AN: Welp… I decided to give this another little try. Still not ENTIRELY sure if I'm gonna keep this story up, but I'll write when the mood takes me, so, meh. Let me know what you guys think.
And since no one gave me any suggestions on which shows I should insert Bipper into, like I ASKED… *ahem*, I decided to get the other show I'm currently obsessed with out of the way. Let's see if you guys can figure it out before it's outright said.
Hope you guys enjoy, and please… PLEASE…. Relax, Read ad Review. 'Tis my lifeblood it is!
The rising sun slowly and poetically illuminated the small oceanic metropolis before it. The morning light catching on the seaside waves surrounding the small city on three of its sides, all the while chasing away the shadows from the building rooftops and the many crisscrossing streets. In a slow and well-practiced routine, citizen after citizen began to awake and head out for their day of work and recreation, whether it be at the beach boardwalk, deep in the inner city, or even at the decently sized amusement park adjacent to the human hive.
It wasn't much, really. On the small side to truly be called a city. In fact many would call it little more than your average seaside town. A tourist trap for the many highway travelers coming and going across the country.
But to a certain young demon, watching from a high plateau overlooking the bay, reaching high above even the highest building in the nearby burg; it was beauty incarnate.
Bipper smiled. Really, he couldn't do anything else. He had been traveling for… what felt like days. Actually, it might have been days. But it didn't matter. He was finally here. Where? Well, that part he wasn't so sure about. But wherever he was, he was here. And that was the important part.
He had spent hours upon hours, walking, flying and teleporting randomly. Traveling distances that might have been a few feet one moment, and hundreds of miles the next. All the while, just testing and experimenting with being him.
God, it still felt so good. So empowering and free. This exuberant and intoxicating high of just being himself. Free from any and all hostilities and responsibilities. The yellow-eyed demon idly wondered if this was what the mortals referred to being 'high on life'.
Bipper hoped it never ended.
A wet cough interrupted his musings however, both on the city below and on himself, and forced the young demon to look down at the injured, near-dead Time Agent by the name of Lolph, whose throat he currently held in his small but vice-like grip. The servant of the Time Baby had certainly seen better days. His uniform was in tatters, his scouter damaged and he was covered in various injuries… some far more severe than others.
"Oh jeez, sorry about that buddy. I COMPLETELY forgot about you… or did I just think you were dead? Ah well, doesn't matter. Me dragging you for about half a mile couldn't have felt good. Especially in your condition, eh?" Bipper asked sarcastically as his yellow eyes wandered to the jagged, bleeding stump that used to be the agent's left leg.
"P-please, I'm sorry. I… was ju-just following orders, w-w-we-" the man from the far future attempted to plead but was cut off.
"Yeah, yeah. Ordered to watch me. I know. But, unfortunately for you, *I* do the watching. You got that?" Bipper asked pleasantly, all the while his grip tightened on the Time Agent's neck, cutting off even more of his precious air supply.
The fusion simply took in the mortal's anguished, desperate breaths for a few more seconds before releasing his grip, unceremoniously dropping Lolph to the ground.
"You know, you're lucky. It may not seem like it, but you are. A day or two ago, when I was the old me, you'd probably be a lawn ornament by now. Or, I don't know, maybe I'd make your insides into some pretty disturbing Christmas tree decorations. Still tempted to, really." Bipper smiled evilly as his eyes began to glow much brighter.
Lolph could only swallow nervously, still hampered by the pain and shock of his missing leg.
"BUT! I'm in a good mood. So, what you're going to do… is this: You're gonna activate your silly tape measure, you're gonna go back to your little dystopia, you're gonna recall your partner, 'cuz I know he's probably around here somewhere, and then you're gonna tell that over-entitled brat… Time Baby…" Bipper spat the name hatefully, seemingly lost in his own inner rant for a moment.
In the blink of an eye however, Bipper was now directly in front of the Time Agent's face, his eyes pure white and his face horrifically distorted like static on an old television.
"TO bAck OfF." He shouted, his voice an amalgamation of many different screaming tones.
Bipper at once vanished and reappeared a small distance away, arms folded behind him and with a calm, almost friendly smile plastered on his now cherub-like face.
"Capiche?"
Lolph didn't need any more incentive and immediately began to fiddle with his Tape Measure Time Machine.
