Author's Notes: Hey guys I know it's been touch and go; the holiday season is always crazy when it comes to writing, but here we are again with another story update. Thanks for reading and please review.
(Back with Mabel)
She didn't think it possible, but somehow they had managed it. After everything that happened the trio and their friends had managed to slip back into the norm. Days had past since they had tried and failed to save Axolotl and still no progress had been made. Not from the lack of trying Stan and Ford poured themselves into countless of old text, trying to find the slightest trace of the castle that was mentioned. Apparently Bill's parents were doing the same, still after three days they had nothing to show for their efforts. In short everything was the same as it always was, well almost everything surprisingly the adults kept their promise.
Stan and Ford kept them up to date on their findings and shared information with them about the search for Axolotl openly. Still, as nice as it was the teens could tell they were holding something back. Not that Mabel could blame them they had yet to tell Stan and Ford about Mina.
Speaking of Mina their search for her had come up empty too even with the help of the All-Seeing Eye Spell, making them fear the worse.
"She must have tried the spell." Dipper reasoned after three days of no luck. The teens were rushing to get to school on time, having missed the bus. He was rummaging through his book bag as he half walked half jogged along side Bill and Mabel.
"Do you think she's…" Mabel didn't dare finish the sentence let alone the thought. Sure, Mina was bad, but no one deserved to meet an end like that. Being ripped apart by a powerful spell; Mabel had heard horror stories about it. Even Ford with all his skill warned against spells that drawled on that kind of power overflow.
"It's the only explanation." Bill reasoned. "If she was still alive I would have been able to see her by now." He stops to catch his breath as the school comes into view.
"We made it!" Mabel breathed a sigh of relief. "If we were late again Ms. Skullnick would have killed us."
Dipper groaned as he threw off his bookbag and dumped it on the ground. "Darn it!" He yelled. "I left my math book." He cried.
"Here just use these and get it really quick." Bill advised passing him his dimensional scissors.
"Bill we promised your parents that we wouldn't use them anymore unless it was an emergency." Mabel whispered.
It was true, while Bill was telling his parents and the Stans about Axolotl it had finally came out that they had dimensional scissors this whole time. Of course, all the adults knew the dimensional scissors existed. After all Ford had place a protection spell around the shack the day Toffee had kidnapped Dipper. A spell that only allowed a member of the household to open a portal onto the shack. Meaning someone that lived in the house had to of let Toffee in. Still, the adults had been hesitant to take them away, for two reasons. One being they could make for a hasty escape if the need arise; which could save their lives. And two it wasn't their place to take them away, only one being could dictate who received and kept a pair of dimensional scissors.
And since she hadn't intervened the adults had their hands tied. However, it was agreed that for now on they were not to use them unless absolutely necessary.
"This is an emergency." Bill insisted. "Look take them and close the portal behind you, that way no one can run through and ambush you." He stuffs the scissors in his hand and Dipper hesitates looking at his books littered on the ground.
"We got your stuff." Mabel said deciding to get with the program. "Hurry before you are late!" She urged as she and Bill rushed to stuff his things back in his bag.
Dipper relents and cuts open a portal before running into his room. He closes it behind him and starts rummaging through his things for his math book.
He can't find it, and realizes he must have left it downstairs on the table where he packed his bag this morning. Groaning at his absent-mindedness he rushes downstairs and into the kitchen where his book is right on the table where he left it.
He picks it up and freezes. "Great-uncle Ford?" He calls out. "Grunkle Stan?"
No answer.
They must have left to follow up with a lead. He freezes as the hair on the back of his neck stands up on end. Something doesn't feel right, he could feel it, something was… coming! He uses the dimensional scissors and opens another portal. However, Unlike the other previous blue portals, this new one is orange and yellow like fire.
"What...The!"
An arm reaches through the portal and pulls Dipper through!
(Back with Bill)
"What is taking him so long?" He asked tapping his foot impatiently.
"Maybe he can't find it." Mabel reasoned. "Or worse Maybe Ford or Stan saw him and are chewing him out right now!" She exclaimed. "I knew he shouldn't have used the-" The tardy bell rings, cutting her off.
"Crap!" Bill exclaims as the two of them race inside and down the hall, practically diving into Ms. Skullnick's class.
