Opening File: Hoagie Gilligan Junior
Hoagie was the born into the Gilligan family as the first born son of Betty Gilligan and Hoagie Gilligan Sr. His formative years would be the same as any normal child, though there would be moments that would still have significant impacts on them, such as meeting Nigel Uno in Kindergarten. He also possibly met Fanny Fulbright during this period of his life as well. The first major event of Hoagie's life would be when he went with his family to Japan, for his father's Carrier Project which was a joint effort between the Fulbright Corporation and Sanban Industries, for safer transportation through the air for both civilians and Huntsmen. While in Japan he would meet the Sanban family and get along well with the heiress Kuki Sanban.
His time in Japan would also be marked by the birth of his little brother Tommy Gilligan. But his time in Japan would eventually end in tragedy when he witnessed the airship his father built and brought them to Japan in the first place for explode in a Satyra terrorist attack as it was taking off to show to everyone in the country. He would leave the country feeling a mixture of grief, sadness, confusion, and…Anger. When he boarded the plane Hoagie would use his scroll to check the network for news on the attack and saw a picture of the airship just after it exploded.
Where he saw someone there perched on the outside of the ship, wearing dark clothes and with long dark hair, and fox ears on top of her head. Hoagie left the country knowing Satyra were the ones behind the attack that killed his father, and that this Fox Faunus was the one that basically pulled the trigger. When he returned back to America he would meet and befriend the new surrogate Faunus daughter of the Uno family Abigail Lincoln. He would later on also meet and befriend the Faunus Wallabee Beatles as well.
Though despite his friendships with Fanny, Nigel, Abby, and Wally Hoagie would became somewhat of a recluse after the death of his father and even turned his own room into a mini-lab and usually only left for breakfast, lunch, dinner, mid-night snack, or school. His only source of comfort would the books on Dust, mechanics and science. He would also spend anytime available researching the terrorist organization Satyra, in pursuit of answers and justice for his father's death. However one day Hoagie on the SkyWeb under his penname of SkyKing, would respond to and answer a video posted by Jack Spicer, and solved the formula presented in it.
Afterwards he along with the others that responded to the message Double D, Dexter O'Reilly, and Wade Load, would be contacted by the entity known as Bill Cipher in the dreamscape. When he first met Bill he would ask if he could bring back his dad, but Bill would respond he wasn't that good yet. Bill would however give Hoagie the chance to not only continue his father's work, but also a chance at the answers he sought about those behind his father's death, and help catching them. Afterwards thanks to Bill Cipher's manipulations Hoagie would leave for Gravity Falls, Oregon for a contest set up by the Northwest family.
When he arrived in Gravity Falls with his family, he along with Jack, Dexter and his grandfather, and Double D with his parents, would all be greeted by Preston Northwest who explained that the Grimm avoided Gravity Falls, and how a 'friend' of his made an impressive scientific discovery that could explain it. While also saying to think of the lives that could be saved if this could be replicated which helped further hooked Hoagie's interest. While waiting for the Northwests to start their contest, he would explore the town where he would meet Nyx Kane when he found the Gravity Falls arcade. He would end up striking up a quick but strong friendship with Nyx, and through her meet Mabel Pines.
Later he would be one of those that would help Mabel set up and prepare for the puppet show she was preparing where he would end up introducing himself to and getting to know Dipper Pines better. However during this entire incident he would meet Bill again, and learn just what kinda of monster he truly was.
When Bill tricked Dipper and took over his body, Hoagie tried to stop him and call off their previous deal. But this just caused Bill to banish his mind/soul into the void, but luckily a hiding nearby Nyx would see and invoke a Ritual of the Spiral to save him which would cause Hoagie to meet one of the Six Founding Spiral: The Owl. As well as allow him to return back to his body he would than quickly rush to the theater, only to find the aftermath of everything, with Dipper already returned to this body. Hoagie would end up grounded afterwards due to him missing the few hours Bill had torn his spirit from his body, and tossed it into the void.