In a flash of blue light and white sparks the Time Agent was gone, back to the tyrannical future that was now no longer certain. Only a small pool of blood as any evidence he had been there to begin with.
The demon child nodded, smug at his display of power and satisfied that his only immediate enemy would now keep his distance, at least for the time being.
Heh, time.
Chuckling a bit at the irony only he understood, Bipper's gaze once more fell on the small, beachside city below and his eerie smile again slowly etched itself on his face.
Hours flew by as the demon did nothing but wait and watch. Patience forged by ages past clashed and eventually won out over a newly installed teenage attention span, as he just looked down at the small black shapes scurry about with their short lives, like ants in an anthill. Finally the young demon let out a giggle and finally spoke, to himself if no one else.
"Time to go and meet the locals, me thinks." Bipper chuckled as he asserted the tiniest bit of pressure and allowed himself to fall forwards, rolling down the slanted side of the plateau and towards the city below, laughing madly as every stone and stick cut or jabbed into him.
The warm coastal sun beat down on the city as it reached its highest point. Noon barreling down on the people like a freight train. Lunch appeared in the forefront of everyone's minds as they raced home or to nearby food establishments.
One such establishment, about to have quite the memorable experience.
Lars huffed in annoyance as he chucked box after box of old donuts into the dumpster behind his place of employment. Honestly, working at the Big Donut wasn't SO bad. There were plenty of worse places to work in Beach City. Lars had worked at most of them. But it did have its annoying little odd jobs that really ate up time and were a pain to do alone. This was one of them.
His coworker Sadie would usually be out here helping him, unfortunately she had been bogged down with costumers coming in for the lunch rush and so that was a no-go. Lars was sure he had even seen a certain star-bearing boy in the back, so he was sure she would be busy for a while.
Just his luck.
Still, he just had to get through today. Once that was done he had a whole two days off! And what better way to celebrate such a rare occurrence than by going to the new premiere wrestling match tonight. Purple Puma was gonna dominate! Oh yeah, things were looking up.
Too bad that still left him in the here and now with all these now out of date donuts.
The lanky, red-headed teenager grumbled to himself as he continued his annoying task of discarding the once delicious baked goods but stopped suddenly when he heard an odd click-clacking coming from behind him, soon followed by the distinct sound of… humming?
"I am a handsome little hell-spawn,
Just as handsome as I can be.
And all the souls in the neighborhood,
Are all crazy 'cuz of me!"
Lars stopped completely and looked behind him at hearing the odd little rhyme. What he saw made him raise a brow in a mixture of interest and confusion.
Approaching the Big Donut employee was a short kid, around twelve or thirteen by the looks of him, with pale skin and messy brown hair. He was garbed in black dress pants, a white button up shirt and a black cuffed overcoat. He was also wearing a ribbon bowtie and brown loafers of all things.
Strangest of all however; he was skipping rope as he made his way towards Lars, skillfully skipping forward despite the quick turns and pace of the jump rope.
If Lars had been particularly observant, or… cared at all, he might have noticed the rope was red and oddly… scaly.
"How's it goin' pally? What for is to you up?" the boy asked as he neared a mere foot away from the taller teen, still jumping rope quickly and a large, unsettling grin plastered on his mug.
Lars merely gave the younger kid a flat look before going back to his task. Lars had never seen him before, meaning he was either from the edge of town or an out-of-towner altogether. Probably some rich snob of a kid judging from how he was dressed. Best to ignore him, Lars believed.
He was wrong.
The grin slowly devolved into a mere smile as the kid continued to skip there, not moving or speaking for a few moments before continuing.
"Oh, is that not how the 'hip' kids talk these days? My apologies. How about we start over? The name's Bipper! Eeee! You are?" the now identified Bipper exclaimed.
Lars continued throwing boxes into the trash, though he did spare a scoff at the odd name. Bipper? Seriously? Who names their kid that? He just had to spare some sarcasm on that if nothing else.
"Bipper, huh? Gee, your parents must have been… creative." The redheaded teen bit out a little meaner than he meant to, but oh well, too late now.
The boy merely laughed in return, his grin returning in full force.
"Oh! They were! 'Course, there's some debate on who should constitute as my 'parents'. Mostly in my head…" Bipper chuckled as he finally ceased jumping, holding the 'rope' he had been using as his toy close to his body.
Lars paused at that and turned to look fully at the younger boy.
