(A/N: LOL, ok, so I need to address something. As I'm sure all of you noticed, I made a few references to some other Disney media in previous chapters. This seems to have led some people into thinking that there are going to be more crossover characters popping up in this story. Sorry if you were hoping for that, but that's not the case, we're just sticking with The Owl House, Amphibia, and Gravity Falls. The Easter Eggs to Ducktales, Big City Greens, and Phineas And Ferb were just meant to be fun little references that were a result of the bubbles of madness altering the style as our heroes went through them. And the Guardian mentioning Star Butterfly was just meant to be a fun reference to to indicate that Star Vs. The Forces Of Evil was somewhere out there in the multiverse, nothing more. So don't be holding out hope for any characters from those or any other series happening, because they won't be; sorry if you were misled. But let's get back to the main story, because the Collector has now entered the game. Which means things are about to get very interesting.)
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 15: Playing Games
"Collector!" Luz exclaimed in surprise.
The boy glanced at her and his already smiling face lit up. "Luz!"
With a casual push, he shoved Bill's giant foot away and flew into her, hugging her tightly. Luz let out an "Oof" from the impact and his tight embrace, grateful that he knew how to regulate his immense strength.
"How've you been!?" he asked happily. "It's been so long since we've seen each other!"
"Yes, three years," Luz managed to gasp out, recalling his last visit three years prior.
At that moment, she took notice of Francois, the pink, stuffed plushy King had given to him nine years ago. Only now the little rabbit was animated, a courtesy Luz had extended to the stuffed animal by using the same animating potion King had once used to animate his own stuffed toys to create his little army. She still remembered how overjoyed the Collector had been when she brought Francois to life.
"Kid, what are you doing here?" Eda asked, bringing Luz out of her trip down memory lane.
The child from the stars broke the hug and gave the Owl Lady a big smile as well. "Eda, it's so good to see you! Oh, and Willow, Gus, Amity, and Hunter too!" He then noticed the others and his smile grew wider. "Oh, and new friends too! I love making new friends! Hi, everyone, I'm the Collector!"
From behind him, Bill cleared his throat, looking annoyed. "Hey, brat, do you mind? I was kind of in the middle of something."
The Collector looked up at him curiously and chuckled. "Hey, you're kind of funny looking."
"Collector, what's going on?" Amity asked. "How are you here?"
Turning back to her, the Collector cocked his head to the side. "Oh, so I was just playing with Francois when this colorful, swirly person appeared and said that you needed me in the human world and that I had to get to you right away, so I popped on over. It took me a little longer to find you since you were in another dimension though, but I came as soon as I could."
Gus exchanged a confused look with Willow. "Colorful, swirly person?"
Anne's eyes widened as she recalled the brief moment she had seen such a being ten years ago. It had only been for a second or two, but the sight of it had been too much for her and had nearly fried her tiny, human brain. That wasn't a sight she would ever forget.
"The Guardian," she said quietly. "You're the one it said it was going to send to help."
The Collector turned to her with interest. "Help? I can help. I love to help."
"Hey!" Bill thundered. "Stop ignoring me!"
He raised his fist and it grew massive in size. He made to bring it down on them, but with a snap of his fingers, the Collector teleported them all out of the way, then glared up at the interdimensional being.
"You're being very rude," he said in annoyance. "Don't you know you could have hurt someone? Hurting people is bad."
"He is bad," Eda snapped. Then quickly added, "And not the kind that can be fixed with kindness and forgiveness."
The Collector gasped at that and gave the Owl Lady a horrified look. "You mean… like Belos bad?"
"Worse," Dipper chimed in. "His name's Bill Cipher, and he's way worse than Belos. Just look what he did to the town."
The Collector blinked and then looked out at Gravity Falls, as if noticing it for the first time. A frown crossed his face at the horrors he saw, and he cringed in apparent discomfort.
"Eeh, this place looks horrible," he commented. "I don't think I like it here."
"He did it!" Mabel cried, pointing up at Bill. "It doesn't normally look like this, he made everything go all wah-wah!"
