Grian sat with Grumbot a little while, tweaking some stuff and building Grumbot a set of gloved arms and while talking all about the recent events that had been happening. "So we need you to kind of help us stop the Watchers." Grian explained. "You are constantly followed by chaos." Grumbot said flatly. Grian laughed. Well, it was true after all. No one could really deny it.
"There, try moving your left hand." Grian said, finishing screwing in the last bolt on it. Grumbot complied and waved his left hand. "Okay, that works. Now try the other one." Grian said, smiling. Grumbot was able to fully move both his arms and Grian was pleased with the result. "Okay, now you are no longer armless."
"Grian, I want Mumbo." Grumbot complained with a longing tone in his voice. "He's not here, remember?" Grian said, sighing. Grumbot kept on bringing up Mumbo and it was getting very repetitive. Then again, Grumbot's whole purpose in life was to make Mumbo mayor so it was understandable how the AI was having an existential crisis.
"Grian, if this world does not have Mumbo in it, I find no purpose in it." Grumbot said. "This world must be purged." "What?! No!" Grian shouted. "This world does not have Mumbo in it." Grumbot repeated. "Grumbot, you're doing the Watchers a favor by purging this world!" Grian told him. "So? I want Mumbo." Grumbot said flatly.
Grian awkwardly backed off. This was not supposed to happen. He suddenly regretted giving the AI arms. Then an idea occurred to him. "Grumbot, what if I give you enough power to teleport Mumbo here?" He asked. "Will you leave this world alone then?" Grumbot paused as he considered. "I want Mumbo." He said at last.
Grian nodded, heaving a huge sigh of relief. Now all he had to do was hook Grumbot up to some power sources and it would all be fine. He jumped off the platform and flew away from Hermitopia to the giant hole in the ground near Animalia that lead to Gobland. "fWhip?" Grian called. The goblin soon materialized by his side, chomping on some rocks.
"Yeah? Do you need help with Grumbot?" fWhip asked. "Actually, I do." Grian said. "I need to borrow a substantial power source to hook up to him that lets him teleport Mumbo to this world so he doesn't go on an existential crisis and purge this dimension." fWhip blinked. "Uh, could you repeat that again? And slower this time?"
"I need to borrow a substantial power source to hook up to Grumbot so he can teleport Mumbo here so that he doesn't go on an existential crisis and want to purge this world." Grian repeated. fWhip raised his ears in shock and maybe horror, but Grian was too busy laughing at the sight to really ponder about it too much. "Uh, okay." fWhip said blankly. "I have a giant sign that could work."
Grian teleported the giant sign to the top of Hermitopia and he and fWhip journeyed back up to the surface to actually attach it to Grumbot. As they exited by Animalia, they ran into False who was busy running for her life with a snapped elytra. "False, are you okay?!" Grian squeaked. False paused and sat down, breathing heavily.
"If you count almost dying being okay." She muttered. "Is it the Watchers?!" Grian asked in steadily growing horror. False shook her head and opened her mouth to speak, but beside him fWhip jumped a foot in the air in shock. "No, worse! It's Lizzie!" Grian turned to see Lizzie running towards them with a fancy glowing trident and a very familiar jester's hat.
"False, just come back here and let me strike you down with lightning!" Lizzie shouted, preparing to throw her trident. False ducked behind Grian who quickly realized that he could be tagged too as a hermit. "No tag backs!" He quickly yelled. Lizzie stopped in front of him, tail twitching in annoyance.
"That wasn't a rule before!"
"It is now!"
"You can't just change the rules like that midgame!"
"It's my game; I can do whatever I like!"
"Well, then step out of the way so I can tag False! It's taken me an insane amount of time to do this!"
Before anyone could say anything Joel suddenly descended from the sky in a clap of thunder and lightning. "What's going on here?" He asked, glancing around. "Me trying and failing to tag False." Lizzie mumbled. Joel's eyes widened in horror. "No, you can't tag anyone now!" He said quickly. "And- wait,' He did a double take. "Is that my trident?"
