NOTE: I've seen that a lot of the fanfictions for this show involve the characters being humanized, but in this all characters are in their original forms as they are on the show.
"Alright, let's check what we need this week.", Uncle Grandpa announced to his RV friends, taking out a small slip of paper from Belly Bag's mouth. Certain special supplies were running low in the RV, and Uncle Grandpa had a grocery list prepared. However, this wouldn't just be any regular trip to the Mart-Mart (and not just because they burned that place down).
"Hmm…we need a dozen dragon eggs from the Renaissance, some more peanut butter from George Washington Carver, aaaand more microchip cookies from the future!" Uncle Grandpa put the grocery list away and took a couple of helmets out. He put them onto his and Belly Bag's heads carefully and got into position. "You ready to travel, Belly Bag?"
"Ready as I'll ever be, Uncle Grandpa!", Belly Bag exclaimed with a nod. Uncle Grandpa took a deep breath and closed his eyes, readying his time traveling powers. They began to disappear quicker and quicker into a bright light, until…they stopped glowing. Uncle Grandpa opened his eyes and let out a gasp to see they were still back home! "Hmm, that's strange. Hold on a second, Belly Bag!" He closed his eyes and concentrated harder, but this time he didn't even start to glow. Belly Bag frowned and looked up from on top of Uncle Grandpa's stomach. "Is something wrong?" Uncle Grandpa suddenly got a saddened look on his face and sighed loudly. He proceeded to walk solemnly to the living room to the rest of his friends. Tiger roared in concern when she saw his expression.
"I'm fine, Tiger, it's just…guys, I have an important announcement." The shades-wearing lump on the couch known as Pizza Steve raised his triangular head. "Is it about who's gonna repair the front of the RV? I already told you, that wasn't my fault! I only crashed into that bridge because I was evading ninjas for us again. You're welcome." Mr. Gus, annoyed, pushed him off the couch with his tail and looked at Uncle Grandpa calmly. "Please continue, Uncle Grandpa."
Uncle Grandpa sighed again and lowered his head. "I'm afraid I'm not as young as I used to be guys…". The others jumped, looking surprised and almost afraid. "…I can't do vast time travel anymore." The others let out a sigh of relief, followed by an annoyed groan from Pizza Steve. "Does this mean we aren't able to get microchip cookies anymore?", he yelled dramatically. Mr. Gus rolled his eyes and walked slowly to Uncle Grandpa, patting his back sympathetically. "We're sorry to hear that. I'm sure we'll find an alternative way to travel soon."
At almost sonic speed, Uncle Grandpa jumped up with a brand new smile on his mustachioed face. "There IS, Mr. Gus! At least, there will be once we pick them out." The others exchanged confused glances while Uncle Grandpa turned to Belly Bag. "Belly Bag, can you please hand me my trusty portal gun?" Belly Bag gave a loyal nod and opened his mouth, allowing Uncle Grandpa to take out the gun. He shot it into the air, opening a portal. "Follow me, friends!", he bellowed, jumping into the portal with the others behind him. Upon entering the portal, they were met with a bright light, but soon the sound of what seemed like city buzz and clocks ticking filled their ears. The light cleared, their eyes meeting with a whole new dimension. This dimension had white and metallic buildings neatly scattered everywhere, with the streets filled with constantly busy moving people, almost all speaking in formal and astute tones. These people were odd though…they all ranged in so many different sizes, from as tall as a person to the size of your hand. When the guys looked up close, they realized all these people were different types of clocks. They stared in surprise at such strange beings as Uncle Grandpa went up to the gate. A bored cuckoo clock man stood at the booth next to it, sighing when he saw them. "Hello, welcome to Temporia…", he said in a monotone voice. "Are you here for the tour through the Temple, the Hall of Records, or just through the shops in the middle quadrant?"
"The Temple, my good sir! I'm Uncle Grandpa, returning from the last time I took a vacation here! We need to recruit a Time Guardian.", Uncle Grandpa replied, handing the clock man a card. The man read the card carefully then sighed again, turning to a microphone. "Tinley Goldham, there our tourists here that want to see the temple. Be up here right away." The crew waited a few minutes before the gates started to open. They looked forward at it to greet their tour guide, but didn't see anyone there. Seconds later, they heard a tiny English-accented voice ring out, it saying, "Sorry, I'm l-late! I was in a meeting with the C-Council…". They looked down at the source of the voice, seeing a very tiny clock girl walk up to them. Her head was a golden pocketwatch with a glasses clad face on it, the circular appendage on top of her head having a long chain connected that flowed down almost like a ponytail. Her attire consisted of a normal tour guide outfit, with a matching hat and scarf all placed on her in her navy blue sweaterdress. They stared at her silently for a while, not sure what to think, until Pizza Steve almost tripped while quickly sliding up to her and adjusting his shades.
"Weeell, hello!~", he greeted, grinning wide with his cheeks a bit pink. "We're lucky to have gotten the cute one to guide us, am I right guys?" He chuckled and kept looking her over, muttering something like "Man, you're even shorter than me…", earning a surprised ding from Tinley. Her face turned a deep red, with her pulling the top of her sweaterdress over her flustered cheeks. "U-Uh, I…", she quietly squeaked out.