He had come up with the excuse of falling asleep in the library, since he thought it wasn't likely his mother, grandmother, or even brother would believe he was kidnapped by some demon. He would ask his mother if he could go back with the lie of getting his books, which allowed him to write up and send a message to his friends. Presumably afterwards, Hoagie joined Dipper in his research on the paranormal events and the unsolved mysteries such as Stan Pine's 'tattoo, and the mysterious mailbox in the middle of the woods, only to discover it being an omniscient and answered their own questions, including a portrait of what he will be in the future but never managed to learn the identity of the author of the journal because of Mabel's disturbing video of her with gummy worms.
The next major incident would turn out to be where Hoagie along with the Pine Twins and friends tried to help Old Man McGucket regain his lost memories. This would lead to them learning about and facing the memory wiping Cult of Bill Cipher worshipers the Society of the Blind Eye. They would first secretly spy on them wiping Lazy Susan's memory, and then battling two intruders in June and Lila. But the group would end up revealing themselves when June explained the Blind Eyes lair had been set to collapse in five minutes.
This lead to a short chase that ended with all them captured. The Society's leader Blind Ivan would than proceed to explain the society's goals and origins. Though left out Bill Cipher and denied every hearing of him when June brought him up but before they could get their memories wiped they were saved by two new intruders and rescuers who were revealed to be Hoagie's grandmother Lydia, and Stan Pines both of whom had their youth restored through unknown means.
The hostages were witnesses to the clash Lydia, Stan, and later Jasmine Lee had with the Blind Eye where the Blind Eye would reveal they were indeed followers of Bill Cipher, by invoking power and transforming into Demon Forms. Eventually things came to an end with the Blind Eye's escaping while their lair collapsed. Though despite this victory, Hoagie and the others failed in their original goal of retrieving McGucket's memories. The next major incident for Hoagie would be on the night of the Northwest Fest, during which Preston would reveal the contest and goal to all the gathered contestants.
But while Hoagie was in his room with his family being fussed over by his mother and preparing, they would receive a visitor looking for him in Nyx Kane who unknown to Hoagie at the time was being possessed by friend of Bill's and fellow Lord of Chaos Klarion the Witch Boy who than lured Hoagie alone into another room, and then banished him and Nyx into another dimension as punishment for Nyx's earlier actions in saving Hoagie by invoking a Ritual of the Spiral. The dimension they ended up end had no life and everything was made entirely out of pillows, blankets, and bedding which would later lead to it given the simple yet fitting name Pillow World. It was there where Hoagie learned more about Bill's plans revolving around the portal, as well as the truth about Pacifica Cipher, and Nyx's own backstory as well. Where she revealed to him she was the forced apprentice to a friend of Bill's Klarion, and that when she died rather than an afterlife she would be turned into a Lord or in her case Lady of Chaos like Klarion.
Hoagie and Nyx would end up spending years in Pillow World, growing up together alone. But overtime their feelings for each other would grow stronger changing from friendship to love. The change in their relationship happening one night where passions and tempers erupted, when the two ended up in an argument that lead to them kissing and more, after that night their lives were changed forever. As afterwards they were blessed with the birth of their own daughter who they named Sky Entrapta Gilligan. After the birth of his daughter with him adjusting to and taking to fatherhood quite well, watching in pride and joy with Nyx as their daughter grew into an intelligent cheerful child who would spend many nights watching Hoagie as he drew up ideas for various machines, and would later join him in his research after learning to read, draw, and write.
Hoagie would also witness life being brought to the formerly empty dimension of Pillow World in a new civilization, thanks to Nyx's Pillownomicon and the power gifted to her by the Blue Fairy. Sometime later Hoagie had accepted and made peace the apparent reality that he would never be returning to Earth, and would spend the rest of his life in Pillow World with the family he had made for himself. However Hoagie would receive a visit in his dreams from a very unwelcome Bill Cipher who Hoagie would meet with open hostility, wanting him gone. Bill would make an offer for a way for Hoagie and his daughter to return to Earth, but explained that the catch in Nyx having to stay because Klarion has greater claim over her.
