Uncharted waters
It had been an hour since Eclipsa, Globgor, and Meteora found the two girls unconscious in the bushes. They had since brought them to the monster temple and had them looked over by a medic. Eclipsa was pacing up and down, anxious for word from the medical staff on the status of their condition. Finally, after some time, the medic came out of the room.
"They'll be fine. There's no sign of any serious injuries, though there are some mild bruising and abrasions, probably from the fall," the medic updated.
"How soon will they be awake?" Eclipsa asked.
"Not long, but I'd take it easy with the questions. If they hit their heads any harder, they would have concussions," the medic advised.
"Thank you. I'll consider that" Eclipsa acknowledged and the medic left, leaving Eclipsa, Globgor, and Meteora alone with the two unconscious girls, who were lying in Eclipsa and Globgor's bed. Meteora then leaped out of Eclipsa's arms and crawled along the bed to examine the girl in the purple hoodie more closely, her curiosity piqued. She started patting the girl's cheek gently with her little hand when she began stirring.
"Carlitos, I'll play later, give me five more minutes," the girl said in a groggy state. She opened her eyes to find not Carlitos, but another, completely different baby, who smiled upon seeing her awaken. While Ronnie Anne did initially want to scream upon seeing Meteora, the baby girl's laughter was too cute to consider any remark of disgust. Instead, Ronnie Anne just stared awkwardly at her until she was lifted away by Eclipsa.
"Don't mind her. She's been curious about you and your companion ever since we brought you here," Eclipsa remarked.
"Where is here, exactly?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"This is the monster temple. My family and I carried you here after we found you unconscious in the bushes. You've been out for more than an hour," Eclipsa explained. At that point, Sid woke up beside Ronnie Anne.
"That was a rough ride. Let's never do that again," Sid suggested. Both girls then noticed that they felt a little sore and decided not to move as much.
"Yes, falling through a dimensional portal will do that to you, dears. If I may be so bold, what possessed you to come barreling through to our world?" Eclipsa inquired.
"We were actually supposed to end up somewhere else but landed here instead. We were looking for someone," Ronnie Anne answered. Judging by Ronnie Anne's tone, Eclipsa knew right away her motivations for finding this someone, as she had seen it before and displayed similar behaviour in her own life.
"So, what's his name?" Eclipsa probed suggestively, which caught Ronnie Anne off guard. "Oh, come now, you don't go charging across dimensions for just anybody. He must mean a whole lot to you if you're willing to go this distance to find him," Eclipsa teased. Ronnie Anne sighed heavily, knowing that Eclipsa got it in one.
"It's Lincoln. Lincoln Loud," Ronnie Anne replied. Eclipsa did some thinking upon hearing that name.
"That sounds familiar. Give me a minute," Eclipsa responded and went to her desk. She punched in a search on the laptop she had been given as part of her work, although it was taking a while. "Do forgive me, I'm still getting the hang of using this thing. Never had these back on Mewni," Eclipsa added.
"My Abuela is the same way. You're in good company," Ronnie Anne assured. After some searching, Eclipsa found what she was looking for, and sported a look of sorrow.
"Oh dear, you girls didn't come from a place called Royal Woods, did you?" Eclipsa quizzed.
"Yeah, I'm Ronnie Anne, and this is Sid," Ronnie Anne replied, aware that introductions hadn't been made yet.
"I see, well your names, this 'Lincoln' person, his many, many sisters, and three others are on the Excalibur database," Eclipsa notified.
"Have they been seen?" Sid pressed.
"One of them is my brother. Please tell me they're OK," Ronnie Anne pleaded.
"Let me finish, dears. These names are on a list of those missing, presumed dead," Eclipsa concluded. A look of utter shock now adorned Sid and Ronnie Anne's faces.
Elsewhere, in Moon's community, the two strangers that River had fished up were resting in separate huts, each next to a fire with their clothes hung out to dry. Moon went to check on the girl that River brought. A blonde, teen girl, not unline Moon's daughter Star, was still sleeping beside the fire, having a blanket to cover the fact that she had to be stripped down to her undies to stave off hypothermia. She was starting to come around. Slowly, she adjusted to her new surroundings, as well as her situation. She got up with a jump upon seeing Moon.
"Take it easy, you've fallen through a dimensional portal, it'll scramble your head. You'll adjust in time if you take it slowly," Moon advised.
"Can you explain to me why I'm in my skivvies right now?" Sam asked, then she let out a small sneeze. "And why I've suddenly got a cold," Sam added. Moon then handed her a small bowl of soup.
