It was the morning after the town of Royal Woods had become a war zone as Lincoln found himself waking up rather early this morning. Before getting ready, he decided to go downstairs and check on Birddaughter, who had been sleeping on the couch last night. By the looks of things, it seemed that she would be staying with the Louds until Rick restored Birdperson to his former self. Though he wasn't sure when Rick discussed this with his parents considering how shaken up they were by what happened yesterday.
When Lincoln got downstairs, he noticed Birddaughter was already awake, watching TV. She happened to be watching a news report on what happened yesterday. Lincoln couldn't help but grimace. The army of Meeseeks had done a good job of preventing a lot of casualties. But that didn't mean there weren't any casualties. It was somewhat surreal to see what he and his siblings did be covered by the news. He had a feeling his family would have had a lot of reporters and journalists at his house if it wasn't for Rick. The events of the previous day was a lot to take in, especially with the extra news on how Birdperson was still alive, that he, Squanchy and the Vindicators had been brainwashed but were now free and also that Lola apparently still had demon powers that she wanted to control.
As he was lost in thought, he then noticed Birddaughter was giving a piercing look. He tried to give her a friendly smile. "O-Oh, good morning. Uh, how are you doing?"
Birddaughter seemed rather confused by this question. "How am I...doing?"
"Umm..." Lincoln didn't know how to respond to this. Considering Lynn had volunteered to help Birddaughter adjust to life on Earth after having spent all of her life in prison, he had a feeling she had her work cut out her.
...
"You're leaving now?" Lori asked Wilbur as he and the rest of the Defiance were preparing to leave. She decided to see them off though not before asking some questions that had been on Lori's mind. The team had spent the night in their ship outside of the Loud House. Lori also noticed that Risotto Groupon and Krombopulos Amy were also helping out inside the ship as it appeared that they were leaving with them.
"Not exactly much reason for me to stay." Wilbur replied. "And even though the Federation are gone, there's a still a few issues with Gromflom Prime that we want to take care of."
"I thought that since you're back on Earth, you'd..."
Wilbur let out a small chuckle. "There's nothing here for me anymore. I wasn't lying about what I said yesterday. Getting sent through that portal was the best thing that ever happened to me. I wasn't happy here on Earth. All I did was live my life the way it was expected of me. Out there, I can live the life I've always dreamed of having." He then let out an embarrassed chuckle. "Ah, sorry for rambling like that. It's probably best to leave now. I don't want to end up bothering your family any further." With a small wave, Wilbur then went into his ship.
As Lori watched the ship set off and fly away, she couldn't deny that a part of her felt envious. She suddenly remembered something that Carol had told her while under the influence of the infinity ball. About no longer appealing to society's standards. About how freeing that was. Considering how much she and Carol already had in common, she wondered if she'd have felt any different were it her that touched one of those orbs.
She found herself reconsidering Rick's deal. She thought that once the stuff with the Galactic Federation was over, she'd have gotten over this idea. And sure, Tammy was still out there but Rick had assured her that there was no way the Federation could possibly come back from this. And yet she was still curious. To see the universe through Rick's eyes. The clone idea was still stupid to her. There were tons of ways she could see that going wrong. Doing what Lynn did and just going out there with no preparation didn't exactly seem like an appealing option either. However, she did have one other option.
Before she decided on something like this though, there was still one piece of unfinished business to take care of.
...
"You sure about this?" Rick asked, as he was currently on the phone with someone. "I mean, I'm not judging or anything, you can squanch where you want so..." Rick trailed off as he noticed Lori had entered the garage with a serious looking expression. "Uh, I-I'll call you back." He hung up his phone. "You look like you've got something big and shocking to show me as if we haven't dealt with enough crazy twists recently."
Wordlessly, Lori handed Rick a note that had been crumpled up. After reading it, Rick let out a groan as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fuck, how long have you had this?"
"Since that incident with the Federation and the Citadel." Lori responded.
Rick shrugged. "So what, after hiding this all this time, you want to go back to them now? Is that why you're showing me this? Y-Y-You do realise what a terrible idea that is, right?"
"I know." Lori replied. "I...I just want to see if they're okay."
Rick sighed. "You know, whatever issues you're having right now, the-this isn't gonna help. You already have your parents and Lily here. They're the same people. There's no reason to keep another version of them on your mind."
Lori huffed. "I just want to see if they're alright. I know you're not exactly wrong about any of that but..."
Rick sighed. He had a feeling Lori wasn't going to let this go. Might as well help her get some closure. "Alright, fine. We'll go. Just...don't do anything stupid or irrational when you see them again."
Lori nodded. "Deal."
Rick looked at the note again. "Right, so they're in Mewni...that being our old universe's version of Mewni. Not this one's."
Lori shrugged. "I guess."
"Right..." Rick then got out his portal gun and fired a portal.
...
Ronnie Anne was at the hospital with both Arturo and Maria, whose spa trip was cut short due to the previous day's invasion. After what happened with Squanchy, Artuto practically demanded that they get to the bottom of Ronnie Anne's unusual strength. They were currently starting in bewilderment at an x-ray scan of Ronnie Anne's body. "W-What is all this?" Artuto muttered quietly.
"There's so much metal..." Maria stated before turning to Ronnie Anne with a look of concern. "Mija, do you have any idea what this is? Does this have anything to do with that Rick Sanchez man?"
