Stranger Than Fiction

by ImpulsiveWeaver

Steve and Robin are always victims of coincidence, whether it's in Hawkins, Indiana or Gravity Falls, Oregon. And in this case, a mishap with a certain stammering time traveler takes them to a time and a place that has its own share of strange and wondrous things. Set in the summer of 1985 after the events of Stranger Things: Season 3. Rated T for a little bit of swearing.

4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A/N: Chapter 4! Enjoy! I own nothing.

Robin roused herself awake and groggily looked over at the alarm clock. The time read ten o'clock on the dot, and for the briefest of moments she began to panic that she had missed her alarm and that they were going to be late for work. The sleep-delayed memory that the Mystery Shack was closed today caused her to freeze in her tracks just as she threw the covers off herself, the noise rousing Steve from his slumber as she sat frozen in embarrassment and annoyance.

Steve blinked a few times, then turned his head to look at the alarm clock as well.

"This isn't gonna become a thing with you, is it?" he asked sleepily.

"Can it, dingus," Robin grumbled, throwing the covers back over herself and turning over.

The room was silent for a moment, then Robin heard the sound of Steve slowly sitting up on his own bed.

"Might as well get up anyway. The twins are supposed to be showing us around town today. We can finally file that police report for that time travel guy."

Robin let out a groan in response, but she tiredly sat back up and began going through the motions of getting ready. Yesterday had been a bit tiring for everyone with all of their confessions and revelations about their own otherworldly pasts and origins. After Steve and Robin had dropped the bombshell about being from the 80s, reactions had been varied to say the least. Some, like Mabel and Soos, had been predictable. The two of them had expressed immediate excitement and began gushing about all the cool things they wanted to show them and all the amazing stories they had to swap.

"No wonder your car is in such great condition for its age!" Soos had exclaimed excitedly. "It's literally brand new!"

Robin did not have the opportunity to shatter Soos's happiness with the news that the car was from a used car lot, as Dipper fainted from excitement at that moment and all attention was immediately diverted to resuscitating him.

Wendy and Melody took the news with relative grace, though Robin could tell that they both were excited and awestruck by the opportunities and uniqueness of it all.

Once everyone had been given a chance to process, Steve and Robin had explained the details of how they had arrived in 2013. Their mention of the guy in the jumpsuit and goggles with the tape measure time machine struck a chord with Dipper and Mabel, as they had apparently had run-ins with that guy in the past…and the future…and the present too, apparently.

"His name is Blendin, Blendin Blenjamin Blandin," Dipper had confirmed. "He's originally from the far future year of 207̃012, which is where the Time Police manage the timeline and repair any damage done to it."

"So, it's his job to fix this, right?" Steve had said, looking like he was doing his best to ignore the fact that the year "207̃012" was actually real. "I mean, us being here has got to be against some kind of time law or something, so he's not just gonna leave us stranded since it's his job…"

"I wouldn't be so sure…" Dipper had replied. He'd briefly left the gift shop to retrieve something, and when he came back, he was holding a sheet of paper in his hands, though it had been yellowed by age and wear, and Dipper held it with extreme care. He also seemed to be holding an old black and white photograph as well, which looked just as old as the paper.

"This letter was written from Blendin to me and Mabel from the year 1883," Dipper had explained as he carefully laid the photograph and paper on the counter. Everyone leaned over curiously, and Robin had immediately recognized one of the faces in the photo as the goggled man in the jumpsuit from the hotel. However, the grainy old photo showed him in a pair of spectacles and with some old-timey suit and tie on with a bowler hat to match. He also wore a mustache.

"That's definitely him," Steve confirmed, frowning down at the man in the picture. "But this letter is gibberish. It's just a jumble of letters."

Robin had seen that he was right. The letters did in fact utilize the English alphabet, but they weren't in any language that Robin had seen before. It didn't seem to follow any phonetic rhyme or reason either.

"That's because he wrote it in code," Dipper explained. "It took me a while, but I was able to finally decipher it."

Dipper had then explained that after the events of Weirdmaggedon (Robin still wasn't sure how she felt about the name), Blendin was stripped of his status on the force, and a dimension-wide warrant was issued for his arrest. His final hiding place was 1883, as his time machine was run over by a train shortly after his arrival.

"So wait," Steve had said, the signs of mental strain beginning to show on his face. "So we are stuck here? How could his time device break again if it was already broken back in the 1800s?"

"The break in 1883 hasn't happened yet, Steve," Robin had explained. "Well, technically it has, but not for Blendin! That means that he does somehow manage to fix it in this time, and hopefully we can find him and hitch a ride back to 1985 before he leaves!"

Steve's head had looked like it was about to explode, and Robin couldn't blame him. All this time travel talk was tough for even her to keep up with, so simplifying it was the best option.

"All we have to do is find him before he fixes his time machine, then we convince him to take us back to the past. Easy."

"Yeah," Steve had mumbled. "Easy…"

Thinking back to yesterday's events now, Robin could only hope that it would be that easy. Their plan was straightforward enough, but finding Blendin would be easier said than done. And how much time did they really have? Robin had no frame of reference for how long it took to repair handheld time machines, and she jokingly chalked that up to another let down by the American school system.

Shaking the memory from her head, Robin groaned and followed Steve's lead in getting ready for the day. After the two of them dressed and showered, they journeyed to the kitchen to find Soos and Melody already up and about.

"Morning, dudes!" Soos said cheerfully. He opted for a simple Mystery Staff shirt and shorts today, as Mr. Mystery would not be needed for tours due to the Shack being closed.

Both Robin and Steve gave him a good morning of their own while they waited for the twins. Soos would have come with them, but he wanted to get a head start on fixing up the Dart as soon as possible. His excuse was so that it would be ready before they found Blendin and fixed the time machine, but Robin had a sneaking suspicion that Soos's level of interest in the vehicle had skyrocketed after finding out it was actually from the 80s, making him all the more eager to begin work on it. Steve had offered to stay behind and help, but Soos insisted that he go with Robin and the twins to file the report, as he had yet to see the actual town of Gravity Falls and should "experience the wonders of the 21st century" while he could.

Melody had some administrative work to do, so she'd declined to go with them as well. Knowing that Steve had a driver's license was enough for Soos to loan him his truck keys for the trip, despite the fact that Steve's license was technically expired for almost three decades now. And even though Steve initially protested that he didn't want to strand Soos or Melody at the Shack without a vehicle, Soos cooly replied that he could always take Stan's El Diablo in an emergency, though apparently Stan threatened a brass knuckle sandwich to anyone who so much as looked at his car wrong.

Robin wasn't still entirely sure what to make of this Stan guy or his twin brother Ford, but she supposed she'd be meeting them soon enough, unless they found Blendin and fixed the time machine before then, which she unfortunately doubted would happen. Steve didn't appear to be that confident that they'd find Blendin quickly either. There wasn't any empirical data to substantiate Robin's doubt, but it had always been her experience that things tended not to go so well when it came to supernatural stuff like this, so she was prepared to assume the worst.

Once Steve and Robin had met up with the twins and had a quick breakfast, the four of them piled into Soos's truck with Steve in the driver's seat. Steve took a moment to get acclimated, as he had never driven an automatic before, then the four of them were off for the short ride into town. The first minute or so was spent in silence, then Dipper spoke up from the back.

"Filing this police report is a good idea, but I hope you guys don't get your hopes up too much. Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland aren't exactly what you'd call 'supercops'."

"And yet again we find that we have another thing in common," Robin said with sarcastic humor. "The Hawkins P.D. isn't exactly much in the way of super sleuths themselves."

"Oh, are the cops in your town also madly in love with each other and didn't make it official until almost everyone knew about it?" Mabel giggled from the back seat.

"Not exactly," Steve replied, bewildered by Mabel's specificity. "But as far as having even a shred of knowledge about what really goes on in Hawkins, they've got nothing."

The rest of the ride was spent in good humor as the four of them joked about the relative uselessness of their local law enforcement, and before they knew it, Dipper had directed them to the Gravity Falls police station.

Walking in, Robin immediately noticed that the station was largely empty, with little to no activity to be found anywhere around them. The only thing that greeted the four of them was a bored-looking desk clerk, who sluggishly took down their description of Blendin and informed them that they'd be in touch if they saw anything that matched his description. When Mabel inquired if Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland were around, the clerk laconically yawned and told them that they were out getting iced lattes together, to which Mabel cooed and mentioned how adorable that was. The clerk did not seem to share the sentiment.

The group quickly realized that there was nothing more to be done at the police station, and the four of them exited less than ten minutes after they'd walked in.

Outside on the sidewalk, excited voices suddenly called out to the group, and Robin turned to see Wendy approaching, sauntering like she hadn't a care in the world. Tagging along with her were two younger teenagers that Robin didn't recognize, one of which possessed a slight frame with long black hair and round glasses perched high on her nose. In contrast, the other was taller with broad shoulders and light brown hair done up in a ponytail.

Upon seeing the two younger girls, Mabel gave a giddy squeal and bounded over to them, seemingly well acquainted already, and the two girls matched her energy at once.

"Yes! I'm so glad you guys are here!" Mabel said excitedly.

"Of course, Mabel," said the smaller girl in glasses in a slightly accented voice. "We would never miss seeing the time travelers firsthand!"

"Agreed!" the larger girl said in a much louder and deeper voice than Robin had been expecting, which was definitely saying something since she'd already been expecting loud and deep.

"Steve and Robin," Mabel said, turning and displaying her two friends to the older teenagers. "Meet Candy and Grenda, my two co-pilots on this never-ending roller coaster of life!"

Introductions were made amicably, though Robin immediately noticed the twinkle in the two newcomers' eyes as they looked upon Steve for the first time. Robin had to bite the inside of her cheek to avoid laughter as the one called Candy blushed and mumbled something in what Robin thought sounded like Korean. The one called Grenda took one look at Steve, and immediately spoke up.

"His hair is long and luxurious like Marius's. My separation anxiety is flaring up!"

