It had been a few weeks since Susan and Ford had returned to Gravity Falls by means of the portal that Ford had built and his brother, Stan, had restarted to get them home, and things in the Mystery Shack, Susan's and Ford's old home, were very, very tense.
Stan and Ford, once twins who had been closer than anything, now refused to look at each other, much less talk to each other unless absolutely needed. Susan, who was on Ford's side, tried to act as a moderator for the two, she had even taken to sitting in the chair that was in between the two at the now very packed table they ate at for food, but she ended up having to deflect any questions Dipper asked her, which were too numerous to count, and would therefore miss whatever look that one of the twins, usually Ford, would give to the other twin, usually Stan, and make said second twin, Stan, declare that whatever meal they were eating was over. When that happened, which had been all the meals so far, Ford and Susan would go down to the basement and continue working on the multiple problems that had occurred while they had been gone, like a loose Cycloptopus. The Cycloptopus was a beast they had discovered. Once they had realized how violent it became after eating any flesh, they had jarred it up to better study it. Somehow, the airtight jar that had a warning about not doing anything to it, was broken. When Ford was cataloging the creatures they had and found that the Cycloptopus was free, he, and then Susan when she had heard the news, had not only panicked but started a complete basement search. Just when they were about to see if it had escaped to the rest of the house, it latched onto Ford's thankfully electrogloved hands.
"We need more space!" he had cried out after a struggle that Susan had tried to join in but couldn't due to the narrow hallway of the basement.
"But the kids are upstairs!" she pointed out. Through the weeks that she had been there, she had developed a soft spot for Mabel, who was so quirky and silly that anyone who didn't like her had to be inhuman, and a lesser soft spot for Dipper, who despite his many annoying questions had wormed her way into hers and likely Ford's hearts by his thirst to want to know about everything.
"I'm sure they're in their rooms," he suggested.
They weren't. In fact, when they banged into the main room of the house they found not only the kids, but also Stan. Susan barely held back a sigh, he would never let this occasion go, but yelled out, "Get down! It can't get any taste of human flesh!"
Next to her, Ford was able to punch the Cycloptopus off his wrist, causing it to slither straight towards the kids. Thankfully, they, or at least Dipper, took their warning to heart. He scrambled up the barrels behind him, a hand tugging the back of Mabel's sweater to do the same. "What is it?!" he shouted.
Mabel, on the other hand, grinned widely even while she was backing up to get away from the Cycloptopus. "Can we keep it?" she asked eagerly.
The Cycloptopus, still moving about on the floor, suddenly started to scramble up the counter Stan had been leaning on, causing the man to roll up the newspaper he was reading and whack the beast repeatedly while yelling, "Kill it! Kill it!"
Ignoring all their reactions, Ford chased the Cycloptopus into a corner, where Susan proceeded to kick a box down, trapping it. "Patience... and," Ford muttered, his gloves held out to shock the creature as soon as its eye changed into a mouth…and then it changed, causing Ford to leap forwards with a cry of "Gotcha!" Shocking it, he held up the limp, burnt body with a grin.
Smiling back at him, Susan ruffled his hair. "Very good job," she commented. "Though I suggest you put that down before it scars the children for life."
Blinking, Ford nodded. "Oh right. " Putting his arm down, Ford just let the Cycloptopus lay there, on the ground, making Susan sigh and shake her head. When it came to kids, Ford really didn't seem to understand that they shouldn't see an electrocuted dead thing.
"Great. Now get it outta here. It smells like if death could barf," Stan snapped at them.
Turning to leave, Susan closed her eyes and let out a whoosh of air as the sound of feet reached her and Dipper cried out, "Great uncle Ford! Susan! Do you two need any help with that? I've read all about these creatures in your journal, and I think I know how to—"
Ford cut him off with a shake of his head. "No! I'm sorry, Dipper, but the dark weird road I travel, I'm afraid you cannot follow."
Susan rolled her eyes and ruffled Ford's hair. "Don't spook him," she whispered, for Ford's speech, while very true, was way too dark for a kid to handle, especially a twelve year old.
