Guess what?
This story's not dead!
That's right. It's been a very long time, but I'm back! This was never really abandoned, just set to the side for a while as other interests took precedent, but I've got the inspiration again, and I know how the plot works out, so I'm excited to dive back into it. I hope you all enjoy!
Shouto wasn't sure what to expect when he walked into the store, but Mina dancing with Waddles while pop music played in the background certainly wasn't it. Then again, maybe he should've expected it at this point. Waddles had slowly but steadily become a part of the group, after all.
Mina noticed him standing there in the doorway, and after a small jump of surprise, she smiled and something in her eyes sparkled. "Hey there Shou! Care to join us?" Waddles oinked and with a flash, turned into a bear, before meandering happily over to Shouto.
Shouto rubbed his fur. To be honest, he still wasn't sure what to think about Waddles' new ability, courtesy of Shouto's powers. Sure, the pig-bear didn't seem to mind it at all, but this was Cipher's magic, which meant it was unpredictable. What if something happened to Waddles in the future?
There wasn't anything he could do about it for now though, so Shouto offered a smile back. "I'd be happy to."
Mina cheered. "Wonderful! I brought those purple popsicles Stan hid in the back of the fridge because he didn't want us taking them!" Shouto took the offered popsicle.
By the time Stan entered the shack, the three of them were on the floor, Waddles cuddled in Mina's lap. She seemed to have fallen asleep, so Shouto moved her out of the way just in time so Stan wouldn't trip. He managed to catch the edge of her foot and trip anyways, but at least Mina wasn't hurt.
Stan got to his knees, then his feet, straightening his glasses. "Mina, Shouto? What're you doing on the floor?"
"Being cute and great," Mina offered cheerfully.
Stan shook his head. "Just when I thought you all couldn't get weirder." Waddles, back in pig form, took the opportune moment to start chewing on Stan's pant leg. The store owner yelped and shook him, trying to get the pig to let go. Waddles finally did so, but took a bit of the cloth with him.
Stan, looking fed up, knocked on the door. "Alright pig, out of the house. Now!"
"No!" Mina held Waddles tightly. "There are predators outside. And also barbecuers. You know this town, leave a pig lying around for a little while, and someone will assume they're food." Unfortunately, Mina had a point.
Stan waved her off. "He can turn into a bear, he'll be fine. Pigs are meant to be outside anyways."
"Yeah, but if he gets kidnapped, that's on you," Mina warned. "And I'm putting a leash on him first!"
"So, you're getting a baby holder for Waddles? Are you planning on carrying him around like that?" Ochako wondered, as Mina finished paying and took the carrier. The two exited the store together.
"I think it makes sense to have," Mina offered. "I know Waddles can take care of himself, being a part-time bear and all, but Stan obviously doesn't care what happens to him, so it can't hurt to have a little extra security."
They reached the shack to find Soos, Wendy, Izuku, and Shouto running inside! "We got pictures!" Izuku cheered. Curious, the two girls followed.
"Pictures of what?" Ochako called out in front of them, as they headed up the stairs.
"A Pterodactyl, man!" Wendy told them. "And honest to god dinosaur!"
"This is gonna be so epic, dudes!" Ochako exchanged an excited glance with Mina, and the six of them headed into a dark room, where the others had already set everything up.
"Alright, let's develop the film!" Since Soos knew how to develop film best, they watched as he began the process, learning a few things about film at the same time. Eventually, the pictures came into focus.
"Oh." Shouto stared down at the newly developed photos. "That's a real dinosaur."
"Oh wow," Was all Ochako could say at the moment, because on those photos were pictures of an actual Pterodactyl, flying by. "This - I mean, Gravity Falls is weird, but this is a whole new level of weird."
"Tell me about it," Wendy agreed.
"That's amazing," Izuku gushed. "I mean, where and when else in our lifetimes are we going to see an actual live dinosaur?"
Shouto frowned. "Didn't we see one when we went back in time?"
"Oh, yeah. But we've now seen them twice!"
Wendy blinked. "Hang on, you guys have gone back in time?"
Mina laughed and patted her arm. "It's a long story."
There was a sudden roar outside the window, the creature who made it causing the room to shake as it flew by. Izuku removed the temporary curtain, and they all watched as the Pterodactyl flew away, leaving broken branches and other destructive hazards in its wake.
"It's here!" The six of them sprinted downstairs to find Stan staring open mouthed at the retreating dinosaur. Next to him was a broken leash.