Robin had no idea who this Marius person was supposed to be, but she cast a sidelong glance over at Steve, whose shoulders had slumped annoyedly at the realization that Mabel was not the only thirteen-year-old girl that was now expressing interest in him. Robin could not keep the smile from her face as he returned her look, and Steve's response was to shake his head and clench his jaw in obvious exasperation.

"Wait a second," Dipper spoke up, his voice betraying his worry. "Mabel, you told Candy and Grenda about them? I thought we agreed not to tell anyone!"

"There are no secrets between me and my girls, Dipper!" Mabel replied sternly. "Besides, I made them swear on their honor as my friends never to tell a soul!"

"My subtlety is my strength!" Grenda said with enough volume that it echoed down the street.

"As a bonus, they can help us look for the time travel guy!" Mabel cheerily added. "With them by our side, we'll find Blendin in no time!"

"Yes. Mission: Search and Destroy!" Candy said resolutely, surprising everyone by pulling a switchblade from her skirt pocket and brandishing it proudly.

"Hehe, she's just kidding!" Mabel nervously said, before whispering something about a "misunderstanding" to both of her two friends.

"Ah! Sorry! My blade will stay hungry instead."

Robin tried not to let her nervousness show at having two additional people in town that knew that her and Steve were not from this time period, but a scan of Dipper and Wendy's faces told her that they thought the younger girls could be trusted, so she took a deep breath and let her shoulders relax. A reassuring look from Steve in the next moment helped as well.

"Well, since we're all here, I think it's best if we split up and search around town for any sign of Blendin," Dipper said, retrieving a map from his backpack he'd brought with him and unfolding it to reveal a bird's eye view of the town.

"Knowing Blendin, he doesn't have the skills to survive out in the forest on his own, and he's going to need parts and tools in order to repair his time machine. So with that in mind, I'd say our best bet of finding him would be to start in the populated areas and work our way out from there. Anybody have any objections?"

The plan seemed like a good place to start, so Robin said nothing and gave an affirming nod with her head. No one else seemed to have any objections either.

"Perfect, looks like there's enough to make about three groups, so—"

"Got my group all stocked and ready to go, Dippingsauce!" Mabel said, holding out her hands and receiving synchronized high-fives from Candy and Grenda. "We out like a trout!"

The three girls then turned around and ran down the sidewalk and out of sight, feeding off each other's bottomless energy like some kind of perpetual generator. Robin secretly felt a touch of relief that they hadn't paired her with them, as she doubted she'd be able to keep up.

"Alright, well, looks like Mabel and her posse are headed downtown, so how about we split it up via guys and girls?" Dipper offered. "That way we still have someone familiar with the town paired up with a newcomer. If we find anything, we just give each other a call and report in. Sound good?"

"A-okay with me, dude," Wendy said with an amicable smile. "Welcome to the girls club, Robin. Up top!"

Wendy held her hand up, and Robin gazed back at her for a moment, idly wondering why she felt so warm all of a sudden.

"Don't leave me hangin', dude!" Wendy said, her hand still poised in the air for a high five.

Robin blushed when she realized she'd been spacing out, and quickly returned Wendy's high five.

"We'll start off in the town square. Catch you dorks later!" Wendy said, giving Dipper and Steve finger guns before sauntering off with Robin following behind. Robin turned and gave Steve a small nod as she left, only for Steve to blatantly raise his eyebrows in a suggestive manner while looking between Wendy and her. Robin quickly responded by shooting him a rude gesture that neither Dipper nor Wendy could see, but she couldn't fight the slight blush that stubbornly persisted on her cheeks, just like how Steve couldn't resist chuckling as he noticed it. Robin turned her back to avoid further embarrassment and matched Wendy's pace, but a new feeling made itself known as she continued walking away from the boys. Despite her annoyance at Steve's own brand of teasing just now, Robin felt a slight jab of anxiety as she noticed that this was the first time they had been knowingly separated since arriving in 2013. In truth, it wasn't a big deal, but Robin couldn't shake the slight pang she was feeling at going somewhere without him, even if that somewhere was just to the other side of this small town. She noted with a twinge of humor that it was a bit like riding a bike without the training wheels for the first time, in its own weird time-travely sort of way. It was kind of a milestone, but it still felt weird.

…

Steve let his hands slide easily into his jacket pockets as he let Dipper lead the way towards the residential district, the younger of the two mumbling to himself as he traced out a route for them to follow on the map. While Dipper continued to immerse himself in the map, Steve took a moment to examine the town around them as they strolled down the sidewalk. While keeping an eye out for this Blendin guy, Steve took in the buildings and the people that they passed along the way. After a few moments, Steve snorted when he realized that on its surface, the town didn't seem that weird at all. A little dated maybe, but Steve didn't really have a good grasp on what could be considered "rustic" or not considering this was the only town he'd been in since arriving in the future. That being said, on its surface, the town and its people gave little to no indication that it was ground zero for any strange or otherworldly items and entities. It looked a little like something out of a postcard, in fact, and Steve considered it to be very similar to Hawkins in that regard.

A glance back at Dipper showed that the younger teen was still looking at the map, but Steve noticed that he wasn't really reading it anymore. Instead, it looked as though Dipper was just trying to find something to do with himself, rather than walk awkwardly beside Steve without conversation. In his mind, Steve knew that the male Pines twin likely wanted nothing more than to ask a million questions about the 1980s and the Upside Down and the Mind Flayer and so on and so forth. After a brief consideration, Steve also realized that Dipper was actually attempting to be polite, as he must have known that bombarding someone with inquiry after inquiry had the capacity to make them uncomfortable, so his solution was to find anything to distract himself from the temptation.

Steve sighed and rolled his eyes at the thought. He knew he was probably going to get asked these questions at some point anyway, so…

"Alright kiddo, you can quit squirming over there. I doubt we're gonna find our time traveler guy right off the bat, so now is as good a time as any to ask me stuff."

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I guess I did have maybe a few questions…" Dipper said, and Steve snorted again at how much of a show the kid was putting on of pretending not to care.

"The phones are open, Pines. You should hurry up before I change my mind."

Steve pulled his hand out of his pocket and swept the air in front of him to let Dipper know that the floor was his.

There was a pause, then the journal was back in Dipper's hand and his mouth was a blur as query after inquisitive query spilled from his lips. Despite the barrage of words the kid was shoveling at him, Steve felt a smile tug at the corner of his lips at just how much Dipper reminded him of Robin just now. The two of them carried a certain level of social awkwardness that wasn't overt by any means, but they definitely didn't attempt to hide it as much around people they were comfortable with, so Steve supposed he should be taking it as a good sign that Dipper was talking to him at a mile a minute. That being said, if Steve was going to humor this kid, he was going to have to take it down a notch.

Holding his hand out in a halting gesture, Steve stopped Dipper's questioning for a moment to speak.

"Let's just try one question at a time, alright? You ask, I answer, repeat. Sound good?"

Dipper nodded enthusiastically, and Steve gave him the go ahead to start again.

"Ok," Dipper said. "First question: Your hair is abnormally long and seems to possess different physical properties than that of normal human hair. Are you a werewolf?"

Steve felt his shoulders slump at the question.

This…was going to get tedious, wasn't it?

…

Robin noted with a hint of irony that the town square was very similar to the one back in Hawkins, though she supposed she really should have seen that coming. Aesthetically speaking, Gravity Falls matched the small-town vibe of Hawkins perfectly, with the only difference being that the tall oak forest that surrounded Hawkins was exchanged for even taller pines and redwoods here in Gravity Falls, which made for a much more pleasant view if Robin was being honest.

"Well dude, how about it?" Wendy said, crossing her arms behind her head and stretching while the two of them strolled around the block at an easy pace. "Is the future everything you thought it would be?"

Robin thought for a moment before answering.

"Not in the least," she finally admitted. "I mean, I would have thought that flying cars or some other kind of revolutionary transportation would have been invented by now, but everyone's still using buses and cars to get around. It's like nothing changed."

Wendy laughed easily, alleviating Robin's fear that the redhead would have taken offense to her disappointment of the times.

"Yeah, I guess Back to the Future really got everyone's hopes up back in the 80s, huh?"

Robin was slightly confused by Wendy's statement.

"Back to the Future? Why? Because the time machine we're looking for is a tape measure instead of a Delorean?"

"Well, that and the future he visits in 2015 was way more advanced than this one. Granted we still have two years to figure out flying cars and hoverboards, but I'm not exactly holding my breath on those."

Robin's face scrunched in confusion.

"Did they retcon the movie or something in recent years? Does he go to the future instead of 1955 now?"

"No, I'm talking about the second movie. You know, with the old man and the self-lacing…"

Wendy trailed off at Robin's confused expression, then frowned slightly.

"You have seen the second movie, right? I figured in the 80s everyone and their grandmother had seen it after how successful the first one was."

"I saw the first one in theaters," Robin said, finally getting an inkling of where the confusion was stemming from. "...about two weeks ago. Or rather, two weeks ago in 1985. If they made a second one, I doubt they've even started on it yet in my time."

"Oh dang, dude! Spoilers! I'm sorry," Wendy said sheepishly, her face taking on a slight red to match her hair color. Robin tried not to stare and turned up her humor a bit in response.

"Actually, I would not be opposed to you spoiling it for me. Hell, now I want to watch it so I can blow people's minds when I get back to 1985 and magically guess the plot for the movie. I could be heralded as a prophet among the plebeian masses of Hawkins."

This caused Wendy to laugh.

"Do you want to take it to the extreme? Then buckle up, Robin, because they made a third one too! Imagine yourself prophesying not just one, but two of the greatest classics of all time!"

"Well, why stop there?" Robin said, falling easily into the bit they were doing. "Why not just go on a movie marathon and perfectly predict the plot of every great film between 1985 and 2013? I could have fame, fortune, my own angry mob to burn me at the stake for being a witch…this just keeps getting better!"

Wendy laughed even harder at Robin's joke, and Robin felt her stomach turn over at the sound.

