Chapter 15 – Why Not Use the Bottomless Pit?
(The Youngest Group)
"It's just a hole in the ground," Sasha said stubbornly as everyone looked down the Bottomless Pit.
"It's not just any hole, Blondie, it's a bottomless one," Eda replied with a knowing snort. "Completely impossible unless it can infinitely connect to other spaces. And similar to time tidal pools, you can never really tell where you'll pop out on the other side."
"Or when," Luz added, remembering her time in those pools with Lilith. Back before she knew that Philip Wittebane was a jerk or in truth Emperor Belos.
"So it's contained and stable wormhole," Marcy gushed.
Gus and Hunter exchanged a look. They had just found one of their own for certain. However, Dipper cut in and said, "But we've already fallen down the Bottomless Pit once, Grunkle Stan twice. Both times, we came out here in Gravity Falls. We really don't know for certain where any of us will out, which makes this in my book a bad choice to get to Amphibia."
"But is a door," Eda maintained firmly. "And we have access to Collector. That little kid can use all his incredible powers to ensure that we can connect the Bottomless Pit to Amphibia. The only really big issue then will be figuring out how we get back to Earth or the Boiling Isles."
"There might still be enough leftover tech from the war that we can reconfiguration into a one time portal, or something more permanent," Marcy supplied. "Again, with Collector's help."
"But Mar-Mar, remember how we had to use the last bit of the Calamity Gems to make it back to Earth?" Anne reminded her. "There wasn't any technology there to help us out!"
"You're right," Marcy said, scratching her chin. "But with the help of Mr. Pines and Ms. Eda right here, and with Collector's powers, we should be able to do it! Oh! I have so many ideas brewing in my head right now! Here, let me quickly sketch them out for you!"
Ford cleared his throat pointedly. "I do have experience in building portals, but there is a big difference between what I learned from Bill and what we might be able to do with limited resources on another planet. Even if we have confirmed that the ancient Amphibian empire had access to galactic travel."
The whole party remembered what they had learned from their older selves. The battle to save Amphibia and Earth had severely depleted the Core's resources and as a result had knocked its home world back by a magnitude of centuries! There was a notion that the heroes would lose too much precious time trying to properly construct new gateways if they just hopped straight to Amphibia. However, it felt like they were operating under some deadly timeline.
No one was exactly sure what had happened to Dipper when he shook the hand of Bill Cipher's statue. He had something embedded into him that was supposed to help them stop William Cryptic and whatever insanity was spilling across all timelines, but the other parties were so busy at the moment that they hadn't heard any helpful news. Also, it hadn't even been a full day! But somehow, every felt a creeping sensation at the back of their necks that time was running out.
"I do have the musical coordinates that took us back to Amphibia before," Anne piped up, wanting to be helpful. "According to Terry, the whole universe can be mapped out musically. Would that help us out? If we had Earth's musical number?"
"Ooo! Traveling through magical music?" Luz squealed. "Now that's some magic I can get behind! When do we get our musical special?"
"What, do you think this musical theater?" Grunkle Stan croaked, annoyed.
"No, Grunkle Stan, she's making a reference to the amazing episode of Duffy the Werewolf Hunter!" Mabel explained. "There's a whole episode where everyone magically breaks out into song because Gigi of the Man-Eating Fairy tribe really wants to ask out Samantha to the mortal prom and wants to do it in a big way! Unfortunately, the spell goes haywire and to hilarious results!"
"I loved that episode," Luz sighed.
"What does any of this have to do with hunting werewolves?" Stan asked, thoroughly lost.
Soos chimed in, "Personally, I was a bigger fan of the spinoff series, Seraphim, that followed the hunky guy who was once a werewolf but then became a defender for good!"
"Oh, he was a hunk!" Sasha agreed. "Too bad it only ran for a season and a half."
"That's the way with big studios," the handyman acknowledged in his sagely way. Crossing his arms and scowling into the middle distance he remarked, "It's the way of corporate, greedy studios to greenlight something so visionary that it captures the attention and imaginations of people all over the world. But because they have no idea what they've got on their hands and want to make the most profits for the cheapest buck, they axe those amazing stories before they can be fully realized. Thereby necessitating an even greater need for fanfiction in the world!"
Grunkle Stan clutched his stomach queasily and muttered, "I feel like I'm getting called out."
