Ryland On Wheels Part 2

Not too far along the outside of the bike park, Ryland sat by himself amongst the curb of a lone sidewalk entering the woods. There he sat with his chin on the palm of his hand, fingers spread across the left side of his face, which was unmarked by injury compared to the blood that ran down from the deep scratch the ran along the right side. He felt it sting as the occasional breeze blew into it, but he had enough tolerance to ignore it, continuing to sulk as he mindlessly stared ahead of him.

"Hey! There you are!" Mabel's cheery voice suddenly popped behind him. He didn't even need to turn around to see her, as she slid and sat right next to him. "I've been looking for you. Why'd you walk off? You did well!"

"No, I didn't. I did average," he said with an eye roll.

She chuckled. "Hey, I mean, I'd rather get a D on a test than an F, you know?"

Ryland then got up and proceeded to start walking off away from her, wiping cheeriness clean off Mabel's face.

"Wait! I didn't mean it like that! That wasn't a D-level stunt!" she quickly cleared up as she stood up herself, trying to run after him. "Ryland…"

"I know what you meant," he said, stopping to face her again. "It's just...that's exactly what I didn't want you to see."

"Oh, c'mon. It was just a…"

"...a small mess-up," he finished for her. "I know. But, this is finals, and so, this is the last place I wanna mess up. Especially in front of you. Now you get to watch me get hurt and grow progressively more embarrassed about me," he said glumly as he put his fingers up to the right side of his face, accidentally touching his scratch directly, causing him to wince. "Ow!"

Just as he was about to dwell on the pain, Mabel reached into her pocket purse and pulled out a bright blue bandaid, slapping it right on the scratch, perfectly covering it.

"Boop!"

Ryland found the action very sudden and unexpected, and it definitely hurt him, but the pain quickly faded after a few seconds. He then lightly pressed his fingers against the bandaid, feeling it. The light pressure still stung through the bandaid but it didn't hurt nearly as much.

"Ryland, trust me. I'm the last person you should be worrying about feeling embarrassed about you," Mabel told him with a look of confidence. "What you do is so cool! It also just so happens to be occasionally painful too. Accidents happen. I'm smart enough to understand that and I'm too silly in my own right to care about feeling embarrassed. So stop worrying what I think. You just do you, and whether you have a mistake or two million along the way doesn't matter to me."

Ryland smiled at her sentiment. "Thanks. I guess it's just...I really hate Yuri. Like...a lot. And even when trying to do this for myself, I can't help but feel worthless whenever he beats me. If it was just friendly competition, I'd obviously feel different. But the dude's a jerk and treats these local tourneys like they're the big leagues or something. I just can't enjoy myself as long as he's here."

"I know how you feel," Mabel said empathetically. "Rivalries are stupid. I've had one before. I still sort of have one with my brother's dumb friend, though he's another case altogether. But I had my own Yuri before. Killed my mood every time she was around. Always ruined everything. But then I realized one day that she wasn't as bad as she seemed. Underneath her awfulness, there was a genuine heart that was covered up by her parents and large weekly allowances. I know you hate Yuri, but maybe you should try being nice to him. Maybe there's a chance he's not that bad either."

"Be nice? To Yuri?" Ryland loathed the thought alone. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea. He's not exactly someone I'd call 'vulnerable.'"

"You never know! And c'mon, everyone has a weak spot!"

Ryland sighed hesitantly. "Alright. I guess I can give it a shot. I mean, maybe you're right. Maybe he really does have a nice side to him. I mean, I doubt it, but who knows?"

"Hey, whoever said killing someone with kindness wasn't an effective strategy?" Mabel questioned as she began walking with him back to the park. "Worst case scenario, you have a Derrick on your hands."

Ford led Dipper, Derrick, Evan, and Stan through the darker depths of the forest until they came across a cavern entrance embedded in the side of a cliff. A lit lantern in hand used to guide the way, he walked toward the entrance.

"This is it," he said as he held up his arm holding the lantern inside the cavern. "The crushroom cavern. It's here where I've found the town's greatest abundance of crushrooms."

"More name-play, I see," Derrick commented. "Sounds like a bunch of living mushrooms that have the ability to crush people to death."

"Actually, that's exactly what they are," Ford confirmed.

Derrick paused his emotionless expression, unsure how to react for a moment. "Welp, I don't think I've ever wanted to be more wrong before now."

"Instead of a cap, they have giant solidified fists that they repeatedly slam against the ground as a defensive maneuver," Ford explained as he began guiding the others through the cavern.

"Oh, I know what you're referring to!" Evan suddenly realized. "This was one of the first anomalies I researched. Funnily enough, I knew about these before I knew about the gnomes. I named them Fistgus. Though, I think your name wins this time."

"Haha. Fistgus, eh?" Ford chuckled. "If my memory serves me correct, that may have been an initial working name of mine several years ago. "

"Great minds think alike," Derrick commented as he playfully nudged Dipper in the arm. "Am I right?"

Dipper shoved Derrick's arm away annoyedly. "You're not getting anywhere."

"Anyhow, crushrooms tend to grow large within areas with little to no light," Ford continued to explain as he looked around the cavern. "So the largest ones tend to be in the very back, where absolutely no light reaches from the cave opening."

"And what're we looking for again?" Dipper asked.

"A rare purple one," Ford replied. "They exhibit a certain, should I say, magical internal structure that can be made into a fine paste that I'll mix with the squirrel pearl to create a sustaining magic energy source. They're an uncommon occurrence, however, I've almost always managed to find one within the depths of this cave."

"And if we don't?" Stan asked, lacking any thrill or motivation for blindly walking through a dark cave full of giant mushrooms that could crush them.

"Then we don't and we have to keep looking?" Ford replied as though the answer was already clear. "Gosh, Stanley. I don't understand why you insist on being so bitter and negative. Especially during a case in which we're trying to help you."

Stan's sweaty face scrunched up exhaustively as he turned to Ford. "Well, pardon my bitterness, brother. But with everything going on, it's not exactly easy not to be bitter in the first place."

"I know you're frustrated, Stanley. But please! Constantly reminding us is not going to benefit anyone. Just bear with us," Ford pleaded. "You're a grown man complaining about doing too much walking and running."

"Should've just gotten this chain off me and left me back at the Shack then," Stan suggested, remaining as bitter as can be. "Wouldn't have to put up with me complaining otherwise."

"Grunkle Stan, c'mon!" Dipper shouted, growing irritated by Stan's blatant complaining.

"Dammit, Stan! I already told you why I can't-"

Ford cut himself off upon a sudden realization, even stopping in his tracks in the cave. His angered eyes then turned concerned as he looked at his brother.

