Dimension 47'\GA: Vanessa's Universe
Gregory carefully weaved around the patrolling staff bots, keeping low and staying out of range of their flashlights. As he snuck around, he sensed a warm protective presence appear near him, a presence that he has come familiar with throughout the night.
Roxy's coming this way! You should hide before she turns the corner.
The male-sounding voice spoke directly to Gregory's mind and the boy could also see a sparkling pale purple light in front of one of the photos booth, indicating where the presence was advising him to go. Having learned to trust the voice and guiding light, Gregory immediately ducked into the indicated Photo Booth.
"Where are you hiding child? Your protectors won't be able to keep you from me forever…"
Roxy's voice was very distorted from what it was meant to be, like something other and evil was using her voice box to speak. That wasn't the only thing that changed in the animatronics by whatever was controlling them. From the few clear glimpses Gregory had caught of them, the animatronics eyes were almost flaming bright pink, incredibly long and sharp claws, and somehow their mouths had more teeth than should be physically possible to fit in their mouths.
The bottom line was Gregory didn't want to get caught.
Gregory did his best to quiet his breathing as much as possible, watching as Roxy's shadow passed by underneath the curtain.
Someone else is here…
Gregory shared the confusion that he heard in the presence's voice, listening as someone else came running up to Roxy followed by a mix of what sounded like electricity sparking and Roxy screeching in pain. There was a large metallic thump followed by a woman's voice quietly asking, "Kid? Are you here somewhere? I know you have no reason to trust me, but I want to help and we should move before any of the others come…"
Gregory froze, not sure what to do.
I believe you can trust her. She isn't corrupted anymore like most of the others here still are and in fact, seems to be protected from it…
Gregory hesitated for a moment longer before cautiously opening the curtain and he saw the blonde security guard he had briefly seen before this whole mess had started. She was standing over a disabled Roxy and gave Gregory a relieved smile when she saw him.
"I'm glad you're still alive… I was worried I would get back here too late… there's not a lot of time to explain the whole story, but the demon controlling this place had been possessing me, but I've been freed. Unfortunately, I can't get you out of here because of said demon's hold on this place, but I've been given some things that'll help get rid of him. I can either get you someplace safe and protected, or you can with me to take down the nasty slime that's infected this whole place.
Whatever you want to do Gregory I will follow and protect you. It's your choice.
"I'll help you take this creep down," Gregory smirked, barely even thinking about it.
Vanessa returned his grin and said, "That's what I thought you'd say…"
She held out her hand as both an offering and a promise and Gregory, in a show of trust, put his hand in hers.
Dimension 46'\M: Mike Pines Universe
"How much longer Sixer?" Stan asked for the dozenth time in the past hour.
Stan and Ford stood in the blink dog clearing, waiting impatiently to hear back from the children. Stan was pacing back and forth while Ford was messing with the various equipment he had brought here to jury rig a temporary portal.
"I don't know Stan," Ford sighed tiredly, chugging down another cup of coffee. "We don't know what kind of unexpected problems they must have run into. Just have faith in their abilities and-"
Ford was cut off by some of by beeping coming from the equipment and began messing with the controls. Stan didn't even have time to question what was happening before a rift opened up and Mike came tumbling out of it, face-planting into the dirt.
"Kid!" Stan said in relief, pulling the cyborg into a hug as soon as Mike had risen to his feet. "Don't you ever do something like that again!"
"It's not like I planned for this to happen," Mike grumbled even as he returned Stan's hug. "It's good to be back though. I missed you old man…"
"You might want to move," Ford reminded before Stan could reply. "The twins will most likely be coming back soon as well."
Stan and Mike both nodded a pin agreement, moving aside just in time for Mabel to come rolling out the portal.
"Oh, I shouldn't have been spinning already before going through a portal," Mabel groaned slightly from where she lay on the grass, feeling dizzy and slightly nauseous.
"I'm sure you've dealt with worse with all the swinging around you do," Mike laughed as he held out his hand to her.
"True," Mabel giggled as she let Mike pull her to her feet. A second later Dipper came flopping out of the portal which then closed right after him.
"We all made it back!" Dipper sighed in relief as he got to his feet. "Thank the Axolotl… Let's try not doing that again…"
"It wasn't that bad bro-bro," Mabel replied with a snicker. "After all Kiki was able to get some much-needed revenge on those stupid robots. If he had just gotten to punch the jerk in the face it would have been perfect!"