"I'm usually one for a good spun thread of yarn, BUT CAN WE PLEASE GET BACK TO THE TOPIC AT HAND!" Hop Pop complained loudly.
"I like the idea of having a simple and effective way for us to jump from world to world," Eda said, walking around the Bottomless Pit and thinking to herself. "Music would help. And if we're lucky, we can just follow the Pit back to here. Or use it to get to the Boiling Isles, though I'm not sure how we would do that since Lilith and I never discovered a similar hole there on our world. And we've been all over!"
"There's another way to the Boiling Isles," Ford said, sounding both eager and uncomfortable. "But it will require going through a specifically hard spot of the Crawl Space. When Dipper and Pacifica opened the way for me, I was able to relocate a portal that had vexed me while I was working on my second journal. But it's still not the most reliable way…"
Sprig spoke up and said, "If Collector is so powerful and helping us connect across multiple timelines, why don't we just use his power to more easily connect all of our worlds? Like make a special door or something?"
"That would be helpful, but the Core did something to Amphibia's place in the cosmos," Marcy explained. "That book Andrias showed us all before he sent us on our quests to find the temples and recharge the gems indicated that your world is cut off from all the others."
"I can't believe that you got to go on so many cool adventures without me," Sasha grumbled quietly, tapping her foot. "I just trained with Grime in the stinging bog!"
Marcy continued on as if not interrupted. "I can see now that a lot of information was altered so that I wouldn't learn the truth of what was going on behind Andrias' back. It seems as though the Core used the Calamity Box to alter the essence of Amphibia so that it would be harder to reach through supernatural means. If someone had the coordinates in space, that was all fine and dandy because space is large and would give the Core time to prepare. Plus, the moon was fully weaponized."
Wendy leaned into Dipper and whispered, "Just what kind of world do these little frog guys come from anyway!?"
"I know, right? Imagine if Bill Cipher had managed to get his way there! We wouldn't even know what was coming our way until it was too late."
"Well, I'm just pointing out that having a weaponized moon is pretty badass, but that we should also not underestimate these frogs."
Sprig and Polly managed to overhear her and began flexing their wimpy muscles. Well, Polly's weren't that wimpy, actually.
"The Core ensured that the Calamity Box was the best means of magically traveling to and from Amphibia. This made it easier for them to feel secure in invading other worlds and overrunning them for their resources," Marcy kept going. "So, thinking about that… Even with a Bottomless Pit, it might not even get us there because of what the Core did to the planet. Anne's musical coordinates might just be the best route, but we need loads of power a way to stabilize the portal."
"There's a way to do that," Grunkle Ford said. "Soos, we're going to need your truck again. I need to get in touch with McGucket and make sure that we can speedily utilize all his available materials. We might also need to revisit the spaceship, Dipper."
"The spaceship?" Gus and Hunter said excitedly.
"Boys…" Willow rolled her eyes.
Dipper got an adventurous glint in his eye. Despite what he had just gone through, this sounded like a fun distraction, and it was a good lead for them to follow in order to get going in their quest. He quickly picked Wendy, Gus, Hunter, Willow, Grunkle Stan, Sprig, Polly, and the Calamity trio to go with him. He was feeling a little like a showoff at the moment, because he got to share something dangerously cool with everyone that only he and Ford had experienced so far.
"Well, sounds like the youngin's are going to risk their lives while the rest of us go for a shopping trip," Hop Pop said. "I could use with some relaxin'!"
"More like boring!" Stan complained. "You should invite me along, Dip! I don't want to help gather up McGucket's old junk!"
"Did you just say junk?" Eda asked excitedly.
Stan immediately altered his mood and replied, "Why, yes! I would be happy to bring you there myself in the Stanmobile!"
"Wait, is that the old car you used to drive? You still have it?"
"I sure do! And if you remember that corner of the backseat where we-"
"We'll go along with Eda to make sure she doesn't lose her head!" Amity interjected.
"But that could happen whether or not we want it," Eda said with a wink and popped off her own head. It made the frogs all freak out. The gag never got old!
King announced that he was going to stay behind at the Mystery Shack and talk with Collector. He said it would be a good idea to try and get in touch with everyone and see how their respective missions were panning out. Soos hurriedly got walkie talkies for the different groups.