"I-I don't know." A worried Ronnie Anne replied. The idea that Rick had done something to her body made a few incidents in the past year suddenly make sense. But why would Rick do something like this to her in the first place?
For some reason, she couldn't help but think about Anatomy park. That theme park that she was mysteriously banned from despite never going there. Why would she not be allowed in a place like that unless...
Artuto took a deep breath before giving Maria a stern look. "Maria, how could you let this happen!"
Maria was startled by Arturo's sudden anger. "W-What?"
"How could you let some strange scientist mess with our daughter like this? How did you not notice anything was wrong until now?!"
"HOW DARE YOU!" Hector suddenly shouted as he barged into the doctor's office. The rest of the Casagrandes had come to the hospital too out of worry though while most of them were in the waiting room, Hector had been listening in.
It was Arturo's turn to be started. "H-Hector, I-"
"NO!" Hector stomped towards Arturo, pointing an accusatory finger towards him. "You do NOT get to criticise Maria's parenting after being absent from Bobby and Ronnie Anne's lives!"
"It's not like that!" Arturo shot back. "I made a commitment to the people of Peru! I am needed there!"
"Oh, but your family doesn't need you?" Hector retorted. "So while you leave Maria here, struggling financially while raising two kids, you get to be in Peru where you get to star as an extra on Adios Ana, Adios. How altruistic of you!" Ronnie Anne could only stare in shock at what was happening. She had never seen her family argue like this before.
"Wha-but-I-" Artuto stammered
"Hector, that is enough!" Rosa shouted as she too barged in.
Hector huffed as he folded his arms. "What? You know I'm right!"
"Right or wrong, is this really an appropriate time to be having this conversation?" Rosa gestured towards Ronnie Anne. At this, Hector's expression then softened.
Ronnie Anne frowned before making her way out of the room. "Mija, where are you going?" Maria asked.
"I'm going to get Rick to fix whatever this is." Ronnie Anne replied.
"Shouldn't we come with you?" Rosa asked before scowling. "I would like to have a few words with that man myself."
Ronnie Anne shook her head. "No. It's probably best to do this by myself." She then left the office. This statement was only half of the truth. She also wanted to just get away from her family for a little while.
...
Once again, Lori found herself in the Royal Woods from the previous universe. It was in no better shape than the last time she came here. She gave Rick a confused look. "Wait, why are we here? I thought we were going to Mewni?"
Rick looked somewhat embarrassed. "Uh, yeah, about that. I don't exactly have the coordinates of that dimension memorised."
Lori gave Rick an unimpressed look. "Seriously?"
Rick frowned. "Hey give me a break. Only reason I went there in the first place was because Lola randomly typed it in on my portal gun and I wasn't able to save it because Lola then wrecked my portal gun." He looked towards what was left of the Loud house. "I-It's been a while though, something might've been recorded in my subterranean lab so..." he trailed off as he noticed a note on the door. "What the? 'If you wish to come to Mewni, go to Echo Creek and find the well underneath Britta's Taco's'." Rick blinked upon finishing reading the note. "Well that definitely doesn't sound like a trap."
"You don't think we can trust it?" Lori asked.
Rick shrugged. "Not like we got any other leads." Though deep down, a part of Rick was hoping this was actually a trap.
...
Echo Creek wasn't in any better shape than Royal Woods was, with it being just as ruined and filled with overgrown plantation as the other town. Lori couldn't help but shudder whenever she passed by a rotting pile of flesh. She wondered what their lives were like before all of this happened. She shook her head. There wasn't any point in thinking like this. This wasn't her home.
She and Rick eventually found the restaurant from the note. It was a rather small and simple Mexican-themed restaurant with a red roof and white walls. There were a couple of tables outside with large umbrellas on them. Along with some overgrown plantation. Lori imagined this would have been a fun hang out spot before everything was ruined.
The two entered the restaurant and searched around until they entered the supply closet. In the middle of the room, there was a hole with a ladder going down it. Rick raised an eyebrow. "If this is a trap, then this is a really weird set up for it."
...
As the two descended down the ladder into what looked like an underground cavern, Lori decided to ask Rick a question that had been on her mind. "You know, I've kinda been wondering. What exactly is the difference between an alternate universe and another dimension?"
Rick was somewhat surprised to hear Lori ask something like this. "Well, I mean, by definition, alternate universes are technically other dimensions too. But if we're talking dimensions within a universe...well, alternate universes are completely separate from one another. With dimensions though, there's usually some kind of connection between them all."
"Really?" Lori asked, showing genuine interest.
"Y-Yeah, it can be a little complicated. Especially considering this isn't really a consistent thing across all universes. Each universe plays by its own rules."
Eventually, the two reached the bottom of the cavern. After looking around for a moment, Lori noticed some strange hieroglyphics which depicted unicorns and what looked like some people worshipping a God. "That's...weird."
"Yeah..." Rick said as he eyed the godlike figure at the top. His eyes then wandered over to a well with a lid on top of it. "What do we have here?" Rick said as he went over and lifted up the lid. The well was filled with a strange, golden liquid.
Lori gave the well an unsure look as she walked over to it. "We literally have to go into that, don't we?"
...
After Rick jumped in first and almost fell through it, Rick carried Lori with his rocket shoes down into the well and out of the rising waterfall of golden liquid as the two found themselves in a strange landscape that seemingly went on infinitely, filled with golden liquid that the two currently stood on as there didn't appear to be a floor as well as large, purple crystals sticking out from the liquid littered everywhere. Lori stared around in amazement at this otherworldly realm. "Whoa…is this what you meant by the dimensions being connected?"