"My mother's recipe, it should fix the latter right up. It is to be expected after you and your companion fall into a lake. It was lucky River found you or you both would've surely drowned," Moon answered.
"Guess we owe you one," Sam said gratefully.
"You can start repaying that debt by telling me what you're both doing here. It's obvious you're from another world," Moon suggested.
"Where do I start?" Sam replied, her head still sore.
"From the beginning would be nice," Moon responded. Sam then proceeded to tell her about what happened in Royal Woods, the message she got from Luna telling her she and her siblings were going to find and defeat Bill themselves and her and the others' resolution to find and bring back the Loud family in one piece. From the expression on Moon's face, she thought these actions were those of a reckless bunch of fools, taking on Bill without magic was tantamount to suicide. Still, she could understand the need for revenge, especially after Bill had endangered friends and family on such a massive scale.
"I was told about this. I have been in frequent contact with someone who's recently been to the world you've described. It was he who gave me the dossiers on you and your companions, plus the Loud family," Moon clarified.
"Have they been found?" Sam probed.
"Sadly, no, and interdimensional excursions are off the table, something about rifts interfering with safe dimensional travel. Don't worry, we all have extensive resources at our disposal. If the Louds turn up here, we'll know about it," Moon assured. This put Sam at ease.
"Thanks," Sam said while taking spoonfuls of Moon's soup. "This isn't bad. Could you share the recipe, please? My little brother is always getting colds, pretty much on a three-monthly basis," Sam complimented.
"Sorry, but some of the ingredients may not be found in your world," Moon replied. The two then shared a small chuckle before Moon left the hut. "I'll need to update the captain on your arrival. You should rest up here. Hopefully, we can send you and your friend back by the time you've recovered," Moon guided. Sam, not wanting to walk out in public in just her undies, complied.
In Dimmsdale, Vicky was panicking big time. She had received a phone call from the Turner family a few minutes ago. Thinking that they needed her babysitting services again, she picked up only for Mr. and Mrs. Turner to tell her that Timmy had gone missing and that her services would not be required that day. If that wasn't bad enough, his friend Chloe had also vanished. Vicky knew from the cop shows she would watch when she wasn't torturing her young charges, that if the two kids were missing more than 24 hours, the police would start an investigation into their disappearance. When that happened, they would look into possible reasons why the kids would run away, anything from problems at school, to a bad home-life, or, as Vicky feared, a mean babysitter. If the cops came to that conclusion, she was afraid that she would be hauled into the big house and do a lot of jail time. As a means of hiding her evil nature, she offered to put up missing person posters around town.
"Have you seen these twerps?" Vicky would ask random people over and over again on the street, and the answer was always the same, a hard 'no'. It was only after half an hour of canvassing the neighbourhood that Vicky came to a stark conclusion, no-one had seen either Timmy or Chloe. Vicky was doomed, and she started to cry out in despair.
"HAS ANYONE SEEN THESE TWERPS?!" Vicky exclaimed rather loudly, drawing the attention of everyone present, as they started to walk away from her in fear. All except one, a black-cloaked figure, who instead walked towards her.
"You mean these two? I think I have," the figure replied, taking a poster into his hands. Upon hearing this, Vicky was elated and sweet relief flooded her being. If she could get this guy's help in tracking the missing kids before the cops got involved, she would be saved.
"Please, you have to tell me, where are they?" Vicky pleaded.
"Uh uh uh, not so fast. My help has a price," the figure teased. Vicky then got out her wallet.
"You want money? I can pay anything you want. Just please help me get these poor, innocent kids back to their loving parents," Vicky did her best 'angelic, do-no-wrong, caring babysitter' routine. The figure was having none of it.
"Oh please, drop the act. It's sickening. I know what you are. You're a sadistic, torturous, inhuman monster who loves spreading misery to all the kids in town. I'm not judging. Far from it, I'm actually impressed. You remind me of…well, me. Looking at you is like looking into a mirror, and I like what I see," the figure complimented.
"Errrrr…thanks. Who are you?" Vicky inquired, confused as to who was addressing her and how he knew about Vicky's dark side.
"Oh, where are my manners, Vicky. Name's Bill, and I'd like to help you find these two kiddly-winks. I'm looking for them too, so how about this. Instead of bringing…..Timmy and Chloe, was it? Instead of bringing those two back here, how about you bring them to me?" Bill bargained.
"What do you want with them?" Vicky asked.
