To change things up for this trip through the portal, I was riding on Cloudy with Star, Marco, Izzy and Merida. Gladius twirled around us happily, humming a jaunting tune as we travelled, and from my spot I smiled. Because of the increase of allies, Star had Cloudy now be twice as big, which let us sit down and enjoy the trip.

Izzy was talking Merida's ear off, not that the princess minded, while the wild child did the archer's hair into a ponytail. Or what I assumed was one. It was hard to tell with the autumn coloured bush on her head.

Ralph was soaring with the four girls (Vanellope, Hilda, Ruby and Iris), Twig, Alfur and Maple on his back. Jenny was close by with Barranco, Dave and Flowey on her back. Steve glided alone with Galacta and the Powerpuffs. And finally there was Zomboss, with his pod's passengers Majima, Manolo and Maria.

"So, what do you think of all of this, Merida?" I suddenly asked, gesturing to the chaotic appearance of the portal.

She winced a bit. "A bit too bright and loud for me, but otherwise a lot different from what I was expecting."

"Try not to get too excited", Marco shot back. "We've had… rough experiences with these things."

"Like what?"

Gladius hovered over. "Crash landings, being pushed and pulled all around, freezing in time, and having to escape from being launched across the whole multiverse."

Merida paled, only for Izzy to shake her back into reality. "Ahhhh, it's fine!" The Psycho Hose Beast waved a hand nonchalantly. "Sure, it can be bad, but with brick walls like Jenny and Ralph to break our fall, we're all good!"

Ralph scoffed. "Sure, place all that on just the two of us." He shot a glare at Majima. "Need I remind a certain someone that one of our worst crashes was because of their carelessness?"

Majima growled and crossed his arms. When he faced the pod's other passengers, he glared at their snickering. "Sure, laugh it up. But just remember you're all stuff with me, and can't do a fucking thing about."

"Trust me", Jenny began snarkily, "If I could I would have dumped ya' in Townsville. Or the Rabbids world!"

When Majima paled at the mention of the latter, we all burst out laughing. Even Galacta chuckled a bit.

"I swear, you will all get my fucking 10-inch di-"

"OKAY, and now you shut up!" I barked with a strained smile. "Finish that sentence, and you'll be doing it to yourself."

Majima paled even more, and Zomboss snorted. "Blunt. I like that."

Hearing that, I blushed in embarrassment and struck down a bit as Izzy gave me a cheeky smile.

Gladius sighed. "Well, now that that's passed, let's focus on something else."

Everyone fell into a silence as they began to think of a new conversation, and when Vanellope snapped her fingers, we all turned to her. "I know!" She looked at me, and I suddenly hated where this was going. "Glasses, we've been through a lot so far, right?"

I nodded.

"So, hear me out… Who, out of us, is your favourite?"

Everyone looked at the racer in shock, but after a few silent moments, they all looked back at me expectantly. I gulped, and shrunk down. "Uhhhhhhhhhhh… can I pass? Because I don't… like this question."

Vanellope shook her head. "No can do, dude. I need to know, and I need to know now. Who's your favourite?"

I gulped a second time and warily looked over everyone, nearly all of them looking at me in curiosity. I let out a fearful squeak and looked at Gladius with a pleading look. He made a coughing noise, and wigged around a bit.

"Oh no, I'm losing control!" The sword shouted in mock shock. "I think there's some turbulence! Oh no-" He was cut off when Galacta Knight caught him, making me purse my lips in worry.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhh…" I strained out. "Well… You guys see… I-I… Ummmm…" I was stuttering like a madman, completely lost. Horrified of the question, my brain completely crashed, unable to spin a coherent answer. "W-Well… You guys see… I… U-Uhhhhh…" And thus I did what any normal person would do.

Pretend to faint.

I flopped onto my back and played dead like a possum, hoping that would shut the question down.

Vanellope simply scoffed, and most of the others laughed. Ralph looked over his shoulder to gaze at the racer. "C'mon kid, let up on Caleb. Asking him which one of us is his favourite is a heavy question."

"Oh yeah, it really is", Jenny added in a joking tone. "I can see it now: all of us at our throats, competing to be that favourite."

