AN: I'm sorry for the delay. These last few months have been pretty busy for me, and I've had little time for writing. With my other ongoing stories, I eventually decided to keep this one on hold for a while until I could actually dedicate more time to it. I also spent some days working on the outline I wanted to follow for this crossover: hopefully this will help me keeping a steady update rate from now on.
Chapter 2
The Two Wanderers
Pacifica's crying came to an abrupt stop, a yelp dying in her throat as she scrambled away from the two beings only to realize she was already leaning on the wall behind her. When her heart ceased to try and leap out of her chest she finally noticed that the two aliens were not the same as the eyeball ones that apparently manned the spaceship.
She was still sure that it was aliens, though.
Beyond the energy bars of her cell there was a light blue creature that stood on its hind legs, exhibiting a considerable height compared to the young girl. It was wearing a pair of reins and a saddle on its back, a fact that made Pacifica think it was a mount of some sorts. The 'perfect' trusty steed for the other creature that was looking at her with wide, sympathetic eyes: a humanoid orange furry-ball of sorts with an oversized green hat and no additional type of cloth sans for a couple of shoes.
Pacifica did not dare to speak, too dazed by the sight of the two strangers to even think of opening her mouth. It was, therefore, the same voice that had spoken before that broke the ice. "Oh, don't you worry, little one, we aren't here to hurt you!" the shorter creature said cheerfully, "We're here to help you!"
The girl simply looked at the alien fearfully, unable to fully believe his words.
The 'mount' sighed. "He's not lying, you know," she said, startling Pacifica even more since she didn't expect the correspondent for an Earth horse to be able to talk. "Listen, I don't know what happened to you, or why are you even here on Hater's ship, but we're not here under his orders if that's what you're thinking about. Technically he doesn't even know we're here…"
"We were going to try and set up an amazing surprise for him, in fact!" the other alien suddenly interjected.
The taller creature nodded. "Yeah, kind of… Anyway, what I wanted to say is that me and Wander are not your enemies, kid. We'll get you out of here before you even realize it."
In other circumstances, Pacifica would have probably started to shout at them, asking them how they were even expecting her to believe them. But her day had long since stopped to be, specifically since the moment she had been taken away from her planet, and she couldn't just refuse the offer when the alternative was facing the commander of the eyeballs. "Y-you will?" she stammered.
"Of course, we will!" Wander said, "Right, Sylvia?"
Sylvia smiled as her long tail started to move behind her. She swiped at something that Pacifica couldn't see beside the cell, then electrical noises started to buzz all around herself. The energy bars flickered, and, just as predicted, they disappeared before the girl could realize what was going on.
"Ptsh. Hater should get these cell quarters checked every now and then, if he ever wants to not let people escape that easily," the blue creature commented. "Now that I think about it, it's best if he keeps not doing that."
When Wander walked into the cell, Pacifica couldn't help but tense up. But the alien kept his sincere smile, and simply offered his hand. "Come on, there. Let's get you out," he reassured, agitating his hand as if he wanted to catch her attention. "You'll be back home in no time."
Pacifica remained immobile as Wander patiently waited for her to make a decision. The problem was, she didn't know what to decide.
Could she really trust these strangers? Her first encounter with aliens inside this spaceship hadn't exactly been a pleasant one, and she kind of wasn't in the mood to socialize with more of them. Yet, she couldn't just ignore the fact that Wander and Sylvia were far different from the eyeball creatures or even the living skeleton she had met. Sylvia was studying her with a raised eyebrow, while Wander continued to keep that annoying smile on his face, reminding her of Mabel Pines a little too much for comfort.
That thought made her recall that she was no more home, trapped in an alien spaceship most likely very far away from Earth. Right now, the two strangers were her best bet at getting out of here… and frankly, if they were trying to deceive her, they were being pretty good at it. She had spent quite a few time judging people back in Gravity Falls, and even if it had become an unpleasant memory recently it had made her learn how to discern lies from sincerity.
Wander wasn't simply being sincere… he was literally overflowing with positivity and friendliness.