"Stan, do you remember us having this discussion already this morning?"

Stan visibly thought for a moment, stroking his chin. "Yeah, kind of. Didn't I make fun of your watch or something?"

Ford stared at Stan, thinking to himself as his concern grew.

"Grunkle Stan, can't you see we're trying our hardest to help you?" Dipper asked with his eyes narrowed at his great uncle. "Why do you have to keep acting so selfish?"

"Hang on, Dipper. I don't think he's trying to be selfish," Ford intervened.

"Huh?" Dipper questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm starting to believe that Bill has finally regenerated enough in Stan's head from the last confrontation to start negatively influencing his mental processes again," Ford explained, putting a hand on the side of Stan's head, examining it. "That includes his memory and behavior. Neither of which seem to be Stan's strongest at this moment."

"Nonsense, Sixer. I'm fine," Stan assured him, pushing his hand away. "Just my usual morning crankiness."

"Stan, what were the names of our parents?"

Stan considered Ford's question for noticeably longer than he knew he should've. "Uh…Philadelphia and Karry, right?"

"There you have it," Ford said, turning toward the others.

"No, wait! I know this!" Stan attempted to reassure, thinking as hard as he could. "Filbrick and Caryn! There! You see! Memory's all good! Nothing to worry about!"

"Alright," Ford shrugged. "What state do we live in?"

"Are you kidding? That's easy!" Stan confidently said with a chuckle. "The sunny state of Florida!"

His far more telling response got odd looks from everyone. Stan himself continued to display a confident look after his response until he suddenly came to the realization himself.

"Oh. Man, I guess I'm not well after all."

Derrick cautiously backed up a large step away from Stan. "Does this mean he's going to try to murder us any second now?"

"I want to believe that Bill hasn't regenerated that much. Which in that case, I think we still have time before his true reawakening," Ford claimed, cautiously looking on at Stan. "But, that time looks to be running out by the minute. Which means we need to hurry and get back to finding that purple crushroom."

"Um, yeah. About that…" Evan spoke up worriedly as he looked around them. "While you guys were talking, they kind of surrounded us."

The five were still covered by darkness, and so it wasn't easy to immediately make that observation the way Evan had managed. But Ford raised his lantern up above his head, expanding the radius of the light by a bit. At that moment, they were all able to see the several giant crushrooms that surrounded them.

Derrick looked around, noticing the crushrooms met the exact description Ford provided: mushrooms with giant fists instead of normal caps. "Yeah, they don't look like very fun-guis."

"First off, funguis isn't plural, so that doesn't even work," Dipper corrected as he narrowed his eyes at Derrick. "Second, I hate you."

"I've been hating myself since I predicted what these things were."

The crushrooms continued to surround the five, however, they remained completely still, which sparked both fear and confusion in the gang.

"What're we going to do, Sixer?" Stan stiffly asked his brother.

"Make no sudden movements," Ford simply told them, remaining as motionless as possible. "They will not attack unless they feel the need to defend themselves."

As Ford said this, Stan caught something in the corner of his eye. Slowly turning his head in its direction, he managed to spot a much smaller purple crushroom below the much larger ones. Remembering that's what they were after, he very suddenly lifted his arm up to point over at it.

"Sixer, look! A purple crushro-"

SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH

Stan's sudden pointing triggered the crushrooms to enter their defensive mode, and they all began smashing the ground with their giant fist caps as hard and fast as they could. The gang was soon surrounded by dozens of giant, ground-smashing monsters that slowly moved around upon each hit of the cave floor.

"GRUNKLE STAN!" Dipper shouted, covering his head with his hands protectively.

"STANLEY!" Ford scolded.

"HOW THE HELL WAS THAT A SUDDEN MOVEMENT?!" Stan asked.

Derrick threw himself out of the way of an incoming crushroom before immediately rolling out of the smash radius of another one. "WHY DO THESE THINGS EXIST?!"

"Great Uncle Ford! What do we do?!" Dipper asked, panicking as he could find no means of escape.

Ford already had Meridian at the ready, trying to fend off the crushrooms with his laser function, firing away as fast as he could. The sheer size and amount of the crushrooms were too overbearing, however, and each shot barely did any reliable damage. "There's too many of them! We need to find some cover!"

Evan quickly glanced around the cave, managing to find a reachable narrow crevice within the cave walls that could fit them all for temporary cover.

"Over here!" he shouted as he ran over to it.

Everyone noticed where Evan was heading toward and immediately followed. Fitting themselves one by one into the narrow crevice, they maintained their positions as they barely had cover to protect themselves from the crushroom onslaught.

"I'll tell you one thing," Stan spoke up through his panting. "I think I'd prefer Bill giving me an aneurysm as opposed to death by fungi."

"I'll admit. I don't think I've ever encountered so many at once before," Ford said through his own panting. "Then again, it has been over thirty years since that last encounter. If there were no prior cave dwellers, then they've had plenty of time to regrow uninterrupted"

"So what's the plan now? Shoot them with ointment or something?" Derrick suggested.

"Not the same type of fungus, Derrick…" Dipper said with a facepalm.

"I never did well in life science, so…"

At that moment, one of the large crushrooms moved its way toward the crevice. While it was unable to reach the gang directly with its fist, it began smashing against the stone wall above them.

SMASH SMASH SMASH

Evan looked up, somewhat panicked. "There is no way we're getting out of here without getting crushed."

"I have something that might work," Ford said as he tapped various buttons on Meridian. "And by might, I mean there's about a twenty-five percent chance of it actually functioning properly."

"Real hopeful," Stan remarked sarcastically.

Ford tapped one last button, prompting Meridian to transform into various cyber and metal parts amongst his hand, slowly growing up his forearm. However, the growth stunted and there was a blaring noise coming from the base of where the watch fit on his wrist. A red light blinked at the same time and the exoskeleton parts began to retract back into Meridian's standard form.

"Gah! Dammit!" Ford shouted frustratedly.

"What happened?" Dipper asked, confused.

"My own stupidity," Ford said with a facepalm. "I installed a more creatively-inspired feature on Meridian that would allow me to utilize a cyborg exoskeleton armor of sorts with several built-in weapons and functions," he explained before tapping the watch. "However, as it turns out, complications with the internal design of the prototype watch just made the feature nearly unusable. It either doesn't work at all or it doesn't complete the destined full-body armor, leaving me with an arm or a hand. I could actually still work with the latter, though unfortunately, it appears we're stuck with the former."

"So we're stuck here?" Dipper questioned.