"The range on these bad boys might be a little spotty, dudes, but they should keep us connected while we work! Just go to channel 3."
"Why not channel 1 or 2?" Mabel asked.
"Because channel 1 is specifical for FCLORP meetings, and the second is an case of pizza emergencies. If I ever cross the purposes of those channels, it would be pandemonium, Mabel!"
She snorted and said, "I'll stick around with King. I'd like to get to know these cute guys even more."
King blushed a little at being called cute by Mabel. The girl radiated cuteness herself, so if she said it about him, it felt like those words meant a lot more. After that the groups all went their separate ways, with all the adults heading for McGucket's manor while the majority of teens went off for the spaceship. This was, after all, the wisest choice that anyone could make in a universe-ending scenario. And with King and Mabel checking in on Collector, all their bases were covered until it was time to build a stable portal.
Armed with hastily scrawled list of materials and where to find them, Dipper led the young posse out to the hill where the spaceship was buried.
"I can't believe we're going to go inside of an actual spaceship!" Hunter later said excitedly to Gus. Dipper opened the hidden door to the dark, unknown depths below. "Do you think it can still fly?"
"Doubt it," Dipper answered back. "And if we managed it, it might tear up the entire valley. This thing is big! We just need to watch out for the sentinels that will attempt to kidnap or vaporize us."
"Just like book 11, The Pod Prisoners!" Gus squealed.
"Are you guys sure you want to be excited about going into a dark, dangerous ship with stuff that will try to kill you?" Willow asked.
"Yes," Hunter, Gus, and Dipper said together as if that was the only natural response.
The teens descended together into the bowels of the alien vessel. It was a little more alive than Dipper remembered it being when he had come here with Ford to get super adhesive to hold back Bill's chaos. Lights flashed slowly and softly, and distant clanks and whirls echoed through the dusty hallways.
Immediately, Dipper reassessed his excitement and warned, "We might want to be really careful. The ship wasn't like this when Ford and I came here. If there's this much on, it could be the security system still reacting to us. We figured that it might be sending messages to its home- What are you doing?"
"What?" Gus asked innocently as projections of himself began playing around with the nearest control boards. "They're illusions. They'll take the punishment if I activate any traps."
All of his illusions all glared back at him for using them as guinea pigs.
"Dude, I think that Dipper is right," Wendy said. "This is all super cool and all, and I'm already thinking of how I can use this to freak out Thompson, but we need to be careful. The universe is relying on us. It's a little hard to save our worlds and families if we're dead."
"Point taken," Gus sighed, going crestfallen.
"Don't worry, man, there's going to be loads of cool stuff that we can see and do that shouldn't get us in trouble."
Following Dipper's lead, they pressed on down the creepy tunnels. Marcy stayed behind and ignored Dipper's warning, pressing buttons here and there. When they passed some of the mummified corpses of the aliens that had run the ship, Sprig grossed everyone out by pulling off one of the helmets and sticking his head in the skeletal maw.
"Gah! Ah no! It's got me! Save yourselves!" he gasped.
Anne freaked out and pummeled the corpse into dust. When she realized she had been tricked, she began throttling her best friend. "Dude! Don't do stuff like that to me! Remember what happened in No One Screams in Space!?"
"No! because your parents hid the DVD from you," Sprig choked out. Polly giggled, because she had snuck the movie when no one else was paying attention.
"Rule number one of surviving in space or anything alien related, if it looks like a lifeform or wet, do not touch it!" Anne impressed.
But saying that just made Sprig want to touch everything even more.
"We could cast some spells to help protect everyone," Willow offered. "This would actually be a great place to use Amity's Abominations. They would be able to handle just about anything these aliens could throw at us."
"I'm not so sure about that," Sipper muttered.
"Abominations?" Marcy asked, excited. She rushed Willow and demanded to know what they were.
"They're big, purple, goopy guys that follow your commands. So long as you keep your magic connected to them, a well-made Abomination can do just about anything you want. And they can be outfitted to become strong warriors, too," Willow explained.
Meanwhile, Hunter stooped by a patch of dusty ground that no one had walked on. He began drawing circles and glyphs in the grime. "We can use these to give us warnings about anything that might happen in the ship. It's good to have an alarm," he explained. "I've been meaning to share with luz more of what I discovered in the imperial archives. I researched all kinds of ancient magic and glyphs that Belos removed from the public knowledge."