Ford nodded. "Well, call us for dinner," he finished. The two proceeded to go over to the vending machine and step inside of it with the door closing behind them.
"Ford…the Cycloptopus…" Susan warned. This was very needed because the Cycloptopus decided to start to wake up, making Ford have to hold it up and shock it with his other hand, causing it go back to being fried once more.
Down in the basement, Susan was going through the bag that Ford had brought over with him. "Did you seriously bring this back?" she asked him with an arch eyebrow. Looking over, Ford nodded with a small grin as he saw that she was holding the plastic black case that was holding the Infinity Die.
"You thought they were pretty," he remarked. And they were, Infinity Dies were an interesting mother of pearl color that shimmered lightly. The infinite numbers of symbols on, giving it its name, glowed purple, or blue, or black when they appeared on the surface.
Still, Susan snorted and said, "Yeah, pretty deadly."
"But that's just adds to the excitement!" Ford protested. Taking the box from her, he put it onto the counter and stared at the sheet he had set up to hide their project. "Do you think we should tell them?"
Susan got up from the counter and moved behind Ford. Wrapping her arms around his shoulder, she leaned down until her chin rested on his head. "They're not my family," she pointed out. "I can't really have a say in it."
Ford sighed. "If they were your family, what would you do?"
"I would at least tell Dipper. He likes this stuff a lot and kind of reminds me of a miniature you."
Ford gave a slight nod at that. "But what if he tells Mabel? Or Stan? They would never understand the kind of work we do down here."
"That's the risk you'll have to take, Ford." Susan shrugged. "I stand by whatever your decision is."
Getting up the chair, Ford smiled at Susan. "I'll go get the journal so we can catalogue the Cycloptopus."
Susan nodded and sat down in the chair, fully prepared to wait for Ford. Leaning back, she sighed as she stared up at the metal ceiling. It was already late in the summer, which meant that Ford and Susan weren't going to stay in the basement for much longer. Still, the laboratory needed some sort of thing to cover up the metal. At least the bedroom that they had set up had carpets on the floor.
Closing her eyes, her breathing deepened as she started to drift off…
"AAAAAHHHH!" at the rather girly scream, Susan jerked from the chair and pulled back until she was against the console. Her eyes widened as she looked up and saw Dipper falling from the upper level. As he fell, she winced as he hit the shelf, causing the jar with the Cycloptopus on it to fall to the ground next to him.
"Dipper!" Susan cried out as the boy looked up while fixing the pine tree hat he was wearing. "What are you doing down here? How did you get down here?"
Grabbing something off the floor, Dipper held up a small but many sided die. "My 38 sided die rolled under the house. I crawled after it and…" as he got to his feet, Dipper's voice trailed off. "Yeah," he finished weakly.
Susan took the die from him and was in the process of examining it when Ford came in. "Dipper! What did I say about coming down here? My work is far too dangerous for a single living soul to spend even one second i- wait!" cutting himself off, Ford took the die from Susan and stared at it with what seemed to be awe in his eyes. "Is that a 38-sided die from Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons?!" he asked her.
In response, Susan pointed at Dipper, causing Ford to turn and stare at him. "Y-you know that game?" he breathed, the boy's eyes widening.
"With pen and paper, shield and sword..." Ford started.
"Our quest shall be our sweet reward!" the two finished together, causing them to burst into laughter.
Susan, her brow furrowing, leaned back against the console and crossed her arms. She had never heard of Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons but those two clearly had. Still, it made her smile to see Ford so happy and if it meant bonding time for the Pines family, then she was glad.
"This is my favorite game in the whole multiverse! I can't believe they still make it!" Ford said with a small laugh.
Dipper nodded. "They do! And I've been looking all day for someone to play it with me!" he explained with an eager smile.
"My boy, do you know what this means? We must stop everything I've been working on at once... and PLAY!"
"Ford, look out!" Susan warned as the Cycloptopus sprang at him. Hurrying forwards, she grabbed it mid-lung, making Ford turn his head and then grin at Susan.
"Thanks!"
"Gloves?"
"Bedroom."