"I suppose so until either these crushrooms give up or we manage to figure out another escape plan," Ford said with a sigh. "All due to lackluster prototype design."

Evan curiously glanced back and forth between Ford and his watch. "Perhaps, I can take a look at it? I know a bit about internal tech design."

"I don't know, Evan," Ford shook his head, unsure. "It's a very intricate design using spare parts and tools from my multiverse expeditions. Not to question your intelligence, but I don't think it's your field."

"I mean, sure, I'm no watchmaker, but I did build my own computers from scratch," Evan brought up. "So from a technical side, I don't see what harm it would do for me to at least look."

"I'm not sure what you would find, but if you insist," Ford said as he unlocked Meridian from his wrist, tossing it over into Evan's hands.

Stan then aggressively grabbed Ford by the collar of his coat, whispering into his ear. "You're letting a child mess with your interdimensional, toast-making, laser-firing wristwatch?"

"It's a flawed prototype, Stanley," Ford told him, pushing him back. "Even if Evan ruins it, it's not like I wasn't going to build another anyway."

"That's not my point. With all you have on that thing, what're the chances he taps something he shouldn't and blows us all up?"

"He's not going to blow us up, Stanley. It's not like I have bombs installed on it," Ford defended. However, his eyes then bulged as he thought about it. "Actually…"

Stan's eyes narrowed at him. "You have bombs installed on it, don't you…"

"No, but I do have an emergency self-destruct button."

Stan's eyes widened. "Emergency?! Self destruct button?!"

Not wanting to explain while also seeing his mistake, he pushed Stan to the side and approached Evan. "Hey, Evan, erm, apologies for interrupting so soon, but I think it's best that I have Meridian back now."

"Oh, no problem. I just finished anyway," Evan told him as he handed the watch back.

"Wait, finished?" Ford asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I don't understand the multidimensional technology as you said, but the problem was actually the side panel, which seems to connect the multidimensional features to the watch itself," Evan explained. "It's built from normal earth steel, which appears to be weaker in comparison to...well...all the other unearthly parts being used. So I'm guessing because of that, the side panel is frequently loosened, which makes some of the features you attempt to access either unable to register completely or at all. So I just used the screwdriver for my glasses to tighten it up again."

Ford still held a confused expression but put the watch back on nonetheless. He pressed through the same variety of buttons he had before, eventually triggering the exoskeleton start up again.

Within seconds, metal and cyber parts circuited themselves up the entirety of his arm and amongst the rest of his body. A helmet was also formed around his head with a visor and holographic display in front of his left eye. Upon the armor's completion, Ford glanced down at his armored hand and smiled.

"Well, I'll be damned," he said in awe, clenching his fist. "You really did it, kid."

Evan smiled, whereas Dipper and Derrick displayed stupefied expressions as they stared at Ford's exoskeleton armor. As cool as either of them thought it was, it was by far Ford's most comic book-y design yet, and it even felt out of place in a sense. However, that still didn't take away from the fact that, again, it was really cool.

On the other hand, Stan didn't care enough to blink an eye. "Yeah, yeah. Kid's a bigger genius than Dipper," he brushed off carelessly, prompting an unnoticed look of indignation from Dipper himself. "Now, can you please kill those mushrooms?"

"Gladly," Ford nodded as he turned away, looking outside the crevice. "Alright. It's been a while since I used the complete exoskeleton. Let's see if I remember how it all works."

Without error, Ford activated a set of rocket boots that sent him flying at the crushrooms, which he began to engage and destroy one-by-one. As tough as the crushrooms were, they were no match for the detrimental punches received by Ford's armored fists, which had to have an enhancement for his strength, as he tore through them instantly. Ford wasn't out of shape for his age, but even then, he wasn't capable of such a punch with his own sheer strength. Not one that causes an entire crushroom to crumble to pieces.

After a good amount of lethal punches were thrown, Ford then aimed both of his arms forward and launched a barrage of miniature missiles at clusters of crushrooms. Despite their smaller size with condensed explosions, they were still incredibly effective, as the clusters practically disintegrated after each explosion. It also cleared out the crushrooms much faster than individual fly-by punches were doing.

Throughout the whole thing, Dipper watched in awe as his great uncle flew around like the lead of a superhero movie. Though, he felt more shock than he did awe, as he was still processing how Evan could've possibly managed to fix the watch in such a simple way that Ford himself spent so long trying to figure out.

After a solid minute, Ford had essentially eradicated every crushroom that had stood in their way and promptly landed back on the ground. Tapping a single button on his wrist prompted the armor to retract and reform back into Meridian's normal state. He had a wide, excited smile on his face as if he had just done something that he had always wanted to do.

He casually sighed. "Welp, the area is cleared. You can come out from there now," he said, gesturing for the others to come out of the crevice.

As everyone stepped out from the crevice one by one, Ford noticed the small, purple crushroom laying in mostly one piece on the ground. He picked it up by its dead fist and held it up or for the others to see.

"And it looks like we've gotten exactly what we've come here for."

Dipper was still processing his great uncle's crushroom onslaught a moment ago. "Great Uncle Ford, that was...amazing…"

Stan stood with a look that was half-annoyed and half-jealous, crossing his arms, not wanting to admit how cool he really thought it was. "I'm still not over how he put that and a toast-maker in his watch but not a map."

"Well, I'm not over how I could miss such an obvious design flaw in Meridian," Ford said as he looked at the watch. "I suppose my age really is starting to wear down on me. Nonetheless, I'm extremely grateful that Evan managed to find the problem and fix it."

"Granted, it'll likely loosen again at some point," Evan mentioned. "Though, if you're using stronger parts from other dimensions to make up the watch's main components, you may wanna consider keeping that consistency throughout the rest of the watch as well."

"A definite note I'll keep in mind in the future," Ford nodded. "But thank you, Evan. You have a gifted mind. And one highly adaptive to learning, I'm sure."

"Yeah, I guess I tend to learn fast," Evan shrugged. "I have no memory of it, but according to my mother, my first word came from reading the dictionary, and out of all the words I picked, I chose fractious. I suppose it's either irony or my mother has a poor sense of humor."

Ford chuckled. "Well then, with all you've demonstrated of your swift problem-solving today and how quickly you were able to resolve Meridian's error, I'm considering the possibility of bringing you in for regular assistance in future lab and field endeavors, such as our current one, and perhaps, even helping me with my final design of Meridian when it comes time for it."

"Wait, seriously?" Evan and Dipper questioned at the same.

