Caleb, Katania and Gladius screamed as they tumbled through the portal. The blinding colours, ear-ringing volume and constant shifting was bringing back too many bad memories for the boy and blade. As they fell through, Gladius was able to correct himself and fly over to his flailing friends.
"Caleb, grab my handle!" the sword barked. "Katania, you hold onto him!"
The two young adults didn't need to be told twice as they did as they were told, breathing out a sigh of relief. "Okay, note to self…" Caleb said to himself. "Never swing Gladius around ever when I'm happy…"
"But it was so sudden!" Kat cried, eyes a bit wild. "How can a portal open when you've been swinging Gladius around for the past three years and nothing!?"
"I have a theory…" Gladius spoke up. "But it might have just been the heightened emotion and the motion of planting me in the ground. I believe… It's not a sound theory but it's something. Which is always better than nothing."
Caleb nodded grimly as he blinked, trying to not let tears escape his eyes. He just closed them and took a deep breath, trying to steel his nerves. Of course, that was nearly impossible considering the circumstances, but he just swallowed it down to deal with it all later. So he looked head as the distant light at the end of the background.
"Caleb?" Katania asked quietly. "Are you okay…?"
Caleb tried to ignore her, but couldn't stay silent with her. "No… No I'm not okay. I'm freaking out because we're doing this all over again, after things were okay for so long. I guess it was too good to be true, huh?" The boy's grip started to loosen as he rambled. "I mean, what else should I have expected? I'm me, the unluckiest guy in existence! Of course things have to turn ugly eventually, even if it takes years!"
"Caleb, your grip…" Gladius said in panic. But it was too late. The boy's hands slipped from the sword's handle, and the two humans were sent tumbling all over again. The sword tried to rectify all of this, but he was kicked by Caleb's leg and sent spinning, all three of them careening towards the tunnel exit.
The boy cried out in pain, but couldn't tell what had happened. His reaction made Katania go flying. Thinking fast despite the pain, he lunged at the girl and wrapped his arms around the girl, spinning the two of them around so he was the one that hit the wall of the tunnel. It hurt, but he did his best to ignore it and keep Katania safe. He opened his eyes and looked ahead, seeing they were rapidly approaching the tunnel's exit.
Caleb closed his eyes again and hugged best friend close protectively as they were thrown out of the portal, and sent crashing into many trees. Caleb took the brunt of the impact, his back colliding with thick leaves and tree trunks before he crashed onto the ground.
With a heavy breath and weak movements, Caleb released his grip on Katania and let his arms go limp on the ground. Gladius came shooting down at lightning speeds, with Caleb just barely dodging as the blade landed right where his head would've been. Standing there for a moment let the adrenaline die down, and he cried out in pain as gripped his leg.
"Caleb!" Kat screamed in horror. She rushed over to his side and looked at his leg, wincing at the deep gashed caused by Gladius' blade. "Oh my god… This… This isn't good…"
Gladius pulled himself out of the ground and came over, stopping short when he saw the blood dripping from his blade. Gasping in horror, he hovered back a bit before he saw Kat take out his scabbard and offered it to him a bit forcefully. The sword didn't hesitate to put it on, and when it was on securely, he rushed over and hugged the boy.
"My boy…" Gladius said in a tearful voice. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you, or anything. Please, forgive me…"
"It's not you…" Caleb paused to wince. "Your fault, Gladdy. I just couldn't relax… And look at where that got us…" The boy looked behind him to see Kat using leaves they knocked down to make a makeshift bandage. So as she worked away, Caleb limped over to a rock and sat down on it. "This is all on me, Gladdy…"
The sword hovered before the boy, posture more subdued and sad as he looked down at the boy's injured leg. The blade sighed and moved to rest next to the boy, watching silently as Katania made quick work to get the bandage on.
Caleb let out a whimper as his injury was just barely grazed, then sighed as he was wrapped up. Looking up, he let a few tears fall as he started up at the bright blue sky, feeling so vulnerable and fragile right now.