"For real dude, you play your cards right, you could be a millionaire, or at the very least, have a promising career as a fortune teller."

"Yeah, anything to get out of Hawkins," Robin said with a smile still on her face. "For the last couple of years, all I could think about was getting away from that monster of a town, and that was before I even discovered there were literal monsters in it. Guess the motivation is twice as strong now."

"That bad, huh?" Wendy said. "You know, I used to think the same thing about Gravity Falls, but then I met the Pines family and Soos and the rest, and I ended up forgetting that I ever hated this place. I guess I learned that even the worst of places can be alright as long as you've got the right people with you."

Her tone was still light-hearted, but Robin could sense the underlying sincerity in her words. And after brief consideration, Robin realized that Wendy was right. She'd had a few friends early on in Hawkins that she'd always be grateful for, but it wasn't until she'd met Steve and Dustin and all the rest of those little shitheads that she'd found a reason to actually enjoy her time in that town despite the literal hell that existed just beneath their feet.

"Well, I can't argue with that," she conceded. "I guess finding a friend or two did make Hawkins a bit more bearable. Steve has his moments, I suppose."

Wendy snorted.

"Understatement of the century judging from the twins' account of what went down yesterday. The dude has barely been here a day and the kids already are idolizing him, especially Mabel."

Robin suppressed a giggle at the blatant familiarity of the situation.

"Don't let him catch you saying that. Back in Hawkins, that guy is like an honorary big brother to no less than like seven kids. It's like watching Mr. Mom in stereo."

That earned another laugh from Wendy, and Robin made a mental note to schedule an appointment with her doctor for all these weird stomach spasms she was suddenly getting.

"Oh my god, that totally explains why he got all worked up yesterday about the twins being safe! I felt like I was getting chewed out by an angry parent or something."

Now it was Robin's turn to laugh. She'd seen it yesterday too. Steve had been more riled up than she'd seen since…well since he'd fought against that Russian underneath the Starcourt Mall.

"By the way," Wendy continued. "Hope this isn't too personal or anything, but are you two, like, an item or something?"

Robin felt a clench in her chest at the question, but she forcefully willed it away and did her best to maintain a straight face.

"Oh, no…We're just good friends."

She hoped that it had sounded natural enough. Hell, she'd had plenty of practice from the rest of the Party asking all the time.

"Why do you ask?"

"No particular reason," Wendy said with a shrug. "You two just seem pretty comfortable around one another, so I figured I'd ask."

Robin felt the tightness in her lungs dissipate with relief as well as some other emotion she couldn't quite place. What was wrong with her today? Aside from the obvious time displacement, of course.

"Nope, purely platonic. In fact, he's completely single right now."

Robin wasn't sure why she'd said that, and with such a probing tone. Wendy raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Superstar babysitter and hair like that? Hard to believe the guy isn't spoken for."

Wendy caught Robin's reaction to her statement.

"Don't worry," the redhead said with a smirk. "The dude seems great and all, but I think I'm done with boys for a while. Plus, he looks like he might be a little too old for me."

Robin's relief was immediate, and she firmly reminded herself that it was solely because she wouldn't have to deal with yet another person in this town fawning over Steve while they were here.

"Besides, the last thing I'd want to do is paint a target on my back for Mabel, Candy, and Grenda," Wendy said, lightening the mood once again. "I watched Grenda suplex a unicorn last summer. That girl does not mess around."

Robin was quickly learning that it was best to just go along with whatever crazy exploits were mentioned in the past with these people, as going down those rabbit holes would likely keep her busy for hours.

"Grenda. The one with the ponytail, right?" Robin asked.

"Ponytail, natural bass, looks like she hit her growth spurt at age eight," Wendy confirmed with a nod.

"She mentioned some guy named Marius, or at least, I thought she did."

"Yeah, he's some rich kid from Austria who met her at the big party the Northwest family throws every year. Guess he was really charmed by her confidence and straightforwardness."

Robin gave an affirming nod. From what she'd seen already, the girl had no shortage of that.

"Apparently, he also likes the fact that she can bench press him too. She says that is a common activity during their cuddle time."

"Sounds like an…interesting relationship."

Wendy chuckled.

"Around here? That's about par for the course."

Something down the sidewalk from them caught Wendy's eye, and her smile grew wider at the sight.

"Exhibit A," she said, gesturing with her hand out.

Robin followed her gaze, then frowned to see what appeared to be a man seated on a bench, arguing with a strange bird perched on his shoulder.

"Honey, we've talked about this," Robin overheard the man saying. "Just because your parents don't approve of our choice of lumber when building our house does not mean that we have to build an entirely separate guest house for them when they visit!"

The bird on his shoulder gave a tweet in response, and the man's demeanor grew sour.

"I recall us both agreeing that cedar was a better option when we built it. You know that we can't afford cypress!"

The bird responded by giving his shoulder a few light taps with its beak, and the man then grew angrier.

"I can't talk to you when you get like this!"

The man stood up and marched off, the bird still perched on his shoulder, leaving Robin and Wendy alone once again in their stroll down the sidewalk.

"Uh, was he arguing with a bird?" Robin asked.

"Yep," Wendy confirmed. "That woodpecker right there is his wife, and they've got a certified marriage certificate from Roadkill county to prove it."

"Well that's…unprecedented."

Wendy nodded and was about to say more when the doors to the coffee shop that they were walking past flew open, and out stepped two men dressed in police uniforms. The patches on their shoulders confirmed them as officers of the Gravity Falls Police Department, and both of them were giggling like school kids while slurping on two large iced coffees with copious amounts of whipped cream on top.

The two cops noticed Wendy and Robin as they approached.

"Well now, what do we have here?" said the shorter of the two policemen. A glance at the cop showed him to be middle-aged and heavyset, with a graying mustache on his upper lip and a large pair of sunglasses covering his eyes.

"Looks like we got a new face in town, Blubs!" the other policeman answered in an enthusiastic voice. Contrary to his partner, this policeman was tall and lanky with a large nose and unibrow that served only to further animate his already excitable features.

"That, we do, Deputy Durland. That, we do."

Robin frowned at the two of them. Wait, these two were…?

"Sheriff. Deputy," Wendy greeted slyly as she crossed her arms. "Your squad car still handle like a dream?"

"You're lucky that all the footage of that incident was confiscated," Blubs said in a disgruntled voice. "Otherwise you and your little posse would be doing time in the slammer, Corduroy!"

"Oh yeah," Durland said. "But we know you can't keep your nose clean forever, girly. Someday, you're gonna slip up, and when you do, we're gonna be right there to book ya'!"

Wendy rolled her eyes at the threat, looking less than worried about Durland's warning.

"And you, what's your name, little missy?" Blubs suddenly asked, swirling the ice in his coffee around and placing the other hand on his hip. "Haven't seen you around here before."

"Robin," Robin replied, still slightly confused at the two. "I'm from out of town."

"Out of town, huh? You keepin' your nose clean out here? You haven't been…poking into things you shouldn't be…have you?"

Robin dumbly shook her head no, and both Blubs and Durland squinted at her seriously for a moment. And then, as if a switch had been flipped, the moment passed, and smiles reappeared on both cops' faces.

"Good to hear! In that case, I don't have to use my new birthday present on you!"

Blubs pulled a taser from his belt and held it loosely in his free hand.

Aw dang! But I've been lookin' forward to breakin' in my new birthday present!" Durland said dejectedly, pulling out a similarly new looking taser from his belt as well.

"Don't you worry, Durland darlin'. Say, why don't we go patrol downtown? I just know we'll find some lawbreakers down there!"

"Woohoo!" Durland replied, perking up immediately and jumping from foot to foot. "Lead the way, Blubsy wubsy!"

Before her eyes, Robin watched as the two cops holstered their tasers and strode past her and Wendy, sipping their coffees and interlacing their free hands together.

Robin's brain struggled to comprehend the interaction she'd just witnessed.

"That's…"

"Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland," Wendy said with a nod. "Now you see why Dipper wasn't too confident that they'd be much help finding your time travel guy."

"They're…they're together…"

"Yep. Finally happened at the end of last summer, and honestly, I think everyone was surprised it didn't happen sooner. Those two have been inseparable for as long as I can remember, but like Mabel said in the car, everyone kind of figured they were a thing way before they made it official."

"And they're…men…both of them."

"Well yeah, they…"

Wendy trailed off, and Robin saw the redhead's easy-going smile morph into a mix of unease and slight accusation. There was a trace of something else too, something that Robin couldn't quite place, but the look made her feel nervous, as Wendy had few reasons to drop her calm and relaxed attitude.

"Dude, you're not…like…against this kind of thing, are you?"

Wendy gestured over to Blubs and Durland as they continued walking away, still hand in hand in the middle of the street, in broad daylight. Two men.

"Like, I know you're from the 80s, but still…"

For a moment, Robin felt like breaking into a fit of nervous laughter. Wendy was asking her, of all people if she was against…that? If that wasn't the most ironic thing ever to happen to her…

The realization was intense, but Robin welcomed it all the same. It was like a weight she didn't know she had was being lifted from her chest, and it felt amazing.

"No," she said simply, as a smile like one she hadn't felt in a while slowly began dominating her features. It grew larger and larger until she was certain that her face would stick like that forever.

"In fact…I'm relieved. This is far better than any movie plot I could take back with me."

Wendy's smile returned, and the mood eased once more as she exhaled reassuredly.

"Glad to hear it, dude. You had me worried for a second."

Robin looked at her, and their eyes locked for a brief second. Robin thought for sure that she saw something flash behind Wendy's gaze, but the redhead looked away before she could search any further.

"Anyway, let's do a couple more laps before we meet back up with the rest of the guys," Wendy said, turning amicably and putting her hands in her pockets as she started back down the sidewalk.

Robin watched her for a moment, then spared a glance back at Blubs and Durland before following Wendy. Just the simple movement of walking felt somehow easier now, as though she'd been walking through water her entire life.