"I need to get somewhere and only they can help me. I can offer power, glory, and infinite chances to make people's lives totally miserable in return. But don't take my word for it. How about I show you," Bill offered. He took out his hand and Vicky took it. The second their hands made contact, Vicky was shown a vision of what Bill did during Weirdmageddon. She saw the eye-bats turning people to stone as they ran, a small boy dressed in a stupid costume doing cute dances in a birdcage.
"I'm especially proud of that one," Bill commented. Last, but not least, Vicky saw the Throne of Agony.
"This is the world you want to create?" Vicky probed.
"Yep, and there's a place for you in it. So what do you say? In or out?" Bill replied. Vicky liked what she saw, or at the very least, did not want to get on this guy's bad side.
"I'm in. If we're going to find Turner, we'll need help, and I think I know who to ask," Vicky accepted Bill's offer.
At the Crocker household, Denzel had just got back from his dismal teaching job and was looking over the fairy monitors in his secret lair. He was frustrated to find nothing. Usually, they would pick up some magic use, and they did, for a brief moment or two, at the Turner household, where it always did, but aside from those instances, he had diddly-squat, and he had magic detectors all over Dimmsdale. He prayed no-one found out about those or he would be in serious trouble. Also, there had been no sign of Timmy or Chloe for a while now. While Crocker wouldn't shed a tear for Timmy's welfare, he was Crocker's key to proving the existence of fairies, plus if anything happened to Timmy and Chloe, Crocker's teaching job could be in jeopardy.
"Well, Turner, isn't this predictable. The moment a school project is set, you go AWOL. At least it's better than your 'Kent Quasar' routine. Doubtless you wished to disappear with the help of your FAIRIES! I'll find you somehow," Crocker resolved. Just then, a voice Crocker hated so much rang across the lair.
"Denzel. You said you would take me to my bridge game today," Mrs. Crocker called out.
"MOTHER! Can't you see I'm busy stalking children! Just take a cab!" Crocker yelled back.
"Seriously? This basket case is who'll find Timmy and Chloe for us?" came another voice replacing Crocker's mother's voice. Crocker thought this was really odd. He turned around to find a teenage girl Crocker recognised as Vicky, accompanied by a cloaked figure in his lair.
"What the….who the devil are you?!" Crocker interrogated.
"Name's Bill, and I see here you're trying to track Turner and his girlfriend. Hate to break it to you, but they're not here, or anywhere on this world," Bill replied.
"You didn't kill them, did you?" Crocker probed.
"What kinda sicko do you take me for? No, I didn't kill them. Why would I? They're of much better use to me alive. I need those two to get me to Fairy World, but I'll need some help retrieving them," Bill explained. The mention of Fairy World got Crocker's attention. To anyone else, this guy would sound like a crackpot. To Crocker, he was his best hope of proving the existence of fairies to the world.
"I'm guessing this is why you came to me?" Crocker asked.
"You're the closest thing to a fairy expert around these parts. Here's the deal, get me Turner and his squeeze and I'll get you into Fairy World. You can take all the evidence you want of the existence of Fairy World and its inhabitants before another associate of mine destroys the place for good. Turner and Carmichael will be defenceless and you can take your sweet time torturing them in the new world order I plan to create. In or out?" Bill bargained. Crocker thought about this for a moment. It sounded too good to be true, but everything about this guy told Crocker that he knew more about this stuff than even he did. The total destruction of fairies and their world would render Crocker incapable of exploiting their powers for his personal use, but if it deprived Turner of his only line of defence, he saw no problems with it.
"Alright, I'm in. Where do we start?" Crocker inquired. Bill then conjured Crocker's van into the lair.
"I've enchanted your charming little vehicle to take you and Vicky to the world Timmy and Chloe ended up in. They have no means of returning home since magic is dead and their fairies can't help them, so capturing them shouldn't be too hard. Take whatever you need from here now, because this is a one-way trip. Call me when you have him," Bill explained and gave Vicky and Crocker an orb-like device each. "Give that a squeeze in your hand and I'll come running. It, like myself, draws its power from another realm entirely which is still very much intact," Bill added.
"What will you be doing?" Vicky quizzed.
"Looking into a possible fallback solution in case this doesn't work, but I'm sure it will. I didn't get this far by being careless," Bill responded. Vicky and Crocker then took some tracking equipment from the lair and got into the van. Once Crocker started it up, a portal to another world appeared in front of them.
"Off we go, then," Crocker commented and drove through the portal.
