I lazily leaned over the side of Zomboss' pod, said scientist and our resident yakuza making idle chit-chat as we flew through the portal to our next destination. Maria and Manolo were with Star and Marco on Cloudy; Steve was gliding all on his own; Ralph had Hilda, Alfur, Twig, Vanellope, Barranco and Dave on his back; Jenny had Maple, Ruby and Iris on her back; and Galacta was flying calmly, holding onto Izzy.

Gladius was gliding with a slight bob to his movements, like he was in time to a song's beat. I chuckled a bit at the sword's actions, and turned my attention down the portal, towards where we were coming from. It was odd, seeing the portal from this direction. It almost made me feel sea-sick, so I faced forward to keep me from losing my lunch.

"Feeling a bit queasy, Caleb-Chan?" Majima mentioned offhandedly.

I nodded weakly, then swallowed. "Yeah… looking back is soooooo weird."

Zomboss nodded in response. "It is very nauseating. When I get the chance, I'll have to study these gateways so I can understand them more."

"Don't", Gladius chided. "I remember back, I'd say around 455 AD, at the peak of the Roman Empire, Rainbow made the very unlike her choice to do more with these portals. It resulted in the castle being obliterated three times over because of a time implosion."

Zomboss twisted his face into an over dramatic grimace, and hiss. "Ooooookay then. Scratch that."

I snorted. "Not surprised. These places are just pure energy, with way too much energy to really handle."

Gladius hummed. "Not necessarily… It's simply because these portals are made of the same material as the universes they connect between, and that material is heavy, dense, and unstable. Time and reality manipulation are the lower end of possible side effects."

I shared a fearful look with the pod's other passengers, then gulped. "What's the highest end?"

"The Vortex is born again and everything is put into jeopardy."

We all gave him a weird look. "The Vortex? What the heck is that?" Izzy asked.

Gladius sighed. "It's a long story, but the short is that…" He paused to take a deep breath. "When the fabric of a universe folds or corrupts in a certain way, usually when too much of the twin's and Rainbow's flows into a single spot, the Vortex is born. Called many things, the Vortex is the most extreme escalation of a black hole's singularity. It's alive, and eats everything relentlessly. The only time it was around… well, there's a reason universes are separated like how they are now…"

We all baulked at him. "Gladius… please don't tell me what you are implying…" Ralph said in a fearful tone.

"Everything, long ago when humanity was just starting to establish stories of Gods and Goddesses, the Vortex was formed when everything was in one single universe." Gladius shivered, then continued. "Even with everyone's combined power, it couldn't be stopped, so I was forced to watch in horror as Rainbow, Lightness and Darkness nearly killed themselves trying to create the multiverse. It's why they aren't omnipotent beings of complete unstoppable power anymore. Luckily, the Vortex was stopped, unable to sustain itself outside of a universe.

"Ever since that day, the Vortex was one to be feared, and no one was allowed to try and mess with a universe's fabric. We were lucky Rainbow's experiments didn't spawn it."

We were all silent at that, taking in the horrifying implications that there was something that was that unstoppable. That hungry. That… monstrous.

Star looked sick. "And Mewmans called people like Buff Frog monsters… what the heck…"

It was so intense that even Flowey and Galacta Knight looked distressed at the news, their eyes reflecting their newfound fear for the most dangerous thing to ever exist.

"Luckily, the beast can only exist in a single universe", Gladius reassured. "So if it were to somehow pop back into existence, only one universe will die."

"That's still probably trillions of living beings, Gladius", Jenny snarled. Ruby and Iris were trying to not let the fear consume them, and Maple was so freaked out he jumped onto my shoulder and wrapped his whip tightly around my arm.

Gladius flinched. "I'm sorry… It's a hard topic for everyone at The Capital, so you aren't alone. After the ordeal, myself and the twins would have to spend countless nights with a crying Rainbow because she'd wake up screaming because of horrible nightmares… all because she looked right into the pit before its defeat…"

The mood became much more sombre. "What… What did the Vortex look like?" Manolo asked in apprehension.

The sword sighed. "Rainbow said, the first time she was hit with the nightmare, that she just saw this defending spiral of all the colours and shades. It was both unmoving and so fast it was a blur. Like a visible cascade of screams that would get louder the more you stared."

A fierce chill ran up my spine as the image entered my mind. "Okay, yeah, let's stop this convo before we all get nightmares. Everyone cool with that?" I looked around at my friends frantically, and they all nodded. All of their faces were twisted in terror at varying levels.

