Disclaimers: I do not own Gravity Falls
Author's Notes: This episode will be covering elements from the following Episodes: Starsitting and On The Job. Thank you for reading and please review!
(Back with King Hannibal)
[Location: The Nightmare Realm]
It wasn't like him to trust bottom feeders, especially one who use to be so loyal to his brother. However, the king of the Nightmare Realm was desperate, Tad was running around with Bill's power causing who knows how much chaos! Worse still, Toffee, Seth's general and right-hand man was alive and had been all this time.
'Of course he is.' Hannibal thought to himself. He thought back to that day, so many years ago, he drove Seth's armies back. He hunted down every last one of them, and he ended them…or that's what history book would have you to believe. The truth was it wasn't that simple, Septarians were the purest breed of demons, and nearly impossible to kill. Doing so had taken a powerful spell that had come with a heavy price.
He clenched his gloved hands at the thought, he knew what happened. Deep down he knew why Toffee had survived.
'A contract between Royalty cannot be broken. When the last Septarian falls I shall be free.'
"Darling we're here." Luisa nudges him slightly.
The two had been riding for days with the royal guard with no success and finally they had come to the last place she had ever suspected.
The mud shack was small and shabby, and most likely hand made by its owner. Certainly not the place a pair of royals would show up. Luisa was never one to look down on anyone, but while this individual may have become an ally to their son. In the beginning he caused them great hardship and aided in more than one of Tad's schemes.
It was hard to forgive, it was hard to pretend that nothing ever happened. That this monster did not threaten the child that she held so dear.
Hannibal steadies himself before unmounting his horse, he walks up to the shack and knocks firmly.
"One moment…" A voice exclaims from within.
Buff Frog opens the door slowly and flinches at the sight of them before trying to slam the door shut once more.
Hannibal jams his foot in the way preventing the door from closing.
"Please I want no trouble." Buff Frog pleads. "I don't know where he is, I'm family man now."
"We are aware of your current stance in the matter." Hannibal says bluntly.
"Please, Mr. Bulgolyubov." Luisa takes over.
Buff Frog stops, no one ever bothered to use his real name before. He opens the door just slightly more to face her. "Please, I really don't know where he is."
"That's alright." Luisa assures him. "Perhaps you'd be able to help all the same. From what we've been told you're the best shot we have. And we can pay of course."
"Pay?" Buff Frog asked.
"Uh Yes, I'm sure a first-time father such as yourself could use the help." Luisa pulled out a sack of gold. "Please you'd be doing us a great service."
Buff Frog nods slowly. "I must get sitter for my babies." He informs her.
"We can wait, right Hannibal?" Luisa says, looking to her husband.
"Yes, of course." Hannibal agrees and removes his foot.
"One moment please." Buff-Frog excuses himself, he doesn't close the door, but leaves it partly open.
It's a sigh of good faith, he is trusting them to be courteous of his privacy. Trusting that they will not treat him like a criminal who plans to run.
Buff Frog pulls out some scissors before cutting open a portal.
(Back with Dipper…)
He was never a fan of board games, but Mabel insisted that they do something fun with a 'zero-danger factor.' At least Bill knew how to make it fun, than again Bill was known for being the King of Fun, a self-proclaimed title no doubt.
"Whoo!" Mabel shouts as she slides down a long blue slide. "Again. Again." She begged happily. Bill had made mini versions of themselves to be the game pieces. And though the real Mabel was sitting on the couch she could still feel everything her little self was doing.
A six-sided die crashes over small Mabel's head as Dipper rolls the die to start his turn. "Two." He says before the smaller him take two steps forward before climbing up some staircase.
"What a bore. Pine Tree that's like the eighth time you've got the stairs. Stairs are boring." Bill boos as he rolls. "Six. One, two, three fourrr." He counts out his steps until he reaches his destination. "Five. SIX!" He slides down a slide located at the sixth block. "YES!"
Dipper huffs. "Okay this game is definitely rigged somehow." Suddenly a pair of dimensional scissors opens up a portal beside them.
They all freeze as an old friend enters.
"Buff Frog?" Mabel gasped. "You're okay we we're so worried."
"Please I don't have much time." Buff Frog says as he pull out a stroller.