Ochako put two and two together quickly. "You lost Waddles, didn't you. Seriously? He was our pet!" Frankly, she was a bit pissed, and looking at her friends, she could tell that they felt varying degrees of the same anger and frustration.
"Listen, it totally wasn't my fault!" Stan insisted. "I tried to fight that monster off, I swear!" Shouto raised an eyebrow at him, giving Stan his patented unimpressed expression. "Okay, I didn't know what was happening until I saw the thing flying away with Waddles. But it's not like I wanted a dinosaur to take your pig-bear."
"Of course you didn't," Ochako assured him coolly. "So you'll have no problem with helping us get him back, right?"
Soos perked up. "Dude, yes! Dino hunt!"
Wendy looked just as excited at the prospect. "That just sounds so cool. I'm totally coming with you guys."
Stan was far less enthused at the idea than his employees were, but seeing the hard looks of the four kids he had taken in, he seemed to realize he didn't have much of a choice. "Alright, fine. Let's go track down your shape-shifting menace."
It wasn't hard to find where the Pterodactyl had gone - all the seven of them had to do was follow the trail of destruction it had left in its wake. Izuku winced as he looked around at the chaos, hoping Waddles hadn't been too injured during the flight. Mina and Ochako might've been the pig's primary caretakers, but he cared about their group pet as well.
Eventually, their path led them to an old church, which had clearly been dilapidated long before a dino decided to move in. Now, most of the front and the ceiling of the place was missing, torn clean off. And… music was coming from inside?
Curiously, they ventured forwards, to find McGucket sitting serenely in a rocking chair near the back of the church and playing a banjo. In front of him was a massive hole in the floor. Baffled, Izuku looked towards the rest of the group for an explanation, but only found faces that looked just as confused as he was.
"Hey, McGucket," Ochako ventured. The strange man turned to them with a smile on his face.
"Well, hello, fellers!" He beamed at them, as if playing music in dinosaur-infested churches was a regular occurrence for him. "I don't suppose that enormous wing-ly critter stole your musical spoons as well?"
Near the back of the group, Stan cringed.
"Not exactly, but it did steal our pet," Izuku hesitantly explained. "I'm guessing it went through the giant hole in the floor?"
"You're diddily-darn right it did!" McGucket agreed. "Not an agreeable sort of critter, is the big bugger?"
"It is a dinosaur. They're not really known for being agreeable," Wendy pointed out, amused. "Do you know what's down there? It looks like it goes down a long way."
McGucket nodded. "That's the abandoned mines down yonder." They all peaked over the edge, looking at the long drop down."
Stan started hedging away. "Looks kind of hairy down there."
"Yeah, but you did lose our pet," Ochako fired back. "This is a team trip! Hang on, I'll float everyone down."
"I'll tag along and get my musical spoons back!" McGucket insisted. "I've got all sorts of weird personal stories that I can tell while we have our little hootin-nany."
Oh boy.
And so seven temporarily became eight, and the whole group floated downwards into the mines. Izuku tried to drown out McGucket's story about how he kissed a raccoon by looking at the stone walls, noting how the plants became less like the flora up on the surface, and more strange and tropical the deeper they went.
Eventually they settled on a giant mushroom next to a bunch of semi-active geysers, surrounded by the strange greenery and looking into the opening of the mines.
"Just when you think this town couldn't get weirder, it always manages to surprise you," Izuku said, a hint of awe in his voice.
"Dude, I've lived here my entire life, and I'm still constantly surprised by this place," Wendy said dryly, as they headed forwards. "Like, there's just been some prehistoric stuff down here all this time, and no one even knew? That's just wild."
A never ending mess of weirdness and freaky-ness," Stan grumbled. "Sometimes I wishaaaaaaaaaaa-!"
His screams were soon joined by the startled cries of the rest of them as a t-rex loomed over everyone. Instinctively, Izuku grabbed his dagger, before realizing that the dinosaur wasn't moving. "Nope, it's still stuck. I think we're good!"
"Thankfully. We don't have a time machine to get us away from it this time," Ochako laughed nervously, as they scanned the room they found themselves in. "Oh wow."
It was a massive chamber, and completely filled with dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes, from many different eras, and, to Izuku's confusion, different places around the prehistoric globe.
"How did they all get in this one spot?" He wondered, as they wandered around. "I don't think most of these lived where Oregon is now. And how did they all get caught in this tree sap?"
Mina nudged Ochako. "Mermando said the Gravity Falls lake was connected to lots of places, including the ocean, remember? Maybe this cave is the same way, and they all wandered in here from across the world as well?" She winced as they passed a whole in one column of tree sap, where the rampaging Pterodactyl had obviously come from.
