The sun above the Arctic Ocean was blocked off by the vast number of thick grey clouds from the upcoming blizzard. Despite the distance of the blizzard, plenty of snow traveled downward with the assistance of the incoming high-speed winds. The seas were rough and the waves violently crashed against one another.
Underneath the worsening storm was the Stan o' War II, which was rushing fast among the brutal seas. Stanford Pines stood at the wheel of the boat with an actively serious look on his face, dedicating all his focus to what was ahead of him. The nearing storm was interfering with his ability to see clearly and the increasing winds made it difficult to keep the ship steered straight.
A sudden loud roaring then grabbed his attention as he looked over to his left and gasped. The head of a giant creature emerged from the water right before his eyes. Several tentacles suddenly pulled out of the water and began to wrap around the boat, suddenly stopping it and causing Ford to fall back on the deck. He stood up and looked back up at the creature, which had a bearing resemblance to that of a large kraken but had a very bright color scheme, mixed with plenty of strong reds, blues, and purples.
"STANLEY!" Ford yelled out to his brother through the roaring winds as he glanced over at the boat's cabin. "DID YOU FIND IT YET?!"
Inside the Stan o' War's cabin, Stanley Pines was on his knees frantically searching through a large wooden box full of various supplies. He knew that he hadn't found what Ford had requested him to find yet and was only getting more frustrated the more he searched.
"NO! I'M STILL LOOKING!" he shouted back toward the door outside.
"WHAT'S TAKING YOU SO LONG?!" Ford asked, growing impatient. He picked up a spear from the deck and threw it at the giant creature attacking them, piercing one of its tentacles. However, the sheer size of the monster made the spear all the more ineffective, as it didn't even react either.
"YOU KNOW, NORMALLY I'M NOT THE KIND OF GUY TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THINGS BEING UNORGANIZED, BUT IF YOU HAD PUT THIS THING IN A BETTER SPOT, I WOULDN'T BE TAKING SO LONG TO FIND IT!" Stan yelled back frustratedly.
"If I survive this encounter, then I'll gladly reorganize later," Ford said more calmly as he tried to balance himself on the rocking boat. "But those chances are becoming slimmer the more you waste time COMPLAINING!"
Suddenly, one of the creature's large tentacles wrapped around Ford's waist and began slowly lifting him up. He began frantically trying to struggle out of its grasp.
"STANLEY! HURRY!" Ford called out desperately.
Stan kept searching through the box until he spotted something. He reached down and grabbed a pink box labeled 'Frooby Frebbles' and gasped. "Gotcha!"
He ran outside with the box of cereal and gasped upon seeing Ford in the creature's grasp, lifted all the way up in the air beyond his reaching distance.
"Stanley!" Ford shouted down at him as he continued to struggle in the monster's tentacle. "Help!"
"I have the cereal!" Stan told him as he raised the box in his hand. "What do you want me to do with it?"
"Grab its attention with it!" Ford commanded him.
"What?!" Stan questioned, completely appalled by the suggestion. "You want me to distract a giant, bloodthirsty sea monster with a goddamn box of cereal?!"
"Just do it, Stanley!" Ford demanded, getting irritated by his brother's constant questioning amidst the current stakes. "For God's sake, just trust me!"
Stan still gave him a look of skepticism but gave in to his order. He promptly ran up to the side of the boat and raised the box of cereal above his head for the monster to see.
"Hey ugly!" Stan called out to it, attracting the creature's attention to him. "Tell me- what would you want more? This big ol' box of super sweet and delicious Frooby Frebbles, or the salty bitterness of my brother's sixty-year-old nerd brain?"
The colorful sea creature looked closely at the box of cereal in Stan's hands and appeared interested in it. It promptly released Ford from its tentacle and dropped him above the boat. He screamed briefly as he fell before landing flat on his backside. The fall wasn't extreme, but it was definitely high enough to be painful.
Stan looked down at Ford on the deck. "Well, that somehow worked," he said, surprised.
The creature then moved closer to the boat and roared directly at Stan, who fell on his bottom in fear. He shook fearfully with the box of cereal still in his hands. Ford got up from the ground and swept himself clean.
Stan looked up at Ford. "Ford, what do we do now?"
Ford then aggressively swiped the box of cereal from Stan's hands and immediately threw it into the mouth of the creature. The creature swallowed it and backed up away slightly from the boat as it began to chew. All of the sudden, the creature began roaring violently, as if it was reacting to the cereal.