"And he tried to kill us," Luz added. "Dipper's right, he's just as bad as Belos."
The Collector's eyes widened. "He tried to kill you?" Then, as if noticing something, his eyes began looking over the group. "Wait, where's King? Shouldn't he be here with you guys?"
There was no way to stop them. At the Collector's concerned inquire about the little Titan, Luz felt tears fill her eyes, and she slowed them to slide down her cheeks.
"He's… King is…" she stammered. She wasn't sure what to say. Was telling him that King was dead accurate? Was he actually dead? Instead, she settled for, "He's gone, Collector. King's gone."
She watched as the Collector's wide eyes slowly grew wider in understanding. "King's… gone…? As in… gone-gone? Like you were that one time?"
More tears filled Luz's eyes as she nodded. "Yes, Collector, he is. I'm so sorry." Slowly, she lifted her hand and pointed an accusing finger at Bill. "It's his fault. King's gone because of him."
Bill just rolled his eye. "Uch, geez, don't be so dramatic."
For several seconds, the Collector didn't react. But then he closed his eyes, squeezing them shut. His hands closed into fists at his sides, and when he opened his eyes again, they were glowing with power.
"Is it true?" he asked sternly. He turned to face Bill. "Is King gone because of you?"
The interdimensional being just crossed his arms. "So what if he is? He was asking for it, so we made a deal. What are you going to do about it, brat? Huh? Huh?"
The Collector's fists clenched even tighter, and his teeth ground together in fury. "You… You… big MEANIE!"
At his bellow, the ground shook as if from a powerful earthquake. A shockwave seemed to erupt from his body, and Bill cried out as he was sent flying backwards, clear to the other side of town before he crashed into the barrier.
Angry tears filled the Collector's eyes as he breathed heavily. As if knowing what he wanted, Francois jumped off his shoulder and scurried over to the others, quickly crawling up Luz's body and settling on her shoulder.
Luz glanced at the animated plushy before looking up at the young Archivist. "Collector?"
He didn't turn around to face her, not taking his eyes off Bill as the interdimensional being began flying back over to them. "You and the others should get away from here," he said in a cold voice, and with a snap of his fingers, they were lifted into the air. "I don't want you to get hurt. And Luz, look after Francois for me until I get back."
He flicked his finger, and the others shot several yards away before they were dropped to the ground.
Mabel sat up. "Whoa, so that was the Collector?"
Sasha glanced at the witches. "You guys were right, he's both cute and terrifying."
Marcy looked at everyone else. "Ok, am I the only one who's lost? Who's the Collector?"
Eda let out a sigh. "Most likely, our best and only chance to beat Bill."
(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)
The Collector was still seething as Bill came back over to him. The interdimensional being only looked mildly annoyed though as he plucked his hat off his head and dusted it off.
"Not bad, kid," he commented, "you pack quite a wallop."
"Quiet!" the Collector snapped. "You're a big bad guy! How could you even think of doing anything bad to King? He's my best friend, and you killed him!"
Bill just rolled his eye and put his hat back on. "Sheesh, kid, relax. He's not dead, he's right here." He blinked, and when his eye opened again, King's face was present within his eye socket in place of his eyeball. But with another blink, the little Titan was gone again. "See, he's not gone as in dead, he's still here, sort of. He's just… no longer himself. Basically, he's me. Or I'm him. Whatever. And before you start getting all snippy, he literally asked for this. He made a deal to give himself over to me; even put the offer on the table himself. Does that make you feel better?"
The Collector's eyes flashed. "No, it doesn't! I want King! Give him back! Gimme back my friend!"
Bill lounged back in the air, placing his hands behind his head. "Yeah, sorry, no can do. See, I kind of need him in order to have a body, otherwise I'll be nothing more than a mind."
"I don't care!" the Collector shouted, waving his arms around in a childish manner. "You're a big meanie! Give King back right now!"
He grabbed at the air and yanked. Bill jerked forward for a moment, but then let out a chuckle. "Yeah, nice try, squirt, but that's not going to work. For all intents and purposes, I am King, and he's me. You missed the details, but it basically comes down to this; King is no longer here."