"Best not to question it," Shouto agreed.
"Absolutely. Why would we question a money-maker like this?" Stan grinned up at one dinosaur. "This would be the exhibit of a lifetime! I could bring so many tours down here, or maybe even make it into a theme park! Honestly, I should've put that pig out ages ago."
Next to Izuku, Ochako huffed angrily. "Yeah, but how would you bring anyone down here without me to help you? And I'm totally not gonna help you, considering we found this at the expense of Waddles."
She was clearly even more down about this than the rest of them. Izuku winced and squeezed her shoulder in what he hoped would be a comforting action. "We'll find him," he assured her. Ochako sent him a grateful smile back.
They moved through the dinosaurs, eventually approaching a cavern with about ten smaller tunnels leading off from it. "Okay, which one now?"
"The Pterodactyl's pretty big. We should be able to tell which one it went through," Shouto pointed out, eyes scanning their different options.
"Hey everyone! I fixed this here old lantern!" They turned around to see McGucket grinning at them… and the Pterodactyl looming over him from behind. Izuku's breath caught in his throat.
"Nobody move, or make any sudden loud noises," Wendy hissed. For a moment, all of them just stood there.
And then McGucket jumped up and down in celebration. "Yee-haw! We found the Pterodactyl!"
The dinosaur roared, the sound ringing in Izuku's ears.
"Everybody run!" Stan yelled, and then they were tearing down one of the tunnels, the Pterodactyl following right behind them. They exited on the other side and dove behind some rocks, just before their pursuer emerged as well, taking to the air to look for them.
"Okay, this is looking sort of bad now," Wendy admitted, a note of terror in her voice.
"What gave that away?" Stan huffed. "I say we use Soos as a human sacrifice."
"Oh shut it, you've already done enough-" Mina looked over towards the thin tower in the center of the cavern, which contained a giant egg and - "Waddles!" She sprinted across the rail line connecting their patch of stone with the central tower, and the rest of them followed her.
Waddles, currently in bear form, spotted them and immediately perked up, running over for a hug. Then Mina brought the carrier she'd bought out of her backpack and fit Waddles inside it. "Alright, now we can get out of here."
"What about my musical spoons-?" But McGucket was interrupted by the Pterodactyl swooping down towards them again. Waddles snorted in fear and made a run for the rail tracks, jumping on top of Stan, who yelled with surprise.
"Hey, get off me you dumb bear pig!"
"Hang on!" Ochako surged forwards, onto the tracks herself, and the dinosaur made another pass, hitting her square in the head with its wing and knocking Stan and Waddles clean off the tracks.
"No!" Izuku jumped forwards, arms outstretched, and caught one of Ochako's arms before she fell herself. Mind partially noting how she didn't react and starting to panic, he lifted her back into the nest, Mina rushing over to help him. Shouto leaned towards Stan and Waddles, hand covered in fire, but they were already out of his range, and the fire sputtered out.
Izuku set Ochako across his lap, breathing becoming uneven. "Hey, Ochako? Can - can you hear me?" She didn't respond. There was no blood, and she had a pulse, but-
"She's knocked out," Mina said hoarsely. "Getting hit with the dino's wing like that must've done it."
Wendy crouched down next to them, suddenly all business. "Here, hand her over." Hesitantly, Izuku did so, and Wendy checked over their friend. "She's gonna be fine. Bit of a concussion at most. At least Izuku grabbed her when he did." She winced. "Won't matter much if we all get eaten, though."
"Also, how are we supposed to get back up if our ride is knocked out?" Soos wondered.
Shouto winced. "Considering how well my own rescue attempt just went, I wouldn't bet on my fire, but that can be our last resort. Let's just find Stan and Waddles, and get Ochako out of here."
"McGucket, do you have an invention that could distract the Pterodactyl?" Mina wondered.
"Do I?" McGucket grinned and took off his large hat, shifting through it. "Nope!"
There was a cracking sound, and they all looked up as the egg toppled over, a much smaller (but still bigger than any of them) Pterodactyl emerging from it. They all stared in awe, terror momentarily forgotten.
McGucket leaned closer. "Welcome to the world, little-" the baby opened its jaw and swallowed him whole, to their screams. Shouto stepped forwards, fire flaring up again, and the baby's jaw was forced open, the old man tumbling out of it, looking a little stunned.
"What now?" Mina wondered, as the little dinosaur shook its head in confusion.