"Certainly. You've shown far more skill and critical thinking than I expected to see from you, even from what Dipper said about you," Ford told him. "Even thinking back to the statue incident earlier, which I had initially considered an act of foolishness, was actually a mistake made from lack of clear knowledge of the statue's capabilities. I'm an old-timer who, as you can see, is becoming increasingly vulnerable to mistakes too as I age. I think your young mind can do great things with what I can teach. Only thing is that I understand it may be something I'd need to talk over and work out with your parents, considering they don't have a clue who I am and why I'm trying to take their son out of their house every so often."

"No, they'll be cool with it!" Evan assured him. "Trust me, they want me out of the house! I normally hate leaving my room, but this has been the most fun I've had outside of it in years. I'd love to keep doing these types of missions and I'd love to help you design your watch. I'll admit, looking over the general internal structure already gave me some ideas for additions and improvements, but I decided to keep it to myself given the situation we were just in."

"Well, I'd love to hear them when this is all done and over with," Ford considered, lightly patting Evan on the back before walking back toward where they entered the cave from. "For now, let's all just make our way out of here and keep moving forward. We have one final destination left before we have all we need."

Dipper was thrown off by Ford's sudden offer to Evan though. Speedily, he walked up beside Ford, tugging the sleeve of his coat to halt him. "Hang on, Great Uncle Ford. You've never offered me to help out with Meridian. I've had some ideas of my own that I've been keeping to myself because you've said helping Stan was the priority."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Dipper. I wasn't entirely sure if you were into the concept. Must've just slipped my mind to ask, anyhow," Ford apologized. "But in any case, you are free to share whatever ideas you may have as well, but helping Stan still is the main priority"

"Doesn't really feel like it at the moment," Stan claimed subtly.

"Yeah, we need to move," Ford stated as Stan's negativity served as a reminder of their prior discussion about Bill's impending return. "And fair warning, this last anomaly we're after may not be quite as easy as what we've already faced so far."

"God, really?" Stan dreaded, rubbing the sides of his head agitatedly as he followed Ford out of the cave. "Hang on, I need a minute. I'm already going to get a migraine from the amount of nerd talk I've endured in the last two minutes."

The two continued on ahead with Evan following. However, Dipper remained behind in a state of disbelief as Derrick stood beside him.

"Welp. That kid's going places," Derrick claimed, breaking the ongoing silence.

Dipper's eyes lit up annoyedly. "Oh, and what? I'm not?" he said, challenging Derrick's implications. "Oh, yeah, Ford's gonna replace his own great nephew with some super smart and tech-savvy twelve-year-old that he just met. I tremble at the thought."

"I mean, why not?" Derrick questioned. "Didn't you once say he was trying to make you his apprentice when you were twelve? And that you two hardly knew each other for a few weeks at that point?"

"Well, I mean…"

"I mean, the dude's already ready to talk to the kid's parents so he can adventure more regularly with him. And assumes you aren't even interested in designing a super-watch?" Derrick continued, raising an eyebrow. "Yikes. If that isn't a warning…"

"It isn't!" Dipper cut off. "Dude, you're beating this thing into the ground. Ford's not going to replace me nor am I jealous of Evan! This is just you trying to be annoying. And for the record, it's working."

"Annoying tends to be my fallback behavior when I haven't eaten," Derrick replied with narrow eyes, once again reminding Dipper about getting dragged along on their adventure before having a chance to eat. "Can't really help it."

"Well, you can shut it. This is one conspiracy theory that I don't wanna hear any more of."

"Alright, man. I'll cut it out," Derrick complied as he starting walking in the direction the others had already gone off. "But just know that whatever happens next isn't because of one of my 'conspiracies'."

Derrick walked out of Dipper's sight as he turned a corner of the cave heading back. Dipper stood in place for a few seconds in annoyance before following as well.

"God, sometimes I empathize with Mabel."

At the bike park, Mabel stood at the side of the bleachers as she watched Ryland walk out into the main set where Yuri was prepping for the next round. Hesitantly, Ryland looked back at her. However, she encouraged him by smiling widely and giving him a thumbs up, prompting him to continue despite his hesitations.

Ryland sighed with dread as he walked up behind Yuri, forcefully putting on a smile.

"Hey, Yuri."

Yuri turned around to face Ryland. He displayed a look of disinterest for a second before noticing the brightly colored bandage across the side of his face.

"Aw, how adorable!" he said with an amused chuckle. "Did your girlfriend give ya that bandage?"

"Uh...yeah, actually. She did," Ryland casually responded.

"Oh," Yuri replied, somewhat put off for a moment by Ryland's passive response. "Well, it looks stupid. Which seems to suit ya perfectly given that stunt you messed up last round."

It took Ryland a moment to come up with a response that wasn't threatening and instead, gave into fake laughter.

"Oh man! You're a good jokester, Yuri!" he cried out, pretending as if his insult was the funniest thing he had ever heard. "WHEW! Quite the comedian!"

Yuri's eyes glanced around in slight confusion. "I...uh...don't know if you're capable of understanding this, but, that wasn't a joke. Ya really look as stupid as you are."

Even after his attempts at passiveness, Yuri's persistent mocking of Ryland was getting to him quick. His eyes twitched as he tried to hold himself together from completely losing it.

"Be right back!"

Ryland then proceeded to walk back behind the side of the bleachers where Mabel stood. Having heard their conversation, she had an awaiting look, knowing Ryland was about to vent his struggles.

"Can I punch him now?" Ryland asked her calmly.

"Ryland, no."

"I'm gonna punch him."

"Ryland!"

"I swear I'm gonna punch him."

"Ryland!"

"He's absolutely going to get punched."

"Ryland, please!"

"FINE!"

Ryland then forced himself to walk back up to Yuri from the bleachers, to which Mabel promptly stood on watch again. He took a deep breath as he approached Yuri, holding back his desperate want to nail Yuri in the face with his fist.

"SO, Yuri!" he began, letting out most of the frustrated air he had breathed in. "You and I have been competing with one another for a few months now, and honestly, you're a pretty great BMX rider."

"Yeah, that's what the trophies are for."

"...God, it's never easy with you is it?" Ryland questioned under his breath. "Ah, well, you know, I've been figuring for some time now that you've beaten me enough times to where you don't have anything left to prove. So I'm thinking we could just put this feud of our's aside and just embrace this whole competition as something just for fun instead of laughing at each other's...or...my near-death experiences. Ya know?"

Yuri thought for a brief moment, still finding Ryland's passiveness very odd. "So, what you're suggesting is...I stop picking on ya because you're too much of a baby to handle it?"