It was then and there that the lanky teenager realized something was… off about this kid. Not just his name or his attire... something about him just seemed… wrong. Living in a town like Beach City where one was likely to experience monster attacks, unnatural disasters and alien invasions, one quickly grew to recognize when something was not normal.
And this kid was setting off all of his inner alarms.
It was mostly something about… the eyes. Yeah, definitely the eyes. It was almost like Lars couldn't see them properly, or fully notice them… but at the same time couldn't deny that he WANTED to… like in the back of his mind he knew; something was unique about them.
Shaking his head to clear his mind, Lars pushed these thoughts aside as him just being a bit paranoid.
"Er… right, look kid, I'm kinda busy here so why don't you buzz off?" Lars casually insulted.
"Well, gee. No need to be a Grouchy-Gus. Hmmm… how to snap, what my sister would call, 'Mr. Frumpy' out of his frump?" the younger boy wondered aloud.
Lars nearly cringed when Bipper's grin suddenly turned malicious.
"I know, how about a gift? Catch!" the strange child nearly shouted as he threw the thin object he had been using as a jump rope at Lars.
The teen deftly caught it, more out of reflex than anything else and gave the younger teen a flat look.
"Gee, a jump rope… thanks kid. I haven't wanted one of these since I was-" Lars began, but his sarcastic tirade was cut short as he felt something tighten around his arm… and a strange hissing echoing in his ear.
Turning his head, he saw he was not holding a rope, like he thought. But instead… a snake… a rather long… thin… red… angry looking snake. Which now was coiled around his arm and giving him the reptilian equivalent of a glare.
The color immediately drained from Lars' face and he gave a near-silent shriek as he began waving his arm frantically about in a desperate attempt to dislodge the slithering reptile from its newfound perch.
All the while the strangely dressed child was guffawing loudly.
In a singularly clear-headed moment brought on by a misguided survival instinct, Lars fearfully grabbed the snake just under the head and began to uncoil it from his arm, the snake luckily not putting up much of a fight other than the occasional thrash. With a soft throw, the redhead sent the snake sprawling on the concrete and he wasted no time in scurrying back away from the animal.
"Are you freakin' crazy?! What the heck are you, a little psycho?" Lars screamed at the strange-eyed youth, never taking his eyes off the red serpent, who still seemed to be gazing at Lars intently.
"What? You really scared of a plastic snake?" the strange youth snickered as he went over to the prone snake and picked it up.
Lars was about to protest but then saw the kid gave the snake a good shake, causing it to move in such a flimsy, prone way that it just couldn't be alive. He then noticed the dull sheen of plastic scales and the beady, lifeless eyes.
"But… But I heard it hiss and it… what? I…" the redhead stammered.
"Heh, fear has such interesting effects on mortal minds. Wouldn't you agree, Slim?" Bipper asked casually, tossing the large toy snake over his shoulder and Lars was sure he saw it slither into the shadows.
"Ok, just what the heck was that supposed to be?! Some kinda magic trick?" Lars demanded.
"Ha, ha, take it easy Slim. Just a joke. Nothing strange going on here, honest. But tell me, I don't suppose you'd be willing to divulge where I currently find myself at this point in time, would you?" the strange-eyed kid asked sweetly.
"You wanna know where you are, like… the street? The city?" asked Lars in a questioning tone, confused as to how someone could be ignorant of what city they were in.
The younger-looking boy blinked slowly before speaking.
"The city, please. You're not very bright, are ya Slim?"
"What was that?" Lars nearly growled.
"Nothing, nothing. Geez. Just answer the question, kid." Bipper reassured.
Scoffing at the 'kid' comment coming from a clearly younger teen, Lars decided to indulge him. If only to get him gone already.
"Beach City, Delmarva." Lars muttered, giving Bipper a soft glare.
"Ooooo! Never been to Delmarva before! Grunckle Stan always called it a silly place. Huh… 'Beach City'? Not exactly the most original name, is it? I mean: Beach City! Might as well as call it Sea Town, or Water Burg. Still, seems like the kind of place a guy like you'd live." Bipper shrugged.
That was the final straw for Lars.
"Look kid, I make it a rule not to hit children. But if you've been giving me nothing but grief. So if you don't quit with the trash talk, I might make an exception." Lars hissed threateningly, rearing his arm back in an attempt to look tough.