"Probably for the best!" Zomboss called. "We're approaching our next destination! Buckle up people!" We all looked forward, and sure enough we were coming up on the glowing light of the exit.

As we were engulfed by the light, I felt more at ease. I closed my eyes, and opened them as we escaped.

Split second later…

"TREES!!!" We all screamed in terror as we crashed into a dense forest.

~X~

I let out a pained groan from the branch I was stuck on. Folded over it like a wet towel, I opened my eyes to see what was under me. What I saw was a tangle of Manolo, Izzy, Barranco and Ruby, twigs and leaves stuck in their hair. Looking around, I could see all my other friends were in similar states as I was, either laying on the ground, stuck in a tree, or in pieces in Zomboss' case.

I let out another groan, and shifted to hopefully get down. Big mistake, as the branch instantly snapped, sending me onto my friends. They all whined in pain, and I rolled off so I could look up to the misty sky.

"Everyone sound off", I called in a strained voice. I got a groan from everyone in return.

"Every time!" Gladius shouted in anger. I looked to my right and saw him embedded into another tree. I snorted, which only made him more frustrated. "Shush! Stop laughing and start helping! I feel like a simple dagger like this!"

Ralph was the first one to recover from the fall and made his way over, easily ripping the sword free.

Gladius huffed as he dusted himself off. "Thank you, Ralph." He hovered over to help me up. "I must say I'm starting to hate trees. Anytime a word has one, we crash and I get stuck. It's insulting, really…" I rolled my eyes as Gladius continued to rant, leaving me on my own as the others got up at their own paces.

"Ow", Dave said loudly, gripping his head. "Okay, considering this was a bad crash, I can't imagine how bad it was when you all showed up in Gru's base."

"It hurt like a motherfucker", Majima grumbled as he and Steve tagged teams the task of reassembling a very grumpy Zomboss.

"Well, at least we're-" Jenny began only to shut up when there was a snarl.

"Finish that sentence Jennifer, and I'll screw your head on backwards!" Zomboss barked.

Izzy giggled to my right and I felt my eyes rolling again. Maria and Manolo walked up to my left, and the musician nudged me just a bit.

"Think we should get going, mijo?" He asked.

I nodded and let out a surprisingly loud whistle, earning the other's attention. "Let's get going, guys! I don't want to be lost in these woods for our time here."

Everyone nodded, and after dusting off, we began to make our move. The forest that surrounded us was very… peaceful. There was a cold breeze that flowed through my hair, so I pulled my hood up to at least offer some warmth. While there were some exposed roots and uneven patches of land, it was eerily calm.

"This is nice", Hilda said happily, hopping around on a series of rocks like hopscotch. "Finally I feel like I'm home again. It just looks a lot more… detailed." Twig barked softly in response as he copied her movements, and Alfur hummed in agreement as he scribbled into his notebook as he rested on Gladius' hilt. It was adorable, but she was right. The detail of the forest was much like my own home, reminding me of Kamurocho.

"Where do you think we are, Caleb?" Steve asked, taking in the sights.

I shrugged. "Not sure. Hopefully we'll find a landmark soon, otherwise I'm positive we'll be forced to camp out in a dark forest with no civilization for a long time."

Star beamed. "Just like when me and my dad would go camping!"

Marco gave her an unsure look. "Knowing what's on Mewni, I don't know whether to be horrified or impressed."

"Try both, we could use the optimism…" Flowey sighed as he was carried by Ruby. She frowned sadly at him and scratched the back of his head, making his mood perk up the tiniest bit.

I smiled at the sight, only to jump when Vanellope glitched ahead to the edge of the forest. "Hey guys! There's a castle not too far away from here!"

We all perked up and dashed to join her, and as we looked to where she was pointing, sure enough, there was a castle. It was a large stone building, with a high outer wall. It was very serene against the misty sky and forested mountains. So much so, a memory sparked.

"Oh, we're in DonBroch!" I said in a cheery tone.

Everyone gazed at me. "And what's DonBroch?" Iris asked innocently.

"A fictional kingdom in Scotland", I started, "Home to the princess, Merida. It's the setting for her movie, Brave." I looked at Ralph and Vanellope (who had glitched onto his shoulder). "It's another Disney movie, actually, so you guys should get along just fine!"

The wrecker and Racer shared a look, and many of the others nodded in understanding.

