TIME WARS
Chapter 4: Father Time
DIPPER'S EYES thinned, focusing on the five Vasto Lorde in the distance while his mind filled with questions of how the Time Baby Force had followed them. If they were this thorough in their searching, would they find Exterra the next time they came across them? They had to be more careful from now on.
"How'd they find us?" Dipper asked.
"I don't know." Hansel answered. "If they used a tracker, magical or otherwise, the barrier around the kingdom would've detected it."
"So, what do we do now?"
Hansel looked at the assault vehicles on patrol behind them. "We gotta warn the others." He produced a black stone inscribed with Norn runes from his pocket when a Vasto Lorde turned its gaze to them! "They spotted us!"
The Hollow roared and flew toward the three, drawing its Zanpakutou blade and charging reiatsu energy through the weapon when Hansel quickly ran his fingers across the symbols on the stone, causing it to emit a light that swallowed them and teleported them away at the last second! The beast crashed on the rocky earth and looked around angrily, turning to the Time Baby soldiers nearby who noticed what'd happened.
"I HAVE met another like you before, but his power had already consumed his mind." The Maestro told Tom as he stood with him on the hill near the palace. "I will teach you everything you need to know so you do not meet the same fate."
"Wait, you met someone else like me?" Tom asked.
The Maestro tried to answer when a bright light suddenly shone in midair before them and Hansel and Dipper appeared. "Hansel?" The Maestro raised his brow.
"Whoa, I guess Lemon was right when it said it'd take you wherever the Maestro was." Hansel chuckled and pocketed the stone, getting to his feet.
"Dipper? What's going on?" Tom moved up to them.
"We're in trouble; Time Baby's Forces are getting closer." Dipper said.
"Wait, what? How'd they find us already? It hasn't even been 24 hours yet." Tom frowned, then raised his brow. "Right? How's does time move again in the future?"
"They've got five Vasto Lorde with them; they know we're here." Hansel said to the Maestro.
The Maestro frowned, looking at the barrier that surrounded the kingdom. "We could intercept their forces before they got here, but the Vasto Lorde will be a problem." He thought for a bit. "No, a confrontation would only confirm their suspicions and draw in the Time Generals – we'll have to move the kingdom to another location."
"Wait, you can move the kingdom?" Tom asked.
"My friend Thor helped me build this place long ago and its Asgardian magic and Home World technology allows us to move anywhere we want to." The Maestro walked off. "You and your friends should return to Exterra before we leave."
"Wait, what about you training me?"
"We'd have to reschedule that." The Maestro said.
"No, you don't understand; I'm not from this timeline and I don't know what else might happen or if we'd meet here again." Tom said. "We can't reschedule."
The Maestro stopped and looked at the boy, seeing the determination in his eyes. He tried to think.
STAR, JANNA and Marco hurried through the halls of the palace after being summoned by the Maestro, entering the throne room and finding Pacifica, Dipper, Tom, Mary, Finn, Wendy, Jake, Hansel, Brian, and The Maestro discussing with each other. "What happened?" Star asked.
"Did we open a portal to a demonic dimension?" Janna asked excitedly.
"Why would we do that?" Marco raised his brow.
"What? Nobody else practices occult rituals in their spare time?" Janna looked around, seeing confusion on the others' faces. "Huh, weird."
"Time Baby's Forces have found us, so we're heading back to Exterra." Hansel said.
"Man, these guys are persistent." Finn crossed his arms. "Kinda like when I tried breaking up with my ex."
"Which one? 'Cuz there's a lot of 'em." Jake said.
"Hmm, I think it was –," Finn tried to say when he saw Wendy staring at him. "Uh, none, there was none."
"Man, where is Lemon already? We can't wait until they start attacking the gates." Hansel crossed his arms and frowned.
"She has taken longer than I'd anticipated." The Maestro said.
"Heh, sorry, guys!" Lemon called as she rushed into the room carrying a large bag and she tripped. "Heh, sorry." She dusted herself off. "I was looking for something I hid in my room a while ago, but someone gave it away!"
"Oh, sorry, I'd given your room to the Nightmare Nurse; she'd needed somewhere to practice some spells since you've been gone for a while." The Maestro rubbed his head awkwardly.
"You know I don't like Asa." Lemon frowned. "She always leaves everything in a mess and ruins my enchantments."
"Yeah, could we pick it up here; we don't have all day." Hansel interrupted them. "What is it you were looking for?"
"It's a transportation spell I prepared a while ago since we can't travel between dimensions because of the cosmos' decay, but I never got to use it." Lemon drew out a scroll and rolled it out on the floor, displaying a dense magic wheel that was cut into the fabric. "It takes a while to recover its potency, but it's exactly what we need."
Lemon produced a spray can from the bag and dropped it on the floor by accident. She laughed awkwardly as Finn and Jake gave her weird looks and she picked up the can quickly and applied it on the scroll, painting the cutout wheel onto the floor beneath. Rolling the scroll back up, she repacked the bag and held her hand forward, casting as spell that caused the magic wheel to emit a gentle beam of light that reached toward the ceiling!
"Alright, step right in and we'll go back to Exterra." Lemon said.
"Your ingenuity is fantastic." The Maestro said. "I remember a time when you never had an affinity for magic at all."
"Well, look where I got my never-give-up attitude from." Lemon smirked and the giant gave her a warm smile.
"I hope we can actually hang out next time." Brian said, walking through the portal. "Maybe you can beat me at arm wrestling, bruh."
"Sure." The Maestro laughed.
Dipper watched as the others went through the gateway one by one, Lemon and Pacifica being the last to go through, when he saw Tom and Mary standing where they were. "You're not coming?" He asked.
"I've gotta learn how to master my powers." Tom said. "I got them sealed off, but they could still take over if I can't control my anger."
"And I'm not leaving without him." Mary said.
Dipper nodded and headed into the gateway. "Don't push your family away like your future self and Ford did, Pines." The Maestro said, stopping Dipper. "It's not worth it if you still lose everyone in the end."
Dipper's brows furrowed as he took in the giant's words, slowly stepping into the portal.
DIPPER STEPPED out of the light and entered the Control Room in the Order of Merlin's base in Exterra, finding the others there roaming about. Brian moved up to the controls and checked the security cameras, sighing with relief. "Well, looks like everything's the same as we left it." He looked at the large magical sundial in the middle of the city outside. "And we haven't been gone too long either."
"That's awesome." Lemon said as she moved up to the controls, a bag of Cheetos in hand, and checked on the different surveillance feeds.
"Bruh, you're getting crumbs all over the controls." Brian nudged her aside.
"Hey, it's not like I'm gonna spill on 'em or anything." Lemon put her hand on her hip in anger, spilling Cheetos all over the controls. "Heh, sorry." Brian deadpanned.