Naturally Hoagie refused the deal but Bill would than reveal that Hoagie wouldn't be in Pillow World long anyway, showing a vision of the future where Hoagie in a lab and as a child again somehow was confronted by daughter now older being a young woman in age, expressed her hate for him claiming he abandon her and Nyx in Pillow World to die there to save himself. Hoagie horrified at this vision demanded Bill tell how that could happen, as he would never leave Nyx and Sky. Bill explained about the portal would be running soon and that it would have major effects across not only Earth but other dimensions like Pillow World, and that a dimensional rift would open on Pillow World allowing return to Earth. Bill would leave after giving Hoagie knowledge when and where the rift would open, leaving Hoagie with a new plan: which would be to send Sky to Earth for a chance at a normal life there, at the cost of seeing their daughter grow up or ever seeing her again.
Hoagie along with Nyx would in the next number of years prepare for and dread the day of the rift opening. When the day finally arrived Hoagie after preparing a message for his daughter would watch with a broken heart as Nyx sent their daughter through the rift to Earth, and immediately moved to hug and comfort her as both of them broke down in tears. The decades following giving up their daughter would have Hoagie with Nyx despite the pain and the hole in their hearts and lives, and the shadows of Bill Cipher and Klarion having over them. The two would try to live their lives and be happy, as they knew that Sky wouldn't want them miserable because of her.
Hoagie would choose to live the following years in Pillow World with Nyx as a happy, though both making sure to avoid having another child. After his death at the heads of Nyx to make certain his soul returned to Earth, he was revived into a new body, now a young adult and a new outfit made for him to wear, checking himself out when he realized he was alive and young again, but knowing what she's done and her Fate. But uncertain where he was until he met an old man by the name of Stanford Pines and said to meet him that could help stop Bill Cipher, and maybe reunite with his family.
Close File
Xxx
RING-RING-RING
The phone was immediately answered. "Huntsmen Regulation War Room."
"Uh yeah, I'd like to report an incident of voter fraud." Stan said, picking his nose.
"Uh yes sir."
"Yeah so um, I committed some voter fraud. Very proud of it and I'd like to tell that guy pushing to conscript all the huntsmen about it." Stan said with a big smile.
"Great…Um awesome."
"My name is Stan Pines. P-I-N-E-E-S." Stan continued.
"…"
"You got that down?" Stan asked.
"…Yeah."
"So, you know I-I went in there and uh…I had a big old sack and I just started just taking ballots out of the box. And you know I-I didn't even try to hide it. I waved to the crowd, I blew them kisses and uh…You know, I think I'm kind of a local hero and uh…I'd like that guy with the bad dye job to give me a medal or something."
*Dial Tone*
"She hung up on me!"
"Ouch." TOM chuckled as the recording of the phone call ended. "When you are in the government voting is pretty much setting the stage for who the people want in power and some are not above committing a little fraud to cheat their way to the top."
"Or in this case accuse the other party of voting fraud in a vain attempt to stay in power." SARA remarked, appearing next to TOM.
"Yep, there is that too." TOM chuckled. "Of course when you are accusing someone of a serious crime there is one thing you need have when making an accusation."
"Evidence/Evidence!" Both TOM and SARA said, ending their lecture.
Xxx
"You are ready. Good." Frosta was wearing a similar kimono with a blue obi sash. "Now we begin."
Danielle was now standing in the center of a training ring with light shields activating around her. By now Danielle could feel the cold starting to take over and she was slightly shivering again.
"Now you're first lesson would be stop shivering." Frosta said, her tone calm and professional with her hands folded behind her back.
"I can't. It's just so cold." Danielle was rubbing her arms in a futile attempt to keep warm.