"HEY, I AM NOT A BABY!" Ryland shouted in Yuri's face before immediately restraining himself, clenching his fists and trying to control his anger. He let out one last exasperated sigh before deciding just to just be upfront. "Dude, all I'm asking is that you stop giving me crap all the time. I've never done anything to you. I used to see you like friendly competition and you quickly turned that into...whatever it is we have now. Can't you grow up and stop treating this competition like you always have to prove something to me?"

Yuri's eyes narrowed at his reply. "Grow up, eh?"

"Uh...yeah," Ryland nodded, ensuring what he said was correct. "Grow up."

Yuri's eyes continued to stare Ryland down with abhorrence for a moment. However, he suddenly grew a friendly smile as he cheerily patted Ryland's shoulder.

"Haha! Sure thing, bud," he chuckled. "It's about time I grew up anyway, right? Ah, silly me. Treating ya with no respect for so long for no reason. What was I thinking? I'll just get out of your way. You go on right ahead."

Ryland displayed a look of shock at Yuri's change of attitude, which sounded too convincing to be fake. "Wow, really? Huh, I thought you were going to continue being a jerk, but this works out fine too."

"Yeah, pal!" Yuri nodded as he began walking off with some of the tournament crew. "Good luck with the competition. I know you got this!"

"Uh...you too..." Ryland replied.

Ryland then walked back behind the side of the bleachers, meeting with Mabel, who was excitedly awaiting him, seeming to have already overheard them making amends.

"Wow, that turned out better than I expected," he admitted to her.

"You see? Mabel knows what she's talking about," she replied, pointing at herself in self-congratulatory fashion. "Rivalries are dumb. Surprisingly, he had enough sense to realize that."

"What about you and Derrick?" Ryland asked.

"That's one of those rare helpless cases," Mabel dismissed.

"I'll just have to take your word on that," Ryland shrugged. "But as far as Yuri goes, maybe now, the rest of the competition won't be terrible."

CRASH!

Ryland found himself sliding against the ground, coming from yet another unexpected bike crash halfway into his second-round run. He rolled over a few times until finding himself laying flat, his bike sliding further off across the course.

ZZZZZZ!

The crowd winced yet again as Ryland's crash. Concerned looks grew most particularly from Mabel and her friends as they watched, with Candy filming.

Ryland groaned as he sat back up. "What the hell happened there?! Again?"

Lone laughter was heard from behind Ryland, prompting him to look up. Above the course, he spotted Yuri looking down at him with an amused smirk. "Geez, Ryland. How many more times are you gonna crash before you paint the whole course with your blood?"

Ryland looked down at his body, feeling more pain from bruises than any cuts or scratches. However, looking down at his left leg, he spotted another deep scratch from which blood had dripped amongst the ground as he crashed. He hadn't felt any real pain from it until he noticed it, which prompted him to groan painfully as he got back on his feet.

With the competition still going on, the judges made their decision on Ryland's performance and promptly raised their scorecards up, unimpressed expressions across their faces.

5, 4, 5

"HA!" Yuri cackled humorously. "And just one point off from Ghost Eyes's score. For you, that's impressively bad."

"THEY KEEP GIVING ME SMALL BIKES!" Ghost-Eyes called out from the sideline bench, cut up and injured as well from his own performance in the second round before Ryland. "WHAT AM I? A TODDLER?!"

"Here you go, Ghost-Eyes," Gideon said as he walked up and sat on the bench with a plastic shopping bag in hand. "I bought you some band-aids for the scratches."

Ghost-Eyes crossed his arms and pouted as he turned away from Gideon. "They better be the ones with superheroes on them."

Less fussed about his score, Ryland climbed up and out of the course to confront Yuri face-to-face. "What's your deal, Yuri? I thought you said you'd cut it out!"

"Oh yeah. I said that, didn't I?" Yuri visibly recalled, tapping his chin with his finger. "Well, Ryland, there's no easier way to put it: I lied."

WAM!

At his breaking point, Ryland swung a fist against the right side of Yuri's jaw with enough force to send him falling to the ground. The crowd in the bleachers erupted in surprise as this happened. Ryland held no remorse for his action and simply stood over Yuri like a brute, internally asking himself whether one punch was enough.

"YES! VIOLENCE!" Grenda cheered from above. "Tell me you got that, Candy!"

"Yes, yes! I did!" Candy nodded giddily as she held her camera on the action below. "Replay value has increased exponentially!"

"Girls!" Mabel shouted, not quite as approving of the violence as they were.

"Oh, right. We should probably interfere and stuff," Grenda replied, somewhat disappointed.

At that moment, Mabel raced down the bleachers with the girls following behind her. As she reached the bottom, she hopped down and grabbed Ryland by his arms, trying to pull him back.

"Ryland!" she urged, trying to pull him away from the scene.

"I swore that I'd punch him!" Ryland reminded her, trying to resist her pull.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Reeds, but this competition doesn't approve of foul play," the announcer suddenly stepped in between him and Yuri. "I'm afraid we're going to have to disqualify you from the competition for your actions."

"Disqualify? Me?!" Ryland asked, eyes widening in disbelief.

"HA! Bad play, RyRy!" Yuri laughed as he rubbed his jaw, pointing his other finger at him.

Ryland's eyes narrowed angrily as he tried to pull himself out of Mabel's grasp to lunge at Yuri. "Why...you-!"

"Come on!" Mabel shouted, using her full strength to hold Ryland back, beginning to drag him off away from the park.

Yuri was helped up by some crew as Ryland and the girls went off, out of sight. He wiped his mouth, which bled ever so slightly.

"God, in all my time hosting these competitions, never have I seen so much drama over a smoothie gift card grand prize," the announcer stated, shaking his head as he walked off.

Mabel dragged Ryland off to an open spot in the woods next to the bike park, out of sight from the crowd and other park crew. Candy and Grenda trailed behind them, looking out for any possible followers.

"Ryland, what were you thinking?" Mabel asked with an unimpressed look.

"Tell me he didn't deserve that!" Ryland defended.

"Look, he's not a likable guy, but…"

"Not likable?! Is that the most you can say about him?" Ryland asked, distraught by Mabel's apparent attempt to put down his actions. "He's a jerk! An asshole! Always has been! And there's no changing that!"

"I know! Okay?! I know!" Mabel admitted, turning away from him uncomfortably. "It's just...I thought you were better than that!"

"Mabel, I know to you, I'm 'the nice guy' because that's all you've ever seen from me. But playing nice isn't exactly how I prefer to go about dealing with those who mess with me or those I care about," Ryland told her. "I've kept myself together for months with this guy, and so he's had it coming."