…

"So, her name is Eleven, and she has telekinesis as well as astral projection…And her name stems from her being the eleventh subject that was kept and studied in the Hawkins Research Laboratory. Were there more than eleven subjects, or was she the last one?"

"No idea," Steve replied honestly. "Apparently she met up with another one of the laboratory kids about a year or so after she escaped, but I think that the rest of them are all dead or something."

Dipper nodded and made a quick addition to his notes.

"And you're absolutely sure that none of her abilities stem from some kind of magical jewelry? Maybe like a necklace or something?"

"No, man. Why are you so hung up on that? Just because this 'Gideon Meatball' kid you've been telling me about had one doesn't make it universal."

"His name is—actually nevermind. Meatball sounds better anyway."

Dipper paused once before continuing.

"It's just that we have yet to encounter any actual superhumans out here in Gravity Falls, at least in the traditional sense. I mean, Manly Dan is freakishly strong, but not strong enough to really cross the line into unnatural…and I don't really count the witch…or Rumble McSkirmish…"

"Well, maybe you just don't have any out here," Steve said bluntly. "I have no idea if the powers transfer to their kids or anything, but superpowered people don't exactly grow on trees back in Hawkins either."

"Right…" Dipper said, almost dejectedly. "Makes sense, I guess. Gravity Falls is more of a weirdness and freakishness magnet than a super magnet anyway."

Steve watched the kid for a moment, wondering why he seemed so down all of a sudden. Steve liked comics and superheroes as much as anyone else did when he was Dipper's age, but he got the feeling that wasn't what the kid was bummed out about.

"Maybe you just haven't found them yet. It's not like Hawkins owns a premium on superheroes, right?" Steve said in an attempt to cheer the kid up at least a little bit.

"Yeah, right. Then maybe I could reverse engineer their powers and get Chase and Dwayne off my back…"

Dipper mumbled that last part, but not quietly enough that Steve didn't hear.

"Chase and Dwayne? Who are they? Loan sharks? I honestly didn't peg you as the kind of kid that got into that kind of business."

Dipper snorted.

"No, they're just jerks back in Piedmont that hate anyone that doesn't idolize them for being first string linebackers on a last-place team in a D-class school district."

"Well, that's depressing," Steve agreed, cringing inwardly a bit at how closely that description matched some people back in Hawkins, including that of the former King of Hawkins High himself.

"In every way possible," Dipper agreed. "They like giving me trouble because I'm the only one that called them out on it. Gives them all the fuel they need to make me their number one subject of ridicule."

"It sounds to me like they need their asses kicked," Steve said, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, they do, but as much as I hate to admit it, being first string linebackers on a last-place team still means they're bigger and stronger than me. I'm not scared of them, but I'd rather pick my battles instead of getting the snot beat out of me for nothing more than their own satisfaction."

"Didn't you fight an actual video game character last summer?" Steve said jokingly. "I would think this is a step down from that."

"Didn't you fight a bullet-proof demon with a baseball bat?" Dipper said back. "I would think that would be a step down from some shirt-adverse jerk with family issues."

"Touché," Steve said, albeit annoyedly. He wasn't a huge fan of remembering how badly he got his ass handed to him by Billy Hargrove back in the 80s, but Dipper made a good point.

"But you got friends back in Piedmont, right? Just ask the one that watches the most boxing to help you out. Two-on-two gives you way better odds than going in on your own."

Dipper frowned.

"My friends...are great guys," he conceded. "But confrontational isn't a word I'd use to describe them. They don't want to stand up for themselves because they think it'll only make things worse if we antagonize them."

"Well, maybe they're right," Steve conceded with a shrug. "But it sure as hell doesn't get any better by letting them walk all over you. But I'm guessing they haven't figured that out yet, right?"

"…yep."

Steve and Dipper walked in silence for a little while, having finally made it to the residential portion of Gravity Falls, where squat houses sat side by side in comfortably-sized yards of grass and trees. The two of them idly scanned the scenery around them, taking advantage in their conversational break to search for any sign of Blendin.

As Steve had begrudgingly suspected, there was nothing; not a single shred evidence that a time traveler in a jumpsuit and goggles had been present here. Instead, his eyes were met with multiple instances of children playing out and around the houses around them, summer break in full swing and their young hearts all the more hyper for it.

As they continued to walk, Steve felt his gaze settle on what appeared to be two brothers playing catch in front of their house. The oldest of the two could've been close to Steve's age, leaving him to wonder if the guy had already graduated high school or not. He certainly looked mature enough.

The younger brother looked like he might have just entered high school, making him about a year or so older than Mike and Dustin and the rest of the kids back in Hawkins. Well, not now, obviously. Those kids were just over forty in this time period, and Steve shuddered at the thought of what those kids looked like now. They were old enough to be Steve's parents.

As Steve shook his head to quickly derail that disturbing train of thought, his eye caught the sight of the younger brother looking over and snickering at the journal and pen in Dipper's hands.

Dipper unfortunately saw the kid's reaction as well, and Steve watched him raise his pen to his mouth and begin chewing angrily on the butt-end.

"Just ignore him, man," Steve said cautioningly. "That kid isn't worth—"

Steve was cut off as Dipper accidentally bit down too hard, breaking into the ink core within and causing the blue liquid within to squirt onto the lower part of his face and into his mouth.

The obnoxious kid's snickering broke into full-fledged laughter at the sight, and Steve saw the older brother beginning to laugh as well at Dipper's misfortune.

Dipper's rage began to boil over, and the male Pines twin angrily discarded the ruined pen and wiped at his face with the back of his hand. The humiliated teen turned to shout something at the two brothers, but he was stopped in his tracks by Steve's hand in his shoulder.

"Leave it, dude. This isn't the place."

"You just gave me a pep talk about standing my ground, Steve. How could this not be the time and place?"

"You can't just lay some kid out in front of his brother and his house, Dipper. That's a good way to get parents and cops involved. And when that happens, shit gets really complicated really quickly. Trust me on that one. Plus, you've got an entire street of little kids that are going to catch front row seats to this. Best thing to do is forget about it."

Dipper's face became strained, no doubt searching for any excuse as to why he shouldn't back down, but cooler heads prevailed, and Dipper slumped in resignation and kept walking, angrily wiping ink smears from his mouth as he did so.

Steve glared back at the two brothers, who were both grinning madly in sadistic humor, and found his own pacifistic resolve faltering for a moment at how incredibly punchable their faces looked now. The oldest one raised an eyebrow challengingly, but Steve shook his head and joined Dipper in leaving the scene.

…

The eldest of the brothers sneered as the subjects of their ridicule disappeared around the corner, his younger brother still laughing at the kid in the pine tree hat. The fact that he'd been carrying a diary around was funny enough on its own, but the pen blowing up afterward? That had been the icing on the cake. Maybe next time the little geek would find a better hobby than writing in some dumb book all summer.

And that older guy with him, what was up with that dude? Dressed in clothes that his dad might have worn when he was a kid, and with long hair with probably lots of product in it? Who was pretty boy trying to impress with that? There was no girl on the planet that would find something like that attractive. No way. Or maybe, he wasn't trying to impress a girl…

The older brother smirked and cracked a joke to his sibling about the older guy's hair and then suggested that he was maybe teaching the younger kid about how to use pen ink as some kind of lipstick, and the brothers both began chuckling anew.

"Oh, so you like lipstick, huh? Well today's your lucky day, superstars!"

Before he could turn to gauge the sound of the voice, the eldest brother felt his limbs suddenly crushed against his body as a long span of thick wire wrapped itself around his form multiple times. Coiling around both his arms and his legs, the head of the wire ended in a large tri-point hook, which snuggly fastened itself to the eldest's shirt. He was trapped in place, unable to move, and with his legs suddenly forced together, he quickly lost his balance and tumbled onto the grass, unable to catch himself due to the wire securely holding his arms to his sides.

From his side, the brother watched in surprise as a large figure with their hair done up in a large brown ponytail tackled his younger sibling to the ground, easily overpowering him in a surprising show of strength. With both brothers effectively restrained, two smaller figures came into his vision, and with complete surprise, he saw that they were nothing more than young girls, barely even teenagers by the looks of it.

With the larger one holding his younger brother in a perfect full nelson, the other two girls walked up to the elder brother and regarded him contemplatively.

"Well now, Dr. Candyland, it seems that these two poor uneducated commoners are unappreciative of the world of makeup! Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

The brother noticed that the wire he was currently wrapped in terminated at the other end into a grappling gun that the girl was holding.

"I do believe I am, Lady Mabelton, what about you, Queen Grendanator?" the other girl said.

"Oh yeah, I am!" the larger girl replied in a booming voice, effortlessly holding the straining form of the younger brother in place.

"Flash makeovers!" all three of them shouted at once before pulling out travel makeup kits and removing numerous cosmetic items with practiced ease. The older brother realized what was happening all too late, and his fruitless squirming only served to tire him out as one of the girls menacingly lowered an eyelash curler towards his face.

"I think Coral Blue #2 is your color, boys!" the other girl said, pulling out a blue tube of lipstick from her own supplies.

The eldest's cries for help were drowned out as excited children crowded around to see what was happening. The amount of children in the crowd shielded the two victims and their assailants from view, which meant no passersby would be able to see them. At least, not until the damage had been done…and the photos had been developed.

…

Steve watched Dipper out of the corner of his eye, and was relieved that the kid's mood didn't seem to be permanently dampened by the events that had just occurred. After a few more moments of silent walking, Dipper sighed.

"Thanks for that, man. I…guess I kind of lost my cool for a moment back there."

Steve shrugged nonchalantly.

"More for my benefit than yours, dude. If you would've started in on that little shit, then I would've had to explain to Soos and everybody how you managed to get bruised and bloody on a walk around town of all things. Plus, the other asshole really looked like he wanted to fight too, and I am definitely not in the mood for that today."

Dipper smirked.

"We could've taken them."