Rick shrugged. "Well I didn't quite mean it that literally but still." With his interest piqued, Rick got out a small vial and scooped up some of the golden liquid before putting it away in his coat. "Kinda wild how I've never heard of this place before. Though, I suppose the question now is how does this place get us to where we need to go?"
Lori looked around at the other rising waterfalls scattered about. "Yeah, how exactly are we supposed to get to…to…" She blinked in confusion. "Wait, where are we going again?"
Rick gave her an odd look. "You forget already? We're going to…Mewni!" It concerned Rick that he had to take a moment to think about that.
"Why?" Lori asked. There was an odd look in her eyes.
Rick frowned. "Come on, Lori, it's so obvious why we're going. We're there to, um…ugh…" Lori then giggled, annoying Rick. "The fuck is so funny?"
"Why is your hair blue?" Lori asked, starting to sound out of it. "That's literally so weird."
Rick's eyes widened. "Oh fuck! This place is fucking with our minds. We've got to get out of here!" He got out his portal gun before looking at it in confusion. "Shit, how does this thing work again?" He was interrupted from this thought as a giggling Lori splashed some of the golden liquid at him. He couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "H-Hey, cut it out! Heh heh-NO!" Rick growled as he tried his hardest to concentrate. "I'm not letting this fucking piss realm control my mind. Only I get to control my thoughts! Just…gotta get to…Mewni."
As Lori began frolicking cheerfully, Rick struggled to stay in control of his mind. "Gotta get to Mewni. Gotta get to Mewni. Gotta get to Mewni." As Rick repeated this to himself, he could feel himself slipping away. As he slipped, he could swear he saw a unicorn in the distance coming towards them. "Gotta…get to…Mewni…"
...
"So, this is the kitchen...no, you can't just eat that...no it doesn't just go to whoever the strongest is..."
Lincoln could hear Lynn from the living room. While he was watching TV, Lynn was showing Birddaughter around the house. He then heard someone knocking on the door. With no one else available, he went to go answer, smiling at who was there. "Hey, Ronnie...Anne?" His smile disappeared when he saw the deep scowl on her face. "Is something wrong?"
"Where's Rick?" Ronnie Anne asked curtly.
"He went out. Why?"
"I want to know why there's a bunch of metal in my body!"
Lincoln's eyes widened. It was in that moment that he realised how stupid he was for trying to keep Anatomy park a secret all of this time. He should've known Ronnie Anne would've figured it out eventually. He gulped. He had no choice but to tell her now. "Alright. I'll tell you."
...
Ronnie Anne stared at Lincoln in shock. He had told her absolutely everything. About Anatomy park and how he found out about it. "You've known for this long and you never told me?!"
Lincoln's face was full of guilt and distraught. "I-I know, it's just..."
"JUST WHAT?" Ronnie Anne shouted, making Lincoln flinch.
"I was scared of how you would've reacted." Lincoln confessed.
"YOU were scared?! I had a bunch of strangers messing around in my body but YOU were scared of how I might've reacted?!"
"I-It's not like that. Rick promised me that you would be okay."
"Oh, so that suddenly makes this fine then?!"
Lincoln sighed. "No...it doesn't. I'm so sorry. I promise you, I'll get Rick to fix this."
"Yeah, you better!" With a huff, Ronnie Anne then stormed off.
Lincoln groaned as he slowly shut the door. Looks like he messed up once again. What a selfish coward he was.
He then heard someone knocking on the door again. He opened the door to this time see Darcy, who gave Lincoln a friendly wave. "Hi, Lisa's brother!"
Along with her was her mother, who was looking extremely distraught. "I want an explanation! Now!" Lincoln could only groan again in response.
...
Rick and Lori groaned as they regained consciousness. "Rrgh. What the fuck happened?" Rick grumbled.
Lori opened her eyes to see that she and Rick were on a hill nearby a medieval looking village surrounded by a moat. There was a rather large castle in it. "Is this Mewni?" Lori asked.
"Pretty much?" Rick replied as he got up.
"So this is like a medieval dimension?"
Rick shrugged. "Maybe? I-I dunno how far technology advanced here. I could swear I saw some people with like, weird looking phone devices that kinda looked like compact mirrors last time I was here."
...
Rather than search for their family aimlessly, Rick opted to ask the Royal family as they had brought them there in the first place. After managing to get an audience with the queen and king, the two entered the throne room. Lori actually recognised the queen and king as she remembered seeing them when looking at those alternate universes through interdimensional cable. The queen had pale blue hair in a big, heart-shaped updo and wore a light blue, periwinkle, and white gown with its skirt somewhat resembling the shape of a heart. She also had pink coloured diamonds on her cheeks. The king was a much shorter man with a thick, blond moustache and beard. He wore a blue ruffled coat and a crown that covered up his bald head. "State your business." Queen Moon demanded in a rather haughty tone.
Rick cleared his throat. "Hey, so name's Rick. I'm from Earth. I heard you brought my family after th-our dimension kinda went through the apocalypse. So, uh, just wondering if that's true."
"Rick? As in Rick Sanchez?" Queen Moon asked, recognising the name.
"Yep. That's me."
Queen Moon gave them a suspicious look. "Hmm. Strange. Your family claimed that we would likely never see you here."