"Buff babies!" Mabel grabs the board game and closes it, causing the little teens inside to scream as they are crushed.
"I am needing your help." Buff Frog whines. "My babies. Please be baby-sitting them."
"Uh why?" Bill asked. "I mean don't get me wrong." He added as Mabel gives him a stern look. "We're happy to help, but it's so sudden."
"Your parents have employed me to find your uncle." Buff Frog admitted. "Had they given me earlier notice I would have scheduled sooner."
"Wow, they hired you to catch Tad?" Dipper flinches. "How does that make you feel."
"It hurts to think of him." Buff Frog admitted. "He was like a father to me, it's hard knowing he never saw me that way, but you have showed me true family." He grows more serious. "I want to repay that kindness by doing this for you."
"Well in that case, we would love to." Bill answered.
"YES!" Mabel jumps for joy.
Dipper shrugs. "Sure shouldn't be too bad, Our Grunkles are down in the lab so them being here shouldn't disturb their work."
Buff Frog breathes a sigh of relief. "Thank you, your parents are paying me, I could do the same for your troubles."
"No need for cash." Bill assures him. "You just report to me whatever you find."
"Report to you?" Buff Frog asked.
"All the adults are keeping us out of the loop." Bill explained. "They are hiding something, and we don't like not knowing. You get me?"
Buff Frog saluted him. "I understand." He then pulls out a binder "Here is Binder. All of babies schedules and information inside." He explains as he hands it to Mabel.
"We won't let you down." Mabel promised.
"You? Let me down?" Buff Frog laughs. "Impossible, but remember most importantly, Katrina. My most delicate little glassy pearl." He picks up the smallest of his babies and kisses her. "Please be extra careful with her."
"She'll be in good hands." Dipper assured him, taking her as he spoke. "They all will."
Buff Frog seems to relax and gives each of his babies a quick kiss. "Okay. Daddy will get you after. Be good and listen to baby-sitters." He jumps back into the portal then, leaving his babies alone for the first time.
"Oh they're so precious." Mabel coos. She looks close to tearing up, she felt so honored that her friend would trust her with them.
"So what fun and new adventures are we taken them on?" Bill asked.
"A nap." Dipper answers as he reads from the binder.
"What⁉" Bill asked.
"Buff Frog said to follow the instructions." Mabel cut in. "Growing babies need to stick to their schedules."
"Fine." Bill sighed. He could already tell this was going to be boring but tries his best to sound upbeat. Buff Frog was doing them a favor, not only was he hunting down Tad, but he was also going to keep them informed. "Just tell us what to do." He says.
"Boris, Alexi, Anastasia, Nadia, and Sergei sleep on their left sides." Dipper read from the binder.
Mabel and Bill shift the babies as instructed.
"Dimitry, Ana, and Igor prefer their stomachs. While Mikhail, Leo, and Irina sleep on their right sides." Dipper continued.
Mabel and Bill move to situate the rest of the babies.
"Finally, Katrina is delicate and must be held to sleep." Dipper hands Katrina to Mabel.
Mabel coos at the baby in her arms. "Awww. I got you lil' babe." She wraps Katrina in a blanket and holds her close.
"Now what?" Bill asked.
"We take a nap." Dipper said as he stretched out on the couch. "In about an hour we'll make them bottles. They eat and then they nap again."
"That's it?" Bill asked.
"Yeah, little ones this small are pretty easy." Mabel says.
"But Where's the fun?" Bill whines quietly. "Kids need fun."
"They do." Mabel agreed. "But these aren't kids, they are babies, and infants this young need lots of sleep."
"Fine." Bill sighs, trying to stay upbeat as he sits down cross legged on the floor. "Well this is going to be a long uneventful day." He joked.
Meanwhile, Buff Frog has returned to the king and queen. "I am ready now."
"Goo, would you, uh like a horse?" Luisa asked unsure.
"I will track from the ground." Buff Frog assured her. "We must pick up the trail, please where did you last caught sight of him?"
"The Nightmare Realm, the Forest of Certain Death." Hannibal answered.
"Not an easy place to track…" Buff Frog admitted.
"It's more than that." Hannibal groaned. "He's left no trace, Why if I didn't know better, I'd say he grew wings and flew away."