"Mabel, Bill how kind of you to join us." She said as the two awkwardly rushed to their seats.
"Now as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted." Ms. Skullnick continued with the day's lecture. "Math... is a symphony... of numbers."
The majority of Ms. Skullnick's class looks bored and sleepy. Ms. Skullnick turns to the chalkboard and starts writing in chalk. "It's the poetry of logic. The magic behind nature. The beauty of seashells." She goes on.
Bill gives her a look. He was not a wiz at Earth math by any means and yet he was sure she was talking nonsense. "Hey Janna, do you get this?" He asked her.
"Not even a little." Janna whispered back. "Hey, why did the chicken cross the road?"
"I don't know." Bill said absently as he keeps glancing at the door for Dipper.
"To get to the other side." Janna said laughing softly.
Usually, her jokes would put him at ease but not right now. He had decided to start being the responsible one and still he kept messing things up! If Pine Tree was getting an earful for using the scissors he'd never forgive himself.
"Hey Bill." Wendy whispers. "Where is Dipper?" She wasn't usually in their first period class; however, she did have first period free and decided to spend it here so she could see Dipper. Ever since Tad had ruined their date and stole the spell book the two of them hadn't had a second to catch up.
"I don't know." Bill whispered back.
"Mr. Cipher!" Ms. Skullnick shouted. "In case you have forgotten you have a test on this tomorrow!"
Wait, they did? Bill looks like a deer in the headlights.
Seeing that he's not going to answer Ms. Skullnick decides to put her foot down. "Since you're so determined to be the center of attention and interrupt my class why don't you get up here and solve for 'C'!"
Okay that snaps him out of it. "Okay, sure thing." He said with fake confidence. He'd just write something on the board really quickly and sit down. He gets out of his seat and walks to the front of the classroom, and takes the chalk from Ms. Skullnick.
Without even looking at the board he wrote down the number 4, circled it and walks back to his desk.
"Not so fast." Ms. Skullnick snaps.
"What I wrote down an answer." Bill said whirling around.
"You didn't even try." Ms. Skullnick snapped. "C equals the circumference! I know you don't take anything seriously, but it is my job to teach you. And you are not leaving until you solve for C."
Bill grit his teeth in annoyance, he didn't have time for this. He wasn't sure how he knew but he could feel it. Pine Tree needed him! However, Ms. Skullnick didn't look like she was going to let up, and without his dimensional scissors it wasn't like he could just walk out of this situation. So grudgingly he walks back to the board and stares at the problem on the board. Hoping that something will just come to him, but nothing does.
He has no idea how to solve this problem. Panic starts to flood I as he wonders just how long Ms. Skullnick is going to make him stand up here feeling like an idiot when all he wanted to do was leave and run to Pine Tree.
"No one is leaving until you solve for C." Ms. Skullnick says.
'I wish I could just skip ahead to where I finish this problem.' He thought.
Suddenly the world shifts and with a rumbling sound Bill finds himself back in his desk.
"What the?" he looks perplex and rightfully so. "Wasn't I just up there?" He pointed to the front of the room where Ms. Skullnick is once again giving the start of the lecture.
"Hey, why did the chicken cross the road?" Janna asked him with a nudge.
"I don't know." Bill says absently still distracted.
"To ask out the rooster." Janna says.
Bill stops as it hits him. "You already asked me that." He told her. "Only it was slightly different."
"No, I didn't." Janna said looking confused.
"Yeah you did." Bill says. "Tell her Shooting Star."
"Bill, we just got here." Mable says giving him a weird look.
"No, we-wait where did the hat come from?" He asked Janna, who was suddenly wearing a blue hat that wasn't there the first time around.
"My hat?" Janna touched the blue hat that was on top of her head. "I always wear my lucky hat."
"I have never seen you where that ever." Bill says flatly.
"Hey Bill, where is Dipper?" Wendy cut in.
"Okay seriously what is going on?" Bill snapped.
"I'll tell you what is going on, Mr. Cipher You're going to get up here and solve for C". Ms. Skullnick snaps.
Bill's blood runs cold. Why was this happening? Was it his powers, did he mess up time again in his hurry to get to Dipper! He looks to Mabel hoping that she knows what is going on.
She looks to Bill giving him a genuine look of concern.