"But what about making a scene out of it in front of all those people?"

Ryland sighed, getting himself to calm down a bit. "You think I care what those people think? No! I only care about what you think," he told her.

"Well, I think…" Mabel began before stopping herself, trying not to let herself come off as insincere. "...I just think you could've gone about that a bit better."

Ryland looked at her for a moment before letting out a sigh. He then sat down against the trunk of a nearby tree, thinking for a moment. "You're right. I could've. I'm sorry for that, but after all Yuri's put me through...well...all that anger was bound to come out at some point. And look what that cost me."

Mabel thought for a moment as she walked over and sat beside him with an understanding look. "I'm sorry about the competition, Ryland. But, I mean, there's always next time."

Ryland scoffed. "I doubt there'll even be a 'next time' after this. Even if there is, I couldn't even do it for fun knowing Yuri will be there just to ruin it all again."

"Yeah, I get it," Mabel admitted guiltily. "My fault for just looking through my usual hopeful glasses again."

"You're good," Ryland replied with a light chuckle.

There was a brief silence as everyone calmed down, letting go of the ongoing tension. Grenda and Candy had just awkwardly stood to the side as the couple vented out to one another. After a bit of time passed, Candy held up her camera and looked through all the footage she had recorded that day, letting out a disappointed sigh.

"Well, I guess I need to reconsider my film topic," she stated.

"Aw, I'm sorry this one didn't work out, Candy," Mabel apologized. "But at least you still have plenty of time to figure out a new one."

"You're right. It's not a big deal," Candy shrugged, still watching through the footage. "It just would've been more…" Her eyes bulged as she noticed something in her recording. "...convenient…"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Mabel nodded. "If only there was still a way we could get this all to work out."

"Magic…"

"You're right. It'd probably take something magical to solve this problem," Mabel agreed.

"No, no! Look at the footage!" Candy said as she frantically shoved the camera in Mabel's face. Grenda also jumped in behind Mabel to get a look of the video too.

The footage played before Mabel's eyes, which she was quickly determined was the end of the Ryland's first run as she saw him roll amongst the course. "Yeah, that's Ryland's first crash."

"Oh God, no. Nope. Absolutely not watching that again," Ryland cringed, not daring to look back at the footage himself.

"No. Look closely," Candy said as she rewound the footage before showing it to Mabel again in slow motion. "At the bike pedal."

Mabel and Grenda focused on the footage, paying close attention to Ryland's bike pedal as Candy said. Curiosity struck Ryland just enough to where even he pulled the camera a bit so he could watch. Right before his first crash, they all noticed a faint blue glow suddenly cover the pedal just before it slammed to the ground, resulting in the crash.

"Hang on...what the hell is that?" Ryland questioned as he began to think back to the moment himself. "I thought I felt something mess up on that side of my bike! I knew it couldn't have been a mistake on my part."

"Some sort of blue glow," Grenda noted curiously, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe it's a lens flare or something," Mabel suggested.

"That's what I thought," Candy said as she fast forwarded the camera. "Until…"

Playing the video for the three again in slow-motion, Candy presented Ryland's second crash. As he rode in a straight line down the center of the course, his back wheel suddenly stopped rotating, which resulted in him flinging forward as he held onto his handlebars while he rolled.

"Woah, what?!" Ryland asked, completely bewildered as he looked on at how he crashed. "The hell happened to my back wheel?"

"Look! It has the same blue glow!" Candy pointed at the back wheel as she paused the footage.

The blue glow was apparent and to Mabel, it invoked a sense of déjà vu. "Huh...where have I seen that before?"

"That's not all," Candy rewound one more time before playing the footage for them again. "Focus on Yuri here."

The video now showed Yuri's first round. It appeared normal up until the moment he hit the ramp and flew into the air. Then, as Candy slowed the footage down, they were able to see a very noticeable blue glow form around Yuri's legs just as he flung them outward and held them perfectly.

"Look at his legs! The same blue glow!" Candy pointed out.

While the glow was apparent, Mabel's eyes directed toward Yuri's right hand gripped to his handlebar. It appeared the have some sort of string wrapped around it several times. However, a single necklace-like piece hung out from beneath, which flung around in the wind as he still managed to hold onto it.

"Hang on. What's he holding in his hand?" she asked.

"Woah, look at Yuri go!" the announcer's voice was suddenly heard at that moment.

Everyone's attention redirected back to the bike park, to which they were able to catch Yuri as he did his second round stunts. Candy immediately put up her camera and pointed it directly at the course, filming. With the footage that she had already shown the others, they all had the instinct to look more closely at his performance for anything unnatural.

Yuri then proceeded to go up one of the ramps that were set up on course, beginning to perform a flip. However, for a split second, a blue glow was seen around his entire body that the gang was immediately able to make out. It was easier for them to make out considering they were actively looking for it rather than being unaware of it as they missed it prior.

"There it is again!" Ryland shouted, pointing him out. "You guys saw that right?! Didn't even need the footage to see that!"

Mabel's eyes had drawn back to his right hand, which she was able to notice had been wrapped in string again. The same attached necklace piece also flung out in the wind.

"He must be using something," Candy suggested as she filmed. "It just looks like magic."

"Magic?" Ryland questioned.

"Magic…" Mabel contemplated, the familiarity starting to settle in with her.

ZZZZZZ!

Yuri stopped his bike just as the timer blared. He received a large applause from the crowd, who he looked back at with a grin.

"Wow! What a magical run!" the announcer praised. "Yuri continues to amaze! And the judges…"

The judges briefly exchanged smiles with one another before raising their scorecards.

10, 10, 9

"...continue to agree! Give it up for Yuri!"

The crowd erupted into another large applause for Yuri.

"YURI! YURI!" they chanted.

Ryland watched from the distance, blood boiling with rage. "All this time, he's been cheating me and winning because of MAGIC?!"

"Hang on. I think I know what he's using," Mabel claimed.

Her eyes glanced over to the sidelines, spotting Gideon sat right beside Ghost-Eyes.

"...and I think I know who he got it from."

"I don't think I got any hope against Yuri in the competition, Gideon," Ghost-Eyes moped. "I'm was already in last place. How am I going to climb back against the best in the competition?"

"Well, in the end, all that matters is that you tried your best, Ghost-Eyes," Gideon tried to cheer him up. "The fact you made it to finals at all should be considered enough of an accomplishment."

"I guess," Ghost-Eyes accepted. "I still want to beat the everliving crap out of that announcer though."

"Well, uh, try to fight that urge," Gideon simply said. "Remember…"

"There's nothing greater than the power of friendship," the two said simultaneously.

