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The hallway spans forever in both directions with no end in sight.
Mumbo had never seen anything like this and clearly, neither had Joey. The two have long since been separated from the rest of Joey’s friends. Frankly, it was stupid to enter a random portal without checking if it was safe.
He’s just used to portal leading the Hubs in the Nether which are normally quite safe.
“There has to be a way out,” Joey said.
The kid have been checking out where some of the portals lead as they walk through the hallway. Grumbot has been marking them off when Joey comes back. However, both seem to be getting tired of finding nothing of use.
“I mean how many worlds are there?”
“More than I can count,” Mumbo said.
Each world that the Hermits are invited into probably has a portal but Mumbo doesn’t even know where to start looking for them. Mumbo thought of a few ideas of how to track things but most of it is useless because they don’t have the means of making anything.
Actually, neither one has eaten in a while either.
Mumbo can go for a few more hours if he doesn’t sprint but Joey isn’t like him and hasn’t had anything since breakfast. Which was hours ago by now if he had to guess.
It’s hard to say how much longer they are going to be here.
“Hey, this one’s kinda weird looking.” Joey stops in front of a portal with a sign posted on it: The White Pumpkin Mansion. Underneath the sign is a map, an image of a large mansion in the distance from where the portal mostly is. “Looks similar to Glatt’s mansion at least. Want to check it out?”
Mumbo wasn’t sure because this place just seemed like bad news.
Suddenly, there’s a soft ding and a flash of light from Grumbot.
‘There’s a familiar energy source in there.’
Grumbot blinks up at him though doesn’t clear anything up about what he means.
His son is pretty good at picking up objects and people that are familiar to home but also can be very wrong as well.
However, Mumbo can’t leave anything up to chance if he wants them to get home and find the rest of the Command Block pieces.
“Let’s head in.”
…
It felt like the universe was taunting him having changed his room to the Boatem Moon Observatory. The orbs still float around the room; images of his friends fighting for their lives. Each of the Winners has to deal with their games all over again while Grian can only watch helplessly.
He has guided Scar’s orb down to see what he has been up to. The Point of View is coming from the Secret Keeper, who’s staring down at Scar who’s in the middle of talking but there’s no sound.
Grian does know that the two have been playing with the remaining secrets but it became clear quite quickly that some are just impossible to complete without a second person.
Sometimes, Scar gets really close to being able to leave his world before being given the same task that had locked him in there in the first place.
It’s a similar situation to all the other Winners, being so close to being able to leave before starting the whole thing over again.
There’s nothing that Grian can do to help them, not like this anyway.
Grumbot normally zips around the room, checking on their other friends and the Winners that Grian didn’t check that day. However, his son suddenly appears in front of his face with a warning message.
He lets go of the orb - watching briefly as it floats back up with the other Winners - before dawning his cloak and racing out of the Observatory.
…
“Hello!?” Mumbo pushes the door open with the end of his shotgun. Wincing when it suddenly falls off and smacks against the floor with a loud bang. He put the gun back into his inventory. “Well, it’s safe to say that no one has been here for a while.”
“Which means another bust.” Joey sighs and turns around. “Let’s head back to the portal before it gets dark, who knows what kind of world this is.”
The sun had already started to set before they even stepped out of the portal. Mumbo wouldn’t be all that worried if it wasn’t for the fact that neither one has any kind of armour or weapon to protect themselves with.
And there’s no way of knowing how strong the mobs are here either.
His son is quite impressive but not that impressive.
“How about we see if we can raid the kitchen first and look around for items first,” Mumbo suggests.
They need stuff if they want to continue wandering down the network of portals. Maybe they can find more portals with signs and whatnot; Mumbo wonders who made them and where they are. Maybe they can help them.
Mumbo brings his device again and taps a few things before sending Grumbot off to Joey’s phone.
The kid pulls it out of his pocket and smiles softly at whatever Grumbot had texted him. Those two had become quick friends when Mumbo allowed Joey to have his device for a bit.
