The door was shut, windows blocked, lights extinguished. Dipper breathed heavily as he listened for where his uncle was. He knew he was somewhere in the room, but it was Dipper's task to locate him.

No magical items, only pure talent. Stanford didn't seem to need a conduit for his power, besides his own body, and even that was debatable. Dipper on the other hand, hadn't been practicing not using his amulet, not since he and Mabel had found them. Doing his best to remain calm and focused he breathed out slowly, turning his head side to side to try to visually see his prey.

There was a moment of silence, then the next thing he knew a thin knife flew out from behind him, and slit open his left cheek, blood trickling down from the wound. He yelped and grabbed for the hand that had brandished it, but to his dismay it was gone. His great uncle's voice echoed throughout the dark room, seeming to come from everywhere, "Pathetic." the word made Dipper feel sick to his core. "I gave you at least a minute."

"This isn't fair." Dipper muttered to himself, not daring to say it any louder. Stanford's laugh echoed through the room, colder than any other laugh Dipper had ever heard. "Fair? Who do you think I am Mason?" Dipper froze at the sound of his real name, and spun nearly entirely around. "My name is Dipper." he said sternly, and his uncle's voice added, "Of course Mason."

Dipper closed his eyes, not that it did much, and breathed out through his nose. He opened his mouth to say something else, but decided against it. He held his breath for a minute, trying to hear his uncle. But there was no other sound in the room, and eventually Dipper had to take a breath.

"Where are you?" Dipper snapp*ed after a few repeats. There was no sound to answer him. There was a small whisper that Dipper started hearing a moment later though, and Dipper tried to follow it with his ears. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"Mabel found me when she did this. In half the time you've taken today." Stanford's voice said, cold and distant. Dipper sealed his hands in fists, and said, "Well, I'm sorry I'm not my sister."

Stanford snapped back, "Just because you are not her does not mean you must be weak. Show your strength Mason! Find me! Finish me!" Dipper clenched his jaw together, raising a hand towards the place he thought the voice was coming from. "Good!" Stanford said, and Dipper felt his anger and pride grow. "Just take the shot!"

"With what?!" Dipper asked, in his own subtle version of a shout. A moment later a bright blue light started to gather from the center of his palm, illuminating the dark room. But what Dipper saw made him gasp.

Where the only other person in the room was, there was a creature with coal-like eyes, teeth that were long, sharp, and bright blue, and flames that flickered but were the color of ebony. Dipper stared in wonder and horror at his uncle, who smiled even wider. "Good game Mason. I must admit that I let you win. I just wanted to see if you could do it."

When Dipper's flame died out a moment later the soft lights flickered back on, but Stanford was back in his human form. "Watch out when you sleep." was the next thing Stanford said, before turning around and striding out of the room. Dipper stared in shock at him as Stanford's black coat disappeared from view.

That was ominous... and Dipper wasn't entirely sure he liked that...

Two days later Dipper found himself lying in bed, eyes wide open, staring at the dark ceiling. His uncle's words reverberated through his mind, threatening to overtake his entire body. He wasn't sleeping, and hoped that he would soon, but the thought of what Stanford could do to him in the most defenseless part of existence... Maybe sleep was overrated.

He lifted his left hand up above his face, he tilted it to look at every angle, and focused hard on the palm. Knitting his brow he whispered, "Come on... Where are you magic flame..."

"I would suggest loosening." a voice from behind Dipper said. Dipper kept in a shocked squeal, silently sitting up straight and turning towards the voice. But where he swore the voice had come from there was no one. At least no one Dipper could see.

"Who are you?" he snapped, reaching over to his bedside table and grabbing for his amulet. When he came up empty he hissed softly. "Give that back!" he snapped again, and the voice let out a chuckle, this time still behind Dipper. "Give what back?" the voice, that Dipper didn't recognize, asked, in an attempt to sound innocent. "How do you know that I took whatever it is?"

Dipper glared into the darkness, and snapped, "Because you're the only person to enter in here since I put it down." The voice let out a small chuckle, then said, "Well, are you so sure about that? If I can get in here then this room isn't that heavily protected." Dipper clenched his hands into fists, then hissed, "Were you sent by Stanford?"

"Perhaps." was the voice's answer, one that the young boy didn't find satisfactory. "Yes or no." Dipper said, setting his shoulders. The voice laughed again, and Dipper found a hint of familiarity inside of it. "Do you know my uncle?"