"Oh yeah, no doubt. But I'm not fighting with some random guy that I'll probably never see again just to prove a point. That shit gets old real fast."

"You've been in a lot of fights, huh? I mean…with normal humans and stuff?"

Steve raised an eyebrow, but nodded.

"Well, maybe you could…I don't know…maybe give me a few pointers sometime? Fighting against giant robots and geometric demons is definitely an experience, but proficiency in that doesn't really transfer over that well to normal humans."

Steve eyed the younger kid.

"What? Your old man never taught you how to throw a punch?"

Dipper looked away sheepishly.

"I mean, not really. He signed the whole family up for a free kickboxing class one time, but that didn't go anywhere. Dad has always been more of a lover than a fighter."

"Uh huh, and what about this 'Grunkle Stan' of yours? You said he's been to prison in, like, three countries? He could probably teach you more than you'd ever want to know."

"That was my initial plan," Dipper admitted. "But he and Grunkle Ford won't be back in Gravity Falls for another week or so, and I just thought maybe…"

Dipper trailed off.

"Nevermind, it's stupid…"

Steve watched the twin for a moment, then took a deep breath and shook his head. How was he always guilt-tripped into doing this kind of stuff? Why was it that every time he ended up being around children, parental figures just seemed to evaporate?

Looking at Dipper now, Steve begrudgingly admitted that the kid wasn't really asking for all that much. And Steve didn't want to be the asshole who said no to helping out the family that was literally providing food, shelter, and money to him and Robin.

"Just find me at the Shack sometime when I'm on a break or something," Steve said. "Don't expect to suddenly be like Bruce Lee though. You're not exactly learning from an undefeated heavyweight champion over here."

Steve rolled his eyes at how quickly Dipper perked up.

"Yeah, that'd be great! Even if you get beat up all the time, I still think I could learn a lot! I can get Stan's old boxing gloves out and find some headgear—"

"Alright, slow down, Rocky," Steve said, raising his hand. "It's just how to throw a punch. We're not training you for a cage match or anything."

"No, right, of course not," Dipper said with a nervous laugh. "No need to overthink anything…"

Steve was already imagining Dipper filling pages at a time with notes on tips and tricks about fighting and resisted the urge to roll his eyes again.

"Anyway, I don't think Blendin is anywhere around here," Dipper continued. "So, let's try our luck back in town before meeting up with everyone."

Steve voiced his agreement, and the two of them continued up the street and back into the main part of town.

…

Robin felt her spirits fall ever-so-slightly as both she and Wendy completed another lap around downtown. After coming up empty-handed in the town square, the two of them decided to leave their designated search area in favor of meeting up with the other groups. Wendy had pulled out her phone and had texted Mabel to ask her location, and then had spent the next five minutes explaining to Robin what "texting" was, much to Robin's giddiness.

"So everyone can not only call each other on these mobile phones, but they can also send digital messages?! So now if I want to talk to someone, I don't have to step out of the room and make a scene?"

"You can even send pictures and videos if you want," Wendy added, noting Robin's boggling eyes with a genuine smile.

"I…how? How is that possible?"

Wendy then shrugged.

"Not sure on the details, but I know that messages get sent to the closest cellular tower and go from there to maybe some other places before they eventually end up at the destination phone."

Wendy pointed to a large and thin tower in the distance that stood taller than even the redwoods, and Robin nodded her head in awe at the sight.

"Either way, I'm not even entirely sure if it's working right now," Wendy continued, frowning down to her phone as she did so. "Mabel isn't responding to my texts, so maybe she found something and is busy?"

"If that's the case, maybe we should go to where she and her friends were searching," Robin suggested. "Hopefully we'll run into them."

"Good call, dude. C'mon, we can take a shortcut through the junkyard."

Robin disliked that idea immediately, and she wasted no time making sure that Wendy was aware of that fact.

"Uh, maybe we can just go around? Junkyards tend to be full of rabid animals, and my number one and number two fears respectively are rabies and aggressive creatures…"

"Relax, dude. Don't you get your rabies shots every two years or so?"

Robin shot Wendy a disappointing look, hoping to best convey the understanding that if rabies vaccines were available in her time, she'd be taking them religiously.

"Huh, guess they don't have those yet in 1985? Well, either way you're fine. They have treatments now that keep you from getting it if you get bitten. My brother had to go through the treatments after he got bit by a beaver at the family reunion two years ago."

"Do I even want to know why there was a beaver at your family reunion?"

Wendy smirked as the two of them approached the chain link fence that marked the boundary of the junkyard.

"I come from a long line of lumberjacks," Wendy said as she nonchalantly bent a portion of the fence that looked like it had been purposefully cut from the rest. "My aunt thought owning a beaver as a pet would assist her in chopping down trees faster, but she wanted one that already had that 'outdoor experience'. In hindsight, trapping a beaver in the wild and trying to keep it as a pet was not a good idea. And bringing it to a crowded place where everyone smells like lumber significantly increases the chance that it's gonna want to take a bite out of you. My brother learned that the hard way."

Once the fence had been pulled aside enough for a person to slip through, Wendy gestured for Robin to go ahead while she held the fence open for her.

"Okay, well that story did absolutely nothing to increase my confidence of walking into a junkyard," Robin said, making no move towards the hole in the fence and instead addressing her still very pronounced reservations at the situation.

"Relax, dude. The only things you're going to see in there are opossums maybe, and those little guys are going to turn tail if they see you, even if they're rabid. Plus, they're also nearly impervious to rabies in the first place, and they're super clean, so hardly any of them actually carry rabies to start with."

"They're…impervious?"

"Yeah, I think their body temp is too low or something like that. They taught us that in one of those woodland survival classes my dad is always making me take."

Despite Wendy's admittedly excellent points, Robin still found herself hesitating out of general nervousness, which caused the redhead to shake her head in humor and reach behind herself with her left hand while still holding the fence open with her right.

"Worst comes to worst, I could always use this."

Robin's eyes widened as Wendy removed a previously concealed hatchet from her beltline and presented it to her. Had she actually been carrying that the whole time?

"Yep," Wendy said proudly, giving the hatchet an expert little twirl. "It's been effective against trees and shapeshifters, so I'm sure it'll scare off any wild animals that get a little too close."

Robin considered for a moment, then finally nodded.

"Let's hope your woodland skills class hasn't been lying to you, Red. Last I checked, my new position at the Mystery Shack doesn't offer health insurance."

Wendy smirked good-naturedly.

"Nothing for you to worry about, dude. Remember, you're going to be making millions as a cinematic fortune teller when you get back to the 80s."

Robin smiled and ducked under the hole in the fence, taking a moment to gauge her surroundings as Wendy followed behind her. By all accounts, the junkyard was as unspectacular as any other junkyard that Robin had ever seen. Stacks of rusted cars and rubber tires rose to the height of small buildings in a meek imitation of the infrastructure that existed outside the junkyard, creating its own version of streets and alleyways for those that entered to navigate through.

Wendy, being an apparent regular to the rows of junk and metal, took point and navigated, the two of them taking a few turns before emerging into a large open space that Robin guessed to be the central part of the junkyard itself. Here, the ground was mostly empty, as the large piles of rusty vehicles were pushed away as though to leave the space more open for something.

It was then that Robin saw what appeared to be a small ramshackle hut sitting in the middle of the large clearing, made entirely of random pieces of wood and sheet metal that had been screwed, bolted, glued, or otherwise adhered to each other in a shoddy imitation of a shelter. Long pieces of sheet metal combined with a few car hoods constituted the hut's roof, and Robin saw what looked like an animal pelt acting as a curtain that concealed the front entrance.

"Uh, does somebody…live here?" she asked.

"Not anymore," Wendy said, giving the hut a side glance. "Old man McGucket used to call that little tetanus farm a home, but he's recently upgraded his digs to the Northwest mansion just outside of town. This place has been abandoned since—"

A loud clattering suddenly sounded from inside the dwelling, and both Robin and Wendy immediately fell silent as the clattering was followed by a series of unintelligible curses and nervous mumbling.

Robin's eyes widened as she recognized the telltale sound of high-pitched stammering, and without waiting for Wendy, she stepped forward and threw the animal-hide curtain aside, stepping into the hut.

The inside did not look much better than the outside. Light seeped through cracks in the walls where the sheet metal didn't quite meet properly, and large pieces of rusted junk littered the floor and the walls. Robin wrinkled her nose to see that there were in fact signs of life, but not quality of life. An old cot sat in the corner of the dwelling, likely older than Robin was, which was already saying something. A small basin that looked like it was used for bathing was parked in the other corner across from the cot, and Robin could see that it and a few other items were at least kept in semi-clean condition in what little light was provided by the few lanterns hanging from the ceiling.

And there, facing away from Robin and hunched over what looked like an old welding table, Robin could see the jumpsuited form of Blendin Blandin, muttering to himself and fiddling with something that she could not see.

"Hey!"

Blendin jumped in surprise, causing whatever object was in his hands to clatter to the bench as he turned around to face her. His goggled eyes widened at the sight of Robin and Wendy, and before Robin could say anything further, the time traveler shrieked and sprung into action.

"Oh no! T-They found me already!"

Grabbing the object from the table, Blendin whirled around and bolted from the hut through a second exit Robin hadn't seen before.

"Wait! Stop!" Robin called, but the man was already outside of the hut and running.

"Grab him, dude!" Wendy called. The hatchet-wielding girl rushed forward, but abruptly stopped as her foot suddenly became enclosed within a bear trap that had been primed and placed on the floor of the hut.

"Wendy!"

Robin immediately stepped forward to assess the injury, but found that the trap was actually relatively small and did not have sharp teeth like the ones she had seen on TV and movies.

"I'm fine!" Wendy assured her as she knelt down and tried to pry the jaws of the trap apart. "Go after him. I'll catch up!"

Robin gave her an uncertain glance.

"Go, dude!" Wendy said again, looking at Robin earnestly.

There was a split second more of hesitation, then Robin nodded and ran after the time traveler, sprinting out of the hut and into the junkyard once more.