Whatever this was she wasn't in it with him, meaning he was on his own. Forced to solve his own problem without Mabel or Dipper to bail him out.
What the heck was he supposed to do now?
(Back with Dipper)
He lands with a huff in a barren land of a wasteland dimension. He looks up to see a pale white skinned humanoid female with spiked arms and long red hair tied back in a black spiky hair tie. With orange eyes, fangs, pointed ears, and jagged yellow-orange horns. Dipper knew exactly who this was.
This was Hekapoo of the High Magic Commission. Oh boy this was bad!
She was sitting on top of the portal, holding Bill's dimensional scissors. She jumps down off the portal. Her yellow orange ballgown was like a fiery sunset in the baren wasteland. "Where did you get these?" She asked.
Dipper is at a loss for words.
Hekapoo growls. "Seriously, fleshwad. Talk."
Dipper forces out an answer, getting to shaky feet. "Uh, well, I'm borrowing them from a friend who may or may not be Bill Cipher."
Hekapoo clenches the fist holding the scissors. "Wrong answer. I'm the forger of all dimensional scissors. Each pair is made specifically for the entity who earns them."
Of Course, Dipper knows this, and realizes their mistake. "Oh, right I borrowed them from Bill who originally got them from Kelly."
"Wrong again Fleashbag." Hekapoo holds the scissors up to the flame that burns over her head. As the scissor blades glow bright orange, Hekapoo holds them up to Dipper's face, and strange writing appears engraved on them.
Strangely Dipper can find he understands the bizarre symbols "Hekapoo?" He reaches for the scissors, but Hekapoo slaps his hand away.
"Yep That's me. That's my name. He-ka-poo. Hekapoo! You humans are lame times a thousand." She pokes Dipper's face. "Boop!"
"Look Ms. Hekapoo I'm sorry about the scissors, we really got them from Kelly so you must have been irresponsible enough to let them fall into the wrong hands." Dipper reasoned.
"Excuse me?" Hekapoo hissed.
"Look you have them now." Dipper added quickly, feeling more annoyed by the second. "I need to get back home."
And how do you propose you're going to get back?" Hekapoo taunted.
"Aren't you going to open a portal for me?" Dipper asked.
"No." Hekapoo says plainly.
Dipper growls in frustration. "Fine, then I'll earn them like you said that I—"
Hekapoo falls over laughing "That's rich."
"I'm serious! I'll have you know I fight monsters on the daily, Lady." Dipper snapped starting to feel defensive.
"Do you?" Hekapoo looks thoughtful. "Okay, this should be amusing." She walks up to Dipper. "You want to leave you will need these." She holds up the scissors. "To get them all you have to do is blow out this flame."
The flame over Hekapoo's head shrinks to a small flicker.
Dipper looks skeptical. "Really? No problem." He inhales and tries to blow the flame out, but Hekapoo swiftly jumps several feet away. "What the...?!" He runs up to Hekapoo, but she jumps away again.
Dipper gives chase as Hekapoo runs across the wasteland, but she runs faster than he can keep up. She runs so far out of his view that she ends up behind him, and she smacks the back of his head, leaving a small burn.
"That's one! Ha-ha!" She jeers.
"Hey!" Dipper whines.
Hekapoo dashes out of Dipper's view and appears behind him again, smacking the back of his head a second time.
"That's two." She counts out, laughing before taking off again.
"Seriously!" Dipper stops and runs in the opposite direction, causing him and Hekapoo to run straight toward each other. As Dipper approaches, Hekapoo opens a portal to another space. Unable to stop in time, Dipper falls into the portal. He slides on the ground toward the edge of a cliff and hangs over the edge by a tree root. Hekapoo follows him through the portal and stands over him.
"Bye-bye." She whispers.
Dipper loses his grip on the tree roots and plummets downward. However, when Hekapoo looks over the edge, Dipper appears from below and blows out her flame.
"Hah!" Dipper gloats. "I got you!"
Hekapoo vanishes into thin air.
"What?" He climbs up the cliff, but Hekapoo is nowhere to be seen.
That doesn't stop him from hearing her voice echoing around him. "She didn't have the scissors! And you're gonna have to blow out a whole lot of flames to find them."
Dipper looks down a nearby hill and sees hundreds of Hekapoo duplicates.