With a nod, Susan hurried to the bedroom while holding the Cycloptopus.
A few hours and one very, very dead Cycloptopus later, Susan walked back into the lab only to step on some sort of crunchy thing. Looking down, she picked up a crumpled piece of graph paper and examined the writing. It had to be Ford's because when he was writing quickly, he would often smudge his writing with his sixth finger. Placing it back down on the floor, Ford disliked it when his things were moved, she carefully walked, it was more of balancing, through the cracks on the floor where there wasn't graph paper until she came upon Dipper and Ford. The two were sitting across the board for the game, Dungeons, Dungeons, and more Dungeons.
Ruffling Ford's hair, causing him to nod and look behind at her briefly, Susan got up on the console, which was mostly graph paper free, and crossed her legs as she watched the two. Ford was doing what he often did when he was holding something small in his hands, he was moving it quickly through his fingers while Dipper watched him, enamored.
"Alright. You've entered the chamber. Princess Unatainabelle beckons you. But WAIT! IT'S A TRAP!" While Dipper gasped, Susan just grinned as she saw how enamored Ford was in the game. "An illusion cast by Probabilitor the Annoying."
Dipper grinned widely. "You know his weakness, right?" he asked him.
Ford nodded and then joined in with Dipper to say loudly, "Prime-statistical anomalies over 37 but not exceeding 51!" and then they rolled the dice.
It seemed that they got the correct number because, Dipper cheered, "Yes! Uh! In your face, you cardboard wizard!"
Taking the cardboard picture of a wizard that had been standing next to the game, Ford frowned at it. "The old boy looks a bit different than he did back in my day," he noted.
Dipper nodded. "Yeah, they change the art every few years. Thankfully you missed the period when the creators of the game tried to make it 'cooler.'" And then, he explained about how, during the 1990's, the game had changed to Diggity Dungeons and All That.
"Just…what?" Susan asked, her eyes wide as she tried to understand why anyone would want to make a game cooler, and then why they thought that changing the name to something that stupid would work.
The boy nodded and then shivered. "Must have been dark times, those 90's."
"Yeesh. Sounds like a good time to be stuck between dimensions," Ford said.
"I couldn't agree more," Susan put in with a grin.
Dipper frowned. "Great uncle Ford and Susan, I've been meaning to ask you two: where were you guys before you came out of that machine, and what have you both been doing down here? Are you working on something behind that curtain?"
Ford blinked at the questions and looked over at Susan, who shrugged. Both taken aback, it took Ford a moment to answer. "Dipper, it's best if you and the family stay away from that subject. Honestly, I'm not sure any of you could handle the real answer," he said slowly.
"But, but I can handle it-" Dipper started protest.
Knowing that Ford was already struggling with whether or not to tell anyone and Dipper had to have been reminding him more and more of himself, Susan grabbed the Infinity Die box and brought it over. "Hey kid," she said, drawing Dipper's attention to her, "We can show you something really cool." Opening up the box, she took the die and then carefully took Dipper's hand and placed the die into it. "It's an infinity sided-die. An Infinity Die."
Dipper stared down at the die he was now holding with wide eyes. "Woah...that's so cool. And...impossible!"
"Nothing is impossible, just very improbable," Susan remarked. "But if the impossible was real, then an Infinity Die would be a great of example of it."
Ford grinned at Susan and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Those things are outlawed in 9,000 dimensions. You wanna know why? Look at those symbols. Infinite sides means infinite outcomes. If I rolled it, anything could happen. Our faces could melt into jelly. The world could turn into an egg. Or you could just roll an eight."
"It's a bit like that spaceship in A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," Susan pointed out. "You don't know what happens until it happens."
Ford nodded. "Who knows," he agreed. Taking the die from Dipper, he put it back in the case. "That's why I have to keep it in this protective cheap plastic case." Susan took the case from him and placed it back on the console before sitting next to it as Ford said, "Now, back to the game! You've got Probabilitor on the ropes."
That night, Susan sat on the bed, in her pajamas as Ford was brushing his teeth in the small bathroom. "You have fun today?" she asked him.