…

Dipper and Steve had just reached downtown when Dipper's phone began ringing in his pocket.

"Oh hey, it's Wendy," Dipper said with an amicable smile. "Maybe they found something."

Dipper answered the phone on speaker, then held it out in front of him so that both he and Steve could hear properly.

"Hey Wendy, did you guys manage to—"

"Dude! We found him! Robin's chasing him down right now, but I fell behind. Junkyard! Now!"

"What? Wendy!?"

The line was already dead, and Dipper stared at the phone in a stunned silence for a moment, before hastily shoving the phone back into his pocket and taking off for the junkyard, Steve hard on his heels.

…

Robin leapt over another tire and landed with a grunt on the hard dirt that made up the ground of the junkyard. Blendin was still running like a startled rabbit away from her, and Robin was quickly noting just how fast this guy was despite his rotund appearance. To make matters worse, he seemed to have at least some basic knowledge as to the layout of the junkyard, and he was currently using it to his advantage as he dodged and clamored over obstacles that Robin hadn't seen until now.

The chase continued, and Robin saw that despite Blendin's speed, she was slowly gaining on the time traveler. For the first time, she felt grateful to her soccer coach back in Hawkins for always making the team run extra suicides at the end of each practice. Taking corners was proving difficult without her usual cleats, however, and Robin skidded a little bit as she followed Blending down a narrow alleyway of random vehicles for walls.

Blendin's head turned back over his shoulder, and Robin saw him give a yelp of surprise at how close she was getting.

"Stay away from me!" he cried out, putting on a burst of speed. Looking ahead, Robin saw thankfully that they seemed to be coming up to a dead end, as the way forward was blocked by three cars stacked on top of one another right in the middle of the alley.

"Dude, stop! Seriously, you've got nowhere left to run!"

"Incorrect!" Blendin shouted with a note of triumph. It was then that Robin noticed that a number of tires had been stacked in a loose sort of staircase leading up to the top of the car pile in the center of the alley, and Blendin eagerly clamored up the tires and onto the stack of cars before kicking the stack down with his boot. The staircase of tires collapsed just as Robin reached the base, and she skidded to a halt as the tires fell into a mess before her, leaving her stuck down in the alleyway while Blendin remained safely out of reach on the car stack in front of her.

"Yes!" Blendin cheered, looking down at her. "By the time you manage to climb up here to get me, I'll be long gone!"

The time traveler reveled in his victory for a few moments longer, then turned and jumped down onto the other side of the car pile. Robin couldn't see him any more, but she heard a distinct shoop noise and a clank of metal followed by noises of struggling and annoyance from Blendin.

"No! No, no, no! Come on!" Blendin's semi-muffled voice sounded from behind the pile.

Robin frowned confusedly as Blendin's struggles continued in earnest, and she took her time climbing up the stack of cars before gazing down the other side. The sight that greeted her made her smirk whole-heartedly, as it appeared that Blendin had not looked out below before jumping, and had accidentally jumped feet first into an open barrel, which was barely large enough to fit his torso inside. Unfortunately for him, his arms had been at his sides when he had jumped, and both they and his midsection were now firmly wedged into the barrel itself, trapping him in place and unable to move.

"Sit tight for a second!" Robin called down in humor, causing Blendin to look up at her fearfully. "I'll be right back."

By the time Robin had met back up with Wendy and returned to the scene, Blendin's struggles had tipped over the barrel with him still in it, causing them both to laugh as he rolled around fruitlessly.

"Nice work, dude!" Wendy commended, punching Robin's shoulder lightly. "You got him hook, line, and sinker!"

Robin gave an amiable shrug of her shoulders in response, cooly playing it off like it was nothing while ignoring the slight heat in her cheeks.

"Fortune teller and master of pursuing time travelers? The 80s ain't even gonna recognize me when I get back."

Wendy laughed and pulled her phone out once again. Using the small camera on the front, she snapped a picture of Blendin's stuttering form and sent it out via group text to the others, letting them know where they were.

…

Dipper and Steve found Robin and Wendy almost immediately after entering the junkyard, and like Wendy's picture had depicted, Blendin was not only found, but also captured in what looked like an old oil barrel. The entire lower half of his body was trapped within the confines of it, and he was now squirming around on the ground in an attempt to free himself.

Wendy and Robin caught them both up to speed on how they had found and contained Blendin, and though they hadn't left any details out, Steve could tell from the excitement in Robin's eyes that there was something more that she wanted to talk to him about. Common sense told him that she was likely waiting until it was just the two of them alone, so Steve gave her an understanding nod instead as Mabel, Candy, and Grenda arrived at last.

"Sorry we're late!" Mabel said, stuffing what looked like a tube of blue lipstick into her pocket. "We got caught up in some urgent business!"

Dipper raised a questioning eyebrow at her, and Mabel returned it with a wink that seemed to suggest that there was more to the story, but he shrugged as the seven of them turned to Blendin's still struggling form.

"P-please! Please be lenient! My fragile psyche won't survive another ten squared life sentences in time prison!"

Steve and Robin exchanged confused glances with each other.

"Wait, what?" Steve asked dumbly.

"I can only assume that the time agents got to you already," Blendin said, though his voice carried a twinge of uncertainty. "You must have made a deal with them to help find me in exchange for knowledge of the secrets of time and space itself!"

"Orrrr, we found you on our own so that you can take us back to our own time…" Robin offered sarcastically. "...because heaven forbid that we'd like to go back where we came from, right?"

Blendin paused, then slumped his shoulders ashamedly, though the movement was heavily restricted due to his arms still being stuck in the barrel.

"I…I guess I didn't think of that," he said sheepishly.

"Now that you mention it though," Dipper mused. "Knowledge of time and space does have a certain attractiveness to it…"

"No! No!" Blendin hastily added. "I like your original motives better! I-I can get your friends back to 1985. I promise! I just need time!"

"I don't understand," Candy said with a frown. She took a moment to adjust her glasses as she elaborated. "You are a time traveler. Why do you need time to travel through time?"

"Oh, right!" Mabel suddenly said. "Silly me. I forgot to tell you and Grenda that his time doohickey is broken. He can't do any time traveling until he gets that sucker fixed!"

"Ohhhhhhhh," both Candy and Grenda said at the same time, finally caught up to speed on what they had been missing.

"How long is it going to take for you to fix this thing, exactly?" Robin ventured. "A week? A month? A year? No offense to the fine folks of 2013, but I'd rather not go back to 1985 and try to explain to my parents how I suddenly look a year older than I do now."

All eyes turned to Blendin, who shifted uncomfortably from where he was still trapped in the overturned barrel. And after a brief bout of stammering, the time traveler explained.

"L-look, when we accidentally jumped from 1985, we burnt out the temporal processor, and a replacement doesn't get invented for at least—"

"Wait, hold on a second," Steve said, holding up his arm, what the hell is a 'temporal processor'?"

Blendin annoyedly explained that it was a common component found in every time machine, and that when the user activated the device, the temporal processor would generate a sort of time shield around the user, which is what allowed them to move forward and backward in time without aging or de-aging with the world around them.

"The temporal processor in my time machine was only designed to generate a time shield large enough for a few people at most," Blendin explained. "So when we jumped through with your vehicle as well, it burnt out completely."

"So just replace it!" Grenda boomed. "You time guys gotta carry spare parts with you just in case something like this happens, right?"

Blendin slumped in shame once more.

"I can't. I lost my time travel repair kit a while ago, and I didn't have a chance to replace it before Bill arrived and well…you know the rest."

"That doesn't seem like the kind of thing you just 'misplace', dude," Wendy said accusingly.

"Look, it was the one time that I forgot to check my pockets before doing laundry, ok?! Can we please move on?!"

"Ok, so how long until a replacement gets invented, then?" Dipper asked.

"I was getting to that, but you all kept interrupting me," Blendin said snarkily, immediately shriveling up when he caught multiple glares looking down on him.

"Two-hundred and sixty-two years, give or take a month…" he then said quietly.

"You're kidding me," Robin said, pushing her palms against her forehead in anger. She made to turn and vent her frustrations on a nearby rusted automobile before Blendin quickly spoke up again.

"I-I might be able to fabricate one, though! All time academy graduates are taught how to make a few replacement parts from scratch in case of being stranded in a certain time without their repair kit, just so long as the year is later than 2002!"

"Why that year?" Dipper asked in confusion.

"Do we want to keep sitting around talking about chrono-mechanics all day, or do we want to get me out of this humiliating situation so I can get to work? The more time I spend in a single period, the greater the chances I have of the time patrol catching up with me!"

"Oh right! Because you eventually—"

Mabel immediately clammed up with a stern look from Dipper, and Steve remembered that technically, Blendin didn't know about the letter he had written to them in the future. Or rather, his future, which was really in the past, but not the same time in the past that he and Robin were from. Yeah…definitely not confusing at all.

With the help of all parties, Blendin was successfully removed from the barrel, and once he stood up and dusted himself off, the goggled man immediately started back towards the ramshackle hut that Wendy and Robin found him in.

"So…uh, you're going to make an advanced time machine component completely from scratch while living in a building made of junk?" Wendy asked as they followed him. "You sure you need like, a laboratory, at least?"

"Unnecessary," Blendin said, proudly. "It surprised me too at first, but whoever previously lived in that hut owned a surprising amount of sophisticated tools and fabrication equipment. I have everything I need to get started."

Steve glanced questioningly over to Dipper, but it was actually Robin that elaborated on the subject.

"Apparently, some old hobo guy used to live here, and apparently he was some kind of genius before he lost his mind," she said just to Steve. "He lives in a mansion now? Right?"

Robin turned to Wendy for clarification, and the redhead shot both her and Steve a thumbs up to confirm that she was right on the money. Steve raised an eyebrow, but decided not to dwell on it too much. Some creepy old dude going from living in a junkyard to a mansion was not even in the top ten of weirdest things he'd heard today.