The real Hekapoo holds up the dimensional scissors. "Are you looking for these, dum-dum?"
Dipper growls loudly as he slides to the bottom of the hill and walks through the crowd of Hekapoos.
"Ow! Stop it!" Dipper yells "You're burning me a bald spot!" he whines as each duplicate he passes smacks him in the back of the head.
The real Hekapoo uses the scissors to open nine different-colored portals. She and her duplicates scatter through the portals in different directions until Dipper is all alone.
"I don't have time for this!" Dipper yells.
Hekapoo's voice echoes around him "It may take days, months, even lifetimes. I don't think you have the goods to do it."
A portal back to Earth opens behind Dipper.
"Go back home to your stinky dirt rock, little boy." She taunts.
Dipper goes to oblige but stops. No, she was not getting away with this. "I wanted to leave in the first place, but you had to go and humiliate me." He turns back to the voice. "I don't care how long it takes. I'm getting those scissors!"
(Back Bill)
"Are you feeling okay?" Mabel gives him a worried look.
"Uh yeah." Bill assured her before he walked back up to the front of the room like his legs where made of led.
Ms. Skullnick sighs misreading his worried expression. Just try Bill." She assured him.
Bill takes the chalk from her and nervously looks at the board. One of the students coughs in the background. Bill turns back to his classmates. They stare back at him. He looks to Ms. Skullnick. "But…I don't know how." He admitted hoping that will give him a pass.
No such luck.
"Just give it your best shot." Ms. Skullnick says sounding slightly annoyed.
Bill clenches his teeth in annoyance and breaks the chalk in his tightening fist.
There's another rumble and once again Bill finds himself back in his seat.
Janna, who is now wearing a red and white cap says. "Because that's where she parked the car."
It happened again!
"WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING!" He yelled.
Ms. Skullnick stops her lecture. "Mr. Cipher since you are so keen on interrupting my class why don't you come up here and solve for C!"
He feels the chaos coming off of him in waves as he just stares in disbelief. Why did this always happen to him. Why was it no matter how hard he tried chaos followed him wherever he went? No matter what he did his powers would just flare up without him ever wanting them to!
"JUST STOP!" He yelled at himself.
A third loud rumble cuts though him and Janna, who is now wearing a black top hat says "Because she flew the coop."
Bill completely loses it. "What is happening?!" He screamed, all shock and confusion gone, replaced with anger and frustration. "And why do you keep wearing these terrible hats?!"
"Hey!" Janna cried.
Ms. Skullnick yells over them. "How dare you interrupt my class!"
"Bill are you Okay?" Mabel asked.
"NO!" He admitted deciding he can't take it anymore. He gets up and runs out of the room.
"Bill, wait!" Mabel chases after him.
Bill doesn't stop, instead he runs faster thinking that maybe he can outrun this nightmare.
Another rumble rings out.
Bill freezes "Oh, come o—!" too late, he is back in his seat.
Janna, who is now wearing an olive-colored sun hat with a green ribbon laughs "She wanted to lead by "egg-zample"."
Miss Skullnick clears her throat and looks to Bill. "Solve for C".
He knows it's going to happen before he opens her mouth, but he can't help it. He jumps to his feet and screams. "I can't!"
Another rumble and Bill turns to Janna knowingly who is now wearing a cowboy hat.
"Just "beak-cause". You know, beaks."
He looks to Miss Skullnick "Solve for C"!
Bill tries to run from the classroom again. "NO!"
Another rumble and it repeat and repeats and repeats. Over and over and over again, until He thinks he's going mad!
"Solve for C!" Ms. Skullnick says as he stands before her once more.
Finally, it's too much and he falls to his knees. "Please someone, anyone, help!" He screamed his head in his hands.
"What do you need?." A voice echoes.
"What?" Bill looks up to be greeted by a splintered world. Different versions of the classroom showed around him like a spiderweb of altered realities.
"What do you need?." The owner of the voice repeated and appeared before Bill. He is a large, hunchbacked, humanoid-like being with a skull-shaped face with several connected swords sticking out of it. His body is made up of stars, planets, and galaxies.
"I need Father Time. I'm... stuck in a time loop." Bill was surprised he could form a full sentence with how overwhelmed he felt, but once he said the words he knew them to be true.