"That is because you are trying to keep the cold within you. The Frost Semblance of my clan is created by our Aura constantly generating cold temperatures to the point we freeze anything we touch." Frosta stated, holding up her hand.
She focused her Aura in her hand and gathered a small amount which formed into an icy gem. She then channeled more Aura into it, forming the gem into a katana.
"If your power is anything like my Semblance then up until now it has been slowly building up until it was ready to manifest itself." Frosta stated as her icy katana vanished. "It has finally reached a point you can't contain it without the proper training."
"And how do I do that?" Danielle asked, shivering but listening.
"Concentrate. Focus on building it up until it is ready to burst like a balloon and then let it out." Frosta answered.
"Okay…Here goes." Danielle said, shifting her into ghost form and curiously the kimono she had been given remained but the grey sash was now black.
A bright azure aura surrounded her as she focused, feeling the power building up within her until…
"GAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Dani screamed as the power within her exploded in the form of a shockwave that knocked Dani down and caused her to shift back into her ghost form.
When she opened her eyes she saw the light shields covered in ice with Frost thankfully on the other side. That was not the only surprise as Danielle felt like she was back to normal before the cold had taken over.
"It…it worked." Danielle said as she slowly stood up. "The cold is gone."
"Good." Frosta nodded stoically as she deactivated the light shield and watched as the ice fell onto the ground. "Though I see your powers are stronger than I thought."
Though the light shields had protected Frosta ice had formed along the ceiling and covered most of it in ice.
"Uh…sorry." Danielle sheepishly rubbed the back of her head.
"It's fine. These shields were made for this exact reason." Frosta shrugged and gestured for Danielle to follow. "Let us continue."
Xxx
"So it wasn't a romantic setting. We were both at the lowest points in our lives." Stan shrugged, sharing a small smile with Pachita who smiled back.
Shuddering, Dipper turned to Ford. "What about you? You still get into a fancy school or something?"
"...Not exactly." Ford sighed.
Xxx
"Alright, I know Backupsmore wasn't anyone's first choice, but what we lack in prestige, we make up for in mostly bug-free dorms! I'm sure your families are proud, more or less."
Ford was in the audience, looking at a picture of his family and immediately retreated to studying in his dorm.
Xxx
"In a place like that, I had to work twice as hard. Luckily, that's what I do best. I went from undergrad to PhD three years ahead of schedule, wrote a thesis that was nationally ranked, and was awarded an enormous grant for my own scientific research! But what to study?"
Xxx
Ford looked at his hand, then at a book about anomalies.
Xxx
"My whole life I'd been teased for my six fingers. But that got my thinking about anomalies: things that were odd, unusual, statistically improbable. And according to my investigations, there was one place with a higher concentration of these things than anywhere else and oddly enough the Grimm seemed to avoid mostly."
Xxx
Ford was standing in front of a map of USA with dots marked on it, most of which are in Oregon which Ford circled. A small lumber town in roadkill country, Oregon: Gravity Falls.
Xxx
"Meanwhile, your old uncle Stan was doing great. I had come up with a sophisticated new business strategy." Stan cut in.
Xxx
Stan picked up a lottery card and scratched some circles off with a coin. "Come on, owl..." He scratched another owl "owl..."
Only instead of an own he scratched a football player with an omelet.
"Football player with an omelet!? Gah!"
He crumpled the card up and threw it against the window.
Xxx
"I was in great shape, living on my own, and the best part was: I didn't need help from nobody."
Xxx
Of course, Stan chose to leave out the moment of him dialing a number at a payphone.
"Hello? This is Stanford Pines."
Stan hung up the phone and sighed.
Xxx
"I was heading out on my own as well." Ford spoke again.
Xxx
Ford stood in front what would become the Mystery Shack as it was being constructed.
Xxx
"I set to work using my grant money to investigate the strange properties of this town, but what would I find here?"
Xxx
A giant hand grabbed his car.