As he stewed in his thoughts, Katania finished the bandage. "There we go. That should keep things stable for now…"
"How did you learn to do such a thing, Katania?" The sword asked.
"My mom and dad. They know a lot of this sort of stuff, and because my mom wants me to take over as general when I'm older, I need to know a few basic survival tricks."
The blade nodded and floated up, helping Caleb to his feet. The boy stumbled a bit, then sighed as he looked around. "I don't know where we are yet, so maybe if we get out of this jungle then we should be okay…"
"I'll lead the way", Gladius offered. "Katania, you help him." The girl nodded and let Caleb lean against her, following the route the sword took as he went higher to see the surroundings.
As the duo walked, Kat looked at her friend. "This isn't your fault, Caleb… You know that, right?"
Caleb's lip quivered a bit as more tears trailed down his cheeks. "I honestly do think it's my fault. And the only reason why is because you got dragged along with it. I bet your mom will have my head whenever we get back…"
"I'll make sure she doesn't", Katania responded fiercely. "She knows not to make me mad, I inherited her burning defiant glare after all. And as her daughter, even she crumbles under it."
Caleb weakly chuckled. "Thanks, Kat. That means a lot…"
"And, if it means anything…" The general's daughter said with a kind tone. "I'm actually kinda excited for this. Going on an adventure like what you did that while ago would just be… nice. Especially since it's with you and Gladdy."
Caleb's smile grew a bit more stronger, only for both the duo to jump when Gladius suddenly shouted, forcing them to look up. "There's a beach not far from here!"
The duo looked ahead and tried to go faster, but with Caleb's injury they couldn't go too crazy. As they neared the end, Gladius came down and started hacking away any plant-life that stood in the way (after handing Katania his scabbard, of course). With the way more clear, the trio made it to the fresh beach-side air.
Caleb took in a deep whiff of the breeze, and coughed at how surprisingly salty it was. "What the heck?! Are we in the middle of the ocean?!"
Gladius silently responded by flying way up high, then coming back down shortly after. "It appears so. We're on a fairly isolated island… although there are some landmarks of note I spotted."
"What are they, Gladdy?" Katania asked.
"There's a military base with a fenced in water area around the back, what looks to be a plane trapped in a massive tree, and as you can see a massive volcano." He gestured to the last mentioned landmark, and the two young adults looked up with wide-eyes at the towering, rusty orange volcano.
The sight of it made something click in Caleb's head, and he looked out towards the open waters. Squinting his eyes, he could see something in the distance. It looked to be a mermaid, with tanned skin, a bright green tail and mahogany hair sitting on a rock singing to a surrounding school of fish and various other sea life.
"Oh crap I know where we are…" The boy said in dread.
His two friends faced him in concern. "Why are you so scared of it?" Gladius asked.
"Because we're in the universe of Zig & Sharko, where a hyena who lives on this island tries to eat that mermaid", he pointed to the distant mermaid, "while being bested by her shark boyfriend. Basically think Wile E. Coyote Vs The Roadrunner, but the slapstick is dialled up to eleven."
Katania paled while Gladius looked down. "Oh dear…" He mumbled. "So… Where is this hyena?"
The boy looked to the left, and his friends followed his gaze. Sure enough, down the beach was a bipedal hyena with brown fur, a cream coloured underbelly, massive nose that accentuated his massive teeth, and a pretty messy mane of hair down his back. With him was a small shelled animal with large eyes and a red body poking out of his cream coloured shell.
"That's Zig the hyena", Caleb explained. "And Bernie the… Honestly I don't know what he is. He's supposed to be a hermit crab, I think…"
"I never seen a hermit crab that looks like that", Katania said in confusion. "He looks more like a nautilus…"
"I concur", Gladius said with a firm nod. He then looked back out towards the mermaid. "What are the maiden and shark's names?"
"Marina and Sharko", the bespectacled boy said with a half shrug. "Marina is super ditzy and easily distracted in certain circumstances, while Sharko is basically a stereotypical jock more or less. So it's best to not cross them."