"What're we gonna do about these Time Baby guys by the way?" Jake sat by a window. "We've gotta figure a way to get to our time and they might kill us before we do."
"Wait, we can't just abandon these people." Finn frowned.
"Oh, great, here he goes again." Jake grumbled.
"Come on, Jake, these people's world has fallen apart, we can't just leave them like this." Finn said. "We can only leave once we've helped put time back together."
Jake groaned. "Y'know, you don't have to make a compelling argument all the time."
"Well, how're we gonna do that exactly?" Marco asked.
"I told you, the plan is to defeat Time Baby." Pacifica said.
"Yeah, that's not gonna happen." Wendy corrected. "Time Baby's goons kicked Star's ass a few hours ago and she's one of the strongest ones among us; going after Time Baby would be suicide at this point."
"It's not like we're just gonna fight him face to face; we'd come up with a plan."
"But how can we be sure defeating Time Baby would automatically fix things?" Dipper said. "We'd still need to find a solution to time stopping."
"Wait, I thought you're the idea guy." Marco said.
"Well, I'm just as lost as you are here."
Star sifted her mind. "We should find Father Time!"
"Wait, we can just report Time Baby to his dad? Why didn't anyone think of that?" Wendy chuckled. "Shit, I wonder if Mother Time would give him a time out."
"No, not like Time Baby's dad, I mean the Father Time." Star stepped forward. "A while back, I accidentally froze time and he helped me put it back together. I wouldn't want to mess with time again, but if anyone would know how to fix it, it'd be him. Or maybe I should see Omnitraxus Prime." She thought for a bit. "Well, they're in the same place, so let's go find them."
"That's perfect!" Lemon cheered and hugged her tightly. "I knew Dipper's friends would be amazing."
"Pfft, please." Hansel crossed his arms.
"C'mon, quit hatin', bruh." Brian nudged the shorter man who remained sour.
"How're we gonna get there though? Inter-dimensional portals shouldn't work anymore." Pacifica said.
"Well, I just so happen to have gotten a power boost." Star conjured her wand. "The cosmos might be distorted now, but I bet the Valar can help me get to his realm."
Hansel sighed. "We don't have many options, so go on ahead." He walked up to the others. "Star, Marco, Janna, Dipper, Pacifica and Lemon, you go and see Father Time. The rest of you can help out around here with the refugees we keep."
"Alright, no problem." Wendy shrugged.
"Okay, here we go!" Star summoned a portal and jumped right in without a second thought.
"I swear, if we end up in Star's mind again…" Marco grumbled as he went through.
"Hey, does Star do any occult rituals in her spare time?" Janna asked as she followed.
"Well, these guys are weird." Pacifica said.
"Yup." Dipper nodded.
Brian crossed his arms as Lemon went in last and the portal closed behind the group, raising his brow as he got a call on his ear comm. "What up, bruh?" He listened to the person on the other end. "Shit, not them too."
"What happened?" Hansel asked.
"Owen's team on the food supply run hasn't returned yet." Brian said. "That'd be the third group that hasn't returned from a mission this month."
"How'd that happen?" Finn walked up to him.
"We don't know, but some of our members have gone missing during supply runs or when they've gone to save people from Time Baby's forces." Brian explained. "What makes this strange is that it's in safe zones, so they wouldn't be caught in temporal tears or anything."
"Then we've gotta go find them!" Finn clenched his fist. "Where'd the most recent disappearances happen?"
"Oh, c'mon, man, let's take the day off at least." Jake said. "The others are on their own mission, this could be our chance to relax."
"No, I think we should save them."
"Wait, you agree with him? But, you're normally on my side." Jake whined.
Wendy shrugged. "He's rubbing off on me."
"Happy to see that you're so eager. C'mon, let's go." Brian smiled and walked on, turning to Hansel. "Ya coming, bruh?"
"I'll just keep watch." Hansel said.
"I could always count on ya." Brian chuckled and left the room with Finn, Wendy and Jake.
Hansel looked around the room as he was left on his own and he sat before the control panel, looking at the security cameras around the underground town. He huffed. "This's boring."
STAR'S PORTAL opened in a dark hallway, spitting out Marco, Dipper, Pacifica and Janna who ran out of it as milk splattered out of the gateway! "What the heck was that?" Pacifica asked as she stopped.
"We ended up in Star's mind again." Marco panted and jumped back as milk splashed on the floor.
"Why was there a giant cow in there?" Dipper asked.
"I think it might be better not to ask." Marco frowned.
"Man, I miss being a guy." Janna said.
"You're a guy?" Pacifica raised her brow.
Star fell out of the portal covered in saliva and rolled to a stop, laughing as the gateway closed behind her. "Guess the puppies are real hungry, huh?" She got up and waved her hand, evaporating the spit off her body. "Okay, let's keep going."
Lemon and the others followed the princess as she moved on, Marco being the furthest behind, taking in the ancient architecture around them and the series of clocks floated in the open roof above that showed the stars above, realizing that they were in a large tower of sorts. "This is amazing …" Lemon's eyes lit up with wonder.
"Is this the realm of Father Time?" Dipper asked.
"Yeah, though I don't remember this castle being here." Star said. "Father Time? Omnitraxus Prime? Where are you guys?" She called out, her echo being the only reply. "Aren't they here?"
"Yeah, I don't think they'd hear you in such a massive place like this, Star." Marco said. "Man, that guy was weird.
"Hold on, if you were able to stop time before, couldn't you just reverse the mess we're in, Star?" Pacifica asked.
"We harness energy from the cosmos to manipulate reality when we cast spells." Dipper began. "Very few are imbued with the energy itself, so it's highly likely Star did that on accident."
"Uh, yeah, I was gonna say it like that." Star chuckled nervously when they came up to an opening that led outside. "Hey, maybe we can search this place a little better if we split up."
"I don't think it'd be such a good idea." Dipper said as he and the others followed her outside.
Star scoffed and looked around, exploring the vast land and frowning as the clocks that normally floated around were now in pieces that were scattered about. Dipper and the others felt tension in the air as they saw the destroyed land that spread around them, seeing planets in the distance half-broken into asteroids that were frozen in motion.
"Man, how can we fix any of this?" Marco looked around.
"It doesn't look like we can." Janna said.
"Now, now, let's not panic or anything." Star said, panic slowly filling her tone. "When we find Father Time and Omnitraxus Prime, everything will be fixed." She looked forward and bumped into something that nearly made her fall over. "What the –," She gasped.
"No way …" Marco's eyes widened in horror.
Dipper and the others stopped in place as they stood before the Wheel of Time that was in a broken pile that was slowly turning into black dust! Star moved slowly through rubble, shocked at what she saw when she saw the corpses of the Time Hamsters laying on the ground, each of whom had black burns across their sides!