“Grumbot will help you out, just get him to message him if you need anything.”
“And what about you?” Joey questions, looking away from his phone to Mumbo.
“I’ll be fine.” Mumbo doesn’t want to worry Joey, especially since exploring this mansion will be easier compared to some of the other stuff he has done. “We’ll meet back here in an hour.”
Joey pockets his phone and gives a sharp nod, before heading off in a random direction without any kind of plan.
Mumbo brings his shotgun back to his hands and heads towards the west side of the mansion. Hopefully, there’s something useful in this building.
…
Grian never liked the Portal Network, especially not by those who made this place. The Old Builders never got along with the Hermits and never actively worked against them in the beginning. It wasn’t until Grian joined the Hermits did he started having an actual problem with them.
They mostly ignored his existence until his statue of Hermit was revealed to them.
Suddenly, everything Grian did was wrong.
After the Old Builders disappeared, the Network became useless as Hubs became common; it became a safer and less confusing way of getting around compared to this place.
These portals are only used by those using the old method or are planning on hiding something.
Grian never liked using the Network these days mostly because they gave him the creeps; almost like someone was watching him.
There are only a few portals that Grian cares about anyway.
And someone had opened one of them.
…
The last thing Mumbo was expecting to find anyone in the mansion.
Lo and behold, a whole group of people sitting in a large dining room.
Six people are sitting around a large table with a huge spread of food laid out before them. One held up their cup towards Mumbo, causing the others to acknowledge and ignore the shotgun in his hands.
He didn’t put it away but did lower it.
“Welcome!” The man said, looking over his sunglasses for a moment. Almost like he was judging Mumbo. “What brings you here?”
“My friend and I were just looking for supplies, we’ll be on our way.”
“Not out of here you’re not,” Mumbo swears that the guy’s hair was brown just a moment ago. “Once the sun goes down, the Zombies and Spiders take over this place and won’t let up until morning.”
“Oh, I just hope that we don’t have another White Pumpkin crisis.”
“You do that one time and suddenly you’re the bad guy!” The girl with a cat doesn’t seem happy with what was said.
“Cassie, you killed TorqueDawg.”
Mumbo doesn’t understand a single sentence; not about this White Pumpkin and the arguing about what happened during that time. Frankly, he’s more tired than anything and just wants to go home.
Even though there’s a chance the Moon will crash into the planet, it’s still home.
“You good?” Joey asks, suddenly appearing by his side and snacking on a cookie. One less thing for Mumbo to worry about.
“Fine,” Mumbo said even though it wasn’t the truth. “Do you understand any of this?”
“No, I just heard something about TorqueDawg? I think he’s a streamer, maybe the twins know since they are big fans of those guys.”
Joey takes out his phone, smiling at the sight of Grumbot, before writing down a note for when they get back.
“Sorry about that.” The man with the sunglasses said as he came over to them. “We didn’t introduce ourselves; I’m Captain Sparklez.” He gestures to himself before pointing towards each person. “That’ll be Stampy Cat, Stacy Plays, Cassie Rose, Dan, and Lizzie.”
Each person gave their own kind of greeting but strangely Lizzie seemed quite familiar but Mumbo couldn’t quite place where he knew her from.
Maybe they passed one another before?
But when?
“Name’s Joey.” The kid gestures to himself before pointing to Mumbo. “And this is Mumbo, what is the White Pumpkin?”
“Come sit, we’ll tell you that lovely tale,” Lizzie said, patting the back of one of the two empty seats next to her.
At some point, food has been put on the plates but for some reason, Mumbo doubts any of their strange hosts were the ones to fill them.
Joey didn’t think twice before going to sit down, leaving the spot next to Lizzie open for Mumbo, who took a second to come over.
Something isn’t quite right with this place.
…
Compared to many of the other portals, this one is pretty boring compared to so many others lined up next to it. Which is saying something since they all look similar to one another.
