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Pacifica Over Yonder

Chapter 1

Not My Best Day

Pacifica Northwest was known to be very keen on acting grumpy, more than once for no logical reason. However, this time, she wasn't sulking due to a bizarre desire of her not fulfilled or people not giving her the respect she demanded. In fact, she had not done any of that for quite a long time already… ever since Weirdmageddon at least, maybe even before. Her reasons were way more serious than that, and definitely more troubling for her.

Starting the day with the nth argument with her parents didn't exactly do any good to her mood, after all.

Pacifica grunted as she opened the double-hinged door and marched offendedly into the garden. She was wearing one of her most 'casual' attires, where 'casual' stood for clothes that weren't supposed to be worn in a nobles' party but still had prices that crossed the three-digits mark: Pacifica had just taken the first thing that he could put her hands on in her wardrobes and then stormed out of the walls of the mansion to find solace in the silence of the front yard's garden.

She didn't plan to leave the house, of course… not yet, since she and her parents were supposed to find another place to settle in as soon as possible. Things were happening a bit too fast for her to follow, and Preston and Priscilla had yet to explain to her what exactly they had in mind to do after the mansion's keys were going to be given to the new owner.

Just another source of arguments between her and them…

Sighing, Pacifica walked aimlessly away from the central fountain. She could no more ignore the heaviness that had been bothering her… she needed a place where she could be alone and think for a moment, away from the servants and, most notably, away from her parents.

Gosh… why were they so stubborn? Since the incident with the lumberjack wraith, they had started to act more and more like she had turned into a peasant of sorts that needed to be re-educated. They were easy to anger and stricter with her than usual… granted, they had always been expecting the best from their daughter's behaviour, but that was the past: right then they were literally trying to make her life a living nightmare!

How couldn't they understand her confusion? Pacifica didn't want to leave her way of life, she liked it! …probably. That wasn't the point! She was still trying to process her own thoughts about everything, about the legacy of her family and such, and the near-total destruction the town had barely survived through didn't help her in putting order to her problems. Not to mention the fact she was supposed to leave her home… but here they were, pushing her to the limit, putting her patience to the test day after day.

'Who needs them, anyway?' she thought angrily to herself, stomping on a wild flower which had dared to sprout on her the path. 'I can do what I want, I can decide for myself!'

A bold resolution, indeed. Or maybe, just a random thought that she already knew she couldn't follow. Pacifica's frown slowly shifted into a saddened face as she continued to pace around the garden, being careful to avoid encounters with the gardeners. Who was she kidding… with or without her parents, she couldn't wrap her mind about her conflicted feelings. It did feel good to act a little out of her persona for once… but was that just a one-time fun break? Was she really willing to be a little less of a… jerk? Something more than the nth heir of the Northwest legacy?

Heck… the only few people that she could have had a talk with about this subject were gone. The Pines family, in particular the two kids that had hated her wits for almost the entirety of summer, save for apparently forgiving her later on. Mabel, with her annoying yet charmingly positive personality, and Dipper, who instead of a pathetic nerd was the one boy that had dared to listen to her ramblings about her family's secret and how she felt about it.

Both gone, far away from Gravity Falls.

She had no real friends in town, nor people to talk to. The Mystery Shack was still a place where she wasn't welcomed: Pacifica had not failed to notice how the redheaded cashier had kept a suspicious eye on her that one time she had visited the place after the departure of the Pineses. She even had the impression that the new owner of the place, who had clearly made an effort to make her feel like she was at home, was acting it all up during her visit… maybe he really did want to give her a warm welcome, but he couldn't do it naturally. Even if she were desperate enough to start a conversation with the old woman who she imagined was the owner's mother, what could she do to help her? She was a stranger.

Downtown things weren't better. She didn't receive looks full of contempt by everyone, of course, but trust wasn't what Pacifica was seeing in the people around her. From who wanted to impress her and maybe get a chance at a little tip or a place in her inner circle, to who continued to look at her with envy or poorly hidden despise… and all the levels in between. Only one feature was shared by every inhabitant: she could not consider any of them as a friend she could have a sincere talk with. Maybe that was one of the reasons she had decided to cut off any link with the few kids of her age that she used to call 'friends'.