At the Pines family home, Dipper, Mabel, Pacifica, and Mermando were all hands on deck, ready for anything that could happen. A few minutes ago, Dipper received an update from Excalibur HQ that Bill Cipher was on the move. It was currently unknown what his objective is or where and when he will strike, but Albert was adamant that an attack was imminent. Mermando shared this development with his father, King Typho, who was able to spur the other five Kings of the Seven Seas into battle readiness. Even Acting King Adriat, who was filling in for the deposed and imprisoned King Gulf, lent Typho some of his forces, while the rest kept an eye on Gulf in his prison cell. The four kids were speculating what Bill's next move would be over some cool drinks in the front yard.
"You don't think he'll move on Gravity Falls again, do you?" Mabel wondered.
"Anything's possible. Bill is unpredictable, we all know that," Dipper responded.
"He'll probably try and gain allies first. Or at the very least, use those who try to curry favour with him," Pacifica suggested.
"But he has no friends here. Who would he coerce?" Mermando asked.
"Trust me, Bill has ways of convincing people to make deals with him," Dipper cautioned, recalling his own experience with the dream demon.
"I'm more worried about this new form he's taken on. The way Albert described him, he's become some sort of dark sorcerer instead of the triangle demon we fought," Mabel said in a worried tone.
"Yeah, he's a different beast from the one we've faced. That could present some challenges," Dipper mused.
"Whatever, we've beaten him before, we'll do it again, even without magic," Pacifica assured. Dipper then gave his girlfriend a warm smile, but then he noticed something in the sky. It looked like a ball of fire, and unless Dipper needed an eye test, it was coming right for them. The fireball landed a few feet outside the front of the house, and from its initial impact, a ring of fire encircled the entire house, making the group jump out of their seats with a start.
"OK, what is this?!" Dipper queried in a panicked tone. Dipper could make out two shadows in the fire, and soon enough, the fire split in two to let the bearers of those shadows in to meet them. One teenage girl and an older man, who Dipper guessed was her father, faced the group.
"This is our opposition? This is who Bill wants us to obliterate? Very underwhelming, I must say, but it's been too long since I've destroyed something, so I guess this will do, for now," the girl greeted.
"Come now, dear, you're doing it again, showing up at someone's door and not introducing us before annihilating them," the man said menacingly.
"Fine. I'm Azula, this is my father, Ozai, and we'll be your executioners for the day. Any last words?" Azula asked, not really interested in anything the Pines had to say. Pacifica stepped forward to address Azula.
"Wait, he's your father?" Pacifica observed.
"Er, yeah, I just said that, blondie. Would you like to point out anything else that's obvious? Maybe you'd like to tell us this fire is hot, that we look scary, or that you're all about to die?!" Azula mocked.
"I'm guessing from the looks of him, that he's not the nicest guy in the world," Pacifica stated.
"Pacifica, what are you doing?" Dipper pleaded with her to stand down, but Pacifica would not budge.
"Princess Obvious strikes again. This is getting tiresome, so I'll just turn you to ash now and call it a day," Azula teased.
"You also probably had a rough childhood, due in some small part to your father," Pacifica guessed.
"At least she didn't turn out to be a massive disappointment, unlike my son," Ozai interjected.
"I think I know what your game is. I've seen too many like you at the clinic. You're trying to get me to open up about my traumatic childhood, in the hopes of healing my psyche and making me into a better person. It was useless then and it's useless now," Azula dismissed.
"I was going to say that I know what it's like to have the man you're supposed to look up to most abuse you in terrible ways. My father was always controlling, barely let me out anywhere unless it was either with him and mum or children of his rich friends that he approved of, and he would always show me off as if I was some kind of trophy, like my mum was, and it also took weeks of therapy to get over my fear of bells," Pacifica confided.
"Pacifica, you can't reason with crazy," Mabel tried to get Pacifica to back off. Again, she stood her ground.
"Is this going anywhere?" Azula probed.
"What I'm trying to say is that you can be better than this. If I could reject my father's ways and become a better person, you can too. Look at me, I have an amazing family that loves me and that I love back. I have everything I ever want here. I can help you find the peace you likely never had if you let me," Pacifica offered. Azula thought about Pacifica's words. She had heard similar words from the 'healers' at the clinic Azula was confined to after she lost her throne.
"What are we waiting for? Let's roast them and be done with it," Ozai pressed, but Azula outstretched her arm to stop him.
