He couldnt stop her in time. Zelda had already touched it, although now she wished she hadn’t.
The opening to the portal wasn’t that large and hardly noticeable. It appeared as if there was a large sheet of glass with a crack along down it, with a swirl of color in the middle. What made the princess shudder was the texture. It felt like a chu-chu; Something slimy on the surface of a clear lake.
Apparently that simple touch was enough to activate it; The portal begans to whine at a frequency that made her teeth ache. The wind rushed forward, pulling at her skirt and whipping her hair forward.
“Oh!”
She yelped, nearly losing her footing when something darted past her leg. Her journal was ripped from her grasp, lost to the portal.
Zelda fought against the wind; Putting some distance between her and the black blob before digging her heel in the ground. She had to shout to be heard over the whine.
“What in Farore’s creation is happening?!”

Confound it. More work for him.

He looked at the woman with annoyance, and then with curiosity. He noticed her skirt and hair billowing, like there was some kind of wind. Some kind of wind blowing towards the crack in the wall.

The Repairman understood that most didn’t see a wall quite like he did. But he had never seen someone be pulled towards the Wall (or lose a book to it, for that matter). And she was shouting, like the wind was strong. He’d better fix this quickly.

He frantically dug through his hammerspace until he found a rolled-up window shade and a few bobby pins. He set the shade above the crack and pinned it in place. Once he rolled it down, he pinned it so the shade stayed over the crack without moving.

That should do it.

He turned back to the woman with a somewhat accusatory look.

“You shouldn’t be poking those cracks. Just makes ‘em worse.”

After a moment’s thought, he asked, “How’d this get here, anyhow?”

He figured if he found out what she was doing, he could help her prevent these in the future.

“I can’t believe you’re agreeing to this…” I grumbled as the five of us struggled to carry the wheelchair up the stairs. Greasy and I took the back, Stupid supported it from underneath and Psycho and Wheezy were guiding us up at front.

Each stepped threatened to break under our weight. “This is like that Jewish chair dance,” grumbled Greasy, scowling sourly, “but worse!”

“Leave it to Nega Old Toontown to not have the infrastructure capable enough to have elevators in these buildings!” Gasped Wheezy, as his legs wobbled up the next step.

Stupid, the group’s muscle, wasn’t complaining at all. Psycho, however, whined, “When are we gonna finish, boss?? Can’t we just throw him out the window on the way down and save us the agony?????!’”

While I thought that was a good idea, I didn’t say so. As we inched closer to the final floor, Stupid picked up the chair with ease and carried it to the Deconstructionman’s door like it was nothing.

We all stared, slack jawed, at him. “Do you mean to tell me we coulda saved our asses as disposed to busting em while you could of taken that chair yourself?” I thundered.

“Nope, boss!”, he beamed. “I’m only apposed to do it when it’s funny! You know the Rule of Funny as well as me!”

Before I could say anything, a voice bellowed from behind the door, “That’s it! I’m coming out there!!!”

Crap. This ain’t good. -Smartass

The Repairman found himself dripping ink more than usual as they ascended. He was surprised, but he didn’t mind. It was all part of the look. And it was funny to see his ~~brothers~~ captors struggle to carry him, and get some ink on them to boot.

“I could just wheel down…” he mumbled. He figured that’d be better than cleaning broken glass..

He found himself laughing his non-existent kiester off as Stupid employed the Rule of Funny. Ah, a classic! And seeing the leader get so angry was just the cherry on the cake.

The laughter stopped, however, as the Breaker shouted his annoyance. The Repairman’s head shot to the door, quickly trying to think of a reason they were up there.

He was about to pull out something to use as a weapon, but he realized he didn’t have one…

What are you doing? You’re no weasel! You’re the Repairman! You know the Breaker! Do this like you!

He slapped his forehead in realization before pulling out a cap and empty box.

The door opened to reveal another blob. This one was a deep purple, with two pits for eyes. He seemed to be… blobbier than the Repairman. This was in part due to the fact that the Breaker obviously took less care about keeping a consistent form, but mainly because he appeared to be sculpted out of clay rather than drawn (or spattered) with ink or paint.

“All right, what’s the big idea?” the Breaker demanded. “I was trying to catch a show!”

“Er… Ya got yer delivery!” the Repairman replied, offering the box. “Jes’ check ta make sure it’s yo’s.”

@tsp-narrator

The Repairman hoisted himself up to the window. After a quick glance, he saw that once again no one was in the office. And no narrator seemed to talk to him this time.

Carefully, he climbed in, carrying a slightly smaller toolbox with him. It would have been far too hard to lift the other ones, and he really needed to hurry and get this job done.