Rick let out an awkward chuckle. "Let-Let's just say things got pretty complicated. Wait, so you did actually bring them here?"
Queen Moon gave Rick a rather unsure look. "Perhaps we should summon Star to check that this is the real deal." King River suggested.
Queen Moon nodded. "Good idea."
Rick and Lori waited for a while until Star entered the throne room. It had been a while since Rick had last saw her but she looked a lot different than how he remembered. She was wearing a rather proper princess outfit, had a rather unsettling grin on her face and had a far away look in her eyes. "Hello mother. How may I be of service." She spoke in a polite yet almost emotionless tone. Rick couldn't help but feel a little unsettled.
"Star, do you recognise this man?" Queen Moon asked her.
Star turned towards Rick. Upon seeing him, her eye twitched for a moment before she went back to normal. "Yes. That is Rick Sanchez. He was...Lola's grandfather."
Queen Moon nodded. "I see." She turned to Rick. "So it is you then."
Rick was struggling to hide how disturbed he was by this. "Uh, what happened since I last came here?"
Queen Moon shrugged. "I suppose we may as well tell you since it relates to your family. I imagine when you first met Princess Star, she came across as rather...reckless and irresponsible. Our idea to fix this was to send her to Earth where she could learn to use her powers safely." Her expression soured. "But when we arrived on Earth...well I suppose you could imagine how that wouldn't work."
King River shivered. "It was awful! The whole time I was there, it felt like there was something crawling in my skin. And for some bizarre reason, I kept thinking about someone named Luna!" Queen Moon nodded as if having experienced the same thing.
"You don't say..." Rick said as he gave the royal couple an odd look.
"I shudder to imagine what could've caused Earth to be in such a desolate state. Frankly, I don't think I even want to know." Queen admitted. "Despite the state of your world, Star wanted to see if her friend, Lola and the rest of your family were okay. For her sake we decided to go where you lived and found what may have possibly been the last four humans on Earth. And we obviously couldn't just leave them there." She sighed. "Though since our plan with Earth wouldn't work out, we had little choice but to send Star to St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses." She then smiled. "I must say though, it's done wonders for her manners. Wouldn't you agree, dear?" She asked King River
"Indeed..." King River replied, though his unsure expression as he glanced over at Star said otherwise.
Queen Moon turned back to Rick. "So yes, your family have been living in Mewni ever since. In fact, they've been living here in the Butterfly Kingdom. Would you like an escort to bring you over to them?"
"No." Lori quickly replied. "We'll find them ourselves."
Queen Moon shrugged. "As you wish."
...
"Well that was fucking weird." Rick remarked as he and Lori left Butterfly Castle. "You know, you've pretty much already got confirmation that they're alright. Don't you think it would be best to leave it at that?"
Lori shook her head. "I need to see them for myself." She then walked on ahead.
Rick rolled his eyes. Before he was able to follow after her though, a strange figure floated down in front of him. A small, dark blue humanoid that almost resembled a genie. He had twelve fingers, a white beard, a long nose, a magenta gem embedded in his forehead and wore a yellow tunic. "Hello!" He greeted enthusiastically.
Rick blinked in confusion. "Uh...can I help you?"
Glossaryck held his chin in thought. "Hmm. I don't know. Can you help me?"
Rick scowled. "Yeah, really not in the mood for cryptic bullshit right now, bud."
"Apologies. I'm just happy you found my note is all."
"You wrote that?"
Glossaryck nodded. "Mmmhmm. I just had to meet the man who changed the course of this world's destiny."
"Uh, what do you mean by that?"
"Oh you'll understand soon enough." He stuck out both of his index fingers and slowly brought them together. "When your dimensions are cleaved."
"The hell is that supposed to mean? Hey, wait!" Glossaryck ignored Rick's question as he floated up and away. Rick frowned. He could've sworn he'd seen that guy somewhere before. He then decided this wasn't worth spending time thinking about as he went after Lori.
...
Luckily for the Loud family, the issue with Darcy's mother was quickly resolved by Lisa who, after running a few tests, explained that Darcy would be fine and wouldn't be under any risks from her newfound powers. While not completely satisfied, as she was hoping these powers could be removed somehow, it was enough to placate Darcy's mother.
Meanwhile, Lynn had finished showing Birddaughter around the house as the two were currently walking upstairs. "Ok, I think it's about time we get you out of those prison rags and into something nicer." Lynn said, pointing at Birddaughter's prison outfit.
Birddaughter glanced down at her clothes. "That's a thing that matters?"
Lynn shrugged. "Kinda? I don't really know much about fashion so maybe Leni can help you out with that."
"But why?"
"I guess so you can look how you wanna look."
As the two reached the top of the stairs, at the same time, Lucy left her room. Birddaughter stopped to stare at her, causing Lucy to pause too. "Uh...is something wrong?" Lucy asked, trying to hide her nervousness.
Birddaughter turned to Lynn as she pointed at Lucy. "I wanna look like her!"
...
Lucy, pleased to be able to give someone her own gothic makeover, stood back as she admired her work. Birddaughter was now wearing a black tank top, black and white sleeves that matched Lucy's, a black collar and grey, ripped jeans. Her hair had also been dyed black. "Not bad." Lucy remarked.
Birddaughter then went over to look at herself in the mirror. After a moment of staring at herself, she nodded in approval. "This'll work."