"I'll try my best, Lil' Gideon," Ghost-Eyes said as he stood up from the bench. "But first, I'm gonna take this break to get a bike more suitable for me before they hand me a tricycle or something. I'll try not to steal it. And if I do, then I'll try not to assault the cashier," he promised as he walked off.

"Either way is progress, Ghost-Eyes!" Gideon called out with an encouraging smile. Immediately after, a hand grabbed onto the back of Gideon's collar and snatched him from around a corner. "REEE!"

He was then pinned against a wall, to which he was faced aggressively by Mabel, with Candy, Grenda, and Ryland stood behind her.

"Gideon!" Mabel confronted.

"Ah, Mabel Pines and company!" Gideon smoothly greeted. However, his face then displayed confusion as he considered the circumstances. "Erm...what's up?"

"What are you up to, Gideon?" Mabel asked impatiently.

Gideon took a moment to think. "Well, I can't say I rightly know at the moment."

"Yuri Wyatts! You've been helping him cheat!" Grenda accused.

"What? I've been doing no such thing!" Gideon denied.

"Really?" Mabel asked, unconvinced. "Well, according to some footage that Candy shot of the event, it looks like some sort of magic or spell is being used to aid Yuri and sabotage Ryland! Kind of like that magic amulet you used against us years ago!"

Gideon began to sweat nervously. "Oh...a magic amulet, you say?"

"Talk," Mabel demanded, seeing they were onto him.

"Okay, okay!" he gave in. "Look, I haven't spoken with Yuri much, but he's always been a fine fellow to me. Sometime last year, I was trying to dispose of my old collection of spells, amulets, and other magical items that I had previously planned to use for an evil uprising. You know, back when I was that kind of kid. Anyway, Yuri came along and appeared interested in one my amulets, which he paid me for."

"He paid you?" Ryland questioned. "And you gave it to him?"

"I mean, yeah, that's how a purchase works, right?"

"But you went ahead and sold a magical amulet to him? Just like that?" Mabel asked further.

"I figured he just took interest in the appearance without knowledge of its power," Gideon explained, before leaning in and whispering. "You know how these locals are...pretending as if the apocalypse never happened and such."

"I can't believe you," Mabel asked, pushing him away from her. "You're just a sellout nowadays, aren't you? First, Nessman pays you to defame the Shack and you do it without even thinking about how it would negatively affect us. Now, you happily sell from your old collection of evil stuff without thinking about how someone else could possibly use them?"

"Alright, in retrospect, it was a bad idea on my part," he admitted, twirling his fingers guiltily. "But c'mon, y'all! This isn't like me and Nessman! I'm not helping Yuri with the competition. Everything he's doing with that amulet is on him! Sure, I may have sold it to him, but I mean, what were the odds that I ended up selling to someone who wanted to use it against someone related to you folk? I didn't even know about Ryland before this summer!"

Mabel processed Gideon's response, wanting to find a reason to argue back, but his intentions truly didn't seem harmful. The entire situation seemed like a matter of pure convenience. She then glanced back at the others for support, quickly realizing they all also had unsure expressions on their faces.

"I mean, he kind of has a point," Ryland admitted. "I never would've known about what a creep he was until you told me about him."

Mabel sighed as she turned back to Gideon. "Ugh. Alright, fine. I guess we believe you. But you're not going anywhere. You're going to help us figure out a way to snag that amulet away from him."

"I-I am?"

"You're the one on about wanting to gain our trust, right?" Mabel asked. "Well, here's your chance to do the right thing."

Gideon's eyes bulged, surprised that Mabel, if all people, was giving him an opportunity to further redeem himself. He simmered down his excitement and put on a serious face.

"Alright then."

Across the Gravity Falls valley, Ford led the others on a climb up against the side of one of the hanging cliffs. It was a very steep and rough climb, with everybody appearing somewhat roughed and dirtied up from events that transpired over the past hour or so. Soon enough, they reached a flat surface near the top of the cliff that had space for them to rest comfortably.

Ford threw himself forward as he climbed up onto the ledge. "Welp. That surely could've been a better journey up."

Stan, following right behind Ford, threw himself up beside him. "Yeah, I guess getting attacked by wolves isn't exactly something that one plans."

"Not even supernatural wolves either. Just normal wolves," Derrick added, his hoodie rugged even more than it usually was.

"I'm sure I wouldn't prefer supernatural wolves attacking us over normal wolves attacking," Dipper claimed as he watched his step on the cliff side.

"I mean, I wouldn't either. I'm not complaining," Derrick agreed. "Besides, normal wolves are cool."

"Well, if it hadn't been for Evan using his canned meat as a distraction, we may not have been able to get away as easily as we did," Ford said as he and Stan began helping the boys up.

"Why do you even have canned meat with you anyway?" Dipper questioned, looking back at Evan, who appeared the least roughened out of the five of them.

"I mean, the town's already had a history of one apocalypse, so I suppose it's just to be safe," Evan claimed.

"Ha! Ya see? That kid's a planner," Stan said, admiring Evan's thinking.

"Well, at least we've made it," Ford said as he turned around, facing another cavernous entrance in the cliff side. "Inside this cliff lies the hive of the scornets."

"So, uh, you wanna explain the name for this one or are we just going to find out when it's about to kill us?" Derrick asked, brushing himself off with his hands.

"Scornets are a supernatural species of giant hornets that just so happen to be incredibly scornful," Ford explained.

Derrick stared out into space for a moment. "I hate them already."

"Doesn't sound any different from normal hornets if I'm being honest," Stan claimed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "And I'd know. I ran Stan Co. Hornet Spray back in the day."

"And let me guess… it made them even angrier," Ford assumed.

"Angrier? It was just water in a glorified spray can! It just pissed them off normally!"

"Well, let that be a learning experience. Splashing water on any creature will not gain its respect," Ford claimed as he walked toward the cavern entrance. "Now, c'mon. This is our last stop. If all goes well, we can finish before sunset."

As the others began to follow, Stan wrapped an arm around Derrick's shoulder and leaned into his ear to whisper, "Let those words be a lesson to you. If he ever says 'if all goes well,' chances are things aren't going to go well. I spent the past four years adventuring with the man."

"And I spent the past four years going to school with your great-nephew, who I can pretty much say the same thing about when it comes to the words, 'it'll probably work this time,'" Derrick replied.

"Ah, someone else who gets it," Stan said as he patted Derrick on the back at their understanding for one another. They shared a light laugh together as they continued following through the cave.