Xxx
"Bingo. I began to investigate at once."
Xxx
Ford set a Journal on a table, tracing his hand, pasted the trace on the Journal, and writing '1' on it.
Xxx
"I knew I'd have to record my findings. I began to keep a journal..." Ford continued but was unexpectedly cut off.
"THE JOURNALS!" Dipper screamed and caused everyone to stare at him. "Sorry, sorry," He cleared throat. "Just got excited there... About the journals... Keep-keep talking."
Ford took that as a sign to continue. "I began to keep a Journal..."
Only be interrupted when Dipper screamed again,
"Just going to ignore that. There were anomalies everywhere. And the more I looked, the more I saw." Ford just pressed on.
Xxx
What came next was a series of flashbacks with Ford as a young man as he caught Eye-Bats and put them into a jar, then recorded it in his Journal. The Shape Shifter hatched in front of him, then immediately turned into a cup. Stanford wrote in his journal about the 'floating cliffs'.
He even interviewed and a gnome that looked like Shmebulock. "Fascinating, what did you say your name was?"
"Shmebulock... Senior."
Ford wrote in a journal with a '3' and looked at the cover.
Xxx
"It was finally a place where I felt at home, but something nagged at me: where did it all come from? It seemed to me the answer must come from outside of our world, a dimension of weirdness leaking into ours which was actually keeping the Grimm away. I realized the only way to understand Gravity Falls would be to build a gateway: a portal to the source of its weirdness." Ford said, remembering the portal map he drew. "But I couldn't make it alone. I decided to call up my old college buddy, Fiddleford McGucket, a young but brilliant mechanic, who was wasting his talent trying to make personal computers in some garage in Palo Alto. "
Xxx
McGucket was playing a banjo in his computer filled garage when the phone rang and he immediately picked it up. "Hello? Fiddleford Computermajigs…? You say you're tryin' to build a transuniversal polydimensional metavortex? Well that's mathematically feasible! I reckon." He accepted and spat.
Xxx
"Many long nights were spent perfecting the machine. It would be a crowning achievement of my studies. An answer to the source of this town's anomalies. The time had come to test it."
Xxx
"Ready and..." Ford and McGucket released a dummy, but a rope from it caught McGucket and he flew toward the portal, screaming.
"What?" Ford grabbed the rope and held him back but McGucket's head was in the portal. "I got ya, buddy!"
He pulled the rope and McGucket and the dummy come out of the portal. "What is it? Is it working? What did you see?!"
McGucket screamed in pure terror with his eyes wide and he was twitching like mad. "Ahh! VOTMZRIG IVSKRX OORY."
"Fiddleford?" Ford asked in a worried voice.
"When Gravity Falls and earth becomes sky, fear the beast with just one eye." McGucket muttered robotically.
"Fiddleford, get a hold of yourself, you're not making any sense." Ford put his hand on McGucket's shoulder which was jerked away.
"This machine is dangerous. You'll bring about the end of the world with this. Destroy it before it destroys us all!" McGucket said, coldly.
"I can't destroy this; it's my life's work!" Ford protested.
"I fear we've unleashed a grave danger on the world. One I'd just as soon forget. I quit!" With that McGucket walked away.
"Fine! I'll do it without you! I don't need you! I don't need anyone!" Ford shouted before a whispering sound is heard. "What? Who said that?" He backed into the wall, worried that he was slowly starting to lose his mind.
Xxx
"I was in over my head, and feared I was losing my sanity. I needed help. Someone I could trust." Ford glanced at Stan who took over.
"At this point, I was already in a relationship with Pachita and it couldn't have come at a better time. As much as I starting to get by thanks to the jobs I did for Sebben, I made a lot of enemies. Both as an informant, a temporary Hunter and with any ideas I had for making money. Pachita offered to take me in and of course I had to promise I would stop working for Sebben which I did and oddly enough he seemed fine with it." Stan started. "He let go of the contract we had and even gave me a big bonus for all the times I risked my life. At that point it looked like I was finally done and to be honest I pretty much gave up on ever making the money I promised I'd make before coming home and I didn't even care. I made my share of money, I had a girlfriend that could actually stand me and I think by that point Mom and Dad were long gone or had gone senile and were dumped in the nearest retirement home on Florida Island so there was no point trying to go back home."
