Grimjack fell to his knees as his iron stomach was doing flips. Freddy and Jangle both looked just as bad. That was worse than travelling through a wormhole while in cryosleep. While the three of them were still recovering, Grimjack tried to scan the area. It was dark with only occasional sparks lighting up a small area. Other than that, it looked like any other generic mad scientist lab. Gray, waterproof tiles for flooring with odd misshapen machinery scattered about. Although, this place looked like someone had set off a couple gravity bombs, with pieces of technology scattered about and cracks in the wall frozen over with thick ice here and there.

“Hopefully we’ll have a different way back,” grumbled Jangle as she tried to hold in her cookies.

“Yeah, let’s not go through another magical chimney any time soon.”

Grimjack merely grunted as talking still felt too difficult. He didn’t get it. This was by far the most disoriented and weak he had ever felt. Even during surgery when parts of his suit were grafted onto his bone he felt more put together.

Jangle was the first to seem fine. She stood up and pulled out a pair of goggles. She strapped them onto her head and looked around. “This place is a mess. If this was their base, they aren’t here anymore, and I don’t really think it was their choice.”

“Yeah, what was your first clue?”

“Calm down you Humbug. This place has been attacked by something powerful. Has to at least have been a milk and cookies level threat.”

Freddy coughed as he struggled to hold down his stuffing. “We’re not all high-ranking elves Jangle. Maybe try speaking in more universal terms?”

“Okay well, it’s something with primal power. Like been around before the Earth was created levels of power.” Jangle gulped as she nervously shifted her vision around the room. “Like, someone stepping on Mother Nature’s toes and her lashing back at them.”

“It looks bad, but not like universe ending power. Planets attacked by the Storm Queen look a lot more completely obliterated than this.”

“Alright, then think of her wielding that power in a club, while this is held in a sewing needle.”

Grimjack was skeptical but overestimating the abilities of a potential enemy was better than underestimating them. “Alright then. Anything we can do to defend ourselves against it, or is this more of a sneaking around it situation?”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Well, we need to find our way to that bridge, right? They have to have a door on this side,” mused Freddy as he started to wander around and poke at things with his candy cane, “or do you think something that powerful was destroyed too.”

“All this stuff is coated in anti-cheer, so there’s not much I can do.” Jangle sighed, but then perked up and walked over to Grimjack. “What about you hotshot? Are you picking up anything with insane levels of power usage, or anything strange at all?”

Grimjack focused on power consumption, but there was hardly any power in this place and whenever it got much it all seemed to spark away from broken wires. So, he changed his scan to focus on what had the potential to hold the most power, and the answer quickly became obvious.

Without a word he walked over to a small orb that was suspended in the center of a half-dozen flat rings. There were markings on it, but they weren’t in any language his databanks knew. “This thing’s potential power consumption rivals what you were using in your hideout.”

Jangle and Freddy walked up towards him. Jangle tapped the orb, and Freddy coughed to draw their attention. “Perhaps one of you could be so kind as to provide a light. I don’t have any magic goggles that let me see. I’ve had to rely on these Christmas lights, and they don’t illuminate all that well.”

Grimjack rolled his eyes and turned on his visor’s light function.

“See, that wasn’t so hard. Now, let me take a look at this thing.” Freddy climbed on top of the rings and rubbed his teddy bear hands over the orb. “Mhm. Hmm. Oh, I see.” He occasionally chimed in as he inspected the thing. “Yep, it’s a portal alright. Old world technology too. Very wasteful, but also very permanent once set up.”

“Then why in Santa’s name is it shut off?”

“As you said, primal forces.” Freddy shrugged, but then thumped the top of the orb with his candy cane. A small red glow pulsed from the orb and flew out in all directions, dissipating at the walls of the room. “Though the hard part is already done. It just needs a quick jump to get running again.”

Freddy grinned as he slammed down his candy cane into his hands and started to twist it back and forth. “Of course, it’s not likely to let go so easily, so expect to lose whatever you use to power it.”

Jangle tapped her chin, and started to search around in her pockets, as she mumbled to herself. “Maybe…no…I’ll need that…definitely need that…probably not enough…no…”

Grimjack rolled his eyes again and pulled one of the bikes off of his back. He slammed it down and put a finger against its command console. As he pulled his finger away, an electrical cable stayed attached, and with a flick of his wrist it detached from his finger, and he handed the other end to Freddy.

Freddy nodded and tried to attach it straight to the orb. As he did, Jangle finally noticed and called out, “Wait no!”

Throoom!

A massive red wave flew out from the orb and sent all three of them flying in different directions. As they moved away, the orb started to spark and spin. The rings began to twist and spin around the orb at different angles; slow at first, but they quickly picked up speed. Faster and faster, until they were moving so fast you could hardly see them at all. All while the orb grew brighter and brighter red.

Then, in a flash a hole in the fabric of reality opened up and sent a violent wind out towards them. As it filled the room, the wind died down, as if it was equalizing pressure between the two spaces. Finally leaving them with just a glowing two-dimensional circle that seemed to peer into a field of flowers.

Grimjack stretched his shoulders as he stood up and approached the portal. He picked up a discarded piece of metal and slowly put it into the portal just a few inches before pulling it back out. It appeared fine, but that was inorganic material. A real test would need something organic too.

“Ah, see I knew it would work. Shame about the bike though, probably worth a decent chunk of change.”

Freddy had walked up, and a single thought crossed Grimjack’s mind. “Perfect,” and with a well-placed kick, Freddy was sent hurtling through the portal as Jangle cried out a short, “No!”