'More like slaves…' Pacifica thought, grimacing. Her trek into the garden brought her to a tree-free clearing, where she decided to abandon the tiled path and made a few steps into the grass—forget about the 'keep off the grass' rule, she was playing no Red Alert. She sat down, ignoring the dew slightly wetting her clothes and the thought of the possible muddy filth below, and stared at the sky. It was actually pretty dark to be early in the morning: in the Northwest Mansion the day had always started sooner than most homes and Pacifica wasn't one to fight old-time lifestyle habits. The fact that with the approaching fall the days had begun to shorten was surely helping, too.

Nonetheless, the brim of the sun could already be seen glimpsing over the horizon, and the sky was brightening in parallel. Pacifica looked up and squeezed her eyes in a pitiful attempt to look for a few stars, the last ones of the night. She didn't really want to find one… she just wanted to distract herself, if only for a moment, so that she could breathe and calm herself down. Even if that meant looking for stars when there was already too much sunlight to do so.

Therefore, Pacifica was rather surprised to see a star suddenly appear right in the sky section she was checking. Hey, maybe that was a sign that luck was coming in the future?

Unfortunately, the star continued to get bigger fast, too fast for Pacifica to realize what was going on. In the blink of an eye, a green-coloured cylinder suddenly appeared, stretching from the atmosphere all the way down to the terrain of the garden, engulfing Pacifica and the four square-meters around her.

A moment later, just as fast as it had appeared, the mysterious conduct disappeared, leaving no trace of its appearance. Well, nothing but the fact that Pacifica had disappeared with it, too. Of the blonde girl nothing was left but an area of burnt grass right where she was standing


Pacifica started to gasp frantically like a saltwater fish that had accidentally jumped over a boat, gripping on her chest. 'What the heck?!'

It was hard for her to understand what she was feeling right now. It was like she had just woken up from a slumber that had lasted for years during which she had not breathed in a single gust of air. Her heart was beating hard, and soon she even felt sweat coming down her forehead. Too occupied with her protesting lungs, she didn't even realize at first where she was. 'What did just happen?!'

"Ooooh, so that is your new master plan, Peepers?!"

The voice successfully made the girl dedicate a thought to her surroundings. It didn't take her long to realize she was no more in the garden of her home… maybe not even Gravity Falls.

Actually, was there a place on Earth that looked like an alien spaceship? Because this one sure looked like one. The stylish metal with black and red colours, the technological control panels… she would've bought it as one for sure. She didn't even need to see the giant machine parts that were surrounding her, with various muzzles and tubes directed towards her current position… in forethought, she would've preferred not to have those pointed at her.

What really sold her the idea of the spaceship, though, was the presence of two figures arguing nearby. And she was pretty sure that on Earth there was nothing like a humanoid being with just a giant eyeball for a head and a talking green-eyed skeleton.

"Sir, this was just a test! I assure you that my new teleportation technology will make us beat the other villains before they can even have the chance to blink, as soon as it goes out of beta phase!" the eyeball said quickly.

"Boring! I don't have time for your tech conundrums, Peepers!" the skeleton replied, "I have work to do! Return when you have something actually interesting for me!" The alien even made a 'whoosh' sign with his hand as to show how little he cared about his interlocutor's words. Pacifica slowly walked down, unsure about the intentions of the two strangers, who had yet to notice her, but enough courageous to move away from the uncomfortable centre of what she guessed was the teleport machine… she wasn't staying where she was with all those things aimed at her, period.

"Ah, yeah? Let me guess, maybe something that'll help you 'impress' Lord Dominator?" Peepers said, rolling his eyes—scratch that, his eye.

Surprisingly, the skeleton nodded. The lovesick face he suddenly wore was almost comical given he was a skeleton, of all things. "Of course. Why do you even ask, Peepers? Seriously, I don't even know if you ever listen to me, sometimes… how rude is that?"

Peepers was exasperated, as Pacifica could see from the facepalm. Deciding that these two guys couldn't be really a threat to her given how silly their discussion was, she decided to attempt to catch their attention.

"Uhh… excuse me?"

When the two of them suddenly turned towards her, she immediately regretted her decision. Too bad she couldn't even think of a secondary plan as Peepers immediately drew out his red blaster and shot a round at her, scoring a perfect headshot and knocking her unconscious.


The blonde heir of the Northwest lineage, a family of 'noble' men and women notable for their pride and less for their consideration of lesser people, was woken up by a bump on her head. And when she opened her eyes, instead of finding herself in her 'royal' bed with the butler by her side ready to serve, Pacifica saw the ceiling of one of the spaceship's corridors. She also distinctively felt two hands gripping on her arms, literally dragging her on the floor.