"You said he was!"
"Eh, semantics. We're the same person, I'm just in the driver's seat, so to speak."
"No!" the Collector shouted. "You're not King! You're not King! You're a bad, bad guy who tried to hurt my friends!"
If Bill had a mouth, it was apparent that he would have broken out into a grin. "We could be friends. And when I bring my buddies, you can join my little entourage. You'd fit right in with my gang of weirdos. The Archivist who refused to grow up so his siblings kicked him out sure sounds like a welcome addition to my band of freaks. Come on, it'll be fun. A never-ending party. We can even stick it to your siblings. What do you say?"
The Collector glared at him. "I say heck no." He motioned at Gravity Falls. "Look at this. It doesn't look like fun at all. It looks awful."
"Oh, come on. I know you, Collector. You used to love creating chaos."
"Not like this. And even then, I didn't realize my games were hurting people. I never would have played that way if I realized I was. I don't want to hurt people. I just want to have fun and be friends with everyone."
Bill now cut his eye at him. "You sure are a real killjoy, you know that. It's no wonder your siblings tricked you into going away. But, fine then, if you're going to stand in my way, then I'll just have to get rid of you too."
A humorless smirk crossed the Collector's face. "You'll find it difficult to get rid of an immortal."
"Same to you, kid. But as we both learned in the past, unkillable does not mean unbeatable!"
He pulled back his fist and threw a punch. As his fist flew forward, it massively grew in size. The Collector's eyes widened in surprise, and he didn't even attempt to block. Bill's fist slammed into him, and the Collector went flying backwards, skidding across the ground, creating a deep groove.
Sitting up, he looked angrily up at Bill as the interdimensional being flew over him. The Collector flew up into the air and snapped his fingers. A bolt of lightning struck Bill. Outside of the shock it gave him, he appeared to be unharmed, if annoyed. He suddenly sprouted numerous arms and flew at the Collector and began raining punches against him. The Collector held up his arms to block, the blows striking so hard the shockwaves cracked the ground behind him.
As Bill repeatedly punched him, the Collector snapped his fingers. Down from the sky, a shower of stars came raining down on Bill. He was brought crashing to the ground, but the stars kept coming, and the Collector simply hovered over the area, watching as they came down and piled up on the interdimensional being.
It didn't take long though before there was an explosion, and a pillar of fire rose up. The force of the blast knocked the Collector back, and Bill emerged from it. The fire kept coming and began to fill the sky, completely igniting it.
"You want to play with fire?" Bill asked, holding out his arms. "Then prepare to get burned."
He motioned downward and large balls of fire began raining down from the sky. A nervous look crossed the Collector's face as he began flying about, avoiding the balls of fire. Bill laughed as he watched the young Archivist wildly fly around. But then the Collector flung out his hands and ropes of light flew out of his palms. He used them to lasso several fireballs, then swung them around before launching them at Bill.
The interdimensional being teleported out of the way, grumbling in annoyance. "Guess you're not a dodgeball fan."
"How about a game of Hungry, Hungry Hippos instead?" the Collector suggested.
He snapped his fingers and the giant head of a pink hippo burst from the ground on an extendable neck, mouth open. Its jaws closed over Bill, swallowing him in one gulp. But a few moments later, the hippo's eyes widened before its head exploded in a shower of confetti, revealing Bill to be unharmed.
"I'm more into party games," he remarked, and snapped his fingers.
The confetti all swarmed together to form a giant piñata bull. It charged at the Collector, running on air. As it came at him though, the Collector held out his hand and a giant bat, several thousand times too big for him, appeared.
"I like this game," the Collector told him. "Batter up!"
He swung the bat, smashing the piñata open, and giant pieces of candy went flying, most of them even bigger than cars, and they came crashing down on the town. The Collector held out his hand, and the giant pieces of candy began circling around him in the air.
"Sharing is caring," he said, and flung the giant pieces of candy at Bill.
The interdimensional being just sighed and held up his hand, freezing the giant candy in place. "Not much of an imagination on you, huh, kid?"