"You're right. I can be better," Azula responded. Pacifica then held out her hand. Azula did not take it. "But I don't want to be," Azula added and shot a fire blast straight at her. It was only thanks to Dipper diving across and getting Pacifica out of the way that she wasn't burned alive. Dipper's vest did catch fire, causing him to take it off quickly and stamp the fire out with his foot.
"Oh man, that was my best one," Dipper remarked. Azula then advanced on them both, blue fires roaring from her hands.
"Bill Cipher sends his regards," Azula said before preparing to attack again. Dipper made to shield Pacifica from the coming attack, ready to take whatever she could dish out. He braced himself for the scorching pain, only what happened next took everyone by surprise. Azula was knocked back, and when Dipper turned to look, he saw a woman, standing in front of them, in what looked like a battle position. She wore mostly blue, in what looked like eskimo attire, and had short, dark hair. She then appeared to lift a mound of earth from the front yard with her mind and lob it at Azula, who could only dodge and evade the woman's earth and fire attacks, something that Dipper had never seen before.
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" the woman taunted. She then threw punches and from her fists came out fire and, Dipper wasn't sure but he could feel it, sharp, swift bursts of wind. Mabel and Mermando then came running towards him.
"Thank that guy for us, will you?" Mabel requested. She jerked her thumb towards a battle taking place between Azula's father and a teenage boy, who was sporting a monk's garb and was noticeably bald. He too was bending elements such as air and fire at Ozai, who was blocking and evading as he saw fit. If there wasn't a pitched battle going on, Dipper would ask these people many questions. Seeing that the ring of fire had vanished, Dipper took advantage of this opportunity to plan a hasty retreat.
"I think that's our cue to bolt," Dipper observed. He took out a device from his shorts pocket and pressed a button on it. This summoned a self-driving SUV from the garage to their current location. "Excalibur escape vehicle. Useful in emergencies," Dipper explained. The doors flew open and they all got in. Meanwhile, the battles between Korra and Azula, and Aang and Ozai still raged on.
"We can't just leave them," Mabel resolved.
"From the looks of things, I'd say they can handle themselves," Pacifica countered.
"I'm more concerned about the collateral damage," Dipper stated. He then activated a comm signal inside the vehicle. "Hello? Captain? We need help here," Dipper tried to call Albert. At Excalibur HQ, Albert was discussing possible next steps with Danny and Skulker when his yeoman notified him of a last-minute development.
"Captain, an Excalibur escape vehicle has been activated," the yeoman notified.
"Which one?" Albert inquired.
"Pines residence. Dipper is on the emergency line," the yeoman answered.
"Notify King Typho and put Dipper through," Albert ordered. The yeoman did as she was told and Albert was through to Dipper. "Is everyone alright?" Albert asked, concerned for the safety of his charges.
"We're fine. We would've been burn marks on the sidewalk if it weren't for your agents," Dipper updated. Albert was seriously confused.
"I didn't send anybody," Albert corrected.
"What? Then who were those two that just saved our bacon?" Dipper probed. Now Albert wanted answers.
"Get me visual on the Pines home," Albert instructed. Images then appeared of surveillance footage of the residence, and Albert saw for himself the battle taking place there. "How is that possible? Magic is supposed to be dead, how are they doing all that?" Albert asked himself with a hint of confusion.
"Ask us like we know. We're just as confused as you are," Dipper answered.
"Just get out of there. Atlantean soldiers are en route to subdue the attackers. We can solve this riddle another time," Albert urged.
"Don't need to tell us twice," Mermando replied. Dipper then activated the auto-pilot, and a holo image of a driver appeared in the driver's seat. The auto-pilot had only one programmed destination; Excalibur HQ. Albert provided those at most risk of Bill attacks with these vehicles as an escape plan should something like this occur. Only three were given, one to the Pines, one to the Diaz family, and the other to the Flynn-Fletcher home, and each had trackers so Albert could keep an eye on them should they be used. As if on cue, Atlantean soldiers in mech suits shot up from the nearby stream and drew their tridents, King Typho and Queen Mariana taking the lead.
"Cease hostilities!" Typho demanded. He engaged Ozai, while Mariana took Azula. Aang and Korra were surprised by this development but welcomed it nonetheless. Together, they had Azula and Ozai surrounded. Ozai tried firing off a lightning bolt, but Atlantean tridents acted as lightning rods. The lightning hit the tip of the trident and passed harmlessly through the weapon and into the ground. Fire attacks could not damage the orichalcum suits they were wearing, so Azula and Ozai were out of options.
"Surrender, now!" Aang demanded. Ozai merely chuckled.
