I immediately regretted having us take this elevator. It was so slow that after a minute I wondered if we even were down a floor yet. I groaned and started banging my head against the smudgy metal wall. Amy sighed and pulled me away from the wall, spinning me around to glare at me.
"Maybe don't do that, because Maria was worried enough after you left the medical bay", Mrs.Pond explained. "So I'd rather you not bruise like a peach so she comes after me."
I stared at her blankly, before bursting out into uproarious laughter. Amy snorted and started to snicker quietly as the others joined in. I don't know why it was so funny, maybe I was just going insane because of the elevator's speed.
After calming down, I took a deep breath and smiled. "Well, since we're gonna be stuck in here for a while..." I leaned against the wall. "We could kill time by chatting. Just so I don't lose my mind out of boredom."
"Good call..." Gretchen began. She faced me with crossed arms and a pointed look. "So, what was your life like before getting sucked up on this adventure."
I flinched at the look, with Gladius, Amy and Rory wincing.
"Well, it was... meh." I looked off to the side. "My home life wasn't the best, so I left when I was... 11. Went to a foster shelter for a bit before I decided to just wander around. By the time I became 14, I had found a place of my own. It was a house in the woods, originally belonging to some family, and I lived there. Two years later, after getting my licence so I could be more free, I was driving home when the portal that sent me to the Capital opened right in front of me. The rest is history..."
Amy and Rory gave me a sad look, with Mr.Pond putting a hand on my shoulder. I leaned into the touch as the two campers shared a look.
"Did your parents look for you?" McGee asked.
"I didn't want to be found by them..." I grumbled something under my breath that only Gladius picked up on. He tilted ever so slightly, clearly out of concern.
"Did you have any siblings?" Baby asked. "You had to have someone."
I remained silent, staring blankly at a wall. My heart rate was starting to pick up.
"Caleb, is everything-" Amy began.
"I didn't have any siblings." I interrupted bluntly, body tense.
A tense silence filled the room, with Scrap Baby shifting slightly. Amy and Rory shared a look, while McGee and Gretchen eyes widened. I simply stared at the wall, trying my best to calm the inner turmoil bubbling writhing my heart and mind. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
"Sorry", I said mid-sigh. "That stuff is just... a really sensitive topic to me. I'd rather talk about some other time."
"That's cool", Baby said. "I'm sorry about bringing that up."
"It's fine, Baby", I waved off her apology, before breathing out again and leaning against her. "Can we talk about something else, now?"
Everyone nodded except the robot, who looked at the wall opposite the lift's door. "Woah", she whispered out in awe.
We all looked at what was so impressive, and we all widened our eyes at the sight of the ruined city beyond a window. A saw a distant chunk fall into the abyss below, but that didn't take away from the oddly serene sight before us.
"Okay, one, that's one heck of a view", Gretchen said. "Two, how is there a window here?"
"Special paint that can make any surface a one-way window", Gladius explained. "It's a simple but effective invention."
"That's pretty cool!" McGee said happily. His smile fell as he looked up at the sword. "But... why here?"
Gladius shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe just for the view, maybe for maintenance or construction purposes, or just because someone decided to mess around." Gladius quietly chuckled. "I remember most of the crews being very prank heavy thousands of years back whenever they were on break in the Capital."
"Sounds fun", Rory said off-handingly. He squinted outside, and then leaned back. "I still find it so freaky this is just a whole planet that's slowly dying." He looked at his wife. "Do you think there would be a place like this in our universe?"
Amy shrugged. "Maybe..."
"This isn't anything like my home", Baby said. "Even then, I don't remember much of my life before I got stuck like... this." She looked down at her chest with a sad glint in her eyes.
I patted her on the back reassuringly, and she flashed me a grateful look. Looking over my shoulder to the sign above the door, I saw that we were just passing level -1, which made me internally groan. Deciding to do something else to pass the time, I pulled out my walkie-talkie and clicked it on.
"Hey guys", I called into the speaker. "Doing a quick update, how are things going?"