Grumbot popped up and went about scanning the frame. It takes a few seconds and something quite concerning comes up on the screen.
There’s a piece of the Command Block somewhere within the world which should be near impossible; mostly because this world was abandoned years ago.
“Run another scan, Grumbot.”
His son stares up at him with shining blue eyes; lingering longer than Grian would like. Then he did what was asked.
“Shouldn’t we look for our piece?” Grumbot question.
They should since it could be a way to free his friends from their prisons. However, this is slightly more important…no matter what anyone says.
It doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that a couple of months back (have it been months?), something broke into the Observatory and stole his piece of the Command Block. Nope, nothing like that had happened.
The scan comes back the same; there’s a piece of the Command Block in that world.
“Let’s go.”
Grian ignores Grumbot’s questioning and pulls his hood over his head; stepping through the portal.
…
“…And that’s basically what happened,” Lizzie finishes explaining.
Most of the food had been cleared and someone had brought out a pumpkin pie to share between them. Joey didn’t have any complaints, nor did the others, but Mumbo still wasn’t quite sure about all of this.
“Most of us live in other places like Beacontown.” Stacy has been helping the Captain with cleaning up the plates. However, she suddenly had an idea. “You two should come back with us in the morning, maybe the Order can help you.”
“The Order?” Mumbo question.
“The New Order of the Stone turns out the old ones were frauds or something.” Cassie shrugs, pasting her plate to Sparklez with a thanks. “There are also the Admins or Old Builders you could ask for help as well but there’s no way of knowing if they’ll help you or not. Jesse’s gang is probably your best bet.”
“And they are in Beacontown?” Mumbo asks, just to clarify. “Where is that? Is that in this world or somewhere else?”
He is not looking forward to going back into that corridor of portals. It creeps him out. Like there’s something in there watching him.
“It’s another portal but don’t worry most of them are labelled these days,” Stacy said.
Suddenly, Sparklez called the meal to a close and sent everyone off to bed for the night. There’s no reason for any of them to be up anymore is the reason. Not that Mumbo trusts that reason.
Sparklez is nice enough to show Mumbo and Joey to a few bedrooms so as not to get lost within the mansion. There are secret passageways that not even Sparklez knows of and doesn’t want them getting lost or hurt.
“I don’t trust them,” Mumbo said once they were alone.
Joey stops in his tracks; looking back across at Mumbo. “Why not?” he turns around to face Mumbo. “I mean they answered all of our questions and even offered to help, isn’t that enough?”
From what Mumbo was told and had figured out, Joey and his friends tend to trust others far too quickly. Joey had explained how they met Glatt and why they stuck around to hang out with the ghost but none of it eased Mumbo’s worry. Nor does he trust Glatt at all.
It just keeps reminding Mumbo just how young Joey is compared to him.
Joey looks back in the direction that they came from – an unreadable look on his face – before he looks back at Mumbo with determination.
“We’re heading to Beacontown and getting help.” He had lowered his voice while staring directly at Mumbo. “This is all because of you and that Command Block, the least you can do is accept their help.”
With that, Joey went into the room; slamming the door to prove some point.
…
‘Welcome to Crown Mesa. Population: 0000.’
Grian walks past the sign and into the abandoned town which hasn’t seen a single soul in years. Not since everyone moved out to another world where they live a better life. Though how much better is debatable at times.
In the distance, a giant screen is visible though it has long since lost power. It’s still a force that kept a stronghold on the town; not surprising that everyone left. PAMA was something that Grian vaguely knew about but never kept up with since it never once affected him or anyone he cared about.
“There’s a Command Piece close by!” Grumbot said, appearing in front of Grian. “Though it’s strangely dormant like something turned it off.”
“That’s not possible.” Grian continues farther into the town. “Run another scan to be sure, Grumbot.”
His son does appear to be tired of the orders Grian has been throwing at him for the past few months but they must figure this out. Though Grian notices that his son does end up disappearing whenever he’s a bit too harsh with asking for something…he’ll look into it later when they get back home.