"What is this?" Dipper asked.
"This is the Wheel of Progress … or was …" Star placed her hand on a quarter of the wheel that remained standing. "This's the reason time stopped moving."
Marco moved up to the Hamsters and stared at their corpses, which hadn't seemed to have decayed at all. "Someone attacked this place, but who?"
Dipper joined the two as they investigated the remains when a black ghoul rose from the earth and clawed at him, almost hacking off his foot as he quickly jumped out of the way! The ghost studied the group with pallid white eyes hidden behind a dark tattered cloak that covered its frail body, only allowing for its thin withered arms with sharp claws to stick out as it hovered in the air.
The others backed away, Star drawing her wand, and tensed up as more of such shadowy beings appeared around them, causing everything they went over to decay rapidly! "Uh, what are those things?" Lemon asked.
"I don't know, but they're most likely the ones that wrecked this place." Dipper opened Journal 4.
"Oh, hell no, I'm not fighting ghosts." Lemon backed up.
"What? I thought you fight weird shit all the time." Janna said.
"Well, Brian and Hansel do the fighting, I'm just support."
"Then what the heck are you doing here?" Janna raised her brow.
"I dunno, I wanted to see the Legendary Dipper at work!" Lemon backed up further.
"Oh, you are gonna pay for this!" Star spun around and raised her wand to the sky. "Warnicorn Stampede!" She summoned an army of Warnicorns that charged forth!
The mystic unicorns rode onward toward the Wraiths and a ghoul among them flew right through them, turning half of them into dust that shrank and vanished into nothingness! The other beasts panicked and ran off when another ghost slammed its withered hand on the ground, spreading a black pall across the earth that caught up to the creatures and disintegrated them as well!
"My Warnicorns!" Star cried out, her eyes glowing in rage.
"No, Star, we gotta get outta here!" Marco held her hand back. "I don't think we should fight these guys."
"Why?" Star glared at him.
"Well, we –," Marco tried to say when Dipper ran past him. "Dipper, stop!"
Dipper raised his hand and summoned a transmutation circle made of light before him, causing the ground before him to break up and shape into glowing daggers that shot at the ghouls! The Wraiths took the projectiles nonchalantly however, the rocks turning to nothingness upon contact with them, and they flew toward them!
"Everyone, hang on!" Dipper said, clapping his hands together, causing the ground beneath them to cut out into a plate of rock that hovered in the air and carried them off!
Lemon stumbled and fell back as the platform sped through the air and Star looked back to see the phantoms quickly catching up to them! "Sonic dragon head!" She cried, brandishing her wand and summoning a disembodied floating blue dragon head that spewed out a gust of wind that propelled the earth saucer forward at rapid speeds, leaving the ghosts in the distance!
"Wait, Star, the platform's gonna shatter at this speed!" Dipper said.
"The platform's gonna what? I can't hear you over the dragon head propelling the platform so fast it'd shatter!" Star yelled when the rock broke apart beneath her!
The plate of earth shattered in midair, flinging Dipper, Pacifica, Marco, Janna, Star and Lemon toward the tower nearby! Reacting quickly, Star waved her wand and conjured fluffy pillows beneath the four, cushioning their fall as they crashed into the building!
The Mewman groaned as she got to her feet, seeing the others recuperating near her and realizing that they'd fallen into a large hall. She moved onward, wondering what to do next when she saw Father Time lying on the floor up ahead! "Father Time!" She ran toward the old man.
"Whoa, we found him?" Marco quickly stood up, when he saw the man in question. "Oh man, Star …"
The princess came up to the elderly man, her bright smile quickly fading as she saw that he was lying motionless. Fear gripped her as it hit her, her hand shakily touching his shoulder and turning him over to see a large black gash across his chest! "No, no, no …"
"What's going on?" Dipper moved up to her.
"Oh, God." Pacifica saw the body as she came up to Dipper.
"He's dead." Star said finally.
FINN'S EYES darted back and forth, studying the crowd as he, Brian, Jake and Wendy roamed a dirty market place filled with people who hastily moved about, some injured and disheveled and others swiftly swindling people that weren't paying attention. Several weapons, rare creatures and artifacts were on display on shaky stands all around and the marketers and passersby gave the adventurer weird looks as they went past him, only affirming his suspicions.
"This place is full of criminals and hooligans." Finn growled.
"Yeah, no shit." Wendy said, pushing aside a small boy that tried to snatch her phone.
"This place kinda reminds me of the City of Thieves." Jake said.
"Ooh, it makes my blood boil." Finn reached for his sword. "So much crime, justice needing to be carried out."
"Well, not all the stuff here was stolen." Brian said. "Okay, most of it is, but we buy some of our gear here and we use it to save people, so it's not all bad." Finn eyed him suspiciously. "Now, we need to figure out what could've happened to the operatives when they got here –,"
A scuffle nearby interrupted Brian as he spoke and the four looked forward to see two men grabbing a woman and dragging her onto a bike. Brian frowned at this, wondering what the marketers were doing just staring at the kidnapping happening right in front of them.
"Hey, stop right there!" Finn reached for his sword.
"Wait!" Brian held him back, recognizing the insignia on one of the kidnappers' shoulders.
"What? I have to stop this."
"We can't interfere yet." Brian frowned. "The Essex Corporation has returned."
"What's that?" Jake asked.
"They're an association of mad scientists that experiment on mutants." Brian said. "I thought we'd shut them down before."
"Then we should stop them!" Finn said.
"We will, but we should find out where they're going first." Brian held him back when he saw the two men riding off. "Shit, they're getting away!"
"I got this!" Jake said, getting on all fours and transforming.
Shape-shifting into a large lizard, Jake slithered underneath Brian, Finn and Wendy and ran into the next row in the marketplace, following the two men on a motorcycle from behind the stands adjacent. The two kidnappers rode into the surrounding desert and stopped at a rise where four other riders were parked by a large ship that was preparing to take off.
Jake came to a stop by a hill and let the others off, turning back to his normal form and looking out to the kidnappers who were loading people into the aircraft. "I wonder how many people are in there." He said.
"So, what's the plan, Brian?" Wendy asked.
"We need to get onto that ship somehow without being spotted." Brian said. "If we came with a jet, it'd be easier to follow them, but –,"
"Leave her alone!" Finn screamed as he ran toward the kidnappers.
"What the?" Wendy raised her brow.
"Finn, what're you –," Brian tried to say when he saw Finn's bag on the ground along with the charms he had on his boots and gauntlets. "What is he doing?"
Finn ran toward the riders who drew out sound wave blasters and fired at him, failing to hit him as he zigzagged out of the way and punched down one of the men. Finn turned to attack the others when a man came from the ship behind him and struck him with a Taser rod, knocking him out!