When he finished, he tapped the drawing and it began glowing blue and whistling softly. The already pale teen went sheet white.
"I'm guessing that means we're in trouble," Sasha deadpanned.
"Yes, but I have no idea what it means!"
"Feels like that would be kind of important to add to the spell," Marcy remarked, pulling out her notebook and already writing down some observations.
Wendy coolly unslung her axe, spun it, and whipped around. Her axe's head smashed into an orb that was trying to sneak up on the group. An angry, red eye flashed to life. And then it winked out with a crack. Sprig had fired a little pebble from his slingshot right at the light. Anne didn't miss a second and whipped out the mummified alien's spine and wielded it like a spear. With a feral scream, she plunged it into the wrecked scanner and went surprisingly deep.
However, the orb wasn't done. It shuttered and rose higher over the group, activating more cameras and scanners and it began unfolding a number of weapons from its hull. Willow whipped out her staff and summoned powerful vines to snatch and reel in the machine. She succeeded, but claws and flamethrowers began making quick work of her plants. Still, it forced the machine to focus elsewhere long enough for Sasha to get around the security machine and attack. She reached into the exposed weapons from behind and began pulling out wires and cords. A flamethrower died instantly.
Sprig kept pelting the scanners and cameras with bits of debris, blinding the machine. Dipper fumbled with a device from his backpack and shouted out for everyone to keep their heads up; another security robot was already coming down the hall.
"Crap! We have to deal with another guy!" Anne complained as Marcy kept taking notes over Hunter's shoulder.
"Um? What are you doing? We're kind of in the middle of a fight!"
"I just wanted to get your thoughts on what might happen if we alter the glyphs a little."
"Now is not the time to conduct research!" he snapped back.
Polly distracted the oncoming machine by running around it and trying to confuse it. Unfortunately, the security bot was more adept than many of evil Frobots she was used to dealing with. It snatched her up with powerful, metallic cords. Luckily for Polly, Dipper finally brought out his shrinking ray flashlight. With the right side of the crystal and little light applied, the robot was shrunk down to the size of a marble.
"Oh ho yeah!" Polly shouted. "How do you like it? Getting picked up and manhandled? Hey Sprig! Catch!"
She threw the miniature robot marble to her brother, who snatched it out of the air. Sprig loaded the security bot into his slingshot and delivered a devastating blow to the other robot they were currently tangling with. Firing the angry marble into the hole Anne had helped gouge out, the robot exploded inside its buddy, bringing both robots down for good.
"Wow… This is even better than The Pod Prisoners!" Gus whooped.
Still, the teens had learned their lesson. With the ancient vessel now on high alert, they had to proceed with more caution. Hunter drew more of his warning glyphs, which Marcy incredible had a little helpful variation for. Adding some unique runes to the glyphs, along with natural calibrations for different colors, the witch was able to create different warnings for different problems.
Gus used his illusions to run ahead and gather intelligence and send some of them back to have a look into any warnings that flashed behind the party. This allowed them to cover the ground far quicker and with more confidence than before. Willow used her magic to help craft weapons for everyone from the shrapnel of the destroyed robots merged with conjured wood. Dipper stuck with his flashlight, though.
"Dipper, that is super cool! You should have had that thing out since the very beginning!" Wendy commended, making him blush a little.
"Wait, but why is there so much magic and weirdness in this little valley?" Anne asked when they finally resumed their journey. "I mean, LA is pretty weird already, but we've got nothing on Gravity Falls!"
"There's something about this valley that pulls weirdness from all over Earth and the universe to it," Dipper explained to the group. "Ford explained that eventually all truly weird stuff will make its way here. This spaceship could be the cause of it, though I'm more inclined to believe that the ship originally crashed here because Gravity Falls pulled it here when it got too close. So, there is magic on Earth, but most if it finds its way here."
"I wonder what that means for Luz," Hunter mused. "And the door she used to get from Earth to the Boiling Isles."
"Well, Eda was using it and she jumped all over the place to collect her valuable junk," Willow reminded him.
"And she had a run in with Stan, who found his way here," Wendy said with a snort. "Wonder what the story is behind those two lovebirds."