"Perhaps." Buff Frog said taking the lead. "Tad is very resourceful. He may have hitched a ride on a winged creature to avoid you."
The group makes their way to the Forest in question. "If you take me to the last spot he was detected I can see where he went from there."
"It's this way." A guard instructed him.
Buff Frog allows them to lead him to a large cave with an empty spider's web.
"We found this campsite abandon." Hannibal explained as he pointed to the discard tent. "We've detected hints of our son's magic here, but we can't tell where he has gone."
Buff Frog walks around the camp carefully taking in everything, he sees Tad's footprints, and other prints as well. "Spider." He points to a set of tracks, eight sets of marks that looked like a stick had been stabbed in the snow. He moves forward some more and stops at more tracks. "Bird, judging by the large feet I'd say a Bald Mammoth Eagle, those are very rare." He admitted, sounding slightly impressed.
"It's just as we feared." Hannibal snapped. "We can't track the bird from the air."
"No, can't track the Spider either." Buff Frog looks thoughtful. "Bird will be big enough to carry it as well. MMMM, you say you could sense a trace of your son's magic yes?"
"Yes, a little bit." Luisa admitted, "But it's too faint to follow, Tad must not be using a lot of it."
"Yes, that's a relief." Hannibal seemed to admit.
"I have plan." Buff Frog stated. "Toffee had a device that could track your son's cane."
"He what!" Hannibal shouted.
"Do not ask me how he got such a device, I was kicked out of castle by then, I only know because I spied on him." Buff Frog answered. "My plan is that maybe the device will be able to track Tad the same way."
Luisa looks thoughtful, "In theory it could work, but it may as easily lead us to Bill."
"Yes, but we know where he is." Hannibal says thoughtfully, as he seems to understand what the frog man is saying. "Now that the power is split, there will be two signals, we ignore the one at the Pines residence, and go after the second one."
Buff Frog nods. "It is good plan no?"
"A very good plan." Hannibal admits. "I must admit I miss judged your value in this mission."
"He was my master." Buff Frog admitted, with a shrug. "If there is one thing I know better them myself, it is Tad."
(Back with the Buff Babies…)
Dipper stretched and let out a quiet yawn, the babies had been sleeping for almost two hours and now it was time to start making lunch. "So who wants to make 12 lunches?"
"I'll help." Bill whispered, surprising him. "What it beats sitting and doing nothing." He insisted as they crept into the kitchen.
"I'll watch the lil' bits!" Mabel coos. "Awww! So cuuute! Just. One. Boop…No!" She stops herself. "No booping. Just watch…Just watch…."
Meanwhile in the kitchen Dipper and Bill set to work grinding various bugs and grubs and serving them in bottles.
"This is so gross." Bill gaggled.
"So is baby food." Dipper pointed out.
"Speak for yourself, my baby food was so good the poor fought wars over it." Bill admitted.
Dipper rolled his eyes, leave it to a family of royals to have good tasting baby food.
Back in the living room Mable is doing her best to keep it together. "Awww! Precious little babieesss! Especially little Katrina-kins." She coos as Katrina yawns. "You just wanna be boopity-booped." She looks to see if the boys are around. "Okayyy... just one boop. Then I– No!" Mabel stops herself again. "But she's so cuuute! I just gotta..." She pokes Katrina who wakes up and…
"Ribbit!"
Mabel gasps as one by one the tadpoles around her wake up and croak loudly. "Oh no."
"Mabel, everything okay in there?" Dipper asked as he and Bill came running in with lunch.
"I booped, Dipper. I booped so bad." Mabel exclaimed.
Dipper sighed as Bill snickered. "It's okay. I got Buff Frog's binder!" He pulls it out and reads "To stop croaking, feed babies lunch. Ah, that's easy. We got lunch right here."
Mable makes a face at the slosh swirling around the bottles, but nods and together the three feed the tadpoles the mixture.
Moments later they burp as they finish, all croaking gone.
Mabel sighs in relief. "That could have been a disaster." She admitted. "What next?"
"Bath Time." Bill answered as he looked at the binder. "You know we make pretty good baby sisters."