Eventually, Pacifica closed her eyes and let out a long breath, trying to relax herself. Then, she looked up to the ever beaming furry-ball and timidly took his hand. 'I might as well give it a shot…'
"Uuh… thank you, I guess…" Pacifica said slowly, unsure how to properly congratulate the alien as he helped her stand up.
"No problemo!" Wander exclaimed, and a moment later Pacifica was being pulled away from the cell and lifted from the ground. Before she could even yelp, she found herself sitting over Sylvia, right behind Wander.
"So, Wander, do we stick to the plan with the sneaking around and surprising Hater?" Sylvia asked, rotating her head to look at him. When she leaned over a little to glance at Pacifica, the girl immediately looked away. "I dunno, buddy, the girl doesn't exactly look like she'd be thrilled to join us."
"As much as I'd like to stick around for a while, you're right when saying that she doesn't look comfortable," Wander answered. He whirled around and patted Pacifica's shoulder. "Don't you worry, Hater's such a busy fellow that I'm sure he won't protest if we delay a surprise visit!"
Pacifica, confused by his words, nodded mechanically, unaware of what was going to happen.
Sylvia grinned before looking forward, flexing her legs and tightening her fists. "Fast route it is, then. Buckle up, kid."
Two watchdogs patrolled a hallway, laser rifles at hand and ready to fire. Yet, they were much more focused in chatting with each other than actually keeping their eyes peeled.
"Have you heard the news? Commander Peepers is out for blood, again."
"Yeah, I've been told the latest plan he proposed to Lord Hater didn't work out well, a bit because the boss is still focused on Dominator and a little because of a malfunction of the new gizmo he was working on."
"Malfuction? That's new… what about it?"
They were so concentrated in their discussion that they did not hear the footsteps coming from the nearby wall, getting closer and closer.
"I'm not sure, but apparently his teleport-thingy has got some kind of weird pink-skinned alien into the skullship. That wasn't how he intended it to work, so he's not exactly in a 'good mood' because of it."
"I wouldn't want to be the poor guy who was teleported then. It's already hard enough to not get blasted while being a soldi—wait, did you hear that?"
"Yeah! That's a—"
The wall beside the patrolling watchdogs exploded. The two guards screamed and ducked as a blue shadowy form leaped over them and landed in the centre of the hallway.
"S-Sylvia and Wander!" the watchdogs uttered. Then, their training finally kicked in and they immediately opened fire, but Sylvia was already moving.
"Shoot, after running for two minutes straight without interruption, I was beginning to hope I'd be able to sprint it out without a hitch," Sylvia huffed.
"Oh well! I'm sure the exit is not that far!" Wander said, "Though I hope Hater is still going to show up, just so I can say 'hello'!"
"What is wrong with you two?!"
Sylvia came to an abrupt halt, immediately massaging her ears, while Wander tried his best not to fall off the saddle. "Kid, watch your mouth! You almost destroyed my eardrums!"
Pacifica Northwest was not going to be ordered around that easily. "No, I'm done letting things happen around me! First, you act like this is all standard procedure, then you pull me into a marathon throughout this spaceship I have no idea what it is, and now you even go around and say you hope to see more of those bad guys show up? What is wrong with you people?! I'm going to sue the money out of you both!"
Wander and Sylvia exchanged a confused glance, before Wander tried to calm the kid down. "Hey, listen, I know Hater can be a little bit… heated, sometimes, but he's a good guy, I assure you! He just needs a little push in the right side, and the same could be said for his buddy Commander—"
Alarms suddenly blared around them, as well as a thundering announcement. "Attention, watchdogs, Peepers here! Wander and Sylvia Zbornak are on the ship. Repeat: Wander and Sylvia are on the ship! This is not a drill! I want every single guard on this ship to go after them and—"
"What?!" a second voice interrupted. Sounds of microphones being moved were heard. "Wander is here?!"
"Sir, not now! I was gonna explain—!"
"Let me put my hands on that freak and I'm gonna BLAST HIM TO—!"
There were noises of energy being released, then the announcement message went static. While Pacifica didn't like what she heard, that didn't stop her from narrowing her eyes while looking at her two companions.
