moon", he said flatly. We all looked at the sky with him, and all of us jumped when we saw the pale blue moon staring down at us. It was giving us a curious glance, obviously wondering about our sudden appearance.

"Well, I'm not gonna be able to sleep for weeks", Steve said. The moon shot him a scolding look, and Vanellope stuck her tongue out at it. I, however, recognized the moon's appearance immediately. Looking past the tree and up the hill, I could see we were at the tip of a very strange cliff, with the pond resting right at the tip. Up the hill of blue-ish green grass was a massive manor. There was an impossibly winding bridge that connected the two tallest parts. The tallest part of the manor had a window in the shape of a heart.

From the twisted architecture, the strange landscape, and the living moon, I felt my heart skip a beat. My eyes bulged as I stared up at the manor, not snapping out of my trance until Izzy and Majima waved their hands simultaneously in front of my face.

"Caleb", Galacta called my name, "Are you alright?"

I shook my head, thoughts still abuzz. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"I'd stand back", I heard Ralph whisper to Izzy, "This usually means he knows where we are."

I started to breathe heavily through my nose, before taking a large breath to calm myself down. "Let's just go." I led the way as we scaled up the steep slope and slowly made our way to the towering mansion. Its purple walls and dark green roof, despite usually being associated with sickness and evil, gave off a warm and welcoming feeling here. We passed under a twisted, tangled tree with a small house inside a bird's nest within its branches. Some of the gang looked up at it weirdly, but just shook off the feeling and continued to follow me. I led them to a small stone patio that went to the front door, and as I stood before it, I felt my whole body lock up.

"Kid?" Ralph said. "You good?"

I blinked. "Yeah, just overwhelmed, is all."

"Here", Galacta said, walking forward. "I'll do it." He reached up and pressed the doorbell. I quickly dashed back to the others while Galacta stood in front of the door, waiting for someone to answer. Soon enough the door opened.

"Oh, hello!" Said a sweet voice. Standing in the open doorway was a girl who looked no older than Hilda, her skin stark white like Jenny's. She wore a black dress, red and yellow striped socks, and black buckle shoes. Her hair was a vibrant red, and on her face were a couple freckles above her nose and two rosy cheeks. Her massive, sparkling eyes looked over us all, and then back to Galacta Knight.

"Good day, madam", Galacta said with a bow, "My friends and I are travellers from afar, and we were hoping you may let us in so we can gather our bearings and find a place to stay."

The new girl beamed at us. "Of course! Our door is always open!"

"Thank you." The knight nodded at her as he led us all inside. The lobby was absolutely massive, with stairs that went upstairs on either side of the door, an upper balcony with a wall of paintings, and an extravagant chandelier above. Not too far away was a large fireplace with an armchair resting in front of it, so we all proceeded to make our way over. I sat down in front of the open fire, facing my back towards it, while both Echo Creek residents, the trio from Trolberg and the candy president all sat beside me to soak up the warmth.

The others all made their way over us, taking in the sights around them as the girl that let us in followed behind. She then weaved around the group and sat down in the large armchair.

"So, you guys are travellers?" She asked.

The gang all shared looks, each of them making their own unsure noises of agreement. With their resistance, I sighed. "Yes", I said, "We had a bit of a messy landing in your pond, and we didn't know where else to go."

The girl hummed, before beaming at me. "Well, you guys are all welcome to stay here for as long as you need. I'm sure my friends would love to hear about everywhere you have all been!"

"Wait, you live with other people here?" Steve asked.

"Yeah! This little corner of the world is where we all find our home", the girl explained. She hopped off the chair and walked over to Jenny. "Skull boy would love to meet you, especially! He's an inventor, so he could use some tips."

This caught Zomboss' attention. "Well, I am a scientist myself, so I'd like to meet this friend of yours."

The girl smiled again. "By the way, my name is Ruby. It's nice to meet you all!"

We all nodded at her and introduced ourselves, and at each name she would give us a wide smile and sparkling eyes. It was actually so adorable I could feel my heart ache.

"RUUUUUUUUBYYYYYYYY!!!" The voice of another girl screamed with joy. We all jumped as the new face came bounding in on springs on her shoes. We all watched as she bounced around, laughing her head off, until she took a tumble and crashed. We all winced as rolled on the ground till she reached us, only for her to hop back onto her feet and kick the springs off her shoes.