Although the two had been whispering, it was still loud enough for Dipper to easily overhear from behind them. Not that he cared, as he was already well aware of both of their stances. Instead, he placidly kept any comebacks to himself. Not that he was in the right mood for it anyway, as he had managed to bruise his knee pretty badly on their climb. It wasn't bad enough to make a fuss about, but the pain still forced him into a limp, which he had remained silent about the rest of the climb.

"You okay, Dipper?" Evan asked beside him.

"I'm fine," Dipper replied in a somewhat bitter tone.

"You're limping a bit there," Evan noticed. "I have first aid in my satchel if you need it."

"It's just a limp. I'll be fine," Dipper denied, his tone still resentful.

"If you say so," Evan shrugged off, taking his word for it. "But look, Dipper, I know I've already said it before, but I really want to thank you again for bringing me along. Being able to actually do something with all my knowledge of Gravity Falls anomalies just feels so rewarding."

"I'm sure it does," Dipper replied with a shrug.

"And your great uncle Stanford. Man, he's one of the coolest people I've ever met," Evan claimed. "So wise and smart, and now he wants me to actually work with him on even more adventures and projects! I mean, I didn't think I would be able to impress him that easily."

Dipper sighed. "Well, you can do a lot for your age. Someone as old as he is can see what kind of skill you have."

"Yeah, he mentioned that after spending the past few years adventuring with his brother, he feels he's getting too old for this type of adventuring," Evan brought up, which caught Dipper's attention. "Says perhaps he'll retire and end up teaching a young apprentice. And I was thinking how awesome it'd be if he offered that to me."

That statement caused Dipper to stop in place, eyes bulged in shock.

"Like, what twelve-year-old wouldn't take that, right?" Evan asked.

Dipper's shock quickly began to dissolve into anger, fists tightening as he listened to Evan go on.

"But Dipper, you're…"

"I'm what? A fool? A moron? An idiot?" Dipper snapped, turning toward Evan with a vexed expression. "For not taking his apprenticeship? You know what, maybe I am. Maybe I should've taken that apprenticeship. There are days that pass where I wonder what that life would've been like. A kid traveling the world with his awesome great uncle. Sounds amazing, doesn't it? I still wonder if I'd ever have that opportunity again. But I suppose that's just about off the table now because I invited a kid who's better with tech and knows more about anomalies than I do. Learned everything he knows from the comfort of his own room. Guess that's my fault for being selfless. That's usually what costs me these opportunities anyway. I could've been selfish and not have invited you at all. Maybe then, Ford would still see something valuable in me instead of putting me aside and considering recruitment of another twelve-year-old who isn't even family. So you're right, Evan. Whether a fool, moron, idiot, or all of the above, you're right. I'm all of those things."

After a moment of silence, Dipper was only just starting to process everything he had just vented out to Evan, realizing he had just let himself go without thinking. He was unsure whether to feel like he was in the right to have said what he did or whether he had just done something really stupid. Judging by Evan's mixed look of confusion and sorrow, he was leaning toward the latter.

Evan paused for a moment. "Lucky. I was trying to say you're lucky, Dipper. Not a fool, moron, or idiot. You're lucky to have Ford as a great uncle. He's been going on about how great and smart you are and how you're so much like him when he was a kid. He even said that you declined his apprenticeship years ago, but that it'll always be an option because you're family and he wants to pass on his greatest knowledge of anomalies to the person he can trust most with it. And you're lucky to have a figure like that who sees you with such value. My parents, they call me smart, but they would rather I invest my skills in a normal job like tech support or internet security than hunting anomalies. I may have just met him today, but Ford is the kind of person I want to grow up to be. And I'm sure he's what you want to be or wanted to be at some point too, and so you're just lucky to have someone so closely related to you be so supportive of that."

As Dipper listened on, the guilt came rushing in on him. He suddenly knew that he was the real villain. The real threat. Scolding an innocent child with innocent ambitions and dreams. Evan was like him, and it was almost like scolding his twelve-year-old self simply for being his twelve-year-old self. It was unfair, unjust, and unlike him to act such a way.

Evan sighed sadly. "The last thing I wanted to do today was make you or anyone else feel bad. Or even make you feel like I'm replacing you, for that matter. You're right. He's your great uncle in the end, so it's probably best I keep my distance," he claimed as he began walking back down with his satchel. He looked back once more with nothing but sorrow, crushed dreams in his eyes. "I'm sorry for the trouble, Dipper."

Dipper was left open-mouthed, mind racing with guilty thoughts as he tried to make out apologetic words with his agape mouth. He held his arm out desperately. "W-wait...Evan…"

He couldn't stop him though. Evan continued glumly making his way back down the mountain, bailing on the adventure. Dipper was left to simply stare on with a face of pure guilt for what he knew was the stupidest possible actions, perhaps, of his entire life.

"Oh man," he said with a regretful facepalm. "What have I done?"

It was the latter.

Hello. It's been a while.

I've already done this song and dance for too many chapters already, so to sum up my absence: college, getting sick, and another reason I think I'll wait to confess when I finish this episode next part. But here I am, after all this time, still dedicated to working on this story.

Anyways, lots going on. There was violence, there was a bit of arguing, there was child scolding, there was Ford kicking ass in an exoskeleton armored suit - what else could be better?

Lots of things, actually, but I'll just move onto the reviews for now.

fereality - You were very on point with your guess. Thank you for the kind words.

The Red Werewolf - I'm glad Gideon has become likable in this story. Lets me know his redemption arc is taking effect. I enjoy your theories by the way. I think you'll be pleased with what's ahead.

jg2016 - Agreed. I want to give the characters I've introduced a lot of opportunities to show their dynamic with other characters and really characterize them in the narrative and how they end up impacting other characters and such. I wouldn't introduce a new major character for no reason or point.

Scarve - By the end of this chapter, jealousy probably won't be too fun after all, heheh. I know this was in reference to last chapter, but considering I got sick again, I am doing better now, thank you.

Hourglass Cipher - Yuri was made to be incredibly unlikeable, so I'd say your feelings are valid.

So this chapter still goes over 10k words, but ever so slightly. I'm trying to learn how to conserve word count a bit and I'm doing so by making chapters more dialogue focused. This chapter is the first example of that effort, so let me know if it works out for y'all or if the extra info and character thoughts I typically added in prior chapters made the storytelling better.

Anyhow, I'll finally wrap this episode up next chapter. Not gonna promise how long that'll take to finish, but just know I'm still trying as hard as I can.

If you're still reading, thank you for your patience and thank you for sticking around.

Until next time.

-Absolute Rift