"Maybe Shouto could turn it into something else," Soos offered. "Like he did with Waddles."
Shouto frowned. "I don't know. I've never done it on purpose before."
Izuku gave him a weary smile. "Always a first time for everything, right?" This seemed to be a good enough argument, as Shouto nodded, holding out his hand. The fire surrounded the creature… and it's head grew about three sizes, while the rest of its body remained unchanged.
At this point, everyone just screamed and ran, Wendy carrying Ochako bridal-style. The baby made to follow them, but it's head was too large, and instead, it went tumbling over the side, little wings flapping uselessly as it plummeted.
"I feel a little bad," Izuku admitted, as they reached the other side. "Pterodactyls have been extinct for millions of years, and we may have just stopped them from coming back again."
"Better than reenacting Jurassic park, dude," Soos insisted, catching his breath.
"Guys? It's not over." The noise of the adult Pterodactyl had them looking up again, wincing… and then they saw who was riding it.
"Is that Stan?" Mina gaped. "Oh my god, it is!"
"Well, I'll be darned!" McGucket chuckled. "He's a real horse-wagon of a turnip-carrier!"
Sure enough, on top of the dinosaur was Stan, with Waddles in the carrier on his back, taking swipes at the creature, and punching it right in the eye. And with one last battle cry, he slammed both fists down on its head, smashing it into the stone, and climbing onto the ledge to meet them with a satisfied grin. "Here's your pig, kiddos."
"You got him!" They ran over to greet him, and Stan passed a happy Waddles off to Mina. Then he spotted Ochako in Wendy's arms, and his eyes widened, alarmed. "What happened!?"
"She got hit in the head, but Izuku caught her in time. She'll be okay," Wendy assured him. "Seriously though, we need to leave, like, right now."
"Good thing I found my musical spoons in that there baby's nest!" They all stared blankly at a grinning McGucket, before mentally shrugging it off and running down the tunnel they had come through. And soon enough, thunderous stomps indicated that the dinosaur was hot on their trail.
Eventually, they reached the original cavern and paused, looking around. "How are we supposed to get up?" Wendy wondered. "No offense Shouto, but I don't want my head made three times bigger."
"None taken."
Izuku looked around for another alternative. "The geysers! They'll push us back up." They all hopped in one of them, waiting for it to go off again as the Pterodactyl drew nearer.
There was a moment, as they all waited for the geyser to go off again, and the dinosaur approached them, that Izuku wondered if they might seriously be done for. Then Soos, with a hearty scream of "Bros before dinos!" pounded on the geyser as hard as he could, and they were shooting up at massive speeds, bursting through the floor of the broken church. Quickly, Izuku drew his dagger and sent a gust of air away from them, sending them flying away from the hole in the ground and onto safer land, as the rest of the church collapsed to cover the hole.
There was a moment where all of them just laid there, catching their breath.
"Well," Shouto finally said, in his usual deadpan tone. "That was exciting."
Izuku couldn't help but chuckle at the understatement. Wendy and Mina joined in, then Soos, Stan, and McGucket, and soon all of them were laughing and marveling at the fact that they survived.
Ochako came to consciousness in the living room of the Mystery Shack, surrounded by her friends and fellow employees. For a moment, she wondered why they were all staring at her, before her memory of the previous events came back. "Is everyone alright!?"
Izuku perked up, noticing her eyes were open. "You're awake!"
"Yeah, I am - is everyone okay? Is Waddles okay?"
"We're all fine. He's here," Shouto assured her. He lifted up Waddles for her to see, and the pig licked her face happily. "Is your head feeling better?"
"Yeah, it feels alright." Alright might not have been the right word for it, but honestly, she felt fine enough.
"You got knocked out by the dinosaur's wing, dude," Soos told her. "Luckily Izuku caught you before you could fall."
"Well that's a relief." She smiled at their green-haired friend, who blushed a little and looked away. "Thanks, Deku."
"O-Of course! It wasn't that special anyways, Wendy carried you all the way back, and Soos got us out of there with the geysers." The two named employees smiled awkwardly at the praise. "And Stan punched the Pterodactyl in the face to save Waddles! It was amazing!"
"Now I'm sad I missed that." She pouted, mostly joking. "You'll all just have to fill me in on everything."
"We will," Mina promised. Waddles settled himself on her lap, and the whole group made themselves more comfy. "See, after you got knocked out, that big egg started hatching…"
I hope you all enjoyed, and please don't forget to leave a review, let me know what you think! The story may be planned out, but updates will probably come faster if people are interested.