There was a bout of static for a moment, and a voice came from the other end. "Going good here, dude", Corey said. "We found the other switches, so we're just waiting on you guys."
"Cool. Hey, one thing that I was worried about is if there's any switches we could miss."
"Luckily, no!" Blossom's voice came through in response. "I ended up finding a bunch of notes from a long time ago that had a map of all the breaker boxes. The last one is right next to the generator, so we're good!"
"Awesome!" McGee cheered.
"Sweet! We'll keep you guys posted." I looked up at the electronic sign above the door and sighed. "We're in a really slow elevator, so this might be a while."
"Well, you might want to hurry", Blossom said firmly. "Zomboss and Who are almost done fixing the gateway, so when you get that generator on get up here ASAP."
"You got it, boss!" I called in a goofy tone. The pink-clad Powerpuff broke into a fit of giggles, and the call was disconnected. I put the device back into my pocket, and leaned against the wall.
"Gladius, why is this taking so long?" I asked.
Gladius quickly looked at the sign above the door, and then the button pad. "Well, it's because there are these massive gaps between the basement floors."
"Why, though?"
"They need to put all the piping and wiring somewhere."
I opened my mouth to retort, only to close it at the sound logic. This place was massive, so that made sense.
"Alright, fair. But it still sucks."
"MAbe there's a way to speed this thing up?" Baby inquired. She rolled over and looked over the buttons, pressing the -3 floor one again.
We all jolted when the lift stopped, then shot down at a much more reasonable speed. We all flashed Baby with thumbs up and smiles, which made her look away in humble embarrassment.
With the elevator at a much more normal speed, we reached basement level -3 in no time, with the doors opening up to show us a branching series of hallways lined with pipes, wires and metal. All of it looked worn, rusted and dusty.
Carefully stepping out, me and the Ponds clicked on our flashlights, illuminating the dark halls. As we took a few more steps, we jumped when the elevator played an off-tune ding and closed the doors.
We all took a deep breath, and faced the darkness again. I gulped as me and Gladius led the group down the forward hallway.
"So, when do we know when we see the generator?" Gretchen whispered, her voice still bouncing off the cold walls.
Gladius hummed. "It would be obvious, I assume..."
"Hey, guys", Amy whispered. We looked at her, and noticed she was aiming the beam upwards. I followed suit, and saw a trio of thick cables in the middle of the ceiling, one blue, one red, and one green.
"I remember seeing these plugging into the gateway", Ms.Pond continued. "So my best bet is if we follow them..." She shined her light along the ceiling deeping into the hall. "We'll find the generator."
"Good idea, Amelia!" Gladius cheered quietly. His cheer still reflected off the metal surfaces, echoing into the dark.
I looked down one of the halls, squinting my eyes as if I could see something in the dark. But then I just shook my head, snapping back to reality when the others all began to march forward.
With a deep breath, I followed after them, our footsteps loud against the metal grate floor.
~X~
The basement level we were on was almost like a maze, and would have been completely if it wasn't for the wires on the ceiling. Every split path we reached, and every intersection we stopped at looked identical, so having our easy way through was nice. But as we turned and peeked around corners, it felt like we were going in circles. It was making me doubt if we could even find the generator.
Luckily, my silent prayers were answered when we finally reached a sturdy looking metal door sealed with a valve.
"Okay, stand back guys", Baby said firmly. "I got this." She rolled over to the valve and turned it with all her might. We all winced at the ear-rattling screeching as rusted, aged metal twisted in what was over 5000 years, but luckily covering our ears elevated some of the pain.
After a few agonising seconds, Baby wrenched the door. The ancient hinges groaned as the door was slowly opened, only for the door to fall off the wall and slam into the ground. We all jumped back in fright as the deafening bang echoed throughout the cold, lifeless underground, letting out cries and shrieks of fear.
Instinctually me, Amy and Rory looked around as if something was going to jump out at us. But luckily, no sound of scrambling footsteps or a spine chilling roar came, which made us relax significantly.
