Hey diary, it's me, Anne Boonchuy once again. Today is May 12th and I just want to get this out of the way first…AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! I heard the other day that Hunter and Willow became boyfriend and girlfriend and I couldn't be anymore happier for him. I don't know much about Willow but from what I've seen from her at the airport and that FaceTime call with Luz on her birthday, but she seems nice enough and a good choice for Hunter. Anyway, after our little prank war, me, Sasha, Gus and Grime were grounded for a week due to our intense prank war which me and Sasha agreed never to do again. I mean, the police charged us for property damage which thankfully Mr X removed by talking smoothly. Talk about abuse of power. After we were ungrounded, we got straight to more mayhem. Gus got into an argument on an internet forum where someone was being really rude about Doc's actor who recently lost his wife. I get Doc is the worst character, but for frog sake, there's a difference between actor and character. Anyway, Gus and Grime got into a bit of a manhunt to find the troll down and…Yeah, Mr X had to remove more crimes from their record. Thankfully it wasn't murder. Sasha turned 14 the other day and the pool party at her mom's house was off the chain! One moment, Grime dived into the pool and caused a massive tidal wave. And the worst part is, I can not get Grime in swimming trunks out of my head. Like….Wow! Those trunks and his body did not mesh well. So today, me, Sasha, Grime, Gus and my Dad are on a long drive to San Diego for the San Diego Comic Bust. Since well, Grime, Gus and my Dad are the biggest nerds in history. Why are we coming? Well, Dipper's going to be there so we thought we'd say hi.
Inside the car, the whole crew were dressed in cosplay. With of course, the main geek trio dressed as Cosmic Frontier characters. Gus was dressed in his Captain Avery uniform, Mr Boonchuy in his yellow and black long sleeved uniform which was his First Officer Doogan outfit and Grime was dressed in his blue and black long sleeved suit which was his Doc outfit.
Whereas the girls were dressed in some Anime cosplay. Anne dressed in a blue leisure suit, with a yellow shirt underneath it and a pair of black boots while Sasha was dressed in a red body suit with the number 02 on her chest and a ginger wig.
"Only 50 minutes away till the comic bust!" Mr Boonchuy exclaimed with excitement. "I just hope we find parking."
"Mr Boonchuy, give me some assurance, you sure this comic bust won't con us?" Gus asked. "Because, when you say bust, I'm worried of how much of a scam it will be."
"The only thing about Comic Busts to worry about are fake tickets, toxic fans and people who take their cosplays way too far." Mr Boonchuy said.
"Okay Captain, what's the plan?" Grime asked from the front seat.
"Well…I was thinking we start off at the cool Cosmic Frontier replicas they have on sale after we split up…."
"I was talking to the actual Captain." Grime interjected while pointing to Gus.
Gus gave a cough. "Thanks Doc. First Officer Doogan will explain the plan."
Mr Boonchuy gave Gus a smile. "Thank you, captain. So, we start off with a replica stand and see if we can buy anything that isn't too expensive, then we explore some people handing out autographs, then we go to a room 6 to see who will play Superdude in Superdude Legacy…"
While Mr Boonchuy explained the plan, Sasha nudged Anne on the shoulder. "Hey, while these three do their nerd stuff what should we do?"
"Whatever you like, Sasha." Anne replied.
"No. No. No. Anne." Sasha said. "You want to do something and I'll allow it."
"You sure?" Anne asked.
"Yeah, please." Sasha replied.
"Well, I wish to see Dipper to know what's going on with Hunter and Willow." Anne said. "I heard they got into some crazy adventures over in Gravity Falls."
"I don't know Anne." Sasha said. "Do you think he'll have time to talk to us? I mean, he has fans."
"I don't think he'd be a popular panelist." Anne said. "Cause remember his latest book?"
"Oh yeah. Still can't believe people are not over that." Sasha said. "Like, it was just one bad book. I mean, I didn't like it but I just forgot about it."
"I read it and it sucked." Grime said. "If you see him, tell him it sucked."
"And he just read it two months ago!" Sasha exclaimed.
"Wow. We really have gotten worked up over fiction in these last 30 years." Anne remarked.