"I'm fine with the fact my other self got to break William's nose rather than me," Mike replied with a laugh. "He needed it more than I did and he deserved to be able to take down that William after everything…"
"True…" Mabel agreed after thinking it over. "Maybe we should try getting to other dimensions so you can have the chance to break a William's nose too…"
"There will be no dimension more hopping today," Stan said sternly. "Not until we have a more reliable way to get back and forth between dimensions!"
"Can't make any promises about more accidental trips," Mike shrugged.
"But we can minimize the risk by getting out of this clearing," Ford said as he started gathering up equipment. "And once we're home you can tell us about your adventures in detail."
Everyone agreed, helping gather up the various machinery and tools as they chatted idly. As they started walking back to the shack, Mike couldn't help but smile as he looked at his family. No matter what kind of adventures and dimensions he might come across in the future, this will always be his home.
And Mike wouldn't have it any other way.
Dimension 45'\P: Into the Ballpit Universe
Approximately thirty years later…
"I just need to check out the warehouse real quick to see what triggered the alarm," Michael said into his phone as he got out of his car and locked it. "It's probably just some stupid teenagers breaking in on a dare. I'll scare them off and be on my way home in no time. I don't think I'll even be late."
"Good because it's been a while since we've been able to have the whole family over for dinner," Jeremy said from the other end of the phone call. "Just don't do anything stupid or I won't hesitate to sic Charlie and Henry on you for another lecture."
"Anything but that," Michael gasped in mock horror before continuing with a chuckle. "I'll be fine. And if it seems like something truly dangerous I'll leave and call the police. I promise."
"Good," Jeremy replied. "See you soon then. Love you."
"Love you too," Michael agreed before hanging up his phone and slipping it into his pocket.
Walking up to the warehouse, Michael imputed the security code and went inside. As the years progressed and the restaurants expanded in number and upgraded to keep up with the times, warehouses like this one became fairly common for the Fazbear company as a place to store spare equipment as well as retired animatronics and attractions. If the alarm had been at any of the other locations, Michael wouldn't have bothered investigating himself, rather just leaving it to the police or one of the hired guards. But this particular warehouse happened to have a certain ball pit stored within and Michael and his family always kept a close eye on it just in case either familiar or strange travels happened to come through it.
As Michael walked past the various shelving units, he could hear talking further in, prompting him to move quickly and quietly.
"I don't know bro-bro… it just looks like an old dirty ball pit to me…"
"It might look normal… but the scanner Grunkle Ford gave us is picking up all sorts of energies! Including traces of time and dimensional travel! It's pretty faded, but something big must have occurred in it…"
The voices seemed really familiar to Michael and when he turned the corner, Michael couldn't help but stop in his tracks and blurt out, "Dipper!? Mabel!?"
At first, Michael thought the twins were the same ones he had met so long ago, but as the two kids whipped around, Michael could clearly see that they were a lot younger than the ones he knew. They looked to be barely teenagers with Mabel having braces in her mouth and Dipper wasn't wearing glasses yet, but there was no denying who they were.
"How'd you know our names?" Dipper asked, glaring at Michael with suspicion and subtly moving himself in front of his sister.
"Are you a real psychic?" Mabel gasped in excitement. "Not like that fake jerk Giedion…"
"You still think psychics are real?"
"And you don't? After everything we've seen?"
Dipper closed his mouth when he realized he had no good argument for that.
"I'm not psychic, but there is a reason I know your names," Michael chuckled, feeling nostalgic at the familiar voices bantering. "About thirty years ago I meant the pair of you from an alternate dimension. They were a few years older than you are now and I only knew them for less than a day, but they were very memorable."
To anyone else, that would sound completely insane, but to Dipper and Mabel, they accepted it easily.
"An older me!" Mabel squealed in excitement. "Was I awesome? Did I look cool?"
"So what did you do with the other uses?" Dipper asked, pulling out his journal. "Because I doubt you would remember us that well unless something happened while they were here…"
"How about we save this conversation for another time," Michael cut in with a fond smile. "I do have other things I need to do, but I can give you my number and we could meet up another time. But if you were interested in hearing the entire story, my family is having a get-together tonight and you can hear their version of the events too."
Dipper and Mabel looked at each other, having a silent conversation. Eventually, they looked back at Michael and Dipper said, "Only if we can call our Grunkles and have them come with us too."
"Of course," Michael agreed easily. "I look forward to meeting them."
Michael then leads the twins out of the warehouse, answering any random question the twins decided to ask. Michael knew he wouldn't have the same kind of relationship with these twins like his counterpart had with his own, but that was fine. They had different experiences and needs, but Michael was still looking forward to getting to know his dimensions version of the twins.
It may be different, but he was sure they were going to end up considering themselves family anyway. And he was looking forward to the chaos they'll bring to his and the others' lives.