Lynn sighed. "Probably should've seen this coming."
The three then heard groaning coming over from Lincoln's room. "Sigh. I better go check up on him." Lucy said before leaving the room.
...
Lucy entered Lincoln's room to find Lincoln lying on his bed, his face buried in his pillow. "Do you wanna talk?" Lucy asked.
"I'm such an idiot." Lincoln bemoaned, his voice slightly muffled. "I should've told Ronnie Anne about that stupid park the moment I learned about it!"
Lucy glanced away for a moment before turning back to Lincoln. "Well...you're not exactly wrong. You probably should have told Ronnie Anne about that park a long time ago."
Lincoln sat up. "That's not exactly helping."
Lucy shrugged. "It's just the truth."
Lincoln groaned. "Well, so much for not being as selfish as I thought I was."
"You're not." Lucy argued. "Well, at least no more than the rest of us. No one's perfect. And no one fixes their issues instantly." Lucy started to look downcast. "I thought I had all my issues figured out a while back. And all it took was the opportunity to be club president for me to feel insecure again. We're always gonna keep making mistakes. What's important is that we fix them."
Lincoln started to look uncomfortable. "I've made some pretty bad mistakes before."
"You've always found a way to fix them. But I think your issue here is that you tend to try to avoid your problems. Especially if it might involve a confrontation." Lincoln couldn't argue with Lucy there. Whenever he thought about telling the truth about Anatomy park, it wasn't just Ronnie Anne's reaction that worried him but Rick's too which caused him to try and avoid the issue. "You've also kinda let your mistakes get to you too much."
"It's just..." Lincoln sighed, deciding he didn't want to bring up the true source of his feelings of guilt. "No, you're right. I do have a habit of avoiding this stuff." He stood up with a look of determination on his face. "When Rick gets back, I'm telling him he needs to get that park out of Ronnie Anne. And I'm not taking no for answer."
Lucy nodded. Before she was about to leave the room, Lincoln remarked. "You know, you're pretty mature for your age."
Lucy thought about that remark. "I don't think I'm that mature. I just have a way with words."
Lucy then left, leaving Lincoln with his thoughts. She did have a point about him avoiding confrontations, remembering what happened with Lynn.
There's also Lana...
...now wasn't the right time. He just needed the right moment.
...
As Rick and Lori walked through the streets of the Butterfly kingdom, Rick couldn't help but grumble about Lori's determination to see her original parents. "I just don't see what you're getting out of this? Do you think seeing them will inspire you to find a way to go back to how things were? Because there isn't any way."
Lori grunted in annoyance. "Of course I know that." She wouldn't have hid that note if she thought there was a chance things could go back to the way they were. Moving here in Mewni would mean leaving everyone else they knew in Royal Woods behind. There's no way she could get her original parents to move to their universe, considering how that'd complicate things with her current parents. Moving to a new universe would mean leaving behind another universe, which she knew her siblings wouldn't be able to handle again. Especially Luna. No matter how she looked at, there's no way her original parents could come back into her family's lives. And even if her siblings all agreed that it couldn't happen, there's no reason to burden them with this knowledge. That's why she decided to hide that note.
Even if it made her feel like a complete scumbag.
"Then why are you so determined to see them?"
"Because I want to see if you're right!" Lori confessed, giving Rick pause. "You said it doesn't matter. That they're just the same as the parents we live with now. I want to see if that's true."
Rick's expression was unreadable. "...ok. And what answer are you hoping to get?"
"I don't know." Lori wrapped her arms to hug herself. "To be honest, a part of me still feels like an imposter. Like I don't belong. I've even thought about...if things between me and Bobby could really work like this."
"Damn, is that why you've barely been texting him lately? Look, I know Luna told her girlfriend everything but you're really not obligated to do the same. This situation isn't your fault."
"Isn't it wrong to hide things from someone you love?"
"You don't have to tell your partner literally every detail of your life. Only thing that'd happen if you told him is that it'd hurt you both."
Lori pondered on that. Considered the situation, it was hard to tell if Rick was right or wrong about that.
As the two were talking, neither seemed to have noticed that they had wondered into an empty alleyway. "Excuse me." Both of them paused upon hearing a voice.
A figure then emerged from the shadows. Funnily enough, it was someone else Rick and Lori recognised from watching interdimensional cable. He was a humanoid, lizard monster with greyish blue skin. He had slicked-back dark purple hair and wore a black suit with a red tie. He had a completely stoic expression as he approached Rick with his hands clasped behind his back. "You're Rick Sanchez, aren't you?"
Rick was immediately suspicious of him. "And how do you know that?"
"I've heard all about you. Smartest man in the universe. The name's Toffee. A pleasure to meet you." Toffee raised a hand for Rick to shake. His hand appeared to be missing one of his fingers. Upon noticing Rick give him an odd look, he retracted his hand. "Am I being too forward? Apologies then. I noticed you recently had a meeting with the king and queen. Rather disturbing what they did to their daughter, isn't it?"
Rick shrugged. "I guess."
"It isn't the worst thing the Butterfly family have done though. Throughout history, the Butterfly family have used their magic to oppress monsterkind. That's why I want to destroy the magic. So how about we make a deal. If you can get me Star Butterfly's wand, perhaps I can do you a favour in return?"