I groaned, rubbing my face. "It's just a lot. I do have a favourite, but it was from elsewhere, nothing about this. With all of you, I love you all the same." I sat back up, and everyone accepted the answer and returned their attention ahead. But I passed a very brief glance at Ruby, who was staring at me, and I flashed the briefest cheeky smile at her. Her eyes widened, and she smiled back before looking forward like the others.

I breathed a sigh of relief as Gladius, now freed from Galacta's grasp, flew over to me. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine", I said with a shrug. "Just overwhelmed by the question, that's all."

The sword nodded, but his movements started to become…off.

"Gladius? Are you okay?" I whispered. I reached a hand out, only to jerk it back when he snapped towards a spot in the portal's wall.

"There's something there…" he mumbled worryingly. I followed his gaze, and sure enough, there was something bubbling under the surface. It reminded me way too much of Galacta's crystal before we made it to Star and Marco's world.

"You don't think…" I muttered.

"Let's hope it's not."

That jinxed us so bad.

The bubbling thing suddenly exploded from the wall, earning everyone's attention. It was just a blur as, of course, it slammed into me.

"CALEB!!!" Everyone cried out. The object hurt like hell, so I could barely register anything else except the sharp pain I was feeling. But I was able to notice us swallowed by the like at the end of the tunnel, only for us to end up in another. Rushing, blurry light coloured different shades of blue and purple rushed by as the object suddenly launched off me and disappeared.

With it gone, I wailed in pain as Blossom shot over with her sisters and grabbed tightly onto me. They quickly carried me back over to Cloudy, and set me down on the pink cloud. In an instant, Star and Marco were frantically checking over me, and when they deduced I was okay, they instantly locked me into a hug.

"I… I'm fine…" I wheezed out, slowly regaining my voice again.

"Every time…" Steve growled. "Something bad has to happen every time."

"This is common with you guys?" Flowey asked in shock.

Hilda shot him a deadpanned look. "You're asking that when you did the exact same thing a while ago?" The flower blushed at the memory, and sheepishly chuckled.

I just ignored all of that, focusing only on the embrace I was in. I melted into it, accepting the warmth…

Only to feel a warm liquid on my arm.

I hissed in pain, jolting out of the hug and gripping my arm. Feeling something there, I looked at my palm and paled at the sight of blood. I hissed again as another prick of pain, and the two Echo Creek besties were suddenly back to worrying.

Star looked down at her dress and saw the smear of blood, but didn't care as her attention returned to me. "Does anyone have a bandage?!" She called out. Steve, thankfully, did, so he quickly glided over and handed the Mewman a roll of the stuff. As quick as she could, she wrapped my left arm in the white fabric and used one of Merida's arrows to cut the excess.

I looked at my arm with a lifeless look, then beamed at Star. "Thanks."

Butterfly just beamed back and wrapped me into another hug. But a loud boom snapped all of us out of our stupor, and we watched as the blurry colours gave way for clear, blue skies.

And suddenly, we were falling.

~X~

I groaned, shifting on the pile of soft pillows Star summoned to break our fall. Opening my eyes, I could feel my arm prick with a tiny bit of pain before subsiding, which was enough to kick me into a sitting position. Looking around, the others were all in one piece, just clearly shaken.

"Are all our landings going to be bad?" Bubbles whimpered, scooching closer to her sisters.

Zomboss burst from the pillow pile, somehow having ended up deeper than the rest of us. "At least it was a soft landing…" He struggled to crawl out of the pile.

Hilda and Vanellope slid down with Twig, giggling as they landed on their feet. "That was awesome!"

Gladius, having ripped several pillows apart, flailed his wings around and hovered into the air. "It most certainly wasn't awesome, Schweetz! Caleb was injured for god's sake!"

"I'm fine - ack - Gladius", I strained, wincing in the middle of my sentence. I gripped my arm as I removed myself from the pillow pile, stepping out onto the pavement.

"Yeah, no", Jenny said as she, Majima and Merida walked up to me. "You aren't okay."

"I said I'm fine", I snipped, levelling her with a light glare.

Majima fake laughed. "Bullshit, Caleb-Chan. Something sliced your arm, so if you think that's okay, you're fucking blind."

Merida slided up to my side, and wrapped me in a one-armed hug. "We're just worried for you, that's all."