With that past, we headed inside the newly opened room. I flashed my light around, taking in the sights. It didn't look any different from the rest of the basement, aside from the copious amounts of abandoned tools, construction equipment, and, strangely, hazmat suits.
Amy eyed the suits warily. "Gladius... why are those there?" She shined her light over the suits so the sword could look, and he was silent before nervously clearing his throat.
"We might need those", he said in a shaky tone. "At least you four, since you're human. The suits should automatically resize when you put them on."
I shared a look with my fellow vulnerable humans, all of us with faces of fear. But if this was the true final hurdle, so be it. All five of us quickly put on the suits, with them quickly resizing so they fit our proportions. I put on my suit's helmet, I looked back at the others as they finished suiting up.
"Okay, let's get going", I said.
"The sooner I get out of this, the better", Gretchen complained, messing with the arm of her suit. Her voice sounded like it was being run through a radio, which made sense considering the speaker mouthpiece.
I nodded and followed Gladius deeper into the room, flashlight in hand, weaving past and around abandoned crates filled with supplies that were probably for the finished city.
After a bit, we all reached a large open space. Against the wall was a massive device glowing a light akin to being underwater, all its lights off with a low humming ringing through the air.
"This must be it..." Rory said. "A lot bigger than I expected."
"It has to be for the power source", Gladius explained. "Even the tiniest amount, no bigger than a finger tip, requires a massive tank to contain it."
"Like that one?" McGee said, pointing to the machine's right side. Looking over, I saw a small orb of light flashing all colours of the rainbow. Massive tubes and wires fed from the machine into the tank, energy pulsing through.
"So how do we turn this on?" McGee asked.
Gladius hovered closer to the deactivated generator. He hummed and began to dart about comically as he studied it.
After a moment, he finally spoke.
"I have no idea."
"WHAT?!"
He flinched at our combined rage-filled cry, only to spin around and raise his wings in defence. "BUT, I think I have an idea." He looked at the machine carefully. "There appears to be a control panel which has the breaker switches, so I assume it'll involve that."
We all glared at him.
"Better than nothing..." I said dangerously. I walked up and looked over the panel. But as I looked over the unlabelled buttons, I finally noticed Scrap Baby hadn't said a thing since we found the generator.
"Baby, is everything okay?" I asked, turning to face her.
"There's a massive gap that goes outside", she said in flat fear.
We all froze and looked at her, then followed where her hand was pointing. Sure enough, there was a massive gash in the metal wall that went straight outside, the ruined city visible and clear as day. Gladius seemed not convinced, so flew over to test if it was real. He flew outside, up so he disappeared, and immediately scrambled back down and joined us in the blink of an eye.
"Good lord it is!" He cried in terror. "That's not good. If we don't get out of here soon, those constructs may find out about this opening!"
"Wait, but you said with the front door closed then they would all be gone", Gretchen pointed out with wide eyes.
"That's if there were no other openings!" Gladius exclaimed. "But with this, they're all most definitely active and searching for a way to get us."
"So basically... we're doomed", Rory squeaked out.
Gladius didn't say anything, rather spinning to me. "Caleb, get this generator on NOW!"
I nodded frantically and began to fiddle with the controls. I made sure to switch the final breaker switch and start pressing a series of buttons. Maybe my sudden adrenaline at the now very real fear of a very scary death, but I somehow managed to hit all the right buttons.
The first sign was the machine sputtering to life, a loud banging coming from the machine, then all the small lights on it clicking on, and then a startup noise of some kind.
We were all suddenly bathed in a low red light as the emergency lights sparked to life, somehow not flickering or sparkling.
As I looked up, my pocket started to buzz, so I quickly took out the walkie-talkie.
"Caleb, the gateway is ready!" Zomboss called from the other side. "The power was all we were missing! With the press of a button, we are gone!"
"Alright, cool!" I said in a strained tone. "We'll be up in a moment. Just gonna get back to the elevator."
"Is everything okay?"