"Finn, hang on!" Wendy got up and Jake held her back.
"Wait, let him go." Jake said.
"What? What if they kill him?"
"Trust him; he knows what he's doing."
Wendy frowned and looked on as the men loaded Finn and some other people onto the ship, getting their bikes on as well and taking off. Jake looked on as the ship flew away and he drew out a rock from his pocket that was tied to a piece of Finn's hair.
STAR STOOD over the body of Father Time that lay before her, her mind filled with grief and confusion, wondering how he died. Marco, Janna, Dipper and Pacifica remained behind the princess who had been silent for a while and Lemon stood by the windows of the room, trying to look out for the Wraiths that'd chased them.
"Star, are you okay?" Marco finally moved up to her.
"What happened here?" Star said simply. "Was it Time Baby?"
"I don't think so." Dipper said. "I collected some samples from Time Baby when I time travelled with Mabel a year or so ago and the energy here doesn't match."
"Well, what do we do now?" Pacifica asked. "Is there someone else could help us since Father Time's dead?"
"Hey, what about Omnitraxus Prime?" Marco asked. "He could help, right?"
"If he was here, he'd have shown up already." Star said. "We're on our own, I think."
"The Wheel of Progress is broken!" Janna said.
"Uh, yeah, we saw that earlier." Lemon said, eating a bag of chips.
"No, no, the Wheel of Progress is broken!"
"We heard you, Janna." Marco said, bewildered. "What're you getting at?"
"If time was truly frozen, we wouldn't be moving at all right now." Janna said. "In fact, our timeline would be affected too, wouldn't it? So, Father Time couldn't be dead."
"Time does ripple, so something like this would erode the timeline." Dipper said. "But, what about Time Baby? He's still alive."
"Exactly, which means both of them need to be alive for time to remain balanced and both would need to die if time is completely destroyed." Janna said.
"Yeah, Omnitraxus told me he presides over space time, so it means there're multiple beings that help keep time in balance." Star said. "We still have a chance to bring Father Time back."
"And how do we do that?" Pacifica asked.
Janna sifted her mind and walked around, looking at the building's designs and stopping as she saw symbols etched onto the wall in the back of the room. "There! That might help." She ran toward it.
"What?" Dipper looked at the wall she went up too and saw nothing. "What're you talking about?"
Janna stopped before the symbols and raised her hand, sensing the energy flowing through them. "Unveil what has been concealed." (Delaecnoc Neeb Sah Tahw Lievnu)
Pacifica, Dipper, Star, Marco and Lemon went up to Janna as the wall before her began to glow and a mural slowly flickered into view! "Whoa …" Marco said in awe.
Dipper looked closely at the ancient depiction, seeing blurred and distorted images on the painting, and he drew out his Grimoire from his pocket. Scanning the mural with the glass compass, he scrolled on the screen and saw a translated version of the image in it. He looked closely at the circular mural which was drawn like a clock, seeing images on each point of it with Father Time riding the Wheel of Progress pulled by the Time Hamsters then the last image being the Hamsters pulling Father Time onto a large Stardial.
"What does it say?" Pacifica moved up to Dipper.
"The mural depicts the life cycle of Father Time and shows how to revive him!" Dipper smiled. "It says a Stardial that bridges the 3rd and 4th Dimensional planes is the way to bring him back!"
"Heh, told ya he wasn't really dead." Janna said.
"Well, let's take him there." Marco said, turning to the corpse then stopping in place. "Uh, how do we take him there though?"
"Rainbow Dash Blast!" Star took three stances, pointing her wand to the east then the west, and swiped her wand downward, calling upon a rainbow portal on the ground that spat out a large Pegasus!
The glowing creature neighed and soared through the air, descending gracefully before Father Time and whipping her hair, dismissing the glow only to realize what was before her. "Ah, a corpse!" Rainbow Dash jerked back, nearly falling over. "Ugh, Star, why'd you summon me again?! I'm supposed to maintain the weather of Ponyville." She frowned and looked around. "And what's going on here anyway?"
"Sorry, Rainbow, I didn't wanna lift that guy." Star dismissed her wand. "For some reason, he's heavy even if I use telepathy."
Rainbow Dash frowned at her then huffed, moving up to Father Time. "You owe me, Butterfly."
"Thanks, girlfriend!" Star said gleefully, annoying the Pegasus."
Janna raised her brow as the Pegasus picked up the corpse, and she turned to Star. "That a friend of Ponyhead or something?"
"No, but she's a princess I met one time." Star said. "Now, let's go and bring Father Time back to li –,"
The doors flew open suddenly and the Wraiths from before burst through, freaking out Rainbow Dash who flew behind Star. "Hey, you never said we'd have to fight here!" She frowned.
"Actually, we're not supposed to fight these guys!" Star conjured her wand again, shifting to a stance and casting her wand to the ground. "Jellycake Bounce House!"
Energy burst out of the baton, forming into a gigantic bounce house forged out of cake beneath her, Rainbow Dash, Dipper, Pacifica, Marco, Lemon and Janna, flinging them high into the air and out of the roof-less building! Hurtling through the air, the Mewman spun around and stretched out in a flashy pose, painting a crescent moon in the air before her. "Lunar Space Dragon!" She cried, summoning a massive beast out of moonlight beneath them that caught them and flew off and blinding speeds!
"Oh no, I hate flying." Lemon covered her mouth, getting queasy.
"Aw, he's so cute." Janna rubbed the beast's sparkling scales.
"How do you know it's a he?" Marco asked.
"Gender's a societal construct, so I determine what gender anything is, Tiabeanie."
"Don't call me that!"
"Hey, Dipper, where're we supposed to go?" Star called out, laughing as she was rocked on the dragon's neck.
"Actually, we're gonna miss it if we go any faster, so just slow down a bi –," Dipper tried to say when a wraith flew through the dragon's heart and came out the other side, causing the creature to wither into black dust mid-flight!
"Oh, crap!" Pacifica cried.
The group fell haplessly towards a large circular dome on the ground below, a fall that'd instantly kill them as Dipper tried to calculate how to stop their velocity as he flipped through Journal 4. Star reacted quicker however and cast her wand aside, raising her hand to the sky and slowing the others down with a telepathic force and fazing them through the building!
Inside however, they immediately crashed on the floor, Rainbow Dash catching herself midair and laying Father Time on the ground. "What the heck was that, Star?" Marco frowned as he pulled himself up.
"Heh, sorry, my magic is more on summoning, so I'm kinda bad at the other stuff." Star said.
"Yeah, I think I'm gonna go, Star." Rainbow Dash said.
"What? Come on, it's only been a couple minutes." Star got to her feet.