From where he was standing and where she was sitting, they could both see each other clearly, since the door was opened, which allowed Ford to just be able to nod in response and then hold out a piece of graph paper.
Getting up, Susan walked over and took the paper from him and scanned it. "Isn't this just one possible thing that could happen?" she pointed out.
Spitting the toothpaste out and cleaning his tooth brush and mouth, he nodded and took the paper from her. "That's the point. Anything can happen in it, no matter how much you plan."
"Sounds like a game you would like," Susan pointed out. Ford love planning everything, and he was also amazing at planning things when something went wrong.
Ford nodded. "You should try it with us. Dipper is the best player I've ever met!"
Susan grinned but shook her head. "This is your thing with him. I'll watch and keep track of your graph paper so it isn't a safety hazard, but you guys keep playing."
Smiling at her, Ford gave her a soft kiss. "Do you mind if I finish writing out a few ideas I have?"
"Why wouldn't I." Going over to the bed, Susan sat down and watched as Ford proceeded to sit down on the floor and start writing, occasionally checking the volumes that held the notes.
Finally, at about three in the morning, Susan woke up somewhat as she felt Ford get into bed with her. Curling up next to him, she barely cracked open an eye to see him looking down at her, a soft smile on her face. "Go to sleep, silly," she mumbled groggily.
Ford grinned and kissed the top of her forehead. "I will," he promised.
The next day, when everyone was oddly not around, Ford and Dipper, with some help from Susan, set up the game in what appeared to be the living room of the house. Susan, who had elected herself official graph paper keeper, had eventually dragged in a trash can to try and contain all the unneeded papers. She was also trying to keep a binder on her lap as well. As there was no dividers, her only system of organization was keep Ford's papers the correct way up but turning Dipper's papers upside down.
Hearing sound the feet at the opening to the living room, Susan smiled apologetically as Mabel, Stan, and some giant female friend of Mabel's came into the room with the intent to probably do what it was meant to be to them: Watch TV.
"Dipper, could you maybe move this to another room?" Mabel asked her brother. Her voice was clearly strain and could feel her heart breaking a small bit at how upset she sounded that her brother had done this.
Instead of Dipper answering, it was Ford who replied, "No dice! We ran out of room in the basement and we're going for a world record! Now, dice!" Turning back to the game, Susan crossed her arms as he rolled the dice and had them land on the board. "32, yes! 7,000 points damage!"
Dipper started to laugh. "You got me!"
Seeing Stan coming over, Susan got up from the couch and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Is there any other place you can watch TV?" she asked him in a soft voice. That was really the only choice they had at this time.
Stan moved her hand off his shoulder non to gently and then shoved her lightly away, making her stumble but still stay upright. Crossing her arms, she frowned as she watched Stan start to yell at Ford. "Oh, why, why with this? You wanna break a record, Ford? You already got it with world's nerdiest old man."
"Hey, at least I'm not all keyed up to watch a kid's show," Ford snapped back, rolling his eyes.
Stan glared at him. "I'll have you know that Duck-tective has a big mystery element! And a lot of humor that goes over kids' heads!"
"I don't get a lot of it, but I like animals in human situations." The friend of Mabel's, who had such a deep voice that it made Susan barely hold back a snort and have to bite her lip to contain it, practically yelled, though that might have been her usual talking voice.
"Grunkle Stan, it starts in a few minutes!" Mabel warned from the doorway, reminding the man that he had more important things to do than yell at his brother.
Moving to the TV, he made to take off the piece of graph paper, the one that Ford said they needed to keep up so they could play the game as fairly as possible, from the TV screen, but Ford stopped him by grabbing his wrist and growling, "Move that and pay the price!"
"Oh, what, fifty magical dwarf dollars?" Stan sneered.
Ford glared at Stan for that. "Don't mock our fantastical monetary system!"
"I'll mock all I want, it's my TV room!"
"And it's Susan's and my house, you…" Susan placed a hand on his shoulder, causing Ford to calm down some. With a sigh, he said, "Listen, Stanley, did it ever occur to you to if you joined us you might actually have fun?"