Later, the group had arrived to the centre where the Bust was taking place. Which happened to be a large circular arena. As big as a football stadium.
Mr Boonchuy managed to find a parking space far but a 8 minute walk to the arena. When they exited the vehicle, Grime began stretching his back.
"Oh! That was a bad for my back!" Grime groaned. "Uh! How do you humans handle this?"
Sasha took off her wig. "Is it ruined?" She began to inspect the wig which looked damaged from the sweat she produced from her head. "Dang it! I knew I should have dyed my hair!" She groaned in annoyance. "Now every nerd is going to complain how inaccurate my costume is!"
Gus on the other hand, was looking at the area with excitement. "Wow! This place is like the Coventions we have at home."
"Coventions?" Mr Boonchuy queried.
"Yeah. A place where you get to meet all the famous Coven Heads. Plus, you could join a Coven." Gus replied. "But after everything that has happened, it could be cancelled."
"Will." Grime reiterated. "It will be cancelled."
Anne appeared to be trying to digest the idea of a Covention. "Covention, Gorenados, Painbows. You ever get the idea that the person who named these things had some sense of humour?"
"They were really into Dad jokes." Sasha remarked.
Later, the group all walked inside the arena where Gus and Grime were instantly mesmerised by it. Everywhere they looked they could see a lot of stuff that made their geeky hearts sore.
There were panels selling all sorts of merchandise such as fake weapons, comics, posters, props, t-shirts and even some were actual swords.
There were a bunch of people signing autographs or taking photos. They were either artists, actors, writers or cosplayers but whoever they were, the fans just seemed happy to be around them.
Plus, it was really crowded as it was filled with people either dressed in some kind of cosplay or just dressed in some IP clothing.
"Wow!" Grime exclaimed with joy.
"This is amazing!" Gus yelled out. "There's people like us here!"
Mr Boonchuy wrapped his arms around them. "This is the place where we are free to be ourselves without judgement from others."
"Well, you boys have fun." Sasha said. "We're just going to look for Dipper to see how things are going with him."
"Okay girls." Mr Boonchuy said. "Meet us back by the entrance in 6 hours and be sure to buy yourselves some lunch."
"We will." The girls said simultaneously before walking off to have their side story.
"So, where do you wish to go to first?" Grime asked.
"I want to go to the panel." Mr Boonchuy replied. "I want to see who's playing who in the Cosmic Frontiers reboot."
Later, at room 8, the trio had arrived to a large stage with a large screen presenting the cast of the next Cosmic Frontiers.
The director, Ryan Jonson, stood on stage presenting. "I am excited to share the cast we have for my passion project. Starting off, Chief O'Bailey is going to be played by Chris Bratt."
Mr Boonchuy seemed shocked and angered by this. "Cheī̀y!"
Meanwhile, Sasha was exploring one of the stands selling stuff. Specifically, the stand that was selling swords.
The person selling the sword appeared to be of Japanese descent with ginger spiky hair and a scowl on his face.
"So, can I just pick one of these up or do I need to pay for them?" Sasha asked.
"You can hold it." The man replied. "But, I don't know if it will be safe for you to judging by your scars."
Sasha gave the salesman a smug grin and picked up one of the swords on display. Specifically, the one that looked more like a knife.
She spun it in her hand and did a samurai style pose while the salesman looked on with concern. "Be careful. You could take out someone's eye with that."
"You won't believe how much of a good swordswoman I am." Sasha retorted.
"Hey! Your cosplay is wrong!" Yelled a whiny geeky voice.
Then, Sasha saw an incoming apple coming towards her which she quickly sliced in half with a quick swift. This impressed the swordsman and a lot of spectators whom began to applaud her.
She handed the baffled salesman the sword back. He stared at the sword and Sasha with an amazed expression. "Uh….How would you like this sword for free?"
"Nah, I got two swords." Sasha said. "By the way, you call that a sword? That's just a big knife."
Sasha walked away to find Anne while the salesman stared at the sword with am annoyed scowl. "What does she know about swords?"