"No, I don't wanna mess with Time Wraiths, I'm gone." Rainbow said, vanishing.
"Rainbow Dash, wait!" Star called out and huffed. "What're Time Wraiths?"
"That's what they were." Dipper realized. "Man, I knew they seemed familiar."
"What? This's when you guys are realizing this?" Pacifica asked.
"What are they?" Janna asked.
"Time Wraiths are cosmic phenomena that erase anything that messes with the timeline in massive detrimental ways." Lemon explained. "They appear very rarely and they're no joke. They can erase anything from existence, so it's best we just stay away from them."
Star finally took a look around the blue room and saw feeds from various star systems being projected via screens that lined the walls. At the center of the room was a massive Stardial that stood at the foot of a large pathway that led outside into space. She looked at the opening and immediately jerked back as the twisted, contorted view of the other realm overwhelmed her.
"This's the Stardial from the mural." Dipper referred to the Grimoire.
"Perfect! Then let's get started." Janna said.
Star conjured her wand and levitated Father Time onto the Stardial, stepping back as the circuits and symbology on the machine came on. She watched as the dial began to spin slowly when a loud bang from the outside jolted her, turning her attention to the main entrance where the Time Wrath's moans could be heard from outside!
"They're here!" Marco cried out.
"Hold the door!" Dipper opened the Journal and summoned a metallic wall that sped onward and slammed onto the door. "Star, Janna and I will start the ritual!"
"We're on it." Pacifica said, running toward the wall with Marco and Lemon.
Dipper pulled out the Grimoire and referred to the scans again, coming up to the Stardial alongside Star and Janna. "Okay, how do we do this?" Star asked.
Dipper read the mural and huffed. "This looks a little difficult, though." He said. "It says we're supposed to invoke the name of Time of the Endless to make this work."
"We're supposed to draw on the power of an Endless?" Star's brows bulged in surprise.
"What's an Endless?" Janna asked.
"They're extremely powerful entities that preside over an aspect of reality itself and are second only to God Himself in cosmic power and authority." Dipper explained. "At least according to the Wizard Merlin and I don't think he'd lie."
"God's real?" Janna raised her brow.
"Ha, I knew it!" Marco said from the door.
"Shut up, Marco!" Janna yelled.
"Heh, I knew God existed, but whether I believe in Him or not is another thing." Star said then sighed. "Alright, Dipper, you've read the mural." She stepped back. "Tell us how the ritual goes."
"Alright, just follow my lead." Dipper said, putting the Grimoire on the floor before him.
Dipper held his hand forward and shut his eyes, focusing on the energy around him and causing a wind to blow up from beneath him, Janna and Star as power rose around them! The birthmark on his forehead came aglow and he opened his eyes, holding his hand to the ground and summoning a magical circle made of light on the floor with symbols that began to oscillate! Flicking his hand, he projected the words of the spell in the air for the others to see.
"From the dawn of the First Day till the dusk of the Last Day, you watch over us all among your Heavenly Brethren." Dipper, Janna and Star chanted together. "Your hand guides the streams of time, the pendulum shifting and ordaining when we are born and when we will die. And now we call upon your power to bring forth one of your servants from the clutches of Death, we call upon you, Time of the Endless–,"
A loud blast shook the entire room as a beam of light burst through the wall and crashed near Dipper, Janna and Star, knocking them off their feet and stopping the ritual! The dust slowly settled and Dipper quickly got to his feet, pulling out Journal Number 4 when he saw a tall figure rising from the haze, recognizing the clothing they wore.
"Oh come on." He frowned.
Stepping out of the dust, a seven-foot-tall bald man with pitch black skin and white eyes revealed himself, sending shivers down the spines of Dipper, Star, Janna and the others as they felt his energy make the air heavy! The man was garbed in a white cloak with wide shoulder pads over green and black armor and had a large belt that wrapped around his right arm. He eyed the people in the room then turned his attention to Father Time's body on the Stardial, moving up to him.
"It's another one of Time Baby's Generals!" Lemon said in fear.
"Hold it right there!" Star stood in the being's way. "You're not touching him."
"Move out of my way, child!" The man pointed at her menacingly. "I, Time Out, one of the Four Generals of Time Baby, have been tasked with destroying Father Time's body once and for all!"
"And I said, you're not gonna hurt him!" Star summoned her wand.
"Insolence! You dare disobey your father!"
"My what?"
In the blink of an eye, Time Out unwound the belt from his arm and whipped Star with it before she could react, sending her flying across the room and crashing against a wall! Dipper and Janna froze at his immense speed, turning to Time Out who held the belt with both hands and snapped it twice, smacking the ground with it.
"Did he just whip me with a belt?" Star asked from inside the hole in the wall.
"Yup." Dipper said.
BRIAN AND Wendy rode through the desert plains on hover bikes, the latter having Jake sitting behind her, and steadily followed the glowing rock tied to a piece of Finn's hair as it flew through the air before them. "When'd you make this tracker?" Wendy asked.
"It was a while ago while we were taking down Flame King's forces." Jake said. "Most enemies we faced could detect any kind of tracker we inserted into our bodies, so we made one for each other out of our own hair and a piece of a travel stone. Most people think it's just random junk, so it works out for us."
"That's ingenious, bruh." Brian said. "I bet Lemon would recognize it as one of the ancient spells."
"Huh, Marceline just taught us that." Jake shrugged. "She's probably one of Finn's weirdest exes; I kinda miss when they used to be together."
Wendy grumbled. "Let's just focus on finding Finn before these E-sexual guys kill him."
"It's the Essex Corporation." Brian corrected.
"Whatever!" Wendy snapped at him, speeding onward.
"Wendy, stop!" Brian cried.
Wendy looked forward and gasped as she saw the edge of a cliff up ahead and quickly stopped the vehicle right at its edge! She panted as they'd nearly fallen over and she looked downward to see a large medical camp and looked to the glowing rock that'd stopped moving. Confused, she got off the bike and studied the camp closer, seeing several large humanoid robots roaming the area and the aircraft from below landing near one of the larger buildings of the settlement.
"This's gotta be the place." Wendy said.
Brian stopped nearby and panicked as he saw the camp. "This's bad."
"What're you talking about?" Jake asked.
"This's a red zone; if we spend too much time here, we'd get infected with the Time Syndrome." Brian said. "People who stay in red zones lose their minds and get brainwashed into following Time Baby's orders and can die from exposure to radiation and the temporal tears in these areas."
Wendy raised her brow then looked up ahead to see a red fog filled with lightning fill the area a few feet from the camp. "How'd I not see that earlier?"
"So, this's what the Corporation is doing now." Brian crossed his arms. "They're forcing mutants into red zones to forcefully awaken their powers and brainwash them the moment they fall under the Time Syndrome."