Yes he was stuck repeating the same moment in time. His Chaos magic must have thrown Blandin off the wheel again, only this time it ended with a different result. He wasn't sure, it sounded right but also not right?
"You don't need him. Blandin and The Time Baby deal with time-time I'm space-time." The creature told him.
"Who are you?" Bill dared to ask.
I'm Omnitraxus Prime! I'm the space-time guy. The time loop – that's my territory. It's a space-time problem. Blandin problem is like, "I burnt this toast that I really wanted to eat. That kind of thing."
Bill gets to shaking feet. " Look I need some answers. I am stuck in a nightmare math class that's repeating itself, but n... i-it's, like, changing too? Like, super weird changing."
Omnitraxus looks thoughtful. "Okay. What's it keep returning to?"
"The same stupid math problem." Bill snaps.
"Oh, well... why don't you just do the math?" Omnitraxus asked then he shrugs and goes to fade to black.
"Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa, wait." Bill exclaims. "I did that, but Miss Skullnick wants me to "actually try" and I have more important stuff to do than solve a stupid math problem."
Omnitraxus looks thought full. "Okay, so do the work. ... you say you have more important things to do, but you are wasting time not solving the problem. So, solve the problem! Omnitraxus Prime has spoken!" He exclaims and grows back into a galaxy once more.
"I can't!" Bill yelled his chaos magic glowing like a blackish red hue around him.
Omnitraxus shrinks back to humanoid form. "Ugh. I have a ton of things to do today." He complained.
"I can't do the work." Bill shouted. "I never paid attention in class. Pine Tree needs me; I know he does so I wished I could skip ahead to me solving the problem and now no matter what I do I keep ending up right back where I started."
Omnitraxus sighs seeming to except the fact that he has to help. "Look, I can see what's happening here. I can show you how to sort this out. But there's gonna be some tummy-time." He grabs Bill before waiting for an answer and phases him into his stomach.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on a second!" Bill yelled, but it was too late he was already in. "Gross! Whoa...wait It's actually kinda neat in here." He admitted as he watches galaxies swirl around him. He jumps onto a floating crystal platform.
Omnitraxus phases into his own stomach after Bill. "So... all time and space are considered as one. And within it, infinite parallel universes exist—" He began to explain.
"Yeah the multiverse, I know this." Bill cut him off. "Just get to the point."
Omnitraxus stops looking really annoyed. "I can't believe this is happening." Suddenly their surrounded by hundreds of crystals. "In the Crystal Fields of Interwoven Continuum!" Omnitraxus taps the crystal platform Bill is sitting on, and it drifts closer to the crystal fields. Multiple versions of Bill are shown on the crystals' surfaces.
"Here's infinite versions of you in infinite parallel timelines in infinite parallel math classes." He explained.
Bill looks at the thousands of him solving the math problem.
"And all those versions of you managed to work through that problem." Omnitraxus reveals. " You're the only version of you that didn't do it."
The crystals shift to show normal-timeline Bill standing in front of the chalkboard. Suddenly, there's another shrill-sounding rumble.
"That sound! That's the same sound from the classroom!" Bill screamed. "What is it!"
Omnitraxus looks indifferent to the noise. "That's your parallel timelines colliding with each other. If you don't figure out that math problem soon, they're all gonna shatter and forever be lost within the fabric of time-space. ...Uh, space-time."
"So what? I wished for me to skip to solving the problem and my chaos magic decided that the only way to do that was to pull all the parallel worlds together! WHY!"
Omnitraxus shrugs. "Chaos magic isn't really my thing. But you can fix this, Now answer the math problem, or your world's gonna fall apart! Just do the work."
"Do the work? "Bill reappears in his seat in the classroom. The other students and Miss Skullnick are all giant cockroaches.
The Janna cockroach says to him. "Why'd the chicken cross the road?"
A piece of the wall behind Janna cockroach breaks away into a black cosmic void.
"Who cares?!" Bill asked "There are infinite chickens crossing infinite roads, okay? So why don't you just ask them?" He gasps "Hold on. That's it."
He glitches out and turns into a punk/metal version of himself. "If all the infinite versions of me know how to solve that math problem..." He says out loud glitching back to normal. "...then I must know how to solve it, too, right?"