Wander awkwardly scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, but Sylvia simply groaned. "Look, I get it, you're scared and all that, and I sometimes wonder about Wander's consideration of Hater as well, but if you start to get cranky we won't leave this place anytime soon."
Pacifica, Wander and Sylvia suddenly heard the noises of an approaching army, roaring footsteps and war-cries.
"So, before Hater manages to stand by his long-awaited dream of frying both me and Wander, and possibly you in the process, can you trust us on this one? I promise, we'll explain everything if you want explanations, but that'll have to wait after we leave the skullship."
Pacifica frowned and crossed her hands, but the footsteps were getting closer, and eventually she grumpily nodded. "Okay, but try not to waste time fooling around…"
Sylvia grunted before sprinting forward once again, Pacifica grabbing on the nearest object she could hold on to support herself. Unfortunately, though, that object had to be Wander himself, but for once the fear had the best of her pride and she didn't let go.
Wander didn't seem to mind. In fact, he glanced at Pacifica more than once while riding Sylvia, his instincts telling him that this wasn't just a random kid Hater had captured… and that maybe there was more bothering her than just being detained.
Plus, kidnapping random kids wasn't Hater's style. He preferred to conquer entire planets and enslave entire races, after all.
Wander's thoughts were stopped by the red laser beams going over them. Sylvia swerved in a random direction before a round could hit any of them, Wander waving at the incoming watchdogs while Pacifica screamed, then she changed direction once they reached an intersection.
"The hangar bay is our best bet at the moment," Sylvia said while running. "If we're lucky we should be able to get out in an orbble and vanish before they realize what we want to do and close it down. It should be nearby!"
"…I won't even ask what any of that means," Pacifica grumbled.
"Good, because we don't have time for a life lesson, kid. Look out!" Sylvia shouted as the three of them barged into the hangar bay. There were watchdogs everywhere, all on high alert, but they did not immediately attack the fugitives. Instead, the various eyeballs turned together towards the intruders with surprised faces, as if they were not expecting them to show up that soon.
Sylvia did not waste time though, and she rushed into the crowd, slamming through watchdogs as if they were bowling pins. When the soldiers finally got a hold of themselves and started shooting, Sylvia was moving so fast that friendly fire started to become a serious problem. The chaos was just what Sylvia needed.
"Hang on!" she said, as Wander tightened the hold on the reins and Pacifica tried to imagine it was all a dream in order to not pass out. "The hangar is still open, we can make it! Wander, get ready with that—"
"Not so fast!" a thundering voice boomed throughout the area, making even the watchdogs cease fire. The 'opening' of the bay started to close as Commander Peepers, from the central platform of the hangar, leaned from the edge and glared at Wander and Sylvia.
Much to Sylvia's annoyance, Wander forced her to stop for a moment and turn around… to wave at Peepers. "Hello, Peepers! How's the day going?"
"Incredibly bad! You have no idea—wait, you're trying to distract me! I'm not falling for your mind games, Wander!"
"Actually, I just wanted to know how you were—"
"ENOUGH! This time, you're trapped! You will no longer hassle Lord Hater in his—wait a second…"
While Wander was being his usual annoying self and Sylvia bore his gaze with her usual defiant behaviour, Peepers had just noticed that there was someone else with the couple. He tilted his head, trying to pin point the features who whoever it was. Blonde hair… purple dress… and…
His one eye widened to the point that his hat fell off.
"YOU!" he roared. Pacifica had hoped to be just a witness of the discussion, but of course destiny had other plans for her as she looked up to see whoever Peepers was angry at and was terrified to discover that the watchdog commander was staring at her. "You, puny little pink-skinned brat! You were the cause of the failure of my latest machine today, in front of Lord Hater himself!"
In the commotion, the accuse struck Pacifica more than she would've thought was possible, and she leaned beside Wander to glare back at Peepers. "Hey, for your information, it's not my fault if your weird stuff is scrap and fails to work, so you better work harder if you want to make a good impression in front of your boss. Also, my skin is fine!"