"Yes, except for the massive gash in the wall to the outside..." I trailed off when some of the imitation Cybug began to crawl through the gap, making my mind lock up for a second. "WHICH MEANS WE'RE GETTING CHASED BY THOSE FREAKS GOTTA GO!"
I turned off the handheld device just as Zomboss let out a shocked exclamation, quickly running after my friends as imitation Cybugs and Minecraft Spiders began to crawl into the hole, with Daleks and Cluster soldiers flying in with weapons on full charge.
We quickly discarded the hazmat suits as Baby knocked over a stack of crates to buy us a bit of time, and we all ran out of the room back towards the elevator. The hallways, now bathed in an ominous red light only made things far more intimidating as we followed the cords in the ceiling the reverse way, occasionally sparking with new power flow.
As we passed intersections and splits, more of the beasts seemed to crawl from the metalwork as they moved in on us. Cybugs opened jaws wide as they came barrelling at us, Daleks unleashed a barrage of laser fire, and we constantly had to shake off disturbing looking pink teddy bears with hammers that latched onto our bodies.
Baby, who seemed the most diligent, ended up ripping a metal pipe out of the wall and started to use it and her claw as weapons, flailing wildly. She was able to tear apart most of the psycho teddies and even a Cybug, which gave us just enough breathing room to get away.
We continued to follow the wires with desperation in our eyes, and soon we could see the lift at the end of the hall after turning a corner. I could hear all the beasts gaining, so we wasted no time running to the door and frantically mashing the button to open the door. The doors opened shortly after, and we all quickly filed in.
Just as the imitations turned the corner after us, the doors had finally closed as we began to head upstairs. We all breathed a collective sigh of relief, sans Gladius.
"This isn't the end, everyone..." The sword said with dread as he eyed the rising floor numbers above the door. "The metal inside isn't the same as the metal outside, which means until that portal is opened, we will be overrun in seconds."
"Oh my god", Amy whispered in pure terror.
We all shared horrified looks and watched as the floors slowly climbed up and up. Once we were at the first floor and the doors opened, we all booked it out, down the hall, and through the door Baby originally found.
As we ran into the main part of the plaza, with all the others grouped up at the gateway, we began to wave at them frantically.
"Turn it on!" We all cried in various ways.
"Caleb!" Maria screamed. She wrapped me into a hug as I ploughed into her, with the wooden woman looking me over in frantic concern. "What do you mean they got in?"
Just as I opened my mouth to respond, time slowed to a crawl.
As it was just then a construct of the Movie Lot Monster exploded from the centre of the room, ripping the fountain and surrounding benches and flower beds apart.
It let out an ear-shattering roar that cracked most glass in the building, and made us all look on in pure horror. We also watched as more thing exploded from the floor below, from a swarm of Cybugs and Cluster soldiers, A squad of Daleks with Blazes and a Wither, planes with bunny hoods that were blushing, multiple copies of gender-swapped Powerpuffs, and a swarm of Bronto Burts and angry Scarfys with a very violent looking Dyna Blade.
As soon as they locked eyes with us, all hell broke loose.
Star used her magic to create a force field while Zomboss used his technology to create his own.
Jenny, Majima, Merida, Dry Bowser and Flowey began to unleash a barrage of projectiles at the beasts, trying their best to keep them back.
Me and all the others were forced back behind Galacta and Maria, who kept us defensively close to the gateway. Everything that was happening was a complete sensory overload.
During all the chaos I watched as a stray lash from an imitation Kamurocho Thug's whip knocked the remote to active the gateway out of Zomboss's hand, sending it flying into the hostile group somewhere in front of the Movie Lot Monster, which seemed to just be smiling down at the sight.
My eyes widened as our only way to escape was taken from us, and I suddenly felt a stupid amount of resolve. Before anyone could react, I darted forward, ignoring the screams of my name from the others, and soon began to fight my way through the crowd. The hostiles seemed more keen on my friends, but that didn't mean I wasn't scratched.
With a final push of my legs, I dove at the switch and grabbed it, beaming in happiness as I looked it over.