I sighed, nodding sadly as the pain in my arm finally subsided for now. After that, I took in the surroundings, and it made me deflate a bit. We were in a… pretty typical alley. Looking over to my right, I saw the street, so I walked ahead and took in those sights. I cocked an eyebrow in confusion, as it was clear we were in London.

Just classic, totally normal London.

"London…" Gladius mumbled. He perked up as he looked around. "I've always wanted to visit Big Ben!"

I hummed in a bored tone, waiting till the rest of the group joined us. "So, what's the plan?" Ralph asked.

I pursed my lips, Izzy bounced on her feet with a grin, the Rabbid and Minion shared a look, Alfur shrugged from his spot on Hilda's beret, and Maple quietly crawled onto my shoulder (uninjured arm side). It seemed we were all at a loss, especially myself. Because… What are you supposed to do in a typical city?

With a heavy sigh, I faced the group. "Okay gang, first we need to find a place that'll be our base till we can move on to the next world." Everyone nodded, and I was about to lead the charge, only for Steve to take that mantle and the others to force me onto Ralph's shoulder. I sighed but didn't complain, rather choosing to get comfortable on my perch as we walked.

The streets of London were fairly active, but one of the weirdest things I noticed was that no one was batting an eye at the bizarre group I was with. They didn't even seem to notice us, and when they did, we received nods and waves.

While most of my friends waved back, some were a bit suspicious of the treatment.

"Something about this is rubbing me the wrong way…" Zomboss muttered.

"I guess they're just used to seeing people like us?" Iris suggested.

Ruby waved at an old lady, and then turned to her friend with a shrug. "Maybe?"

We all returned to walking in silence, eyeing our surroundings carefully to hopefully find a clue about the calming treatment we were getting. We still waved and nodded back, but it was very strange. I was thinking maybe it was because of me and Majima, and so if two normal looking humans were with a group of very strange and colourful characters, then everyone was chill with it.

But then I saw something that caught my eye as we turned a corner. To our left was a row of conjoined houses, and to our left was an empty street with some parked cars. But what caught my eye was across the street.

Standing sturdy and proud was a blue box with small six paled windows on all four sides. It had a slanted roof with a light on top, and the words POLICE BOX circled it towards the top. As I took in more of the detail, my eyes continued to widen more and more. That couldn't be what I thought it was, right?

As if to answer my question, the door into the box opened and out stepped a man. He had his hair styled like a poofy sweep, kinda like a pompadour, wore a brown coat with a striped button-up shirt under it, black pants with suspenders, and a black bow tie.

I just stared at the man in complete shock, my head twisting like a chicken as we walked past. He was followed outside by a girl in a leather jacket, red shirt, grey pants and black raised heel boots. Her long light brown hair flowed through the light autumn breeze as a man of the same height with a blue flannel coat, button up flannel shirt, blue jeans and brown hair exited with her.

"Oh my god…" I whispered. The whole group looked at me weirdly, then followed my gaze to the people across the street.

"Do you know them, kid?" Ralph asked quietly.

I nodded silently as the mysterious trio talked between each other, the girl laughing at something the flannel wearing man said. It was then I noticed the glint of something shiny on both their hands. Rings.

"So a married couple and their next door neighbour", Steve said flatly. "What's the big deal?"

I said nothing as the man with the bow tie glanced over at us, his two companions falling silent as they all stared at us. The street fell into complete silence as both our groups eyed each other. The trio across looked at us in suspicion and curiosity, while my friends eyed them in confusion.

After a few minutes of staring, the bow tie man walked up to us, give us a look. "Okay, so, what's all of your deal?"

Jenny sputtered. "Excuse me?"

"What's with all the staring?" He asked, his face forming a slight scowl. "Are you here for something or…"

"Just rest, sir", Galacta said calmly. "We are but humble travellers. This boy", he gestured up at me, "and his companion are trying to find their way home, and we are all helping him."

The man calmed down significantly. "Oh. Well, don't let me keep you…" He paused, then looked at me. "Just where are you from, exactly?"

"Earth", I said in a tone that made it sound like I was going through puberty all over again. My friends all gave me weird looks as the other two the bow tie man was with came to his side.

The bow tied man looked at me, then smiled. "We'll, I'm not going to keep you waiting! Good luck, all of you!"

"Doctor!" The woman hissed. "You can't just leave them like that."