Stan stood up next to Ford, who walked up to the side of the boat to view the creature. Stan smiled at the sight of the presumably suffering creature. "Haha! Nice one, Sixer! Placing a poison in the cereal so it would kill the monster. Smart plan!"
"Oh, I didn't put any poison in it," Ford told him with a smug look on his face. "Those were normal Frooby Frebbles that we gave it."
"Oh, really?" Stan asked, raising an eyebrow. "So what, then? Is it like giving chocolate to dogs or something? Does the stuff just naturally kill it?"
"It's not suffering, Stanley," Ford told him.
The creature suddenly swam up to the boat again and stuck its head out toward the two, which scared Stan, causing him to fall back on his rear again. However, Ford stood confidently in front of the creature. He placed his hand on its giant slimy head and began petting it, smiling.
"That's a good girl," he said as he petted it, the creature making a faint noise reminiscent of a purr. "Now swim along now. We have places to be, as do you," he said as he backed away from the creature, pointing off into the distance. On his command, the giant creature dove underwater and swam off away from the two, which created a few final large waves to send the boat rocking until it finally settled.
Ford gave a light chuckle as he watched the sea creature swim off into the distance. He then turned around to see Stan staring back at him with the most dumbfounded expression he had ever seen. He looked as though his jaw was literally about to drop straight off.
"What the hell?!" he questioned, utterly confused.
"What?" Ford asked innocently, shrugging his arms up.
"T-that! What was that?!" Stan asked, pointing off into the distance where the creature had swum off. "I thought we were going to kill that thing! Not domesticate it!"
"Oh please, Stanley," Ford brushed off with an eye roll. "The Snacken can't be domesticated. They just get ornery when they're hungry. They have a preference for sugary sweets rather than human flesh, so that's why I ordered you to get the cereal. Once they're fed, they become nothing more than gentle giants- creatures to admire from afar with the eye."
"Really?" Stan asked, crossing his arms. "The Snacken? You totally came up with that, didn't you?"
"Yes, and to be completely honest, I'm far more proud of the name than I should be," Ford said with a smug smile as he walked back over to the wheel to steer the boat. "They are beautiful creatures, though. It's nice to see one again. Although, they look incredibly out of place here in contrast to the Colorful Creature dimension."
"So you've seen those before too?" Stan asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, and unfortunately, with that being the fifteenth random anomaly that we've encountered in the last forty-eight hours, my theory on this investigation is becoming even more probable," Ford said, the smug look on his face changing to one of concern. "The spike in weirdness in this area over the past couple of years could be the result of a multiversal leak."
"That sounds complicated so I'm going to assume that's a bad thing," Stan said.
"Well, they certainly aren't good things. Multiversal leaks are tears in a dimension that also sync up with every other dimension in the multiverse. Anything and anyone that makes contact with it can be sent to any random dimension," Ford explained. "Depending on how big the leak has gotten and what else has emerged from it, we could be in for something incredibly dangerous. And considering the activity levels I tracked were similar to the saucer back in Gravity Falls, then things are already looking bad for us."
"And yet here we are- on a boat in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, yet again, and heading toward what may as well be considered impending doom," Stan said, lacking hope for the situation they are bringing themselves into.
"Relax," Ford told him. "I've dealt with two of these things before in the past. A simple nuclear equation with the proper elements should be enough to close it up. The problem is dealing with whatever emerged from the leak." Ford pulled up his sleeve from his wrist, revealing a highly advanced wristwatch. "In case things do get too out of hand, I have a backup plan already prepared inside Meridian."
"Of course. Meridian," Stan said, rolling his eyes at Ford's wristwatch. "Your all-mighty wristwatch that you've programmed to do anything except basic functions you'd expect to come with a futuristic wristwatch."
"I've told you a thousand times, Stanley. It's still a prototype," Ford said, irritated by Stan's mockery.
"But still, you've added so many out-there functions to that thing. The ability to detect nearby storms, the ability to tell wind direction. It shoots lasers. It has a built-in parachute. Flashlight. Blacklight," Stan listed until he grabbed ahold of Ford's wrist. "The ability to make toast on the spot."