"I do too!" the Collector shouted. "Watch this."
He snapped his fingers, and suddenly transformed to become large and muscular. He was dressed in a gorilla suit with only his face visible, and was holding two large barrels. He then flung one barrel at Bill, then the other, then began creating more barrels out of thin air that he proceeded to throw at the interdimensional being.
Bill dodged the first few barrels, but then began punching and kicking those that came at him, shattering them on impact. "If we're going to play monkey games, then let's go all out."
He snapped his fingers and a sludge hammer appeared in the air. Bill snatched it up, and when he did so, blue overalls and a red shirt appeared on him. As the Collector tossed more barrels at him, Bill smashed them apart with his hammer before throwing it straight up at the Collector. It broke through the barrel the Collector threw at him before hitting the young Archivist in the head, knocking him out of the sky, and the Collector crashed to the ground, his gorilla suit and bulky muscles disappearing.
Bill laughed and snapped his fingers again, and his clothes disappeared. "Looks like that game's not for you. How about a classic?"
With another snap of his fingers, a giant Tetris piece appeared in the sky and dropped down. The Collector sat up, now back to normal, rubbing his head. He looked up just in time to see the giant Tetris piece coming down at him. He held up his hands, catching it, but more kept coming. Dozens and dozens of different pieces dropped down, clicking not place and piling up on top of him more and more until, finally, he collapsed under the weight of them all, and was flattened beneath them.
"Oh, darn," Bill muttered in false disappointment. "I should have told him that there's actually no way to win that game."
But then he was caught off guard as the pile of Tetris pieces burst apart and the Collector as a giant head came at him, chomping his way up towards Bill, crunching the falling Tetris pieces in his jaws as he flew upward. Bill pulled back in surprise, but once again found himself getting chomped down on. This time though, he punched his way out, knocking out one of the Collector's giant teeth and flying out of the gap he created.
The Collector turned back to normal with tears in his eyes and opened his mouth, rubbing the spot his missing tooth was with his tongue before suddenly growing a new one. Wiping his mouth, he looked up at Bill with a glare.
"Fine then," he growled, "how about a nice game of chess?"
He snapped his fingers. From up above, giant chess pieces began falling from the sky above Bill. The interdimensional being glanced up at them before casually moving out of their path without even looking, and the pieces crashed to the ground around him.
"You call that playing chess?" he asked mockingly. "Let me show you how to make chess fun." He clapped his hands together. "Company, charge!"
At his clap, the chess pieces came to life, becoming monstrous versions of themselves. Bill pointed at the Collector, and the chess monsters all flew up at him. The Collector looked worried for a moment, but then smiled. He tossed several crescent moon-shaped stickers that attached themselves to the monsters, and they instantly turned to puppet.
Still smirking, the Collector now pointed at Bill. "Seize the bad man!"
The puppets instantly turned on Bill, surrounding him in midair on all sides. The interdimensional being looked at them with a look of outrage. "Oh, you traitors!"
"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," the Collector told him, and threw a crescent moon sticker. It stuck to Bill's top hat, and he instantly turned into a puppet. The Collector waved the other puppets away as he approached the now puppet Bill. "See, it's not fun being someone else's toy, is it?"
Suddenly, a laser shot out of Bill's eye. It struck the Collector and he instantly turned to stone and dropped from the sky. Bill then reached up and peeled the sticker off, and he turned back to normal.
"About as much fun as being part of someone's rock collection," he replied in a snarky tone.
Down on the ground, the broken pieces of the Collector statue lay dormant for a few seconds, but then the statue came back together and reformed. A moment later, the Collector returned to normal. As Bill flew down to him, he looked up at the interdimensional being worriedly.
"Give up yet?" Bill asked. "Because I'm not even warmed up yet."
Anger twisted the Collector's face. "Ok, no more fooling around."
He stood up and began growing in size. He kept growing, becoming bigger and bigger until he stood over five hundred feet in size. Bill looked up at him unconcerned as the Collector looked down at him.