He carefully set the box on a desk and began to look for his trowel. Oh, where is it? He knew it was in here somewhere…

He dug deeper, pushing aside his staple gun, several nails, a few metal sheets, a block of printer paper, an inkwell, a roll of Scotch tape, and many other assorted items. All the while, he failed to notice that almost his entire body was in the toolbox now. And he still couldn’t find the stupid trowel.

The toolbox clattered and rumbled as the Repairman rooted around inside it, but it began to slow down. Gosh, it was warm in there. And dark. And this cushion was a pretty nice find…Come to think of it, he hadn’t slept for ~~two weeks~~ a whole year.

Nothing… the Repairman thought, yawning, nothing wrong with a power nap.

An inky hand reached up and gently closed the loose green lid. The noises of things being pushed aside soon ceased, only to be replaced by muffled snoring.

Beepsumu realized what he was doing, and she led the rest of the group out of hiding. “Y-yeah, he sure will!” she said. “Gosh, it wasn’t easy finding that thing was it? It’s a good thing we met those cute little cats who were so willing to help us.”

Axem Red drew his axe as he stopped the group. “Hold it! Who the heck are you?”

Beepsumu answered him. “Come on, Red, don’t tell me you don’t remember us?”

Red paused for a moment, before turning to Green. “Yo, Green! Do you know these guys?”

Axem Green gave the group a quick look. “Um, no. Maybe they’re new models or something?”

Red turned back to the group. “Uh… Of course I know who you are! Just… remind me what you were doing, okay?”

Beepsumu continued her act. “We’ve just returned from a strange and dangerous dimension. We were sent there to retrieve this EXTREMELY rare artifact from an island in the south seas.”

Axem Black finally spoke up. “What does Smithy want with that old thing? It look like a piece of junk to me!”

Bowyetta’s expression turned stern, and, hoping they wouldn’t notice her odd speech pattern, she said “Do not be questioning of Smithy. This is not looking much, but is being extremely powerful. We must be personally delivering it to him right away.”

The Axems looked at each other for a minute, before moving out of the way. “Alright.” said Red. “But make it quick! If we waste any more time we’re gonna be in even bigger trouble!”

As the group hurried inside the Factory, they could hear Axem Pink call to them, “And you better hurry! You already look like you’re starting to rust!”

“Can’t believe they actually fell for that,” Beepsumu muttered as she took a look around. While the interior of the Factory wasn’t much different from the outside, it was much warmer without the pounding rain. There was also a strong smell hanging in the air, a mixture of smoke and metal and fire. Bonkakira crinkled her nose at it, and even Beepsumu seemed bothered by it. Bowyetta didn’t seem to mind at all, however. “So, Bowyetta, is there anything else we need to watch out for?”

“Let Bowyetta to think… Bowyetta is not knowing where the house is being. But, she is knowing one thing. As we are going in, it is going to be getting hot. And it is going to be getting loud. Is this being a problem for anyone?”

The Repairman nodded vigorously at the “new model” suggestion. Sure, that sounded right.

“Piece of junk? I’ll have you know–” was what he was about to say, until Bowyetta gave a response that was probably better.

He didn’t waste any time getting into the dry, dry castle. Almost immediately, he got back into his normal, blobby form. He sighed in relief. Like Bowyetta, he wasn’t too bothered by the smell, but it was unusual for him.

“I honestly expected them to try and take it,” the Repairman admitted. “Apparently they were a little smarter than that.”

He listened to Bowyetta, and then replied, “I might evaporate, but that’s not as bad as dissolving. I’ll be fine.”

He paused.

“Wait a minute,” he said, looking at Jingletooth, “Who is that Spackledorf guy you mentioned? And why didn’t he come with us?”

Bowyetta looked worried again. “Bowyetta is unsure. But, we are nearly getting there. We are only having to walking a little further bit. But… We are having to be getting past them…”

Bowyetta pointed out five figures near the entrance of the castle. They were more brightly colored than the rest of the world around them, and were carrying what looked to be small axes.

Bowyetta now began to speak in a whisper. “Please to be keeping your voices downed. Those are being the Axem Rangers. At least, Bowyetta is thinking they are. There are being hundreds of us, so Bowyetta is uncertain if it is really being them. But, Bowyetta is remembering they were being much incompetent…”

Axem Yellow spoke up. “Hey, Red… How long do we have to stand here?”

“What does it matter?” Red replied. “This is our punishment for what happened in the volcano! If it wasn’t for you DIMWITS, we would’ve gotten away!”

Axem Green sniffled a bit. “But, we’ve been standing out here for hours now, and I think I’ve got a cold…”

“You can’t even GET a cold! You’re made of metal!”

