Beyond the now opened door was a massive room. There was a massive glass chandelier hunting from the centre of the room. It kind of reminded me of the mall at the Capital. I carefully leaned over the railing as I took in the sights, noticing how we were on a platform that circled the whole room, with two identical ones above and below. Along the wall were a series of abandoned stores, cafes and information kiosks, dusting and cobwebs fogging up the windows.
I suddenly realised the inside was much larger than the outside, much like the TARDIS. It was honestly crazy how much was here just from what I could see from this one spot. Many of the others had similar thoughts, with quiet whispers of shock and wonder, or low whistles.
"So this is the Hub…" Iris said in awe, her one eye sparkling. "This is awesome!" Her shout echoed throughout the empty plaza, which really exemplified how isolated we were. Made a chill run up my spine.
"So how do we get down?" Bubbles asked. "Do we carry you guys, or…"
"There's some stairs over here!" We all looked over to see Marco waving over at us, standing next to a large, intricate spiral staircase.
"More stairs, of course, what else?" Majima muttered. "It's not like we've been walking for hours!"
"Relax, Goro", Galacta chided, the knight's eyes glowing in annoyance. "We're almost finally done, so just stay calm for a while longer."
The yakuza rolled his eyes and headed over to the stairs in frustration, arms crossed and grumbling. Marco and Star shared a look and quickly followed after him, with Barranco and Dave heading down shortly after. Me and Izzy shared a look and shrugged, unsure as to why Majima seemed to be against staircases all of the sudden. But I didn't linger on the thought, as the Psycho Hose Beast quickly dashed over and slid down the staircase railing. She was quickly followed by Vanellope, Hilda, Iris and McGee, all four of them giggling and cheering as they descended.
Scrap Baby, because of her roller skates, chose to ride on Dry Bowser's back as he walked down, with Flowey sparking up a quiet conversation between the three of them. I stuck close to Maria and Manolo as we walked right behind Zomboss and Merida. Behind us, Amy and Rory were talking with The Doctor, who was holding a sleepy Twig and had Alfur on his shoulder.
Maple slid down the railing and jumped onto my shoulder, nuzzling my cheek as he got comfortable. Ruby was sitting on Ralph's shoulder, looking absolutely exhausted, while Gretchen, Corey and Laney took up the back of our pack.
The Powerpuffs and Gladius hovered down the open centre of the staircase, keeping a watchful eye out for any potential danger. But it seemed to be fine, with only the sounds of our footsteps echoing throughout the Hub as we walked filling the void of silence.
"So, Gladdy", I began, looking at the sword as we headed down. "What was this place supposed to be? It kind of reminds me of the mall at the Capital. Or an airport."
"Well, it's just that", the sword explained. "The Hub. A place for people from other worlds to interact, shop, read, all of that. This place, based on the blueprints I saw, was meant to be a mini version of the Capital all on its own. Everything outside was more for set dressing and fresh air."
"So they built a city and didn't expect anyone to live in it?" Jenny asked, as she and Steve came sliding down on the railing and stopped in front of me and the Sanchezs.
"Well, no", Gladius admitted. "I'm not too sure on this, but I think they were hoping to have the cities be populated akin to the Capital, where people from other universes could move in and make permanent residence."
"So, what, villagers from my world could've been neighbours with thugs from Kamurocho or zombies?" Steve asked in befuddlement.
"Yes, exactly that. They could've also started families, like how Katania came to be."
That made us all pause, then face the sword. After a moment, we all continued along.
"That's so weird to think about…" Maria muttered. "Our passed family members could've moved, so they could live without needing to worry about being forgotten."
"Eeeeehhh, yes and no", Gladius continued. "Some worlds have hard set rules in place, so in the case of your passed family, they would still be forgotten." He paused. "Maybe. Like I've said, this all being scrapped before the public was allowed to see it makes a lot of that a mystery."
"Honestly… don't know if that's a good or bad thing", Amy mused as a now awake Twig jumped out of The Doctor's arms and onto her shoulder. "The idea of Daleks or Cybermen having families like that makes me feel ill."
"Honestly, these places would have probably been closed if they were finished", Gladius thought. "With how many hostile and violent races that have been created over the years, I doubt this idea would have lasted."