"Wow, attack on Collector," Bill mocked as the young Archivist lifted his foot to stomp down on him. "But fine then, if we're pulling out the big guns."
Then he too began grow in size. As the Collector's foot came down, Bill held up his hand and caught it, then shoved him back, and the Collector toppled over. Bill continued to grow until he was just as big as the young Archivist, who looked up at Bill nervously.
"What's wrong, kid?" he asked tauntingly. "I thought you wanted to fight." He snapped his fingers and health gages appeared over both their heads, then he held up his fists. "Well, bring it on!"
The Collector continued to look up at him nervously, but then his expression became determine, and he hopped to his feet. He charged at Bill and threw a punch, but the interdimensional being blocked with a single finger. The Collector threw several more punches, only to have Bill finger-block them as well.
After one punch attempt, Bill teleported behind the Collector, then reached out and pushed him to the ground. While he was down, Bill grabbed him by the ankle, swung him over his head, and slammed him to the ground.
All of Gravity Falls rumbled from the impact of the Collector hitting the ground, and up in the air, his health gage decreased. The Collector looked up at Bill before kicking him. Bill stumbled back from the blow, his own health gage decreasing, and the Collector jumped up and lunged at him, throwing another punch. However, Bill recovered from the kick and caught the Collector's fist before the blow could land.
"Come on, kid," Bill mocked as the Collector struggled to pull his hand back. "I thought you were supposed to be super strong."
A frustrated growl escaped the Collector, but then he snorted loudly and hocked a loogie right into Bill's eye. The interdimensional being cried out as he released the Collector's hand and began rubbing at his eye.
"Did you just spit in my face!?" he demanded angrily.
The Collector didn't reply and instead delivered a punch that knocked Bill back. He kept at him, throwing punch after punch, each one causing the interdimensional being's health gage to lower more and more. Eventually though, Bill caught his fist again, and when he opened his eye, he fired a beam that blasted the Collector back. The young Archivist hit the ground and skidded through the woods, coming a little too close to the group of humans and witches, who recoiled from the Collector's massive form landing so close.
Bill flew at the Collector, his fist extended, as if to throw a flying punch. The Collector sat up though and snapped his fingers. Hundreds of trees suddenly uprooted themselves from the woods and floated over to the Collector. He motioned towards Bill, and the trees all turned so they now floated vertically before launching at the interdimensional being.
Bill halted his momentum as the trees came at him. He held up his arms as they peppered against him, shattering to splinter upon impact. They kept coming, spraying against him like bullets from a machine gun, and wherever trees were pulled up from the ground, new, fully-grown one instantly sprouted in their place.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch!" Bill exclaimed as he was showered by the trees. "Quit it, that's a cheap move! I said stop it!"
He swiped his hand and the town's water tower tore itself free and flew through the air. It smashed against the back of the Collector's head, sending water flying everywhere, and the Collector toppled over, his tree attack ceasing. Bill teleported next to him and kicked out, his foot slamming into the Collector's side and sending him flying. The Collector recovered quickly though and landed on his feet.
"Not bad, kid," Bill complimented. "I take my hat off you." He removed his hat, offering the young Archivist a small bow. "But only so I can do this!"
He held out his hat so the opening was pointed at the Collector. As if it were a cannon, it launched a ball of blue fire at the young Archivist. A surprised, worried look crossed the Collector's face and he dove out of the way, and the blue fireball exploded where it hit. Bill just laughed and began firing some more. The Collector ran along, dodging the fireballs launched at him.
One came a little too close, and the Collector skidded to a halt, allowing the fireball to just barely pass him. Bill fired another, only there was no time for the Collector to dodge. He instead held out his hands, catching the flaming blue ball as it pushed against him. And as the Collector struggled to hold it back, Bill fired another one.
It appeared this was a bluff though on the Collector's part, as the moment Bill fired, the Collector smirked. He flung the fireball he held up and away, then spun around to do a spinning kick, kicking the newly fired fireball back at him. It flew towards Bill, flying into the opening of his hat. His eye widened and his gaze went down to it.
"Uh oh," he muttered.