"Can and will, Amy", the bow tied man said back. "We have our own stuff to attend to."

"But…" The other man said. He glanced at me for a moment, then noticed my arm. "Oh… what happened?" Amy and the bow tied man looked at me, and their eyes widened at the sight of my arm.

I moved it a bit, wincing. "Just… something happened before we got here…"

Amy gave her bow tied companion a scowl, then approached with a look of sympathy. "Well, if you need to rest, you can hang out at our home. My name is Amy Pond, this is my husband Rory", the flannel man waved with a sheepish smile, "and this is The Doctor." The bow tie wearing man waved, pulling out a strange device from his shirt.

All my friends shared a look, then gazed back at the man. "Doctor Who?"

I snorted, and The Doctor laughed. "Exactly."

~X~

The inside of Amy and Rory's home was cosy, but not too big, so Ralph was chilling in the backyard watching the younger members of our group ran around under his watch. Inside, Amy was checking up on my arm with Maria in the kitchen while Rory shared some coffee with Majima and Manolo. The Doctor was dragged off to the living room by a super curious Zomboss, who wanted to know more about what he's invented.

Amy was applying medicine to my cut as Maria held the first aid kit. "And something just ploughed into you?"

I nodded. "It hurt like hell, and it definitely had spikes on it, because I felt something jab me."

Maria looked at me in concern. "It was so sudden. I couldn't even tell what it was."

Amy pursed her lips as I hissed in pain. "Whatever it was, hopefully it's gone now." She glanced at the doorway that led to the living room. "The Doctor could check, but I don't know…"

"How can The Doctor help with that?" Maria asked with a suspicious look.

Rory shrugged. "That police box is a Time Machine."

Amy gave her husband a scrutinising glare, only for it to shift into confusion as she noticed our lack of reaction.

"Honestly, not the weirdest thing we've been told", Manolo admitted with a shrug.

"What?" Rory was flabbergasted. "But, it's a Time Machine! How can that…" He trailed off when the musician pointed out the window, and both Ponds looked out to see Star summon a warnicorn, Vanellope to glitch onto its back, and then for Flowey to summon vines that created a small track.

"Oh…" Was all the husband and wife combo could say at the sight.

I shrugged. "When you've been on an adventure as crazy as mine, you become numb to it. Heck, Zomboss has built time machines of his own, so even the concept of time travel is nothing too crazy to me."

Amy snorted. "Yeah, that makes sense." She passed a glance at Maria. "So, where are you all from? Did Caleb get whisk to other planets?"

Maria shook her head. "Most of us are from different versions of Earth. Gladius has told us it's something called the multiverse."

Rory did a double take, and looked Majima and Manolo down. "Wow, okay. That's… unexpected."

"Gladius is a magical sword", I explained.

"Gladius?" Amy said in confusion. At the mention of his name, the sword hovered into the kitchen with Maple resting on his hilt with Alfur.

"You called?" He said with dignity. Amy and Rory stared at him wide eyed, shared a look, then shrugged.

"We've seen stranger", Amy said, shooting the sword a smirk.

Gladius sighed. "And thus, my services are left unappreciated."

I giggled at him as he hovered over to my side, and I could tell he was glaring at Mrs.Pond. Just that made me start to laugh, thus making the sword face me in betrayal.

Maria rolled her eyes. "Caleb's a bit sarcastic, but he's great otherwise."

Amy smiled and I stuck my tongue out at her, my medical attention finally done. With the fresh bandages on, my arm felt so much better.

"Thank you so much, Amy!" I said, eyes sparkling with adoration.

She waved off my gratitude. "Oh, it's alright. Just common courtesy."

I hopped down from the counter and headed to the living room, Gladius and his passengers in tow, and listened to Zomboss and The Doctor.

"All I'm saying is theming your machine to the different eras you travel to will help with your image", Zomboss said casually while he took a bite of a biscuit.

The Doctor choked on his water. "What?! Absolutely not! The TARDIS isn't just a Time Machine."

The zombie overlord shrugged. "Just an idea. I like staying in character and theme."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Yeah, considering that ego that doesn't surprise me."

I burst out laughing as Zomboss' face contorted into indignant rage, and both hyper intelligent time travellers faced the small audience that formed.

I snorted, trying to calm my laughter. "No, no… don't mind me. Just… curious about what you two were talking about."

