The group of would-be rescuers were experiencing a new setback.

"You are not driving, young lady." Ford pushed Wendy away from the driver's door. "Do you even have a license?"

"Do you even remember how to drive?" Wendy shot back, shoving her way back in front of it. "You probably haven't been in a car for thirty years!"

Ford reddened a little. "That's immaterial! Besides, I borrowed Stanley's car earlier this week, and brought it back intact!"

Dipper...decided to refrain from comment on his uncle's driving techniques. They had both been lucky not to encounter any other cars on the road, let's just leave it at that.

"Besides, I am the oldest one here, that gives me precedence!"

"That is such bull-"

"GUYS, IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO DRIVES!" Dipper reminded them, at top volume. "We need to focus on getting to Mabel!"

Ford and Wendy both gave him startled stares...and then each took a deep breath.

"You're right, my boy," Ford said at last. He stepped away from the door. "Go ahead."

Wendy looked surprised, but lightly punched him in the arm and smiled.

"Thanks, dude."

Surprisingly, the car had plenty of gas, and while it probably needed an oil change it was functioning well enough.

Soon they were speeding out into the wasteland, with Ford in the passenger's seat and Dipper in the back.

"...Any chance we could go around the weirdness bubbles?" Dipper ventured hesitantly.

"Unfortunately, not in any way that wouldn't be time-consuming." Ford grimaced as they came up on a giant green bubble. "Everyone, brace yourselves!"

Wendy stepped on the gas, and they went speeding inside.

There was a flash of light-

-and when Ford looked down at his hands, to his alarm they were all bone! And he appeared to be wearing some kind of long red robe with a hood on top!

"Aaagh!" Ford whipped his head around to check on Wendy-

Who was now blue, with a pink tuft on top of her head where her hair ought to be, while her face had become oddly horse-shaped. She glanced over at him, and began screaming too.

He barely had time to see that Dipper was now covered in orange fur and was wearing a big green hat with a star on it, before they burst out of the bubble.

Dipper rubbed his face frantically. "That was horrible!"

"Don't dwell on it too long, dude-there's more coming!" Wendy warned.

The car burst through three more bubbles at top speed, and the little group went through three more metamorphoses-

-Ford found himself with thick golden-brown fur and what felt like wings on his back, while Wendy appeared to be an anthropomorphic fox and Dipper looked like a centaur except with a deer's body-

-All three of them were suddenly black, with white faces and bright red noses and long, doglike ears-

-Ford and Dipper were suddenly both bald, with blue arrow tattoos on their foreheads, while Wendy's hair was done into an elaborate braid-

-and finally the car was in an open part of the plain.

Ford dug his hands through his hair in relief. And then realized that there was an enormous canyon in front of them. The car came to a slow halt about ten feet away from the edge of it.

"...I bet I can jump that," Wendy finally said.

Ford grabbed her wrist before she could readjust the clutch. "Don't even think about it."

She groaned in annoyance. "Okay, then what's your bright idea for getting us across?"

Ford produced his magnet gun, pointing it out the window towards the chain attached to Mabel's bubble...and discovered that it was out of range.

He carefully avoided looking at the children. "Just give me a moment to think."

Ford stepped out of the car, and began pacing.

Dipper climbed out, and made his way to the edge of the canyon.

He peered over it, in the (probably futile) hope that there would be a rope ladder or something.

Instead, there was just a long drop into darkness, and a few flickers that looked vaguely like something moving down there.

...Really wish we had Mabel's grappling hook right about now.

There was the sound of racing footsteps behind him, and suddenly a hand grabbed the collar of his vest and yanked him back.

"I wasn't going to fall!" he protested, knowing who it was without having to look.

"You don't know that for certain." Ford continued towing him towards the car. "I'm not taking any risks with your safety."

Dipper slipped out of his vest, and stumbled out of reach before Ford could grab him again. "I was looking for a way to get across! You don't have to start babying me just because we're in the apocalypse together!"

Ford's eyebrows drew together. "I'm not trying to baby you!"

"Yes you are! You won't let me do anything anymore!"

"Uh, guys?" Wendy called.

Neither of them paid attention to her. Or to the clanking noises echoing from the canyon, becoming increasingly loud.

"You had no problem bringing me to an alien crash site where all the aliens were only 'probably' dead, but now you act like if I do anything even a little bit dangerous I'm going to get myself killed!"

"I'm just trying not to lose the one member of my family I have left-!"

"GUYS!"

They finally registered the enormous shape climbing out of the canyon.

It looked something like a cross between a tyrannosaurus rex and an octopus, with the enormous dinosaur's head and body, but instead of the tiny arms it had multiple enormous tentacles, which apparently were capable of pulling it up the side of a rock wall.

Ford grabbed for his gun, but a second later one of the tentacles had grabbed him, pinning his arms to his sides, and lifted him into the air.

"NO!"

Dipper tried to grab his uncle, only to get seized by another tentacle.

And in another second Wendy had been snatched up too, and all three of them lifted towards the beast's horrible, tooth filled mouth-

-which opened, and a wizened old man with giant green glasses stepped out onto its extended tongue.

"You fellers oughta be more careful! There's all kindsa monsters wanderin' around these parts, it ain't safe ta stay out in the open long!"

Dipper couldn't believe his eyes.

"McGucket?!"

His eyes darted towards Ford-who appeared to be even more dumbfounded.

He managed to squirm one arm free, and pushed his hood back, revealing his face. His jaw flapped a little bit as he looked at his old friend.

"...Fiddleford?!"

McGucket blinked, and after a second appeared to recognize him. He looked similarly shocked.

"Stanford? That you?"

Ford nodded slowly.

"Fiddleford-I-"

After a second Fiddleford's mouth spread in a wide grin, showing off his gold tooth.

"Well, shucky darn! Ain't this a small wurld after all!"

It's probably a good thing Fiddleford never joined forces with Entrapta from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Together they would obliviously destroy the world with robots.