"Uh, it's just a joke about a chicken." Janna says before glitching into a chicken herself.
Bill raises his hand "Miss Skullnick, I would like to solve for "c"!"
Miss Skullnick looks to him stunned. Bill?" He glitches into a trashcan. "Are you feeling well?"
Bill doesn't answer he just walks toward the front of the classroom. He takes the chalk for Miss Skullnick as he shifts between several versions of himself. First a baby, and then an elderly man and then a dog before glitching back to normal. "Come on, Bill You can do this." He growled to himself.
He looks at the equations on the chalkboard. There's a sudden rumble and crash; the entire wall at the back of the classroom breaks away into the cosmic void. "Okay, infinite me's in infinite parallel dimensions, let's do this." He said. "I already know how to do this in the other dimensions, so I just need to..." He glitches again this time looking like a floating golden triangle before glitching back to normal once more. "...channel those...me's."
He closes his eyes to center himself, no more running away no more depending on Pine Tree to solve his problems for him. Bill reopens his eyes, looking determined. "Okay, let's see. Solve for "c". 4 over...16 minus 7..." He turns into a demon Bill as more pieces of the classroom walls break away. Blake, Ferguson, and Hope glitch out and turn into barbarians.
Bill muttering indistinctly as he glitches into a cat person and then Bear Suit Bill "...which means that "c"...
Mabel glitches out, and her hair moves from her scalp to her chin. Then she glitches out again and has multiple heads. The classroom starts to disintegrate from the back to front. All of the students briefly glitch into cats.
Bill doesn't lose focus "...to the fourth power...divide by root of 3..." He glitches into a merman briefly and then a Sheep. "...over 12..." He turns back to normal once more. "...and therefore "c" equals...!
Just before the front of the classroom breaks away into the void, Bill closes his eyes and writes "C = 7".
"...Seven. Seven? Yeah, seven!" He turns around. The classroom is back to normal. The students and Miss Skullnick all stare at him. "...Yes, I did it!
Miss Skullnick looks impressed. "Hmm. Wow. Yep, you did it all right."
Bill puffs out his chest. "I know! I solved the problem!"
Miss Skullnick shook her head. "Well, no, I mean, it's totally wrong. But you tried, so it's a start."
Bill wasn't even deterred man if Dipper could see him now. He froze, PINE TREE!
"Nice job, Bill. Now take your seat-"
"Can't we got to go!" Bill screamed grabbing Mabel.
"Bill what's going on?" Mabel yelled. She could tell something happened; she just wasn't sure what.
"I'll explain later right now Pine Tree needs us!" Bill yelled.
Mabel schools her resolve as they races off to find Dipper.
They make it to the shack in record time only to freeze as they see a fiery orange portal open in the kitchen.
"What is that?" Mabel asked.
"I don't know, a portal I think." Bill approaches it cautiously. "But the color is all wrong." He stares at it unsure.
"Bill what do we do?" Mabel looks like she's going to panic.
"I don't know, let me think." Bill pauses before pulling out his mirror phone. "Hold on let me see if Kelly knows."
Mabel nods, that made since they were Kelly's scissors, she should know what this is and what to do.
In another dimension, Kelly's compact mirror phone sits on a treadmill next to an open bag of Gold'n Crispz. The mirror phone starts to vibrate, and Kelly answers as she stuffs some chips in her mouth.
"Hey, man. I'm doing my cardio. Okay, hold up. I'm gonna put it on an incline." Kelly presses a button on the treadmill that slightly raises the incline level. "Okay, what's good?"
Bill takes a deep breath before he dived into an explanation. "Pine Tree used your scissors to go home and get his book he left, and then he never came back and a whole bunch of stuff happened that only I remember, and then he still wasn't back so we ran home and now there is a single portal in that looks like this!" He points the mirror phone at the orange portal.
Kelly coughs. "Oh, snap! That's bad!"
Bill sighed. "Yeah I know I can feel how bad it is, now tell me why it's bad!"
Kelly nodded. "That red portal is Hekapoo's. You need to get away from it, and if she asks, you do not tell her you got those scissors from me, okay?"
Bill turns the mirror phone back around to face him giving Kelly a stern look. "I thought Hekapoo gave you those scissors."