He really didn't have any intention of hitting the kid, but he wasn't about to let some runt insult him like it was nothing, probably thinking he can just use his age to get away with it. He was a bit put out unfortunately when Bipper merely raised an amused eyebrow at him. Deciding to let it go, Lars tried to simply get the last word by brushing the kid off completely.
"So beat it, runt. Unless you wanna get decked." the older teen grumbled as he attempted to finish throwing boxes in the trash.
Unfortunately for him, the entertainment he had been providing the smaller boy had run out for the moment and so Bipper decided to indeed end the conversation… his way.
"Ah ha ha! That sounds fun, tough guy. But instead; how 'bout I take away your sense of sight and your ability to speak for the next twenty-four hours?" Bipper asked casually with a snap of his fingers.
Not even a second later, Lars' eyes grew milky white mid-throw of a particularly large box of stale donuts and he stumbled as he lost his balance out of shock and confusion.
Lars waved his hands in front of his eyes and a look of terror came over his face as he realized that he had indeed been robbed of his sight. It looked as if he was trying to yell and scream but nothing escaped his throat but a sickly wheeze. His hands grabbed his throat as his features grew more and more frenzied, if that were possible.
"There we go! I've added a bit of excitement to your sad, short life buddy! No need to thank me. Just don't get hit by any cars! Ha!" Bipper sagely advised as the older teen stumbled and tripped over his own feet.
Lars nearly and outright fell several times before finding the door leading back inside the Big Donut. With frenzied movements the lanky teen threw the door open and ran inside, wheezing time and time again in a vain attempt to form words before disappearing inside.
"Thank you! Please come again!" Sadie called after Sour Cream, her latest and currently next-to-last customer.
The laid-back teen gave her a thumbs up as he disappeared through the front door, his head never once ceasing to bob to the beat loudly blaring through his headphones.
"Wow, busy day, huh Sadie?"
Sadie looked down at the owner of the voice, the young and jubilant youth of Beach City known as the one and only Steven Universe. The short blonde could only chuckle at the black-haired child's enthusiastic query.
"You have no idea, Steven. That line had been going on for like, fifteen minutes before you showed up." Sadie replied, getting a bag ready in preparation for Steven's eventual order.
"Well it just goes to show how much everyone loves the donuts at the Big Donut! Their great!" Steven exclaimed good naturedly with stars in his eyes.
"Heh, I guess so. So what can I get for ya?" the blond asked.
"Hmmm… I think today I'll have-"
The young half-Gem's order was interrupted as the door to the back of the shop banged open with enough force to knock the flimsy 'employee only' sign clear off.
The two jumped at the sudden noise and looked over to find the second Big Donut employee, Lars, stumbling inside. The teen had a look of pure terror on his face rather than the aloof or annoyed look he normally sported. And that in itself was enough to alert both Sadie and Steven something was wrong.
"Lars? What's wrong?" Sadie asked, rushing over and placing a reassuring hand on one of his long legs.
Lars' hands lunged out and grasped the shorter teen by her shoulders, using the action to guide his face into hers. He let out a soft wheeze, even though his mouth looked as though it was desperately trying to form coherent words.
"Lars, come on… this isn't funny!" Sadie ordered weakly, a cold sweat forming on her forehead.
"Sadie, look at his eyes!" Steven called out, who had climbed on top of the counter to get a better look.
Sadie did as instructed and saw that instead of the usual hazel tone of Lars' eyes, they were much duller, covered in a foamy white lens. Her own eyes widened in shock.
"Oh my God, Steven! He's blind!" the teenage girl nearly shrieked.
"What?!" the pre-teen's shout nearly matched hers.
"Oh God… he, he must have inhaled something or something must have gotten into his face… that's why he can't speak either! Oh no, Lars… Lars! It's gonna be ok!" the short blonde said, her voice regaining some firmness in an attempt to calm her hysteric friend, grabbing his arm to steady him.
Meanwhile, Steven was panicking himself. He was scared, scared for his friend. Sure; Lars could be a jerk sometimes, but Steven knew he was a good guy deep down and still considered him a good friend, regardless of whatever he said. And seeing one of his friends in this kind of terrifying and possibly painful situation shook the young boy to his core.
Wait a minute… his healing powers! He had healing spit! Maybe if he-
His helpful thoughts stop suddenly as Steven felt an odd shiver go down his spine. A familiar sensation that his many missions with the Crystal Gems had taught him was a vital instinct. It felt almost as if he were being watched… watched by something… wrong. Watched by something that had no right to be watching him.