"That old man was as much a money obsessed con artist as you were." Pachita scoffed. "He would have exploited both you and your brother for money even if you hadn't accidently broke that machine. A man like that didn't deserve to be a father." When she said 'accidently' she threw a harsh look at Ford who stared back stoically. "As much as a conman Stan was he showed the level of dedication to family that so-called good people lacked and family is something to be treasured in mine, despite how some look down on us for our villain history."
"So anyways, I was pretty much ready to move in with Pachita and just try and take things easy from here on out when…"
Xxx
Stan was moving all of his stuff into his car from the cheap hotel he had been hiding in when he heard a knock at the door.
Quickly he picked up a bat and slowly approached the door. "J-just give me a few more days, Rico. I'll pay your goons back, I swear!"
A Gravity Falls postcard came through his mail slot. He looked out and saw the post man leaving and then looked at the postcard which said 'PLEASE COME! -FORD.'
Xxx
"I didn't know what to chalk this up to. Luck or some weird message from the universe. I had to put my plans to move in with Pachita and her family on hold because the chance to see and hopefully reconnect with my brother was too much to pass up." Stan said, glancing somewhat apologetically at Pachita. "I told her the truth and that I was probably going be gone for a bit."
"And when he explained his reasons I accepted them." Pachita said solemnly but narrowed her eyes. "Little did we both know that he wouldn't be coming back…Or that I was already pregnant which I discovered a few days later."
Ford wasn't sure to feel about that. On one hand Rick had shown him that he perhaps been too harsh on Stan despite having sabotaged his work and on the other he had caused Stan to leave the possible love of his life and caused his daughter to grow up without a father.
Xxx
Stan had reached the address given to him and walked up to Ford's door. "You haven't seen your brother in over ten years. It's okay. He's family. He won't bite."
KNOCK!
Ford immediately opened the door. "Who is it?! Have you come to steal my eyes?!" He was holding a crossbow pointed right at Stan's head.
"Well, I can always count on you for a warm welcome." Stan dryly said, noting the exhausted look on his brother's face.
"Stanley, did anyone follow you? Anyone at all?" Ford lowered the crossbow slightly.
"Eh, hello to you, too, pal." Ford grabbed him and pulled him inside. "Ah!" Ford shined a flashlight in Stan's eyes before Stanley pushed him away. "Ah! Hey! What is this?"
"Sorry, I just had to make sure you weren't... uh, it's nothing. Come in, come in." Ford darted away.
Stan followed him into the next room. "Uh, you gonna explain what's going on, here? You're acting like Mom after her tenth cup of coffee."
Ford spun around, holding Journal 1. "Listen, there isn't much time. I've made huge mistakes and I don't know who I can trust anymore." To emphasize his point he turned the head of a skeleton away from him.
Stan slowly placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Hey, uh, easy there. Let's talk this through, okay?"
"I have something to show you. Something you won't believe." Ford stated, almost with a smile.
"Look, I've been around the world, okay? Whatever it is, I'll understand."
FIVE MINUTES LATER
"There is nothing about this I understand." Stan was standing in the basement, staring at the portal machine Ford had created.
"It's a trans-universal gateway, a punched hole through a weak spot in our dimension. I created it to unlock the mysteries of the universe. But it could just as easily be harnessed for terrible destruction. That's why I shut it down and hid my journals, which explained how to operate it. There's only one journal left. And you are the only person I can trust to take it. Ford said, giving Stan the journal he had been holding. "I have something to ask of you: you remember our plans to sail around the world on a boat?"
Stan smiled and nodded.