"What happens if we do?" Kat asked. Her question was answered when Zig, who crossed towards Marina's rock, only for Sharko to come out of the water and blast the hyena back with a deadly punch. The trio winced as Zig crashed into a tree, squished like a bug.
"Ouch…" Caleb said, hissing in sympathy. This was enough to attract the attention of Bernie, who finally looked over at the trio. They simply waved back silently, which only seemed to beckon him closer.
The small mollusk-like creature stopped just before them, letting out a curious squeak as he gave the trio a scrutinising glance.
"H-Hey", Caleb said in an uncertain tone. "We… Uhhhh… We got stranded on your island, and now we're kinda… stuck. We won't bother you if you don't bother us, okay?"
Bernie glanced back at Zig, who was still recovering from the punch, and then looked back at the trio. With a confident squeak and a determined look, he started to head back to his smooshed friend, gesturing for the trio to follow.
The three friends shared a look, but followed Bernie regardless. "If he tries to offer us to Zig, I'm crushing him", Katania mumbled with a dangerous edge.
"Go ahead, these guys are all basically invincible", Caleb mumbled back. As they neared the almost fully recovered hyena, Caleb let out a yelp and collapsed onto the ground, gripping his bandaged injury.
Bernie turned around in concern, while Zig was more confused by the sudden new strangers. He walked up and tapped the mollusk on the shell, having a silent conversation with his partner in crime before looking at the strangers with an indecipherable look.
"We had an accident when we got stranded", Katania said as she looked over her friend carefully. "We don't want to mess with what you two have going on. Just let us find some shelter for a while, and we can get going in a day or two."
Zig made a thinking vocalisation, glancing over at Marina, who was completely oblivious to everything. Shrugging, the hyena grinned and gave the trio a thumbs up, heading into the jungle to probably make something to let Caleb rest on. Kat smiled after him.
"Thank you!" She called. While she couldn't see it, Zig did stop and look back at the girl, blinking a bit in shock. He then shrugged and returned to his task at hand.
Bernie, meanwhile, went into his shell for a brief moment and came out with a proper first aid kit. The general's daughter shared a baffled look with Gladius, but didn't say anything as the mollusk got to work to actually bandage Caleb's injury. Upon seeing how bad it was, Bernie audibly shrieked in shock, before getting to work after the other two shot him a concerned look.
When Caleb was bandaged up, Zig left the jungle with a makeshift lawn chair. Gladius went over to help him set it up, as Katania and Bernie helped Caleb off the ground and onto the chair. Zig winced at the sight of blood staining the bandage, making him take a step back.
When he was situated, he let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks guys…" He then glanced at the hyena and mollusk, smiling gratefully. "And especially thank you both. Without you, I'd probably be in pain for a long while."
Zig gave another thumbs up and Bernie saluted, before they both went off to whatever hair-brain scheme they were concocting next to hopefully bag Marina.
"Shouldn't we stop them?" Kat said as she sat on the sand next to the DIY lawn chair. "Like, they want to kill a living person…"
"Bernie is more sensible for the most part", Caleb said quietly. "And doesn't always help with these schemes. And Zig always fails somehow because his luck is that bad. So just sit back and watch the fireworks…"
Kat shrugged and leaned back, watching the island duo work away. Gladius hummed, glancing over at the distant mermaid. Flexing his wings a bit, he made his way over towards her…
~X~
When he reached the mermaid, Gladius was surprised at how beautiful her voice was. And it explained the crowd of fish, lobsters and sea turtles she was amassing. But Marina seemed to either not care or not notice, so sucked into her combing her hair.
As Gladius neared a bit, he paused when he saw the dorsal fin of whom he assumed was Sharko. Based on the massive shadow just underneath the water's surface, it was clear the mermaid guardian was a massive Great White Shark. The blade swallowed nervously, and approached more, seemingly set on just studying the mermaid and shark up close and personal.
When he was just barely outside of the crowd, Sharko finally emerged from the water and glared at him. Gladius simply bowed and made his way over.