"I'm not sure we're ready for the answer," Dipper said, unable to not think of the horrifying time he found Grunkle Stan in the shower. He did not want to contemplate that body getting all hot and heavy with a witch that could pop off her own head.
Behind them, Sasha remarked to Marcy, "We barely know these people for a day and you're already making modifications to their magic. Why haven't you solved world hunger already?!"
"Because human greed and corruption is illogical and takes more than a quick and easy fix," Marcy answered simply.
"Hey, Hunter, dude!" Anne called to the scarred witch. "That magic you were doing, can anyone learn it?"
"The strongest magic of the Boiling Isles is can be accessed by those who are children of the Isles, meaning that they have to be natives of our world. However, what luz and I have uncovered is that anyone who can access the glyphs used by the Titans on our planet can use magic. It's all about understand the glyphs, their variations, and combinations that allow us to access all kinds of spells."
"Lus also showed us how when magic is used with our staff and circles that they flash glyphs," one of Gus' clones added. "It's the basis of all our spells."
"But anyone can use them, right?" Marcy pressed excitedly.
"Yeah, I guess so," Hunter said warily. "What are you planning?"
"Well, the glyph wards that we've been making were enhanced with some of the geometric signs that I learned back on Amphibia. They had their own kind of magic that I learned from Maddie and our different adventures. Now, most people will argue that magic systems cannot be crossed over with one another, however, I contend that in theory anything can be merged. I don't yet know if it was the addition of the Amphibian runes or if was the necessity of changing your witch's glyphs to accommodate them that caused the spell to change, but a change was had! We need to research this even more!"
"Hey, if your combined magic can give me better weapons, I'll take it!" Polly said, swinging around her improvised axe.
While the teens eventually made their way into the plundered storage units where they found all the supplies on Ford's list, Grunkles Ford and Stan led the adults along with Luz and Amity to McGucket's new home. The old Northwest Manor was now a bubbling hub of activity and innovation.
"I feel like he's really ruined treasures with all this bizarre tinkering," Eda said, looking at the starts of an engine meant to run on trash and power a time machine car when it hit 69 miles per hour. Admittedly, it wasn't McGucket's best idea.
"Fiddleford is the greatest mechanic in the whole multiverse," Ford said resolutely. "Given a little time and the right resources, the man can craft anything you could ever want!"
"I'm still waiting for gun-swords," Soos said. "He liked the idea, but we didn't have the time during Weirdmageddon to make them just right. But he's promised me!"
"Anime gun-swords brought to life!?" Luz gushed. "This guy could bring all the super powered girl transformations to life if he managed that. Imagine it: Being able to hit a button on your watch and getting a magical girl transformation at school, at a convention, at the store, when someone is getting robbed. It will change everything!"
"Amity, your girlfriend is going off the rails again," Eda said with a laugh.
"You agree with me, don't you!?" Luz demanded of Amity.
"Let's first focus on saving the universe and then we can help make your magical girl transformations a reality."
"Kids these days," Stan muttered under his breath.
McGucket's manor was staffed by simple robots that acted as a cleaning and greeting staff. One of the robots had wheeled off to find its master while Ford poked around all the inventions left haphazardly around the place. He understood that his old friend was more organized than this. These were ideas that he tinkered with to help him figure out issues with the creations and innovations he really wanted to manifest.
I just hope that he's willing to work on another portal. He lost so much following me to make the last one, Ford feared. Yes, they had made up and were good friends again, but the old and painful memories were still there.
"Well butter my biscuits! Stanford Pines! You've brought quite the group I see! Is this your estranged wife and daughters?" Fiddleford asked as he waltzed into view.
"No, this would be Eda Clawthorne, who is Stanely's old fling-"
"Ex-wife!" Stan reminded him.
"Please don't remind me," Eda groaned at the same time.
"And these two are Luz and Amity. Amity is a witch from the Boiling Isles. And you'll remember Soos. Oh yeah, please don't eat the orange frog. He's a guest, too."
McGucket put away his cutlery with a disappointed expression. Hop Pop swallowed his apprehension and held out a slimy hand. "Name's Hoppediah Plantar. It's nice to make your acquaintance."
"Likewise," McGucket said, accepting the handshake without so much as a flinch. That instantly won some of Hop Pop's respect. "No Soos, I haven't finished those thar gun-swords yet. They're jus' so impractical! Makin' the components small enough to fit into the blade and hilt, while makin' sure that they have maximum output to make the additions worth it without compromising the blade's integrity is hardly worth it without materials that might as well be otherworldly!"