Craning his neck, Steven looked behind him and saw a boy watching the frantic scene playing out from outside the shop window. He appeared to be around Steven's own age and was dressed oddly, but that wasn't what caught the half-Gem's attention… it was his eyes. Glowing, yellow eyes with oddly shaped pupils that seemed to… Steven couldn't even find the words to describe it.
In that moment he was scared and happy at the same time. But he didn't know why. The odd mixture of emotions throwing the magical boy very much outside of his comfort zone.
"Steven, I need your help! Can you keep him calm and still while I call 911?" Sadie nearly yelled.
The call from his friend snapped Steven's attention away from the boy outside the window and back to the frankly worrying scene of Lars blindly flailing about.
"Uh, yeah! Sure thing Sadie! Hurry!" Steven reassured her as he took her place holding Lars' arm tightly to keep him in place, any and all thoughts of his healing powers forgotten in the quick hysteria.
As Sadie hurried to the store phone and Lars continued to wail silently, Steven stole another glance outside the window… only to see the strange boy was gone.
Shaking his head slightly, Steven's mind assured him he probably was just seeing things… there was no boy… and if there was, there was nothing at all strange about him… right?
Right.
Outside; a certain demonic child was peering through the large window as the teenager he had temporarily cursed continued to freak out and thrash about. All the while his apparent friend and coworker were trying desperately to calm him down and care for him.
He smirked at the distress he had caused. Ever since the fusion, Bipper found reading a person's aura was like a well-trained instinct. He could literally see a person's nature with nothing but a gaze and this hoop-eared teen's was a bit… nasty. Certainly not evil, but he could use a good dose of care and humility.
Bipper figured a little fear and blindness was the perfect cure for that! Of course, how it would be the perfect cure probably wouldn't make much sense to anyone besides Bipper himself.
The tiny tormentor's attention drifted however, as the small, round child inside the shop craned his neck to look directly at him. Bipper's expression didn't change a bit however, continuing to smile darkly… but now for different reasons.
This child's aura on the other hand… was quite different. For one thing it was… pink. Very pink. And it was exceptionally pure. It was like this kid had nothing but kindness and love to share with the world. But there was something else.
There was something… unique about this kid. Something special. Something destined. Something magical.
Just like the old him.
That alone was enough to pique Bipper's interest exponentially and assured him beyond any doubt that this was definitely the right place to begin the long journey of his new life.
Having got his fill of anguish and interest, the young demon began walking away from the window the moment the black-haired child's attention was called away, quite sure the two would see each other again soon.
"Well, that was fun. But why did I come to this shop specifically again?" Bipper asked himself, scratching his cheek idly in thought.
A few moments passed before the fusion smiled and snapped his fingers in realization, either unaware or uncaring that such an action caused a nearby streetlamp to morph into a large metallic spider with lightbulbs for eyes. It clicked and hissed menacingly before heading down a nearby alley.
"Oh! That's right! I wanted to give eating a try, and I thought a donut sounded yummy! Huh… but then I didn't want to wait in that line and wondered off… guess I'm easily distracted." Bipper chuckled at himself, even enjoying his character flaws.
The yellow-eyed youth's ears perked at the sound of sirens swiftly approaching and shrugged in a nonchalant way.
"Huh, guess that ship has sailed… hmmm… but I did see a pretty snazzy looking pizza parlor on the way here. Let's give that a shot!"
Stuffing his hands in his coat pockets and whistling a tuneless melody, Bipper made his way down the boardwalk.
His adventures in Beach City were just beginning.
AN: And that's that. I rather like the thought of Bipper being the kind of demon that tries to 'fix' people and teach them life lessons… but being so very bad at it because despite wanting to be good, he's also very dark and malicious. Which makes it so that he really only succeeds when it truly counts… like for main characters maybe?
I also love writing little rhymes and songs for him. I find characters who do that very creepy for some reason. I think I'll write one for him every, or very nearly every, chapter. Bonus points to anyone who can name the original rhyme or ditty that I base them on. This chapter and the first chapter count, so get on it!
Oh, and for those wondering, don't worry. There will be some familiar faces from Gravity Falls coming up... soon...ish. Yeah.
Well, 'till next time if there is one. Ja Ne!