Stan stared at Ford, his mouth wide open. "What? Now you listen to me!" Grabbing the bag that Ford carried everything in, Susan realized with horror that she had put the Infinity Die in there. "As long as I live I will never…"
"Stan!"
"…ever..."
"Stan give me the bag!"
"Play your smartypants nerd game!" And then Stan threw the bag down.
Susan, Ford, and Dipper watched in horror as the Infinity Die rolled out of bag and onto the board. Stopping completely, the symbol glowed brightly along with the die and a power of some sort traveled over to the Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons characters on the cardboard stand, causing the four characters to appear.
Backing away from them, Ford pulled Dipper behind him and then tried to do the same from Susan, causing her to smack his arm. Wincing, he looked at the characters as one of them, Probabilitor, addressed them. "Mortals of dimension 46'\, kneel before me and," kneeling down, he rolled the die and looked at the number that it landed on, "snivel!" he nodded and rose back to his feet to glare at all of them. "I am Probabilitor! The greatest wizard in all of mathology! Give or take an error of 0.4."
"Eh, is this normal?" Stan asked, looking at the players to answer.
Ignoring him, Dipper asked in a soft voice, "Have you come to send us on the quest of a lifetime because we're the smartest players you've ever met?"
Probabilitor shook his head. "You are the smartest players I've ever met! That's why I'm going to eat your brains to gain your intelligence. It's what I do."
Next to him, an ogre nodded. "It's his thing," it remarked.
Dipper's eyes widened in horror. "What?!"
"Seize them!" Probabilitor ordered.
Ford grabbed the gun that was strapped to his hip and pointed it at the wizard. Next to him, Susan grabbed the gun from her hip, the one she hardly used, and also pointed it at the wizard. Briefly, Ford looked over at her and nodded. Then, he turned back to the group of characters. "Your math is no match for Susan's or my gun, you idiot!"
"Math ray!" Probabilitor cried out. Turning away, he sent a beam straight to the wall behind him, causing it to blow out and leave a hole to the woods. "I'm not here to play games!" Grabbing Ford and Dipper, and then, after a momentary pause, Susan as well, the wizard flew out followed by the other characters. "Now to the forest, for the ultimate game!"
Having been tied to a large tree, Susan glared at Probabilitor as he measured Ford's and Dipper's heads. "But I wasn't even playing! Why did you grab me?" She pointed out.
"You're very organized. You can keep track of all the brains I've eaten. And with each brain I eat, I shall increase my enchantelligence," the wizard explained with a grin that made Susan want to barf.
Ford struggled against the rope. "If my hands were free, I'd break every part of your face."
"I'd help," Susan put in.
Ignoring them, Probabilitor turned to an elf with a bow and arrow and ordered, "The time has come! Hot elf! Ready the brain-cooking pot!"
The elf sighed. "Yes, Probabilitor." Shaking out his white hair, he turned to the pot and shot a flaming air, igniting the wood under it.
As the liquid in the pot started to boil, Probabilitor started to laugh. Dipper, his brow furrowing and eyes widening, shook his head. "What do we do? What do we do?"
"Stop thinking, Dipper! The more wrinkly your brain gets, the more he'll want to eat it!" Ford ordered.
Susan frowned. "I don't think that's how it works," she muttered.
Going over to them, Probabilitor sneered at Dipper and Ford. "And now, a little math problem: when I subtract your brain from your skulls," taking the staff, he hit Dipper and then Ford on the skull, causing them to wrinkle their brows in discomfort. "Add salt, and divide your family, what's the remainder?"
"YOUR BUTT!" At Mabel's familiar voice yelling out from behind the bushes overlooking the clearing they were in, Susan grinned widely and nudged Ford and Dipper.
Probabilitor was less pleased. He turned towards the bushes and called over, "What? My butt isn't part of this particular equation." It was at this that the giant girl, Stan, and Mabel all jumped out of the bushes and all holding odd weapons. "Drat! How did you make it past my one guard?" Probabilitor shook his head. "Very well. There's only one way your family can save you. YOU must defeat ME in Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons: REAL LIFE EDITION!" Creating a game board, the wizard started to laugh loudly.