But when I looked up at the looming shadow over me, and I locked up at the lifeless, vicious smile the Movie Lot Monster was giving me.
But that wasn't what made me crash.
Because right in front of me, was...
Two people.
Older than me.
Fuzzy black bars over their eyes and emotionless expressions on their faces.
My mind screamed.
No.
No.
NO.
NONONONONONONONONO.
Them.
It was them.
They can't be here.
Nononononononononono.
I fell backwards and tried to back away, but something was keeping me from escaping.
I was frozen.
I couldn't move as they advanced.
I could just barely see the Monster charging up a powerful fire blast just for me.
Tears started to trickle down my face.
The Monster opened its flame-filled mouth as the two stood over me.
And then my vision was filled with a brilliant blue light.
My eyes bugged out as an absolutely massive beam was fired out, disintegrating the two's upper bodies and the entire middle of the Monster. Its eyes bugged out in genuine horror as all the other imitations froze, straining at the beam in equal terror.
Barely looking up, I saw Jenny dead centre, Gladius above her as wires laced around the two of them. She was letting out a powerful war cry with the others as Star, Zomboss, Dry Bowser, Flowey and Galacta all helped create the beam with all their strongest attacks. More energy built up and the teenage robot let out such a massive blast it made me wonder if she could destroy a planet with its might.
The army of hostiles were all caught in the blast, letting out screams and cries of horrific pain and terror as they were all vaporised into nothing. Then the whole front of the Hub was blown off, and I could see we weren't level anymore, with Jenny's beam feeding right into the singularity.
It was blinking and violently shifting as the power flowed into it, clearly too much for it to handle.
Then the beam split it in two.
Jenny collapsed as the singularity was shredded in half, all surviving constructs frozen with looks of terror as everything stilled.
Then, I watched as all the surviving constructs both inside and out began to die horrifically, all of them offing themselves at their failure to protect their universe.
Daleks self-destructed, thugs put bullets in their own heads, the Movie Lot Monster ripped its head off, Cybugs clawed their eyes out, and Scrafys detonated to take out anything left.
It was such a horrifically gruesome sight that I could barely register what was happening.
But I did catch the two figures from earlier, standing a distance away in the middle of the chaos.
They were burning alive, screaming in agony and pain.
My heart and mind crashed as they all faded into nothingness, leaving only me and my friends standing in the ruined Hub.
"Caleb!" Maria shrieked. She slid her knees and looked me over. "Are you okay?!"
I looked up at her, breathing heavily and eyes screwed open.
Then, I fainted, just barely catching her scream for my name as it all faded to black.
~X~
I snapped away, realising I was sitting on the floor leaning against the TARDIS. Looking around, I saw we were still in the destroyed Hub, with the gateway intact. All my friends were standing by it, quietly chatting with concern on their faces. Jenny looked surprisingly well considering what she just did.
"He's awake!" Vanellope cried as she looked over. The rest of the group did simultaneously, and before I could react Vanny, Hilda, Twig, Gladius, Maple Barranco, Maria and Manolo all rushed over, wrapping me into a tight but loving group hug.
"What... What happened?" I asked in a somewhat dazed state.
"You blacked out, that's what!" Maria chided angrily. She gave me a stern look as she lifted my face in her hands, only for it to melt immediately after. "Don't ever do that again." She kissed my forehead, then touched it with her's.
Manolo pulled me close and kissed into my disastrous mop of hair. "We were all worried sick you wouldn't wake up, mijo..."
"But we are so glad you did", Barranco said in a surprisingly vulnerable tone. Maple nodded rapidly into my side as he buried his face into me.
I was frozen for a moment, but then gave a watery smile and hugged them all close, none of us saying a word.
After what felt like an hour of a loving hug, we all stood up, with Manolo and Gladius helping me to my feet. Vanellope and Hilda decided that hugging my legs was the best course of action as Twig and Maple sat on both my shoulders, earning a quiet giggle from Maria and chuckle from Manolo.