Majima, however, groaned. "Another princess? Jeez, why do we keep running into all the bitchass baby shit." This was met with Star swiftly kicking his shin, making him mutter out swears as we limped off.

I sighed and faced the castle again, Marco and Gladius coming up to either of my sides. "So, I'm assuming this kingdom is peaceful?" Marco asked.

"Yes, aside from the stuff about curses that turn people into bears", I said nonchalantly. At this, everyone (sans Galacta and Gladius) froze and slowly turned back to look back into the forest, the trees suddenly creating very intense shadows. They all gulped fearfully.

"I'm not surprised there's mystic forces at play", Gladius admitted with a shrug. "I can feel their energy…"

"Or you saw the peculiar blue spirit that's hovering in front of us", Alfur pointed out. We all looked, and the elf was right. A few feet ahead, floating over an inch or two off the ground, was a small blue spirit that was looking at us. Or it seemed like it, considering it didn't have any eyes.

Gladius crossed his wings and turned away indignantly, huffing out a grumpy "Maybe…".

The rest of us all cocked our heads at the sight of it, and at our synced movements, the spirit disappeared. "Weird…" I said quietly. Shaking my head, I returned my attention back to the castle. "Okay, so now that we know where we are, I say we set up camp a good distance away. Just so we don't have to worry about setting off the king and queen here."

Everyone nodded, and we took the trail that led us away from the castle to try and create distance. It didn't take long till we found a flat spot on a nearby hill that gave us a good view of the castle, but was luckily far enough away so we wouldn't trip any alarms. Hopefully.

As Star started casting her spells, I watched as everyone started doing their own things. Dave and Barranco were bonding; Hilda was telling Vanellope, Ruby, Iris and the Powerpuffs about all the wonderful creatures of her world as Twig napped on her lap; Manolo was strumming a soft melody on his guitar as Maria leaned against him (both of them sitting on a downed tree) with Majima and Izzy laying on the ground in front of them; Zomboss was tinkering by himself; Ralph, Jenny, Steve and Marco were all chatting quietly amongst themselves; Flowey and Galacta Knight were watching the castle intensely like it would move.

That left me, Gladius, Alfur and Maple. The four of us all watched everyone have some much needed break from the madness, but deep in my head I felt as though things wouldn't get any easier for us anytime soon.

"What's on your mind, Caleb?" Gladius asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. Maple climbed onto my shoulder as I turned to face him.

I shrugged. "Meh, just stuff."

Alfur looked out to the DonBroch castle. "It is fascinating that we're in the presence of royalty."

Maple looked at him questionably, and Gladius made a confused sound. "What? But what about Star? Isn't she a princess?"

Alfur's expression became one of realisation. "Oh, yes, of course. My bad, I forgot…" He muttered something and started to scribble into his notebook again.

Gladius chuckled and faced me again. "Would you be up for a walk, my boy? It's not often we get to be in a place this peaceful."

I nodded and the four of us headed out, the (possible) noon-time sky offering us light as we traversed a trail along the lake shore. Despite how cloudy it was, the nature that surrounded us was beautiful. It felt so alive, the cool breeze rustling the leaves still on the trees, the calming waves of the lake hitting the rocky beach, the trot of a distant horse…

Wait, what?

It was. We froze when a horse came out of the plant life, its massive frame covered with black and white fur. On its back was a girl that reminded me a lot of Izzy. She wore a dark blue dress with golden accents around the elbows and collar, her massive bush of frizzy, curled orange hair bobbing as she dismounted from the animal. In her hand was a very delicate looking bow, and I could just barely see a quiver hidden on her back.

As quietly as I could, I began to walk backwards, Gladius following my movements. Only for everything to freeze when I accidentally stepped on a twig. The loud snap it emitted made everything stop.

I stared wide eyed at the orange haired girl as her head snapped at me, her eyes revealing her icy blue irises. We both stared at each other silently for what felt like hours, Gladius just hovering silently. Maple moved to protectively guard me with his whip, but the girl never moved to attack. She did glare, however.

"Uhhhhhhh… hi?" I squeaked out, showing off a weak wave.

Her glare intensified, and she stomped up over to me. Despite the fact she was about my height, the glare made it seem like she was towering over me.

It didn't help that I was ducking down the closer she got.