Commander Peepers wasn't exactly content with the remark. He stomped on the edge of the platform, silencing the watchdogs that were already beginning to chuckle, then he threw the most angered glare Pacifica had ever seen—even worse than her father and the lumberjack ghost from home combined. "How dare you disrespecting bug?! Watchdogs, get them! Get her!"
Sylvia and Wander resumed the escape once the laser barrage returned. "Whoa, kid, nice comeback. I've not seen Peepers that angry in a long time," Sylvia commented, but Pacifica did not answer, preferring to close her eyes and shield her vision from the laser rounds passing beside her.
Sylvia may have been right, but that was not going to help her if they were going to get toasted. "Almost there! Almost there!" Wander exclaimed excitedly, as Sylvia upped her speed.
"Don't let them escape, in the name of Hater!"
"WANDER!" a second voice roared, and Pacifica started to hear noises comparable to thunderclaps along with the laser rounds. 'Oh no, oh no, it's the end, I'm gonna die right here, I'm gonna—'
"Wander, now!" Sylvia made a leap in the air and Pacifica heard a weird noise. Then, she felt her body weight suddenly leave her.
Dazed and confused, Pacifica opened her eyes and found the vastness of space in front of her. The sight was so sudden that she yelled, "What the heck?!"
"Calm down, kid, it's not over yet," Sylvia said, much more calmly that Pacifica would have found appropriate.
"Calm down?! We're in outer space, w-why can I even breathe!?" she stuttered.
Wander, who looked somewhat amused, simply took one of her wrists and guided her hand towards… a veil of sorts. Only when she finally touched it, Pacifica realized that they were floating in space, alright, but encased in a protective… bubble?
That was the best word she could use to describe the thing, at least.
'Where the heck did I get myself into?'
"THAT'S THEM!" Peeper's voice boomed, apparently ignoring the no-sound-in-space rule, and Pacifica turned around to see where did the voice come from. Her blood ran cold when she saw the so-called skullship in its full glory… a spaceship shaped like a skull. Unsurprising, and rather lame actually… if not for its still impressive size compared to her and her saviours.
"Re-open the hangar, now! I want the entire fighter fleet on them!"
"THIS TIME WANDER, YOU'RE—wait a second, Peepers."
"Huh? Sir?"
"I've had your engineers install a few additions to the ship, sensors and such. If what I see on this panel is correct… it means Dominator is coming on a planet nearby!"
"Sir, this is not the time—"
"This is my chance to show her the kind of man I am! HEAD FOR THAT PLANET!"
Sylvia, Wander and Pacifica simply waited in mid-space as they heard Commander Peepers complain uselessly and the skullship turn 180 degrees and speed off, away from them.
"Well, that was anticlimactic, but I'm not complaining," Sylvia said before letting out the gust of air she had been holding in. "Uff… that was close."
"I'm a bit disappointed, Sylvia," Wander said, looking at the place where the skullship used to be with a frown. "I didn't even get to at least say 'bye' to Hater…"
"With the rate we end up bumping into them, buddy, I'm sure you'll soon have your chance," Sylvia shrugged. "Now though, about our little guest here."
Until that moment, Pacifica had been too distracted by the events unfolding, but when Wander and Sylvia started to look at her, she had to shake her head to clear her thoughts. "…what?" she managed to wheeze out.
"Boy, you sure look like you haven't travelled much around the galaxy," Wander said while passing a hand over his chin in thought.
"Of course, I did not! This… this," Pacifica gesticulated to the bubble, "this shouldn't even be possible! I'm not a genius, but even I can see that!"
"Looks like reality has other plans, kid," Sylvia said. "Though I still find it weird that you know nothing about space-travel. I thought it was standard-knowledge across the entire galaxy at this point."
"But… I… I don't understand what you are talking about! What is this 'galaxy' you keep mentioning?"
Sylvia seemed genuinely surprised. "Dude. That's just the way we talk about our galaxy. Look around."
Pacifica complied… and she was left speechless. Until that moment, her emotions had prevented her from looking closely, but now that the blue alien had asked her to give another look she tried to be a bit more attentive, and she saw something she had never seen before.