"If you could see what's coming, you'll regret not killing me on that rock," Ozai responded. He and Azula summoned a wall of fire encircling the pair and when it vanished, the two were gone to who-knows-where.
"Where'd they go?" Korra asked.
"More importantly, where are those kids?" Aang questioned. Typho then approached the pair.
"They took off in that escape vehicle during the battle. You have my thanks for saving my son along with his friends and lover, but they will need your continued protection. I fear this is not the end," Typho replied.
"We'll do that. I think those kids have answers we've been looking for. Thanks for the help," Korra said gratefully and she and Aang summoned air scooters and left to find the vehicle containing Dipper, Mabel, Pacifica, and Mermando. It did not take them long to catch up with the escape vehicle. Dipper could see Aang from the car window. He rolled it down to talk to him.
"Need a ride?" Dipper inquired. He opened up the sunroof for Aang and Korra to jump in, which they did easily, and they took seats in the back. "That was an impressive display back there. Thanks for saving our necks," Dipper complimented.
"No biggie, we do it all the time," Aang replied. After everyone introduced themselves, Dipper got straight to the point.
"I take it you have questions, the same as us?" Dipper probed.
"We came here to find someone, and he isn't someone we'd call a friend," Korra summarised.
"I think we can guess who you're here for. It's time we exchanged stories," Mabel stated.
"Well, we've got time. Where do we start?" Dipper quizzed. Before discussions could begin, the comm system in the vehicle went off. Dipper answered it to find Albert on the other end. He appeared on a screen just above the car radio.
"King Typho told me what happened. He also tells me he sent your rescuers your way. I take it that's them?" Albert asked, seeing Aang and Korra in the vehicle with his charges.
"Yep, that's Aang, this is Korra and they're from another world. They came here to search for Bill," Dipper updated. Aang and Korra were amazed by the fact that this world has technology that allows for this level of communication.
"Can he see and hear us?" Aang inquired.
"Yes, I can. I take it the world you're from doesn't have the 'advances' we do," Albert guessed.
"In my time, we've only just invented the radio," Korra replied. The others were now very uneasy. Excalibur had rules about contact with beings from other worlds, namely that you never introduce modern technology to less advanced civilisations. He had a hard enough time convincing the Round Table to let him teach Moon and Eclipsa how to use a laptop. Albert got lucky when he went to Royal Woods. This time, he was treading on thin ice.
"This isn't the first world we've seen with this level of technological sophistication. Believe me, I prefer things the way they are in my world. The teens of these worlds spend far too much time on those handheld devices of theirs. They barely look up, even when they're walking around," Aang interjected.
"You'll find plenty of parents in this world that agree with your assessment, Aang. I'm not sure if you know the situation is here but I'll do my best to explain…" Albert began when he got a notification on his desk. "…..oh, what now?" Albert said. A quick look at the update put Albert in a state of disbelief. "I don't believe this," Albert remarked.
"What's happening?" Dipper probed.
"Our satellites have picked up a space vessel approaching the planet. 3000 miles and closing. It's almost here. This needs my attention. You'll have to bring our newcomers up to speed," Albert updated and terminated the call.
At the edge of the system, the space vessel in question just passed by Uranus and was expected to reach Earth in half an hour. The occupants were in awe at the view, for it was the case that it was the first time that Milo, Melissa, Zack, Cavendish, and Dakota saw their solar system in this way. Doofenshmirtz and Perry had been to space before, but they much preferred the view from the ground.
"It was really nice of the Octalians to give us the fastest ship in their fleet. Only took us two weeks to get back home," Milo observed.
"Wonder how we're going to explain this disappearance to everyone. The whole 'abducted by aliens' excuse will never work on Principal Milder," Melissa wondered.
"We could just ask Excalibur to provide a cover story. Isn't that what they're best at?" Dakota suggested.
"Not a bad idea, though I am loathed to owe them anything," Cavendish replied.
"Besides, we don't have them on speed dial. The plan needs to be thought out. We need a strategy," Zack pressed.
"Come on, Zack, you of all people should know that plans and strategies tend to fall apart around me, along with everything else," Milo joked.
"But not here, thanks to those suppressors the Octalians cooked up," Zack countered. The people of Octalia teamed up with Doofenshmirtz to invent negative probability ion suppressors, and deployed the prototype on the ship that carried the humans, platypus, and abomination human-platypus hybrid, back to Earth on auto-pilot. They would later send a probe to determine how effective it was and use the data to build more complete versions of the technology.