Sasha approached Anne, whom was staring at something with a baffled expression. "Something wrong, Boonchuy?" Anne showed Sasha a jar of thumbtacks. "Okay Anne, a jar of thumbtacks being sold is strange but I've seen people sell weirder stuff here."
Anne reached into the jar and pulled out one that looked strangely familiar to the both of them. "This thumbtack….Does it look like Polly to you?"
Sasha began to analyse the thumbtack. "Huh. I guess it does. Even the bow looks like Polly."
"You going to buy them?" A man of Thai descent asked.
"Nah, we're just looking." Anne replied. "Plus, we're here to see a friend of ours."
"Who?" The man asked. "If it's Dipper, you can do better than him. Especially after his latest book."
"You know there's a difference between an art and the artist." Sasha reminded him.
"No there isn't." The man argued.
The girls eventually found the panel where Dipper was signing copies of his books. Specifically, his better books. Like Copy That and the Eastwest Mansion Mystery.
"Here you go." Dipper said while handing the copy of the book to a young boy wearing a pterodactyl shirt. "It's good that younger demographics like you are taking interest in my work."
"Thank you. Your latest book sucked." The boy said before running away.
Dipper sighed in annoyance. "Nobody's going to let this go."
After a few more people telling him his latest book sucked, Anne and Sasha eventually arrived in front but Dipper wasn't noticing.
"Let me guess, my latest book sucked?" Dipper asked.
"I think you heard it from us enough." Sasha retort made Dipper look up and smiled upon seeing them again after a few long months.
"Girls!" Dipper stood up off his chair and then the three shared a hug with each other. "I'm surprised to see you two here."
"Well, we'd thought we'd come to say hi to you and see how things are." Sasha replied.
"Oh, I'd love to but, ya know, I got a bunch of fans waiting for me." Dipper said while motioning to the line that was behind them.
"I can't wait to tell Mason Pines how much his book sucked." Said one of the people standing in line.
Dipper just narrowed his eyes at the people in line and then pulled a sign from under the table that read 'Be back in three hours.'
"You know what, I think I might have some time for a break." Dipper said to the girls before standing up off his chair and following the girls to a private area to talk, leaving his fans to groan.
"Awww!"
Meanwhile, the trio were walking through a bunch of stands selling all sorts of merchandise. Gus was looking over at a bunch of really well made models of the ship, The Passager.
Mr Boonchuy on the other hand was looking at some of the toys that looked like the tech from the live action movies. Including, the communicator which was better looking than the ones he has at home.
"Wow! These toys are amazing." Mr Boonchuy remarked. "You didn't steal these did you?" The suspicious geek behind the counter just picked up a copy of the second Cosmic Frontier book and began reading it.
Meanwhile, Grime was looking at some of the figurines of characters for sale which included Avery, Bexley, O'Bailey and Doc. Grime picked up a figurine of Doc and grinned. "Wow."
"Those are collectibles." The woman behind the counter had red hair, a nose ring, circular specs and a Cosmic Frontier shirt. "They're very rare and are worth a lot."
"Cool." Grime said.
"By the way, that's an amazing costume." She remarked. "A really well made mask I might add. What is that you are, an OC?"
Grime stared at the woman with a baffled look on his face. "Uh….Sure."
"Do you have one figurine you'd like to pick?" She asked. "Avery, O'Bailey or my favourite, Bexley."
Grime cringed. "Well….Unpopular opinion…" He then looked over her shoulder and saw Death in a crowd of people. He was once again pointing at his watch only it was directly at four. Grime stared at the figure with a terrified look in his face before getting snapped out of it by the woman.
"Hey! Hey!" She snapped her fingers.
"Huh?" Grime asked.
"You were about to tell me an unpopular opinion." The woman said. "What is it?"
"Well….I wish to pick my favourite character…." He picked up a figurine of Doc and smiled at her. "….Doc!"
The woman looked at him with a baffled look plastered on her face. "Uh….What did you say?"
"Doc is my favourite character." Grime replied. "I know he's not popular but I hope you have a rational understanding as to why I like him."
But instead of being a rational response, the surprised woman just gave Grime an aggressive blink.