As tempting as it was to help fuck over a monarchy, Rick could just tell that this guy wasn't trustworthy in the slightest. And him talking about getting the wand set off some alarm bells. He remembered from when he watched interdimensional cable that this guy was working with that frog monster that stole his meeseeks box. The army of meeseeks he dealt with last time he was here were also ordered to get that wand. Rick scowled at Toffee. "Yeah, you clearly haven't heard enough about me. The smartest man in the universe doesn't exactly need any favours from anyone."
If Toffee had any reaction to this, he didn't show it. "I see. Well then, I apologise that it had to come to this."
"Ah!" Rick turned around to see that he was surrounded by a group of monsters. One of them had grabbed Lori and currently had a knife to her throat. Rick recognised this group of monsters from interdimensional cable too though the frog monster and the kappa monster were nowhere to be seen.
Rick turned back to Toffee, enraged. "You smarmy asshole!"
Toffee's expression suddenly changed into a psychotic grin. "Surprise!" Just as quickly, he went back to a deadpan expression. "I'm afraid I can't let an opportunity like this slip by."
...
Ronnie Anne entered the Casagrande's apartment, having simmered down on the walk home. Upon entering, it appeared that she had come back in the middle of a discussion between Maria, Arturo, Hector, Rosa, Carlos and Frida. Maria stood up. "Ronnie Anne, did you...sort things out?"
Ronnie Anne sighed as she thought about how she handled this situation. Now that she calmed down, she was starting to feel rather guilty about it. "Yeah...Lincoln said he was going to get Rick to fix this. He wasn't there when I came over."
Maria let out a disappointed sigh. Frida tried to put a positive spin on this. "At least we're making progress."
Rosa scowled. "I will definitely be paying that man a visit later."
Arturo then stood up and walked over to Ronnie Anne. He knelt down and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Mija, we need to talk." Before he could begin, he heard someone knock on the door. "Now who could that be?" He got up and went over to answer it.
To his surprise, it was Squanchy at the door. "Hey, how the squanch are you doing?" He asked cheerfully.
Arturo stared at him in confusion. "Um..."
"Hey don't squanch about it. Just thought I'd come over and apologise for yesterday. Wasn't exactly in my right squanch."
"O-Oh don't worry about it. You were...brainwashed by an evil federation right?" Arturo said, feeling extremely weird saying this stuff aloud.
"Yeah. Just thought we should be on good terms since we'll be neighbours from now on."
Arturo blinked in surprise. "W-Wait, what?"
"Yeah. I've always been curious about Earth. Though Rick said this planet wasn't 'alien friendly' but I've heard a bunch of aliens have been moving in recently. So I've decided I'm gonna squanch here for a while."
"Oh...well...congratulations?"
Squanchy nodded before heading off. "Squanch you later!"
Arturo closed the door. "That was weird. Now where were we." Before he could go back on topic, someone knocked on the door again. He sighed in annoyance as he went to answer it. "Now who is it?"
This time when Artuto opened the door, he was met with Crocubot, along with Noob-Noob, who was carrying some luggage. "Greetings, it is I, Crocubot of the Vindicators." Crocubot paused as if expecting some kind of reaction.
Arturo just stared in confusion. "The what now?"
"...do people on this planet not know of the Vindicators?" Artuto slowly shook his head. "I see. We have experienced some unfortunate incidents in the past. Me and my sidekick here have decided to stay here on Earth for a while as we consider what direction the Vindicators should go in moving forward."
"I'm not your sidekick." Noob-Noob weakly argued.
Crocubot ignored Noob-Noob. "Which is why I felt the need to introduce myself as we will now be neighbours."
"Oh...well...good luck with...whatever it is you're doing." Arturo then closed the door. "When did Royal Woods become so bizarre?"
Frida waved her hand dismissively. "You get used to them after a while."
Rosa smiled. "I should invite those boys to dinner sometime."
With that out of the way, Arturo went back to speaking with Ronnie Anne. "First of all, I apologise for what you saw earlier. You didn't need to see that. Second of all, I've decided that I'm going to find a way to stay here."
Ronnie Anne's eyes widened. "Wait, what?"
"Considering how far you went to try and get me to stay, I realised that you and Bobby deserve to have your father in your lives. I'll be living here until I can find my own place."
While Ronnie Anne was happy, another part of her couldn't help but think about Peru and what her dad had done for the people there. She wondered if she was being selfish. "I-Is this okay? What about the people in Peru. Don't they need you? Is this really the right choice?"
Arturo sighed. "Sometimes, it's hard to tell what's truly the right or wrong choice. Sometimes there isn't an answer. But I've decided I'm going to do what's right for you and Bobby. Familia is important after all." He then wrapped his arms around Ronnie Anne in a hug.
As Ronnie Anne hugged her father back, she realised that she needed to give Lincoln a call.
...
Rick scowled angrily at Toffee. "You know, if you really knew anything about me, you'd know that threatening me is the worst mistake you'll ever make."
Toffee didn't seem afraid. "Considering that Princess Star spends her days holed up in her castle, I don't get any opportunities to get to her. Unfortunately, you're my only chance of getting that wand. So I'd suggest you comply."
Rick then turned to the monster holding Lori captive. "So what's your deal anyway? You some kind of three-eyed potato baby or something?"
Three-eyed potato baby seemed genuinely upset by this. "Hey, that's just mean!"
For a moment, the monster lowered his knife. It was all Lori needed. Just because she wasn't wearing her superhero outfit didn't mean she couldn't fight. She elbowed the monster, causing him to let go of her. She then turned around and punched him in the face, sending him to the floor.