"Good point", Ralph said. "I mean, most of us here are a prime example of that." Zomboss and Dry Bowser ducked down a bit in shame, with Flowey and Majima looking proud and Galacta unresponsive as always.
After that, we had reached the bottom of the staircase, taking in the sights of the ground floor. The extravagant glass chandelier hung a distance above a fountain, dried up of all water. Planters that probably housed beautiful flowers of all shapes and colours now just housed dead dried bushes. They circled the fountain, with worn-out benches between them.
Everyone began to fan out and investigate the area, myself following after The Doctor as he took out the shrunken TARDIS. He eyed it carefully, then set it on the floor.
"Star, could you come here and resize the TARDIS?" The time traveller called out.
"Sure!" The Mewman Princess skipped over with Marco and Zomboss close behind, and she cast her spell quickly. The police box was soon back to her normal size, and when Doctor Who swung open the door, I smiled at the sight of a repaired interior.
"Everything is accounted for!" Who cheered out. "We've got our stuff back. Isn't that right, old girl?" The TARDIS let out what I assumed was a happy series of gong sounds.
"Alright. Gladius?" Zomboss began. "Where's that gateway you kept telling us about?"
"Over there." The sword pointed off to the right, and against the back, surrounded by a bunch of miscellaneous construction equipment was a metal arch.
It was massive, nearly twice the height of Ralph, still standing strong despite the age it showed. It looked to be a series of segmented metal boxes kept apart with deactivated lights. But it was clearly not functioning, based on the missing segments, cracked panels, spilled wires, and control panel that looked to be smashed in.
Zomboss walked up and began to study it as the rest of us all viewed it from afar. We all silently watched as the zombie scientist poked and prodded the archway, soon joined by The Doctor, who was blasting his sonic screwdriver around.
After a few moments, he looked over the scans.
"So… here's what needs to be done", Who stared. "The gateway is damaged, but not unfixable. With the TARDIS fixed, me and Zomboss have all our tools to fix this thing very soon, but we'll need help. And there's the issue of the lack of power, so I was thinking of hooking the TARDIS up for that."
"Bad idea", Gladius interjected. "These gateways are powered by a special energy much like the energy I use to open portals. It's unique and can't be recreated."
"So what do we do, then?" Manolo asked.
"If I remember… there's a generator in the basement levels." The sword hovered past us and looked over a faded map of the plaza. "It was only to be used in an emergency, if my memories on those blasted blueprints are true."
"So we head downstairs and turn it one, done!" Corey said happily.
"Not that easy", Gladius said. "That energy, it was never given an actual name, is very unstable, and only technology made at the Capital can handle it. And because of that, we need to do something before kicking the generator on." He flew above us all and posed. "Around the Hub are breaker switches in place to reroute power to keep the power grid from short circuiting and leaving us stuck."
"So we basically have to split up and find the breakers and the generator", Merida said back flatly.
"Exactly, Princess of Dun Broch!"
Said princess huffed and blew some loose hair out of her face, while the others all began to mull over the information.
"Okay!" I said loudly, clapping my hands together. Everyone faced me. "So we have a goal now. The Doc and Zomboss will stay here and get the portal fixed, and some of us will stay behind to help them. The rest of us will split up into groups and search for the breaker switches, with one group also heading down to find the generator."
"Good plan, but first", Maria interjected, rushing forward and grabbing my hand. "With the TARDIS back, I think we all need some rest. We all were hit by that portal trip hard, so I say we all eat, heal up, then go and get the power back on. Sound good, guys?"
Everyone nodded and made noises of agreement, while I rolled my eyes and smiled up at the wooden woman. She smiled back and led me into the blue box, which greeted me with a happy chime. I waved up at the centre console as Maria dragged me off to the medical bay.
~X~
The TARDIS medical bay was much like a hospital's own patient room, only a lot more comfy. There were eight plush, soft beds with blue bedding sitting atop white carpet. There were cabinets lining the wall opposite the door filled with medical supplies, many of which seemed brand new.
Under the soft white light, I silently watched Maria work away to do my arm (the one Dry Bowser injured) in a thick bandage. Before, I was asked to wash up so my hair wasn't a mess, and aside from the bandages to help the burns and cuts heal, I was good as new.