Meanwhile, Mr Boonchuy and Gus were admiring some posters for the unmade Cosmic Frontier movie. Cosmic Frontier: The Generations End.
"Why didn't they make that Cosmic Frontier movie?" Gus asked.
"You see Gus, Cosmic Frontier: Enemy did poorly at the box office." Mr Boonchuy explained. "It didn't make enough money for them."
"Wow. Boxes have their own offices?" Gus reacted. "This world gets stranger."
Suddenly they heard Grime screaming. "Boonchuy! I need help!"
He sighed in annoyance. "What did he do this time?"
When the two arrived at the location of the scream, they saw Grime having a book shoved into his face by the crazy person behind the counter.
"Read the paragraph! Read it!" She cried while shoving an autobiography in his face. "The creator of the series, Janene Cottenberry states how much she hated writing for the character! Look at it! Look at it!"
"Ow! I can't look when you shove my face close to the book!" Grime exclaimed.
Then, Mr Boonchuy and Gus ran up to the stand to save Grime. "Hey, leave him alone!" He exclaimed angrily as he pulled Grime away.
Gus narrowed his eyes at the woman. "Yeah! So what if he has a different opinion?!"
"Well, it's a different opinion I don't agree with!" The woman exclaimed angrily. "And any opinion that is different from ours is wrong!"
"So?" Mr Boonchuy asked.
"So what if his opinion is different?" Gus asked. "Everyone is entitled to one."
"Not in this scenario!" The woman argued.
Grime adjusted his uniform as he narrowed his eyes at the woman. "Let's leave, Boonchuy and Porter, this nutcase has said enough."
They began walking away while the fan just narrowed her eyes at them. "Phoney." She said.
"What's up with her?" Grime asked. "When has an opinion over fiction suddenly become an act of war?" He began to yell out to the angry fangirl. "You know nothing of fighting over an opinion! Try fighting over an opinion about how to handle the economy of toad village?!"
"I don't know, Grime." Mr Boonchuy said. "It's just the way fans are. They get so angry over fiction that if they see one small change or moment, then they get angry that they declare it as ruined."
"Do you hate a lot of dumb moments in Cosmic Frontier?" Grime asked.
"Yeah, but I don't go attack someone over a different opinion!" Mr Boonchuy replied.
"Except for when you and I got annoyed that Grime's favourite character is Doc." Gus reminded him.
"Okay, that." Mr Boonchuy said.
"But what if they have a valid opinion about something?" Grime asked. "Like, I don't like the eighteenth book in the series because of how they turned Avery into such a wimp. Like, the person who wrote it really hated the series."
"They would only express it through rage." Mr Boonchuy said. "Which is what I hate. Nobody can even have a valid opinion about anything without raging. And because of those people, people who produce those movies always have to pull out the old card even towards the people who have valid opinions about something."
"Huh, what?" Grime asked.
"You see Grime, there was a terribly written character known as Sayanta who happened to be old and fans really thought they were terrible." Mr Boonchuy said. "But because they focused on those toxic fans, pulled out the old card and now, I'm not allowed to say Sayanta is terrible character without coming across as ageist."
"Yeah, I agree Sayanta was terribly written." Gus remarked. "Not because they were old. But because they were just terribly written."
"And don't get me wrong, I like representation for old people." Mr Boonchuy said. "But the problem is, they focus way too much on the representation as opposed to the character who happens to be representing a group of people."
"Wow, that criticism got deep." Grime remarked.
"Yeah. I just hope people don't think I'm ageist if they heard that." Mr Boonchuy said.
"Do you think they'll change and become more decent when it comes to criticism?" Grime asked.
"It will take a miracle for fans to control their outrage." Mr Boonchuy replied. "But luckily, I can control mine." Then Mr Boonchuy heard a notification from his phone and pulled it from his pocket. "What's this?" He read the notification and suddenly became outraged. "What?! Bexley and O'Bailey break up in the 21st book?! What the heck?! I am filled with so much outrage!" Grime and Gus began to back away from the man.
"So am I!" Yelled someone who sounded like Hunter.
"Oh! I guess dressing up as them was pointless!" Cried someone who sounded like Willow.