What followed was pandemonium as Rick got out his laser gun and started firing, causing the rest of the monsters to scramble away in a panic. "You idiots!" Toffee shouted. "What did I train you all for?" He then realised Rick had his laser gun aimed at him. "Now hold on-" Rick, not letting him finish as he fired a hole through his chest.
However, this only caused Toffee to stumble back a moment as his chest regenerated. He smirked. "That's not going to work."
"Ok then." Rick then got out another laser gun and fired at him, this time causing Toffee to be vaporised into nothing. "Dick."
...
Meanwhile in another dimension, a crystal holding a queen from a time long past began to crack open.
...
"You okay?" Rick asked as he went over to Lori.
Lori sighed as she dusted herself off. "I'm fine."
"Alright then lets find your family before some other stupid distraction happens." As the two left, Rick couldn't help but wonder from where or who that guy had heard about him from.
...
Eventually, Rick found the house their old family was living in. He and Lori were currently a distance away from it, hiding behind a corner of another building. "Alright, well, moment of truth time." He handed her some binoculars.
After Lori took them, she took a deep breath and steeled herself as she looked into their house. She saw them. Her mother, father, grandfather and her baby sister. All of them were now wearing medieval clothing and were currently in the middle of having a meal. They seemed relatively happy.
It was strange though. She wasn't sure if it was because of the clothing they were wearing or the setting but seeing them here, they didn't feel like her parents. It was like seeing alternate versions of them again. She thought that upon seeing them, she would've bursted into tears and run over to see them. Instead, she felt nothing. This could only mean two things. Either that Rick was right that it truly didn't matter. Or that she truly was starting to think like Rick. At least she knew what she wanted to do for sure now.
"So, uh, you get the answer you want?" Rick asked as Lori lowered her binoculars.
"Yep." Lori replied as she then got out the note that she had been holding onto for so long. After staring at it for a moment, she proceeded to rip it into pieces. She realised now that there was nothing good that could come from her siblings seeing this version of her family again.
Even if this meant that she couldn't call herself a good person in any way.
...
Lincoln was sat on the couch, watching TV when his phone started ringing. He was surprised to see Ronnie Anne call him so soon after what happened. "Uh...hi, Ronnie Anne." He spoke in an unsure tone.
"Hey, Lincoln." Ronnie Anne replied just as awkwardly. "Listen, I'm sorry for snapping at you like that. Things have been kinda messy at home and I ended up taking that out on you. You didn't deserve that."
"No, you have every right to be angry." Lincoln argued. "I shouldn't have hid something like this from you. I should've told you a long time ago."
"It's not like I don't understand why you hid it. If I were in your position, I don't know what I'd do either. It's not always easy trying to figure out what the right choice is."
"Even still, I'm going to fix this. I promise you, I'll get Rick to get rid of Anatomy Park as soon as possible."
"Thanks, Linc. But, one other thing." Ronnie Anne started to sound rather embarrassed. "I don't know much about...relationships and what it means to be a couple..." Lincoln's eyes widened. "Most of it just kinda weirds me out. But I feel like if you're in one then you should probably...be honest with each other. And that you shouldn't hide things that affect them. So...can you promise me that you'll honest about this kinda stuff from now on?"
Lincoln took a moment to answer. "...I promise."
"Thanks. I'll see you later then." Ronnie Anne then hung up.
It was strange. Lincoln hadn't really thought about the fact they were together like that for a while. He'd mostly been treating her as a friend. He blushed as he thought back to when Ronnie Anne kissed him on the cheek.
That quickly went away when he thought about what he just promised. Honesty was usually the best answer, right? He could be honest with her about this stuff from now on.
He hated it but a little voice in his head in his head couldn't help but bring up another tiny little thing he'd been hiding from her. Then again, how much did that secret count as 'affecting her'?
Before he could think about this any longer, a portal appeared as Rick and Lori arrived back home. Before they said anything, Lincoln stood up. "Rick you need to remove Anatomy Park from Ronnie Anne as soon as possible."
Rick was taken aback from Lincoln's sudden demand. "Sorry, what?"
"She knows everything now. You can't keep it in her anymore. You need to remove it."
Rick scowled angrily. "Are you fucking serious?! Do you know how much that's gonna fucking cost?"
Lincoln folded his arms, making it clear he wasn't going to budge on this. "I don't care. You shouldn't have even built it in her in the first place."
"Look, let's not jump to doing anything drastic. If we wipe her memory, we could just forget this ever happened."
"No! I'm not going to hide this from her any longer. You're going to get rid of Anatomy Park and that's final."
Rick growled in frustration. "God, you little fucking piece of-fine, you win. But don't expect any kind of fun trips in the future because this is gonna cost me a lot!"
Lincoln nodded. "That's fine with me."
Meanwhile, Lori had gotten out her phone as she was about to ring Bobby. "Hey, Lincoln, do you think you gather everyone here in the living room?"
"Uh, sure, but why?" Lincoln asked.
"I have an announcement to make."
...
The Loud family, along with Bobby and Birddaughter, stared in shock at Lori after having made her announcement. "Seriously? Lori College? That was your big plan?" Rick asked in disbelief.
Lori nodded. She was currently next to all the luggage she packed to show she was serious. "It felt like the best choice for me."