"As a bonus, if there is one thing that the time patrol prides themselves in, it's proper sanitation. This junkyard is the perfect hideout, as any and all time patrol agents will vehemently avoid it."

"But what if they know that you know that this would be the last place to look?" Mabel said teasingly.

"Ha! Even if they did, they'd still search here last. You kids don't get it. Hygiene is regarded as nothing short of the ultimate status symbol of the time patrol in 207̃012. Agents have had their badges revoked for spilling coffee on themselves before. I was even threatened with suspension for having lint on my uniform!"

Brushing that tidbit of absurdity aside, Steve immediately asked the question burning in everyone's mind.

"Ok, so how long until you can fix the thing, or make the thing, I guess?"

Blendin looked down at the device in his hands contemplatively as he continued to walk.

"It depends how quickly I can acquire the components and tools. And even once I do get them, it could take days of work to rewire, and then there's the initial calibration and trials…"

"Two to four weeks," Blendin finally said. "Maybe even a bit longer depending on any snags I run into along the way."

Steve shared a glance at Robin, and despite the disappointment and nervousness he could see written all over her face, he could see resolution there as well. Two weeks to a month was certainly not ideal, but it didn't seem like they had much of a choice. With any luck, hopefully Soos could get the Dart fixed up in a similar timeframe, and as long as the two of them kept their heads down, they could get home without much trouble.

It seemed so simple, but in Steve's experience, things that seemed simple never actually turned out to be. Robin seemed to share the same sentiment, so Steve gave a shrug and a slight tilt of his head in an attempt to reassure her.

"Do you need any help?" Dipper asked. "I mean, I managed to fix one of those things once, so maybe I could help speed things along."

Blendin scoffed.

"The one you 'fixed' had nothing more than a few wires knocked loose. This level of repair is far beyond anything you could handle, kid!"

Hearing Blendin call Dipper a kid despite having a higher pitched voice than he did sounded weird to nearly everyone present, but before Steve had a chance to call him out on it, Mabel spoke up.

"Just who are you calling 'kid', goggle-face? Let's not forget that these two kids totally whooped your butt in Globnar, and single-handedly gave you the luscious locks you now obviously take for granted!"

Steve raised an eyebrow. He had no idea what "Globnar" was, but a glance at Blendin's short brown hair wasn't exactly what he would describe as luscious.

"Y-you two got lucky that time," Blendin countered. "Either way, I can't start work on the time machine with all of you distracting me, so please leave!"

With seemingly nothing left to do but wait, the seven of them departed the small hut and started towards the exit.

"And don't come check on me!" Blendin's voice called out from inside the hut. "The time patrol might be tracking your chrono signatures! So, don't tell them anything and don't come back until I call!"

Blendin tried shouting something else, but by then they had walked far enough away that no one could make out anything except the high-pitched tones echoing between the stacks of cars.

"Geez, that dude sounds like a cat trying to yodel," Wendy said, letting her relief show at finally putting some distance between them and Blendin. "I'm glad that I get to be dead and buried long before that guy is ever born."

"Wow, that is…" Candy trailed off.

"...incredibly morbid!" Grenda finished.

"Maybe," Wendy replied with a smirk before turning to Robin and Steve. "Either way, sounds like you dudes are gonna be stuck here for a while. It's probably gonna suck when you get back to 1985 after getting used to the future, but hey, at least you guys found the perfect peeps to chill with!"

Thinking it over, Steve supposed that Wendy had a point. Sure, he was once again part of a group where a majority of them weren't even old enough to drive, but in truth, he and Robin could probably relate to these kids a lot more than they could to anyone else, what with the supernatural aspect to their lives and whatnot.

"Could've done a lot worse, I guess…" he said with a friendly smirk, amicably sticking his hands into his pockets as they exited the junkyard and started down the sidewalk.

Before anyone could say anything more, a battered van came rolling around the corner of the street, its dark blue paint faded and scratched, showcasing that it had definitely seen better days. Loud and heavy guitar music blared from the rolled down windows, and though Steve did not have that clear of a view on who was driving, he could tell that they definitely were a bit more reckless than what could be considered an average driver.

At the sight of the van rolling towards them, Wendy immediately perked up.

"Speaking of peeps!" she said, placing her hands on her hips proudly.

The van pulled to a stop on the curb right next to where they were all standing, and looking inside, Steve caught sight of a group of teenagers who looked to be all about Wendy's age, making them maybe a year or two younger than him.

"Sup Wendy?" asked one of the guys in the van, leaning out the window and resting his arms on the frame. "Lookin' to get into some trouble?"

"Better believe it!" Wendy said back with a smile before turning to Steve and Robin.

"But first, you guys gotta meet my new friends. Steve, Robin, meet Lee, Nate, Thompson, Tambry, and Robbie, the coolest group of teens ever to walk the halls of Gravity Falls High!"

Steve gave a friendly nod and a wave of his hand to them all in greeting, taking in the sight of the teenagers as he did so.

Lee and Nate both seemed cool, though Steve could sense the enthusiastic teenage hype coming off them both as they grinned widely at both him and Robin. With the exception of their clothing style, Steve pegged them as what he'd come to know as a stereotypical hormonal teenager, still possessing some leftover energy from childhood while not yet being ready or even introduced to the responsibilities of adulthood. Looking at the two of them, Steve almost felt a twinge of nostalgia, remembering just how carefree his own life had been before, well, everything happened.

His gaze then landed on the one called Thompson, who looked as though he was slightly nervous about something. He fidgeted restlessly in the driver's seat of the car, drumming his thumb on the steering wheel while offering Steve and Robin a nervous wave with his free hand. Looking at just how naturally this guy's eyebrows furrowed with worry, Steve could only guess that this Thompson guy spent most of his time in a mild state of anxiety. Unfortunately, Steve could relate.

Finally, Steve noted the two occupants sitting in the back seat of the van, the ones that had been introduced as Tambry and Robbie. The first thing that Steve noticed was that they both were wearing eyeshadow, which by itself wasn't all that shocking really. That cosmetic item had been popular for both select guys and girls back in Hawkins, so Steve figured the fashion sense had held up since then. The only thing that really surprised him was the lack of hairspray, but that really went for almost everyone they'd met from the future so far. Everyone's hair was a bit less…voluminous than what he was used to.

So apart from that, the two of them struck Steve as goths, and to seal the deal, Steve noticed that Robbie had his arm over Tambry's shoulder affectionately, showcasing that the two of them seemed to be in a relationship.

Robbie tilted his head in what Steve guessed was supposed to be a cool and semi-indifferent sort greeting, but it looked more forced than anything else. Tambry, on the other hand, did not acknowledge Steve or Robin, and Steve frowned as he saw her tapping away at her mobile phone with both hands, her gaze locked to the screen as if she were dealing with something important.

"Wendy's friends?" Robin asked with a raised eyebrow. "Wait, are these the guys you stole the squad car with?"

"Heck yeah, we are!" Nate said enthusiastically. "That was one of our finest moments! Second only to when we got Thompson to spray paint his name on the side and drive it off a cliff!"

"Guys!" Thompson his voice cracking with nervousness. "Don't say that out loud! If my parents find out, I'll be grounded for at least a month!"

Steve couldn't help but feel like that would be the least of his problems if that word got out. Was grand larceny not really a thing out here?

"So, where are you guys from anyway?" asked Robbie from the back seat, using far too much effort to make his voice sound as uninterested as possible. "Never seen you two around here before."

"Hawkins, Indiana," Steve replied. "We're very quickly learning that it's pretty much Gravity Falls, but in the midwest."

"Sweet, dude," Lee said. "Sounds like fun!"

"Uh, yeah…" Robin said, and Steve noticed that in the presence of these new faces, her sarcastic side reappeared to a degree, likely in response to meeting new people that were her age. "Depends what exactly you consider fun to be."

"So what's up then, Wendy?" Robbie said. "These guys like your cousins or something?"

Despite the fact that Steve had known Robbie for less than thirty seconds now, he found himself frowning slightly at the condescension, whether intentional or not, that was laced in Robbie's voice. Robin shifted as well, her reaction a lot more overt than his was.

"Nah," Wendy replied. "These guys are some new employees at the Mystery Shack. Thought I'd show 'em around since they'll be here for a few weeks."

"Few weeks, huh?"

As Steve watched, Robbie pulled a folded up paper out of his back pocket and held it out towards them through the open window as though it were a business card. Steve raised an eyebrow, but took the paper before unfolding it to reveal what looked like an advertisement flyer.

On the front was a picture of Robbie as well as a few other guys playing instruments in front of some kind of cemetery. It almost looked like an album cover.

"'Robbie V. and the Tombstones,'" Steve read aloud off the flyer. "'Playing next Saturday at the Skull Fracture. Be there or be dead…Doors open at 9.'"

"You guys should come see me and my band perform," Robbie said. "Get a chance to be one of the few that saw us before we made it big. Might wanna get there early too. The place is probably gonna be packed."

Steve passed the flyer over to Robin, and it became increasingly obvious to both of them that Robbie and his band probably weren't filling any venue larger than their own garage.

"Riiiight," Robin said after a few moments of looking over the poorly made flyer. "Sounds like we might have to hustle if we still wanna get floor seats, eh?"

Steve suppressed a smirk, and Robbie scowled and glared as even Nate and Lee snickered a bit.

"Whatever, it's not surprising that we already have haters. You'll be sorry you missed the opportunity, right Tambers?"

Tambry was still buried in her phone, and it wasn't until Robbie very overtly cleared his throat that she looked up and finally glanced over at everyone present.

"Huh? Oh, right. Sure," she said disinterestedly, taking in Steve and Robin for the first time before looking back down at her phone. Her gaze lingered just a split second longer on Steve than on Robin, and she blinked once before returning to the screen and typing once more. Steve had noticed, but didn't think much of it. Robbie, on the other hand, appeared to be hypersensitive to his girlfriend's reaction, and he looked from Tambry to Steve and narrowed his eyes in an accusing manner.