Lizzie quickly hid the trident behind her back. "No, why in the world would you think that?" She asked shyly. Joel rolled his eyes. "Well, nevermind. You can't tag anyone. The Watchers turned off respawn." "What?!" Everyone shouted. Then Grian realized something. "Wait, how do you know that?" He asked quietly, dreading the answer. "Who died to make you realize that respawn is off?"
"Well, Jimmy died but-" "The sheriff what?!" fWhip yelped. "I didn't even apologize to him for everything yet!" "He's not dead!" Joel added quickly. Everyone turned to look at him quizzically. "Uh, what?" "Well, we thought he died, but toys don't really die, so I gave him an apple of lying to turn him back human except shorter and Jimena healed him up so he's alive." Joel explained.
"So... is respawn on or off?" False asked slowly. "Let's not test that." fWhip shuddered. "Good idea." Lizzie agreed. "But is tag over now? Can I take this silly hat off?" "Okay, sure." Grian said, and Lizzie tossed the thing off and away with an exaggerated sigh of relief.
"What are you guys doing here anyway?" False asked. "Well, I built an AI called Grumbot who started getting existential so he wanted to purge this world so I made a deal with him to give him enough power to teleport Mumbo here so he would actually protect this world like was supposed to so I had to get a power source from Gobland." Grian said.
"Oh, okay." Lizzie said, sounding completely unsurprised. "Also, do you think lightning could help as a power source?" She asked. "Maybe." Grian said, considering. "You guys barely have electricity in this world other than lightning so this might actually help. Okay, everyone come with me to go and pacify Grumbot before he goes all existential again."
So they flew to the top of Hermitopia with Joel's totally not stolen trident and found Grumbot twitching his new hands in agitated dismay. "He has hands now?" fWhip asked in confusion. "Yeah, for whatever reason I decided to give him arms." Grian said, wondering what in the world possessed him to do so.
"Give me the power." Grumbot ordered hungrily, his eyes blinking with small pulses of light. False got some redstone wiring and set up a device that Lizzie and Joel could pour their lightning in and power Grumbot that way. Meanwhile, Grian and fWhip went about hitching the power source from Gobland to the back of the giant AI's head.
"Okay, we'll set it off all at once," Grian said. "On three. One, two, three-" He was cut off as Lizzie pointed her trident at the device and set it off before everyone else. "Lizzie, you were supposed to wait." Joel pointed out with a sigh. "He said 'on three'." Lizzie protested. "And I went on three!" "When people say 'on three', I think they usually mean 'on one, two, three, go'." fWhip said. "Well, that's just silly. If they mean 'on go', they should say 'on go'." Lizzie huffed.
"To be fair that actually makes a lot of sense." False agreed. "Okay, fine, on go." Grian said, rolling his eyes. "One, two, three, go!" He, fWhip, and False pulled some switches while Joel and Lizzie conjured up some lightning and directed it into the device. There was a loud sparking sound as all the energy flowed into Grumbot and then stopped.
Everyone waited for something to happen but nothing did. "Grumbot? Are you okay, buddy?" Grian asked cautiously. "Power." Grumbot responded, and Grian was glad that at least he hadn't short-circuited. If he was talking just fine then he wasn't broken. "I need more power to summon Mumbo to this dimension."
"Maybe another power source?" fWhip mused. "Okay, we can go get that." Grian agreed. "I could get my son," Joel mused, thinking. "Which one?" Lizzie joked. "Hermes." Joel said. "He's got lightning powers too. He's staying with Sausage right now so I'll go fetch him. Wait, Sausage..." He paused. "Sausage has multiversal powers. Maybe he can help with this." "Okay, get them both." False said, but Grian wasn't paying attention anymore.
Because Joel's talk of multiversal powers reminded him of someone else who also had multiversal powers. The Watchers. Or more specifically, Jimena. Grian could get her help. "fWhip, False, you go get another power source from Gobland." Grian ordered. "Lizzie and Joel can get Sausage and Hermes. I'm going to go get Jimena."
Grian approahced Cogsmeade cautiously. He got the feeling that False might not want unexpected visitors, especially hermits. Although she seemed to like him a little... but with the Watcher meddling things around he wasn't sure if he could rely on that trust she and Jimena had in him. So he used a small piece of Watcher mind magic to announce his presence so at least he would be expected.