The Doctor and Rory, a nurse, no surprise, were helping the others out with their healing. Zomboss wasn't anywhere to be seen, but that was because he had taken Jenny and Scrap Baby to his workshop to give them minor repairs before coming to get healed himself.
Gladius was hovering over me, watching Maria work carefully as Maple rested in a plant pot to rest up and recover on a nearby nightstand.
"Aaaaaand… There!" The wooden woman smiled brightly as she leaned back, finally done with the bandage. "How are you feeling?"
I moved my arm, while feeling the bandage on my head with the other. "I feel fine. Better than before, definitely."
"Good." She stood up and walked over to Manolo, who was looking into a mirror trying to fix up his hair. With a tight curl, he pulled the comb he was using out, and it was returned to its iconic spiral.
"Very nice, Sanchez", Galacta complimented. He had joined me on the bed, both his wings in casts. He was given special medicine that would hopefully return feeling to them soon, something he was extremely grateful about when he was first told.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want", Manolo said back in a joking tone. "My hair has never been hit like that, and I like the spiral."
"Just saying, my friend." Galacta had a slight silly edge to his voice that wasn't common for him. But regardless, I giggled quietly which made him flash me a look, his eyes glinting with joy.
With my injuries dealt with, I headed out of the medical bay with Gladius by my side. I passed by Vanellope and Hilda, who were being watched by Ralph as Rory dealt with their injuries.
Heading into the hallway, I began to head towards the kitchen to grab something to eat, only to bump into Baby as I rounded the corner.
"Oh, Caleb!" She gasped. "Are you okay?"
I dusted myself off and smiled up at her. "All good, Baby. You just ambushed me, is all." She giggled. "I was heading to the kitchen to grab something to eat, wanna tag along?"
She nodded, and the three of us headed towards the food room.
"Where's Jenny and Zomboss?" Gladius asked.
"Jenny's went to the kitchen after Zomboss fixed her", the clawed animatronic explained, "And Zomboss headed out to hopefully get started on the gateway as soon as possible."
"That's good", I added. "The sooner we can leave, the better. Although Maria will probably strangle Zomboss for not taking a break."
That got a quiet laugh out of my sword companion, and a giggle from the eight foot tall robot.
After a second, she stopped. "Yeah, because I want to see this mysterious home you and Gladius keep telling everyone about." Scrap Baby gave me a curious look. "Jenny and Zomboss told me about what you told them, and honestly I think all of us want to know if this place really is this amazing."
"Well, I was only there for three days. But even then, it was better than the last ten years of my life."
"Trust me, Baby", Gladius affirmed. "None of you will be disappointed."
"That's what I hope…"
Me and Gladius shared a look at Baby's vague statement, but decided to let it go as we entered the kitchen. Just like we were told, Jenny was hard at work at the stove, looking into a cookbook as she made some simple pancakes.
"Hey guys!" She greeted us happily. "Glad to see you up and about, Caleb."
I quietly chuckled. "I am too." I flexed my bandaged arm. "Gonna probably make Rainbow faint when she sees this."
The teenage robot quietly chuckled, then returned her focus to the food. "Well, you're here. There's already a batch of pancakes in the oven keeping warm, so snag some and eat up."
I looked over at the separate oven, and peered into the window that was on the door. My stomach rumbled at the sight of the pancakes, so I grabbed an oven mitt and pulled the plate out. There were eight fluffy looking pancakes resting on it, so I quickly grabbed out a plate for myself, a fork, and a bottle of maple syrup.
Sitting down at the table, I used my fork to pick two off the stack and put it on my own plate, pouring a generous amount of syrup on my meal. I cut a bit off with my fork, poked it, and took a bite.
Who thought, but it was delicious.
"So, when you're done eating", Scrap Baby began. "What's the main plan with the whole 'finding the breakers and generator'? Because wandering around aimlessly doesn't seem that fun."
"Well", I paused to swallow. "Gladius and I are sticking together, and since he remembers most of the details from the blueprints, our group will be the one to find the generator."
Gladius nodded as he hovered over the kitchen counter. "That is correct. I know there is a sort… maintenance tunnel for employees only. But where to access it, I don't know."
Jenny hummed as she finished another three pancakes. "That makes sense." She glanced over her shoulder. "You should tag along, Baby."