"Naturally."
"What does he want you to do to me?"
"Stanford wants to know your progress. He knows that you're afraid of him."

The moment Dipper heard that he felt his blood run cold. The notion that he was afraid of his uncle was something he'd never contemplated before, but it made sense. But knowing that Stanford knew before even he did was enough to make Dipper squirm. He was known for being fearless, he wasn't even scared of Mabel. He was the one who faced demons without fear, and yet a simple man scared him?

"What are you?" he asked the voice, and when it responded a moment later it was close to his left ear, so close that he could feel it's cold breath. "Me? Oh... you know who I am Mason. Don't try to touch me. I'm not really here Mr. Pines... Go back to your playtoys... Oh, and good luck finding your crutch." Dipper felt his hairs stand on end. He spun around, reaching a hand out to where the voice was supposed to be, but his fingers closed around frigid air.

"Come back!" he shouted, expecting the voice to respond, but it didn't. Instead he was left with looming silence.

All in all, living down in an alien spaceship wasn't the worst experience of Robbie's life. It certainly was no walk in the park, but it was a lot let... annoyingly optimistic as his parents house. Not to get him wrong, he loved his parents, but they were just a bit too bubbly for his taste. After the brief scare with the Shapeshifter (which brouht up some unwanted memories for him... and made Pacifica blush whenever they mentioned it) there was practically no dangerous activities held around those parts.

Discovering that the old dude who was Stan Pines' twin brother's alternate self, and that the actual brother of Stan Pines was back but he was bad and was training Dipper and Mabel... that was something that Robbie still found confusing. He decided to go with 'the man who brought Paz and me here = good' 'other man with six-fingers = bad', and that didn't seem to need editing.

Ford Pines was a cool dude. Not to be confused with Stanford Pines, who was a cold and ruthless killer. Although Ford had mentioned something about accidentally eating a planet once. He knew a lot about Gravity Falls, and a lot more about science. Robbie hoped he'd still be around during the school year, as a cool old tutor would definitely put him above his peers in that regard.

He hung out with Pacifica, Gideon, Shifty, Fiddleford, Ford, and Stan. Not that there was anyone else he could talk to down in the CSO. He helped Ford maneuver around the alien craft, since the man seemed to not be able to stop reopening his stab wound. Pacifica helped brighten up the otherwise dark and dank craft, while Fiddleford worked on making weapons for all of them. Pacifica outright refused to use them, but conceded to having a razor-sharp shield.

Gideon lost a bit of weight, and Robbie made sure he crafted enough time to hang out with the child.

All in all, life was good for Robbie Valentino.

Will watched Stanford closely, the human checking and double-checking calculations about... something. Stanford had always been secretive, but the last thirty years seemed to have made him even more so. He had a plan formulating in his brain no doubt, but about what was another question entirely. Will knew better than to ask him about it, choosing instead to keep in his whimpers from his doggie-bed.

Stanford glanced over at the triangle after one of his cries became audible. His emotionless blue eyes brightened, and he snapped in his cold voice, "Quiet." Will immediately nodded, shivering slightly and silencing his dismay. Stanford sighed, and Will automatically flinched as his master turned back to his work.

"William, do you know why you are in this room?" Stanford asked a moment later. Will gulped, then said, "No sir." Stanford sighed again, throwing a glare over at the demon. "You know the portal." The point of Will's head bent forward for a moment, then Ford continued. "When my niece and Dipper opened the gateway it destabilized a part of the fabric of reality."

Will felt his blood start to pound in his internal ears. Destabilization in the fabric of reality? That sounded incredibly dangerous. Stanford seemed to hear his thoughts, and said, "It is extremely dangerous, and exploitable." He turned towards Will, his eyes glowing. "You see, I've made a few... friends on the other side." A twisted smile spread over his features. "And I'm looking forward to introducing them to my dimension..."

My dearest friends, I have brought this back from its sleep. With a short chapter. Most will probably be around his length.

I'm planting some seeds with Dipper. He'll play a big part in Weirdmageddon. Next chapter we'll actually see some Robbie/everyone interactions next chapter (it can be entirely focused on that if you'd like). And Stanford... He's got some really big plans. Let's see if he can bring them to reality.

Have a great day!

-BrilliantLight