I smiled and brushed my hands through the two girl's hair, making them briefly look up at me before burying their faces into my pant legs.
Looking over, I saw the Hub was still somehow tilted, the blasted open side looking down at the split in half singularity. It twitched every so often, which made me mildly uncomfortable.
"It knows not to hurt us anymore", Gladius said, answering a question I didn't even think of yet. "It still has to die naturally, so it'll reform soon. Right now it is stunned. But it'll remember us, so if we ever find a way back here it won't attack us."
I looked out at the dying centre for a moment. "Good."
I walked up, struggling a bit because of the girls, to the others as they all looked at me with reassuring smiles. I soon found my way to the front of the pack, where Zomboss was waiting with the switch. The Doctor was busy setting something up with Dave's help, but I didn't question it. When they were done, the joined the others, with Star shrinking the TARDIS once again.
"Feeling better?" The zombie asked.
I nodded as the others all left my side sans Gladius to join the rest of the group, which all came together to watch. "I am, Zomboss. Thank you."
He smiled and handed me the remote. "I feel like you should do the honours, my boy."
He handed me the remote, and I looked down at it with a sense of melancholy. This was it. With a single push of this button me and Gladius would finally be home. All of the ups and down would finally be behind us. I'd get to see Katania, Rainbow, Virus, Lightness, Darkness, Skye and Jeremy again. I'd be back sleeping in the room I claimed as my own.
Just one button press away.
Silently, I looked over at the others. They all eyed me with smiles, grouped up in such a way it looked like a family. A dysfunctional, happy family.
I looked up at Gladius, the cool air blowing over us.
"This is it, Caleb", the sword said in a hushed tone. "We're one step away."
I could feel tears pricking in my eyes at how unbelievable this seemed. But I knew it was actually happening. This wasn't a dream.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, the memories of this wild and crazy adventure flashing in my mind.
Meeting Vanellope...
Battling ARMAGEDROID...
Visiting the Nether...
Exploring Kamurocho...
Running from Trolls...
Saving Ponyhead from Saint Olga's...
Battling Galacta Knight on Messi's moon...
Growing Maple at Neighborville's park...
Witnessing the Land Of The Remembered...
Sneaking around as an intern during Total Drama Action...
Basking in Gloomsville's moonlight...
Helping Majima not get arrested in Townsville...
Freezing under Flowey's gaze...
Dealing with Rabbids...
Enjoying some ice cream with Minions....
Riding on horseback with Merida...
Travelling across time and space in the TARDIS...
Talking with Dry Bowser under Galifriey's twin suns...
Getting a vacation in Beach City...
Saving a pig from a pterodactyl...
Rocking out at an intense race...
Proving LakeBottom is the best summer camp...
Spending time with Baby...
It made me open my eyes, a smile lighting up my face as happy tears ran down my cheeks.
Gladius hovered down to look at me, and I looked at him with an even wider smile.
"Yeah..." I said shakily. I wiped my eyes and sniffed. "Let's go home."
I pressed the button on the remote, and instantly the gateway came to life, a portal I have grown to love appearing under the sturdy metal arch. I stared at the swirling mass of colours silently as Ralph, Jenny and Steve came to my side. With another deep breath, I led us into the light, each and every one of these incredible people following after me.
I closed my eyes as I began my final freefall into the tunnel of voices and light.
~X~
...This is it. The 'Convergence Universe' arc is finished. Just, wow.
...
I can't believe it. Two years ago, I started this story in one place. And now, we're back after over 70 chapters of constant chaos, danger, love and laughs. This doesn't feel real. It shouldn't.
...
But.. this is real. And I couldn't be happier. I have all of you to thank, and I mean it. Never stop being awesome, and I hope you enjoy this fantastic ending. I have some fun and sad moments planned, so be ready.
As always, I hope you enjoyed...
Up next: They finally did it. After all this time, Caleb and Gladius are back at the Capital. But even that has some bumps as four certain gods and a green sweater clad girl are introduced to the band of misfits we fell in love with through this whole adventure...
~Caleb~