"Yeah it's easy when they're stationary." Dipper admitted as they moved to the bathroom.
Dipper starts a light bubble bath as the buff babies are placed in. After the bath, Dipper dries them one by one and places them together side by side.
"That is so cute." Mabel gasps "Oh my gosh! We gotta send Buff Frog a photo." She pulls out her phone. "Say Ribbit!"
"Ribbit!" The boys say as they pose next to the babies.
Mabel laughed and took the picture before sending it to Buff Frog with a quick text. We miss you Daddy. We're counting on you. "And send!"
"Alright let's get the back in the living room before we check for the next thing." Dipper instructed.
"You know Pine Tree, you're pretty good at this!" Bill praised as he picks up Katrina carefully.
"Thanks. I just used the old trusty binder." Dipper boasted.
"Yeah, you always could follow directions to a T." Mabel joked.
Dipper laughs but stops in surprise as the tadpole he's holding jumps out of his hand and sprouts...LEGS!
Mabel gasps. "Leeegss! Legs, legs, legs, le-hegs!"
"Please tell me there is a chapter about legs!" Bill exclaimed.
"Nothing!" Dipper screams in panic as he flips through the binder. "We're in uncharted waters!"
Suddenly the other buff babies grow legs too, they hop around before escaping to explore. All but Katrina that is who still has no legs.
"Aww, little Katrina. She feels left out." Mabel said.
"Never mind Katrina." Bill exclaimed. "We got to do something!"
Mabel sighs. "Okay." She places Katrina down on the couch in the living room. "Stay put, little buttercup." She ordered. "We got legged babies to round up!"
(Back with Buff Frog…)
It hadn't taken long to find the tracker; in fact, it hadn't taken long at all. Now that Tad was on the run his castle was empty and long forgotten. Buff Frog turned on the tracker as they returned to the cave with the campsite.
"Is it working?" Luisa asked almost fearful.
"Yes." Buff Frog answered as he view the screen. "Getting two signals, one faint, but there is a stronger one."
"It must be Tad, hurry lead the way!" Hannibal orders.
Buff Frog obeys and soon the terrain changes from a winter wonderland to a rich green forest. "Signal getting stronger." Buff Frog warned.
"We must be close." Hannibal pondered out loud.
A flash of movement catches Luisa's eye. "Darling did you see that?"
"See what?" Hannibal asked.
Buff Frog froze. "We are not alone." He warned.
It comes to late, just than an army of rats swarm out and attack!
"Disgusting vermin!" Luisa screams as she shoots beams of ice at their attackers.
"This is set up." Buff Frog said, he had to shout to be heard over the rats. "He left campsite to lure us to him."
Hannibal searches the trees around them desperately, but Tad never appears. "No this isn't an ambush." He realizes. "It's a diversion, we must be very close."
"Even if that's true, there're to many of them." Luisa screamed as she shoot more down. "We have to back off Hannibal."
Hannibal's eyes narrowed. "We may never get this close again, Frog get me through them, NOW!"
Buff Frog nods bares his fist and charges!
"Wait no!" Lusia warns but it is too late.
Buff Frog holds his own for two seconds, before he's overwhelmed by them.
"Yvgeny!" Luisa shouts. "Hannibal do something!"
Hannibal moves to manipulate the surrounding shadows but realizes it's useless, with the overcast sun the rats have none to control. Changing tactics, he decides to cast a spell, but still, he knows it won't do much good. The enemy's numbers are just too great, he's left with only one option, he uses a tracking spell incantation and fires.
"No! Yvgeny!" Luisa screams as he is dragged away.
"Tell my babies I love them!" Buff Frog yells and then he's gone!
Luisa tries to give chase, but her husband stops her. "Hannibal..." She asked fearfully.
"He's already gone, the frog was right this was a set up, and it looks like Tad got what he wanted."
"Then what do we do?" Luisa asked. "We can't just let Tad have him! He sacrificed for us, he risked everything to help us, he has children who need him."
"I know, I have a plan." Hannibal assured her. We regroup with reinforcements, and we use my spell to track the rat. I promise my dear we will find him alive!"
Yes, they would find their lost friend and once they did, they would make Tad pay for all the pain he had caused.
-To Be Continued