Scrap did a double take. "What??? But… why not you? You have all those crazy weapons and stuff."
The teenage robot shook her head. "I'm gonna stay here and help The Doc and Zomboss with the gateway, so someone else will have to go with those two."
Scrap Baby looked over at me, and I gave her a curious look. She looked more contemplative than resistant, clearly thinking over what tagging along with us would entail. As Gladius got me a glass of water to have with my food, Scrap Baby nodded.
"Sure, I'll tag along with you guys." Her blue eyes flashed with a happy shimmer. "Besides, you'll need someone to do some heavy lifting." She flexed her claw arm, and I nearly choked on my water as I took a sip. I swallowed and set my glass down so I could explode into laughter, earning a not-so offended scoff from the animatronic and quiet giggle from the teenage robot.
Once I calmed down, I returned to eating as the two robots talked about robot things. Gladius took this as a chance to fly out of the room, heading who knows where to do who knows what.
I thought to myself he was just checking up on Zomboss, seeing how he planned to fix the arch. So I returned my full focus on eating, already feeling ten times better than before. After I was done, I made sure to wash my plate and fork before leaving the kitchen to find Gladius. Scrap Baby ended up following after me, probably so it wasn't a hassle to meet up again later.
I looked down one of the hallways, saw nothing, so moved on to the next. After that was a bust, I headed to the central room where I found Amy and Rory talking at the front door.
"Hey guys!" I called out to them, Baby skating behind me. "Have you two seen Gladius? I was hoping to try and find the breakers and generator soon."
"He actually told us to tell you something", Rory responded. "He was hoping the two of us, you, him and Baby would be the team."
"That's fine by me", I said with a shrug. "As long as we can find our targets, I'm cool."
"Excellent!" Gladius suddenly shouted as he flew back inside. I jumped at the sudden volume, and shot the sword a light glare as he hovered in front of me. "C'mon, you four. Zomboss will let the others know we left."
"Be sure to take a walkie-talkie and some flashlights!" The zombie scientist called out from his place next to the gateway. He pointed at the ledge of the fountain, which had the gadgets. "Just so we can let you know when all the other breakers are flipped."
I nodded and walked over, picking up a walkie-talkie and a flashlight. Amy and Rory took the other two, double checking if they worked or not.
"What are you guys doing?" I turned to face the TARDIS to see McGee walk out with a curious look, Gretchen right behind him.
"Heading to find the generator", I explained. "Do you guys want to tag along?"
McGee nodded, while Gretchen looked thoughtful.
"Sure. I wanna see what this place has, anyway", the pigtailed girl said with a nod.
I nodded back, and with our team assembled, we headed off. Aside from the TARDIS, the only light was from the faux moonlight that peeked in from the skylight way above on the ceiling, which showed a night sky. It made the elegant chandelier sparkle in a rainbow of colours, the shades sprinkling the walls and floor.
We decided to head to one of the stores that was on this level, as in my mind there was probably a back door or something. Heading inside through the open door, the gate used for closing jammed at an awkward angle that forced Baby to duck slightly, we found ourselves in what looked to be a souvenir store of some kind.
Amy and Rory clicked on their flashlights as Baby;s eyes shot out a beam of blue light, giving us enough light. My curiosity peaked when I saw some odd plushies on the store shelves, so I decided to get a closer look. Picking one up, I realised it was Twig. A dozen worn, old plushies of Twig.
"That is weird…" McGee said as he looked at the stuffed animal over my shoulder. "That's one of us, so seeing that is just… it feels so freaky."
"What, like this?" Gretchen jabbed her thumb at a wall, and we all looked to see a poster advertising Minecraft.
"What the actual heck", Amy said in disbelief. "Gladius, is this place showing all of this because we're here? Because this feels way too coincidental."
The sword shook his hilt. "No. This universe was programmed to update with the times, so all this merchandise is just what survived. The poster, plushies, food products, all of it."
"It just doesn't feel right", Rory added as he looked at a poster advertising Tekken 7. "None of this should be here."
"Rainbow and her brothers did things that I know nothing about", Gladius admitted with a shrug. "Before they lost the bulk of their power, they could do strange things."