Meanwhile, Dipper, Anne and Sasha were sitting down together eating some food where they heard the cries of three familiar people.
"Was that your Dad?" Sasha asked Anne.
"Yup." Anne replied.
"Sounds like Hunter and Willow saw the premise of the 21st Cosmic Frontier book." Dipper remarked. "They started to go south ever since Alec Burksman got his hands on them. Anyway, back to the story, Willow got captured by a bunch of gnomes that wanted to marry her. Now I know what you're thinking, but they age slowly but I still don't know if it's wrong or right. I'm still debating about it right now."
Meanwhile, Mr Boonchuy had thankfully calmed down which made Grime and Gus return to him. They continued walking along the convention to see something that intrigues them.
"Sorry about that." Mr Boonchuy said. "Guess I can't control my nerd rage."
"That's okay." Gus said.
"Yeah. By the way, did you hear Hunter or was that me?" Grime asked.
"Hey, look over there!" Gus said while pointing to something.
Grime and Mr Boonchuy looked forward. "A Peter Pan, remake?"
"Wait, Wendy and Tinker Bell have a friendly relationship instead of a rivalry?" Mr Boonchuy reacted. "That's lame."
"No!" Gus exclaimed. "Over there!" He pointed to a sign that was giving directions to a full panel talk with Alexander Michaels Aka Doc in the Cosmic Frontier movies.
Grime squealed with excitement. "Aaahhh! Mr Boonchuy, can we go?!"
"I don't know." Mr Boonchuy said. "I don't think there will be a lot of people."
"Then we don't have to stand behind a bunch of sweaty geeks." Grime said with a pleased look on his face. "I could get a look at his face!"
But when they got into the room, they saw that there was a much larger crowd surrounding the stage than they had anticipated.
So unfortunately, the geek trio were behind a bunch of sweaty and messy Cosmic Frontier fans and couldn't get a good look at the stage.
Mr Boonchuy picked up Gus and placed him behind his head so he could see what the heck was going on. Grime on the other hand, couldn't see a thing due to his very small height.
"Oh, frog!" He groaned.
The sound of the geeks in attendance booing was heard just as the grumpy middle aged Alexander Michaels entered the stage with a smile on his face as he gave them a sarcastic wave.
"Alright, settle down!" The man said.
"You stink!" One of the attendees yelled.
"Well, that's my cologne." He retorted.
"It's him!" Grime squealed in the audience. "I don't believe it! Aahhhhh!"
In front of him, a couple of the sweaty geeks gave each other concerned looks. "Did that nerd with the ugly mask just get excited for Doc?" He asked.
"I hope not." The other geek replied.
"Alright folks, simmer down!" Alexander Michaels requested. "Hi everyone, I hope you're doing fine."
"Well, we're not because you're here!" One geek yelled.
"Eh, what are you going to do?" He asked with a saddened smile. "Anyway, I'm just going to skip the long speech and move on to answering questions. Okay, first question. You, the one dressed as a Cyberperson."
"Hey, why do you suck?" A geek asked.
"You mean me in general or my character?" He sighed. "Okay, you don't know me. Next question. You, that couple."
"Yeah, me and my girlfriend were wondering, why did Doc leave Avery and O'Bailey to drown in quicksand?" The geek asked.
"Because he was knocked out." Alexandra replied. "Not my fault. Okay, next question. You, bald one."
"Why does Doc have a crush on Avery when he clearly has no interest in him?"
The actor grumbled. "It's a crush! Like, come on!"
In the audience, Grime, Gus and Mr Boonchuy gave each other some concerned looks on their faces. "Wow, they're asking questions as if the actor is the actual character." Gus remarked.
"Is this another curse of toxic fandom?" Grime asked.
"Oh yeah." Mr Boonchuy replied. "Fans also bully the actors of characters they don't like which is just unfair. They did it to Chris Bratt who played Quantos just because he punched The Armageddon King in the face which in turn made the Armageddon King destroy the planet Parach. They can't seem to differentiate reality and fiction."
"So is that why they're asking him all these harsh questions?" Gus asked.