There was a large explosion that sent Bill flying. The Collector cheered, throwing his hands in the air and jumping up and down, obliviously causing the ground to shake each time he jumped. "Whoo-hoo! Score!"
Bill sat up, looking annoyed. But then he teleported, appearing right in front of the Collector, fully intact and unharmed. The Collector took a step back at Bill's sudden appearance in front of him. But then the interdimensional being duplicated himself, creating five copies of himself that circled around the Collector, surrounding him on all sides. All six Bills then sprouted multiple arms, and then began raining punches against him.
The six Bills laughed as they proceeded to throw punches. The Collector jerked about as punches struck him everywhere from every direction. He was given no time to block or counter, so instead, he suddenly shrank back down to his normal size to avoid the flying punches. He then teleported a distance away at a giant size once more. Only now he held a laser gun that he took aim at one of the Bills with.
"Laser tag!" he cried.
He began firing, aiming for the Bills' eyes. Each Bill that was struck covered their eye and disappeared until only one remained, and he rubbed his eye furiously. "Hey, what is wrong with you? Don't you know you're not supposed to aim for people's eyes with that thing?"
The Collector just glared at him. "You hurt my friends. You took King from me. I'm not playing by the rules with you."
He fired again, but a hand mirror suddenly appeared in Bill's hand, deflecting the laser beam. Several more mirrors appeared in the air, bouncing the laser off each other until it struck the Collector in the face, causing him to cry out and drop his laser gun, and then he was the one rubbing his eyes.
"Get over here!" Bill shouted, and his arm stretched far out, grabbed the Collector by the neck, pulled him over, and lifted him into the air. "If you don't want to play by the rules, that's fine. Let's turn up the heat."
He pulled back his fist, and it became engulfed by a blue flame. He then threw a punch, hitting the Collector right in the face. The Collector went flying backwards, tumbling head over heels before skidding to a halt. He was then lifted up into the air by an unseen force and Bill appeared in front of him.
"Shoryuken!" Bill declared, and delivered a powerful uppercut that sent the Collector flying up in the air. "Toasty!"
The Collector eventually came crashing back down with an impact that made the ground shake for miles. Clutching his jaw where he was punched, he curled up into a ball and let out a pained moan as Bill floated over to him.
"I may have gotten my franchises mixed up there," the interdimensional being commented, "but the classics are still the classics." He then looked up to see that the Collector's health gage had reached zero, and when he glanced back at the young Archivist, it was apparent that if he had a mouth that he would be smirking. "Well, look at that. Seems your health meter has run out. You know what that means. Time to finish you."
He rose up into the air. The Collector uncurled from his fetal position and scooted back nervously. Bill's colors had turned to his inverted red state as his voice distorted and grew deep, and he held his hands up in the air, no doubt to unleash a horrible attack.
But then, much to the Collector's bafflement, Bill drew a rainbow above himself with his hands. "Friendship," he said, his colors and voice returning to normal.
He hovered there with the rainbow over his head for a few seconds before grasping the ends of it and began using it like a jump rope in the air. The Collector just continued to stare at him in confusion as Bill cheerfully laughed.
But then Bill stopped jumping and the rainbow disappeared. "No, wait, why would I pick that finisher? I prefer Fatality!" A golden aura appeared around him and he then cupped his hands together before pulling them into his side, and a ball of energy appeared in his palms. "Cliché anime attack!"
He shoved his hands forward, and the ball of energy erupted into a powerful beam. The Collector's eyes widened and he held up his hand. A series of stars flew out of his palm, but Bill's attack blasted straight through them. A moment later, the Collector cried out as Bill's attack struck, and the light from the blast was seen all throughout Gravity Falls.
(A/N: As you can probably tell, I had some real fun with this chapter in having Bill and the Collector fight each other. Props to those who caught all the references. But as powerful as the Collector is, he's still out of Bill's league. He may be able to provide him with a challenge, but Bill is eventually going to come out on top between the two of them. And it looks like their fight is just about over. Has our heroes' last hope failed? Who can defeat Bill now? What's going to happen next? Stay tuned for more.)