"Take this book, get on a boat, and sail as far away as ya can! To the edge of the Earth! Bury it where no one can find it!" Ford said, immediately dashing Stan's hopes.
"That's it?!" Stan sputtered in outrage. "You finally wanna see me after ten years, and it's to tell me to get as far away from you as possible!?"
"Stanley, you don't understand what I'm up against! What I've been through!" Ford said frantically.
"No, no, you don't understand what I've been through! I've been to prison in three different countries! I once had to chew my way out of the trunk of a car! You think you've got problems?" Stan gestured to his hair. "I've got a mullet, Stanford! Meanwhile, where have you been? Living it up in your fancy house in the woods! Selfishly hoarding your college money, because you only care about yourself."
"I'm selfish? I'm selfish, Stanley? How can you say that after costing me my dream school?! I'm giving you a chance to do the first worthwhile thing in your life and you won't even listen!" Ford retorted, taking complete offense to Stan's accusation.
"Well, listen to this: you want me to get rid of this book? Fine, I'll get rid of it right now!" Stan said and took out a lighter)
"No!" Ford grabbed at the journal before it could catch fire. "You don't understand!"
Stan took the journal back. "You said you wanted me to have it so I'll do what I want with it!"
"My research!" Ford tackled Stan, then ran for the journal, but Stan tripped him, picked up the book and ran into the nearby lab with Ford running after him. "Stanley, give it back!"
Ford caught him and pushed him onto some of the buttons.
"You want it back, you're gonna have to try harder than that!" Stan snapped.
The portal turned on as a result of Ford pushing Stan onto the control panel.
"You left me behind, you jerk! It was supposed to be us forever, you ruined my life!" Stan shouted, pulling as hard as he could.
"You ruined your own life!" Ford shouted and kicked him into the side of the control panel, branding the symbol onto his back.
Stan screamed in agony as he fell to the floor.
"Stanley!" Ford cried, horrified by the pain he had just caused. "Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! Are you alr-"
Stan punched Ford, who stumbled backward and tripped over the lever.
Stan followed him. "Some brother you turned out to be. You care more about your dumb mysteries than your family? Well then YOU CAN HAVE 'EM."
With that said, he shoved Ford back into the portal light, and he started getting sucked into it, shocking Stan. "Whoa, whoa, hey, what's going on? Hey, hey, Stanford-"
"Stanley! Stanley, help me!" Ford called out in desperation.
"Oh, no, what do I do?!" Stan looked frantically for what could shut it off.
"Stanley! Stanley! Do something! STANLEY!" Ford threw the journal at Stan and disappeared into the portal.
A flash of white engulfed everything.
When it faded, Stan was lying on the floor. "Stanford?"
Ford's glasses fell onto the floor.
Stan ran to the portal. "Stanford, come back! I-I DIDN'T MEAN IT!"
He pounded on the side of the portal as it turned off.
Stan ran to the lever and tried to pull it to no avail. "I just got him back! I can't lose him again! Ah, come on! STANFORD!"
Xxx
"I'd lost him. I didn't know if he was dead or alive in some distant galaxy, but I knew his journal must have the answer to getting him back. Somehow." Stan said sadly.
Xxx
Stan stared back of Journal 1, where it said 'continued in journal #2' while lying on the couch with Ford's glasses at night.
Xxx
"I didn't get much sleep that night. Or the night after that. I tried for weeks to turn that dumb machine back on. But without the other two journals." Stan continued, remembering how he felt during those nights. "It was hopeless. Finally I ran out of food. I had no choice but to go into town."
Xxx
Stan walked into the Dusk 2 Dawn, then walked up with a loaf of bread to the cash register. "Just the bread, then, there, stranger? That'll be 99 techs."
Stan looked into his pockets and pulled out a packet of sugar, a paper clip and a peso. "Hey, that's no stranger. That must be the mysterious science guy that lives in the woods!"
Before Stan knew it a crowd had gathered around him.