“Same results as the first.” Grumbot sounds more robotic than before. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”
Grian stops and looks at the screen; his son’s eyes aren’t following his movements.
Looking behind the screen, he can see PAMA in the distance.
There’s no Command Piece here.
Grian closes out Grumbot – making sure his son is completely dormant – before running back towards the portal.
…
In the morning, everyone went together to the portal after having some breakfast. Mumbo and Joey kept to the back of the group, mostly to give themselves the best chance of escaping just in case. However, it didn’t seem necessary since Captain Sparklez, Dan, and Stampy Cat had separated from them, heading off somewhere else after saying their goodbyes.
Which left Mumbo and Joey with Stacy, Lizzie, Cassie, and Winslow.
“You guys will like Beacontown,” Lizzie said. She separates herself from Stacy and Cassie’s conversation. “I don’t live there but Stacy, Cassie, and Stampy do. They only have good things to say about it and the New Order.”
“Why don’t you live there?” Mumbo question.
He knows Lizzie from somewhere but his mind is foggy and his memory is like a jukebox with skipping tracks.
Lizzie shrugs. “I tend to jump from one place to another, easier that way but maybe one day I’ll move to Beacontown like everyone else.” There’s more to it but she doesn’t seem willing to share and Mumbo doesn’t want to push anymore.
There’s a soft ‘boop boop’ from Grumbot and Mumbo steps away from Joey and Lizzie to answer his son. They came to a halt in front of a red portal that appeared trying to lure Mumbo into it.
“Everything alright, Grumbot?”
It takes a second before his son’s face appears.
‘There’s a Command Piece in there.’
Mumbo had to read the text a few times before looking at the portal in front of them.
“That’s Crown Mesa,” Lizzie said. “No one lives there anymore, not after PAMA shut down.”
“PAMA?” Mumbo looks away, noticing that the others have gone on ahead with them. “What happened?”
“It basically took over the world.”
Plain and simple. If PAMA was that powerful then how was it destroyed? There are so many more questions but Lizzie is already walking away and Grumbot hasn’t alerted him again as he follows. There’s far more going on than he first thought…which worries him.
…
Grian stumbles out of the portal, crashing to the ground. The edge of his feathers is burnt and still smoking from where he was shot. He doesn’t know what attacked him but he doubts it had anything to do with PAMA. Someone or something else was in there and got the jump on him.
He struggles to sit up; vision blurred and the world spinning but he can see the back of someone familiar; two very familiar people that he can’t help reaching out towards.
“Mumbo?”
And then his world went tumbling out of view.
…
The town has been decorated for their ‘Defeat of the Wither Storm’ festival. It is beautiful, overwhelming, and amazing rolled up into one big thing. Stacy and Cassie had left them to head home before the festival tonight; Lizzie had taken them to the Order Hall where they should be able to find Jesse.
“Have you ever been to this festival before?” Joey asks, doing a full turn so he can look at everything.
Lizzie shakes her head. “No, I never made the time really.” She looks back at them for a moment so that it’s okay but they can tell she wanted to go for some time. “I actually met Jesse’s gang before, they were the ones to solve the White Pumpkin situation. They were all really nice, even if Jesse tends to miss some information a few times.”
The trio walks into the Order Hall where someone is busy taking inventory of the objects displayed around the room. It’s pretty amazing but also reminds Mumbo more of a museum than anything else.
“Hey, Radar!” Lizzie waves to Radar to get his attention. “We need to talk to Jesse, she in?”
Radar had jumped – though not as much as one would think – and had to push his glasses back into place. “Sure, she’s in the training hall but should be done soon.” He takes a second to look Joey and Mumbo over but ends up shaking his head. “You can wait in here, I’ll grab you guys some snacks.”
With that Radar walks off the East Wing.
Joey went off to explore the space while Lizzie sat down on the stairs to message someone on her comms. Leaving Mumbo to his own devices.
