Damn Darkmoose, back at it again with the Yithian Lightning Gun. (Seriously, I don't know why the "Damn Daniel" video is funny) Well, after some convincing, I decided to continue this story while I worked on my other one, depending on what I felt like doing. Who cares if it doesn't follow canon, right? Fanfiction seems to be all about creating AUs where readers can indulge their fantasies about the characters they love so much.
Truth be told, I'm still questioning whether or not this is any good. The dialogue still sounds weird to me. (I don't think this is how 13 year olds talk.) And I still don't get as many reviews or comments as some other writers on here. But oh well. I still enjoy doing this, as long as I know it's at least entertaining to some. Even if it's bad, maybe someone somewhere will get a laugh out of it, like The Room or an Ed Wood movie.
Anyways, enjoy.
Having walked through the bubble, Dipper found himself on what looked like a rocky coast, overlooking a vast blue green sea. Off in the distance were dark, oppressive storm clouds that looked to be coming in from the right, while off to the left was a bright tunnel of golden clouds through which the sun occasionally peeked like some bright yellow eye. It looked less like a real sky and more like a vast John Martin painting. He squinted and thought he could see strange shapes in the massive yellow tunnel, moving shapes of an unearthly quality. From the stormy area, he thought he could see some moving things peering from beneath the waves, but they were too far off to tell what they were.
He saw at the end of the coast a tall rock formation and at its base a small figure. It had to be Pacifica. He raced along the jagged rocks the best he could without slipping into the waters or worse, breaking his neck. He had almost gotten to the rock formation when he found that weird-ass alien rifle Pacifica had been carrying. He looked at it, and its operation mostly confused him, but he had played with plenty of toy guns when he was younger, so how different could this one be? He took it with him and continued towards the spire.
He found Pacifica chained to the side of the spire (right, how much platitude do you want here, Bill?), looking out towards the bright tunnel of clouds. Now, it was clear to Dipper what had been in the tunnel of clouds and what Pacifica had been staring at for what he was sure felt like hours, maybe days, in her mind. In it were two titanic porcelain figures, both appearing as Preston and Priscilla in the finest of Greek attire. Their faces were stern and hostile, looking down upon Pacifica with a sense of judgment and wrath.
"Pacifica," Dipper said, grabbing at the chains on her wrist, "I'm glad I found you. We have to get you out of here. Where's the key?"
"It doesn't matter," Pacifica slowly moaned into the air, "I have failed them. I have failed to reach perfection and dishonored the gods. My parents have decreed me unfit to continue. I will now be a feast for the Old Ones."
"Pacifica, what are you saying?" Dipper said, but he realized this was part of the mind control of the bubbles, the same type of mind control to which he was subjected. He sighed and took a blunt but understanding tone to his voice. "Look, I know you strive to be the best at everything you do. In all honesty, I'm the same way. I'm just as much of a perfectionist as you. But the fact is you're not perfect. I'm not perfect. As much as your parents want to ingrain it into you, no one can live up to their expectations." Dipper looked over and watched the waves increase. He saw the faces of the fake Preston and Priscilla become harsher than before as the storm came their way. The captive Pacifica became more frightened as the distant tolling of a bell rang through the air. "And they will continue to treat you like a slave even if you do all the things they ask you to do. I don't know how I know this, but I just know. You..." he paused.
"I'm what?" Pacifica asked, "A link in their horrible chain? That's what you were trying to tell me the other night, right? I've been such an elitist bitch and a shrew to you and your sister. I deserve death."
"No!" Dipper shouted, silencing her negativity. The waves were getting stronger, and Dipper thought he could see strange creates getting closer. He gathered up all the courage he had, pushed past any awkwardness he had, and told her in the most honest way he could. "I think you're amazing. You're really pretty, talented, determined, and as I'm sure you've already heard, smarter than you think. I really like all those qualities in you." He thought of Wendy again and realized that he couldn't compare the two of them. When he thought about it, he actually did have more in common with his sister's rival than he thought, and maybe, just maybe, the most popular girl in Gravity Falls was right for him. But that was all secondary to the fact that something in the water was getting closer, and the false gods were still leering down at them.
"And..." Dipper continued, an awkwardness in his voice that he knew he could never shake, "and I would love to tell you more about it if you and I hung out together somewhere, but even more importantly, you've got to believe it right now. I can talk all I want, but the only thing you need to do is believe what I say for yourself. You have the power to break free from their chain."