Mr. Gus pulled Pizza Steve back by the crust away from the blushing pocketwatch. "Quit it, you're scaring her." Pouting, Pizza Steve pushed him off but stood back. Uncle Grandpa leaned down to her and smiled. "Hi, Tinley! We aren't exactly here for a full tour, we actually need to recruit a Time Guardian." Nodding, Tinley pulled her sweaterdress from her face and stood professionally. "Certainly, s-sir! Though, you'll need authorization from the Sands of Time council first. Just follow me!", she replied, turning and leading them through the gate and into Temporia. They followed closely, observing the city around them as they did. Belly Bag cleared his throat before asking a question. "Excuse me, ma'am, what's a Time Guardian?"
"Oh, excellent question, sir!", Tinley replied, turning to them and smiling kindly. "Time Guardians are some of those most professionally schooled time travelers in this universe. Their job is to mainly travel through sections of time and keep the flow in balance, monitoring everything that happens in each timeline and recording it, doing maintenance if a timeline is not on the right course. Time Guardians are some of the most respected and important people in this universe. It's simply an amazing job…", she sighed almost in a dreamy tone, before quickly blushing and shaking her head to focus as she continued. "All the recorded data is stored and cataloged in the Records Hall, right next to the temple. If you have enough time, I'd be more than happy to take you there."
"So, Tin Tin…", Pizza Steve began, putting emphasize on the new nickname. "Do you get to time travel with all these other guardian guys too?" Tinley jumped, turning to hide her blush from hearing the nickname. "W-Well, no. Only Time Guardians are allowed by the law to time travel. I was in school to become one, b-but uh…" Her blush became darker as she quickly ran ahead of them, shaking her head. Pizza Steve, feeling like he upset her, ran to catch her but Uncle Grandpa grabbed him gently by the arm. He stepped to Tinley, who turned to him with an embarrassed expression. He patted her back, smiling a friendly and warm grin.
"Don't worry, ma'am, we don't ever judge! You can open up around us and know we'll hear out every word." Tinley kept frowning in disbelief, but slowly started to be overcome with a warm feeling. Uncle Grandpa's words were the same as you'd hear from any friend, but when he said it she felt instant comfort, almost as if the words came from a kind and accepting family member. Tinley felt her shyness leave almost like magic, finally standing up and sighing. "I w-was one of the top people in my class. I was close to graduating, preparing to meet with the head of the council to receive my diploma. Until they checked my r-records…", she sighed once more. "There are certain requirements besides training that you need to graduate. One of them being…having to be a pure breed of clock. It turned out I'm part pocketwatch and part alarm clock. A mechanical clock and digital clock hybrid. I guess my parents took advantage of the fact I look more like only one side of that hybrid to help me achieve my dream." She took a deep breath and blinked a few times. "My diploma was taken away, and the highest job I could be given with the knowledge I accumulated was this…b-but my job is great, I'm thankful I'm somewhere t-today!"
The others stared at her with widened eyes, taking in everything she told them. Pizza Steve finally broke the silence, throwing his arms up angrily. "They deny you a diploma just because you're a watch that beeps?" Squeaking in surprise, Tinley shook her head and explained, "T-The council claims that hybrid clocks have an unstable elemental matrix, m-meaning even if schooled well they could not manage to time travel p-properly!"
"Yeah, but, you're smart! I bet you could just find a loophole to it if they'd let you!", he exclaimed, still frustrated. Tinley blushed at the compliment but shook her head. "It's been proven impossible to get around.."
"We specialize in making the impossible possible though! It's how we help kids across the world.", Uncle Grandpa claimed. Mr. Gus even nodded. "I have to admit, I've been friends with Uncle Grandpa for ages, and he still continues to surprise me. I bet even he could work a miracle here.", he mumbled. Tinley looked between them all, still unsure. "Are y-you all certain? Even if he could, I don't where I could even g-go about trying to-". She quickly tensed up and went silent when Pizza Steve put an arm around her. "Tinley, you know you already got the smarts for this. With the loophole in there, you'd be an expert. Just like how Pizza Steve's an expert at everything.", he stated confidently, lowering his shades and grinning at her. She continued to blush slightly and almost giggle from feeling so flattered, looking up to reply only to freeze up when she sees his eyes. Pizza Steve raised an eyebrow in confusion when he sees her freeze up and become red, pushing his shades back up and snapping his fingers in her face. "Tin Tin? You okay?" She quickly snapped back to reality when he spoke, shaking her head and drawing out a long breath. "Y-Yes, I'm okay!", she exclaimed. She smiled at them all happily soon after, bowing to them. "But I t-thank you all for the kind words. If the council allows me, maybe I can visit you after you go back home.."
Suddenly, she yelped. "The COUNCIL! You still have to m-meet with them! Please, follow m-me to the temple before we're late!" She turned and started walking quickly to the Middle Quadrant, her possibly new friends following behind.