"Hey! Why is Doc in every book if he sucks?!" One of the geeks asked the actor.
"Do I look like an author?" He retorted.
"So, they don't even care that he lost his wife?" Grime asked. "Oh! What was the point of that manhunt me and Gus did?!"
"You know what? I'm going to ask him a question." Gus raised his hand, something that the actor noticed.
"Yes! Little Avery. Got a question?" He asked.
"Yeah! You get a lot of hate, right?" Gus asked.
"Uh huh."
"How do you live with it?"
The actor seemed surprised by the question that he thought that this was a strange dream. Someone asked him a question that wasn't about how much his character sucked.
"Well….I…..I….Wow, I'm honestly surprised with that question." Alexander replied. "Well….I….I…I….I….I…I just try and remember that there are people who love me."
"Which you don't have anymore!" One geek yelled.
"Hey! That's not very nice!" Grime yelled.
"It's okay, okay, I got this." Alexander assured him. "Right, you see…."
"You suck!" A fan yelled out.
"Let me finish!" Suddenly, the actor got hit in the head by a model of the Passager, causing a cut to show up on his head.
This act made the geek trio gasp. "Oh frog." Grime said.
"Listen here…."
Then, the geeks got up on stage and began to attack the actor by tackling him to the ground. "Doc sucks! Doc sucks! Doc sucks!" They chanted as they continued to harass the actor.
All the geeks were doing it except for Mr Boonchuy, Gus and Grime who seemed surprised and speechless about what happened.
"I hope the girls are doing well." Grime said.
"I wonder if their side adventure is as chaotic as this?" Gus asked.
But still, Dipper was still recapping everything that had happened. "Then there was that one time where I got over protective of Hunter which caused him to go after comet who had recently escaped her imprisonment…."
Back with the trio, they were still speechless about what was going on. They knew right away, they needed a plan.
"What do we do?" Gus asked. "We can't just leave him."
"You're right." Mr Boonchuy said. "We have to save him and bring him to a safe location."
"But how?" Gus asked. "I can't do an illusion without the risk of being seen."
Grime cracked his neck and his knuckles. "Looks like it's my time to shine." He revved his foot and began charging towards the crowd. He used every ounce of his toad strength to either shove through geeks or pull them off one another.
Eventually, he managed to get to the stage and pulled the geeks off of him. When Alexander saw Grime, he looked at him in fear.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"Joel Baker! Former warrior of destruction and now warrior of peace." Grime replied before he picked up the actor. "Don't worry, we're gonna get you out!"
"Hey!" A nerd exclaimed angrily.
"Out of my way!" Grime then grabbed them by the crotch, causing them to collapse on their face. He then began to charge out of the room like he was some kind of bull, knocking people over. "Ahhh! Get out of the way!" He yelled while running people over.
But once he ran out of the room, he accidentally knocked over a few random cosplayers who had no part in what was going on. This even included Vee and Masha whom were just minding their own business.
"Sorry lovely couple!" Grime exclaimed.
Vee and Masha, whom were dressed like fantasy characters groaned in pain. "Ow! Was that Grime?"
Masha groaned. "Cosmic Frontier fans."
Grime carried the actor straight towards where Mr Boonchuy was, which was beside a security guard whom was guarding a door that said 'Backstage.'
"There they are!" Mr Boonchuy exclaimed while pointing Grime out.
"Security, let this cosplayer in with me!" Alexander demanded.
"And also the other one, he's good." Grime requested.
"And that other one!"
The security guard stood aside to let Mr Boonchuy and Grime through. They eventually found a room with Alexander's name on it and ran right into it.
The dressing room itself was like any other typical dressing room. There was a mirror, makeup and even a dressing screen.
Grime gently placed the actor down on a chair that Mr Boonchuy pulled out and he gave a sigh of relief.
"Thank you." The actor said. "Thank you. Thank you so much."
"You're welcome." Grime said with a huge smile on his face. He couldn't believe he was talking to the actor who portrayed his favourite character in the entire book series and film adaptations.
But unfortunately, Alexander wasn't a fan of his grin. "Could you stop grinning? It's freaking me out. Like, I love your mask, but seriously, stop grinning."