"Well, whatever we do, the first thing on the agenda, when I get back, is spending time with Amanda. She must be worried sick," Milo resolved.
"Yeah, we should touch base with the family upon our arrival. There will be many questions. That is not something I'm looking forward to," Melissa said with a hint of dread.
"What's wrong with giving Murphy's Law as an excuse?" Doofenshmirtz inquired.
"They might decide Milo's a liability to our long-term safety and move us both away," Zack answered.
"Yeah, I'm gonna go with Dakota's suggestion on this one," Melissa rebuffed. But before anyone could say anything else, alarms started going off and the ship lost control.
"About those suppressors," Zack piped up.
"Yeah, it probably just occurred to me that I shouldn't have used those redundant systems to put in a self-destruct button on each one," Doofenshmirtz responded regretfully.
"You. Idiot!" everyone said at once. Cavenpuss, awakened from his nap by all the commotion, saw what was happening.
"What did I miss now?" Cavenpuss asked.
"Just us about to crash onto that strange planet ahead," Dakota answered.
"Wait, isn't that meant to be Earth? Did you fiddle with the auto-pilot too, you imbecile, Doof?" Cavendish observed.
"Hey, don't look at me! We passed by Mars before we started crashing so this has to be home," Doofenshmirtz rebuked. True, the coordinates were still set for Earth, but something was wrong in everyone else's eyes. In Milo's eyes, however, he saw something strangely familiar.
"Wait. I think I've been here before," Milo guessed. There wasn't time for guesswork as control needed to be restored and soon. At Excalibur HQ, Albert had the unknown craft on radar as it descended towards the surface.
"Track its course. I want to know precisely where it's landing, and send in a clean-up crew after it's touched down," Albert commanded.
"I have it. The craft is on a direct course for the Tri-State Area, sir," his yeoman updated.
"Alert Phineas and Ferb. They'll handle this," Albert ordered. Another blip then came upon the radar all of a sudden.
"Captain, another craft just emerged out of nowhere. It is directly above the atmosphere," the yeoman called.
"I want Phineas and Ferb on the line as soon as those crafts make landfall. Something's going on here," Albert resolved. His attention then shifted to Danny, Sam, and Tucker. "I want you lot to investigate this. Take the speeder, find out what's going on and report back to me, got it?" Albert instructed.
"On it," they all said at once and left on their Fenton speeder towards the Flynn-Fletcher house.
Jimmy's space car emerged from the other side of the portal, in orbit around what should be a parallel Earth, only upon arrival, all noticed that it looked very odd.
"I thought you said we'd be above planet Earth, so where's this?" Carl inquired.
"I double-checked the coordinates five times. According to these readings, we are above a parallel Earth," Jimmy answered.
"Then why does it look like something out of one of Lola's storybooks?" Lana asked.
"Things here must be worse than I thought," Jimmy mused to himself. Just then, something came up on the monitors.
"There's another spacecraft heading towards the planet. It seems to be in a state of severe disrepair," Lisa notified.
"Lifesigns?" Jimmy probed.
"That's the odd bit, they're mostly human, with one platypus on board," Lisa responded.
"It's heading towards the planet on a collision course. Does this thing have a tractor beam?" Cindy suggested. Jimmy fiddled with some controls.
"Here it is," Jimmy said and activated the beam, halting the other craft's crash course. But the beam started flickering on and off. "Don't look at me, I just adjusted the beam emitters when we left," Jimmy remarked.
"I have a better explanation. One of the life signs is emitting large quantities of negative probability ions," Lisa outlined. Jimmy then made some adjustments.
"That should compensate for the ions, but we'll have to descend along with the craft," Jimmy explained. Soon, they and the tractored craft were making their descent to the strange world.
"There, is that a landing pad down below? Looks like someone was expecting us," Lynn observed. There was indeed a landing structure, but the strange part was that it was situated in someone's backyard.
"According to these maps, we should be landing somewhere in the Tri-State Area," Jimmy stated.
"Errrr, yeah, this doesn't look like any Tri-State Area I know," Lori countered. As they looked out of their windows, they saw that the world before them was a lot stranger than their own. Once the two crafts finished their descent, Jimmy opened up the car and they all exited the vehicle. The view from below made even less sense than it did from above. The sky was not your normal blue, but a mix of blue and pink. Something was very wrong here, but before they could look into it further, the occupants of the craft Jimmy had tractored to safety emerged from their space vessel.
"Well, as far as crash landings go, I rate that an 8," Milo quipped.