"Nerd speak," Stan said. "Is anyone else other than the eggheads able to follow this?"
Soos beamed back at McGucket and said, "Dipper is right now getting us some of those."
"Soos, those are for the portal," Ford interjected sternly.
The hillbilly inventor shuddered a little. "A portal, you say?"
Trying not to sigh with resignation. Ford calmly explained the matter to McGucket. It felt so weird to go over this again and again. Luckily, his old roommate and friend quickly picked up on the severity of the situation and the importance of their need. He agreed that a portal that followed a musical map would work better than getting coordinates and designs from a demonic muse, and with an awkward laugh McGucket retreated deeper into the manor.
"Come this way, y'all! If we have more of 'em alien thing'emagigs, we could make one of my old ideas work brilliantly!"
Eda did hold Stan back and whispered to him, "Look, we don't need to make things awkward between us, but I do need to get this off my chest to someone might see where I am coming from. We're very quickly playing with powers and technology that are already pretty volatile in the hands of teens, and combining it all to help us fight against forces we hardly understand. I'm all for a fun adventure and getting into some trouble, and I'm definitely for saving our worlds, but we need to be careful that we as the adults that keep the kids in check from doing anything too stupid."
Grunkle Ford cocked an eyebrow and asked, "Are you really the woman I married?" When she gave him a flat stare and moved to follow Ford and the others, Stan, spun her back into his arms. "Look toots, I know we just got reacquainted, and we've both learned of all the dumb and heroic stuff these kids have been through on different worlds. I won't pretend to understand anything that's going on though; I'm just rolling with the punches.
"What I do understand is this: the only reason why we're in this mess is because some big idiot already began crossing all the red lines and got us into this mess. We need to be ready and willing to do the same. But yeah, it is the adults' responsibility to keep the kids safe. And whether or not you can believe me, that is exactly what I'm going to do!"
Stan let go and stomped off to follow the others. Eda felt something strange flutter within her cursed heart. Recently, she had reunited with Rain, her old friend and flame, and this human was little more than a fanciful fling. The profits she made from cheating him had long dried up! But there was something about old Stan Pines that awakened a younger sense of mischief in her, which clashed horribly with what she had just said.
Ugh, I really don't need this right now. Taking out her palisman, she told Owlbert, "Not a word of my feelings or this conversation gets out, got it?"
Her cute palisman shrugged and gave a quiet hoot in reply.
Unfortunately for her, Luz and Amity were watching from behind one of the Northwest's leftover tapestries. The two girls shared confused and shocked looks. Sure, they had just recently learned that Stan and Eda had once been an item, but she was together with Rain! Right? Where was the fiery Eda who pushed off all her exes? And that was a different side to the old miser and conman that they had heard about back in their large group conference but hadn't truly believed.
Why were adults so confusing and contradictory?
They slipped ahead of Eda and Stan and rejoined the others as Ford and McGucket began selecting the items and plans necessary for building a reliable portal. However, that was when they got some bad news from Mabel.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Mabel and King made their way down to the Mystery Shack's basement where Collector was holding open the connection to all the timelines and trying to keep tabs on everyone. He brightened up immediately when he saw King.
"Hi King! How's the search going out there?"
"You should know, right? You've been keeping an eye on us," the little Titan pointed out.
The small Archivist frowned and a little and shook his head. "Sorry buddy. I haven't been able to pay too much attention because of what's been happening with the other groups. Your older selves just met my people." His tone became grimmer with each word.
"How much trouble could a bunch of stuff librarians really pose," Mabel scoffed. "We've dealt with cosmic horrors and evil gods before! From Bill to the Madladl guy, well that was our older, alternate selves, but there was also Time Baby, the Time Pirates, and-"
"Wait, how many cosmic entities have you guys dealt with?" King asked, overwhelmed.
Collector stayed on topic and answered Mabel, saying, "My people are the kind who preserve information and lifeforms by violently taking them and eradicating everything else. Your planet will be consumed unless you other selves and all your friends can fight back and win. But the Librarian is there, and they never fight fair."
