It was a lot to take in.
Outside the cluttered room, which Mae had referred to as 'the Landing Pad', was a long pathway seemingly hovering in the midst of a huge, open void.
It was like the void of space, only in place of pitch black nothingness was an array of constantly shifting, bright, merging colors. Still nothingness, but more colorful nothingness.
The trio could make out what looked like a massive city crammed into the space of a small town, aglow with colorful lights and connected to the building they had left by the pathway they now walked.
It was like two space stations, floating alone in a vast sea of empty space.
"We call that the Landing Pad cause that's where everything collects. Whatever arrives here, one way or the other, all ends up there." Mae explained as she led the way.
"And all the boxes and stuff?" Sean questioned curiously.
"Just a bunch of junk we couldn't find use for." Mae answered.
If that massive room was nearly full, of just the stuff they couldn't use, just how big was this place?
Mae led them across the walkway, entering the city. The first area they entered was like a town square, a large open area with various tunnels and paths leading into the city.
It was like a fever dream or something. Countless characters and creatures from all over Video Game history just casually strolling about, nearly recreating something resembling Times Square.
"Now I'm convinced I'm dead." TJ commented.
"Dead or alive, keep up." Mae replied, heading into the crowd.
The trio followed her until they reached the other side of the huge area, to a corner that was set up like a sci-fi science lab.
An elevated platform ran about half the length of the area, riddled with large pieces of equipment and counters covered with all kinds of science-y stuff, complete with a huge monitor on one wall.
In the middle of the display of sci-fi madness stood a familiar yellow reptile in a long lab coat.
TJ stopped in his tracks. The other two may not have been super involved in Undertale, but TJ most certainly was. He had played through the game countless times, on all three paths.
Ryan and Sean ushered him up the steps as Mae led them into the make shift laboratory.
"Alphys, look what the cat dragged in." she joked, nodding to the trio.
"More of them appeared?" Alphys questioned, adjusting her glasses as she looked over the three, "And... You brought them here?"
"These guys are different." Mae insisted.
"How so?" Alphys inquired.
"You saw the other guys, they came in, poked around, and left." Mae explained, before motioning to the trio, "Apparently, these guys didn't even know about this place."
"Interesting... How did they come to arrive here if they weren't even aware of our existence?" Alphys questioned.
"That's actually what we were about to ask you." Ryan spoke up.
"We have absolutely no idea what happened." Sean explained, "One minute we're going about our lives, next minute a creature previously thought to be fictional is rampaging through the convention, and the next we find ourselves in some crazy alternate world."
"Mondays, huh?" TJ piped up.
"Long story short, we just want to get home." Ryan summed up the conversation.
Alphys thought for a moment before turning back to the project she was working on when they had arrived.
"I make no guarantees, but... I might be able to help here." she started, "Ever since they started showing up I've been trying to replicate the energy signature of their doorway."
"Hang on a sec, who is this 'they' you guys keep mentioning?" Ryan questioned.
"They're definitely from your neck of the woods." Mae explained, "A bunch of guys, some in lab coats, some toting big ass guns."
"They would appear at random and stay for varying durations of time, but all they ever did was examine the Landing Pad and take a few objects with them when they left." Alphys added.
"They didn't have anything to say to you guys?" TJ asked.
"Never gave them the chance." Mae answered.
"The armed appearances were pretty telling. They weren't the kind we'd be wise to get involved with." Alphys explained, "We found it smarter to let them do as they pleased and remain off their radar."
"So I guess Valence Electronics had a super secret evil corporation experiment going on." TJ whispered to his friends.
"Are we sure it was them?" Ryan asked.
"It was a Valence Unit that got us here in the first place." Sean noted, "But something doesn't add up. Why would they send a dragon into the convention?"
"Wyvern, actually." Ryan corrected.
"Dragon, Wyvern, god damn Fairy, whatever." Sean continued, "Setting a video game monster loose on a crowd of innocent people isn't exactly something a successful Electronics company stands to gain from."
"I'm betting money someone sabotaged the Unit, put that little box thing there, that's what brought the Nargacuga to us." TJ reasoned.
"Someone with high level access in the company. High enough not only to know about these experiments, but to get their hands on some of this tech." Ryan joined in.
"So the question remains, who would do something like this, and why?" Sean prompted.
"May not know why, but I think we know who." Mae interjected into the conversation.
Alphys flipped to a desk behind her, typing a few keys until the monitor pulled up a still image of a supervillain looking figure.
A familiar looking white mask with purple streaks going over each hollow, black eye, and a twisted, frozen smile covered the person's face, and a black coat and black gloves hid any other potential clues to their identity.
"That's the guy, the one who stopped the tournament!" TJ realized, "He popped up on the screen right before the Nargacuga showed up."
"Any idea who he is? Really is?" Ryan questioned.
"We think he's from your world, but beyond that we're just as lost as you are." Mae answered, "He calls himself the Master Puppet, a lot of baddies here have started following him around like puppies."
"I suspect he's building an army of our citizens to overpower the armies in your world." Alphys evaluated.
"An army of video game monsters." Sean repeated, "That's just... insane."
"I'm not sure any country's military could match up. I mean, just think of all the crazy creatures from all video games ever made. Aliens, dragons, mutants, zombies, they'd would have no idea what they're up against." TJ commented.
"So to sum it all up, we've gotta find this guy and stop him. Fast." Ryan declared.
"Us? Why us? What can we do?" TJ questioned.
"What's the other option? We're stuck here with him, and even if we could go back no one would believe us." Ryan responded, "Are we just gonna walk up to the White House screaming about video game monsters coming to kill us all?"
"Besides, if he's from our world, then he's just a guy." Sean added, "If we get to him we can most likely take him on ourselves. He may even have a means of getting us back home."
"But where do we go? We don't even know how big this place really is." TJ pointed out.
"Hello, Video Game character here? Kind of lived here my entire existence?" Mae answered.
"We couldn't ask you to risk your life." Sean responded.
"You're not. I am." she replied, "This guy tore up my home, I've been wanting to get back at him for a long time. Besides, a daring mission to save not one world but two? Sounds fun."
"Four on one, he won't stand a chance." Ryan commented.
"Alright. Its settled, we're doing this." Sean declared.
"Let's kick some ass and punch our ticket back home." TJ agreed, "So... where are we going?"