Just then, the creatures emerged from the waters.
They were horrid amalgamations of various sea life. The first one Dipper spotted was a crab-like creature with tentacles instead of claws and a large beak where its face would normally be located. The second was a huge hermit crab with bat wings. Either way, each was more grotesque than the last. He readied the lightning gun, but when he tried to pull the trigger, nothing happened.
"Ugh," Dipper grunted, "How do you get this to work?'
Pacifica blinked her eyes. She heard his words echo out in his head. Preston and Priscilla's faces seemed to leer closer, but the more Dipper's words registered, the more she realized she was no longer afraid of them and never needed to be. That didn't stop the distant bells from getting louder. They echoed through the air in a sort of runic rhyme, and her stomach continued to sink at the rolling and the tolling of the imaginary bells. But she was stronger than that, and she knew that now.
She fully opened her eyes and stared into the gargantuan porcelain faces of her parents. She stood her ground, and eventually, their expressions began to crack until their faces exploded in shards of porcelain. Out of the hollow spots where their faces had been were two small floating objects. They hovered in the air and flew together to form a key for her. She grabbed it and began unlocking her shackles; her arms were mobile enough that she could reach both wrist and apply the key to both shackles.
"Press the circle first!" Pacifica shouted to Dipper. He did so, and was surprised to see it light up for him. Pacifica continued to unlock herself but gave further instructions. "Now press the top triangle on the light wheel closest to you on that side panel."
"How do you know all of this?" Dipper asked.
"I don't know," Pacifica said, "Blame the weird, dead aliens that invaded my brain."
"What?"
"Long story," Pacifica said. Just then, Dipper noticed the front-most creature was now two feet away from him. Its tentacle flew out and grabbed the muzzle of the gun. Dipper held on tight to it and accidentally held the trigger. The electric sound of the charge began to hum, and as Dipper moved and struggled, he eventually released the trigger. A burst of lightning flew into the creature's beak, causing it to explode. Green goo flew everywhere.
"Ewww," Dipper groaned, wiping his face.
"Dipper, thank you," Pacifica said and threw her arms around him and kissed him, not caring about the monster ichor, "Thank you for coming to help me again."
"And again, you saved yourself," Dipper said, overcoming the shock.
"You better let me take that," Pacifica said, and snatched the gun from him, "Now, come on!" She grabbed Dipper by the hand, and the two raced along the coast towards the dark area where they perceived was the end of the bubble and the end of Pacifica's nightmare world. Behind them were more abominations from the sea, each one more grotesque than the last. One hopped in front of Pacifica, and she immediately dispatched it with a lightning burst. Dipper looked back and saw that where the Preston and Priscilla titans had previously stood the storm clouds had now engulfed. He thought he could make out another figure with each lightning flash, one that was silently towering above the sea, with what looked like an octopus head and dragon wings on its back.
The two reached what looked like a darker edge of the coast, as if there was some shielding around the rest of their perceived reality.
"Mom, Dad, I'm bursting your bubble," Pacifica shouted and fired a shot into the curved portal. The world around her and Dipper burst into a million pieces, and various rocks, sea plants, and crawling shellfish hit the cave floor with them.
Dipper looked up and saw that Mabel and Gideon had emerged from their respective bubble as well, both hiding behind a rock, on guard for when Bill took his eyes off Ford, who was still providing a distraction from Bill. He heard the sound of the two other bubbles pop. Soos and Stan landed on the ground, Stan being quick to stand up and put up his fists, both of which were equipped with gold knuckles.
"You want to try that shit again, Bill?" Stan said, not thinking about he implications, "Come on, I dare ya."
Robbie and Wendy landed on the ground as well. Robbie helped Wendy to her feet, who looked like she was about to faint but instead vomited on the cave floor.
"Whatever that was I had to eat," Wendy said, regaining her composure, "remind me never to order it at a restaurant ever again."
"Oh great!" Bill shouted, "It looks like the whole gang is here. But I can't help but feel like you're missing someone from your little wheel. Without him, I've got you all where I want you: at my mercy!"
"Not so fast, ya weird critter," a voice from the wall said. It was McGuckett. He was carrying what looked like a bazooka with neon lights all over it. "I got this here thingamajigger that makes its own crazy bubbles. It's time ya got a taste of yer own medicine."