Grumbot pops up again; looking around to make sure no one is listening.
‘I got a read on a Command piece.’
“Where?” Mumbo asks quietly.
‘Back at that portal but it was outside, I think it was the piece we were trapped inside.’
Mumbo completely forgot about that.
When Mumbo left the block with Porkums, Joey, and Greg, there was no Command piece in the room. No one was in there but them and no one knows where it went. The only answer he didn’t trust was the one from Glatt, who already seemed shady and didn’t help when he played up not knowing what a Command Block was.
“Do you have a recording?”
It’s a new feature that Mumbo had made during the night at the Mansion. He couldn’t sleep in that place especially since he kept getting the message that monsters were nearby. (Joey didn’t have that problem and even appeared confused when Mumbo mentioned the message that kept popping up). Mumbo figured it would be useful for Grumbot just in case Mumbo missed something.
He calls it ‘Replay’.
Grumbot frowns but disappears from the screen to show the hallway where Lizzie and Mumbo are catching up to the others. A figure comes falling out of the Crown Mesa Portal; torn, burning wings are the only thing Mumbo could get any details on the thing. When it left its head up, the screen glitched and, for a moment, a dozen glowing purple eyes appeared before disappearing again.
“Mumbo?”
Mumbo jumps back; slamming his hands over his ears at the sound. It didn’t sound like words just noise that claws at the inside of his brain. Rattling, ripping, and tearing his mind into little pieces before building back up again.
Slowly, Mumbo reopened his eyes – not noticing that he had closed them – and for a split second the sight of Grian was in place of the creature but Grumbot removed the Replay before he could get a better look. Probably a trick of the light, Grian was back at Boatem Town with everyone else.
‘Dad?’ the text pops up before Grumbot does, looking concerned for Mumbo’s wellbeing. ‘Are you okay?’
Mumbo doesn’t know anymore. His own mind is playing tricks on him and with everything showing him that he’s missing things…Mumbo doesn’t know anymore. However, he doesn’t want to worry Grumbot.
“I’m fine,” Mumbo said; brushing off imaginary dirt and trying to make himself look put together. “Everything is just fine, Grumbot. Good job and keep an eye out for anything else unnatural.”
Grumbot stares back at Mumbo before disappearing again.
“Is everything alright, Mumbo?” Lizzie ask, though she didn’t notice Grumbot but she’s pretty good not pretending. For a second, Lizzie looks like the void – hollow, dull, and dripping in the darkness and stars – before snapping back to reality. “Mumbo?”
Lizzie had tied her hair into a ponytail that’s what’s different about her.
“Yes, sorry I was just spacing out.”
Mumbo looks beyond her to see that Radar has come back with a plate of cookies and chatting with Joey. Next to them is another person who Mumbo assumes is Jesse. She looks stressed out already and no one has told her what’s going on; assuming that Lizzie and Joey are leaving that to him.
“Alright, well you better go tell Jesse what’s going on.”
The image weighs heavy in Mumbo’s mind but he forces himself to forget it and makes his way to the others.
…
Grian pushes past the orbs floating around the room as he makes his way to the center of the room where a telescope is located. Grumbot is quickly popping around the room; checking in on their friends, especially the Winners. The last update that Grian got before leaving for Crown Mesa was that Martyn’s timer had reached the end of his last life; his Keeper had reset the world and given Martyn more time.
Looking through, he can see millions of worlds that make up their universe before spotting Crown Mesa. The thing that attacked him isn’t there anymore – not surprising – but that’s not what he’s looking for. PAMA has been inactive for the past ten years since the removal of its Redstone Heart. However, where it went was something that Grian didn't know. It takes a few minutes before he pulls away; noting that there’s nothing in that world.
Whatever alerted Grumbot of a Command Piece is long gone.
“I think that was Dad!” Grumbot appears, showing a picture of the backs of two people; zooming on the one with the suit.
“Mumbo is still inside of the Command Piece, there’s no way that’s him.”