Then it was Axem Pink’s turn to speak. “Just because we can’t get sick doesn’t mean we can’t rust! I think I’m starting to get rusty!”

Red’s irritation was growing. “Would you all just stop complaining?”

“W-whoa, calm down, Red,” Green said, “Y-you look like your head’s about to explode! He really does look like a volcano…”

Red finally snapped at them. “SHUT UP ALREADY!! Someone could’ve gotten in in the time you spent whining! We’ve gonna get chewed out if something happens, so get back to your posts! And don’t say another word!”

Beepsumu turned back to the group. “Well, everyone?” she whispered. “Got any ideas on how we can get by them?”

The Repairman watched the Axems bicker amongst themselves. He’d seen these kinds of henchmen (and henchwoman) before. Bumbling and pretty easy to trick, which made them entertaining to the other side.

He dug through his recently-limited hammerspace and pulled out his paddleball. He sighed; it wasn’t much, but he would have to hope he could convince them…

“I think I could do something,” he whispered to everyone else. “Just follow my lead.”

He began sauntering up to the entrance.

“I’m glad we found the thing Smithy was looking for…!” he loudly exclaimed, obviously acting. He began waving the paddleball around. “I bet he’ll be so pleased to know that we found this, right?”

Open Starter!

Ace squinted, the blob didn’t have a mouth but he could SWEAR he was
smiling. “What space?” Ace was starting to feel a little stupid
honestly. He sighed wistfully, “THAT sounds useful. If I could do that I
probably could travel without anything!” A horse whinnied from not far
off. Ace chuckled and raised his voice, “Of course I’d take you to with
me!” His horses snorted in reply. Spoiled equines, the both of
them. “Sounds useful, but I’m guessing only toons can use it?”

The Repairman chortled at the horse’s whining.

“Hammerspace has its moments,” he replied, “but yeah, only Toons can use it, really.”

He looked at Ace, and wondered briefly if he could explain some ways Ace might use hammerspace. He was a Toon, too, after all…

Well, at least under the Repairman’s definition.

“…Some Toons don’t have hammerspaces though,” he said, carefully. “Some have a version often called ‘inventories.’ More limits, but still very useful from what I’ve seen. You could still hold more than it would seem with one of those…”

After a moment of thought, he pulled a yardstick out from behind his back.

“For instance, how would you carry this?”

The dog arrow quickly produced an umbrella from Bowyetta’s hair. “Um, this is all she has,” it said, handing the umbrella to the Repairman. “Sorry, it’s kind of big, it’s more sized for Bowyetta, but…”

Bowyetta made a face. “Bowyetta is disliking being in rain, but you are needing it more than she is… The castle is being much closer than it is looking. But please take caution not to be falling. The ground is very much slippery here. And…” She stopped herself there.

“And what?” asked Beepsumu.

“Bowyetta is not being the only one of her kind,” Bowyetta replied. “There are being many others, Bowyetta is unsure how many. But, we must take much care to making sure we are not spotted.” As she spoke, she pointed out the various conveyors and machinery scattered around. “They are coming from the factory at all timings. Please be letting us to hurry.”

“T-thank you,” the Repairman said, grateful to have some relief. Not having water pounding on to him had a profound effect. While still not comfortable, he wasn’t melting nearly as fast as before, and could stand upright far more easily.

“Don’t worry,” he assured Bowyetta, “I can’t exactly trip.”

He began moving towards the castle again, but stopped. The umbrella was a little big, and the others did need to get out of the rain too (if only so their disguises would stay put)…

He handed it to Bowyetta, making sure to stay as close to her as possible while doing so. He didn’t need to get into the rain again.

“How many of us do you think would fit under this umbrella?” he asked, hastily. “Hurrying’s important, but your paint’s still gonna fall off…”

The dog-arrow spoke once more, this time to Bowyetta. “Bowyetta, do you remember anything about this place?”

Bowyetta stopped to think for a moment. “I am remembering not very much…”

“Try to think. What do you notice about the… Uh, people here?”

Bonkakira responded. “Bonkakira notices that they aren’t humans. How is she going to sneak in with you?”

“Let me finish,” The dog arrow spoke as it produced a bucket from Bowyetta’s hair. “If you cover yourselves in this, you’ll be able to blend in perfectly. Smithy and his crew won’t even notice you’re here!”

“You… Want us to paint ourselves?” Beepsumu looked skeptical. “How is this going to help us?”

Bowyetta dipped her hands in the bucket, looking a bit distressed. “We are not having the time for discussing. Our guest is looking not so good.” She started covering herself in paint. The others soon did the same, and before long the group was painted completely gray.