Mabel makes a face. "Kelly, what did you do?"
Kelly coughs. "Well, you see she kind of left them in the bathroom at the Bounce Lounge, and, um, what happened then was, uh, I took them. So yeah, basically, they're mine."
"Kelly that's stealing!" Mabel chastised.
"You mean I've been running around with stolen scissors!" Bill yelled.
Kelly laughed uneasily. "Uh, no I'm pretty sure that's called finding."
Mabel shook her head trying to focus. "Okay, so Dipper is definitely in trouble then."
"Trouble, he's probably dead." Kelly said with a shrug as she slurped her drink. "That Hekapoo lady is crazy."
"If he's dead I will never forgive you Kelly." Bill warns before hanging up.
"He's not dead though." Mabel asked. "Right?"
Bill pockets his phone before offering Mabel his hand. "Let's go find out."
Mabel nods and takes his hand as they step through the portal "We're coming Dipper."
(Back with Dipper)
Meanwhile, back in Hekapoo's dimension with a green and yellow sky, prickly trees, and a volcano there's a building carved out of a hollow tree. Smoke billows out of the top like a smokestack, and two Hekapoo clones stand guard outside the front door with spears. A hooded man approaches the building on the back of a dragon-cycle.
The first Hekapoo clone sneezes causing the second to jerk back.
"Dude, watch it!" She snaps pointing at her flame.
"Sorry." The first sniffles.
The man swoops down from the sky on the dragon-cycle wearing wasteland gear.
"Ohhhhh, incoming!" The fist clone warns.
The dragon-cycle stops a short distance away from the building, and the hooded man draws a katana from its sheath. With a single swing of his sword, the man generates a strong gust of wind.
The first Hekapoo clone jumps into the air, but the second one's flame gets blown out by the wind causing her to vanish.
The first clone charges, "Oh, dude, it's on!"
The hooded man runs up to the Hekapoo clone, and she swings her spear down on him producing a wall of fire. When the flames disappear, the hooded man is gone.
The first clone cheers for her victory only for the hooded man to sneak up behind the Hekapoo clone and grabs her.
The first clone gasped. "Oh, man!"
The hooded man blows out the Hekapoo clone's flame, and she vanishes. Reaching into his vest, the man takes out a small book and pen. He opens the book, revealing pages and pages of crossed-out flames. On the last page, he crosses out two flames and closes the book.
Inside the building, the real Hekapoo telekinetically molds molten metal into a pair of scissors. The hooded man enters, and she smiles.
"So, it all comes down to this. Sixteen years and a lot of clones. Seemed to go by... just like that." He snaps his fingers as he walks up to Hekapoo. "I finally tracked you down, Hekapoo."
Hekapoo turns to face hooded man "Yeah, it's the real me. No more clones, so..."
The hooded man pulls off his hood, revealing himself to be Dipper who is now 30 years old. "Who's a little boy now?" He taunts.
Dipper's dragon-cycle rolls up.
Hekapoo laughs. "This is the part where you blow out my flame." She tells him.
Dipper shrugs and sits down on a nearby chair. "Hah. You barely escaped me on the exploding plains of Flendar. And when I lost your trail in the mist of the Neverzone, I thought I'd never find you." He admitted, reminiscing. "After spending a few years infiltrating a cloister of monks, I acquired some ancient texts which led me to dimensional scholars who taught me to translate their language. After that, it was a simple matter of surviving the Afflicted Forest and ending up right at your door." He stands and blows out Hekapoo's flame.
"Not bad for a human." Hekapoo admitted as she gives Dipper a new pair of dimensional scissors. His name appeared engraved on them.
"You truly earned these. I underestimated you." Hekapoo praised.
Suddenly Bill comes bursting through the door with Mabel by his side.
"Hekapoo, where's Pine Tree?!" Bill demanded.
"Bill, Mabel!" Dipper runs up to them wrapping them both up in a huge hug, but Mabel pushes him away.
"Unhand us Stranger!" She shouts as Bill just stares in disbelief.
It's me, Dipper! See?." He pulls his pine tree hat out of his pocket and puts it on.
"Dip?!" Mabel squeals and embraces her brother while Bill continues to stare.
"Oh, man! We have so much to catch up on!" Dipper exclaimed as he pulled away. |I've learned how to sword fight, I fought an army of wolf-bears..."