Grian looked a little closer and noted how some of the hair was much lighter than the other; almost like someone shaved it. However, it still couldn’t be Mumbo since his soul is inside of the Command Piece which is somewhere because it was stolen from Grian.
However, the person next to Mumbo looks a lot like Lizzie which doesn’t make any sense. She had long since returned home with Joel. Grian had done a few checkups to make sure the void wasn’t lingering in her soul from when she fell.
Grumbot blinks back into existence; looking quite saddened.
“How about you go check on Pearl for me?” Grian asks, wanting his son to not appear so sad anymore. “I think she’s building something or doing something with her wolves, I don’t know.”
His son zips off; bouncing around trying to find Pearl’s orb.
Grian places his face into his hands; needing a second but still feeling so overwhelmed with everything.
…
“That’s a lot,” Jesse said.
They had moved the conversation to one of the meeting rooms in the Order Hall. Mumbo had explained as much as he could; remembering what he could with Joey jumping in and explaining anything that he could miss. Lizzie and Radar grabbed them more snacks during that time.
“Do you think you and your Order can help us?”
Mumbo knows he’s asking a lot but with how things are going, he worries that he might not be able to do it by himself. Joey is still a kid and already overwhelmed with everything; though Mumbo doubts Joey going to leave him to deal with this alone.
Jesse leans back in her chair – taking a second to share a glance with Radar. The two have a quiet conversation without words before Jesse sits straight up and shrugs.
“I mean yeah, we handled a Command Block before, why not do it again.”
“Was that your Wither Storm?” Lizzie question.
She’s sitting next to Mumbo and has been messaging someone this whole time. Mumbo thought she wasn’t listening but apparently she is.
“Yep.” Jesse seems uncomfortable at the mention of the monster but also doesn’t care anymore. “It was my friends and I's first adventure, taught us a lot and caused even more suffering.”
Mumbo wonders if the statue of a piglet has anything to do with the suffering part but it’s probably better that he doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t want to upset Jesse before they even end up working together.
“I’ll go round up whoever wants to help.” Jesse taps the table as she stands up before pointing to Radar. “Can you gather up any supplies we might need, Radar?”
"Sure!” Radar already jumping to his feet to follow Jesse out of the room. “Joey, do you want to help me?”
“Sure, man.” Joey looks at Mumbo for a second, giving a slight nod of approval, before following the intern out of the room. The two somehow became quick friends; maybe that’s how Joey and his friends managed to get Glatt to like them so quickly, they are just good at becoming your friend.
“What about you, Lizzie?” Mumbo turns his chair to face her.
Lizzie had a frown on her face while reading something on her comms.
“I’m going to meet up with Sparklez, apparently he needs something.” Lizzie pockets her comms and looks up at Mumbo. “But I'm totally joining in this adventure, so don’t leave without me!” She got up and rushed out of the room, giving Mumbo a wave as she did.
Even though Mumbo is in the room by himself doesn’t mean that he’s alone. Grumbot proves his point when his son comes popping up next to him. The two didn’t say anything and Mumbo wasn’t sure where things were going from here; what they’d expect but his mind went back to Boatem where his friends – his family – were. He wonders what they are up to; if they are keeping an eye on the moon or not.
Mumbo wonders if they even miss him, or even notice that he’s even missing.
He misses the breakfasts at the Boatem Hole where they all hang out before heading off to whatever everyone has planned that day. The best part is that you just have to bring your own plate and food so you don't have to worry about everyone else. It’s always fun to see what everyone brought for breakfast that day.
‘Can we look around town?’ Grumbot asks, the text seems off and rushed.
Mumbo nods; pushing the chair away while standing. “Sure, I’m curious to see what else this place has going for it.”
Grumbot’s grins with the text moving way too fast for Mumbo to read. Doesn’t matter since his son is excited and Mumbo doesn’t want to take that away from him. He decided that he rather focus on Grumbot instead of worrying about the future, his past, and everything else in between.