"Greetings, sir", the sword began. "My name is Gladius. You don't need to worry about me, I'm just here to see what all this hubbub about a mermaid is." Sharko crossed his arms and grunted. "No no no, See, myself and two friends are somewhat stranded here. My other two friends are on the island, as there was an accident that injured one." Gladius sighed. "SO we're stuck here for a bit. But we do mean you and the mermaid no harm."
Sharko glanced at Marina, and then around Gladius towards the island. Squinting, sure enough, he saw Caleb and Katania on the beach, frowning a bit when he spotted Caleb's cast. And that frown only deepened when he saw the blood.
Pointing at the island, Sharko mumbled intelligible nonsense. The sword nodded. "Those are my friends, yes. The one in the chair is the one that was hurt. If you do need to take your anger out on Zig, please make sure neither of them are disturbed."
Sharko nodded and dived back underwater, leaving Gladius to turn his full attention towards Marina. Much to his surprise, she was now looking at him with a very curious glance.
"Greetings, ma'am", the sword said with a bow. "I'm but a humble traveller who was stranded on the island with two friends. I'm simply here to see you in action, is all."
Marina let out a concerned coo, looking past the sword towards the island. With a sad smile, she asked something in her gibberish that caught the sword off guard.
"You wish to meet my friends?!" Sharko emerged from the water, a bit surprised himself. He and the sword shared a look, before the blade nodded carefully. "Yes, you may. But only if Sharko accompanies you, I don't trust you alone with the hyena."
Sharko sighed as Marina squealed in delight, diving into the water and heading towards the island. Sharko levelled the sword with a light glare, with said sword looking defiant in return. "Don't give me that look, she wanted to do it all on her own. Besides, I said she could only go if you tagged along as an escort."
Sharko huffed and reentered the water, following after the mermaid. Gladius was right behind, seeing how his two friends weren't any the wiser to what was happening.
With said two friends, they were quietly discussing amongst themselves about their current situation.
"So… How long was Gladius' portal cooldown again?" Katania asked.
"About a day or two", Caleb responded. "Depends on the world I think. Any service with your phone yet?"
"Nope… And I found out it means I can't open portals. Are you sure yours is dead?"
Caleb pulled his phone out and pressed the power button, getting no response from the small device. "I'm pretty sure it's dead."
"So we are stranded…" Katania said in defeat, slumping like a ragdoll. "So we just have to wait and see what happens?"
"Pretty much…" Caleb trailed off when he saw Gladius come back over, with Marina and Sharko climbing out of the ocean and walking on land with their tail flippers. "Like that… Gladius, what the heck did you do?"
"I told Marina about you, and she wanted to meet you properly", the sword said with a shrug. The mermaid bounced over excitedly, but stopped short when she saw the blood soaked bandage. She looked horrified, which made Caleb chuckle a bit weakly.
"Yeah, me and Gladius don't really have the best track record with landing anywhere…" That made him realise something. "Oh yeah… I guess we never introduced ourselves properly." He looked at the mermaid and shark with a smile. "My name is Caleb, this is my best friend Katania…"
"Hi", Kat said shyly with a wave as Caleb gestured at her.
"And you already met Gladius", he gestured at the sword, who bowed.
Marina smiled and rambled off gibberish… which Caleb and Katania could shockingly understand. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Marina. You too, Sharko." The shark huffed and smiled, nodding once as he crossed his arms. "And don't worry, we'll help out when it comes to Zig. Sure, he and Bernie helped us out with… this…" he motioned towards the chair and cast. "But I definitely don't want you to bite the bullet, Marina."
The mermaid smiled and leaned down, planting a kiss On the boy's cheek. While he blushed, Sharko and Katania silently fumed. But when the mermaid parted and the shark got a bit defensive, Katania started to wonder internally why she felt like that.
Her internal musings were cut short, however, when Zig and Bernie returned from the jungle with supplies for their latest scheme. They both stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Marina and Sharko just there with their new guests. The shark just gruffly snarled and picked Marina like a plank of wood. The mermaid seemed totally fine with it, as she waved goodbye to Caleb and the others as she was brought back into the water.