The girl was just a bit taller than Ruby, only she was a cyclops with a thin purple iris around her pupil. Her hair was jet black hair with a red rimmed bow on it. Her dress was similar to Ruby's, only it had a red bit of fabric around the collar and three buttons. Her stockings were striped grey and red, and her shoes had a white bottom.

"Ruby!" The cyclops shouted in joy, "Who're the new guys?"

Ruby giggled a bit at her friend's excitement. She then faced us again. "Guys, this is my friend Iris!"

Iris rushed over to us and gave me a big hug. "Hi!"

I smiled and ruffled Iris' hair, earning a giggle from the cyclops. "These guys are all travellers!" Ruby explained to her friend, " And they needed a place to stay, so here they are!"

Iris, who had looked over at Ruby, looked up at me again with a massive grin. "You guys travel! Please tell me you've done crazy things, like jumping off a cliff or battling some sort of monster." She jumped back and did a motion mimicking a stomping monster, even letting out a cute roar to punctuate her point.

I looked back to the others, especially Gladius, Ralph and Vanellope, and we flashed back to when Galacta Knight went on a rampage, our battle with Zomboss, the fight with Armagedroid, and our very recent tussle with the TDA Monster. I looked back down at Iris with a weak smile.

"Yeah", I said, trying to keep my mood up. "But we've been through a lot, and could seriously go for a break. We can tell you everything we've done later."

Iris nodded rapidly, zipping over to Izzy. "I can just tell you love jumping around."

The Psycho Hose Beast gave off a head tilt. "Maaaaayyyyyyyybeeeeeee…"

"Let's go to my room!" The daredevil grabbed the reality show contestant's hand, leading her away. "You will love it!"

As we watched Iris take Izzy upstairs and around the corner, Ruby Smiled at us.

"I'll take you guys to your rooms."

~X~

I was currently walking down one of the hallways of the manor with Gladius and Alfur. The elf was resting on the sword's hilt, scribbling into his notebook, as Gladius hovered next to me. My mind was thinking back to earlier, after everyone split up to explore the manor at their own pace. Ruby was just as sweet as I remembered, which made me all the more overwhelmed that I could actually talk to her.

"Something on your mind, Caleb?" Gladius asked. "You haven't been so spaced out with the others when we ran into them."

I shook my head. "Just… after all this time, I can actually meet Ruby…"

"I assume you know her?"

"More than anyone else here", I said quietly, "She was the first thing in all of the media I remember watching."

Gladius hummed in surprise, while Alfur looked up from his book. "So, this was the first show you ever watched?"

I nodded. "Yeah, so it's a bit much being here. I was resisting the urge to not hug her, because I have always loved her and how her positivity helped me through the dark times."

Gladius shot me an unreadable look, but he just let it slide as we continued to walk. We ended up hearing the sound of running coming at us, and we looked behind ourselves to see Izzy and Iris running by.

"Where are you two going?" I asked.

"We're gonna go and fly around with Squig!" Iris cheered.

"I don't know who that is", Izzy added, "But Iris told me he can fly, and it's not an aeroplane, so I'm chill!" The two daredevils both made a sharp turn, disappearing from sight.

"You don't think they'll get hurt, right?" Alfur asked in worry.

I waved off his concern. "Nah. Iris is pretty much made of titanium, and Izzy will find some way to flip out of danger. They'll be fine."

Alfur mumbled something, and the three of us continued down the hall. It was honestly pretty confusing, as the whole building was basically a winding maze. That's what happens when you only ever see several unconnected rooms throughout the show. I felt like I was just going in circles. Just as I was about to scream in rage, I saw a black cat prance by. It was Ruby's cat, Doom Kitty, the key around her neck swinging lightly.

"Hey, Doom", I said. The cat looked over at me and sat down as I knelt down. "I'm still kinda new to finding my way around here."

The kitten tilted her head at me, then nodded with a violin sound of agreement. I smiled and stood back up, following after the kitten as she led us down some stairs and through some more hallways till we made it back to the foyer. I gave Doom some pets, something she greatly appreciated, and she dashed off. I walked up towards the fireplace, where Majima was intently staring at something resting on the mantle, while Maple relaxed with Ruby on the armchair. Ruby looked up from the book she and the Wasabi Whip were reading, and waved at us.

"Hey Ruby!" I said happily as Gladius glided to the nearby bookshelf. I looked over at Goro. "What's up with him?"

"I don't know", she admitted, "He's just been staring at Mr.Buns for the last few minutes."