Wendy frowned upon hearing this and turned to see Finn being brought out of the aircraft among others that were kidnapped. "There he is!" She cried.
A Sentinel turned as he heard her and Brian quickly tackled Wendy and Jake, hiding them behind the edge of the cliff and out of its eyesight. Seeing nothing, the machine continued on and Brian slowly looked out of cover continuing to crawl on the ground.
"We should wait for Finn's signal then sneak in at the right time." Brian said. "Follow me."
Inside the medical camp, Finn looked around as he and the other people kidnapped were led through the compound in shackles. He gazed through the area, feeding a signal to a beetle-shaped tracker the size of a strand of hair attacked to his ear that recorded everything he saw, taking in his surroundings.
He heard bloodcurdling screams coming from small buildings around him, along with the sounds of saws and other loud machinery, making him horrified as to what was going on inside. His line came to an abrupt stop when another group of people were being led by armed men, some of them screaming in terror as they were dragged toward a gate nearby.
Finn frowned as he noticed this group of soldiers wore protective armor and he watched as the others kidnapped her led out of the compound. His group continued on, but he kept a keen eye on those taken outside, his eyes dilating in horror as they were forced into the electric storm that began to tear them apart! He looked away as a woman's head blew into pieces and he saw a building to his left where a man with scales protruding from his arms was strapped to a chair and electrocuted by a doctor!
ELSEWHERE IN the desert, Wendy and Jake watched the footage from Finn's camera via a small screen Brian held, each of them horrified at what they saw. "This's sick." Wendy frowned.
"Man, we have to get in now." Jake frowned.
"Not yet." Brian said.
FINN'S BLOOD boiled as he went on through the compound and he and his group were led into a round building up ahead, stepping inside and seeing several large scanning tables where others kidnapped were being scanned. "Alright, let's get this started." An armed man pushed Finn aside roughly.
Two men grabbed Finn and pinned him down onto a table, strapping him down and beginning the scan! The adventurer fidgeted as an arc-shaped scanner moved back on forth on the table, casting red lights over him and displaying his physical information on a screen nearby. A doctor came to said screen and read the stats.
"Hmm, seems this one has already undergone some mutation." The woman jotted down some notes. "Human male, age 21, has extraordinary hair growth, enhanced physical endurance, enhanced strength, enhanced reaction time, minor healing factor, enhanced eyesight and minor energy absorption. Well, well," She smiled and turned to Finn. "You might be one of my favorites today! Let's see if we can awaken some of your other latent abilities!"
The scientist gestured to the armed men and they picked Finn off the table, dragging him out of the building and toward the gate leading into the electric storm. He began to panic as he got closer and closer, wishing he'd at least carried a smoke bomb with him, when he saw a large shadow cast over him. "Huh?"
"Hang on, Finn!" Jake cried as he descended in the form of a large parachute, Brian and Wendy in hand, and he dropped them down!
Wendy let out a warrior cry and drew out her axe, hacking the ground as she landed and sending fissures that knocked the soldiers around her off their feet! Landing beside her, Brian erected a force field behind Wendy as a Sentry fired an energy blast from its palms and the two ran off, engaging the guards nearby!
Using the distraction, Finn took down the two soldiers holding him with a head butt and a kick to the groin, rolling behind cover as other guards nearby opened fire! Transforming into a large bat, Jake came to Finn's aide and knocked the attackers into nearby buildings, flying toward him and landing nearby.
"Hey, Finn." Jake said as he turned back to normal and snapped his chains in half with a single karate chop.
"Took you long enough." Finn rubbed his wrists.
"It's not our fault; Brian wanted to see more stuff first." Jake pulled out Finn's backpack and charms from a pouch on his stomach.
"Well, the show's over." Finn strapped the bag on and inserted the jewels into slots on his boots and gauntlets. "Time to make these guys pay!" Drawing out twin sabers, he ran into the fray.
Skidding on the ground, Finn tackled a soldier and cut down two others, dodging a bullet from another nearby and slashing the air before him, sending out a sharp strip of air that sliced his chest! He glanced to his right and jumped out of the way as a Sentinel fired a missile at him, rolling to his feet and throwing a bomb at the machine that erupted and blew a hole in its chest, downing it instantly!
Nearby, Wendy leapt back as two women with wings came crashing toward her, flying at her with sharp blades strapped to their arms! She raised her axe to cut them down when she saw collars on their necks, changing strategies and knocking one aside with a blow to the side with the butt of her axe! Blocking the second woman's blade with her axe, Wendy kicked her in the chest and smacked her with the hilt of her weapon, knocking her out!
To her right, Brian struggled as he held back a Sentinel's fist as it pushed him back, getting overwhelmed when Jake descended on the machine with a gigantic fist, smashing its head to pieces! Drawing out a massive holster strapped on his back, Brian fired three energy blasts out that exploded midair, downing six nearby soldiers and Jake punched the ground, breaking it apart and trapping two Sentinels between the rocks!
In a large building further in the camp, a tall pale man with glowing white eyes and a red forehead diamond dressed in a purple suit watched the battle from his office. He frowned as his pawns were defeated and quickly began typing on his computer, rapidly downloading files from it.
STAR, DIPPER and Janna spread out as Time Baby lashed out with his belt that stretched out across the room, barely avoiding it as it crashed against the earth. Dipper eyed the General as they evaded him, wondering why he'd gotten far slower than before. Shaking it from his mind, he opened the Journal and thrust both hands forward, sending out a wave of fire that spread toward him!
Time Out reacted quickly however and dispersed the flames with a swipe of the belt, firing a photon blast from his hand at Dipper! He jumped out of the way, but his leg got caught in the wave, knocking him over and allowing for the General to shoot him again, sending him flying toward a wall!
"Dipper!" Pacifica cried out as the beam washed over him!
Dipper skidded to a stop, prying his eyes open as he expected to be dead when he saw his arms slowly wrinkle! Fear took hold as he quickly got to his feet when he felt a sharp pain in his back that made him hunch over, his vision blurring as he looked to the floor and felt his knees buckle.
"What?" He said tiredly, feeling his face sag.
"What the heck just happened?" Star jerked back as she saw the old man standing nearby.
"Did he just turn Dipper into an old man?" Janna said, holding back a chuckle.
"Man, you do not age well." Marco said.
"This's why we don't fight the Time Generals." Lemon said, frowning. "Rumor has it they can manipulate time within a 30 kilometer radius and there's no way to reverse it."
Horror spread on Pacifica's face as she looked at Dipper, her mind filling with confusion as the man struggled to reach for his Journal on the floor! "You children always choose to learn the hard way!" Time Out wrapped his belt around his arm. "And you Dipper Pines, have received your just punishment for stealing Polly's bingo card!"