Stan shook his head. "What? Oh, come on!" he protested.
Probabilitor laughed. "I choose my characters..." three ogres appeared on the board, causing Susan to wince as she realized whatever was going to happen, she was joining in. "Vs. yours." holding out his hand, Susan closed her eyes as she felt herself shrink and then get transported onto the board across from the leering ogres. Looking down, she frowned at the outfit she was wearing of a long, dark red dress with matching heels. That would be impractical to run in, as she was sure she was going to have to.
Ford reached up and tapped his ears. "Ah! My ears! They're so pointy!" he wailed.
Susan ruffled his hair. "They look fine," she reassured. Ford grinned at her.
Dipper looked down at his tunic and shook his head. "There better be something protective under this tunic." Turning around, he proceeded to check under the tunic. With a cry, he turned back around. "Oh, no, there isn't!"
Above the board, Stan crossed his arms. "Seriously, can't we just, like, arm wrestle or something?" he asked.
Probabilitor rolled his eyes. "Come on, this game is a lot of fun. I had my mom pack me a lunch." Grabbing a paper bag, he took out a bag of apple slices and made a face. "Ew, apple slices? I'll eat you last."
Stan sighed. "Uh, just make with the rules, ugly."
"The game is a battle royale. We help our characters by casting spells determined by rolls of the dice. If you win, I'll go back to my own dimension." At that, Mabel clapped her hands and exchanged a happy smile with Stan. "But if I win, I eat their brains and get this girl to be my organizer."
Susan frowned. "I don't think that's a fair-"
"DEAL!"
Dipper shook his head. "Oh boy."
"Let the game...BEGIN!" the wizard rolled a die, which seemed huge to the trio, they scattered away as it landed on the board and rolled until it ended with 13 on top. "Attack!" Probabilitor cried out. At the command, the ogres started to go after Susan, Dipper, and Ford with their hammers in one hand and their clubs in the other.
"Run!" Susan shouted.
Hearing her, Ford ran over and grabbed her hand. "Come on!" he yelled back at her as they sprinted on the board. "It's just like Space Rio!"
"I wasn't wearing heels! Screw it!" Pausing briefly, which caused Ford to drop her hand and stare at her, Susan quickly yanked the heels off and threw them behind her, which distracted the ogres for a few moments until it realized that the heels weren't very good weapons.
Watching the chaos unfold on the board, Stan yelled to the miniature players, "What do we do? What are our moves?!"
Dipper, who was being chased by an ogre of his own, called back to him, "There are no moves; you make them up!"
"What? Really?" Stan asked, his eyes widening slightly.
Ford, who had grabbed Susan's hand and was now trying to evade the two ogres that were chasing him, rolled his eyes but nodded. "Yes! I tried to tell you: this game involves math, but also risk, and imagination!"
"Risk?" Stan wondered, a sly grin forming. He was good when it came to things with risk.
"Imagination?" Mabel echoed, her eyes wide and a large smile on her face. She turned and nudged Stan. "Grunkle Stan, make something up! It's just like lying!"
Stan frowned and picked up the die from the ground. "I cast, uh...shield of...shielding!" Stan tried, and then rolled the die and let it land on the board. It came up as 14, causing a red Shield of Shielding to appear in front of Dipper, Ford, and Susan, who all grinned and cheered as they used it against the ogres to block their attacks.
"Shield of Shielding Reversal Spell," Probabilitor called back before rolling the die himself. Whatever number it landed on, Susan wasn't able to see it, was high enough to take out the shields, forcing everyone to start running again.
Not to be left out of the fun, Mabel rolled the die and then cried out, "I cast: Giggle Time Bouncy Boots!" These Giggle Time Bouncy Boots, which were a bright pink that slightly hurt Susan's eyes, had springs attached to them which allowed the trio to jump over the ogres that had now been chasing them. "Hot flamey sword!" At this cry, a red sword that was on fire appeared in everyone's hands. "Super hot flamey sword!" And then the sword got even longer.