"Look, I get I'm super suspicious", I tried to explain, "But I'm not here to hurt you! I was just taking a walk-"

"Well, that's not what I expected", the girl said, her voice complete with a thick Scottish accent. "For a scrawny fella' like you, you've got guts. Most guys take one look and run the other way." She gave Gladius a glance, and then looked back at my dumbfounded expression. "So, what's yer name?"

I stared at her in shock for a bit before clearing my throat. "My name? My name is Caleb. Yeah, yeah that's it."

She cocked an eyebrow at me, looking me over, before giving me a smile that released a lot of the tension inside of myself. "Name's Merida. Heir to the throne of DonBroch." She had a hint of venom in her voice at the mention of 'heir', but I didn't press.

She gave Gladius and Maple odd looks. "What's up with these two?"

"Oh, right", I patted myself down for some reason. I gestured to the sword, "This is Gladius, and this", I gestured to the Wasabi Whip on my shoulder, "is Maple."

"Pleasure to meet you two", she said cheerily. Gladius slowly bowed, and Maple cocked his head to the side a bit. She returned my attention back to me, and after pulling out an arrow, started to walk around me. "So, I wanna know where ye' from, because this", she lifted my hood a bit with the arrow, "is nothing like I've seen."

"Well, see", I began, "Me and Gladius are travellers. Not by choice." Merida gave me a blank look, but the concern in her eyes was evident. "We've been trying to get home, and picked up some people along the way, but I don't know how close we are…"

Merida hummed, then looked to Gladius. "Did ye' mean to do this?"

Gladius sputtered, and I looked at her in shock. "Absolutely not! Three guards in the castle we live in tried to jump Caleb, and he slashed me in an act of self defence!" His anger simmered a bit. "It accidentally opened a portal, and the rest is history…"

Merida looked him over not in shock, but in sympathy. "Aye, I'm sorry to hear that. Must be hard, being so far from home."

I nodded. "Yeah…" I paused, then looked up at her in confusion. 'You're honestly taking this a lot better than I was expecting…"

"Whatcha' mean by that?" She shot back. I pointed at the hovering, talking sword. "Ah, yeah. Right." She put the arrow back in her quiver. "Honestly, my home has a lot of secrets. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a talking sword somewhere."

I opened my mouth to retort, froze, then closed my mouth and shrugged. "Eh, I guess I can see that."

She nodded, then looked towards the path behind me. "I'm guessing your camp is back that way?"

I suddenly became tense all over again. "Uhhhh… yeah… But they're not what you might expect. They're…" My brain went into overdrive trying to think. I could feel Maple was sweating. "They're… uhhhhhhhh… odd, I'll say that at least."

Merida gave me a look that bore into my sole, and I could feel my insides shrivel up. "I'm used to strange. My dad is… well, he's eccentric, I'll say that."

Gladius snorted, and I gave a small smile. "Well, that's reassuring."

Merida's glare lightened up, and she began walking over to her horse. "Well, if I'm gonna meet 'em, we better get going!"

Before I could react, Merida was on her horse and galloping full speed at me. I let out a yelp as she grabbed my shoulder and lifted me onto the animal just behind her. Gladius screamed out my name, but the wind was whipping past me so forcefully I had to keep my eyes closed.

"You're telling me you've never ridden a horse?!" I heard Merida call out at me with a laugh.

"I'm a 'stay at home' person!" I cried back, eyes screwed shut. The horse did a big jump, and I instinctually hugged my arms around Merida's waist to keep me on. I heard her laugh again, and internally I was screaming my head off.

But before things got more intense, the horse came to a dead stop, and I peeked my right eye open. All my friends were staring at me, completely flabbergasted at the two new arrivals.

"Uhhhhh… kid?" I heard Ralph call, tone filled with shock. "Who's… this?"

I let out a deep, throaty groan. "This is Merida, gang."

The princess flashed a cocky smile, although her eyes were filled with that cold suspicion when she first saw me.

"Well, this'll be interesting", I heard Manolo mumble as I dismounted the horse, legs shaking when I stood up.

I could only agree.

~X~

After… my sudden return and Merida's sudden entrance, I was quick to introduce everyone. Surprisingly, Merida was perfectly cool with all of this, returning each of my friend's greetings with one of her own. And each time, the suspicion in her eyes was filled with wonder and curiosity. Even after Gladius did his trick so she could understand Barranco, Dave and Majima, she was utterly entranced by everyone.

Although she did jump when she signed Alfur's contact and saw him for the first time.

She complimented Ralph's towering might, Vanellope's spunk, Jenny's heroism, Steve's creativity, and everyone else's most prominent feats.