"Another one to add to the file," Melissa added. It was then that the two groups came face-to-face with each other.
"OK, some introductions are in order," Zack observed, but before anyone else could speak, a robot approached everyone and drew a blaster.
"Command: Identify yourselves, meatbags, or face obliteration!" the robot gave its ultimatum.
At the Diaz residence, Marco and Star were taking in Bobby's story about just how Bill returned from death and Bobby's motivations for coming to this world. He came here to find his girlfriend Lori and her many siblings, and now he had to reunite with his sister Ronnie Anne and the others he came with, Sid, Sam, and Benny. Star made some calls to her mother, Eclipsa, and Excalibur. Once she was done, she returned to Bobby.
"Great news, everyone you came with has been found. Your sister and her friend ended up at Eclipsa's place, and Sam and Benny were fished out of a lake by my dad. They'll be fine," Star assured.
"Awesome, but what about the Louds?" Bobby probed. Star's face fell at hearing this question.
"They still haven't been found yet. I'm sorry, but as soon as either myself or Marco hears anything, we'll let you know," Star replied. While Bobby was glad his sister is safe, he still felt bad about not finding Lori or any of the Loud family. He hoped nothing bad had happened to them. Before he could contemplate any further, a knock from the door turned everyone's attention to the front.
"Expecting anyone?" Marco asked. Everyone shook their heads in a 'negative' response. Cautiously, Marco peeped through the eyehole on the door to see two kids that he had never seen before. Against his better judgement, Marco opened the door to greet them.
"Excuse us, but is this the Diaz residence?" the girl politely asked. Marco nodded in affirmation.
"Good, we need your help," the boy in pink responded. Not wanting to turn them away, Marco let them in. The two kids then explained their situation as best they could, leaving out the part that involved fairies. The two introduced themselves as Timmy Turner and Chloe Carmichael and asked if there was any way that they could be returned home. Star noticed something poking out of Timmy's pocket that reminded her of a bedtime story her mother used to tell her and dragged him aside for a private chat. Once she was sure Marco and the others were out of earshot, Star turned to Timmy.
"What are these?" Star inquired, pulling the wands and crowns out of Timmy's pocket. Timmy grew especially nervous.
"Souvenirs," Timmy lied. Star was not convinced.
"These wouldn't happen to belong to…." Star began, turned her head back and forth to make sure no-one was listening, then started speaking again. "…..F.A.I.R.I.E.S.?" Star spelled out. Timmy was shocked by Star's knowledge of fairies.
"Uh, no. Fairies don't exist. You're sounding like Crocker's star student," Timmy replied defensively. Star then knelt down to his level.
"My mum told me bedtime stories about fairies and their world. Relations between fairies and mewmans, that's me and my kind, have been, shall we say, strained. If these belonged to fairies, that would make you and your girlfriend fairy god-children," Star explained.
"OK, lady, one, Chloe is NOT my girlfriend, and two, it doesn't matter now if we are or we aren't fairy god-children, our fairies are gone anyway. They vanished out of existence as soon as we arrived here," Timmy replied. Star then put two and two together and felt a huge twinge of guilt. Timmy's fairies were likely magical creatures, and such cannot exist where there is no magic to sustain them. Which meant that Timmy and Chloe are stranded here because of the decision she made to destroy magic.
"Magic is dead here, Timmy. That's why your friends vanished. But we have means of getting you home without it. I'm sure if we get you back home safe, your friends will return as well," Star resolved.
"I hope so," Timmy responded.
"Uh, guys?" Chloe called out. Star and Timmy rushed to her side. She was staring out the window at a crowd that was approaching the house. "I think we have company," Chloe concluded. Star and Marco recognised the leader of the pack, and it was someone they never wanted to see again.
"That's not good," Star commented. She and Marco ventured outside to meet the crowd of monsters. Leading them was none other than Toffee and his right-hand lizard, Rasticore.
"Hello, Butterfly. Did you miss me?" Toffee greeted menacingly.
Author's note: OK, if I don't end this here, I probably never will. This turned out way longer than I thought it would. I never thought these ideas would rack up such a high word count. Sorry it took so long, I've been watching The Bad Batch on Disney+, among other things. I also racked my mind trying to stitch all the scenes I wanted to put in this chapter together and it was a struggle. I wanted to make the transitions seamless. In the end, this is what resulted. The usual disclaimers, I own nothing, all properties belong to their respective owners. Enjoy. I may start doing disclaimers this way, as listing the many properties I've included in this story will take too long.