<Grian, don't land!> He suddenly heard Jimena's voice in his head. Grian stopped to hover around over some copper roofs. <Why?> He asked. <We boobytrapped Cogsmeade. The sheriff almost died here. I don't want you to get hurt too. Hang on, we'll come out and tell you where to land.> Grian nodded before he realized that Jimena couldn't see him. Nonetheless he stayed hovering midair until Jimena, False, and Martyn exited some houses near him and pointed out a safe landing spot for him.
"What are you doing here?" Jimena asked. "Well, I built an AI called Grumbot who got existential because Mumbo isn't in this world so he wanted to purge it because he couldn't find a purpose here so I made a deal with him to give him extra power to teleport Mumbo here through the Watchers' block so he wouldn't feel the need to destroy the world but we didn't have enough power so I'm asking you to use your powers on him to power him up." Grian explained.
"Oh." Martyn said, as if unsure what to say. "Okay." Grian looked at Jimena whose facial expressions shifted suddenly and without warning. "What makes you think I'll help?" She asked coldly, and Grian realized that it wasn't Jimena who was in control anymore. It was Herodias. "The Watchers want this world to fall and you along with it so why not have that AI of yours do it for us?"
"Because you want a show." Grian said simply. He understood how the Watchers' minds worked and what they liked and wanted after being one for so long. "The way Grumbot works, he's going to destroy this whole world all at once and some of us won't even realize it happened. Where's the fun in that? Where's all the pain and despair and suffering that you Watchers find so entertaining?" Grian soon realized he was speaking incredibly sardonically by the end of it.
Herodias narrowed her eyes and considered. "Very well." She said at last, after a few minutes of what Grian assumed to be her asking Qiron for permission. "I will go and power up that AI so he can bring a new friend here for us to torture." Grian then realized what she'd just said and felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. But he'd already made a deal with the devil so he had to go along with it.
So he and Jimena flew to Hermitopia where they found Sausage and Hermes there playing on top of a new power source that was already attached to Grumbot. "Oh, good, you're here." False said. She raised her voice and spoke very pointedly to Sausage and Hermes. "Oi! You two, get down from there! That's not something you play hopscotch on!" Sausage and Hermes giggled and they immediately got down.
"So... how exactly do I do this?" Jimena asked in confusion as she stared up at the massive AI. "Hello." Grumbot waved at her. Jimena awkwardly waved back. "Simply put your hand on me and I will do the work for you." Grumbot said easily. Jimena slowly stepped forward and touched him like he told her to. Then she jumped back as a small pulse of purple shot through her body, out her hand, and into the AI.
"That feels weird," She said. "What did you do?" "Do not worry, you still have power of your own. I simply borrowed some of it." Grumbot explained pleasantly. Grian didn't exactly like the way he was talking but shrugged it off for now. Hermes and Sausage gave some of their power to Grumbot as well and then False switched the last power source on.
After another loud sparking noise, there was a burst of white energy and then Mumbo was standing in front of them, his prim and proper black suit and hair streaked with redstone dust, looking absolutely confused. "Uh, what just happened?" He asked, blinking at Grian, who explained everything as concisely as possible but it still took several minutes.
"Oh. Well, that happened." Mumbo said. He turned to look at Grumbot, who was seemingly smiling, although Grian had never built him a mouth. "Mumbo, you are finally here. Now I can use the newfound powers I have been given to depart upon you some political power." "Uh... what does he mean?" Mumbo asked, glancing at Grian. "He means make you mayor." Grian said.
"Oh, that makes sense." Mumbo said. Then Lizzie made a funny noise and twitched her tail. "Wait, make him mayor? I'm the mayor!" Grumbot slowly blinked his eyes and stared directly at the cat. "You are currently mayor?" He asked seriously. "Yeah, of Animalia." Lizzie blurted without thinking. Grumbot looked at Mumbo and then at her again. "Then you must die so Mumbo can be mayor." "Wait, what?"