Izzy, surprisingly, was the one that was most enticed with her. She said it was because of their shared love of archery (I was pretty sure Izzy made that up about herself) and both of them being redheads. Merida laughed at that, and it honestly did warm my heart to see her already grow so close to the group.

After all was said and done, we had lunch, and I found myself by Merida's side once again. We sat on a log, watching as Hilda told the tale of when she and her friends travelled to an island to help a group of elves with a predicament.

Behind us, Merida's horse, Anges, slept peacefully as Gladius hovered to my left.

"You know", I started, earning the princess' attention. "Usually, when we find ourselves in someplace new, we're the ones to find a new friend. Not the other way around."

Merida snorted and took a bite of the apple she had on herself. "I bet. A group like yours would raise a few eyebrows."

"But then there had to be a reason you wanted to meet them."

Merida looked at me for a moment, then sighed. "Aye. I just… I need something. An escape. My mum wants me to become a proper princess just like her…" she growled that last bit, then took a deep breath. "But after encountering Mor'du when I was a wee' devil, and seeing my dad fight it off, I thought… I want to be like that…"

"So you want to be like your badass warrior dad rather than your queenly mom, huh?" I said with a cheeky smile.

She smiled back and lightly shoved me on the shoulder. "Aye, that's right."

"Reminds me of Star", Gladius mentioned.

Merida looked at him in curiosity, so he continued. "Star's parents are the same. Her mother, prim and proper, the exact image of a perfect queen. Her father, on the other hand, is wild and messy, very strong. Star takes after him more, if all that fighting she's done means anything."

Merida hummed, glancing at the Mewni princess briefly before looking back at the sword. "Yeah, that makes sense…"

"Besides, there's nothing stopping you from joining us", I said innocently.

Gladius snapped at me, and Merida nearly choked on the current apple bite she had in her mouth. After swallowing, she looked at me in shock. "You're serious?"

I nodded, beaming up at her. "If you want to, of course. We can't go right now, we've got to give our way of travel a bit to rest, so you can think about your choice until then."

Merida looked off to the side, face contorted in thought. After a minute of silence, she shrugged. "Aye, why not. Always wanted to explore the world, and with you lot, this'll be fun."

I chuckled. "Yeah, I agree. With these guys, this whole adventure has been so much more bearable…"

"So, what have ye' done before coming here?" She asked. "Just so I know what to expect."

"Well, we've fought monsters that were barely taller than Vanny to ones over 50 ft tall. We've scaled mountains and traversed seemingly endless labyrinths. Basically, we've done the impossible multiple times over."

The princess scoffed. "Sure ye' 'ave. I'll believe it when I see it!" She swiftly trapped me in a headlock and gave me a quick noogie, making my let out a sound that mixed a whine and a laugh. Beside me, Gladius chuckled quietly.

When she released me, she sighed and looked up at the sky. "Hmmmm… I should get goin'. Mum won't like it if I miss too much of my day." She stood up with a groan, and Anges did at the same time surprisingly. "I'll try and sneak out later today. If not, I'll see ye' wee' devils tomorrow."

"Only one who's a wee' devil is you!" I jokingly snapped back. I was grinning vibrantly, and that seemed to make her let out a loud and genuine laugh. After she calmed down, she tossed her unfinished aside and mounted her horse. With a loud goodbye, one everyone returned, she rode off back towards the castle.

I watched her leave, my grin never leaving.

"You were quick to let her join", Gladius mentioned.

I shrugged. "If I didn't, she would have just said she was anyway."

Gladius hummed. "I suppose you're right."

"Plus!" Izzy suddenly said as she appeared right next to me, making my heart ram into my rib cage, "I'm not losing my new gal pal already!"

"Christ Izzy!" I wheezed out, clutching my chest. Both the Psycho Hose Beast and oversized butter knife began to laugh, and I grumbled, heading to join the others.

But even with that, I was happy.

Because I was friends with my favourite princess now!

Life just kept getting better.

~X~

Yep, that's right. Our next stop is in Disney/Pixar's Brave, a favourite of mine. And I didn't make a mistake. In regards to the Disney Princesses officially acknowledged by the company, Merida is my #1 favourite.

Also, yes, this chapter was simpler, but that's the point. Give a breather before being thrust into the craziness.

I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, the first one of the second half! Y'all aren't ready for what I have in store for the future…

~Caleb~