"I swear this thing can teleport", Majima spoke up, gaining our attention. "It was in my room, I turned my back, it's gone, and now it's ffffffffffffffff…" He looked at me, and I gave him a very harsh look. I told him quietly earlier to not swear at all while we are here. "…ffffffffffreaking me out, because as soon as I turned back, he was gone!" Majima hissed through clenched teeth, jabbing a finger right at the plushie's face. I looked at Mr.Buns, the black stuffed rabbit with a white face and red nose, and he just flopped over. "And then I finally make my way here and he's here." Majima glared at the stuffed animal. "I've got my eye on you…"

The yakuza kept his eyes glued on the stuffed animal as he walked away. I watched him leave, but then after a bit I looked at Ruby and just shrugged. "Sorry about him", I said, "He's a bit of a handle. Usually Jenny and Ralph can keep him in check."

Ruby just shrugged and shook her head. "It's fine. A lot tends to happen around here, and I just tend to roll with it. There was this time a while back where I wanted to make a May Day celebration, and everyone thought I was either leaving, or that I was actually dying."

I let out a laugh. "Oh wow, that must've been something when the truth came out."

"Oh it was." Ruby giggled at the memory. "But that is just from my life. You and your friends have seen so much!" She hopped off the chair and sat down on the floor in front of me. I looked down at her, smiled, and sat down, the fire basking us in the warm light.

"Well, where do I begin…" I said, pondering in thought. I smiled as Ruby leaned in more. "Oh, how about how I met Gladius?"

And so for the next hour or so, I told Ruby all the key moments of my adventure so far, from meeting those who joined me, the crazy, bombastic things we had to overcome, and all the close calls. The only thing I didn't say was how we were travelling. That was for another time.

After I had finished explaining everything, I leaned back and looked at Ruby, who's eyes were filled with wonder.

"Wow…" She said, "That's amazing!"

"Yep! But that's it for now." Ruby nodded, and we both stood back up.

"I just, wow", Ruby said in shock, a small smile on her face. "You guys have been through so much! I can see why you all need a break."

I nodded. "Yeah, it can be a lot." I stretched and let out a breath.

Ruby looked behind her. "Well, I should go to make sure your friends are doing okay. Catch you later!" The rag doll girl ran off, waving back at me as she left. I waved for a bit, then headed out the front door. Gladius, still with Alfur on his hilt, followed after me. I walked along the path till I made it to the pond, walking on top of a bridge that was on the side over a small opening. I leaned over the railing, looking up at the moon with a small smile.

"Something up, my boy?" Gladius asked.

I shook my head. "Nope. Just taking in the beauty."

Gladius nodded and looked up at the stars with me.

"It is very beautiful", Alfur said, closing his notebook. "It's nice to finally get a break. I didn't know how many more near death scenarios I could take without any sort of grace period."

"Same", I added. I took a deep, relaxed breath. "I just needed this."

Gladius put a wing over my shoulders. "We'll get home soon, Caleb. I promise."

I beamed at him and nodded, only to jump when a large mass flew right over us. Me and Gladius ducked, then looked up to see Izzy and Iris having the time of their lives as they rode on top of the flying, black and red giant caterpillar Squig. I watched as the flew around in such a loopy, random path, that it didn't surprise me they crashed into the ground not too far from us.

"That was awesome!!!" Iris shouted in a delirious state.

"Yeah!" Izzy followed up with, jumping up only to drunkenly stumble right after. "I want to go again!"

I rolled my eyes and walked up to them. "Okay, you two. Let's go get you to bed."

Gladius gently coaxed Iris, while I led Izzy along. While we went back inside, Izzy dizzyingly said "Mommy, my train went swimming in the piano", which made me let out a laugh. Regardless of what had happened, we were finally able to have our break.

This was going to be fun.

~X~

A bit of a shorter chapter, but here's the next arc! Ruby Gloom! It's my #1 childhood shows that even now, as a 21 year old, I still go back to watch. It was a staple of Treehouse for 2000's Canadian kids, so of course I was going to include it.

I also want to say that I will be accepting all fanart for my story! I can be found at @caleb13frede on Tumblr, @carl14walker on Twitter, or Imagination (Caleb) #7013 on Discord. So pop me an @ if you have anything!

Up next: Caleb and the gang end up getting tangled into Ruby's gloomy life, with bad luck, haywire robots, and amazing music for the next few days to come…

~Caleb~