"Yeah, but you really wanna live in the citadel? You know how I feel about that place."
"I know but I can take care of myself. As long as I have a portal gun, I'll be fine." Rick folded his arms in disapproval.
"But, sweetie, what about Fairway University?" Rita asked.
Lori sighed. "The truth is, I don't even know if I want to become a golfer any more. I want to explore my options and Lori College feels like the best way to do that."
"And you're going to enroll today?" Lynn Sr. asked. "You haven't even finished high school yet and you're already moving out for college?"
Lori shrugged. "That's just how it works. You can pretty much just enroll immediately and move in. There's no set terms. You don't even need any qualifications. Other than being a Lori."
Lynn Sr. gave her a surprised look. "Wait, that's really how it works?"
Rick handed Lynn Sr. a pamphlet for the college. "It's a college run by different versions of me. Of course that's how it works."
Lynn Sr. flipped through the pamphlet. "Wow, that's...actually kinda convenient." He then looked back at Lori. "But why leave today? Don't you wanna at least wait and prepare for it first?"
"I've been thinking about doing this for a while actually." Lori admitted. "I'm already prepared."
Bobby then took a step forward. "Babe, how come I'm only just hearing about this? I know we haven't been talking as much lately because of work but is something wrong?"
Lori glanced downwards as she rubbed her arm. "It's just...I've been thinking a lot lately about what I want to do with my life. I just...need some time away to figure it out."
"We'll still get to see each other, right?"
Lori smiled. "Oh, Boo-Boo Bear, I'm not gonna let being in another dimension stop that from happening."
Leni then stepped forward, looking like she was about to burst into tears. "You're really leaving now? It's just...how am I supposed to survive without you? We've been like BFFs since forever! I don't think I'm ready to see you go."
Lori placed a hand on Leni's shoulder. "It'll be okay. We can set up a time to chat on the phone every night; so we can still do our magazine quizzes together. Just because I'm going away doesn't mean we won't still be close. I promise."
Leni sniffled. "But if you're gone, that'd make me the oldest sibling. I don't know if I can handle doing what you do."
Lori gave her a reassuring smile. "You'll be fine. I've seen how well you handle your job. If you're as confident here as you are there, I know you'll do fine."
Leni held her chin in thought. "So, you're saying I should think of it like it's my job?"
Lori shrugged. "If that works for you." Leni then pulled Lori in for a hug that she reciprocated.
After letting go, Lincoln spoke up. "So, this is really goodbye then?" He and the rest of his sisters stared at Lori with saddened expressions.
"Don't worry." Lori assured them. "I'll be sure to visit every now and then."
"You'll at least be back for the holidays, right?" Rita asked, causing a guilty expression to appear on Lynn's face.
Lori nodded. "Of course." At that, the whole family came in to give Lori a big family hug (along with Bobby and a begrudging Rick. Birddaughter had cautiously stepped away from everyone).
After everyone had said their goodbyes, Rick handed Lori a spare portal gun. She fired a portal to the citadel and walked in before the portal disappeared.
Everyone stared at the spot where the portal disappeared. "Can't believe she's really gone." Luna remarked.
"I didn't think it'd happen so fast." Luan admitted.
"Oh!" Leni suddenly brightened up. "I guess that means Birddaughter can stay in my room now, right?"
Birddaughter looked rather uncomfortable with this. "Do I have to?"
"You can stay in Lynn's room." Lucy suddenly offered. "I'll move into Leni's."
Lynn gave Lucy a surprised look. "Are you sure?"
"It's probably best if Birddaughter stays with someone she's comfortable with.
At this, Birddaughter folded her arms, looking away. "Sure. I guess that's fine."
As the sisters began discussing rooms, both Rick and Lincoln couldn't help but wonder if Lori was really making the right choice.
...
Later, when Rick was alone in the living room, he took a deep breath as he called Dr. Bloom. This wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation. "Hey, uh, it's Rick."
"Rick!" Dr. Bloom greeted enthusiastically. "How are things?"
"Not good. Got some bad news. Ronnie Anne knows about the park. We gotta shut it down."
"W-What?" Dr. Bloom's enthusiasm quickly disappointed. "Are you serious."
"Fraid so."
Dr. Bloom's voice now took on an angry tone. "You can't be serious! Do you know how much this will cost us?!"
"I'm fully aware of that." Rick was trying to keep his tone neutral.
"You promised me that she'd never find out!"
"Yeah, well, kind of a hard promise to keep when she starts getting superpowers."
"And whose fault is that?! I didn't even want to build Anatomy Park here in the first place! I wanted to build it in someone like a homeless person but no, you INSISTED we build it in a child for some stupid reason!"
Rick pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, I'm aware that it was a dumb move."
"If we didn't build it inside a child, we could've stuck to our original plan of Anatomy Park being a living museum of humanity's most noble and ferocious diseases. But no. All that effort to acquire some bubonic plague, all for nothing!"
"Why'd you even keep that thing? All it did was put you in danger."
"Well I wanted to at least keep something for myself after you ruined everything!"
Rick groaned as Dr. Bloom kept lecturing him about how much work he'd have to put into removing Anatomy Park. This wasn't going to be a quick job. As Dr. Bloom went on, Rick heard someone knock on the door. He sighed. "Hey, could you hold on a second."
Rick opened to the door to see an angry Rosa standing there. She then proceeded to tackle him to the floor as she delivered a beatdown on him.