As the memories of her encounter with the talking skeleton and eyeball-alien-thing returned to her, she couldn't help but panic. "Hey! HEY!" she shouted, "What's going on? Where are you going? Where are we going?!"

She turned around the best she could, as her two captors were not letting her have the space nor the freedom needed to stand on her own legs, to glare at them. One of the two rotated his head to look at her, and for once Pacifica regretted saying those words as a huge, angry eye looked her up and down.

"Shut it, or I'll make sure to let you have another nap… you understand?" the eyeball said, raising a laser gun with his free hand. Pacifica gulped, swallowed down every lesson her parents had taught her, and nodded.

Her survival instincts were better than that.

Soon, the two watchdogs reached their destination, going through a door that slid up once they were in front of it and pulling Pacifica along with them. When they finally let go of her, Pacifica yelped and retracted her legs: the travel had not done well to the skin over her shins.

The watchdogs were not moved by the sight, though. "Move it, prisoner," one of them said, agitating his laser gun. "Keep moving and get in your cell."

Pacifica struggled to her feet and looked around. There was no denying it at this point: they had brought her in a prison, where the various cells were closed by energy bars that didn't look safe to touch at all. There was no other occupant in this section, but she had no doubt that any type of stay here was not supposed to be comfy, with or without multiple 'guests'.

As it dawned on her, she looked at the watchdogs pleadingly. "Wait! Please, just tell me what's going on! I didn't do anything wrong!"

The watchdogs started to talk at the same time.

"No one told you that you can ask—"

"Commander Peepers didn't share that idea, I belie—"

The two of them looked at each other. Then, one of them facepalmed, while the other uttered a simple 'woops'.

"Ugh… listen, prisoner, I'm not going to get on Peepers' nerves, or worse Hater's, so all I can tell you is that your presence in the Skullship is not welcome," the first watchdog said in resignation. "So, have an advice: keep your mouth shut and hope for the best."

"But… I didn't come here because I wanted to! I was minding my own business in my garden when a light appeared out of nowhere, and next thing I know, I am in this… place!"

"Hater only knows what Commander Peepers has been up to," the second watchdog replied. "If I know anything about him, he's going to pay you a visit soon if what you said is true."

"Are you going to tell her about our secret plan, maybe, just in case?" the first watchdog said sarcastically.

"What one, attempt #247 to destroy Wander? Or the ones about conquering Dominator's heart?"

The watchdog didn't even reply. He sighed before turning towards Pacifica again. "We're wasting time. If Peepers will really come here, you better answer wisely to his questions, prisoner. So, again: shut it and hope for the best. Now move!"

Before Pacifica could complain even more, the muzzle of the laser gun was suddenly moved in front of her face, almost touching her nose. With no other choice left, Pacifica could do nothing but turn back and move into the open cell: as soon as she stepped into it, the energy bars turned on behind her, trapping her inside.

The watchdogs did not say their goodbyes and left her without a word. With a sudden urge to try one last time, Pacifica rushed to the cell wall and shouted, "You can't leave me here! I don't even know why I am here of all places! Don't you know who I am? I am…"

Oh yes, she was Pacifica Northwest. And she was also sure that on an alien spaceship that was most likely lightyears away from Earth, no one was going to care.

Until then, Pacifica had kept a serious demeanour, even if hints of desperation could be caught here and there. But now that she was alone, trapped and with apparent no way out, the realization of how bad her current situation was hit her. Her lips quivered as she moved backwards, away from the energy bars that were almost blinding her, until she hit the backwall. Then, she slid down and mechanically hugged her hurt knees.

She tried to fight back tears, since she had nothing to do but pay heed to the eyeball soldier's warning of keeping the volume low, but she couldn't. Soon, the silence in the prison was broken by her soft, muffled cries, but no one came to silence her.

Just when she thought the day couldn't get worse… here she was. Stupid girl… if only she had had the courage to have a definitive discussion with her parents instead of escaping from her problems… she knew it for sure now. No matter how hard she tried, she was not going to get it right. Letting people in at one party was not going to fix everything, and she should've been able to know that. But she ignored it, thinking that with time everything would settle by itself… and now she was away from home with no visible option to go back.

Her crying was stopped by a bitter laugh she couldn't help letting out. Heh, no wonder people back in town had yet to treat her any different since the end of summer.

Pacifica was so lost in her bleak thoughts that she did not hear the slide door of the prison open. She did not hear the steps coming towards her cell, and she did not notice the two beings stopping by, looking at her pitiful state.

Eventually though, one of them finally spoke.

"Hey there… need some help?"