The space around them was far from being black with just a few stars around. Pacifica was no astronomer, nor did she ever find much interest in it, but that didn't prevent her from noticing the amount of stars and planets that were filling the emptiness around them. Bright dots of various sizes and colours, rings and asteroid formations, even fast-moving objects that were either comets or spaceships. It was breath-taking.
"Whoa…"
Wander glanced at Sylvia for a moment before turning towards Pacifica, rotating his body on the saddle so he could face her fully. Pacifica was still watching the spectacle of the galaxy when he finally spoke. "So… where are you from?"
Pacifica looked at Wander, wondering if this was really just a very long dream. Maybe that triangle demon was still alive, partly, and was using his last energies to have a little fun at her expenses.
Yet… she couldn't just believe that everything that had happened up until then was just fruit of her imagination, triangle or not. "I… do you mean, the planet?"
Wander nodded, and Pacifica considered what to say. "I guess… Earth?"
"Earth?" Sylvia's tone was something between perplexed and concerned. "I've never heard of a planet named like that before."
Pacifica's heart slumped. "You… did not?"
"I've been travelling around with Wander to one edge of the galaxy to the other, kid, and while we didn't visit every place in it we heard about a good deal of them as well. This is the first time I ever hear of this name in my life… Wander, buddy?"
"I'm afraid I don't have much more to share than what you said, Sylvia," Wander said gravely. "It's so weird, though… maybe we should check one of the info-points at the nearest space-train station. The guys there should be able to tell us where it is, even if it's a very distant one!"
"We may as well go for it. Don't worry, kid," Sylvia said, smiling at Pacifica, "we'll find your planet in no time."
"Yeah. Now that I think about it… we didn't even introduce ourselves properly!" Wander said with a gasp. "Sorry, with the running and escaping I haven't had the time to do so! I better start from scratch if you don't mind. My name's is Wander, and my friend right here is Sylvia!"
Sylvia waved at Pacifica briefly before looking forward and starting to walk. The girl was able to feel the change of speed as the bubble gained speed.
"We've been travelling the galaxy for quite some time, meeting people and, you know, lending a hand where we can see some help would be welcomed. So, what is your name?"
Pacifica was, unfortunately, too much distracted by the revelation about her planet to follow Wander's words. Sylvia had said that, across the galaxy, space travel was a widely known technology… and she was pretty sure that on Earth humanity was lucky to have reached the moon with actual astronauts, let alone the other planets of the solar system. The most immediate conclusion was very simple: this 'galaxy' and the Milky Way were not the same one.
Pacifica frowned and tried to think it through. Sylvia and Wander were a bit weird, but they were also the only people around here that had helped her… and they had said that there was still a chance that such a theory was not true. As long as there was a way for her to go back home in one piece, she was not going to let that chance slip from her hands. She had to go back to Gravity Falls, one way or another.
And she definitely didn't need to think that such a return may have not been possible.
"Hey there?" Wander repeated, catching Pacifica's attention. "Uh, sorry, I got carried away a little… I… I'm a little vexed, that's all."
"I'm sure everything's will be all right, soon enough," Wander cheerfully stated. "I was just wondering about your name, little one. Can't let Sylvia just call you 'kid' all the time, anyway."
"I might keep doing that. Besides, I've never seen someone like her before, but I'm pretty sure she's younger than either me or you."
Another piece of information that was bad news for her. Pacifica lowered her head, hiding her face. "I… I need some time for myself, if you don't mind…" she finally blurted out.
Wander's smile faltered for a moment. "Well, no worries, I won't bug you. Take all the time you need," he said before turning back to watch where they were heading to. Pacifica glanced at him for a moment and she thought about all the trouble he and Sylvia had went through just to save her butt, and how they were still both convinced in helping her go back home. Then, she passed a hand over her face, exasperated.
'Stupid aliens… them and their stupid friendliness…'
Before Wander could start a conversation with Sylvia, he heard the little one speaking behind him.
"Pacifica… my name is Pacifica Northwest."