Grime tried to stop but then his grin just returned, causing more discomfort for the actor. "Ooookay."
"Can I get you anything?" Mr Boonchuy asked.
"I want some tea and a plan to get home." Alexander replied. "Because, we can't stay here for long. I don't know how long it will take for those fans to start going toward backstage."
"Don't worry, we have a friend who's helping." Grime replied.
Meanwhile, Gus was running around the arena casting an illusion of Grime carrying Alexander over his shoulder which was something the fans were chasing.
Gus managed to make the illusion move pass the crowd in order to not expose the illusion. "Get them! Get them!" The nerds cried.
Then, Gus saw Marcy, dressed in her Cynthia Coven cosplay, tying her shoelace. She didn't notice the illusion of Grime running past her, but she did notice Gus.
"Hey! Rus! How are ya?" Marcy asked. "Didn't think I'd see you at the convention."
"Marcy! Get out of the way!" Gus cried.
"Huh?" But before Marcy could react, she was run over by the crowd of angry Cosmic Frontier geeks. This sight made Gus cringe before he quickly got back to following his illusion.
"Sorry, Marcy! Hope you have a good time!" Gus exclaimed.
Marcy stood back up, her whole body covered in footprints and her costume in ruins. She coughed just as Darcy gave her a judgemental stare.
"Okay, can you not damage your body?!" Darcy exclaimed. "I need to take over it at some point!"
Meanwhile, Dipper was still telling Sasha and Anne his story. "So wait, the whole forest thing wasn't true?" Sasha asked.
"I don't know." Dipper said. "I saw visions of Luz with multiple scars around her body and then the owl beast suddenly showed up behind me. But then the owl beast turned out to be Clyde. Which means….I think Luz might have been my fear."
Anne and Sasha gave each other concerned glances. "So, your worst fear is Luz hurting herself?"
"I think so." Dipper replied. "I mean, she must feel guilty about not saving Pacifica."
"But Pacifica wasn't her fault." Sasha said.
"I know." Dipper sighed. "I've tried to call her to see how she was doing and to try and prevent her from hurting herself. But….I'm scared that it would only make things worse. I just wish, I could just see her to see how she's doing and if she's okay." But unknown to him, Luz and Amity walked behind the three dressed in Azura and Hecate cosplay.
"Yeah, I don't know if she's in San Diego right now." Anne said.
"I mean, her Mom isn't made of money." Sasha said. "And how would Amity get past airport security without a passport?"
"Yeah, and they'd probably be dressed in Good Witch Azura costumes." Anne said.
"So, they'd be easy to pick out in a crowd." Sasha agreed. "I mean, we'd have to be pretty stupid to miss them."
Back backstage, Alexander was drinking his water while Grime was watching him like an obsessed fangirl while Mr Boonchuy was talking about his Cosmic Frontier theories.
"I think Avery was replaced by a clone at the end of book 17 which would probably explain his strange behaviour in the next two books." Mr Boonchuy explained. "You could argue that the new author ruined his character, but I think she did it on purpose as a subtle hint that he's a clone. So what do you think?"
Alexander just stared at the man with an unimpressed look and sighed. "I graduated from the Royal Shakespeare College for this. Uh….Go to the vending machine and get me a granola bar."
"Will do." Mr Boonchuy walked out of the room to get the actor his snack leaving him and Grime alone.
He took a glance at Grime and saw that he was still pulling his creepy smile at him, which caused him discomfort. "Could you please stop smiling like that? Your smile is really creepy. It's like you're intending to murder me."
"No, this is my murder smile." Grime then flashed an absolutely scary sinister smile that made Alexander fall off his chair as he screamed. "Do you like it?"
He stood back up from the floor and adjusted his suit. "Yeah….You'd do good as a crazy serial killer with that amazing mask and those contacts. Like….How are you not blinded yet?"
"What are you talking about?" Grime asked. "These are my actual eyes."
Alexander felt a twinge of embarrassment. "Oh, right. Sorry."
"Believe me, that's fine." Grime assured him.
"Anyway, are you dressed in that Doc uniform as an ironic joke or was it a dare?" He asked.