"On second thought, might be better for you two to steer clear. I don't think you'd be welcome…"

"Oh darn," Robin said, her sarcasm now turned up all the way. "At least it saves me the trouble of cutting the fingers off my gloves to fit in."

This time, there was a small wave of laughter that sounded throughout the group, and Robbie snorted defeatedly before crossing his arms, whether it was in indignation or to hide the fingerless gloves on his hands, Steve wasn't sure, but it could have been quite possibly both.

"Anyways, Wendy," Nate started from the back seat. "We've got a date with the lake and a bunch of old grenades that my granddad left to me in his will. You in?"

"Is that even a question?" Wendy said excitedly, already starting towards the door to the van as Nate opened it for her.

"Perfect timing!" Mabel said excitedly. "The girls and I have a few new photos to add to our scrapbooks! And Dipper, I think you're going to want to see this! Bye, everyone!"

Before anyone could inquire further, Mabel suddenly grabbed Dipper by the wrist and dragged him along with her, ignoring his protests as her, Candy and Grenda all ran down the sidewalk and out of sight.

"Well, dudes?" Wendy asked Steve and Robin, who were the only ones left still standing on the sidewalk. "You want in on some lake-and-grenade action?"

It seemed like all of Wendy's friends (with the exception of Robbie) seemed content with the two of them coming along, and Steve glanced over at Robin to gauge her interest. Locking eyes, Steve saw that her face had once again taken on an anticipatory tone like it had when they had first met back up after capturing Blendin, making it obvious to him that there was something that she was just burning to tell him.

"I think we'll pass for now," Steve said. "We're gonna complete our tour of the town on foot. You know, get to know the streets a little bit."

Wendy smiled and gave them both a nod before hopping into the van and shutting the door. The heavy rock music started up once again, and Steve watched as the van took off down the street, going way faster than it should.

"Well, they seem cool, I guess," Steve said, watching as the van turned the corner and disappeared. "Most of them anyway."

He turned his head back towards Robin.

"Alright, before you explode, what's this big thing you've—"

Steve immediately stopped talking as Robin grabbed him by both of his shoulders, her hands nearly shaking with excitement as she looked him dead in the eyes.

"Whoa, Robin, what the hell—?"

"They're together, Steve," Robin said, her voice holding a serious tone to it that she typically only reserved for deciphering russian codes and bathroom confessions.

"What, Robbie and Tambry? Yeah, I thought it was obvi—"

"No, dingus! The sheriff and the deputy. They're together."

Steve frowned in confusion. The fact that Robin reached out and grabbed his shoulders was enough to tell him the gravity of the situation, or at least, the gravity she had chosen to grant, as Robin wasn't typically very physical in nature.

"You're talking about Blubs and Durland? The two cops that Mabel was talking about before?"

"Yes. They're together, Steve."

"Yeah, you said that already, Robin," Steve said with a hint of annoyance. "So did Mabel earlier this morning on the drive over here. What's your point?"

Robin shook her head and finally released her hold on Steve, her annoyance showing as well that Steve didn't understand yet.

"They're men, Steve. Both of them."

Steve then paused, as that was information he hadn't known yet. The sheriff and deputy of Gravity Falls were both men…and they were in a relationship. Steve hadn't really given it much thought, but he supposed that he had assumed at least one of them was a girl. But they were both guys, and despite that being news to Steve, it still didn't really break his reality or anything.

"Ok? They're men and they're together. Are you…asking me about how I feel about that? Is that what this is?"

Robin snorted despite her seriousness.

"Steve, if I had any doubts about how you felt about that, I would have never brought it up."

"Ok," Steve said, his impatience with Robin rising even further that they had been talking for almost a minute now and she still hadn't gotten to the point. "Well, you're kind of taking forever to establish why we're talking about it in the first place, so just so you know: I don't care if they're two guys!"

"Exactly."

"...What?"

"Steve, you don't care."

Steve searched her face for answers.

"Yeah, I don't, Robin. It's not really any of my—"

"Nobody else cares either, Steve!"

Steve paused, still not understanding her words and only growing more angry by the second.

"Ok! So, if nobody cares, then why are we even talking about it?!"

"Steve…"

Robin had lowered her voice to barely above a whisper, and he was immediately reminded of the last time she had spoken to him like that, over twenty-eight years ago on that bathroom floor. He said nothing in response, decisively concluding that attempting to speak right now was only making him more confused. Instead, Steve searched Robin's eyes, scanning for any kind of answer that could be discerned from her pleading orbs. It wasn't apprehension that he saw, it wasn't fear, it wasn't pain, although she was definitely irritated with him and his inability to catch onto the ludicrously vague clues she was providing. It was excitement he was seeing, and his mind fumbled hard for what it was she could be so excited about.

…didn't make it official until almost everyone knew about it…

…They're men, Steve. Both of them…

…Nobody cares...

"...Oh…"

Robin's smile was immediate.

"Holy shit."

"Holy shit," Robin confirmed with a nod, her smile growing even wider.

"Nobody cares," Steve said, finally realizing the weight behind those words at last.

"Nobody cares, Steve."

"Everyone knows…"

"...but nobody cares."

And then they were laughing, half from the realization and half from Steve finally understanding what Robin had been trying to tell him for the last five minutes.

"Robin, this is…just, holy shit!"

Robin was breathless, and she laughed harder as Steve looked around them between his own bouts of laughter like he was seeing Gravity Falls for the first time. He kind of was, in a way. For how excited he was though, he couldn't even imagine how Robin must've felt. She must've been walking on air.

In high spirits, the two of them turned and started down the sidewalk, and Steve felt a genuine smile on his face when he saw just how happy Robin was. It was the most she had laughed since arriving in the future, and he quickly realized just how much that meant to him.

…

A few miles away, deep within the forest, a group of creatures stood around the base of a tree. Proportionally, the creatures possessed very similar bodies to that of a human, though far more squat in nature. The creatures themselves stood a little less than a foot tall, with a good portion of their height being attributed to the tall, red, pointed caps they each wore. They also each wore a small set of blue overalls with a lighter blue shirt underneath, and though each one of the creatures were of varying ages, each and every single one of them sported an impressive beard on their chin, giving them the appearance of adult humans despite their diminutive stature.

"Well, what do you guys think?" one of the creatures asked, placing his hands on his hips. "Definitely not something you see every day…"

The reason these particular creatures were formed around the base of the tree was not the tree itself, but rather, the strange glowing sight that lay at the foot of it.

Half on the forest floor and half on the tree itself, a membrane stretched to about the size of a car tire. The membrane itself pulsed and glowed periodically, giving an indication that something lied just beyond the other side of it. At the edges of the membrane where it met the ground and the bark of the tree, a moist stringy substance emerged and stretched outward a few inches across whatever surface it came into contact with.

Curious, one of the small creatures reached out and touched the stringy substance with its finger. It came back wet and sticky, and the creature made a disgusted noise before wiping the appendage on its clothes.

"I think it's a new kind of moss," he said. "Definitely a bit more slippery than the moss I know and love."

"It's obviously not moss, Dave," the original speaker said before turning to the others standing around the membrane. "Anybody else got an idea?"

"Shmebulock!" one of the others said, this creature sporting a darker gray beard and a set of eyes that always seemed to be cross eyed.

"Okay, look, Shmebulock. I appreciate the participation, but if you want to actually contribute to the conversation, then you're going to have to do more than just say your name! Act it out or something!"

The one called Shmebulock nodded enthusiastically and immediately looked around for some props to utilize.

"Jeff, come on," one of the other gnomes said, rolling his eyes. "Shmebulock is an idiot. The guy only knows how to say his own name. You really think he's gonna know what this thing is?"

"That's funny, Carson," Jeff replied, placing his hands on his hips. "I don't recall you offering any idea what this thing was either. Shmebulock at least has the guts to offer a guess!"

The one called Carson opened his mouth, but realized that he had no comeback for that, and sheepishly closed it again.

Shmebulock's excited recitation of his own name brought their attention back to him, and he eagerly hefted a pinecone, which proportionally was the size of a large suitcase to him, into the air before dropping it into the portion of the membrane that sat on the forest floor.

The pinecone slipped through the membrane like it was the surface of a liquid and disappeared from sight, and each of the creatures present stared after it for a few moments before Shmebulock called them again.

"Shmebulock!" the creature said excitedly, making a motion with his hands like he was swinging something open and shut repeatedly.

"You're saying it's…some kind of door?" Jeff asked uncertainly, to which Shmebulock eagerly nodded.

"Interesting, but a door to where?"

Before any of them could answer, a large beast the size of a truck blew past them, the ground rumbling with heavy footfalls as the large creature barreled past them.

"Manotaur!" Jeff called out in warning.

The smaller creatures jumped in fright and quickly ran to the other side of the tree, skirting the membrane to reach safety. Carson, however, had accidentally jumped forward, tripping one one of the slippery vines that protruded from the membrane and falling head over heels into the pulsing red substance.

His high-pitched yell of surprise cut off quickly as he fell through the membrane just as easily as the pinecone had, and the forest fell silent again as the rest of the creatures stared after where Carson had fallen in.

"Well, I guess it's a door!" Jeff said conclusively, though his tone easily betrayed his desire to leave this area as soon as possible. "Now who's hungry?"

The rest of the creatures eagerly piped up, and their small group turned and started back into the woods, completely indifferent to the fact that their number was one less than it had been before.

The membrane continued to pulse and glow as they left, its steady rhythm undeterred by the forest around it.

S GKC QSFOX PYBW LI DRO YXO DRKD MKWO PSBCD. XYG RO SC QYXO, KXN S RKFO LOQEX DY DRSBCD.

A/N: I am ashamed that I didn't think to add a little code at the ends of the chapters until now, but ah well. Better late than never! As always, please do not hesitate to let me know what you felt like went well or went poorly with the chapter, as I am always tweaking my writing and looking to improve with each piece of work I put out. Until next time!

-ImpulsiveWeaver