The dog-arrow returned the bucket to Bowyetta’s hair, and looked at the Repairman. “I don’t think you’ll need any paint. This place is all metal and conquest, so I think you’ll be able to get in unnoticed as you are. But um, hang on, I think Bowyetta has something to keep the rain off you in here.” Before going back into Bowyetta’s hair to search, it said, “Anyways, you guys should hurry, the paint won’t last long in this rain.”

“Um, all right then,” the Repairman replied, uncertainly. “If you say so… and thanks.”

He began shambling over to the castle as well as he could with only a record to protect him from the rain. He left a trail of dissolved ink as he went, and his siren light was still blinking a bright red. At least he was losing his form less quickly…

“Any idea how far it is?” he asked, to anyone who might know.

Open Starter!

“Uhh… okay,” He shrugged, unsure of what to say to that. He took another bite of his food and watched the Repairman take out a mirror, “Where-?” He left the question hanging and watched the odd display before him. Ace watched the Repairman try to keep his eyes from showing, expression changing from confused to VERY confused. “How-” This time he was interrupted by the Repairman’s question.

“The only one?” He echoed. “Hmmmm…” Ace took a few seconds to think about it before nodding. “Yeah. leever’s eyes glow, but they need a light source. Their eyes glow like a cats.” Ace explained the best he could.

“All right,” he replied. “I guess I’ll be fine then. If the only glowing eyes around here belong to…um…leevers… then I shouldn’t have to worry.”

He looked at the mirror, then back to Ace.

“Oh, this?” he asked, pointing towards the mirror. “Hammerspace.”

He gave a mouthless grin.

“Best perk of being a Toon! Can carry as much of anything as is convenient!”

He set the mirror next to him, being careful not to break it. Whether or not Toons got bad luck from that, he didn’t know, but he wasn’t about to smash a decent mirror on his toolbox.

Beepsumu spoke up, and she seemed just as panicked as Bowyetta. “This is what I was telling you about! Our house acts as a gateway between dimensions… But I don’t know where she took us!”

After about 25 seconds, the group found themselves dropped into a dimension they had never seen before. The sky was extremely dark, and rain was pouring down nonstop. The ground seemed to be made completely of metal, and there was some sort of castle off in the distance.

“Owww…” Beepsumu sat up, and she looked around. “Where the hell are we? And where’s the house?”

Bowyetta spoke up then, and she seemed to be in a panic. “N-not good! Not good we be here! Smithy is very much disliking intruders! We must be making our exit fast!”

Beepsumu stood up, and helped Bowyetta up as well. “Wait, Bowyetta, do you mean…” She glared at Jingletooth. “Why did you HAVE to send us HERE?!”

Jingletooth turned her head. “My finger… SLIPPED on the BUTTON!”

Bowyetta turned toward the building in the distance. “This is being Smithy’s Factory. Bowyetta is not knowing where the house is being, but she is knowing we must finding it fast, or…”

Bonkakira was the next to say something. “Bonkakira fears the house may be inside the factory.”

Even when Beepsumu looked shocked, her mouth was oddly triangular. “What?! How are we gonna get in there?!”

As Beepsumu spoke, something stuck its head out of Bowyetta’s hair. it was shaped like an arrow, but had a face like a dog. “Oh, oh! We’ve been listening this whole time!” It said. “And we think we have an idea!”

“Wait, the whole HOUSE?!” the Repairman shouted, shocked. And to think all he had to do was move from point A to point B.

He didn’t have time to ask more (and he wouldn’t have heard a reply over the rising din anyway), as he suddenly fell and landed on a metal surface with a splat! He tried to pull himself together, but was finding it harder than usual. Ugh. Must be raining.

He tried to reach for his cart, only to find that it was still in the house. He muttered a small “uh-oh.”

Desperately, he looked in his personal hammerspace. A pair of earbuds, three small pieces of flint, a paddleball, and a vinyl record of polka music came out, but no umbrella or poncho.

This wasn’t good. The downpour was making it harder and harder to keep his form. As much as he hated to do it, he held the record above him. It would have to do.

He turned to the others.

“Wait, this is Smithy’s?” If this guy was as bad as Bowyetta said, then yeah, they had better hurry.

He wasn’t as angry as Beepsumu was (most Toon scientists have days like this), but he still glared at Jingletooth.

“Bonkakira’s right,” he sighed, tapping his still-active siren light. “It’s in that castle.”

He jumped as well as he could with a wet floor as some arrow-dog thing popped out of Bowyetta’s hair.

Well, this day was full of surprises.

“…And what would this idea be?” he asked, evenly. Might as well; small and plucky guys often come up with pretty good ideas.