"Uh, n-no, no. You've got the wrong guy." Stan pulled his hood tighter.
"I've heard strange stories about that old shack." Toby Determined said.
"Yeah! Mysterious lights and spooky experiments."
"Gosh, I'd pay anything to see what kind of shenanigans you get up to in there."
"Oh, me too! Do you ever give any tours?" Susan asked.
"No. Really I-" Stan looked at his hand, then sighed. "Yes, I do give tours! Ten... nah-no... fifteen technos a person!"
The crowd cheered and held up money.
"Sir! What did you say your name was, you man of mystery?"
"Oh, uh, Stan...ford. Stanford Pines."
Later Stan was leading a tour into the house. "Step right up, folks, uh, to a world of... enchantment, or whatever." He held up a box with a dial and two antennae on it. "Behold, the um, nerdy science box."
Susan looked at it and it burned her eye. "Ah! My eye!"
"Uh, I can assure you, that is in no way permanent." Stan quickly said.
"I paid fifteen technos for this!?"
The crowd began muttering, some asking for a refund.
"Uhh..." Thinking quickly Stan grabbed the skeleton and some clothing. "You're lucky you weren't part of the last tour group, um," He showed them the skeleton, which he had dressed as a tourist. "They never made it out aliiiivve. Heheh. Right?"
The atmosphere was more cheerful now as the crowd laughed.
"That's funny."
Xxx
"So I came up with a plan. I couldn't leave my brother's house until I figured out how to save him, but I needed to pay his mortgage somehow. For once in my life, people were actually buying what I was selling. And so the Murder Hut was born!" Stan continued. "Later renamed the Mystery Shack. Finally I found something I was good at. For once being a liar and a cheat paid off. The old me was dead, and I'd faked a car crash to prove it."
Stan stopped for a second, looking Pachita and his daughter then looked to his granddaughters who stared back.
"By day I was Stanford Pines: Mr. Mystery. But by night I was down in the basement, trying to bring the real Stanford back."
Xxx
Stan walked into the basement and looked at the portal.
Xxx
"I couldn't risk anyone learning the truth and sabotaging my mission, so I lied to everyone: the town, my family, your parents, even you kids." Stan said, finishing his tale before looking to his whole family. "Pachita, if I had known you were going to have our kid before I left…I promise that I would have told you everything and been up front with you about it, even if I couldn't be there for you like I wished I could have. Funny, getting kicked out of my home and spending a decade risking my life as a Hunter/snitch/conman and I still ended up becoming my Dad."
Pachita shared a look with her daughter and then their grandchildren before looking back at Stan. "When we found you again you told us what happened. Admittedly it was not as much as what you said now. While I should remain angry that you faked your death your reasons where a noble one and this is coming from a supervillain."
"Yes." Carmelita walked up to her father. "I don't know much about you and my first impressions of you have not been…kind ones but I do understand why you have done all this. At the very least it is enough for me to consider giving you a chance."
Stan chuckled sadly. "You might regret that later, kid."
"At the very least you didn't dump my mother at the altar…Like my supposed love and hers did." Carmelita muttered bitterly.
"Wait, someone dumped you on your wedding day?!" Stan shouted and then growled. "Who did it?! I'll kill them for that!"
Carmelita couldn't help but smile at that, seeing that Stan was indeed not like White Pantera or Puma Loco.
"So all this time you were just trying to save your brother." Dipper said, taking in all that he learned and felt shame for not trusting his great uncle. "Grunkle Stan, I'm so sorry I didn't believe you."
"That's okay, kid." Stan knelt down and patted Dipper on the shoulder. "I probably wouldn't have believed me either."
Dipper then turned to Hoagie who had been listening with his grandmother. "And Hoagie, is that really you?"
Hoagie nodded. "Yeah it's me, Dipper. Been a long time."
"Long time, you've been missing for nearly a week. It hasn't been that long."
"A week for you. A lifetime for me."