They both shared a glance. "Complicated stuff", they said simultaneously. That just made me start laughing all over again, so Gladius had to drag me around out back. My laughter finally died down as he set me next to Ralph, Jenny and Steve, but it was there just enough for them to give me light smirks.

"What's up with you, Caleb?" Jenny asked sweetly.

I was still giggling, so Gladius answered for me with a sigh. "The Doctor and Zomboss were being too smart for each other's good."

Steve snorted and Ralph chuckled. "Yeah, that makes sense." The crafter said.

I took a deep breath, all of my laughter out of my system. "Sorry. I think the medicine Amy gave me made me a bit delirious."

Ralph ruffled my hair. "Well, she did a good job on your arm." She glanced at Jenny. "We've got to pay her back for that soon." The teenage robot nodded with a smile.

After that, we all watched silently as everyone played till the sun started to set. With everyone thoroughly exhausted, we all sat down to discuss where our temporary home base would be. Or we were going to, if a certain blue box didn't suddenly materialise right in the middle of the lawn. The iconic sound rang in our ears as the police box appeared before our eyes,and once it all fell silent as The Doctor walked out, flashing all of us a smile.

"So", he began while clapping his hands together, "I hear you all need a place to stay."

We all shared a look, and it was then I noticed Zomboss was the only one of us absent. "Yeah…" Everyone else said.

The Doctor smiled, and gestured into the police box. "There's plenty of room in here!"

I sprung to my feet and ran inside, my friends all hesitating. When I ran in, I was floored. It was all like I knew it was, with the console in the middle. Zomboss was using some of his personal devices, smiling like a baby with candy, as he learned all he could about this type of time travel.

I laughed lightly. "Be careful, Zomboss", I said, making him jump and face me. "If you aren't perfect with this, then be prepared to have a black hole open right in your face."

Zomboss sheepishly chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "Don't worry, I'll be extra careful. But when I perfect this, David and his plants will - AH!" He jumped a few feet into the air, running around wildly as his pants ignited right at his butt. Looking down, I saw Maple wearing a smug smirk where the zombie once stood.

Everyone else slowly started coming in, and all were amazing by the interior.

"Welcome to the TARDIS!" The Doctor proudly announced, his arms raised high. "This is where the magic happens!"

Star perked up, but Dave quickly told her "different kind of magic", making her deflate.

"Bedrooms are down there", The Doctor pointed down a hallway that was below the platform. "Make yourselves comfy. I feel like we'll be having a lot of fun together."

Most of my friends shared unsure glances, but I let it slide. The other half of the medicine was kicking in, and I was starting to get really tired. I slipped away as everyone thanked The Doctor, headed downstairs and into the bedroom hallway. I was wobbling around a bit, and luckily Gladius was there right as I needed him. He supported me as we entered one of the many expansive bedrooms, and I flopped onto the comfy mattresses.

"Long day, huh?" The sword asked cheekily as he put on his scabbard.

I nodded, not lifting my head. "It's been a lot. I just…", I paused to yawn, "I just want to heal off this injury, charge up, and tackle tomorrow how I want too."

The sword nodded, tossing the blanket over me and letting me hug him close.

"Goodnight, Caleb. Rest well, you deserve it."

"I will, Gladdy, thank you. Goodnight."

Gladius used his telekinesis to turn off the lights, and just like that I was asleep.

~X~

Bit of a shorter chapter compared to the last two, but that's good. It's just a simpler chapter to set things up. But, yes, this next world is the one of the BBC's hit series, Doctor Who. It's been a favourite of mine for forever.

Now, which Doctor is this? Matt Smith's rendition, the 11th. Specifically, around Series 7. Hey, Matt Smith is a legend, and I love Karen Gillian as Amy and Arthur Darvill as Rory. The three of them are a comedic riot and the best DW trio in my eyes.

Also, special shoutout to my friend Nova! She's reworking her own multiverse story, The Multiverse Chronicles, and it's amazing so far. Only two chapters are out so far, but it's amazing and I love it. Supporting her will make both of us so happy.

Up next: Caleb and Co. get roped up into a couple of insane adventures with The Doctor, Amy and Rory. From battling rusted war machines, to prehistory in space, and the Wild West…

~Caleb~