"I knew it! The world is in danger from evil librarians conspiring to overthrow all the governments and hide the fact that another continent full of dinosaurs exists, but Dipper will never listen to me! And he's supposed to be the guy with all the conspiracy theories…"
King and Collector both watched Mabel, somewhere between amused and bemused. The diminutive Titan finally asked, "Is there anything we can do to help them out?"
"Just do your part as fast as possible, I guess," Collector answered with a shrug and a somersault. "The real adventure has been where oldest Mabel-"
"Please don't call me that."
"-And the rest of her family are going through the weirdest and most dangerous reaches of space and the multiverse to find William Cryptic. Here? Want to watch?"
Collector began projecting through his eyes to show Mabel and King the adventures that the Pines family was having in hunting down the guy who started this whole mess. While she had no idea who this Cryptic dude was, Mabel wanted to kick him a swift kick between the legs. They had already saved the world a few times! Why did some ill-mannered, self-centered geek have to go and ruin it all?
But it was something to know that there was a possibility where Dipper and Wendy did get into a relationship. If Mabel was being perfectly honest, after this whole crazy summer, she realized that love was not just something you could write into a script and make it all work out. And some relationships started off strong and then just ended for one reason or another. That realization sent a shiver up her spine, and it made a few things in her personal life click a little more.
Stuff she would have deal with soon enough.
However, Mabel thought it was most likely that Dipper would eventually start dating Pacifica. They would make a fun go at it, get into lots of trouble, do some smooching-smooching, and break up after a year or two. Though who knew? Maybe they would beat the odds of Mabel's growing realism. In any case, it was still surprising to see her bro-bro in a healthy relationship with a girl he liked.
Mabel's musing and interest quickly transformed to intrigue and then horror as she watched the older Pines go to the seedy bar, deal with the galactic vermin, and then fall into a trap that was facilitated by the downfall of an entire world and race. But it got worse from there.
Collector shuddered and whimpered, "Oh no… Something really bad is happening."
"What is it, Collector?" King asked.
"H-H-He's here… I don't know-!"
WHAM!
Claws of darkness blossomed right out of thin air clutched Collector. The fabric of reality was suddenly rent and the Archivist's powers were getting drained from him. King opened his mouth and roared, sending out a blast of incredible magic. One of the claws battered his attack aside and then backhanded King. The poor Titan smacked hard against a distant wall and crumpled to the floor, unconscious.
"King!" Mabel shouted, taking out some of her attack glitter.
The same claw snatched her up and began squeezing. The air was immediately crushed out of her lungs. Her mind's eye was connected to someone else and she witnessed a figure cloaked in undulating blackness and a purple outline. It laughed at her and reached for her mind, projecting the intent to tear her open and flip her inside out.
Dipper! What do I do!? Mabel thought frantically.
"I… Won't give up… Not when I… Have friends!" Collector struggled to shout.
He reached through the vision he had been projecting and tapped the blasted, destroyed planet. It sent rippled throughout reality and suddenly glowing paperclips the size of grown adults appeared around the darkness. They wrapped themselves around the claws and reeled it away from Collector. The figure attacking Mabel mentally was forced to turn its attention to Collector and the weird paperclips.
Mabel managed to hear before she crashed into her own body, "Clip Claps! You dare interfere after all this time! Well, looks like I will need to destroy you after all…"
A time loop had just been created and a create cost.
The young teen fell painfully onto her back, but she didn't stay there. Mabel crawled over to King and managed to wake him up. He wasn't doing so hot. She took out Soos' walkie talkie and quickly called for help.
By the time everyone else arrived, Collector had managed to contain the attack. Weakly, he confirmed that it had come from William Cryptic, and he was now locked in a protracted mental battle with the villain.
"Sorry, but it's taking everything I have to hold him off," Collector wheezed. "And the Clip Claps are preventing his energy from ripping this reality apart."
"There goes our last failsafe," Ford muttered. He turned to McGucket and said, "We need to recalibrate our approach. If we cannot rely on Collector's cosmic powers to power the portal, we need another door. And we cannot spend the time to collector enough toxic waste to power it."
"What if I tried using whatever… Whatever Bill did to me?" Dipper proposed.
His Grunkles shook their heads. Stan said, "NOPE! I'm not going to let the triangle guy use you! I still don't trust what happened."
"Besides, we have another way that we can travel between worlds," Ford said. "We can enter the Crawl Space."