"Guys", Baby called. We all looked over to see her next to a collapsed shelf blocking a door. "I think I found something." She banged on the shelf to try and dislodge it, and when it was out of the way she forced the door open. I slipped under her arm and turned on my flashlight, illuminating the dark hallway. Looking to the left and the right showed nothing but darkness, doors on either side of the hallway as it curved slightly.
"This must circle the whole bottom floor…" I mumbled, stepping out into the hallway so the others could be with me.
McGee walked over to the door opposite the opened one, and carefully opened it. Inside was a typical office, with an overturned desk, smashed computer screen, and tipped over filing cabinets.
"They had all of this thought out, huh?" He muttered as I scanned my flashlight over the room.
"Kind of makes me sad to see all of this…" Gretchen mumbled, looking down the hallway. "But I wonder how this place looks like something came charging in. All the broken stuff feels like something out of a horror movie."
"She's got a point", Amy said to Gladius. "Are you sure nothing could be in here?"
The sword nodded. "Absolutely positive. This being a pocket dimension not only works to have the inside be bigger than the outside and to keep the Convergence Universe from creating those imitations, but said beasts can exist in here for more than a second when the door is closed."
"That's pretty cool!" I said in awe. I then looked down the hallway. "Okay, let's get going."
The others nodded, and we began to head down the long hall. Some of the office doors we passed were either opened, pulled off their hinges, or looked as though someone kicked them so hard they splintered. It made me think about the Gretchen mentioned, and made me mildly uncomfortable. And worried.
But we pressed on, soon coming up to what looked to be a pair of elevators and an odd box on the wall between them.
Baby made quick work with the box's lock, shattering it with a single swing so I could open it. Inside were around 30 small red switches, with two at the bottom labelled with faded writing.
The left one read 'Master Po-er', and the right was 'Emer-ncies Onl-'.
"Well, we found one of the breaker boxes", I said happily. I quickly flicked the right bottom switch, which made a red light at the top flick on.
McGee snagged the walkie-talkie from my pocket and clicked it on. "We found the first breaker box, gang. How's it going with you?"
There was static for a moment before Ralph's voice came from the other end. "My team's found one too, yeah. Blossom did a scan of the plaza, and she thinks they're all in a similar spot on the other floors. So we're gonna deal with them."
"Cool. We're heading to the basement, keep you guys posted", I called out as McGee turned off the device and handed it back to me. I stuck it in my pocket and looked over both elevator doors. "Going down?"
"Are you sure these will work, Caleb?" Amy asked in an unsure tone. "The only other lift we saw here wasn't exactly in the best condition."
"Well, we might as well try", I said with a shrug. I walked over to the first one and hit the down button.
Immediately the doors opened an inch before jamming with a painful screeching noise that made us all wince. When I opened my eyes, I saw there was no elevator on the other side, so I quickly went over to the second one.
I hit the button and it opened with no issue, the only iffy thing being the flickering light.
"Are we sure it's safe?" Baby asked fearfully as she peered inside.
"Only one way to find out…" I mumbled. I carefully stepped into the lift, and it remained firmly planted in place. I gestured for the others to follow, and we were all surprisingly able to squeeze in.
"Now, which floor has the generator?" I spied over the buttons, each of them labelled on a map of the Hub. When I spotted the generator was on level -3, I pressed that button, and down we went.
"Now all we do is wait…" Gladius said firmly.
And so we descended downwards, deeper into the bowels of the building.
Really slowly, because this lift was clearly not all good.
~X~
And that's the 78th chapter! Double the length of the last one to make up for 77's. but yeah, we're finally in the Hub, a sort of super mall that was meant to be a 'come one, come all' gathering place. I was really excited to get this place revealed, as it just has this vibe I love.
Also, I wanted to give the group some time to themselves, so I had that part at the beginning with the medical bay to give them a break after all that danger.
The finale to this arc is soon, and I am so excited to finally get to chapter 80 beyond. Let's do this.
Also, special shoutout to my friend Sammieflute on Ao3! She's in the process of writing a fanfic that delves into the dark side of the Pokémon League, exploring all the Gym Leaders and Elite4 members further. It's called The League Chronicles and it is fantastic!
Up next: Turns out the Hub isn't entirely safe, and a terrifying discovery puts Caleb and his team on the spot. It's now or never to get the generator on and get out of this collapsing universe!
~Caleb~