Zig and Bernie looked at their guests, and Gladius shrugged. "Marina wanted to meet them." Zig looked to the side thoughtfully, then shrugged and nodded. That seemed to be completely expected of Marina, and even he accepted that. But when that moment passed, the hyena and mollusk got to work on their next contraption, using some fairly detailed blueprints to get started.
Katania hummed and returned to looking down at her phone, scrolling through social media with her mobile to pass the time. Caleb huffed out a laugh and relaxed in his chair, letting the ocean breeze wash over him. The sky was clear, and the clouds were sparse.
This was pretty nice…
~X~
After Zig had failed with a few more ideas for catching Marina, it was now night. The mollusk helped Kat and Caleb out as the group of five headed to where the hyena and mollusk called home. Which happened to be a little shack along the beach, just at the edge of the jungle.
Zig explained in his usual gibberish that they built this place for themselves at some point just so they could feel more secure. Plus, it kept all manner of jungle animals out, which Zig was forever grateful for.
As Bernie made some spare mattresses and blankets for their guests, Caleb sat on a stool, looking out a window and up at the starry night sky.
"Are you okay, Caleb?" Gladius asked as he and Katania came to his sides.
"Just worried about the others…" He responded with a shaky tone. "I bet they're worried sick about us…"
"They definitely are, but they're also all strong", Kat said as she hugged her depressed friend. "And when we get back, it'll be all the more magical."
Caleb nodded as he stared up at the moon, catching sight of a shooting star passing behind it. At the same time, night in the Capital was a complete mess of worry and fear. In Rainbow and Virus' home above the castle, the whole family were hard at work looking for any sign of their missing members.
Which wasn't going smoothly.
"What do you mean the phones don't have trackers in them?!" Rainbow screeched at her husband, making the nearby Team E-Scope to cover their ears and wince.
"I never felt it was necessary!" Virus roared back, his stress evident. "Considering how things were, I thought Gladius couldn't just open portals like that!" Ralph and Spamley shared a miserable look, while Ruby looked close to tears.
"These two are going to give me a headache…" Majima sighed out as he messaged his temple. "Hey, both of you! Maybe if you two just shut the fuck up and focus, maybe we would have found the two punks by now!"
"SHUT UP MAJIMA!" Rainbow and Virus shouted back so forcefully, most of the family were nearly knocked off their feet. Those that weren't were forced to cover their ears and wince. Majima looked terrified as he took a few steps back, hands raised in surrender.
"Never piss off already angry gods, now you know", Maria spat as she looked over a map of the multiverse for any clue to where the missing trio could've gone. "Just ignore them and help us out here, Goro. The more hands on deck, the better."
Majima sighed and joined her, not even trying to catch his look of concern as he scanned over the map. The boarding school graduate caught it and pat him on the back reassuringly, making the yakuza take a deep breath. The rest of the family were doing all they could to help, even if it made everything look a bit like a mess. But they'd stop at nothing till they brought Caleb, Kat and Gladius back home.
Absolutely nothing.
~X~
And so ends the next chapter. And yes, this is where this multiversal adventure is starting, in the universe of Zig & Sharko! It's always was a fav show of mine (namely seasons one and two), and getting it included with the DCT canon has always been on a priority list of mine, Fun fact, but when I was making the first story I was thinking of just including this show there. Hence why the pre-edited version of TIYCC and the oldest cover for that story had Sharko in it.
But after some thought, I realised I didn't want that and changed it up so they came long after that whole plot line. But here they are now!
About this chapter itself, I wanted to handicap the trio. So no service to open portals, Caleb's battery is dead, and he's also freaking injured! So that will cause some conflict for a while. Hope you look forward to that!
I'll wrap this up now, but I did want to talk about a big milestone this chapter releasing means: The main DCT series has now surpassed 900k words. Just need 100k more and I'll have hit the incredibly insane 1 million total words. Yes, I'm that close. I've been writing for too long…
Anyway, hope you all loved this more simple chapter!
Up next: Despite being injured, Caleb and his companions still find ways to get involved with Zig's insane scheme's to bag Marina. Even if the hyena is alone with it, he still keeps on trying…
~Caleb~