"I like how she thinks!" Susan yelled over at Ford as she hopped over an ogre. Turning towards it with this new sword in hand, she slashed through the ogre's stomach and grinned as it fell forwards, disappearing.
Letting the tip of the sword hit the ground, Susan looked over to see Ford and Dipper killing the ogres. When all three of them had disappeared, leaving only Susan, Ford, and Dipper, Susan figured that Probabilitor would call defeat and realize that fighting them wasn't worth his time.
That wasn't what happened.
Instead, he snatched the dice and started to shake it in his hand. "No! Drat you! You'll never outrun my," throwing the dice down he grinned widely, "Ogre-nado!" And that appeared. An ogre-nado, a literal tornado with ogres instead of wind, started to head towards the group. "It is what is sounds like!"
Exchanging worried looks but readying their swords, they let out cries of shock as their Super hot flamey swords flew from their hands and into the ogre-nado, leaving them defenseless and their only option to back up until their backs were pressed against the wall.
Taking the dice, Mable cried out, "I cast: CENTAURTAUR! YAH!" Throwing down the dice, the miniature trio watched as a horse with another horse's body for its mouth appeared.
"Mabel, I am so confused and so proud right now," Stan commented to the girl, and Susan had to agree. Never in her life as she been more confused than when she was getting onto a horse along with Dipper and Ford, but never in her life had she been more proud of someone, even if it was just conjuring up freaks of nature like a Centaurtaur from their imagination.
The Centaurtaur turned and started to gallop away from the ogre-nado. Above the board, Mabel cheered, "Go go go, Dipper go! You can do it!" as the horse started its run.
Next to her, Stan joined in to the cheering as well with, "Come on, you guys! Go! Go!"
Susan just hooked her arms around Ford tighter and buried her face into his shoulder as they rode horribly fast to a smaller room on the board and then turned around. Behind them, the ogre-nado was trying in vain to get to them, but its width and height would not allow it. After much trying, it ended up blowing itself apart, causing the ogre heads it was made up with to go flying and the trio to get off the Centaurtaur and cheer.
Thinking the game was over, Mabel and Stan also cheered. "Yeaahh!" Mabel said.
"Yes!" Stan put in.
However, a large hand suddenly grabbed Susan, Dipper, and Ford and squeezed them together, causing them to gasp. Ford and Dipper, upon seeing what had grabbed them, exchanged horrified looks and Susan felt Ford grab her hand.
"Hahaha yes! I was saving the worst for last!" Probabilitor informed them gleefully.
"Oh no!" Dipper moaned with a shake of his head.
"The Impossibeast! Hey, I thought they banned this character!" Ford protested.
Probabilitor just sneered at him. "Think again! I'm playing the controversial 1991-1992 edition!"
The Impossilbeast, which was a giant brown creature with horns and glowing red eyes, slammed the trio against the wall, in the process forcing Susan's and Ford's hands to let go of each other. Once they were against the hard surface, however, both reached out the hand closest to the other to grab them, but only their fingers touched.
"I'll think of some weapons!" Mabel said from above the board, the dice was still in her hands and she was shaking it, but the touch of uncertainty did not bode well with the group.
"You don't understand. This is the most powerful monster in the game! He can only be defeated by rolling a perfect 38! But the odds of that are—" Ford tried to explain but allowed himself to be cut off by his brother, Stan.
Having taken the dice from Mabel, Stan was now rolling them in his hands. "Hey, long odds are what you want when you're a world class gambler!" He closed his eyes and let out a slow breath before opening them, determined to get the number they needed. "Alright, Stan, you can do this...Papa needs a new pair of...TWINS!" at the last word, which he yelled, he threw out the dice and all watched as it rolled until it landed on a perfect 38, the number they needed.
"NOOO!" Probabilitor yelled, defeated.
From across the board, Stan smirked. "Sorry, nerd-wizard. All your smarts are no match for dumb luck."
"I cast DEATH MUFFINS!" Mabel cried out.
Now armed with muffins that had glowing sticks of dynamite in them, the three threw the muffins into the beast's mouth, causing it to drop them and frown. "Huh?" he wondered, but then he exploded into muffins.
