A small task balloons into a multi-versal adventure, as a malfunction in the Dimension Crawler 3000 sends Rookie and Dot into the much warmer, much more industrialized city of Duckburg! Will they be able to find their way home with as little comedic mischief and crossover shenanigans as possible? And...have they truly come to this new world alone?
(This was meant to be a few chapters, but, erm...didn't happen. Maybe one day!)
“I found it!”
It was not often that Gary allowed Rookie into the gadget room, for a variety of reasons. Things blew up and broke around there enough with just him, and he always feared the penguin getting hurt by something. Though, with a majority of agents out on patrol due to a suspicious crab army sighting, he had no one else to rely on to help him finish his latest project. And oh , he was so close! Just a little more…
“There it is!” Gary said, looking up from the hood of the strange device he was working on. His face was slightly covered in oil, though the device itself was as clean as could be. It resembled other vehicles he made in the past, though it was slightly more compact and painted black, with a solar panel wired onto the very top, and a battery pack strapped to the back of the pod, all propped on top of reinforced wheels. “Thank you, Rookie. Now, with this last touch, my Dimension Crawler 3000 will finally be complete!...I hope.”
“I’ve never seen you add a 1 to 3000 yet,” Rookie said, handing over a special screwdriver, “So that means it’ll work!” With his curiosity peaked, though, he opted to ‘oooh’ and ‘aaaah’ over the vehicle at a distance, though his temptation to open the door and see inside was at an all-time high.
“I appreciate the kind words, but this is very experimental technology!” Gary said, a smile on his face as he screwed in each bolt. “So experimental that, even with this perfected version, I have a tracker that I designed for my first proper test. If I can ensure that it survives the trip and back, then I can move on to test 2 through 25! Various objects of different materials, density...then, living beings! Well, plants, but those are still living…”
Rookie would be lying if he said he caught every word, but by the sound of it, it was something impressive. “First time, then space!” Rookie said, flapping his flippers in excitement. “How long d’you think it’ll be until we can start using it to go to a pie dimension? I mean, there’s the boxes, but you have no idea how hard it can be to find food based words.”
“Haha, we’ll have to make sure it’s stable, but those dimensions aren’t exactly the destinations in mind for this crawler,” he said, and finished putting a few last touches on the engine before closing the hood. “Rookie, there may be worlds just like ours, yet filled with small differences that make the difference between, well, them and us! Imagine, instead of being a green penguin, you were a blue penguin? Or if we weren’t a spy organization, but an actual phone company? I don’t think that world would be nearly as well off as ours.”
“I wouldn’t wanna live in a world like that!” Rookie said, though he couldn’t possibly hide his excitement for much longer, taking a few steps closer to the crawler to look at it up close. Not too close, though! For now, anyway.
“Me either,” Gary said, about to continue before he stopped in his movement. “Now, where did I put that tracker...I might’ve left it in my room, actually. Rookie, please keep an eye on things here in the meantime! I’ll be right back--”
Before he could leave, though, someone knocked at the door, and Gary went to let the penguin inside. “Ah, Agent D!” He said, wiping some oil off of his flippers to be more presentable with a nearby rag. “Any updates on what’s going on outside?”
Dot, carrying a full crab costume, stuffed it to the side and readjusted her wig. How she managed to change so seamlessly between costumes was a mystery to everyone other than herself. “The situation hasn’t changed, but nothing bad has happened yet,” she said. “The fish are gathering around the beach, the crabs in the forest-- I’ve heard from a few of our agents that there’s archived reports dating back to around 20 years ago of similar phenomena happening, but there’s nothing as to what it all means. It’s troubling.”
Gary frowned. “I can imagine...Once I go to check on something, I’ll see what I can do to help. In the meantime, could you keep an eye on my newest invention with Rookie? With all these strange happenings, I don’t think it would be wise to leave anything unattended to.”
“Is now really the time for…?” Dot began, then shook her head. “Nevermind. Be quick about it, please.”
As the two talked, Rookie had started to look over the machine. By the time that Gary took his leave, Dot had to stop him from messing with the hood of the vehicle.
“Sorry, I guess I got a little too curious,” Rookie said, though that didn’t stop him from peering into the view window. “As long as there’s no buttons, I don’t think there’ll be any problems!”
“For all we know, leaning on it the wrong way may cause a problem,” Dot said, running a flipper across the hood. “...Still, I don’t see how this is any different from the Time Trekker, or why we even need it. It’s one of those ‘if you can do it, then do it’ inventions. He could’ve picked a better time to finish it up, but that’s not up to me.”