"What? How did you know?" Dipper said in surprise.
"I can see everything Pines, you stole her card back at the nursing home for herself when you knew she was going to win!"
"I'm sorry." Dipper tore up. "I just wanted the subscription to Reader's Digest!"
"And you've been stealing mints in the lounge! I raised you better than this, Dipper!" Time Out frowned.
"I'm sorry!"
Dipper bawled, the others watching in confusion, and Time Out raised his arm to whip him with the belt when a telepathic force held him back! "I might not know how your powers work, but nobody whips me and gets away with it!" Star held her wand high. "Angelic Wind Storm!"
Striking her wand against the ground, Star summoned a whirlpool of energy around Time Out that hoisted him into the air, assaulting him from all sides with rapid blasts, and smashed him back to the ground in an explosion that shook the room! Jumping into the fray, Star summoned channeled a stream of light and flew around the Time General, rising into the air and coiling the energy around him while he was down!
"Atomic Narwhal Blast!" She cried, summoning an army of photonic fish that crashed onto Time Out and erupted in a wave that blew a wall open behind her!
"Star, what're you doing!?" Janna cried.
"What?" Star raised her brow and turned to see Time Wraiths flooding in through the opening she made in the wall! "Shit!"
"Now, what did I tell you about cursing?" Time Out teleported behind Star, his body scorched. "You did a good number on me though."
Star swung her wand at the Time General, but he swerved out of the way and punched her downward, digging a hole into the earth that split the building in half! Lemon, Marco, Dipper, Pacifica and Janna fell over as the building collapsed, the Stardial breaking off and collapsing into the other dimension outside along with Father Time's body!
Marco rubbed his head as he got to his feet and gasped as countless Time Wraiths flooded into the room, causing it to rapidly decay as they flew about wildly! Time Out stood in the swarm of ghosts unaffected and he raised his arm, aiming his next blast at Marco. "You're next, time anomaly." Time Out frowned.
"Nope, that one's mine!" A female voice echoed and an orange figure appeared behind the Time General and slashed him across his back with a flaming spear, sending him flying into a nearby portal that swallowed him and vanished!
A light emanated from Dipper's body and he slowly returned to normal, confusing him as he looked around. "Huh? What happened?" He got to his feet and Pacifica hugged him tightly.
"Dipper! I thought you were done for!" She cried.
"Wait, did something happen?"
"Huh, guess you just have to leave the 50 mile radius to get back to normal." Lemon shrugged. "Who knew."
Marco squinted as the woman remained floating in the air when he recognized who it was. "Hekapoo?"
"Oh, hey Marco." The woman smiled at him then turned to see the Time Wraiths drawing closer. "Ugh, these bastards." She huffed. "Hey, old man, quit it with the theatrics already!"
The others were perplexed at this when a burst of light shone from the dimension on the other side of the gate, drawing the attention of the Wraiths who turned toward it! Bathed in light, Father Time hovered into the room, a golden staff in hand, and struck the cane against the ground, silencing everyone there!
"Alright, calm down you guys, I'm back." Father Time said with a smile. "This realm still has its guardian."
The Wraiths looked at the being curiously then vanished one by one, their decay leaving along with them and returning the decayed buildings back to normal! Star climbed out of the hole battered and coughed out blood, drawing Marco's attention as he quickly came to her side and helped her up.
"Where'd the ghosts go?" Star asked then looked at the old man. "Father Time?"
"Thank you Star and friends for reviving me." Father Time said then raised his brow. "Wait, why are you all younger now? And what are you doing here, Hekapoo?"
"I'll explain it to you later." Hekapoo descended to the ground. "I'm just glad you're back."
"Hekapoo? What're you doing here?" Star frowned.
"Queen Moon sent me to keep an eye on you in case you got in trouble and boy was she right about you – what the heck are you doing centuries in the future!" She groaned. "It's too bad I can't go back now cuz I followed you, so I'm stuck here. You're lucky Marco was here, or I wouldn't have been able to track you down."
"Wait? Why would you need Marco to find me?" Star asked when Father Time cried out in surprise. "What's wrong?"
"I just died!" Father Time realized. "We have to find Time Baby!"
"What happened to you exactly?" Dipper asked as he, Lemon, Pacifica and Janna walked up to them.
"Someone came here and killed the Time Hamsters …" Father Time tried to think. "It was the Lich!"
FINN GRUNTED as he drew out his sword from a Sentinel, looking to Wendy and Jake who were ripping collars off mutants in the area. "That was the last robot thing." Finn jumped off the machine and walked up to Brian. "You rounded up all the mutants here?"
"Yeah." Brian frowned, looking at the long queue of mutants Wendy and Jake attended to. "I can't believe they kidnapped this many people."
"Well, what's important here is that we got here in time." Finn crossed his arms. "Once we've freed them, they can get home and –,"
A man nearby cried out in agony and burst into flames, flying through the air and attacking Finn and the others with fireballs he flung everywhere! Finn deflected to blasts and ducked out of the way; frowning as several other mutants began to run amok as well!
"What the heck are they doing? I thought they surrendered." Jake said as he evaded a woman who flung porcupine quills at him from her palm!
"I think someone reactivated their collars somehow." Wendy clashed with a man made of rocks, blocking his arm with her axe! "But who?"
"That would be me!" A man's voice came and three destroyed Sentinels slowly stirred back to life!
"What the heck?" Finn drew out his Adamantine sword.
The pale man garbed in purple from earlier appeared before Finn, Wendy and Brian, holding his arms outward as four Sentinels got back to their feet! "Do you think you can ruin all my hard work like this? I will teach you not to interfere in my work!"
"Mr. Sinister." Brian frowned. "You're supposed to be dead!"
"A mere explosion could never be enough to destroy me!" Mr. Sinister grinned. "You have trapped yourself with the most powerful mutant of all time and you shall die here where no one can hear your screams!"
"Yeah, I fought a horde of demons for a year straight, so I can take you on, you pale piece a' shit!" Finn ran up to Mr. Sinister with the swing of his sword, missing him and clashing as the mutant thrust his palm at him, catching the blade with his bare hand!
Several mutants dashed at Wendy and Jake and the auburn girl turned to the dog. "Jake, Bowling Ball Maneuver!"
Jake nodded latched onto her back, transforming out into a gigantic mound that consumed her completely and rolled onward like a bowling ball! Jake barreled through the oncoming mutants like a freight train, going through their blasts and running over them like nothing! The dog opened up and tossed out Wendy and she came down with her axe, striking the earth and drawing out geysers of lava that warded off nearby mutants!