"No." Grime replied. "I like Doc. In fact, Doc is my favourite character."
The man just laughed. "Yeah right. Come on, who is your favourite? Avery? O'Bailey? Bexley?"
"No. Doc." Grime replied.
Alexander was in complete disbelief over what this cosplayer was saying right to his face. And even what he thought was a mask, he couldn't see any spite or any grin. He looked like he was being genuine.
"But, everyone hates Doc." Alexander said. "I even hate Doc. Why do you like him?"
"Because I relate to him." Grime replied. "Everyone hates him for being a know-it-all, but I like him for one reason. He may seem like a coward who'd abandon his crew when things get too dangerous, but in the end, he comes back to free them and does his best to engage in battle. I've had moments where I abandoned everything because I was scared and…With the right people motivating me, I get back up on my feet and kick their asses. That's why I like Doc, him and I are quite alike."
The actor never saw Doc that way before. But coming from this man, it brought up some emotions inside him. "Wow. That….That might help me get through my day after hearing all the hate comments from the fans."
"What did you have before?" Grime asked.
"My wife. But she passed on, me and my kids don't talk much and my brother and I disconnected a long time ago. But your words…." Tears fell from his eyes. "…They're going to help me a lot. Thank you."
Grime smiled at the man. "Don't mention it."
Mr Boonchuy then returned to his changing room with the granola bar. "Hey, why does the author of Cynthia Coven have beef with Mason Pines? He just asked me if I saw him anywhere."
"That's not important." Alexander said. "Right now, I have to get out of here."
"Yeah. Gus could still be being chased by those psychos." Mr Boonchuy said.
"Okay. Mr Boonchuy, you find Gus. Alexander, I need you to hold on tight."
Alexander gave Grime a worried look on his face and shook his head. "No! No! No! No! Not again!"
Meanwhile, Dipper was still explaining the stories to Anne and Sasha and he had just gotten to how Willow and Hunter got together.
"After me, Mabel, Soos, Flapjack and Melody were freed from the virtual world, we found out that Hunter and Willow got together after defeating GIFfany." Dipper explained to the girls who just gushed.
"Awwww!" They cooed.
"Them two are totally made for each other." Sasha said.
"Yeah." Dipper agreed before he began to hear some screaming. "Do you hear something?"
Anne and Sasha positioned their ears to try and hear the scream and they did. "Hey Sash, is that Grime?"
Sasha froze. "Yeah. It sounds like the scream he makes when he's charging."
Grime ran through the food court with Alexander on his back and ran past the three. "HEY GUYS! DON'T ASK!"
But Dipper was looking at what had happened with a baffled look on his face. "Was that Grime carrying Alexander Michaels?"
Anne and Sasha also couldn't comprehend what they saw. "I don't know." Anne said.
"Maybe but most likely definitely." Sasha replied.
Later, everyone had met up by the exit after a long day and had agreed to all go home. Gus was sitting in the backseat, sleeping due to using so much of his illusion power; Sasha was staring at her damaged ginger wig; Anne was staring out the window; While Grime was just looking out the window contemplating today.
"So, did we enjoy today?" Mr Boonchuy asked everyone in the car.
"Eh." Anne and Sasha replied.
"We just spent the whole day chatting with Dipper." Anne replied.
"What about you three?" Sasha asked. "You appeared to have had a crazy day."
"Oh, believe me." Mr Boonchuy replied. "Where do I even start?"
"But, I did brighten Alexander Michaels' day." Grime's response made Sasha surprised.
"As in Doc?" Sasha asked her toad surrogate.
"Yup." Grime replied.
"Did he not see through your so-called disguise?" She asked, referring to his exposed face.
Grime blew a raspberry. "Relax, he thought I was cosplaying. There's no way he thought it was convincing."
Meanwhile, Alexander Michaels was in his car driving home where he began to think back to the person that saved his life.
He was socially awkward around celebrities, but he liked how he brightened his day, his love for Doc and his amazing costume which looked amazing. Maybe too amazing.
"Why do I have the feeling that the man wasn't at all human?" He asked himself.