As Dipper continues Bill blushes.
"I rode in a hot air balloon, and then I jet-skied off a waterfall! Isn't that cool?" Dipper stops noticing Bill's expression. "Bill?"
"Your…wow." Bill can't seem to find the words.
"Oh yeah I know it sounds like a lot." Dipper says mistaking his meaning. "But check it out! It took me sixteen years, but I totally earned these scissors."
"W-W-Wait. Sixteen years?" Bill shakes off his shock at those words, "You've been gone from Earth for, like, an hour."
"An Hour!" Dipper gives Hekapoo a look of shock.
Hekapoo laughs. "Yeah, I forgot to tell you that time passes differently in this dimension. Not sorry."
"All that time… and nothing!" Dipper looks beyond stunned.
"No, no, no, no. This is good." Mabel tried to assure him giving Bill a desperate look to help.
"Yeah It means you haven't missed anything back on Earth." Bill reasoned "Come on. Use your new scissors to take us home."
Dipper looks really put out. "But I like my life here. I got my sword, my dragon-cycle. I get to ride around all day and go on adventures whenever I want. It's the journey, you know?"
Bill smiles as he looks at the dragon-cycle in question. "Yeah, that dragon-cycle is pretty dope."
"What no!" Mabel yells. You can't stay here! What about Stan and ford, and our friends and me?"
Dipper looks down at his dragon-cycle and she purrs softly. His tender smile turns into a look of uncertainty. He looks down at his dimensional scissors and his face reflected off one of the blades. When he opens the scissors he sees Bill looking back at him.
Bill smiles as Dipper's face seems to ask him "What should I do?" He wanted to yell at him like Mabel, but he gets it. His time here might have only been an hour, but to him it was years. Years of finally being free of the overbearing responsibilities that had been placed on him. He was free to be his own person. He was nothing like the nervous and anxious kid Bill had met when he first arrived to Earth.
He gives his best friend a reassuring nod as if to say, "I get it."
Dipper looks to Mabel who gives him a pleading look, before looking to Hekapoo.
Hekapoo sighs. "Don't look at me. Those scissors are yours now. You can come back here any time you want."
Dipper smiles and uses his scissors to open a portal back to Earth. "Please. Take care of Nachos while I'm gone." He says gesturing to his dragon-cycle.
Nachos purrs as Dipper hugs her.
"Nachos?" Bill laughs. "only you Pines."
"She's in good hands." Hekapoo asures him.
Mabel smiles as she gives the dragoon-cycle a pat as well. "She is pretty cool." She admitted.
"The coolest." Dipper kneels down and kisses Nachos on the snout before looking to Hekapoo. "Well, old friend, you really gave me a run for my money."
Hekapoo smiles. "Likewise. You were quite the challenge." She smacks Dipper's bald spot laughing.
"Thanks." Dipper said rubbing the spot.
"I got you." Bill uses his magic to help his hair grow back.
Dipper touches the spot, surprised. "Nice."
"We should probably go before Stan and Ford go crazy with worry." Mabel insisted.
"Right!" Dipper stands as Bill and Mabel jump into the portal.
"Later, H-Poo." Dipper calls before he leaves as well.
"Don't call me that!" Hekapoo shouts in annoyance as the portal closes behind them.
meanwhile the teens dive out of the portal and back into the kitchen where they see Hekapoo's portal has already closed.
Bill looks to Dipper. "Oh, look you're normal again."
It's true Dipper is reverted back to a teenager; his clothes are too big for him. "What! No! Do you know how long I worked for those muscles!" he complained.
Mabel laughs and pokes his now flabby belly. "Squish."
Dipper covers up his exposed midsection and blushes.
Bill laughs. "I guess you're back on Earth's timeline now. But look on the bright side now you got your own scissors."
Dipper looks down at the scissors and sighs. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
"Of course, I am." Bill assures him.
"I know what will cheer you up." Mabel cut in. "Lets make some Nachos!"
Dipper finds a real smile slipping on his face as he watches Bill and Mabel move around the kitchen getting things ready. "Yeah." He agrees. "Sounds good."
Sure, he was still bumbed about the time difference, but he had to admit, it was good to be home.
-To Be Continued