Brian engaged the reawakened Sentinels, evading two that shot blasts at him and clashing with another's fist with a force field he put up! Deflecting their attacks, he kicked one in the knee and uppercut it, knocking its head off, and bashed his shoulder into another, flipping it over and smashing it against the earth! Dodging a laser blast, the man ripped a downed Sentinel's arm and shot down the remaining two at once, tearing them apart!
Finn flipped back as Mr. Sinister sent a concussive telepathic blast at him and he ran at him, zigzagging from further blasts he sent at him. The mutant stopped his barrage and caught the adventurer telepathically, raising him to the air and suffocating him when the ground before him suddenly exploded, knocking him back! "What the?" Mr. Sinister looked down, seeing bombs that'd been set on the ground around him!
"You gotta watch your feet, boi!" Finn grabbed his sword and chucked it at Mr. Sinister impaling in the chest.
The mutant stumbled and spat out blood, looking at the blade that'd gone through his chest and out his back! He looked up and met leather as Finn gave him a roundhouse kick and dislodged his sword, slashing his neck and lopping off his head swiftly!
He rose to his feet and watched the mutant's body slowly twitch until it died, looking around the compound and seeing the other mutants come to their senses, stopping their attacks. Shaking the blood off his sword, Finn walked back to the others and sheathed the weapon.
"Is it over?" Wendy panted.
"Yeah, it's over." Finn said, looking to the mutants who chattered in confusion. "What do we do with them?" He asked Brian.
"I think a certain green giant just got a few more guests." Brian smiled.
Finn, Brian, Wendy and Jake returned to attending to the kidnapped mutants who'd seemed to finally calm down. In Mr. Sinister's office however, the computer beeped and the words "Transmission Complete" came on its screen!
"WAIT, WHO'S the Lich?" Janna asked.
"He's a cosmic evil hell-bent on destroying the universe." Dipper said. "We've never encountered him before, but Finn's warned us of him before."
"They say he's just as powerful as Bill Cipher." Pacifica added. "He's no joke."
"Are you sure it was him?" Lemon asked Father Time.
"It was him." Father Time frowned. "If he killed me then Time Baby is in danger; we have to find him!"
"Time Baby's on earth right now and he's all but destroyed it and declared himself king." Lemon said. "He's the danger here."
"No, the Lich must've corrupted him already." Father Time said. "We need to free him from the Lich so that we can bring time back in balance."
"Well, if the Lich's who we're dealing with, we need to talk to Finn; he knows a lot about him." Dipper said. "Is there anything you two know about him?"
"No, I've only heard rumors about him." Hekapoo shrugged.
"I've never met him until he attacked." Father Time said then sighed. "Thank you for saving me, I am forever in your debt."
"Nah, it's no big deal really." Star chuckled.
Father Time smiled then raised his arm, causing the damaged Wheel of Progress outside to vanish and shrink into his palm. "I'll need to speak to Omnitraxus Prime, but he doesn't seem to be around here." He turned to Hekapoo. "Do you know where he is?"
"I'm not from this timeline, so I don't know." She answered.
"Then we have to find him." Father Time walked off and tapped the ground with his cane, sending out a dim wave of light hat spread all over the realm. Pointing the staff forward, he opened a portal and headed into it. "Let's go find Omnitraxus, Hekapoo."
"Hey, you don't order me around!" Hekapoo snapped at him and he vanished, annoying her. "Well, I'll see you guys later I guess." She flew toward the gateway. "Don't get into any trouble till I'm back, Star."
"Don't count on it." Star waved, irritating the woman as she left. Drawing out her wand, she moved up to the others. "Alright, let's get back home."
A PORTAL opened in the throne room of Time Baby's fortress, spitting out Time Out who fell at the feet of Play Time and the other two Time Generals who stood before Time Baby who sat on his throne. "What happened to you?" Play Time asked.
"Aw, baby, are you alright?" Nap Time, a voluptuous scantily clad General, quickly helped him up.
"No, no, this's all wrong!" Time Out pushed her aside in anger. "I was about to destroy Father Time's corpse, but I was intercepted by the Magic Council!"
"Hmm, interesting." Time Baby stroked his round chin.
"Dipper Pines, a Demi-Valar, a Homomagi and two humans performed the ritual and called upon Time of the Endless before I was cast out of the realm." Time Out frowned. "Father Time is alive."
"Dipper Pines!" Time Baby growled upon hearing, sending tremors throughout the room. "The Pine twins are here!"
Play Time sighed. "It's too bad we can't just rewind time since you broke the Wheel of Progress, it's proving to be a real hassle now."
"It was a necessary evil to achieve our goals." Time Baby played with his toes. "Alright, listen up! I want all four of you to go out and destroy the kids with extreme prejudice and eliminate the Order of Merlin; we cannot let them get in our way after we've come so far!"
"Woohoo! I get to go on a killing spree again!" Play Time laughed excitedly.
"It's been a while since I've eaten anything, so this should be fun." Snack Time, a large fat Time General, sad as he munched on a large cheeseburger.
"Get going! I want them destroyed before they can do any more damage!" Time Baby yelled.
"Yes, Your Cuddliness." The Generals bowed and vanished.
Time Baby grumbled to himself as he looked out in his chambers, sinking into his subconscious mind and back to the chess game he was playing with the Lich. The Lich moved his Knight across the board and took a piece from him, sending shivers down his spine as he was slowly losing the game!
"It will be over soon, Temporal Sapien." The Lich said. "When I'm done with this game, I'll get to make the rules."
Time Baby chuckled. "Don't count me out just yet, my friend, don't count me out just yet."
MABEL AND Alfonse walked through the streets of Exterra after the elf had awakened, taking in the scenery and catching up after being apart for so long. Mabel grew concerned as she walked alongside him as she sensed an air of worry from him even if he managed to smile a few times, holding his hand finally.
"Alfonse, are you alright?"
"Y-yes, I'm just a little tired."
"No, there's something else." Mabel said. "I didn't wanna pry, but I'm getting worried – something's bothering you."
Alfonse sighed. "Before I ended up here, I was on a prison planet that exists outside of time and my escape will surely draw the attention of Asgard."
"You were in prison? What'd you do?"
"I-it's complicated, but I was wrongfully imprisoned and now that I've escaped, Asgard will come for me." Alfonse said. "Aside from that, I can't get over the fact that those who helped me escape failed to get out themselves. I feel like I should go back for them."
"What? Why didn't you tell me?" Mabel said. "We have to go help get them outta there."
"We may not be able to return if we go back." Alfonse said. "The realm is heavily guarded and Asgard may be alerted if we're discovered."
"But you can't just abandon the people who helped you." Mabel smiled. "And besides, we faced Bill Cipher, so why should we be afraid of a silly old prison anyway?"
Alfonse sighed. "Alright."
"Perfect, let's get your friends outta prison!"