As everyone cheered, Susan grinned as she felt herself grew back into her usual height. Looking down, she breathed a sigh of relief as she saw that her actual, much more practical, clothes were back. Dropping the muffin she was holding, she turned to Ford, who was dressed normally and was gingerly feeling the tips of ears, which were no longer pointy. Running to him, the black haired woman hugged him tightly and buried her face into his shoulder. He smiled and returned the hug with the exact same amount of tightness.
"It's good to be back," Susan breathed into his air.
Ford grinned. "I think I'm done with D, D, and more D," he remarked softly.
Susan laughed and pulled away some. Turning to the others, who were all reunited and hugging, she smiled and wrapped her arm around Ford's waist. He, after a moment to make sure that the characters were truly gone, did the same.
"Guys! We can watch the second showing of Duck-tective! It's not too late!" the giant friend of Mabel's cried out as she squeaked a duck toy she had.
"We'll clean up here, if you don't mind," Ford said as Dipper looked over at them, a clear plea in his eyes to have them come watch the show with them.
Dipper frowned for a moment and looked around. "But there's nothing-"
"Guys! Duck-tective!"
Looking a bit puzzled, Dipper turned and followed the others, leaving Ford and Susan in the clearing, alone.
Susan leaned against Ford and looked up at the trees. "Are you going to tell him?" she asked.
Ford frowned and twirled a strand of Susan's hair around his finger absent-mindedly. "I think I might," he said. "He's like me, almost too much like me. It must drive him crazy to not have anyone, I knew it did me." He paused and then grinned down at Susan, "Until I met you, of course."
So later that night, in the basement, while Susan was locking the Infinity Die up, Ford showed Dipper his secret. "You asked me earlier what we were working on. Well," he pulled the sheet down from the window, revealing that the portal was gone. "We've dismantled the portal. An interdimensional gateway is too dangerous for the world it feeds into. That's why I was mad at Stan for using it. He saved me, and Susan, but, as I feared, the instability of the machine created this:" grabbing a transparent sphere, he held it up to show Dipper the blob that looked remarkably like space that was floating in it. "An interdimensional rift. I've contained it for now, but it's incredibly dangerous. Dipper, I don't want you to tell anyone about this. Not Stan, not even your sister. You understand?"
"Oh-uh, of course," Dipper breathed his eyes wide.
Hearing the shock in his voice that Ford would probably not pick up on, Susan turned and took Dipper's hat off so she could ruffle the boy's hair as she often did with Ford before she put the hat back on. "It is as serious as it sounds," Susan warned in a soft voice, "but we're asking you to not tell anyone else because this information, in the wrong hands, could me a lot of bad things." She squatted down so she was eye level with the boy. "But, we also trust you," she finished with a smile.
Dipper beamed at this, which made Ford grin and place a hand on Susan's shoulder as she straightened up. "Now get yourself to bed. Susan and I have much research to do."
The boy nodded hurriedly. "Goodnight, Great uncle Ford. Goodnight, Susan."
"Goodnight!" Susan called back to him as Ford put away the rift in a special compartment.
Ford turned back to Susan with a smile. "You were right," he remarked.
"I was?"
"Dipper is trustworthy."
Susan grinned and gave Ford a small kiss on the lips. "Now, we got to catalogue some more things, don't we?" She asked, all business.
Ford nodded. "Of course."
Sorry it took so long! I took the rest of the summer off but I now have a buffer big enough to finish the book!
I will be updating this every Sunday, though usually not at 12 in the morning, I was just up at this time anyways.
As for this chapter, I know in the show Ford seems to live in that room from the carpet episode, but I like the idea of him and Susan living in the basement together, so that's where they are.
And now...review time!
Megan guess (guest): Aw, I'm glad you think so! As for them getting married, it depends on what happens to them. They're comfortable not being married because they love each other and don't see the point of getting something to make it "official," but at the same time they'll probably want a way to make sure everyone knows how much they love each other because, in case you haven't noticed, Ford is really protective of Susan and the same goes for her.