He tapped a button on Ford's wristwatch, which made a few green laser lights that projected an image of a lone piece of toast. Then, the lasers merged together and began sculpting a three-dimensional model of the toast. Once finished, there was a flash of light that Stan and Ford shielded their eyes from. Upon looking back, they saw a fresh piece of toast lying on the deck.
Stan walked over to the toast and picked it up, holding it out to Ford for him to see. "TOAST, Stanford!" he scolded. "You added the ability to make toast with a watch but you forget to add... oh, I don't know... a map? Or better yet, a teleporter? You used to hang around Dipper a lot. Haven't you seen any of those sci-fi shows he watches? They always have a guy with a futuristic watch that can make him warp around anywhere. You couldn't even remember to add something like that, but you added a goddamn toaster?!"
"I'm willing to accept my fault in forgetting to incorporate a map function into Meridian, but you must understand that a teleporter isn't nearly as easy to install into such a compact device as some sci-fi show may make it seem," Ford defended.
"Yeah, but...a freakin' toaster?!" Stan questioned, waving the crispy piece of bread in front of his brother's face.
Ford swiped the toast from Stan's hand and took a bite out of it daringly. "Easy to produce, prevents starvation no matter where we end up, and it's perfectly crisp by scientific means."
"Whatever," Stan said, rolling his eyes. "But as soon as we get back to Gravity Falls, you better finish that thing. You built a portal traveling to different dimensions over thirty years ago. A teleporter that only goes anywhere in the world sounds like it should be nothing by your standards."
"Except, the portal was made using resources obtained from an alien U.F.O.," Ford explained as he continued to munch on the piece of toast in his hand. "Look, Stanley, I already plan on installing the finishing touches and features on Meridian when we get back home. If it will make you happy, I'll check out the specifications for a functional teleporter feature and see what I can put together." He put the final piece of toast into his mouth and chewed. "But I won't make any promises."
"Uh-huh," Stanley said, brushing it off. "Speaking of which, you never told me about the deal with the U.F.O. The hell's that about? We really got aliens roaming around back home?"
Ford swallowed the remains of his toast and sighed. "No, all the aliens have been long dead. Anyway, it's not very important anymore. It's a long story anyway."
"C'mon, I'm a patient guy," Stan insisted.
"Are you sure?" Ford asked, looking away from him to see what was ahead of the boat.
"Of course."
"Well, then you can wait for me to tell you about it another time," Ford said as he pointed up ahead of the boat. "Because we're coming up on land."
Stan looked up ahead and saw that their boat was nearing a large plot of icy land. As the cold mist began to dissipate, the two could see a large snowy mountain plotted further inland.
"C'mon, let's prepare to anchor this thing," Ford said as he began walking to the front of the boat, leaving Stan behind at the wheel.
"Right," Stan nodded.
As the boat sailed closer to the edge of the island, Ford walked into the cabin and up to a lever on a control panel. Stan took control of the wheel and began to turn the boat steadily so it would align well with the edge. As the boat became arms-reaching distance with the land, Ford pulled the lever down, which lowered the anchor. As it hit the bottom of the water, Ford walked out of the cabin and gave Stan a thumbs up. Stan then turned the key beside the steering wheel, shutting off the boat's engine.
Stan then ran up to a roll of rope in the corner of the deck. Ford jumped on the edge of the boat and then jumped over to the land. Stan threw the rope over to him, and he caught it. He then unrolled the rope and wrapped it around the bottom of a thick stone spike in the ground, tying a secure knot.
Stan then got up on the edge of the boat and leaped across the land, but his jump was a bit weaker than Ford's was. Luckily, Ford had quickly grabbed a hold of his hand as he jumped and pulled him up over the edge, preventing him from falling.
The fall had taken Stan by surprise, as he steadied himself back on his feet with Ford's help. He sighed. "I'm getting too old for all this, Stanford," he said, straightening his back up. "I just can't wait to go home and see the kids again."
"Me neither, Stanley. But all in good time," Ford said, patting him on the back. "Just hang in there. We're almost done."
The two smiled at one another before they looked forward at the mountain ahead of them. It was a good hike away, but it was one they had to take. They had come too far to stop now. It was up to them to find out what was going on with the anomalies and figure out how to solve them. Once they had wrapped things up there, it was time to head home.
Perhaps easier said than done. But all they knew was that it was a trip neither of them wanted to miss.
(Chapter updated as of December 11, 2022)