“I’m sure he has his reasons!” Rookie said, and while Dot’s attention was turned, he decided to take a small peak inside of the vehicle, just out of curiosity. “Sometimes I go into the pizza parlor wanting hot sauce and anchovy pizza, but I get a chocolate sauce and sprinkles one instead!”
“...That’s not exactly what I--” Dot began to say, only to look up and see Rookie eyeing the inside of the crawler. “Hey, wait, don’t touch anything!”
Dot leaned against the hood to reach over and close the door, only for an unusual creak to emit from the hood. A spark flashed from within the glass, and right after, the vehicle started to rumble.
“Not me!” Rookie shouted, though another spark pushed him to open the door fully and start messing with the control panel. “There’s gotta be an off switch somewhere!”
“Sorry, but be careful,” Dot said, though she couldn’t just stand around and let Rookie potentially hurt himself. She ran over to the door and leaned in, stuck right next to Rookie who had already pressed a few buttons. Unfortunately, those attempts only served to make the machine shake faster. A few sparks went off close to their faces, blinding both Dot and Rookie as the machine shook with urgency. It felt like the worst earthquake imaginable, combined with bursts of static electricity. Pain shot through the two of them, and before they could stop the device, they had already fallen unconscious.
“...Okay…”
“Are...okay?”
“Are you okay?”
When the pair next opened their eyes, they’d expected to see one another waking each other up-- but rather, it was…
A bear? For a second, Dot’s panic surged, but soon calmed when she realized this bear had brown fur, and...wore a coat? And had a fishing rod?
He tilted his head, and as Dot looked around, she realized that her and Rookie were lying on some sort of pier, with massive boats unlike what she’s ever seen sprawled around the harbor. While the ones nearby were already pretty big, there were some that were taller than the tallest buildings on the island. Gray skies accompanied the call of...seagulls? She’s never seen those before-- not to mention, the massive variety of creatures that transported objects to and from the boats. From ducks (she was at least familiar with those ) to dogs (the likes of which she’s only seen in databases), she already knew before she had awoken that she wasn’t in Club Penguin anymore.
Which begged an entirely different question…
“Uh, mister?” Rookie said, rubbing at his eyes before sliding his sunglasses back into place. “Where are we?”
The man stared at the two for a second, then broke into laughter. “Ha, where else would you be? Caliosta’s best port city, Duckburg! Say, you two from Penguinopolis? Alaska’s a long way down from here. Er...not to mention, I don’t think I’ve seen teleporting cars from up there.”
“We’re not--” Rookie began, though Dot stopped him with a flipper over his beak.
“It’s new!” Dot said and scanned the harbor until she spotted the Dimension Crawler. “Very, very new...I’m sorry for all the trouble, we’ll just...be going now!”
She let go of Rookie, who looked at her before scurrying over to the now-wrecked vehicle. While it stood on its wheels, the amount of smoke coming from the hood and broken window was more than enough indication that it wouldn’t be getting them back home anytime soon.
“Guess we don’t got any other choice but to push,” Rookie said. The man that had awoken them had gone back to his work, as if this was just a normal occurrence to him. Though, Dot had no complaints about the lack of questions. She went to help Rookie push, and with their combined efforts, they managed to get the vehicle moving.
“At least-- huff -- penguins still exist in this world, right?” Rookie said, the ever-source of positivity that he was. “Once we figure out a way to get the Dimension Crawler working, we can get back home!”
“Right, but..” Dot began, then looked over towards what lay ahead. The piers were already massive enough, with a lot of solid rock built into the ground over grass or snow, but these buildings could fit the entire island population in them. They pierced through the gloomy overcast, and were evident of just how much stone and rock this area was made out of. She wondered if there were any benefits from it, especially with how much it wore on her feet. Though, no matter how much she looked around, it seemed like everyone was used to it.
Strange, indeed.
“...But first of all, we need to see if we can even get this thing working again.”
After getting one too many angry glares, the two penguins opted to find a space between two smaller buildings to stash the Dimension Crawler in. It smelled disgusting, like something had been rotting there for ages-- likely coming from the ill-maintained garbage cans, but they didn’t have any choice.
Rookie had only taken one look inside the device, and by the ash on his face, it wasn’t anything pleasant. “It might be harder than it looks...eh, it’ll all be okay! We’re secret agents-- we can totally find our way back in no time!”
“Thanks,” Dot said, trying to keep up a smile of her own. “Let’s start with some investigating-- if there’s any part in this world that’s gonna fix it, we’re getting our hands on it.”
... Meanwhile …
“...This world is…”
“So...so cold...So…”
“...Imperfect.”